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Steve Brown: Hey, a covenant can change your life. Let's talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew: This is Key Life. We're here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. We've invited our friend Jerry Parries to do the teaching this week. Jerry is a pastor, an author, and has served in ministry for more than 35 years.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. Hey, Dr. Jerry Parries is with us today. I love it. Do you know that you have a way about you that when you walk into a room, I feel like it's going to be okay? If I'm upset or angry or down or depressed, I love it when you walk into the studio or my study, and you do that for our listeners on this program.

By the way, we're going to be talking about covenants. Well, we've already talked about covenants the last time that Dr. Parries was with us, but we're going to look at one covenant in particular, and you're not going to believe how this teaching can affect our lives. Let me pray for us, and then we'll dig in.

Father, we come into your presence aware that we've got no business being here. They told us if we were good enough and if we prayed enough and if we were faithful enough that you would accept us. And you know we tried. And just as we were walking out the door and giving up, we heard your voice: "Welcome, child. Welcome." And we came running, and we're never going to leave.

Father, we praise you because you're sufficient for every need that we have. You're sovereign, you're good, you're kind, you're merciful, you're gracious, and you sent your son to die in our place.

Father, we ask for your anointing on this broadcast, that what is taught will get in our minds and then in our hearts, then our vocal cords and our feet and our hands so that the world can hear the laughter of the redeemed. And we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen. Okay, kind of introduce—we've been down this road and we talked a long time about it the last time you were here. Say a little bit about covenants, and then we'll get to the Abrahamic Covenant, which is incredible.

Jerry Parries: Yeah, well, first of all, it's good to be here, Steve. Always good to see you, and I'm just excited to be with our listeners today. A covenant is a promise that God makes with someone or with a group of people. And there's the covenant that he made with Abraham. Abraham's covenant is so profound and has even carried over into the New Testament, and we are a part of that covenant. And we'll get into that later on. I don't want to give that away.

Steve Brown: Well, let me read some scripture to us, and then Genesis 17:2-8. And Jerry gave me this scripture to read and said, "Read it properly." And so I'm going to do my best. This is what God says:

"And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly." Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, "As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also, I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

Jerry Parries: Wow. Man, let me just put everything that you read in three categories. The Abrahamic Covenant, which is a significant promise made by God to Abraham, was three points. First was land. God promised Abraham a specific land, often identified as Canaan, which would belong to his descendants.

And then his descendants was the second promise, that Abraham was assured that he would have numerous offspring, becoming the father of a great nation. This is often interpreted as the Jewish people, but it is extended through Christ Jesus.

Steve Brown: Oh man, that's going to be so good. We get to be a part of this whole thing.

Jerry Parries: Yes, sir. And then the blessings. God declares through Abraham's lineage, all nations, everybody that's connected to it, would be blessed. And so that means that we will receive the blessings of Abraham.

And so Abraham is considered the father of our faith. Not only the father of faith in believing, but the father of being of the faith of our salvation in believing in Jesus Christ. He is the father of our faith, and it's just been a great covenant that God has given us.

Steve Brown: So when people talk about, well, the Old Testament is no longer relevant, and they carry around just a New Testament and think that's the Bible, they're wrong. The Old Testament is the building block that pertains to us.

Jerry Parries: Yes, it is. Absolutely. And it's impossible for you to understand the New Testament without understanding the Old Testament. There's a scripture in Galatians 3:26 that says, "For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism has put on Christ like putting on new clothes."

Listen to this: "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus." And then verse 29 says, "And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham." There it goes, it ties us right back to what you were saying. "You are the heirs and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you."

Steve Brown: Oh my goodness, that is incredible. So all the promises and the covenant that God made with Abraham, because we are the children of Jesus Christ, we too are heirs of that promise. You know, there are those Christians, and they're sincere, they believe that God is through with Abraham, through with Jews, through with Israel. That's not true, is it?

Jerry Parries: No, not at all. God is never through with anyone, first off. God doesn't throw you away. But what God did is he expanded the family. In the Old Covenant, he was the father and Jesus even mentioned when he was preaching that, "I came for the house of Israel," which was Abraham's direct lineage.

After the cross, he expanded that family and opened it up to all of us. And so he did not forget the Jew; he just added the Gentiles and Jews so that we became one family.

Steve Brown: And so that's the promise. I mean, when it talks about multiple nations, not just one nation, that's us.

Jerry Parries: That's correct. That's us. He included us into the promise, he included us into the inheritance, and he included us into the blessing. And what is the blessing? The blessing that we are blessed going in, blessed going out, blessed in the fields, with the head and not the tail, above and not beneath.

The same blessings that were over the children of Israel in the Old Covenant is now the same blessings that we get in the New Covenant because the family has been expanded because of Jesus Christ being the seed of Abraham.

Steve Brown: So good. You know, anti-Semitism—I went to Jerusalem one time to write a book on anti-Semitism because I never could understand it. I mean, Christians of all people should not be anti-Semitic because it's us. It's not them; it's us. And I discovered a lot of bad things that Christians have done.

Jerry Parries: Yeah, I never could understand why any one of us, because we're all the same. We all come from Adam. We all come from God's creation—black, white, Hispanic. It doesn't matter what race you are.

To be a racist or anti-Semitic or anything, being a believer, is just not of God. It is just a poor representation. I had a friend of mine say, "I know people say they don't like Jesus, but I have to give you this word. Nothing's wrong with Jesus. It's his representatives that jacked up his truth."

Steve Brown: And so before we witness, we probably ought to apologize.

Jerry Parries: Absolutely. Absolutely. Especially now in this day and time with all the things that people say and people do. No, Jesus is love. The commandment is, "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul, and the second is liken unto, love your neighbor as yourself."

Steve Brown: That dog will hunt. By the way, listen to what he teaches and think about that.

Matthew: Thank you, Steve and Jerry. That was Steve Brown and Jerry Parries continuing our series on covenants, something we'll be doing throughout the year with our voices of Key Life. More from them tomorrow, so do be sure to join us.

Hey, have you ever seen that internet meme about, "We've been trying to reach you about your car's warranty"? I mean, of course the joke is that wherever you go, that silly sales pitch somehow finds you. It sometimes feels that way with guilt. Wherever you go, when you least expect it, bam! "Hey, remember that one thing you did?"

But here's the thing: Jesus' death paid the debt for all our sins, and that means guilt can actually lead us back to Christ to find true and lasting forgiveness. Steve wrote about this in a mini-book called "Feeling Guilty: Grace for Your Mistakes."

Get your free copy of that mini-book by calling us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That's 1-800-539-5433. You can also email Steve at steve@keylife.org to ask for that mini-book. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the US and Canada. Again, just ask for the free mini-book called "Feeling Guilty: Grace for Your Mistakes."

Finally, would you join in the work of Key Life by giving? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope, or simply take out your phone and text KEYLIFE to 28950. And hey, if you can't give right now or God's not calling you to do that, all good. But if you think about it, please do pray for us, would you? Thanks.

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