029 Are You Walking In Covenant with God?

The Watchman discusses covenant versus contracts and a covenant relationship with God. The answer to the question, "Are you walking in covenant with God?" might surprise you. 

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029 Are You Walking in Covenant With God?

Welcome to The Watchman Speaks! I’m your host, Lonnie Richardson.

Growing up, my daddy always told me, “Son, when you give your word to a man you be certain to keep your word. If a man’s word is no good then the man is no good.” I remember those words, but in these days when everyone wants it in writing. Ink on paper seems to be more binding than a man’s word or his handshake. Even then, there are those who look for loopholes in the ink to sidestep their contractual agreements. I can tell you that it was not always so.

 Another thing daddy taught me was this. “Son, when you stake your claim on something, be man enough to defend your claim.” I thought, at the time, that daddy was talking about a wife, children, and a home. I thought that he was talking about land and possessions. Shows you how stupid and ignorant kids can be. 

No, what I didn’t realize at the time was that Dad was trying to teach me about covenant. A covenant is not contract. Covenant supersedes a contract. A contract, as I’ve already mentioned is a written agreement between two or more parties. That would be like a person in agreement with a loan institution and an insurance company to protect all parties interest. The insurance company is going to make money on a policy that may never be needed. However, if it is needed, then said insurance company is looking for a way to pay a minimal amount if at all. Either that or the policy is worded in such a way that they are required to pay a minimal amount. The loan institution and the person acquiring the loan are protected, to some extent, if something tragic were to happen to whatever the person had borrowed money to acquire in the first place. Those are all contracts. 

There are contracts for everything in our society. Especially in areas where money is concerned. Even the church has a legal contract with the government in which it can receive donations or tithes or gifts of giving and extend to the contributor a tax exempt status for those funds received. I’m not knocking the church. The truth is that many churches couldn’t function if the donations they received were not tax deductible. Mostly, It’s people that are looking for that tax write off under the contract with the government. Their giving is not driven by love but rather greed. Sad to say but it’s the truth.  

The Old Watchman is not under a contract with the government. Not one that I have signed anyway. Under the law of the land, I pay my taxes. Come to think of it, Jesus paid taxes.  

In Matthew 17:24-27 we read, “When they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, ‘Does your teacher (Rabbi) not pay the two-drachma tax?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ And when came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, ‘What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll tax, from their sons or from strangers?’ When Peter said, ‘From strangers,’ Jesus said to him, ‘Then the sons are exempt. However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.’” 

Forgive me for getting off point here for just a moment, but what if our government operated in this manner? Just think of it. What if the sons, those born in America, were exempt and those coming into the United States legally and illegally, were taxed instead? What if those companies who have moved their manufacturing operations, physically or contractually, to other countries to realize a greater profit paid the taxes on their foreign produced products? I assume they do pay taxes on their foreign made products. I also assume that they pay taxes on the elevated profits that are derived from those foreign made products. What do I know? Just putting that out there. Now back to the issue at hand.

You see, when Dad was telling me to keep my word to another man and when he was teaching me that if I staked a claim, to be man enough to defend the claim, he wasn’t merely teaching me to be a good man or an honorable man or even a defender of the home. No, Dad was teaching me about covenant. 

A covenant is sometimes sealed with words. Sometimes covenant was sealed with a handshake. Sometimes, a covenant is sealed with blood.

One of the first covenants that God made, if not the first, was the covenant with Noah. That is found in Genesis Chapter 9.

Genesis 9:9-17

“Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between ME and the earth. I shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it , to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. And God said to Noah, “This the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

The rainbow is the sign of a promise of God, not a sign for the privileges of the few that have hijacked the rainbow to promote their agenda.  The shame of it is that the sign of the rainbow has been forgotten as a sign of God’s covenant with the earth.

It is a covenant sealed by God’s own word and stamped with the sign of the rainbow.

It is a covenant between God and all living flesh of the earth. That’s more than one party. More were involved than just God.

If we look into Genesis 15 we see that God promised Abraham an heir to his household coming forth from Abraham’s own body and that His descendants would occupy the land promised to Abraham. This was a covenant between God and Abraham. In verse 6 of Chapter 15 we read, “Then he (Abraham) believed in the Lord; and He (God) reckoned to him as righteousness.” But the covenant was sealed with blood. The blood of a three year old heifer, a three year old female goat, a three year old ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon. It tells us that Abraham brought these before God, cutting them in two except the birds. There was blood spilled. Abraham fell into a deep sleep and terror and great darkness fell upon him. God told Abraham that his descendants would live in captivity, enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years, which they did. God told Abraham that his descendants would return and occupy the land after that and that He would judge Egypt. And, He did. 

God brought the descendants of Jacob, Israel, out of Egypt at the Lord’s Passover on the 14th day of the first month, Aviv. He did. He did so after a lamb had been slaughtered and smeared on the lentil and doorposts of Israel’s dwelling. Blood was spilled, again, to seal the promise. Later, on that same fateful date of the Passover, our Lord and Savior was crucified as the sacrificial lamb of God in our rightful place. Again, blood was spilled to seal the covenant. 

For those who denounce the Old Covenants in favor of the New Covenant, understand that many of those Old Covenants are not as yet fulfilled and that the “New Covenant” is not so new in its entirety. There are many aspects of the “New Covenant” that are very deeply rooted in Old Covenants. 

Need an example? Healing? Provision? Victory? Sound familiar within the confines of the New Covenant? Well, that’s old Covenant stuff too. Try Exodus 15 for Healing. Or maybe consider Genesis 22 and Exodus 16 for Provision. Hey, Deliverance and Victory are in Exodus 17. So much of the New Covenant is not so new as much as the New Covenant is an affirmation of the Old Covenants that are yet to be fulfilled.

What I’m getting around to is this question. Can God be in covenant with you, and you not be in covenant with God? Think about that.

Let’s look at Ezekiel. Ezekiel 20:44 (NASB95) 

  44      “Then you will know that I am the Lord when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your evil ways or according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord God.’ ” 

Or, Matthew 19:29 (NASB95) 

  29      “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.

Luke 21:12 (NASB95) 

  12      “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake.John 15:21 (NASB95) 

  21      “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.

Acts 9:16 (NASB95) 

  16      for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

Revelation 2:3 (NASB95) 

    3      and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.

Do you understand that everyone of these verses has to do with walking in Covenant with God? Could it be that walking in Covenant with God is evidenced by the world persecuting you because you are Godly instead of worldly? If so, what is it that makes you different or Godly? If you call yourself a Christian and the world can tell no difference in you from the rest of the world are you walking in Covenant with God?

Consider the seven churches in Revelation whom the Lord had John write to. Five of those Seven churches were reprimanded for not walking in covenant with God. Yet, God said granted 

Them the grace to repent and walk in true covenant. What does that mean? It means to live In obedience to God’s Word.

What does that look like?

Let’s take a trip to 2nd Timothy.

2nd Timothy 4:1-4 explains to us what we are seeing in today’s churches. “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom; preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

 This is clearly seen in many television evangelists, mega church pastors, and authors. What theypreach sounds good, it feels, good. It’s all warm and fuzzy. It’s a cotton candy gospel. They don't preach what the Bible said in Matthew 19:29, Luke 21:12, John 15:21, Acts 9:16, or Revelation 2 and 3.

But let’s back up to 2nd Timothy 3:16-17

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

What Scripture, precisely, is Paul telling Timothy about? The Bible reads that ALL Scripture. Well, what were the Scriptures that Paul was referring to? Paul was referring to the Old Testament. The Old Testament was the ONLY Scriptures available at the time. The New Testament, of which Paul wrote approximately half of, would not be considered Scriptures for another three hundred years! In writing a letter of correspondence to Timothy, Paul would never have been so bold as to consider that his writing of such a letter would ever be considered Scripture! If you study Paul’s writings closely you will find that he relies greatly on the Old Testament Scripture and prophecies.

Can God be in covenant with you, and you not be in covenant with God? Yes, that is possible. 

My next question is, “Why would you not want to walk in covenant with God?” I’ll ask it again. “Why would you not want to walk in covenant with God?”

Let’s go back to what Paul told Timothy in 2nd Timothy 3:16-17.

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped forevery good work.”

ALL Scripture is inspired by God. ALL Scripture is profitable. Profitable for what? For teaching. People now days get bent out of shape when the Law is mentioned. They instantly assume that whenever the LAW is mentioned that it means that righteousness is obtained by the LAW. 

Certainly, righteousness is NOT obtained by the Law. If it were so, then Jesus died needlessly. However, the LAW or Torah is not to be brushed aside without consideration. The root word for Torah is “yarah” which is a Hebrew verb meaning to point out, to instruct, to lay a foundation. 

Therefore, ALL Scripture is profitable for teaching.

 Likewise, ALL Scripture is profitable for reproof and correction. Why would that be? Could it be that ALL Scripture is for pointing out, or instruction as to how we should live? Let’s go further.

ALL Scripture is profitable for training in righteousness. Notice it says “TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS” not OBTAINING righteousness. Two entirely different things there. We obtain righteousness through Jesus Christ but we are trained in righteousness by Scripture. ALL SCRIPTURES. 

God is in Covenant with us when He provided the sacrificial Lamb of God for our benefit. So, how then, are we in Covenant with God if there is no standard of measurement for us to live in covenant with God? The truth is that we can’t. However, the truth is that we do have a standard of measurement by which we live in covenant with God. It’s His Holy Word. ALL of His Holy Word.

Covenants are sometimes conditional. 

Exodus 15:26

“And He said, “IF you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD am your healer.”

 Notice that itty bitty word “IF”? IF you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God. IF you do what is right in His sight. IF you give ear to His commandments, IF you keep HIS statutes. THEN He will not put on you the diseases He put upon the Egyptians. 

It is that small word “IF” that so many Christians have difficulty with. That word “IF” indicates that there is something expected of the believer. Most Christians want a one sided covenant where nothing is expected of them but all the weight of the covenant rests on God.

Most of the time God does not work that way. Consider, 2nd Chronicles 7:14. “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

That sounds like there is something expected from us on our part for God to keep His part. For the most part, Christians want to whine and cry, “OH GOD! If YOU would just do this THEN I’ll do that.” I am afraid that in God’s covenants that God has already done all that He has to do and to take that further, I’m certain that He has done all He’s going to do until we keep our end of the bargain.

“But wait! I’m under grace!” I’m so glad that I heard you screaming. Let’s look at that.

What you say is true. We are under grace, but we are not under grace to continue in our conscious, knowledgeable, repetitive sin. Hebrews tells us that to continue to do so after obtaining the knowledge of truth is a fearful thing for there is no longer a sacrifice to atone for the sin. To do so is to regard the blood of Christ unclean and insult the Spirit of Grace.

To walk in covenant with God is to know God and His ways, His times, and His seasons. Whether you want to believe it or not, there are expectations of us even after salvation and acquiring. righteousness.

So, what is expected of us?

When we receive salvation and are made righteous, we are expected to be trained in that righteousness. How do we do that?

What did Paul tell Timothy in 3:16-17?

ALL Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, reproof, rebuke, FOR TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS! 

WHY?

So that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 

If you are not learning, being reproofed, corrected by the Scriptures then I suggest that you may not be walking in covenant with God. If you are not being CORRECTED by the scripture I’d say that you are not walking in covenant with God.

I heard a pastor say once. “No one corrects me!” Umm Umm Umm. Foolish man. 

God may very well be in covenant with you. Are you in covenant with God?

I am The Old Watchman Ezekiel. You have been warned.

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