The Covenant
There were two neighbors. One day, one of them received a last will from a very wealthy man naming their family as his heirs, leaving to them a vast collection of wealth, comprising of wide area of land properties, several highrise buildings, some multinational corporations and bank accounts full of gold and money. The other family claims they are entitled to the wealth too.
What do you think? Will the other family really get a part of the wealth just because they claimed they are entitled to it too?
That's right, this is a no brainer.
God's covenant serves the same purpose.
It is a binding contract between two parties; God and His worshippers.
God as the first party of the covenant(contract) declares to do some things as outlined in the contract. Like: I will be YOUR GOD, will provide, will protect and look out for your welfare IF they, the other party do as they are supposed to do as outlined too in the covenant.
God's worshippers is the second party to the covenant. They will enjoy the provisions of the covenant IF they FULFILL their part, that is OBEDIENCE to the covenant.
With the above arrangements it is easy to understand that; first, It is possible to enter the covenant and fulfill it, second, get out of the covenant or third, break it. Much like a regular contract.
The Covenant is the holy agreement between God and His worshippers, being comprised of God-given laws, disobedience to those laws will mean as a "BREACH OF CONTRACT" for the offending party. Nullifying any further claims regarding any provisions of the said covenant.
While some people who are not included originally in the contract can enter into it by choosing to faithfully obey all the laws provided by the contract.
And those that are originally included can be removed from it by BREACHING any provisions of the contract. (Disobedience)
In short, to benefit from the Covenant of God. One must first be included in it and faithfully fulfill all its provisions or LAWS.
This is the reason why Christ has always emphasized obedience to the Laws of God.
For example as a part of Christ's first sermons, you can find this:
17 "Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets. I have not come to do away with them, but to make their teachings come true.
18 Remember that as long as heaven and earth last, not the least point nor the smallest detail of the Law will be done away with - not until the end of all things.
19 So then, whoever disobeys even the least important of the commandments and teaches others to do the same, will be least in the Kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, whoever obeys the Law and teaches others to do the same, will be great in the Kingdom of heaven.
No matter how religious leaders of today try to circumnavigate away from this clear teachings of Christ about the LAW, we can understand from these passages that for Christ, TEACHING and OBEYING THE LAWS of GOD is of paramount importance.
We have to take notice too of Christ's strong message found in Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.
22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’
23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
Christ knows that someday from his time, people will be confused as to what will constitute "goodness". As humans have this tendencies to view things that personally and physically benefit them to be "good" while it is not really good as to God's point of view.
He cited people who PREACHES in his name. (When we consider preachers of Christ, we can view them as "good" people)
He cited people who PROPHESY in his name. (If someone can precisely tell things to happen even a minute in advance, we will consider these people "good")
He cited people who can CAST OFF DEMONS in his name. (again if we see "healers" or "exorcists" that can effectively do their job of casting off demons, we will surely view them as "good" people too.)
And finally Christ cited people who can DO MIRACLES in his name. Needless to say, we view miracle workers as "good" too.
But what do Christ said regarding ALL OF THESE KIND OF PEOPLE??:
23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ Found in Matthew 7:23
This is a clear message to us, that even if we consider ourselves or others as "GOOD PEOPLE" it does not necessarily follow that we are qualified to be called "good" too by God and of His Christ.
WHY?
Something very critical was missing from all the "good works" of preaching, prophesying, casting off demons and miracle working. WHAT IS THAT?? It is the OBEDIENCE to GOD's LAWS. Therefore, note Christ words, these people break God's LAWS and are not qualified for any of the provisions of the COVENANT.
This should help us immensely with our personal lives.
It greatly simplifies our pursuit of "SALVATION", our pursuit of relationship to the real God. Our pursuit of happiness and life.
We only have to enter the covenant, understand all it's laws, and faithfully fulfill our side of the contract.
Then and only then can we have a part of the inheritance that is PROMISED TO THE HEIRS. Do not be like the neighboring family who were not part of the WILL and yet expects to inherit something from it. -east
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In regards to Laws are you referring to the 10 commandments ?
When Christ speaks of the LAW, it is translated from the word TORAH, a collection of laws that includes the "ten commandments".