Covenant with God

Today I want us to talk about making and renewing our covenant with our Maker. We have learnt quite a few things over the past few weeks, about trusting in God, and having a thankful attitude. As we do these, there are some things that may hold or keep us back from walking with God, things that many people tend to overlook or be ignorant about. They are the covenants they have entered in, keep entering in, or are contemplating on entering in. Many people tend to take covenants lightly, but they are more powerful than we think. 

Read 2 Chronicles 29-31. 

In the above chapters, King Hezekiah saw that the land had become desolate, unfruitful and troubled. He realized that it was because the children of Israel, who had started well with God, had come to a point of forgetting that they were children of a covenant with God, and started compromising through bowing down to other idols.

When God makes a covenant with you, He never breaks it. He is constant and faithful; we are the ones who depart from His covenant.

In 2 Chronicles 29-31, King Hezekiah called the people together to repentance, so that they may renounce their ways and get back to doing what the covenant required of them. The priests led the people in sacrificing, because blood had to be spilled for their return to the covenant. The result was the children of Israel being filled with true worship and praise, dancing to the Lord not for entertainment but to worship Him for who He is.

If we get back to our covenant with God, we will stop dancing to the Lord for entertainment and for our own selfish reasons, but get back to worshiping Him in truth and in Spirit.

Sometimes as human beings we forget that God had already drawn a plan for us to walk in, and charted out the course for us, and we start leading ourselves. The only thing that can get us back to being children of the covenant once again is if we repent and allow the blood of Jesus to cleanse us, to get back to the original plan with God.

Today I want us to get back to where some of us dropped the ball, where we stopped living as children of the covenant.

Read Hebrews 8-10

In the Old Testament, they used to be cleansed and return back to the covenant through the blood of animals; now we are cleansed and return back to the covenant with God through the blood of Jesus.

God is a covenant-keeping God. He is a God who makes covenants. His covenant makes Him keep the heavens open for us, if we remain in His covenant. His covenant is guided by His truth. The covenant of God works in our lives in proportion to how we know the truth. The truth you do not know can never help you, it can only destroy you. When you know the truth, it will set you free. When you see me walk and dance around, it is because I have known the truth, which has kept me in a covenant with God. Knowing this truth I can never fear, knowing that God is faithful. I can never be scared by what the devil thinks of me, I am following the great Warrior who is always fighting for me. In His covenant, I know that I should never fear. In His covenant, I also know that I am in Him, and Him in me, and He is greater than all who are in the world (1 John 4:4).

The day we will discover who we are and in Whom we are as the new covenant says, we will never walk in fear, nor be shaken by the world. When I am in a covenant with God, I know that there is nothing too hard for my God, and I will lack nothing. In this new covenant, I know that my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory (Phil. 4:19).

The truth you know is what will guide the covenant you have with God, and keep you going in the covenant. The lives we live in this universe, since we are in the world though not of the world, are under a lot of influence of covenants. We have to be in a covenant in this universe, either in the kingdom of darkness or that of light. There are covenants, and you will either be led by covenants of the world, or that of God. Choose for yourself. It is important to know in which covenant you are, and what the covenant is about.

People enter into covenants even without knowing, e.g. those who pour libations to the dead. They are entering covenants with the dead without knowing. Some undergo cuttings in their customs, while others tie things around their waists without knowing that those symbolize covenants. Others enter into covenants by swearing, putting marks on their bodies etc. As long as such covenants remain in our lives, they will keep drawing us back to where we were. We will never benefit from the word of God and in serving God, as these covenants will keep pulling us back and hinder us from moving forward. Such covenants are always demanding something from us, never being satisfied.

Parents sometimes get their children into covenants while not knowing what they are getting them into - a life of problems.

Covenants keep believers in sufferings, always wondering whether God neglected them. Today we must come to a realization that the new covenant was for you and for me, to set us free. Jesus died for us once and for all, and we have to realize this and what it means to be in the new covenant, what to expect. There is no need to enter into any other covenant, since we are in a new covenant, that Christ paid for with His own life and blood. We have to break off and separate ourselves from any covenants that are not of Christ, and keep declaring that we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, that in Christ and in a new covenant. It is time we start ruling as kings and priests in this universe, walking in the new covenant, in Christ.

A time has come that we must denounce every covenant that is contrary to the will of God.

Hebrews 12:18-24

For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest,¹⁹ and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.²⁰ (For they could not endure what was commanded: "And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow."

²¹ And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.")

 ²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, ²³ to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Deuteronomy 9:9

When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

On this mountain that God used to meet with the children of Israel, they used to fear and tremble.

There are two types of covenants:

• Covenant of works
• Covenant of grace

In the covenant of works, we have to keep doing works, which are burdensome, for God to do something for us. In the covenant of grace, it is purely by favor. Whatever comes to a child in the covenant of grace meets favor and protection, and will never touch the child.

Whatever comes our way under the covenant of grace, is totally by favor, not by merit or works.

John 1:12-13

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Heb 12:24 (AMP)

…and to Jesus, the Mediator (Go-between, Agent) of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks [of mercy], a better and nobler and more gracious message than the blood of Abel [which cried out for vengeance].

As long as we are children of God, in Christ Jesus, we have come to mercy, to a better covenant where the blood of Jesus is speaking noble things, better things and more gracious message.

Genesis 4:10

And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground..."

While the blood of Abel is speaking vengeance, the blood of Jesus is speaking great things about us. We have no reason not to know that the blood of Jesus is speaking noble things about us. The blood that Jesus shed has saved us, given us victory, and joined us to a better covenant than that in which the children of Israel were in. Jesus gave His best, His life and heart, for His blood to speak forgiveness. The blood of Jesus speaks cleansing of our sins and forgiveness, healing, death etc. If the blood was not speaking healing, then we’d have been destroyed by the sicknesses when they came our way. If the blood of Jesus was not speaking against death over our lives, then we’d have died in accidents and other things that were sent to take our lives. The blood of Jesus speaks great things over our lives, for our benefit.

Keep declaring and pleading the blood of Jesus over your life and things that come your way, and watch it work in your life. When you are conscious of the blood of Jesus, you will never fear, even when you sleep. Fear not. Many people fear accidents and many other things, even though they are believers, because of ignorance of what the blood represents and speaks over their lives.

Unlike in the Old Testament, we do not have to keep killing animals to be forgiven or get reconciliation with God, because Jesus paid the price once and for all. Those who do not know what the blood speaks miss out on what the blood is speaking over their lives. We will enjoy being Christians, when we know what the blood of Jesus represents, and what it is speaking over our lives.

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-  ³² "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. ³³ "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴ "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

Luke 22:19-20

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

1 Corinthians 11:25

In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."

The time for the new covenant is here. In this covenant, we do not need someone to keep teaching us, we have the Holy Spirit to teach us (1 John 2:27). Whenever we ask for a revelation from the Holy Spirit regarding the word of God, He will give to us, irrespective of who we are. We can take the word and hear from Him directly, not having to go through earthly mediators. God has already spoken, we do not need anyone to teach us or speak over our lives. We can take the bread of life that has been given, break it and partake it in our lives, in order to enjoy the new covenant.

As God says through Jeremiah, we have been forgiven sins. Forgiveness of sins is the best gift we could ever have received, as we are no longer indebted because of our sins, all the sins we made from birth. When Jesus came, He entered us into a new covenant, that gave us the forgiveness of sins. Christ Jesus paid a debt that we could have never paid. Now that we are in Him, He can rule our lives as He wants, being Lord over our lives, knowing that He has forgiven us and set us free from the debts we were in.

Hebrews 1:1-6

Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, ² a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man .³ For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer.⁴ For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law;  ⁵ who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." ⁶ But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

This covenant we are in has better promises. The work of Jesus is to keep the covenant we have with Him, that directly affects us.

Hebrews 10:16-17

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

Hebrews 7:22-25

...by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. 23 Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. 24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

In the new covenant we have entered, there is gladness and joy. We do not have to feel helpless and defeated; we can enjoy life with gladness and joy, knowing we have better promises in the new covenant.

Remain in Him and Him in you, because you are a child of the covenant. Do not look for help from elsewhere; Jesus is all you need. Remain in the covenant; remain in Christ, and whatever demons or doors in your life will flee. Jesus is the only answer. The covenant with Christ will keep the enemy from having dominion over you, as you have authority over the enemy. Time has come for believers to know where they are standing, and on Whom.

Psalm 24:1

The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.

It is time we knew that all we need is in our God. We need no one and nothing to give us anything; all we need is God. Stay in Him, and let Him stay in you.

Ephesians 1:3-4

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

Colossians 2:10

...and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

We are blessed with every blessing, complete and forgiven completely.

Colossians 2:13-14

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Jesus wiped away completely all that was entitled to us as a result of our sins, all that the enemy had said over us. Whatever was written about your life has been deleted, purged completely. We are new creatures.

Ephesians 2:1, 5, 6-9

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 

5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Galatians 3:29

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

I am a new creature because of the new covenant.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

2 Corinthians 8:9

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

Jesus traded His place for yours, so that you can be rich, forgiven, made new, blessed etc., in the new covenant. He paid a dear price for us to be in this new and great covenant, and His blood keeps speaking better things over our lives, the things that He died and rose again for. He is sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding for us, mediating for us, to ensure that we continue enjoying the benefits of the new covenant. 

For this reason, we should forever remain as children of the covenant, since we are in a new covenant. Whose are you? Do not allow the devil in your territories, that he has no authority or dominion over you, since you are in a new covenant.

You are a child of the new covenant. 

Amen. 

-- Pastor Mary Mugo.


30/03/14 Sunday service sermon, Teaching Transformation Ministry.

Pastor Mary Mugo is the Senior Pastor at Teaching Transformation Ministry. We are located along the Thika-Ruai Flyover Junction (at the Thika Rd./ Bypass intersection), Next to Eastgate Restaurant.