How great is the covenant of grace and truth! Thank God for His amazing plan of salvation!
The Covenant Keeping God
Acts 3:13 "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 "But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 "and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 "And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. 17 "Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 "But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19 "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
Peter had just ministered to the lame man and he was healed; now Peter was preaching to the crowd that participated in crucifying Jesus. Peter began his message with “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”. The Jewish people knew well that Peter was speaking of a covenant keeping God. The Jews knew well that the covenant of promise came specifically through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Peter now points to Jesus as the Servant of God and the fulfillment of the promise. From the time of Moses the Jewish people were looking for the servant Moses prophesied would come. Jesus exclusively and wholly fulfilled every prophecy about the Messiah. One of many promises is repentance and remission of sins would come through Him. As Peter describe it here, times of refreshing would come from the presence of the Lord. Jesus is Holy, the Just One, and the Prince of Life.
Luke 16:16 "The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.
Jesus came with a new era; Jesus came demonstrating the kingdom of God . The kingdom of God was prophesied but never understood. The law and the prophets pointed to a coming Messiah; Jesus is the substance of truth they were looking for.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. … 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Jesus Himself brought the covenant of grace and truth on our behalf. One might ask does all that matter? I am glad you asked.
Heb 8:6 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. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: "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; 9 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.
The law came through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Here in Hebrews it identifies the covenant that Jesus brought as a better covenant. It was brought in with a more excellent ministry and established on better promises. Our opening passage gave the secret of living in victory. The object of your faith being in Jesus Christ. Faith in His name brings deliverance, wholeness, and soundness!
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
God gave the Apostle Paul the fullness of the revelation of this precious covenant. The just shall live by faith. It is a specific faith, a purposeful faith, a biblical faith.
1 John 4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
The object of our faith must ever be Jesus Christ and Him crucified! While some have taught a faith in your faith mentality, that is not the tenor of scriptural faith. I have written it often, what you think of Jesus determines your destiny. First your destiny for eternity and also the quality of life you live today.
Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."
The object of your faith must ever be in the Son of God who loved us and gave His life as ransom for our liberty. It can not be in how well you perform or in your achievements; it must ever be an all out trusting in the work of Jesus Christ at the cross. The moment trust is in ones own performance of the law or even some man made tradition, the object of ones faith has been moved from Jesus Christ. It was Jesus Christ sacrifice, when He poured out His Own soul as a sacrifice for sin, that the Father was appeased with. The object of your faith should never be in anything less. What a great covenant that provides for us to abide in Christ and Christ abide in us.
1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world; our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Where the object of your faith is, is imperative! If it is centered in Jesus Christ you have a faith that is overcoming faith. If you have your faith centered in anything else you are set up for defeat. The covenant of grace and truth sets us up for total victory, abundant life, and God leading us into triumph.
Matthew 16:16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
Peter was given the divine revelation of who Jesus is. Peter’s object of faith became directed at Jesus Christ when the revelation from the Father was given. Clearly if you want to walk with authority in the kingdom of God the object of your faith must be in Jesus Christ the crucified one. This new covenant based on better promises puts the authority into the believers hands.
John 1:11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
If the object of your faith is Jesus Christ Himself you are granted the right to become children of God. This was not a benefit of the Old Testament; this is exclusive to the covenant of grace and truth.
John 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 "And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
If the Son set you free from sin you are free indeed. Freedom from sin could not be fully grant under the law of Moses. It was a work temporal purifying of the flesh. Jesus offered an once and for all offering for the sins of the world. Yes a better covenant based on better promises.
Hebrews 9:14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Jesus sacrifice offers a purging in our conscience! The purging is only found if the object of our faith is correctly founded in the work of Jesus Christ. It is the exclusive way for man to be made righteous by God.
Romans 5:17 For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.
It is Jesus Christ’s obedience that brings justification of life. The object of your faith must ever be in Jesus Christ alone. The benefits of the kingdom are fully made available by the abundance of His grace. It is a better covenant based on better promises.
1 John 5:11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
This New Covenant has brought us reconciliation exclusively through Jesus Christ! The object of your faith must be in Jesus Christ alone. When the object of your faith is correct the benefits of the abundant life will flow in you and through you. Oh what a precious covenant the Father has qualified us to walk in!
Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
We have been offer peace (oneness with God) through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Hebrews 1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power,when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
This New Covenant calls us to hear the voice of Jesus and we can live abundantly!
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