"Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.
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Lesson 34: Covenant Relationships:
Review
We have considered...
1. The Cross and its power over the curse of sin and death;
2. The requirement of a humble and contrite heart for resurrection
power to flow;
3. The believer's need to face the challenge of temptation and
suffering in victory;
4. The assurance of ultimate victory because of God's predetermined
plan;
5. Knowing how to communicate with the Father in order to receive His
plan;
6. Discerning the voice of the devil who is allowed to try to deceive
us;
7. God's desire for fruitfulness and how He procures it.
In the next two lessons we will be considering covenant relationships
by looking first at...
1. Relationship being the meaning of life;
2. Why we need covenant relationships;
3. God's covenant nature;
4. Faithfulness and sincerity. Our objective is...
to begin to discover the biblical principles of integrity and loyalty
in order to lay the proper foundations for fellowship with
each other and with God.
Introduction
Ephesians 4:16
from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint
supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does
its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Ephesians 4:3
endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
John 15:5
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him,
bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
1. Relationships are the meaning of life.
John 17:22-24
22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be
one just as We are one:
23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and
that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as
You have loved Me.
24 Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me
where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for
You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
1 John 1:3
that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may
have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father
and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 3:17-19
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being
rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and
length and depth and height;
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be
filled with all the fullness of God.
Revelation 2:1-7
1 To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, 'These things says He
who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of
the seven golden lampstands:
2 I know your works, your labour, your patience, and that
ch of Ephesus write, 'These things says He who holds the seven stars in
His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:
2 I know your works, your labour, your patience, and that
you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say
they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have laboured for My
name's sake and have not become weary.
4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first
love.
5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the
first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your
lampstand from its place; unless you repent.
6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which
I also hate.
7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is
in the midst of the Paradise of God.
1 John 4:20
If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for
he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God
whom he has not seen?
1 John 4:12
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in
us, and His love has been perfected in us.
Psalms 103:13
As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him.
Psalms 27:10
When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the LORD will take care
of me.
2. The human need for covenant relationships.
Ephesians 2:12
that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world.
Romans 1:26-32
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their
women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned
in their lust for one another, men with
men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the
penalty of their error which was due.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God
gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not
fitting;
29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife,
deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,
30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of
evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;
32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice
such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also
approve of those who practice them.
3. God's covenant nature.
Exodus 20:5
you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your
God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the
children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
4. God's assurance of His sincerity.
Hebrews 6:13-20
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no
one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, "Surely blessing I will
bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you."
15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is
for them an end of all dispute.
17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of
promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath,
18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to
lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay
hold of the hope set before us.
19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has
entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according
to the order of Melchizedek.
Malcolm Vine, Cornerstone Ministries. September 2004.
To contact the Bible School email: bibleschool@cornerstoneministries.org.uk
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