We humans sure have a knack for messing things up, don’t we?!  I tried to avoid the Casey Anthony trial at all costs, but I broke down last week at the gym when I turned on the TV at the machine I was using and saw these words: “Breaking News: Sentencing To Come Any Minute.”  I decided to watch while working out, but I never made it to the actual sentencing because of all the legal maneuvering on both sides.  It made for a very long and boring workout!  All of the legalese reminded me of my three months on a grand jury a few years back. I was reminded of some of the horrific cases we were exposed to.  My time on the grand jury reinforced a deep theological truth I was taught early on in my Christian upbringing: we humans sure have a knack for messing things up.

I’m leading my congregation on an overview of the story of God and the story of God’s people in the Bible – because in all reality, it’s our story too.  A couple of weeks ago, we saw that the story of Cain (Adam and Eve’s son who killed brother) demonstrates clearly that humans – after the fall – have a terrible capacity to misdirect their lives.  Sadly, this is still true to this day.  Throughout the history of God’s people (beginning in the Old Testament), we have been stuck in a vicious cycle of sin, and unfortunately, this cycle continues with us.  But as we will see (and as we know from our own experience as well) God is faithful – even when we aren’t.  Are there consequences for our unfaithfulness?  Yes, as we will see.  But through it all, God remains faithful.

We pick up the story in Exodus 25 where God gives Moses instructions for the building of the tabernacle, which will be a portable sanctuary where God’s presence will reside with His people as they move toward the Promised Land.  As we have seen from the beginning, God has always intended to be present with His people, and the tabernacle is proof of this for the Israelites.  And because worship of God is what His people should be all about, God goes into great detail to describe exactly how He wants the tabernacle to look.  The great detail laid out in Exodus shows that the worship of God is not something that should be taken lightly by His people.  God continues to be faithful to His people by blessing them with His presence as they journey to the Promised Land…but His people do not reciprocate.

Golden Calf

In Exodus 32:1-4 we read, When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.  And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

In an unthinkable act of rebellion and faithlessness, God’s people directly violated the first two commandments that they had just been given by the Lord: 1) You shall have no other gods before me. 2) You shall not make for yourself a carved image.  God had been so faithful to His people.  He had freed them from slavery, set them on their way to their own land, and promised to dwell among them via the tabernacle, but they were not faithful in return. And this is our story too. God is faithful – even when we’re not.

God’s anger burned against His people for their betrayal. Three thousand people perished at the swords of the Levites, and God sent a plague on the rest of the people for their sin. The consequences were devastating, BUT the Lord forgave them of their sin and renewed His covenant with them once again. And God said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.” (Exodus 34:10)  In spite of the people’s sin, God makes good on His promise to be present with them even after their great betrayal with the golden calf.

Self-Confidence Leads To A Devastating Defeat at Ai

Moses dies, and Joshua is placed in charge of leading God’s people into the land that God promised their forefathers.  The conquest begins with God renewing His promise and covenant with His people.  He tells them that if they are faithful to Him and His word that they will be successful in their conquest and will be prosperous in the land.  But, after God’s great victory at mighty Jericho, the people get confident and apathetic toward the Lord and decide to take on the next battle at tiny Ai on their own.  They don’t wait for God’s strategy; instead they pursue their own strategy and attack, and in so doing, they suffer an astonishing loss of life.  Their disobedience cost them (as it does with us)…but God was still faithful.  They repented, He forgave them, and they eventually conquered Ai – this time under His direction.

Over time, Israel becomes established in the land that God promised them. God leads them to mighty victory after victory, and they gain more and more land, but Judges 2:12 reveals where the hearts of the people were after much of the conquest was over: They abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. The cycle of sin and rebellion, repentance and forgiveness continued – even after ALL that the Lord had done for them. Because of this, they experience the hand of discipline from the Lord, but we also see that the Lord does not give up on them – nor does He give up on us in spite of our sin and rebellion.

Rejection of God As King

God appoints judges through whom He rules and leads His people. Some judges are good. Some are not. Sometimes the people listen to the judges. Sometimes they don’t…but God remains faithful to His people. His presence remains with them, and He continues to bless them – so that they will be a blessing to others.  But, the book of Judges closes with these sad words:  In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25)

In 1 Samuel, we’re introduced to the last judge: Samuel.  He’s the last judge because the people of God decide they no longer want to be ruled by judges…they want a king – just like everyone else.  Instead of recognizing God as their king and submitting to His rule through the judges He appoints, they decide they want a human king so that they will be like all the other nations around them.  Shockingly, God tells Samuel to let the people have what they want.  However, He tells Samuel to warn the people of what a human king will do to them.  Samuel does, but even after his dire warning recorded in 1 Samuel 8:10-18, the people persist in their desire for a king.  So, God agrees to give them what they want – on one condition: He chooses the king.  God’s faithfulness is evident amidst the unfaithfulness of His people in that when God chooses Saul to be king, He places His Spirit in him.  God gives the people what they want even though He knows that it will be bad for them…and then He still blesses them by filling their human king with His Spirit!  God truly is faithful to us – even when we’re not.

David and Solomon: The Unfaithfulness Grows

As the children’s Bible I used to read to my kids so pithily states, “Saul started off as a good king, but he quickly became bad.” That pretty much sums up Saul in a nutshell.  His disobedience led to God removing His Spirit from Him and placing it in a small shepherd boy named David.  After years of fighting off King Saul’s murderous attempts, King David assumes the throne.  He was a more faithful king than Saul, but he did not obey the Lord as He was instructed.  He had multiple wives and committed adultery which led to murder.  The Lord declared that the “sword shall never depart” from his house, and because of David’s sin, his family was riddled with strife.

His son, Solomon, followed as the next king, and even though he came from a family where the sword would never depart, God was faithful to Israel and unified them under his reign.  During Solomon’s tenure as king, there was a cohesive government in place, peace ruled the land, and a temple for the Lord was built.  However, the problem was that Israel was supposed to draw all other nations to God, but under Solomon’s rule, Israel seemed more interested in national pride and building their empire than in drawing other nations to the Lord.  Solomon also fulfilled Samuel’s warning from 1 Samuel 8 that the king would “take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work.”  In 1 Kings 5:13-14 we read, King Solomon drafted forced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men. And he sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in shifts. They would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the draft. Solomon lived in excess and forced God’s people to serve him. Rather than trusting in the Lord, Solomon made alliances with foreign kings (and foreign women) to secure Israel’s safety.

Through It All, God Is Still Faithful

King Solomon was unfaithful to God in many ways, yet God remained faithful to His people.  During Solomon’s reign, he oversaw the building of the Lord’s temple, and eventhough faithlessness to the Lord was rampant in Israel under his rule, notice what happened once the temple was completed: When the priests came out of the Holy Place, and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. (2 Chronicles 5:11-14)

God STILL blessed His people with His presence!  His design from the beginning has been to dwell among His people, and even in the midst of their devastating unfaithfulness, He was still faithful.  This is the God we serve.  He still desires to be with His people – so much so that He came and lived among us in the form of Jesus Christ – Immanuel, God with us.   While we were yet sinners, Christ came. While we were yet sinners, Christ lived.  While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  While we were yet sinners, Christ arose.  While we were yet sinners, Christ redeemed us.  While we were yet sinners, God sent His Spirit to fill us and live in and thru us.

God has always been faithful to His people – even when they’re not.  And He’s faithful to us today – even when we’re not.  This is His story…and it’s ours too!

“Judge (condemn) not, that you be not judged (condemned). ² For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.  Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:1-5

Judging and condemning one another is standard operating procedure for most.  It’s an American pastime.  So, if followers of Christ are supposed to refrain from judging and condemning one another, then we need to be told how to stop.  From Jesus’ words above, I believe He gives us three very good and practical ideas on how we can stop condemning one another.

1. Recognize that to the extent we do (or don’t do) something, it will be done (or not done) to us by the Lord.

This is what I like to call the Reciprocal Principle of the Kingdom. Jesus makes it very clear in Matthew 6 that if we forgive one another, then we will be forgiven by the Lord.  If we don’t, we won’t be forgiven by Him.  In Luke 6, Jesus again shows how this principle works.  He says, “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”  Recognizing that we will be condemned by the Lord if we condemn others ought to give us good reason to stop.

2. Recognize that we are often guilty of that which we condemn others for.

Theologian John Stott profoundly says, “Human beings unhappily possess an inbred proclivity to mix ignorance of themselves with arrogance toward others.  We have a fatal tendency to exaggerate the faults of others and minimize the gravity of our own.  We seem to find it impossible, when comparing ourselves with others, to be strictly impartial and objective.”  Jesus may have been being a bit light-hearted when he used the log/speck analogy, but there’s nothing light about it.  How can we condemn others when our sin is often so much more heinous than the sin of the one we are condemning.  Recognizing this truth will go a long way in helping us to stop.

3. Recognize that our self-examination must result in mercy toward others.

Jesus says in Luke 6 that citizens of God’s Kingdom are to “be merciful even as your Father is merciful.”  How can we not be merciful to others when we begin to fathom the unfathomable amount of mercy that the Lord has poured out on us?  As we realize that the Lord loves and forgives us even in light of the huge log of sin we possess, then the speck of sin possessed by our brother or sister in the Lord suddenly doesn’t look so bad.  We may need to address his or her sin in order to bring about their restoration before the Lord, but it should be done in a spirit of gentleness and mercy.  The Apostle Paul reminds us that “if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”  Understanding the mercy we have received from the Lord ought to kill any inclination to condemn others for their sin.

So…enough with the condemnation.  Bring on November 3rd!

Here is the continuation of the last post exploring the parallels between the “Cities of Refuge” in the Old Testament and Jesus, our refuge, today.

4. The cities of refuge were stocked with food and other necessities, and likewise, the Lord provides us with everything we need.

These cities were fully stocked and fully prepared to take care of the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of those who ran to them. Surely the person who ran to these cities for refuge would be hungry and thirsty, they would be frantic and scared, and surely they would be in need of spiritual counsel and prayer. And these cities were fully prepared to handle any need that these people had.

In the same way that these cities were stocked and prepared to meet the needs of those seeking refuge, so too is the Lord, our refuge.  Francis Schaeffer says: Jesus’ death in space-time history is completely adequate to meet our need for refuge from true moral guilt which we have.  It is final because of who He is. We are safe and free from the penalty and power of death in Christ.

And not only is He able to meet our spiritual need for a Savior, but He also is able to take care of our physical, mental, and emotional needs as well. Philippians 4:19  And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

God owns it all, He controls it all, and He is ready and willing to provide for His children everything they need through Christ. In Matthew 7:11, Jesus says: If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! The cities of refuge had everything desperate people needed, and so too does our Lord.  He is able and willing to give us everything we need.

5. If a person did not flee to the cities of refuge, there was no help for him.  Likewise, if we do not run to the Lord, there is no help for us.

Run to the Lord and be safe.  Run to anything else.  Put your trust in anything or anyone else for refuge, and you will not be safe. This is really stating the obvious, but we really need to be reminded of this again and again.

If you were in desperate need of help and protection back then, and you saw a sign that said “REFUGE,” it would only make sense to run as fast as you can to the city of refuge. The signs are everywhere for us today.  They say “REFUGE,” and they’re all pointed to the Lord.

Here is the continuation of the last post exploring the parallels between the “Cities of Refuge” in the Old Testament and Jesus, our refuge, today.

2. The gates of these cities were always open, and likewise, the door to the strong tower of the Lord is always open as well.

The research of Francis Schaeffer on these cities of refuge reveals that the gates to the 6 cities of refuge were never locked.  City gates back then were always locked – at least at night while most of the city slept.  It was too dangerous not to lock the gates because enemies seemed to always be nearby, but the gates of the cities of refuge were never locked.  People who were in desperate need of help, protection, and refuge could always get in – no matter what time of day or night.

So too is it with the Lord, our refuge.  Psalm 121:4 says: Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. There is no need to wake the Lord when you need Him because He neither slumbers nor does He sleep.  His door is always open, and He’s ready to receive you when you run to Him.

3. The cities of refuge were open to everyone, and likewise, the Lord calls for everyone to come to Him.

Joshua 20:9 says: These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel and for the stranger sojourning among them. God made it very clear to Israel that these cities of refuge were to be for ANYONE and EVERYONE.  Those receiving needy people at the city gates were not to ask for any identification or card of nationality of the one running to it for help.  They were to let every single person that came to them for help inside the city.

In the same way – in the Lord’s mind – there is no discrimination and no separation of persons.  In Galatians 3:28, Paul described for us how Jesus sees things when he wrote: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. In the eyes of Jesus, our refuge, there is no difference between any of us.  He welcomes anyone and everyone to Him, and He calls everyone who comes to Him (regardless of their race, sex, nationality, financial situation, upbringing, or what they’ve done or not done) His “children.”

The Lord is our refuge. The Lord is our rescuer. No matter what we’ve done. No matter if we’ve done it multiple times. No matter what we face. God is our refuge and strength. He’s our ever-present help in time of trouble.

In Joshua 20, we get a clear picture of the great lengths that the Lord goes to be our refuge. The Lord instructed Israel to establish “Cities of Refuge” as they settled the Promised Land. These were six cities strategically located throughout Canaan that people could go to if they needed protection and shelter.  Mainly, these cities were places of refuge for people who accidentally killed someone. If someone accidentally killed another person while hunting or while working the land, they could run to one of these six cities of refuge and be protected from the revenge of a family member of the one who was killed.

Back then, if someone killed someone else, justice was not carried out by the government; it was carried out by family members of the one who was killed. Therefore, in order to escape the revenge of a family member for an accidental killing, people would literally run to one of these cities of refuge and escape being killed themselves.  The Lord had Israel establish these cities not just for their own good, but also to offer them and us a beautiful picture of who the Lord is for us: our refuge, our rescuer, our redeemer.

In the coming days, I’ll show you a few of the wonderful parallels between the “Cities of Refuge” back then and the refuge the Lord provides for us today.  Here’s the first parallel…

1. The cities were easy to get to, and so too is the Lord.

In Joshua 20:7-8, we get a description of where these cities of refuge were located. Each city was strategically located throughout the Promised Land and was never further than a 1-2 day journey away from any location in the land.  There was a law back then saying that the roads leading to these cities had to be repaired each spring after the rains and bad weather of winter had passed.  These roads were populated with many bridges so that the one running for refuge didn’t have to run down and back up ravines.  And at every crossroad, there were large signs strategically placed that pointed to the nearest city of refuge.  The signs said “REFUGE” in huge letters.

The people of Israel made it as easy as possible for those in need of refuge to find the refuge they needed. In the same way, the Lord has made it as easy as possible for those in need of refuge to get to Him today.

Are you in need of refuge?  Are you in need of help?  The road to the Lord – our strong tower, our city of refuge – is smooth and in great shape!  There are bridges everywhere, and we don’t have to worry about crossing over huge ravines to get to Him.  In Matthew 11:28, the Lord says, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

All eight of us packed into our seven passenger van on Friday afternoon and began the 1425 mile trek from New Mexico to Ohio.  Good thing the eighth person is still in the womb or we would have been really packed in!  With 5 of the 8 of us being licensed drivers, our goal from the start was to drive the 24 hours straight through…and that’s what we did.

About 6 hours into our journey, the adventure began.  My new son-in-law, Aarron, was driving the evening shift through Texas, and I was in the passenger seat.  I told all of the drivers that they could go as fast as they want but that they are each responsible for paying for any tickets they receive.   Aarron was going fast, but I didn’t know how fast…until the Texas State Patrol officer pulled us over. 

The officer came up to my window and asked me where we were from.  I told him that we were from New Mexico and making our way to Ohio for a wedding reception for my newly married daughter.  It was dark, so he flashed his flashlight through the van.  I’m sure he was confused as he went from face-to-face.  A black driver, a white red-headed passenger, then black, white, black, white, white.  He told Aarron that he was going 83 in a 65 mph zone. 

The officer took Aarron’s driver’s license and my van’s paperwork and headed back to his car.  Michelle was the first person to break the silence in the van when she asked Aarron, “You don’t have any outstanding warrants, do you?”  We’ve asked Aarron a thousand questions over the last year, but we’d never asked him that one.  It seemed like an appropriate time to ask, and thankfully, he said no.

About 5 minutes later, the officer came back to my window and asked me, “Which ones just got married?”  I pointed to Aarron in the driver’s seat, and my daughter, Emily, behind him.  He looked Aaron in the eye and said, “Consider this the best wedding gift of all,” and handed him his license with only a warning. 

83 in a 65 mph zone will get you billy-clubbed in some states, but evidently not in Texas…at least not that night.  We all let out a huge sigh of relief, laughed, and made fun of Aarron the rest of the way.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.

A 70-year-old man who lost eight teeth, suffered a cut on his upper lip that required 40 stitches and had his hearing aid crushed into the inner canal of his ear during a road rage attack last year astonished Baton Rouge state court officials on Tuesday with an act of forgiveness.

Steve Bonfanti told the court he would set aside the $41,000 in restitution that District Judge Richard Anderson ordered from the mother of his two attackers for the education of her two young grandchildren.

Anderson, who said he had never witnessed such an extraordinary move in his court, sent Baton Rouge brothers Johnny Mutrie, 26, and Eric Mutrie, 19, to prison and put their mother, Rhonda Mutrie, 54, on probation for their roles in the violent beating of Bonfanti.

At about 5 p.m. on Sept. 10, 2008, Bonfanti was driving home.  Johnny Mutrie, who was driving behind Bonfanti, started blowing his horn, making obscene hand gestures and passed Bonfanti, according to the warrant. Johnny Mutrie then stopped and Eric Mutrie started a confrontation with Bonfanti leading to the brutal beating.

Bonfanti, who did not ask for restitution, pledged the funds for the education of Johnny Mutrie’s two young daughters.

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. - Matthew 18:21-22

Last Thursday and Friday, I took Jesse and Peter (the guys on staff at my church) and attended the Summit at the Albuquerque satellite location.  We were inspired, challenged, and encouraged in our leadership by leaders like Bill Hybels (founder and pastor of Willow Creek), David Gergen (CNN’s senior political analyst), Bono (lead singer of U2 and humanitarian), Tony Blair (former Prime Minister of England), Wess Stafford (President and CEO of Compassion International) and others.

One of the sessions was lead by Tim Keller, the Founder and Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, NY, which has been named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Churches in America as it not only ministers to 6,000 New Yorkers every week but also has planted more than 100 churches as well.  Tim is in his 60′s but his congregation is made up mostly of 25-40 year olds, many of whom were once very skeptical of the Christian faith.

In his session, he addressed the epidemic of spiritual deadness in American churches, gave the symptoms of it, and offered a couple of prescriptions for it.  This was all based on his study and preaching on the parable of the prodigal son found in the Gospels and spelled out in his book, The Prodigal God.  Since this epidemic exists in so many churches, I thought I would share some of his insights with you.

How to tell if you’ve fallen prey to spiritual deadness:

1. You express strong and lasting anger when things go wrong. Anger is a natural response to pain and injustice, but if you stay angry and refuse to let things go, you’re well on your way to spiritual deadness.

2. You viciously counter-attack others or you experience devastation when you’re criticized. This shows that you’re not trusting the Lord to sort things out and deal with the one who has offended you.

3. Your prayers are petitionary only. There’s no intimacy and enjoyment of God. A person who is spiritually dead – if he does pray – only asks things of God and doesn’t worship and enjoy Him.

4. You’re constantly loathing people. Because you’re not content in the Lord and enjoying His provisions for you, you are constantly looking at others with envy, coveteousness, and loathing.

5. You can’t forgive others. A spiritually dead person is completely out of touch with how much he’s been forgiven by the Lord, and so he feels superior to others and is unable to forgive others.

If you recognize that you may be spirutally dead, here are some things you must do:

1. You must experience a new level of repentance. This is not just an acknowledgment of your wrong-doing, but it’s engaging in the act of making an all-out effort to turn from the wrong-doing.  It involves doing whatever it takes to leave the sinful behavior or attitude behind in order to run the opposite way toward the Lord.

2. You must experience a new level of rejoicing. This is what the prodigal son experienced.  He returned to His Father and finally understood what it cost to bring him back into the home.  Half of the estate was gone.  Therefore, the robe and the ring that the Father gave him actually belonged to the elder brother.  This is why the elder brother was so upset about the party and the gift-giving.  The money to finance all of this came from his half of the estate!

The lesson for us is this: A Father needs the resources of an elder brother in order to bring a wayward son back. The prodigal son’s elder brother was resistant to using his resources to bring his younger brother back, but in Christ, we have a loving elder brother!   We have a robe because Jesus hung naked on the cross. We have a festival cup because Jesus drank the cup of judgment and wrath.  Jesus was willing to give up a portion of His inheritance in order to welcome us (the prodigals) back into the Father’s Kingdom!  And in this, we can (and must) experience a new level of rejoicing!

Psalm 132 deals with a covenant that God made with King David, which led me to spend much of my time last week looking at the different covenants that God has made with His people throughout history.

Bible scholar Wayne Grudem summarizes what a covenant is with respect to covenants made between God and man.  He says: A covenant is an unchangeable, divinely imposed legal agreement between God and man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship.

So, for instance: In Genesis 9, God made a covenant with Noah that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. The sign of this covenant is the rainbow, and the terms are unchangeable.

Through the cross of Christ, God – once and for all – made a covenant of love and redemption with His people.  In Christ, He showed us His undying love and unchangeable grace and mercy, and this is how we can know for sure that God’s not mad at us.  Here’s what I learned last week about the unending love and mercy of God as displayed through His covenants with us.

1. God’s covenants show a voluntary and unconditional love and commitment to His people.

God has chosen to covenant voluntarily. No one is making Him do it. He has chosen to establish this relationship with us on His own.  The covenants of God are based solely on who He is…not on who we are. God established these covenants as a demonstration of His love, mercy, grace, and kindness.

2. God has never and will never break His covenants with His people no matter what they do or don’t do. Never!

God does makes it clear that He will lovingly discipline us if we are disobedient (Heb. 12; Rev. 3), but it’s also very clear that He will never reject us or withdraw His loving commitment from us.  In Isaiah 49:15, the Lord asks: Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. God’s love and devotion to us is unconditional, and it will never change.

Psalm 132:11 says, The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back. The Israelites sang this psalm as they ascended to Mt. Zion as a reminder that the God they served is a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God, and this is something that we need to be reminded of over and over again.

God’s not mad at us!  As a matter of fact, the exact opposite is true.  Nothing we do will ever separate us from the love, mercy, and kindness of God.

Have you received the free gift of salvation that He offers?  If not, what’s holding you back?  Accept the free gift of salvation through Jesus…and then live free! Free because of the covenant that God has made with you. Free because you know that nothing will ever separate you from Him again!