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Hope Channel

InVerse, 2nd Quarter 2021: The Promise, God's Everlasting Covenant

Sebastien Braxton

Justin Kim

Jonathan Walter

Callie Williams

01 The Everlasting Covenant

We'll find out on this episode of Inverse.

Coming to you from Silver Spring, Maryland, welcome to Inverse, a Bible-based conversation on life principles, contemporary issues, and thought-provoking perspectives.

Now, here's your host Justin Kim with Inverse.

The word covenant is 1 of those words you find in the Bible and in a lot of religious conversations.

Now on this episode And in the next 13 episodes, we're gonna look at the theme of covenants found throughout the Bible.

You're watching Inverse, my name's Justin Kim, and in the studio we have Jonathan, Sebastian, and Callie, and I wanna say hello to them.

Hello, hello, we are in a new topic arc, topic section, we're in a new world.

When you think of covenants, what's automatically, what comes out first in your mind, what pops out?

Commitment is a word that comes to my mind.

Yeah, I think of a lot of all, you know, the horror flicks and there's always covenants and weird promises that you make with whatever.

We're going to get into what the Bible and you're most likely familiar with Old Covenant and New Covenant And we're going to look at this theme that we find throughout Scripture and there's a lot of confusion when it comes to the Old Covenant and New Covenant Some people think it's the same as the Old Testament and the New Testament Perhaps you're familiar with that And they think that the Old Testament has been done away with the old part of the Bible, and now we have the new part and everyone likes the new part.

But we're going to look at how the old and new are not different, but they actually are reflections of the same.

So, Sebastian, if you can pray for us, and then we're gonna dive into scripture right after.

Heavenly Father, we are beginning this journey to discuss something that has been decided in eternity past.

It's very close to your heart and yet it is 1 of the most misunderstood concepts in your Word.

So Lord, we dare not approach this subject which is too wonderful for us without first inviting Your Spirit to guide us into all truth.

May the 1 that inspired the Bible inspire us even as we speak now is our prayer in Jesus name.

If you have your Bibles, let's go to Isaiah chapter 24.

Isaiah chapter 24 For those of you who are watching out there, we wanna encourage you to go to inversebible.org and you can download our inverse Bible study guides there.

And especially for the topic of the covenants, you will want to download Decoding the Covenants, which is a 13 week Bible study guide on the topic of the covenants.

And for this lesson, we're gonna go to chapter 24, 25, 26, and 27, but for a lack of time, we're not gonna read all 4 chapters.

And Jonathan, if you can, well, let's pick up from verse 4 and we'll go forward.

Isaiah 24, verse 4 says, the earth mourns and fades away.

The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

Therefore, the curse has devoured the earth and those who dwell in it are desolate.

Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men are left.

Yeah, throughout that chapter, you see just this earth, earth, earth, even starting from verse 1, the Lord's talking to the earth.

It's very interesting that the Lord enters, it is into a, it is what they call a everlasting covenant with the entire earth, with the entire universe.

In other words, the Lord has a Relationship with everything and everyone around him.

Yes, and this is a reflection of that But what has happened to that relationship that that everlasting covenant something happened to this ideal covenant ideal promise Well, what happens?

Well we realize that this covenant as he says in verse 5 that the Bible says they broken they have broken the everlasting covenant.

So, the earth is mourning in verse 4, it fades away, the world languishes and fades away, people are perishing, the earth is defiled.

This is all reflective of the fact that this covenant has been broken.

And it's going to show that even in business, you know, as a businessman, you realize that the transgression or the breaking of a contract or an agreement is a substantial issue.

The collateral damage is a lot farther than what people think when they're actually committing the violation.

So they didn't pay on time, they didn't do this, so it's like, well you don't pay your electric company, you broke their contract, now they're cutting off your power, which is affecting the ability of your food to stay cold, like hot water in the shower, and it's a lot more, there's a lot more implications than you could perceive than just saying, oh, I'm going to pay a couple of days later.

And it's the same thing that God is really trying to bring this picture here in Isaiah.

You thought this was small eating this fruit, you know, using Adam, which we're going to get to in a little bit more.

When you ate that fruit, you were transgressing this covenant.

And that breaking of that covenant has led to an immense amount of problem and woe on the world as a result.

Covenant and contract, those are the terms that the Bible uses, but they can kind of sound a little dry sometimes.

But these are just the terms of the relationship.

And just having the interaction between the 2 parties is what's been broken.

And that's been broken by sin is another word that people throw around as a broken relationship.

1 thing that I think is very interesting, and you said it, that this covenant, the everlasting covenant, God made this with, you know, the whole world, the whole universe.

And this teaches us something really crucial about the character of God.

It means that God has an interest in his creation.

He's not this God who, you know, as some people say, you know, He created, but then He left it alone.

And so He has made this commitment, this covenant with creation, which shows us that He's a God of love, a God who cares, who wants to be present with us, and who's deeply affected when this covenant is broken or if there's an issue there.

Yeah, we were told that a lot of people in the first world are part of this paradigm.

They believe that God, they believe in God.

They believe that God good exists, but that's it.

And so it's just up to us to do whatever we got to do.

And this relationship or a covenant is a foreign idea.

You don't find this in the Old or New Testaments.

And now because of sin, God has entered into a subset of a relationship called what we call the covenant of grace.

Sikhu Daco

02 The Definitions of the Covenant

In every contract you have the fine print.

On this episode we're going to look at the fine print of the Covenants, so stay with us.

Now here's your host, Justin Kim, with Inverse.

1 of the most unique aspects about the Christian God of the Bible is that he has a contract with his people.

We call it the Old and the New Covenants.

And with all contracts, there's fine print.

And in this episode, as we study the entire subject of the covenants, we're going to look at the fine print.

My name is Justin Kim, and you're watching Inverse.

In the studio, We have Sebastian, Callie, and Siku with us, and we're looking at the entire Bible and the character of God in the entire Bible.

It's going to require a lot of reading, a lot of talking, and a lot of praying, and a lot of surrendering, And we're so glad you decided to join us.

We're going to go to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 8, verse 7 through 12.

And before we read scripture, as we always do, Sebastian, can you pray for us?

Our Father, we are grateful, Lord, for your willingness to be faithful to that which you promise.

But also, Lord, we realize that some of these things can be difficult and challenging, And that's why we pray and are unwilling to lean on our own understanding.

So please send your spirit now as we study and as we open scripture is our prayer in Jesus name.

Now, before we read the actual fine print of this covenant that God has made with His people.

It's been about 2 weeks now since we started, or a week now since we started this wonderful topic on the covenants.

Covenants are talking about this agreement that God makes with his people.

And God has made commitments to his people even before, you know, even before sin came into the world.

But sometimes we think about covenant and we think about, oh, Jesus died on the cross.

But last week we covered that there's an everlasting covenant, you know, of a relationship that God has with his people.

So like the everlasting covenant that is overarching, you know, from time memorial that's based on the character of God.

And then we talked about, you talked about the covenant of grace, which is an adaptation of the covenant, the everlasting covenant, a covenant that God made after sin comes into the world.

Now it's an adaptation for the current situation that we're in, which brings us back to, you know, he's trying to bring us back to our relationship with him initially before sin comes into the world.

And then throughout history, throughout biblical history, you see God making covenants with his people.

And he goes and he makes covenants with different people throughout history.

And these covenants are actually just building upon each other on that covenant that He has made, that covenant of grace that God has made with these people.

So the Bible talks about different covenants, but it's actually the same covenant.

But understanding that there are these kind of nuanced differences helps us to conceptualize what we're talking about when we approach scripture.

Yeah, you don't even have to go and watch the episode.

But if you do want to watch the episode, you can go to HopeTV.org slash Inverse and see last week's episode on the Covenants.

It was the beginning introductory episode.

And also you can go to InverseBible.org and can download the online Bible study guide on the Covenants.

Now, When it comes to the covenants, it is a heavy subject, yes?

And covenant is an agreement, as Sikhu mentioned, and it's kind of weird that God has an agreement with humanity.

Yeah, this is something very unique with all the gods out there.

We have this 1 that says, hey, I want to have a particular relationship with you.

And there are fine, there's some fine print.

How many of you, when you sign something, that you read all the fine print?

So, you can do more, like all those pages you have to sign.

Before I subscribe to an app, I read all the terms and conditions The EULA do that's a really all of it.

I'm into business like it's just hard for me not to do That's why you're late to all the meetings I just I can't I don't have the I mean some things are standard You know like you know mature and like where your indemnity and all those clauses are usually standardized.

Different Aspects of contracts are kind of standardized components, but you look for specific sections.

So it's like, what happens if we get into a conflict?

But you'll see apps will say, well, if you pay us and the app stops working, we're not going to refund you.

And then people get shocked when they call and they're like, my thing's not working.

Oh, I'm tempted to like write a, cause I set up a contract and have you sign it and see if you actually- Define everything.

Whether you're going to donate your first born child to me.

Anyway, Kelly, you don't read the fine print, yeah?

Kelly, you are normal like the rest of us.

But when it comes to the covenants, we need to read the fine print because rather than the nitty gritty and rather than like a legal situation where people are just trying to benefit and come out clean, God is revealing more of his character and the fine print isn't really that much fine print.

So keep in mind that with the fine print, it's actually revealing the person's confidence in their ability to keep their part of the agreement and yours.

So when they put those things in the fine print, they're assuming your character and theirs.

So it's really critical that you understand it just as, you know, we're going to do with the covenant.

So on that note, Callie, if you can read this, let's go to Hebrews chapter 8, verse 7 through 12, please.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second, because finding fault with them, he says, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.

03 Two Eras—One Message

Is there a battle between the Old Testament God and the New Testament Jesus?

Find out more on this episode of Inverse.

It's an old heresy, but it's still found today in many circles of the church.

They think He is the God who is vindictive and gives you burdens and yokes of bondage and gives you laws.

And then you have the Libertarian Jesus who makes all things free.

Well, we're going to do a Bible study on that here on Inverse.

My name is Justin Kim and in the studio we have my friends Jonathan, Sebastian, and Siku, and we're going to talk about this concept of the covenants that we find in the Bible.

We're going to pray, we're going to talk, we're going to have some fun, but we're going to pray, and then we're going to be like, Lord help us, and then we're going to find out.

Dear Father in heaven we're just so thankful again that we can study the word and we really want to understand the covenants better And I know a lot of people watching want to understand it as well.

So please help us to tap into your word with an open mind.

Send your spirit to give us insights and understanding.

Sebastian, can I ask you, has there been a, we've been in this study for 2 weeks, 3 weeks now, and was there something that through this, our actual discussion, that you previously misunderstood or did not know or were confused about or hazy on, but now you're like, whoa, I didn't know that?

I didn't clarify that or just sparkled and polished it up a little bit.

I think, for me, it was in noticing in, in, especially in our first study, in first, week number 1, that God appears as this covenant faithful God in the moments where we are actually either violating His covenant or we're in a low point.

Like to me, I've never thought about God entering into a covenant with you when you were actually already breaking the covenant saying, nope, I'm going to maintain covenant faithfulness in response to your covenant unfaithfulness.

And that really just, that warms my heart, because a lot of times when we get into those low moments, we feel as if God doesn't want us anymore.

And that just paints a completely contradictory picture.

Siku, what are some things that you remember from episode 2?

That was, I think that was 1 of my favorite episodes.

We've only done 2 episodes in this 1 so far.

But there are 4 points that we found in the New Testament.

And I think those need to be clarified for this episode.

Well, we looked at them from Hebrews chapter 8.

They're also in Jeremiah, but we looked at that God says that He will, and first thing about the 4 is what God is going to do.

Yeah, I think that was actually a revelation for me.

Like he's doing everything, everything, everything, and I'm waiting for the, but what do I got to do?

So that he will sanctify us, that he will reconcile us to himself, that he will give us purpose, that he'll give us mission for what to do.

And then the fourth 1 was that he will justify us.

And he solves the problem of sin using us as part of that mission.

Whereas he can just snap his fingers and it's done, but he still utilizes these broken beings as a part of his work.

So Jonathan, let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Deuteronomy chapter 6, and if you can read verses 4 through 9 for us.

It says, Here O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is 1.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gate.

You know, I facetiously ask this question.

Is there an Old Testament God who is the 1 who gives you burdens?

And there is the New Testament Jesus who frees you from these burdens.

And who is the 1 giving the covenants here?

And very important that we understand that, of course, there is only 1 God.

The God that we know from the Bible is the God, the same God in the Old Testament, the same God in the New Testament.

In fact, when some people talk about the burdens of the Old Testament, they don't realize, maybe they don't realize that the New Testament has a lot of commandments too, and a lot of burdens if you want to call it that, really, they are more like promises and wonderful ways to live.

But anyway, so that's the point right now.

And we do see, yes, and we do see that the, you know, what the soft Jesus that we often see in the New Testament or that we perceive in the New Testament is in the Old Testament as well.

You look at passages in the Old Testament, in the book of Isaiah, in Ezekiel, and other places, God is pouring his heart out.

And we will see from the study of the covenants that that just confirms.

I mean, let's, and let's explore that this verse is exactly what Jesus quotes in the New Testament.

What is the great commandment of the law?

It is not, you know, have no other gods before me or keep the seventh day holy or do not covet.

No, it's love the Lord, your God with all.

So there's this complete and total and utter emptying of our hearts into God.

04 The Gospel According to Moses

You heard of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

On this episode we're going to look at the Gospel according to Moses.

Coming to you from Silver Spring, Maryland, welcome to Inverse, a Bible-based conversation on life principles, contemporary issues and thought-provoking perspectives.

Can you believe there are elements of the Gospels found in the Old Testament?

And in this episode, we're looking at Psalms 103.

You're watching me, Justin Kim, and my friends Sebastian, Callie, and Siku on the set in the studio, and we're covering the topic of the covenants on this arc, this 13-week journey that we've been in the Bible.

We'd encourage you to go to inversebible.org where you can download our Inverse Bible study guides.

And you can also go to hopetv.org slash Inverse, where you can see past episodes and catch up to where we are in our...

So, Sebastian, Can you please pray for us and we'll get into scripture?

Heavenly Father, thank you so much, Lord, for the beauty that we see of who you are through studying the covenants.

We ask, Lord, now, as we look at the gospel in the Old Testament, according to Moses, May we be encouraged, may we be inspired, and Father, may we be humbled by the amazing benefits that come by entering into a covenant relationship with you is our prayer.

Siku, I wanted to ask you, what are some elements that you remember from the last 3, 4 weeks on the covenants?

And then what are some highlights that you wanna just kinda hit and can kinda warm us up into this topic?

Okay, So we talked about the first week talking about, you know, the everlasting covenant.

And then in the second week, we were talking about the, I guess the elements that are part of the covenant that God makes.

So the terms and conditions, so to speak, the fine print.

And then last week we were talking about how this is not just in the New Testament, but we see this in the Old Testament as well.

So these elements, the fine print of the covenant, the new covenant that God wants to make with these people, you find those elements in the Old Testament as well.

So this is not something new that he came up with, you know, when Jesus was born.

I think 1 fundamental understanding that will really help all of that's helped me and maybe help all of you with those who are watching is you have the Old Covenant details and you have New Covenant details.

Then you have the Old Covenant response and then the New Covenant response.

And sometimes this can go kind of mix and match, yeah?

You got Old Testament, or Old Covenant details, and you have a legalistic response.

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Series

InVerse, 2nd Quarter 2021: The Promise, God's Everlasting Covenant

03 Two Eras—One Message

Transcript

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Recorded

Parts

01 The Everlasting Covenant

27m

02 The Definitions of the Covenant

27m

03 Two Eras—One Message

26m

04 The Gospel According to Moses

27m

05 The War Zone of the Covenants

27m

06 The Two Covenants

27m

07 Old Vs. New

27m

08 Under Law vs. Under Grace

27m

09 Dead to the Law: Married to Christ

27m

10 No Longer Under a Tutor

27m

11 The Obsolescence and Permanence of the Covenant

28m

12 Covenant Love: The Discipline Component

28m

13 The Invitation

28m

Sound Doctrine