Beriyth
… covenant! God made a covenant with
Abraham. This promise of God came to
control Abraham’s life. It was the
reason he left Ur of the Chaldees. Every
event in his life, every event recorded in Scripture, had something to do with
Abraham’s faith in God’s promise. Would
he trust God to give him a son by Sarah when he was 100 and she was 91? He did trust God and it was credited to him
for righteousness (Gen. 15:6). Would he
trust God to resurrect his son Isaac when he took him to the land of Moriah and
was about to plunge the knife into him?
He did trust God, and the angel of the Lord said now I know that you
fear Me!
This is a simple truth. Faith that saves a person today is called
being obedient to the faith (Rom. 1:5; 16:26). This can be seen all over Scripture. For example, in Gen. 3, God told Cain that his
offering of “the best he had” (vegetables, go figure) was not acceptable. He had to bring a blood offering. This became God’s word to him that would save
him. It was up to him as to whether or
not he would be obedient to the faith.
He chose not to trust God!
Remember OT Joseph? As a boy he had 2 dreams that became the word
of God. It was also God’s word for
Joseph’s family. Some think Joseph was
an arrogant teen that loved to rub these things in to his family. I don’t happen to think that is the case, and
the Bible does not say that it is. When
he declared the dreams he was declaring God’s word to the family that would
save them all.
It’s no different than a preacher of the
gospel today. He tells the truth of God’s
word and many people are offended by it. It is not the preachers fault when he
says, “Jesus is the only way.” That is
the message that is true. It is the
message that will save them. If they
take offense they are putting their own lives in peril. The preacher cannot change his message nor
can he stop proclaiming the message.
Either of those answers would defy the preacher’s calling; he would
become accountable for the lost state of the sinner.
We have a word from God today. It is in the Bible. It is, in essence, the message of a New
Covenant relationship with God. Let us
be controlled by this message from God.
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