God's Peace Contract: Part 4 (Malachi 2.1-9)

Conclusion - The New Covenant
But how do we get out of such fear? At this moment God is tackling us to keep us from going over the edge of the cliff. How then do we turn back? Trust in the covenant of peace by way of Jesus Christ.
That seems like a fallacious argument. It is this very covenant that we are afraid to proclaim. But the argument is valid. We are afraid to proclaim this covenant because we are not fully convinced of the covenant. The problem of the priests in Malachi's day was that they were not convinced of God's love and they did not fear God as their ancestors. However, what we see in every other example is fear and love. It is complete trust in God, no matter what would happen. This is true with the midwives, with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, with Peter and John, and with Paul. There was a deep abiding trust in the promise and contract of peace.
Acts 13.39 states, "By him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses" (ESV). That includes the fear and distrust that you feel now. And incidentally this includes everything. This includes any lust, desire, habit, hurt, unforgiveness, bitterness...you name the sin, you are freed from it by the blood of the covenant in Jesus. Those of you who are convinced by this will find the freedom that Jesus promised in John 8.
Jesus died to set us free. He died setting up a new contract of peace for us. It is greater than all other covenants or contracts made in the past. By the blood of this covenant all sin is washed away. But even greater still, as Paul testified in Acts 13, everyone who believes is freed (not just from the penalty of the sins, but) from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Paul also said it another way. By the blood of Jesus we are dead to sin, even the sin of fear and timidity. "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God," (2 Timothy 1.7-8, ESV).
This new covenant in Jesus blood frees us from the penalty of sin and the actual sin itself. And for that reason we see that it truly is a contract of peace. "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," (Romans 5.1, ESV).
The priests in Malachi's day believed not in the covenant that God had made with and for them. The great difference between the two covenants is that the first was in response to the zealous actions of Phinehas. The second is based on the zealous love of God and comes to us without any deserving on our part. It comes out of the love that God has for us, not as a reward for our love for Him. So then, let us never made that same mistake the priests did. Let us believe whole-heartedly that since God's love is everlasting, He will forever keep His covenant and in that covenant we forever have peace with God. And if that is what we believe, let us be unashamed of the God who cares so much for us.