Partnering With God-Part 2

Matthew 26:28 “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

What is a covenant? It is the same as the English word, “contract.”  It is an agreement made between two parties. Each of them agrees to keep their part of the agreement. One of the truths we must face in this world today is that we cannot free ourselves from the grip of sin without help. 

Romans 7:18-20 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”

Romans 8:1-2 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

So how doe I get from Romans 7 to Romans 8?

 Through the power of the Blood Covenant!

-Old Testament covenants were made by blood.
-God first cut covenant with man when Adam sinned.  God killed the first animal.
-God cut covenant with Noah. Noah killed one of every kind of clean animal on the earth, when he came out of the ark. 
-God cut covenant with Abraham by choosing 5 animals and walking in the middle of the blood, he promised Abraham that He would bless his seed forever.
-As a part of the blood covenant, Abraham was to cut the foreskin of every male. This was a blood covenant so that every man could enter into covenant with God.
-God cut covenant with Moses and Israel through the killing of the first lamb the night He took them out of Egypt.
-He established His covenant of blood through the Levites in the offering of the sacrifices. Each time the sacrifice was offered, blood was sprinkled on the altar.

-The New Covenant was cut through the shed blood of Jesus.

What is my part of agreement?
-To be in Christ-Romans 8:1
-To walk in the Spirit-Romans 8:1

Galatians 5:16-26 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

What is God’s Part of the Agreement?

-A New Heart and a New Spirit!

Ezekiel 36:26-29 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

-A Fresh Start for Life!

Colossians 2:13-15 “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

Look at God’s Covenant with Abram.

-Abram wanted to understand and receive God’s Covenant.
Genesis 15:8-10 “And he said, "Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?" So He said to him, "Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he
did not cut the birds in two.”

-No thing was going to interfere with that Covenant.

Genesis 15:11-12 “And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.”

-God sealed the covenant when He appeared at the Altar-

Genesis 15:17-18 “And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land.”