The Amish Voice 2
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Covenant. How? It guarantees our justification. What justification?
That we are made righteous and acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ. With that guarantee set in place, we need to do something:
live our lives like we belong to God. Living a justified life affects
the total person. Myron Augsburger speaks toward this gripping
truth:
The words holiness and sanctification are not promi-
nent in much of Protestant theology. We have tended to
speak of justification without [an] emphasis on sanctifica-
tion...Holiness means that one belongs wholly to God. This
is also the meaning of sanctification, being set apart as
God’s own possession. When this begins internally, with
the heart, the transformation becomes something that af-
fects the total person. (From The Christ-Shaped Con-
science. Selected from Christianity Today, (March 8,
1993),
p.45.)
Some teachers in the Galatian churches were teaching a false
doctrine, a very dangerous doctrine. They were saying that a person
was not saved by the grace of God through faith alone; a man had to
keep the rituals of the church and focus his life upon the law and
upon doing all the good works he could possibly do. Very simply
stated, if a man wanted to be acceptable to God, he had to be the
very best person he could, be as religious as he could, and keep all
the laws of God that he could.
This, of course, is totally wrong. A person is justified by faith
alone; he is not justified by being religious and doing good and
keeping the law. Religion, good works, and the law all have their
place in the plan of God and in the life of man. But man is not saved
and made acceptable to God by his own effort. Man cannot earn,
win, or merit God’s acceptance; for no matter how good and disci-
plined man may become, he is still short of God’s glory which is
perfection. Despite all of man’s goodness and achievements, man is
still too often polluted with...
The list could go on and on. The point is that no matter how
good we are, we are still guilty of sin and failure—we are short of
God’s glory, ever so short of perfection. Our goodness just cannot
earn or merit acceptance with God. If God is going to accept us, it
will be because we
believe Him,
truly
believe that He will accept us
and that He loves us enough to honor that belief. If God does not
love us enough to accept our faith in Him, then we are hopelessly
lost forever. Faith in Him—in His love and in His promise—is our
only hope for salvation and acceptance by God.
This is the point of the present passage. God’s covenant and
promise to Abraham proves that justification is by faith and not by
works of the law.
OUTLINE:
1.
God gave a covenant that is permanent, lasting.
(
v.15)
2.
God made His covenant with Abraham and his seed.
(
v.16)
3.
God gave His covenant of faith before He gave the
law. (v.17)
4.
God gave His covenant or inheritance by promise—
not by law (the inheritance of righteousness, of be-
ing acceptable to God) (v.18)
1.
GOD GAVE A COVENANT THAT IS PERMANENT,
LASTING. (v.15)
There is the illustration of a covenant between men. A covenant
is an agreement made between two parties, a special relationship set
up and established by two or more persons.
selfishness
injustice
transgressions
pride
lack of love
envy
anger
bitterness
unkindness
favoritism
lust
evil thoughts
immorality
prejudice
impatience
being puffed up
anger
hatred
failure to hope
greed
trespasses
aloofness
failure to honor
God
failure to wor-
ship
unbecoming
behavior
being easily
provoked
failure to endure
failure to pray
