Joshua Renews the Covenant

 

 

Joshua 8: 30-35

 

Joshua Renews the Covenant

At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,  just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings.   And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.   And all Israel, sojourner as well as native-born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel.  And afterward, he read all the words of the law, the blessing, and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.   There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

 

As I read this Scripture a light began to flash in my mind, could that be why some churches teach a person can lose their relationship with Christ.  That is an impossible task, we can never break that relationship, but we have often broken fellowship.  Anyone that can sin willingly and believes they are in Christ and His spirit is alive in them needs to read 2 Corinthians 13:5.  “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

Scripture is very clear about our salvation, it was not earned, nor worked for, it was a gift of grace, we did not earn or deserve what Jesus did for us by becoming sin for us, taking our punishment.  1 Corinthians 16:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,  for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body.”

Could it be you still do not believe God is able to keep the relationship He has brought you into with His only Son, Jesus Christ?  Well then pay attention to these words from Jesus in John 10:28-30,  ^“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.   My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”  With no exception can you lose what you got not by works, but by grace.  I had someone I value greatly tell me that a believer could break their relationship with God, and I sadly shook my head and prayed and have for years, for that to happen the person would have to be greater than God, and in short that kind of teaching is blaspheming at best, for it is calling Jesus a liar.  As stated many have been confused about the difference in fellowship and relationship.  No matter what sin my daughter has committed against me, she is still my daughter.  Go back and read the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32.  And to my knowledge, she has never done so.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice