Elder Gus Harter turns to Hebrews 8 and Genesis 15 to explore the new covenant. The new covenant is the eternal covenant of salvation between God the Son and God the Spirit, witnessed by God the Father. It is the covenant of grace, made necessary because man could not keep the covenant of law. Elder Harter describes this covenant of grace the new covenant because as history unfolded through time, God’s children knew the law before they learned grace–yet the covenant of grace was sealed before time began. It was the eternal covenant of grace that God depicted while Abraham slept in Genesis 15, as “a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp” passed between the slain carcasses of animals in a ceremony recognized in that time as legally binding on the parties involved. The lamp was Christ, the light of the world. The smoking furnace was the Holy Spirit of God. And as they promised, they work together to assure the salvation of every child of God from the beginning of time until now.
The pivotal events of human history were the resurrection and ascension of Christ, and the establishment of the new testament church. God’s children born since that time are blessed above those in all other ages of men to see and rejoice in the finished work of salvation. Because of the wickedness of their natural inclinations, God’s children have always failed to meet the standard of the law covenant. The message of grace is simply this: Jesus Christ fulfilled the law because man could not. Because Christ fulfilled the law covenant and upheld its requirements, God’s children can look forward to eternal fellowship with God. Even better, the child of God can enter into that eternal fellowship in this life. As Hebrews 8 teaches, God writes the covenant of grace in the hearts of His children. They know they are sinners, and they know they need a savior. The gospel message teaches God’s children more about that savior, and allows them to enter immediately into the joy of salvation.
Before reading his text, Elder Harter opens this message with a brief, inspiring report of the courage and dedication of a Primitive Baptist minister in the Philippines during typhoon Ondoy in September 2009.
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