The Two Covenants — Part 1

In the world of professing Christianity exists mass confusion regarding God’s laws — his commandments, and how they relate to salvation, eternal life in the Kingdom and family of God.

By understanding the place of the Old Covenant in God’s plan, and how it relates to the New Covenant, much of this confusion, if not all of it, can be replaced by an understanding of the vital importance of obedience to the commandments of God in terms of salvation, as well as temporal happiness and blessings for all, and how they apply today.

“The Two Covnants — Part 1” audio recording by Rod Reynolds, COGMessenger is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

God of Justice

Jesus Christ is coming soon to administer his government over the entire world, according to Scripture. Among the qualities of that government to rule all nations, we are assured, is justice. What makes God, the God of the Bible, “the God of justice”?

Please note: A reference is made in this sermon to II Kings 3:28, which is a not the scripture intended. The correct reference is I Kings 3:28.

The Two Covenants (Part 4)

What is the nature and effect of sin? Why is the Holy Spirit essential to salvation? How are these questions related to the “Old Covenant” that God made with Israel? Continue reading to find the answers!

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Does God Lie?

Does God lie? Did Jesus Christ speak in parables to deceive people?

A reader asked for my comment, writing to me, “I know of someone who said that Christ deceived. He was referring to the… parable of the sower and the seed. [He inferred] that Christ used the parables to deceive people so they wouldn’t understand.” The reader went on to say that some who think of themselves as Christians justify lying if one’s motive is to achieve a “good end,” for example, “to get the abortion law altered” so there would be fewer abortions.”

Should we lie? Should we do evil that good may come?

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The Two Covenants (Part 3)

As we’ve seen in previous installments of this series, the overall reason for the giving of the Old Covenant was because of transgressions – sin – lawlessness (Galatians 3:19). “Why then was the law [the Old Covenant] made? God gave it… because so many people were doing what was wrong” (Galatians 3:19; Bible in Worldwide English version).

But within that overall framework, there are at least five major reasons for the institution of the Old Covenant that we find in Scripture. Let’s examine these five reasons now one at a time: Continue reading