Keeping Covenant

---PITCH THIS WEDNESDAY:

“THIS is the WEEK to COME”---

-----------------

-----------------

TURN to 2 SAM…21...

OPEN in PRAYER

-----------------

-----------------

INTRO: “FAITHFUL TO YOUR PROMISE?”

I’M SURE WE’VE ALL HAD a TIME WHERE WE’VE MADE a PROMISE & FAILED....

BLUEY: “PROMISES”

PROMISE for LIBRARY—LIBRARY ENDS UP CLOSED

OFFENDED KID

HYPOCRISY: KID BROKE PROMISE to MOM…

DAD CONCLUDES: NO MORE PROMISES!

OTHER KID: “BUT YOU PROMISED YOU’D ALWAYS LOVE US!”

-----------------

PROMISES = DIFFICULT...

THINGS OUTSIDE of OUR CONTROL...

OUR OWN IMPERFECTIONS...

BIBLICALLY: WE SEE TERMS LIKE:

SWEARING an OATH

ENTERING INTO COVENANT

CONTRACT W/ ANOTHER PARTY

GLORIFIED FORMS of PROMISES

-----------------

HOW MUCH DO OUR PROMISES MATTER to GOD?

DOES GOD REALLY CARE IF WE TAKE THESE THINGS LIGHTLY?

HOW IMPORTANT is IT THAT WE HOLD to OUR END of an AGREEMENT??

NEED: AND SO, THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WE NEED THIS TEXT TODAY,

FOR IT WILL SHOW US TO WHAT EXTENT THESE THINGS MATTER TO GOD.

(T) I WANT YOU TO KEEP THIS MIND AS WE BEGIN TODAY, BUT BEFORE WE BEGIN, I WANT TO OFFER A QUICK RECAP TO THOSE WHO WEREN’T HERE LAST WEEK.

🐢🐢🐢 --- 36 minutes left---🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

RECAP: THE FUTILITY OF FIGHTING

LAST WEEK:

GREAT, FINAL REBELLION AGAINST DAVID AS KING OF ISRAEL.

-----------------

ABSALOM DEAD

DAVID = REINSTALLED

MOMENT of PEACE

DAVID CROSSES JORDAN INTO LAND of ISRAEL

ISRAEL (NORTH) = JEALOUS,, JUDAH = MAIN FORCE in WELCOMING PARTY

DISPUTE ENSUES...

SHEBA,, “WORTHLESS MAN” CAPITALIZES on DIVISION…

LEADS REBELLION of ISRAELITES.

-----------------

ONCE AGAIN:

KINGDOM of DAVID SEEMED UP FOR GRABS

DIVIDED NATION

-----------------

CAN’T FORGET: DAVID WAS GOD’S CHOSEN

----->> UNTIL GOD WAS DONE WITH HIM, YOU WOULDN’T BE SEEING THE END OF KING DAVID.

SHEBA BECAME the NEXT in LINE of DEFEATED FOES...

-----------------

Learned for Us:

SECURITY of GOD’S PROMISE = GREAT SOURCE of HOPE

DAVID’S KINGDOM LOOKED HOPELESS....

BUT GOD WAS FAITHFUL...

FOR TODAY:

GOD’S KINGDOM-AGENDA WILL BE FULFILLED

GATES of HELL WON’T PREVAIL AGAINST CHURCH.

(T) AND SO, NOW THAT THE KINGDOM = STABLE ONCE AGAIN,

WHERE’S OUR TEXT TURN NEXT?

LOOK W/ ME @ 2 SAMUEL… CH.. 21… VS. 1...

THE TEXT SAYS,

🐢🐢🐢 --- 34 minutes left---🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

TEXT: 2 SAMUEL 21:1-14 ESV

SETTING (V1)

2 Samuel 21:1–14 (ESV)

1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

UNUSUAL CHANGE of SCENERY...

AFTER CONCLUDING LIST of PPL FROM LAST WEEK… IT APPEARS CH. 21-24 RECAP LARGE PORTIONS of DAVID’S REIGN

CHRONOLOGY = UNSURE...

EVENTS in TODAY’S TEXT,, LIKELY TOOK PLACE EARLIER in NARRATIVE.

IN CLOSING SERIES… WE NOW SEE a FINAL SYNOPSIS of KINGDOM-LIFE UNDER DAVID.

-----------------

TEXT BEGINS W/ PROBLEM

FAMINE in LAND for (3 YEARS!)

DAVID HAS PROBLEM… TAKES PROBLEM to GOD

-----------------

ONE BAD HARVEST… EH

3 YEARS of NO HARVEST… = MAJOR PROBLEM.

PROBLEM = BLOODGUILT ON THE HOUSE OF SAUL.

WRONG NEEDS ATONEMENT:

LAND = POLLUTED BY INNOCENT BLOOD...

NUMBERS 35... BLOOD MUST BE REPAID W/ BLOOD

OTHERWISE it DEFILES the LAND

AFTER YEARS—THINGS = COMING to HEAD,,

GOD REVEALS the PROBLEM

(T) BUT WHY DO THE GIBEONITES MATTER ANYWAYS?

WHAT GUILT IS THERE FOR ALL OF THIS?

LOOK W/ ME @ VS. 2...

THE TEXT SAYS,

🐢🐢🐢 --- 31 minutes left---🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

Inciting Incident (v2)

2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.

· APPARENTLY SOMETIME SAUL HAD ATTACKED THE GIBEONITES.

**EVENTS AREN’T RECORDED in SCRIPTURE APART FROM HERE

-----------------

WE GET HINT of PROBLEM in V.2....

ISRAEL HAD SWORN to SPARE GIBEONITES.... SO SAUL WAS BREAKING COVENANT!!

SAUL W/ NATIONAL ZEAL,,

NOT BIBLICAL ZEAL,,

NOT GODLY ZEAL…

ATTACKS a PROTECTED PEOPLE...

-----------------

WE HAVE to GO BACK in TIME & SEE 2 THINGS

ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

JOSHUA’S COVENANT W/ GIBEONITES

-----------------

GOD PROMISED to ABRAHAM’S DESCENDANTS a LAND… “PROMISED LAND”

REMEMBER,, ABRAHAM = FATHER of ISAAC, GRAND-FATHER of JACOB/ISRAEL...

ANCESTOR of ALL ISRAEL

DESCENDANTS WERE GIVEN the LAND of CANAAN

Genesis 15:18–21 (ESV)

18b “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,

19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

MOSES & EXODUS?? —>> HEADING to PROMISED LAND

JOSHUA & JERICHO?? —>> PROMISED LAND

-----------------

JOSHUA = MOSES SUCCESSOR,, GOD-GIVEN MISSION WAS to TAKE the LAND

LAND THAT WAS GIVEN BY GOD.

IN FULFILLMENT of ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

YOU TRACKING??

-----------------

DURING CONQUEST… GIBEONITES COME to JOSHUA ((READ in JOSH. CH. 9))

KNEW THEY WERE on LOSING SIDE.... YAHWEH = GREATEST of ALL gods

INHABITANTS of PROMISED LAND…PRETENDING to BE FOREIGNORS

THEY CLAIMED....WHEN WE LEFT HOME:

BREAD = WARM & FRESH...NOW IT’S DRY

WINESKINS = NEW....NOW THEY’VE BURST

FURTHERMORE: GARMENTS & SANDALS = WORE OUT!!

-----------------

JOSHUA & ISRAEL FALL FOR IT

MADE PEACE & ENTERED INTO COVENANT

PROMISED to SPARE THEM

SWORE BY YAHWEH

WHEN THEY FOUND OUT ABOUT DECEPTION:

GIBEONITES BECAME SERVANTS

WOOD-CUTTERS & WATER-DRAWERS...

IN THEIR EYES: BEING a LIVING SERVANT IS BETTER THAN BEING A DEAD FREEMAN.

-----------------

COVENANT BETWEEN ISRAEL & GIBEON WAS FOREVER...

BUT APPARENTLY SAUL GOES BACK on ISRAEL’S PROMISE

ISRAEL MIGHT HAVE BEEN TRICKED…BUT YOU DON’T GO BACK on COVENANT.

-----------------

-----------------

HEBREW IDIOM: CUTTING COVENANT

CUTTING ANIMAL in HALF

PASSING BETWEEN

IF WE BREAK THIS COVENANT....“MAY WE BE AS THIS ANIMAL”

-----------------

(Q) DO YOU SEE THAT GOD CARES ABOUT COVENANTAL-PROMISES???

DECADES,, CENTURIES? LATER…GOD BRINGS ABOUT JUDGMENT on ISRAEL FOR a BROKEN PROMISE!!

—>> EVEN THOUGH it WAS a COVENANT HE DIDN’T WANT FOR THEM!

THE PEOPLE DIDN’T ASK GOD ABOUT IT

IT WAS AGAINST GOD’S PLAN

YET COVENANT WAS MORE IMPORTANT

“IF YOU SWORE YOU’D SPARE the GIBEONITES…THEN YOU’D BETTER SPARE THEM.”

(T) AND SO, WE’VE GOT A PROBLEM ON OUR HANDS.

IS THERE ANY SOLUTION TO BE FOUND?

LOOK WITH ME AT VERSE 3. THE TEXT SAYS,

🐢🐢🐢 --- 23 minutes left---🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

RISING ACTION (V3-6)

3 And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?”

4 The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?”

5 They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel,

6 let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

DAVID SEES PROBLEM

ISRAEL = GUILTY for BREAKING COVENANT

-----------------

DAVID GOES to GIBEONITES: “HOW CAN WE MAKE THINGS RIGHT?”

THEY WANT NO MONEY

THEY WANT to HANG/IMPALE 7 SONS/DESCENDANTS of SAUL

Numbers 35:33–34 (ESV)

33 You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

34 You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”

NORMALLY— SONS DON’T DIE FOR SINS of FATHERS...

BUT SAUL = DIFFERENT…KING of ISRAEL,, HE’S a REPRESENTATIVE of WHOLE NATION...

DALE DAVIS: “THE OFFENCE ITSELF WAS NATIONAL AS OPPOSED TO INDIVIDUAL, FOR THE COVENANT WITH GIBEON (JOSH. 9) WAS SWORN BY ISRAEL’S LEADERS ON BEHALF OF THE WHOLE PEOPLE.” [1]

FURTHERMORE,, SAUL WASN’T AROUND ANYMORE to REPAY IT AS HE SHOULD HAVE.

-----------------

HANGED MAN = CURSED BY GOD… ACCORDING to DEUTERONOMY

PUBLIC DENOUNCEMENT & SHAME

CURSED

BLOOD WOULD REPAY the INNOCENT BLOOD SHED...

LAND WOULD BE FREED

(T) AND SO HOW DOES THIS TURN OUT?

LOOK W/ ME @ VS 7...

THE TEXT SAYS,

🐢🐢🐢 --- 20 minutes left---🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

CLIMAX (V7-9)

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

8 The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite;

9 and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.

CAN’T MISS:

FAMINE CAME ABOUT—BECAUSE of BROKEN COVENANT

BUT DAVID KEEPS COVENANT

MULTIPLE TIMES,, DAVID COULD’VE HAD MEPHIBOSHETH KILLED

BACKGROUND: NEW KINGS WOULD KILL OLD KING’S DESCENDANTS...

NO COMPETITION

-----------------

BUT DAVID & JONATHAN HAD ENTERED INTO COVENANT WITH ONE ANOTHER.

DAVID FLEEING FOR LIFE

JONATHAN HELPED

“BE GOOD to MY DESCENDANTS”

DAVID MADE COVENANT in DESPERATION…BUT NEVER FAILED to UPHOLD IT!!

1ST in CHAPTER 9…DAVID SPARED MEPHIBOSHETH—SHOWING “KINDNESS of GOD to HIM”

MEPHIBOSHETH = SPARED AGAIN in 2 SAM 19...

**AGAIN UNSURE of CHRONOLOGY,, BUT HERE AGAIN,, MEPHIBOSHETH = SPARED...

-----------------

DAVID GIVES UP 7 DESCENDANTS of SAUL…PERFECT TIME to GET RID of MEPHIBOSHETH...

DAVID KEEPS COVENANT,, FOR HE is the COVENANT-KEEPING KING...

YET 7 DESCENDANTS of SAUL = PUNISHED for SIN of SAUL...

(T) AND NOW, OUR TEXT IS GOING TO CLOSE IN VERSES 10 THROUGH 14.

THE SCRIPTURE SAYS,

🐢🐢🐢 --- 15 minutes left---🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

RESOLUTION & CONCLUSION (V10-14)

10 Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night.

11 When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done,

12 David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa.

13 And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged.

14 And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land.

ONE of MOST HORRIFIC SCENES in the BIBLE...

7 DESCENDANTS of SAUL HUNG/IMPALED on DISPLAY

MOTHER of 2 COMES to GUARD THEIR BODIES...

SHE COULDN’T SPARE THEM…BUT SHE DOES WHAT SHE COULD.

KEEPING ANIMALS OFF

BIRDS BY DAY

BEASTS BY NIGHT...

-----------------

A HORRIBLE SCENE…BUT ONE WE DON’T WANT to PRETTY UP

DALE DAVIS: “THE TEXT SAYS ATONEMENT IS HORRIBLE, IT IS GORY. ATONEMENT IS NEVER NICE BUT ALWAYS GRUESOME.”[1]

RIZPAH = ON GUARD UNTIL RAIN CAME...

BARLEY HARVEST BEGAN AROUND APRIL,, POSSIBLY IT RAINED in EARLY SUMMER…MAIN RAIN CAME in NOVEMBER...

+ THERE WAS a FAMINE (NO RAIN)

THIS MOTHER = FENDING OFF ANIMALS for DAYS, WEEKS, POSSIBLY MONTHS!!

DEUT. 21....A HANGED MAN WAS SUPPOSED to be TAKEN DOWN the SAME DAY…BECAUSE THEY WERE CURSED.

FOR SOME REASON,, THESE MEN REMAINED on STAKES for DAYS at MINIMUM...

--EXTRA STATEMENT of CURSE--

-----------------

WHEN DAVID HEARS of HER WORK

GIVES MEN PROPER BURIAL ALONGSIDE SAUL & JONATHAN’S BONES...

CLOSING: GOD RESPONDS to PLEA & FAMINE is LIFTED...

(T) AND SO, WE CAN LEARN FROM THIS PASSAGE TODAY, THE IDEA THAT,

🐢🐢🐢 --- 11 minutes left---🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

HOMILETICAL IDEA:

GOD TAKES COVENANTAL OBLIGATIONS SERIOUSLY AND THE SIN OF BREACHING COVENANT IS A BIG DEAL IN THE EYES OF GOD.

GOSPEL: CURSED IS THE ONE WHO IS HANGED ON A TREE

WHY is GOD PARTICULAR ABOUT HOW HIS PEOPLE KEEP COVENANTS,, PROMISES,, ETC.??

—>> BECAUSE GOD = A GOD WHO MAKES COVENANT...

-----------------

WEDNESDAY NIGHTS,, WE’RE STUDYING COVENANTS (AMONGST OTHER THINGS)

NOAHIC COVENANT

ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

MOSAIC COVENANT

DAVIDIC COVENANT

GOD DOESN’T JUST MAKE COVENANTS,, HE PERFECTLY KEEPS HIS SIDE of the DEAL!!

FAITHFULNESS of GOD = THREAD WOVEN THROUGHOUT SCRIPTURE....

GOD = ALWAYS FAITHFUL to COVENANT

GOD MADE ONE FINAL COVENANT

Hebrews 1:1–2 (ESV)

2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

IN O.T. GOD HAD PROMISED a NEW COVENANT

NEW COVENANT CAME THROUGH the BLOOD of HIS SON.

-----------------

WHEN WE TAKE COMMUNION.... WE’RE REMINDED the COVENANT CAME THROUGH BLOOD...

TODAY’S TEXT SHOWS SEVERITY of SIN

ATONEMENT WOULDN’T BE MADE WITHOUT BLOOD...

NUMBERS 35: LAND WOULDN’T BE ATONED FOR EXCEPT BY BLOOD of PERPETRATOR...

AGAIN....DALE DAVIS REMINDS US: “THE TEXT SAYS ATONEMENT IS HORRIBLE, IT IS GORY. ATONEMENT IS NEVER NICE BUT ALWAYS GRUESOME.”[2]

-----------------

WE CAN’T LOSE SIGHT of HOW SERIOUS SIN IS

& HOW MUCH IT COST OUR SAVIOR

THE PICTURE of a GRIEVING MOTHER W/ SACKCLOTH

LOOKING @ SONS WHO WERE HANGED/IMPALED on A STAKE

FENDING ANIMALS OFF their ROTTING BODIES

SHOWS US SIN is SERIOUS...

LET’S NOT LOSE SIGHT THAT the SON of GOD WAS CRUCIFIED,, HUNG to DIE,,

GOD SAID THAT a HANGED MAN = CURSED...

& THE SON of GOD...BECAME a CURSE FOR US…(GAL. 3:13)

THIS is HOW SERIOUS SIN IS!

THIS is HOW MESSY ATONEMENT IS!

-----------------

***WE TRY & PRETTY UP the CROSS...

NICELY CONSTRUCTED @ FRONT of SANCTUARY

SILVER or OTHER METAL…AROUND OUR NECKS...

WE TAKE AWAY the BLOOD

TAKE AWAY the SUFFERING

TAKE AWAY the TORTURE of the CROSS...

LET’S HAVE the HORROR of RIZPAH.....REMIND US of the HORRORS of the CROSS....

ATONEMENT ISN’T MADE EASILY...

-----------------

SIN = INCREDIBLY SERIOUS....

SIN = AGAINST an ETERNAL GOD....

REQUIRED an ETERNAL SOLUTION...

SIN NOT PAID FOR BY ETERNAL SON of GOD,, WILL BE PAID FOR ETERNALLY BY THOSE WHO HAVE REJECTED HIM...

-----------------

BUT GOD MADE a WAY FOR US

TO BE SPARED FROM SIN’S PENALTY that WE RIGHTFULLY DESERVE

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

DEATH = WHAT WE DESERVE

BUT GOD GRANTS US a FREE GIFT...

IT ONLY HAS to BE RECEIVED THROUGH FAITH…

SALVATION = FREE GIFT,, BY GOD’S GRACE.

COULDN’T EARN IT…DESERVE IT…WORK FOR IT...

WHEN WE WERE HOPELESS, CHRIST PAID OUR DEBT,, SUFFERED in OUR PLACE...

SO WE COULD BE PARTAKERS of a NEW & BETTER COVENANT...

SO THAT WE COULD BE FORGIVEN...

-----------------

AND IF YOU ARE HERE TODAY AND YOU DON’T HAVE HOPE,

OR YOU DON’T HAVE ASSURANCE,

OR YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING MATTERS OF FAITH,

I’D LOVE TO TALK TO YOU AFTER THE SERVICE TODAY.

(T) AND NOW, IN CLOSING, I’D LIKE TO SHARE A FEW TAKEAWAYS WITH YOU ALL AND SOMETHING FOR YOU TO TAKE INTO THIS WEEK.

🐢🐢🐢 --- 5 minutes left---🐢🐢🐢

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

TAKEAWAYS:

LEARN ABOUT GOD?

PASSAGE TEACHES the “UNRELENTING JUSTICE OF GOD.”

JUST BECAUSE SIN is OLD DOESN’T MEAN IT’S FORGOTTEN...

SIN IS EITHER FORGIVEN & FORGOTTEN,,

OR IT’S REMEMBERED & the OFFENSE STANDS...

GOD DOESN’T BRUSH OLD SINS UNDER the RUG...

THEY MUST BE ATONED FOR...

SIN = ALWAYS PAID FOR,,

BY the PERPETRATOR...

OR BY a SUBSTITUTE...

-----------------

-----------------

(T) AND FOR US??

APP: COVENANT-FAITHFULNESS

WE SEE IN TODAY’S TEXT…HOW MUCH GOD VALUES COVENANT.

REMEMBER: GOD = A COVENANT-KEEPING…FAITHFUL GOD...

IF WE’RE TO BE HIS PEOPLE,,

HE DESIRES US to KEEP OUR PROMISES/OATHS/COVENANTS...

(Q) HOW WELL DO YOU FOLLOW THROUGH on YOUR WORD?

YOUR PROMISE?

YOUR OATHS?

YOUR COVENANT?

-----------------

MIGHT BE SAYING: I DON’T HAVE MUCH to DO W/ COVENANT...

I. IF YOU’RE SAVED,, YOU’VE ENTERED INTO COVENANT W/ ALMIGHTY GOD...

PARTAKER of NEW COVENANT!

YOU SAID JESUS WAS YOUR LORD!

YOUR BOSS, YOUR NEW AUTHORITY in LIFE...

WE’RE NOT SAVED BY OUR OBEDIENCE,, BUT CHRIST’S.....

NEVERTHELESS,, HOW WELL DO YOU LIVE UNDER HIS LORDSHIP??

--->>> IS HE TRULY LORD?

OR JUST A BUDDY, OR AN OLD FRIEND....YOU CALL DURING YOUR TIME OF NEED?

-----------------

II. SECOND COVENANT,, MANY HAVE ENTERED is MARRIAGE...

**IF YOU’RE MARRIED,, YOU’VE ENTERED INTO COVENANT W/ ANOTHER HUMAN in the SIGHT of GOD...

(Q) HOW WELL DO YOU HOLD DO YOUR SIDE of the COVENANT??

-----------------

COVENANT BEFORE GOD— TILL DEATH DO WE PART...

BUT SO MANY PEOPLE LIVE:

“TILL WE CHANGE, AS ALL PEOPLE DO,

AND BECAUSE OF CHANGES WE DO PART”

“TILL WE HAVE PROBLEMS, AS ALL PEOPLE DO,

AND BECAUSE OF PROBLEMS WE DO PART”

“TILL WE’RE BORED,

AND BECAUSE OF OUR BOREDOM WE DO PART.”

“TILL WE DISAGREE,

AND BECAUSE OF DISAGREEMENTS WE DO PART.”

“TILL WE’RE BROKE,

AND BECAUSE OF MONEY FIGHTS WE DO PART.”

OR “TILL WE DON’T LOOK AS GOOD ON THE OUTSIDE AS WE USED TO,

AND BECAUSE THERE’S SOMEONE ELSE OUT THERE THAT’S BETTER LOOKING, WE DO PART.”

***WHAT HAPPENED TO, “TILL DEATH, WE DO PART?”

IT’S a COVENANT.

BEFORE GOD.

& GOD CARES ABOUT HOW WE TREAT COVENANT.

**GOD DOES OFFER BIBLICAL DISSOLUTION....BUT THAT’S NEVER THE IDEAL.

-----------------

IF GOD = A COVENANT-KEEPING FAITHFUL GOD....

AND WE ARE HIS PEOPLE...

WE OUGHT to BE THOSE WHO ARE RELIABLE in KEEPING COVENANT...

IT’S the COVENANT THAT MATTERS.

-----------------

SO WE OUGHT to STRIVE,, BY the GRACE of GOD...

TO ALWAYS KEEP OUR WORD.

TO KEEP OUR PROMISES & OATHS

AND ABOVE ALL ELSE,,

BE FAITHFUL to the COVENANTS WE’VE ENTERED INTO in GOD’S SIGHT...

FOR COVENANT is a BIG DEAL to GOD…AMEN?

LET’S PRAY.