Tuesday, April 8, 2014

A New Agreement with God written by Krish Fernandez



A New Agreement with God written by Krish Fernandez

The Nature of God

As disciples, it is important for us to understand the heart and nature of God. God from the very beginning of creation has always been gracious and merciful.

When we read stories in the bible about the great flood that destroyed everything and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire we are often mistaken to believe that we serve a God of judgement.

Let me take the time to show you how the God we serve is really very gracious and merciful.

Before God came to judge Sodom and Gomorrah we read about how He met Abraham, His friend. How beautiful the thought that God is interested in spending time with us and talking to us like a friend.

Before God went to judge the two nations He said: “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? (Genesis 18:17-18)

The above verse reveals to us the heart of God. The God we serve does not take pleasure in judgement. Although He has to judge sometimes, He does not enjoy it.

If God really wanted to judge the two cities, He did not have to stop and talk to Abraham about it. In fact God wanted Abraham to intercede for Sodom and Gomorrah and save them.

I think it was John Wesley who said: God will do nothing on earth except in answer to believing prayer.” It is a bible truth, that God will not do anything in the earth unless a man prays and believes. He always works through man. I believe, that Abraham through his intercession could have stopped the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

As the story goes Abraham did intercede for Sodom and Gomorrah. He began his intercession with: Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? (Genesis 18:24) and ended his intercession with: Suppose ten should be found there? (Genesis 18:32) Sadly, Abraham stopped at ten. If Abraham interceded all the way down to one, the two cities could have been saved because there was one righteous man in the area, Abraham's nephew Lot. (2 Peter 2:7)

This is the true Nature of God:

The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Psalms 103:8-12)

It is important we realize that God is not like man. He is merciful, gracious and slow to anger. Hallelujah.

The Law

In the bible, there is a period of 1500 years where God was forced to become a God of judgement. I say God was forced because, it was man in his arrogance and pride who accepted an agreement with God that left God with no other choice but exercising judgement.

The children of Israel said: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” (Exodus 19:8) 

This statement was the beginning of Israel's downfall. We should never approach God with this attitude. In simple words Israel was saying: Lord, let me earn your blessing from this day forth based on what I do.

After this, the Lord spoke to Israel through a thick cloud and gave them the 10 commandments. (Exodus 20:1-17)

The people responded by saying to Moses: “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:19)

I believe that this was not the will of God but the choice of man. God always wanted to speak to man directly. But God also treats man with dignity and respects his decisions. After receiving the 10 commandments, the children of Israel felt that they could now do it and earn the blessings of God by their performance. They saw no need to continue hearing the voice of the Lord.

From, this point on in the bible, we begin to see God as a God of judgement and wrath. People begin to die for every little sin and mistake they make. When disciples in Christ do not understand that this was an agreement that man accepted, they begin to feel like the God they serve is a God of judgement and wrath.

The truth is that the 10 commandments were never given to man for him to keep and through it be blessed by God. Even if you take the most decent and moral man in the world and give him the ten commandments to keep, he too will fall short to keep it perfectly.

The law has one and only one purpose: to bring you to your knees and make you cry out for a Savior. It will literally bring you a point where you will realize that I cannot be blessed by God apart from His mercy and grace.

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” (Romans 7:7)
Everyone who goes through the law realizes at some point or another that he has fallen short of its perfection. Most people even if they have kept everything else will fall short at "You shall not covet", because covetousness of the heart. There is nobody who can claim that they have never had a strong desire in their heart for something evil. You may have never committed adultery, but you may have coveted it. You may have have never murdered, but you may have had the strong desire to do it when you got angry with someone.

For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2:10)

The 10 commandments demands perfection and nothing less. If you stumble even in one point, you are guilty of all and worthy of the judgement and wrath of God.

A new agreement

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 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— 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. (Hebrews 8:7-9)

The Good News is that the Lord found fault with the first covenant or agreement. The first covenant spoken of here is the covenant the Lord made with Israel in the day when He took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. It is the covenant of law or the 10 commandments. Some people think that I am the one who found fault with the old agreement. The truth is that it is the Lord who found fault with it. Hallelujah.

The Lord found fault with the first agreement because it was based entirely on man's performance. The Lord was not able to bless His people because they were unable to keep the law. God did not like this arrangement because it limited His blessings. Therefore, He has made a new covenant in and through Jesus Christ that is not based on our performance but entirely on His grace and mercy.

For the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.

When you are getting into an agreement with anybody in this world, you always read the terms carefully. I exhort you to read and understand the terms of our new agreement with God with the same spirit.

For this is the covenant that I WILL make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I WILL put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I WILL be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I WILL be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I WILL remember no more.” (Hebrews 8:10-12)

It amazing how the new agreement does not have the words "YOU SHALL" and "YOU SHALL NOT". It is full of "I WILL" and "I WILL". In the new agreement, the blessing of God are not dependent on what you do but what Jesus did for you on the Cross of Calvary. Hallelujah.

In the new agreement, the Lord blesses you not because you deserve it but because of His grace and mercy.
Renewed minds and transformed hearts

Whenever a message like this is taught a question that arises is 'If God no longer relates to us based on what we do, does that mean we can live riotously and licentiously?'

My response is the same as Paul in the Book of Romans: Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in NEWNESS of life. (Romans 6:2-4)

If you read the agreement carefully, God has made provision for NEWNESS of life. When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord writes His law on our hearts and begins to put them in our minds.

The new covenant has dangerous side-effects. The more you hear about what Jesus Christ has done for you in and through the Cross and understand who you are in Christ, the more you will walk in NEWNESS of life. I say, it is dangerous because it took a sinner like me at the age of 19 and made me a bible teacher and writer. I do not say the transformation was instant, but the more the Lord puts in your mind, the more you will experience NEWNESS of life. I live holier now by accident than I ever did on purpose. The love of Christ constraints me. (2 Corinthians 5:14)

For the GRACE of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, TEACHING us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for GOOD WORKS. (Titus 2:11-14)

As a church leader we are not to teach the disciples of Jesus to deny ungodliness and worldly lust but teach them about the GRACE of God. It is the GRACE of God that teaches the disciples of Jesus to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. It is the grace of God that causes them to REIGN in life.

I will be their God

In the new agreement the Lord said: I will be their God, and they shall be My people. This is a very powerful statement. When God says He will be our God, He is saying that He will be everything that we need and much more. He will be our healer, provider, deliverer, father, protector, refuge, strength, counselor, teacher and a ever-present help in times of trouble. When He call us His people, He is saying that we are His beloved priced possession.

When the Lord told Pharaoh: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me. (Exodus 8:1), He was declaring that He was for Israel and would even fight for them if He had to.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

They shall all know me

In the new agreement, the Lord says we shall all know Him from the least of us to the greatest. The Lord is declaring that all believers in Christ can experience God in a very personal way. The Lord will teach us all through His Holy Spirit. It does not matter if you are the least, like me or the greatest like the Pope. We shall all know and experience Him intimately. In the new agreement there are no super saints. We can all walk in the FULLNESS of Christ on earth.

He remember our sins no more

The agreement ends with: For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Hallelujah.

If you ever thought that when you get to heaven, God is going play your entire life with all its mistakes on an LCD screen for you to see, you are absolutely mistaken. God has already destroyed all records of all your mistakes, failures and sins, past, present and future.

Beloved, the devil may remind you of your sins; your parents, relatives and friends may remind you of your sins; But the GOOD NEWS is that God will never ever ever ever remind you because He remembers them no more. In His eyes you are PERFECTED forever. (Hebrews 10:14) 
For the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever. 

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