The Bible is a written contract between God and You.

How the New Agreement works for you.

Copyright © 2018 Author
Tony Egar

All rights reserved.

 

This Bible study will help you understand some of the things that God has given you because you are a Christian.
I will be exploring some of the wonderful benefits of being a son or daughter of the living God.

Christians have insurance.
Christians have a warranty.
Christians have a guarantee.
You received this when you were saved.
You accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.
You said “YES”.

Because you are a child of God.
You inherited all the benefits of the New Agreement.

BUSHFIRE VICTIMS NOT INSURED.

This is an article from a newspaper in Australia 2020.

Close to 2000 homes have been destroyed by the Victorian bushfires, and fires are still burning.
It is suspected that while many of these homes were insured against fire, a large minority were not.
Bush fires in Victoria were estimated to have totally destroyed 1800 homes.
30 percent of destroyed properties had no insurance and others are underinsured.

ARE YOU INSURED?

If you are a Christian, the answer is yes.

This is a short Bible study about your contract with God.

Called, the new agreement.

Introduction:

The subject of the new agreement.

Using the words Jesus said at the last supper.

Luke 22: 20
At the last supper Jesus took the cup, saying,

“this cup is the new agreement in my blood”.

The Bible often uses the word covenant to refer to an agreement.
In this short book I am going to use the words:

Covenant.
Agreement.
Contract.
Policy.

In our normal daily lives, we do not use the word covenant very often.
We use the word agreement, contract or policy.

Chapter 1

This is a very short teaching on the different contracts that are in the Bible.
We all know about Adam and Eve.
Their contract was about not eating the fruit from a certain tree.

God made contracts with Noah, Abraham and many other people.

Here is the contract that God gave Moses.

One of the great contract stories is in Exodus 12.

Moses calls all the men and instructs them to select a lamb without defect.
They are to kill the lamb and eat it as a meal.
They are also told to get the lambs blood and sprinkle it on the tops and sides of the doorframes of their houses.
Then they and their families are to stay in the house overnight while the destroyer kills all the first-born of Egypt.

The most obvious benefit of this contract is… it provides protection.

God had instructed them through Moses to use the blood of the lamb for their protection and their children’s protection.

Moses gave them another instruction.

The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.
The Lord had made the Egyptians favourably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.
[Exodus 12:35,36]

Immediately after these families applied the contract, they found themselves in a wealthy place.

Chapter 2

Here is another contract that God made.
He spoke to Abraham and said:

“I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
[Genesis 17:1,2]

I always translate covenant for the word agreement, it just helps me understand things in a more modern way.
We see that Abraham has received “good news”.
His numbers are going to greatly increase.
Then God announces the “not so good news”.

You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the agreement between me and you.
[Genesis 17:11]

For the rest of his life Abraham was going to wear a mark on his body that would remind him and his wife of God’s agreement.
Abraham was going to become a very important and influential man; these were serious promises and God made sure they were received in a serious way.

Here is another benefit of your contract with God.

One of the legal things that changed when you were saved was your citizenship.

“But our citizenship is in heaven.”
[Philippians 3:20]

I am reading a book about a man who is developing electric cars in America.
Elon Musk was born in South Africa, the son a Canadian-born mother and a South African father.
He moved to Canada after obtaining Canadian citizenship through his Canadian-born mother.
This man wanted to get to America because that was where the technology boom was happening in Silicon Valley, California.
His first step in his journey was to get Canadian citizenship and he was able to do this because he had a legal right.
His mother was Canadian born.

You and I became citizens of Heaven when we were born again.
This citizenship gives you some benefits that a non-Christian doesn’t have.

Hebrews chapter 10 and verses 19 to 22 invite us to come into God’s presence with boldness and confidence.
Here is the key statement that applies to every citizen of heaven.

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience.”

You can enter God’s presence with confidence.
And that is your legal right because you have a contract with God.

Chapter 3

Now in 2020… Australia has experienced large bushfires.
A lot of people in country areas lost their houses.

Recently some of them were being interviewed on T.V.
The big question was?
“ARE YOU INSURED?”
Do you have fire insurance?
Do you have a contract?

Many of these people did not have an insurance policy.

They were living in tents on their property next to their burnt house.
They could not afford to rebuild.
They were financially ruined.

Other people did have fire insurance.
They also were living in tents or caravans.

But the big difference was..!!

Their houses were being rebuilt by the insurance company.
Their clothes and washing machines were being replaced with brand new clothes and washing machines.
Their contracts had these words written down.

NEW FOR OLD..!!

New house, new carpets, new curtains.
Everything was going to be brand new.

These people were living in tents.
But their faith was in their insurance contracts.
Their lives were going to be happy again.

Yes, outwardly they had wasted away…their houses were burnt.
But inwardly they were being renewed, day by day.
Because the builders were being organised.
Their new house was being prepared.
Soon the building would start.

So, their minds were fixed on their contract.
They knew that a new house was on the way.

Chapter 4

At the moment I am reading a book about a young British couple who are travelling around India by motorbike.
They purchased brand new bikes because they wanted a full warranty and mechanical assistance.

The roads are a bit rough for motorbikes, so this young couple wanted to make sure they would be looked after if the bikes had any mechanical problems.

They took a year to finish their travels and the bikes did have a lot of mechanical breakdowns.
But every time they needed help all they needed to do was get their mobile phones out and ring the motorbike mechanic.
These mechanics were quickly on the scene and they fixed every problem this young couple had.
They had broken gearboxes and broken chains and flat tyres.
No matter what the problem was…it was always fixable.
Their warranty didn’t cover wear and tear, but it did cover them for many of the things that happened to them.
Christians are sometimes surprised to learn that they have a guarantee.
Here is a verse that mentions a guarantee.

His presence [the Holy Spirit] within us is God’s guarantee.
[Ephesians 1:14]

We have a guarantee backed up by the Holy Spirit.

Guess what? The “GREAT MECHANIC” lives within you.

And he can give life to your mortal body.

Here is another verse that mentions a guarantee.

Makes Jesus the guarantee.
[Hebrews 7:22]

The New Agreement promises us a new life.
Here are two verses to support that promise.

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self.
[Ephesians 4:22]

And to put on the new self.
[Ephesians 4:24]

Let me explain these promises.
Basically…we are promised a brand new life.
And Jesus and the Holy Spirit will guarantee our new life.
Just like the motorbikes…they were new and new things often have a guarantee.
It is the same with our new Christian lives…we are given new lives and God guarantees to fix up all the broken areas of our lives.
He promises to protect us.
He promises to provide for us.
And He promises to heal us and prosper us.
The key that makes it work is faith.

When the young couple travelling around India had a problem with their motorbike, they had to communicate with the service department.
They got on the phone and asked for help.

But this is the interesting thing to notice.
They were not asking for a favour…they were asking for their legal rights.
They had a warranty and they knew what that warranty covered.
They were asking the service department to do what the warranty promised.
The warranty promised to fix the motorbike and make it new again.

God’s guarantee has better promises than a motorcycle warranty.
Look at this scripture.

The new agreement that Jesus passes on to us from God contains far more wonderful promises.
[Hebrews 8:6]

And guess who the mechanics are in God’s kingdom…angels of course.

Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
[Hebrews 1:14]

Chapter 5

Because you are now sons or daughters of the living God…you are heirs.
You have an inheritance and that means you are entitled to expect heavens help.
Entitlement is not always a popular attitude.
People worry about this word because it can lead to pride.
But we need to separate a good sense of entitlement from a bad sense of entitlement.
If you think you deserve a reward, you can fall into the trap of thinking more highly of yourself than you should.

But God has created a way… to get us over into a good realm of entitlement without pride being a problem.
God has designed our salvation experience.
He is the master craftsman.
He knows that humans suffer from the temptation of pride.

So he chose to give us everything and asked us to do the smallest thing a human can do.
He asked us to say “Yes”.
When we receive everything just by saying YES…we don’t feel proud at all.
We feel humbled because God gave us so much and we gave him so little.
That is why Christians don’t suffer from a wrong sense of entitlement.
The problem we have is…we are hesitant to believe it could be that easy.
We have this inner urge…to try and earn our salvation.
Or at least earn some of the blessings associated with our salvation.
But we cannot earn anything by our self-effort.

Christians learn things… they don’t earn things.
You need to learn about the benefits of the New Agreement.
Instead of earning… the benefits of the New Agreement.
When something in your life breaks…you need knowledge…not effort.
Then Heaven can send the mechanics [Angels].
With the spare parts [provision]…to fix your problem.
All you have to do is communicate with God about the problem.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
[Philippians 4:6]

After letting Heaven know exactly what the problem is.
Then you get your New Agreement out and read the appropriate verse.
Here is a promise from God to you.

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
[Philippians 4:19]

Your guarantee promises to meet all your needs.
Now that is a life-changing promise.
The warranty from God includes…wear and tear.
It also includes problems caused by driver error.
You won’t get that in a normal human warranty.
The warranty from heaven will always be superior.
Believe it…receive it…mix your faith with it.

Trust God from the bottom of your heart.
Don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do and everywhere you go.
He’s the one who will keep you on track.
[Proverbs 4:5,6]

Christians have insurance.

Christians have a warranty.

Christians have a guarantee.

You received this when you were saved.

You accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.

You said “YES”.

Because you are a child of God.
You inherited all the benefits of the New Agreement.

Written by Tony Egar

Thank you for taking the time to read this devotional.