Don’t Confuse a Sin with a
Covenant!
By Dr. Joseph A. Webb
Only
God can create a “one-flesh” relationship between a man and a woman. Know
further that this one flesh condition is created through the making of a vow,
and is called a covenant for life; which can be broken only by the physical
death of one of the partners. Any offspring of Adam who has become a part of
such a covenant must understand this and realize that either partner can
violate this covenant repeatedly but it is scripturally impossible to break it.
Let
me share with you some rationalizations I often hear. "Yes, I know that
remarriage is a sin because marriage is for life, BUT, life long marriages are
God’s perfect will, and we have to be realistic. After all, Jesus was teaching
God’s ideal, but we know that real life is not like that however. Yes,
remarriage is a sin, but if you don’t believe God can forgive that sin of
adultery, then you have found ‘the only unpardonable sin.’" Have you heard that before: "The
unpardonable sin"? I have had many people present that argument to me.
Actually, however, there are several answers to such an argument, and you need
to know about them. One man said,
"I have a friend who has been remarried for 25 years to the same woman.
Does the permanence of their present, long term relationship make a
difference?"
I
said, "I’ll answer that if you will answer another question for me
first." "How many other sins can you name that
tend to die of old age?" Does lying? Sodomy? or Prostitution? Do any of these ever quit being sin if you
do them long enough? How does the word of God say that we are to classify those
who persist in living with anyone other than their first marriage partner,
(Even if it is for 50 years.) while their first partner is still alive? In Romans
7:3, Paul the apostle called it a perpetual state of "adultery?" (She
shall be called an adulteress.) I fact, in Galatians 1:8 & 9, Paul, who had
supernaturally been given revelation truth directly from Jesus Christ, while in
the Arabian Desert; said, "though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If
any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be
ACCURSED."
If
we are talking of any sin, the unchanging biblical requirement for forgiveness
is not to let it die of old age, but to repent of it, no matter how long it has
been going on. It will never change it’s status; it is SIN!. Please know that adultery is SIN; but it is
much more than sin. It is the violation of a covenant. I can repent of my sin
and be totally forgiven, but repentance and saying you are sorry does not
affect, stop or change a covenant. You and I must repent of it, and, if possible,
re-establish our relationship through complete forgiveness, or live a celibate
lifestyle.
In
Joshua 9, Joshua was proceeding to conquer the land promised to them, as God
had commanded him to do. He was proceeding as directed, to kill all of the inhabitants
of that land. In verse 3, when some of the Amorites, (One of the tribes
inhabiting the land that God had commanded Joshua to destroy.) who lived in the
city of Gibeon (called Gibeonites) heard that Joshua
was coming to destroy them, the scriptures tell us that they decided to fool
Joshua with trickery. They put on old clothes, took mouldy bread, old
wineskins, worn out shoes, and covered themselves with much dust. Then they
rode their camels over the hill to meet Joshua and told him that they had come
from a far away land, having heard of his great army and his God who was
conquering all the nations before him. They said they had come to make a treaty
with
Immediately
after this, someone found out that they were not from far away, but instead,
from just over the hill. Joshua and his men then realized that they had been
lied to. You would think Joshua and his men would have risen up and killed all
of them for their lies, and for making them look very
foolish. You would think they would have said, like many today would say,
"We didn’t know what we were doing, they fooled us." But; but, vs. 18
says, "And the children of
The
next time we hear anything about this covenant with the Gibeonites,
is in II Samuel 21:1, where it says; "Then there was a famine in the days
of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord, and the
Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody
house, because he slew the Gibeonites."
Evidentially, Saul was upset because there were so many of the Gibeonites working all around the tabernacle, and had many
of them killed.
Remember
now; originally, God had commanded Joshua to kill all the inhabitants of the
Land. Now Saul had only killed a few, and the Lord had caused a severe drought
to come upon the
David
asked the Lord how he could resolve the problem and he went to the declared
what the Lord had told him. He then asked the Gibeonites
how he, as king, could honourably resolve this violation of the covenant with
them to make atonement for the ones Saul had killed. In accordance with God’s
standard for
Can
you imagine how much David must have prayed and wept before the Lord during
those three years and had no results, until he had made restitution for the
covenant that was devised in deception; but confirmed by God because of the
verbal agreement (covenant) that was spoken before God, without seeking His
counsel. Once the covenant was stated in His presence, it was acknowledged,
confirmed and enforced by God Himself.
How
many times have you heard people try to get out of a promise by saying, "I
didn’t know what I was saying," or "I didn’t understand the
seriousness of what I was saying at that time." To that, God says; "A
covenant is a covenant, is a covenant, and I am a Covenant honouring God."
- Even a covenant that may have been born in deception, or through flippancy.
For
another example, look at Genesis 25:29, where we read about Jacob and Esau.
Esau had just come in from the field; was very hungry, and asked his brother
Jacob for some pottage he was cooking. Jacob evidently immediately saw an
opportunity to take advantage of a very unique situation. In verse 31, he said
to his brother Esau, "Sell me this day thy birthright." Esau
responded by saying, man, I starving and you are worried about a birthright? "Big deal!"
Jacob, wisely responded in verse 33 by saying:
"Swear to me this day." (literally: vow to
God that it is mine.) The same verse
says; "And Esau swore to Jacob" that he could have his birthright.
The end of verse 34 says, "Esau despised his birthright."
Many
today might say, "That was just two brothers messing around. God certainly
isn’t going to get up tight about a little foolish thing like that. A lot of
people say dumb things like that and don’t even think about it. I surely hope
you wouldn’t try to make a doctrine out of that."
They
would be absolutely right about one thing: There are millions of young people
today who are making vows before God and many other witnesses, during their
marriage ceremonies who are later on saying, it really didn’t mean anything, we
were just dumb kids and we didn’t know what life was all about. "God
certainly isn’t going to hold us accountable for the promises we made in the
excitement of young puppy love." Before anyone gets too comfortable with
those thoughts, turn with me to Hebrews 12:14-17. Here, the writer to the
Hebrews, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, spoke "God breathed
words," that should haunt every person who has treated past covenants
lightly.
©Copyright
2003 by Dr. Joseph A. Webb, All rights reserved
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