Kingdom Principle: The New Testament Church are the called out ones, distinguished from the world by their relationship to God and who live in light of all the consequences of the fulfillment of the New Covenant promises in Jesus, the Christ.
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The Church consists of the __________________-___________ ones.
Matthew 16:15–18 (ESV) — 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church (ekklesia), and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
ek-klesia = called out of
The Church is different from the world in that we share a different relationship with God the Father and Creator of the universe.
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God is a __________________ keeping God
Deuteronomy 7:9 (ESV) —9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations
A covenant is a formal contract between two parties that guarantees certain blessings and privileges, often to the weaker party, contingent upon one upholding their side of the covenant.
Genesis 2:15–17 (ESV) — 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 3:14–15 (ESV) — 14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
The seed promise is preserved and further established in each consecutive covenant until we get to the fulfillment of the promise in the seed, which is Jesus Christ.
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The New ___________________ People of God
Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV) — 31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
This covenant is distinguished from the covenants that have come before it, especially the covenant made with Israel on Mt. Sinai, although I would argue all the other covenants as well, because it is different from those other covenants. Different in that it builds upon the rest (continuity) but is also distinct from the rest (discontinuity).
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The _________________________ of the New Covenant
Hebrews 10:11-18, 19-22; Romans 5:1-2; 2Cor. 5:17; 1John 3:4-9; Romans 6:1-4
