Creflo Dollar — Living Under the Correct Covenant
If you have your Bibles, go with me to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 3, 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and beginning at verse 1. Now, I'm going to talk to you today about living under the correct covenant, living under the correct covenant and the danger of living under the wrong agreement. It's like a contract, it's stronger than a contract, but it's like a contract. And if you're under a contract, then there could be consequences for breaching that contract. And you want to make sure that you're not involved in a contract that you hadn't signed or that you're not under. So, it is imperative for us to understand as Christian people to make sure that we're living under the correct covenant.
Verse 1 says, "Do we begin against to commend ourselves? Or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you"? Verse 2, "You are our epistles written in our hearts". Did you see that? "You are our epistles written in our hearts, known and read of all men". So, we're no longer talking about the epistles written on stone. We're no longer talking about the epistles written on tablets. Now, the Ten Commandments was written on stone, etched in stone by the finger of God. I don't know if many people are familiar with it, but the first set didn't make it through. Moses had to go up and get a second set. But the second time Moses went up, God says, "I'm a merciful God," and he came down with the glory on his face. But he also have the second set of laws of Ten Commandments in his hands, so that was the first time we saw the mixture of law and grace. Just remember that, tuck that away.
"Forasmuch as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God". So, now the Ten Commandments were written on tablets of stone, but there were 613 laws altogether. So, the ten were on the stones, and the rest of them were written on tablets, okay? And he says that you and I are epistles not written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tablets of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
So, we're talking about a relationship with the Holy Spirit where he's not trying to give out any more tablets or give out any more paper to write something on for you to live by. But he says, "Now, what I'm going to do is a relationship with the Holy Spirit, I'm going to write it on your heart. And me and you together will take on this journey called life. And I'll speak to you, and I'll show you, and I'll give you an understanding. And you'll know not only what's right and wrong, but you'll also know how to handle every situation you come across".
Ladies and gentlemen, that is the modern day Christian. Not one that has the Ten Commandments etched in stone, not one that even has the ink on paper, but one who's allowed the Holy Spirit now to write on his heart so he can lead and guide him throughout life. If you understand that, say amen. Now, in order for you to get a deeper understanding of what this means, we're going to have to talk about the two main covenants in the Bible. Because this entire chapter, 2 Corinthians 3, is a chapter where it is comparing and contrast the law, and even the mixture of law and grace, versus the grace of God. It's talking about how men were led by the law, which includes the Ten Commandments, versus men being led by the Spirit of God. And if you are not operating under the right agreement, under the right covenant, that may be the answer to why ain't nothing happening in your life.
So, there are two main covenants in the Word of God. The Bible is a book of covenants. There are many covenants in the Bible, but there are two main covenants in the Bible, the covenant of law, and secondly the new covenant of grace. Those are the two main covenants. The covenant of law is also known as the Mosaic covenant. It is the law that came from Moses. And remember when I say law, I'm talking about 613 laws, the dietary laws, the worship laws, all those things, but it also includes the Ten Commandments as well. But there's also this other covenant, the new covenant. Everybody say, "The new covenant". We've heard about the covenant of law, we've seen movies about Moses and the Ten Commandments, and the writing on the stone, but we know very little about the covenant that you and I live under today, and that is the new covenant of grace.
Now, listen to me very carefully here. Let's first of all give you a definition of covenant. What is a covenant? Now, this is important. A covenant is an irrevocable vow, an irrevocable agreement. It's a vow, it's an agreement, it is a promise between two or more parties to carry out the thing that was agreed upon. And when you're talking about a blood covenant, a blood covenant, which Abraham had a blood covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, we'll talk about that in this series, the Abrahamic covenant is a perfect mirror of the new covenant. And we'll show you some distinctions in that as well. But a covenant is a pledge, a vow, a promise between two or more parties to carry out the terms agreed upon, and it can only be broken by death.
That's what makes this an irrevocable covenant. It's not just a contract like you would cut with another person, then you break the contract, and then y'all go to court and see if you can sue one another. This is a covenant, the closest thing I can think of to this type of blood covenant, and you're going to kind of be amazed when I say this, is the mafia. Like once you get in, you're not getting out. And it's for both parties. Well, please, here's the beauty of covenant talk. Covenant talk says this covenant binds you to it, but it also binds God to it. So God, who never changes, God, who's the same today, yesterday, and forevermore, God, even though he doesn't change, the covenant is what determines how he deals with man. So, God does not deal with man unless he does it through a covenant. And so, God's dealing with man throughout the past has always involved a covenant. So, whatever the agreement was in that covenant determined how God dealt with man.