Two Covenants and Family Inheritance

We walk through one of the biggest threads in the Bible: the covenant of works versus the covenant of grace, and why that difference decides how you understand redemption, inheritance, and even your family life.

I start in Genesis and trace the conditional pattern that runs through Eden and the Mosaic law: obedience brings blessing, disobedience brings judgment. From Exodus to Deuteronomy, we see how Israel accepts a mediated, written covenant and how quickly human effort fails. Then we pivot to the unconditional side of Scripture, beginning with Genesis 3 and the promise that the seed of the woman will crush the serpent’s head. From there we follow the Abrahamic covenant, where God repeatedly says “I will” and even seals the covenant while Abraham sleeps, pointing to sovereign grace rather than human performance.

Galatians 3 becomes the key: the promise is to Abraham and his seed, and that Seed is Christ. The law cannot cancel the promise, it only exposes sin and trains us until the promised One arrives. From adoption as the placing of sons to the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 and Hebrews 10, we connect salvation to the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost writing the Word on our hearts. Finally, we apply it to the home with Acts 2, Acts 16, and 1 Corinthians 7, and talk plainly about believing for your household and “applying the token” with love, not pressure.

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Transcript

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Greetings, Bible believers and followers of the end time message. Welcome to another episode of the Jason Demars Podcast, the place where we explore the incredible mysteries hidden within the pages of the Bible. I'm your host, Jason Demars. It's time to get started on another journey into the heart of God's Word. If it's your desire to grow in Revelation and see the message in the light of the Bible, you're in the right place. Today, brothers and sisters, we delve into the scripture, guided by the extraordinary revelations that God chose to unveil through Brother William Marion Branham, a messenger with a unique calling to fulfill Malachi 4 and Revelation 10:7, and unlock the secrets of the end time message. Our purpose isn't to have another basic Bible study. We're going to dig deep and peel back the layers of prophecy, decoding the signs and perhaps discovering how the Bible resonates within the very fabric of our present day and time. In this podcast, my purpose is to help you grow in your faith through solid Bible teaching through the lens of the message of Malachi 4. So grab your Bible, a cup of coffee, and let's get started. And remember that your feedback, testimonies, questions, and prayer requests are always welcome. Please send them on social media or at jasondemars.com. With that said, let's get into today's podcast. God bless you. Welcome to the podcast. It was back in December when I last recorded a podcast, and I was speaking to you about family, inheritance, love, and redemption. And I want to step back and I want to take some time to address a few things that pertain to this topic and kind of scan out and look more even deeper at the big picture. We need to look at the covenants that God has made through history and how that affects the family. And then we need to examine how this applies to us now that Christ has both fulfilled the law and has made redemption claims by taking the book and loosing the seven seals thereof. And so before we get into it, I just want to update everyone. Specifically in Surprise is where we live in the Northwest Suburbs, and we're attending uh Arizona Believers Church, where Brother Aaron McGuary is the pastor there. And we plan to get uh back to regular podcasts. You can see I have a little different background than I have in the past, and now I'm now I'm in my office, set up in my home. I'm so thankful, praise the Lord. And uh he redirected us from what our plans were before, but we we just thank him for the open doors and we thank him for the closed doors as well, because it's him leading and him directing, and we trust him with all our hearts. So we'll be God willing, able to be more regular now on recording our podcast, and of course, we'll be back on the missions field praying, and some things are in the works in the near future. So keep me in prayer. I've said this before, but we'll be doing some release of the book on the original sin and serpent seed as I'm getting settled in. I'll be able to focus a little bit more time on getting that published and ready for printing. All right, so looking at this, we're gonna be looking at two covenants and then the connection that the two covenants have to uh redemption. And so, and and also not only to redemption, but also how that applies down into our families and the promises that God has to believers. So, first covenant to man is right in Genesis chapter two. So, if you're following along in the Bible, that's uh verse 15 through 17 we're gonna read from. And the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. So we see the first covenant that is made is conditional. And so we can look at it like in some ways people would say this is a contract between God and man. God is God is the king, he is summarily enacting a covenant that you are bound to, and it is a covenant of works. If you obey me and avoid eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, I believe that's a metaphor, of course. We that we have other sermons about that. But if you avoid eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then you will continue in my blessing. But if you disobey and you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will die. So this is a covenant of works. If you obey, blessing continues. If you disobey, you'll be punished and you will lose the promises of the covenant. You can also refer this to the law of Moses, the Ten Commandments. Let's read that, Exodus chapter 19, and we'll read verses 1 through 8. In the third month, when the children of Israel gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai, for they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness, and their Israel camp before the Lord. And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel, Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagle's wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all the words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord has spoken, we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. And if you remember in Deuteronomy, they didn't want God to speak, speak to them. And we'll see that also in Exodus 20. They wanted Moses to speak. And so this was Israel coming before God and basically negotiating out. They already were under the Abraham covenant, and we'll read we'll read about the Abrahamic covenant. We're really focusing on the covenant of works. So again, the covenant of works, if you'll obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you'll be a peculiar treasure unto me above all the people. All the earth is mine. So the implication is if you don't obey my voice, you won't be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, and you will not be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. So it's a conditional covenant. Let's read verses twenty, chapter twenty of the book of Exodus. And God spake all these words, saying, I'm the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or this is that is in the water under the earth. You should not bound bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, vising visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, and in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that has thy neighbour's. And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, and when the people saw it they removed and stood far off. And they said unto Moses, Now this was God speaking to them. There was a there was what he's saying is on Mount Sinai there was thunderings, lightnings, the noise of a trumpet, the mouse mount was smoking, and God was speaking these words directly to his people with no mediator. And what what did the what did they say? They the children of Israel rejected that. They said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto people, Fear not, for God has come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces that you sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. Okay, so remember, now Moses they this is spoken directly to the people. They didn't want that. God gave them ten command, then took that, put it on tablets of stone, gave it to Moses, right? God God wrote it. Moses went down and saw they'd already broken the covenant. So he took it and threw those tables of stones down and broke them in pieces. So then Moses himself had to write the tablet, uh, write the Ten Commandments on tables of stone. So then Moses had to do it. So before before and and the children of Israel even said, We will all the Lord said we'll we will do, but they didn't do it. They didn't do it, they turned away from what God spoke to them. So immediately we see they were under they they were under they were in violation of the covenant, and they were they were based on the covenant of well, we'll get to that in a minute. I don't want to skip ahead. So let's let's keep going. Deuteronomy 28 shows us the blessings and the cursings. If you do it, you'll be blessed, if you don't do it, you'll be cursed. So Deuteronomy 28, 15, but it shall come to pass if thou will not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statues, which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. All right, skip ahead to sixty-three, where it details a few of the curses, and it shall come to pass that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and to bring you to naught, and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it, and the Lord shall scatter thee among all the people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other, and there shalt thou serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone, and among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest, but the Lord shall give thee a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mine. So we can clearly see the promises of God to Israel through the law of Moses are completely conditional upon their works. This is a contract. If if you do this, then I will continue my blessing. If you do not, if you cut go against it, if you disobey, you will receive not only not only uh you will my blessing be removed, but my curse will be upon you. You'll only retain my blessing if you obey the word of the Lord and my statutes and my commands. If you don't, I'll curse you and I'll drive you from the land and put you under judgment until you repent. So notice the second covenant God put in place immediately after the fall of man. After Adam and Eve broke the covenant of works, there was another covenant that was going to come and bring deliverance. Genesis three fourteen. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field, upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shall thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head. It shall crush thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. So the seed of the woman is going to crush the seed, the head of the seed of the serpent. This is an unconditional promise that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent serpent. There's no conditions upon this. Redemption will come from the seed of the woman. This is an unconditional covenant, or we can call it a covenant of grace. God saying, I will do it. Brother Branham says in 1954 in the sermon, the unconditional covenant that God made with the people. Now, if you'll notice what caused this great thing in the beginning, God took man for a partner and he made a covenant with a man, equal, and told a man, If thou shalt do this and not do this, and the man broke his covenant, and he always breaks his covenant. Man just can't keep his promise. That's all. There's only one can keep his promise, and that's God. Man cannot, he breaks his covenant every time with God. But right in Eden, watch God. He said, I, personal pronoun, will put enmity. Not if you'll do a certain thing, I'll send a redeemer, but I will put it put enmity between her and the serpent's seed and so forth. I will do that. Not in any conditions that Adam had to do. He said he would do it sovereignly. Amen. So God saying I the seed of the woman is going to crush the works of the devil. He's going to destroy the works of the devil. He's going to destroy, he's going to bring restoration to this place that w where destruction once was. All right. So now we see that there's a covenant, two covenants. There's a covenant of works, and there's a covenant of grace. One is on conditions, or one is conditional, to be more clear, and one is unconditional. Let's notice where we see this unconditional covenant, this covenant of grace, unfold more. Genesis 12, verse 1 through 3. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make my name make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them, him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. This this is no conditions. There's no conditions of obedience. If you do if you obey me, then I'll keep my promise. God says, I will bless you, I will make a great nation of you, you will be a blessing. I'll bless those that bless you, curse those that curse you, and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed. God said he's going to do it, and there were there's no conditions on it. God sovereignly chose Abraham by his grace, not because of anything that Abraham deserved. It was sovereign grace. And so God brought forth his grace and said, I'm gonna do this, Abraham. That settles it. So let's see further that this is a covenant of grace. Genesis chapter 15. After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what will thou give me, seeing I go child childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and lo one born in my house is mine heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowel shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars if thou be able to number them, and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness. And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of the Urb of the Chaldees to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon, and he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another, but the divert birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away, and when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. So God says, All right, I'm gonna give you confirmation of the covenant. So divide the animals, put the birds out, walk between them, and then God says puts him puts Abram to sleep. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety in a dream, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them for a hundred years, and also that great nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace. Thou shalt be buried in a good old age, but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass that when the sun went down and it was dark, behold, a smoking f flax and a burning lamp, the logos, pillar of fire, that went out of God, went between those pieces, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, supernatural light went between those pieces. And it says, In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates, the Kenites, the Kenesites, the Cadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Gergeshites and the Jebusites. So we see there, perfect expression. Abram, go to sleep. I will walk between these this this sacrifice. I have made a covenant with you. While you're asleep, I will accomplish it. I will do this. Right? So that's that's his covenant. It's an unconditional. It's not based on what Abraham has done. Abraham proved himself over and over again. He was unworthy of it. It was God's unconditional election and perfect sovereign grace. Let's keep going. Genesis 17, 4 through 7. As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name anymore be called Abram, but thy name shall be called Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made thee, and I will make thee fruit exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee, and I will establish my covenant between thee, me, and thee, and thy. Thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. Alright, so there God has given an everlasting covenant unto them. So we we look at this and there's a bit of a there's a bit of a conundrum. How do we reconcile these two thoughts? We've got the the the children of Abraham, not specifically just Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, right, and then the 12 patriarchs. So we have from the nation from Jacob, you have the nation of Israel, and they are given the promises, they inherit the promises given to Abraham. And God tells Abraham, I will bring your offspring out, I will bring them into Egypt, and I will bring them out of Egypt into the land, I will give them this land. At some point we have a change because it goes from unconditional to conditional. So how do we have this change? And this change was done by the elders of Israel in the time of Moses renegotiating the covenant with God. God had given them the land. It was not conditional, it was unconditional. And suddenly, when God is coming to lead them into the land, they want a negotiation. They want to say, we don't want God to speak with us. God spoke to Abraham, God spoke to Isaac, God spoke to Jacob, God spoke to Joseph, God spoke to Moses. Now God was going to speak to the whole nation, and he wanted that nation for themselves. And what did they say? No, no, we don't want God, we want a mediator. Give us a mediator between us and God. So God says, okay, this is this, you want a mediator, you want it written, you want a written law, and it will give it to you. Now, from the time of the law of Mo for Abraham, it was unconditional. For Moses, for in Moses, the Mosaic covenant, it becomes a covenant of works. If you do this, if you obey the commandments, then you get to stay in the land. If you don't obey the commandments, I will cast you out of the land, right? So where did we go from there? That was, Brother Branham says that was the greatest mistake that Israel ever made was accepting Allah instead of continuing in grace. And that's what man always wants to do. He wants something into it. He wants to achieve something himself instead of resting in God and letting God's promises be enough for him. And so God drove them out of the land. He drove the ten tribes out by the Assyrians, and they've been scattered into the nations, and they're amalgamated so much into the nations that we really don't know who they are. There are some that claim to be of the nation of Israel, but the fact is they're all blended into the nations from the from the northern kingdom. From the southern kingdom of Judah, they were driven out to Babylon, and they were told in 70 years you'll return. And so a small portion of them returned after 70 years, and there was still a great diaspora that we see, even spoken about in the New Testament. People in Persia, Babylon, Jews in Persia, Babylon, in Europe, in North Africa, in Arabia, they all stayed in these different areas even after the remnant was brought back to the land that met John the Baptist and Jesus Christ and the twelve apostles. And so even a small amount was there, and then they rejected not only Jesus Christ and put under judgment, they rejected the apostles. So God drove them out of the land once again. And again, where some remained separate and many blended in with the nations. And so there we have this place if you obey me from that time forward, if you follow the law of Moses, then I will keep you. But ultimately, the one who fulfilled the law of Moses, they turned against and reject and continue to reject. And so let's look at Galatians chapter 3, because there's a continuation. Both there, the covenant of works was made in the Garden of Eden before the fall. The covenant covenant of grace was made in the Garden of Eden after the fall. Right? And so the covenant of works was there and continued on, right? It took on it went from that pro the the command to Adam, it went to the command to Noah, then it went to the command to Moses, right? Covenant of works. If you obey, blessing remains. If you disobey, I will curse you. There will be retribution. You'll have to pay something back to me to get restoration. You will have to do it. Right? In the in in the law of Moses, it's uh uh he God says to Israel, Circumcise your heart unto me. Right? But then we have the covenant of grace. The covenant of grace is uh promised to Adam, it is ratified to and made with Abraham and to his seed, and then it was bring to a fulfillment in Christ, the covenant of grace. And so the covenant of grace is what is necessary to bring redemption. With without this covenant of grace, we have no redemption. Alright, now let's pick up Galatians 3 16. We're gonna read through the end of basically the end of the chapter. Now to Abraham and his seed, where the promise is made, and he's he saith not, and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. Now this changes the nature of it. He's not saying that the ultimate promise was made to the children of Israel. No, it was made to the seed of Abraham. Oh, I thought that was Isaac and then Jacob and then the twelve patriarchs. No, no, they were the carriers of the of the promise, but they weren't the promise, right? Who's the promise? Christ. You know, look back. What he says. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto them. So it's the promise to the seed, and who is the seed? The seed is Christ. And this I say, Galatians 3:17, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise of none effect. All right, so what is that saying? The covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ can't be made of none effect. Right? Because it was God was making the covenant with Christ. So who where is Christ in this promise to Abraham? His seed. So when God was saying, I'll make my promise to you, Abraham, and to your seed, that seed, the covenant was with Christ. So he made the covenant with Christ, he made the promise to Christ. What was the promise? You'll in you'll inherit the land and you'll be a blessing to all nations. So is it the Jews that have been a blessing to all nations? No, it's Christ that's been a blessing to all nations. All right. And the law cannot make the promise to Christ of none effect. The law was there. Let's read what the law was there. Verse 18, for the inheritance if if or if the inheritance, so there we have, it's an inheritance. So so Christ receiving the covenant, he inherited the covenant. Where did he inherit the covenant from? From Christ. From Abraham. Sorry. Abraham received the covenant and to his seed, so now there's an inheritance. Now we understand it's a family. There's a family heritage that redemption is to be passed through. And this family heritage comes in a certain specific way. For if the inheritance be of the law, it's no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. It's uncondi, it's an unconditional covenant. It's a covenant of grace. It's not a covenant of if you do this, then you get that. It's a covenant, not a covenant of works, it's a covenant of grace. Verse 19, wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. So the law came because of transgressions, because of unbelief, right? What is sin? Sin is unbelief. So they didn't believe the promises. And anyway, and anyways, they were there just to be the ones that would eventually bring forth the seed, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. So the reality is the promise wasn't really made to the children, all the children of Israel. It was made to the seed and those who are connected to that seed. Galatians 3, verse 20. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. So what is this implying? God is not a mediator of a mediator is not a mediator of one person, right? You have to have more than one person that the promise is made to, but he's saying God is one person, right? It's not saying God is three people, God is one person is the implication. Mediator is not a mediator of one person, but God is one person. Verse 21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. So the promise is by the faith of Jesus Christ, not by your faith, but by his faith. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer longer under a schoolmaster, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. So there we see. Chapter 4, verse 1. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant. So we're talking about inheritance, right? We are to inherit the promises given to Abraham. But but when we're when we were under the law, let's say we're talking about children of God through the ages. We're talking about the bride of Christ through the ages, this the elected saints from both the old under the old covenant and under the new covenant. So the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all. So he's going to inherit, but he's not position, he's not in the position of, he's not old enough, he's not been trained enough, he's not ready to inherit all things, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father. So we were the law was a schoolmaster, right? That was the tutor, the law was the tutor, and the law was the governor to train us until the time appointed of the Father. Even so we, when we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of the world, the law. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption or the placing of sons. This is about inheritance. This isn't about taking someone who's not your son and making them your son. Huiothesia means the placing of sons. And so this is about inheritance, and this is about receiving your inheritance. And so we receive the placing of adult sons. How? Because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. So as we look at that, we we see the transition from law, from law, the covenant of works, to grace, the covenant of grace. So from law to grace, from works to grace. So the covenant of works was a schoolmaster to bring us and to show us our need for and to bring us up to Christ. If you look at the law, it wasn't just a covenant of works, it was also how the country should be uh governed, how there was many types and shadows placed within the Levitical offerings and priesthood. And all of these were shadows to show us what the true substance is, which is Christ. And so for us, his covenant with his seed, we receive an inheritance for it when we place our faith in Jesus Christ. Now, people get mixed up and they confuse adoption a little bit. So Brother Branham preaches about adoption and it's marvelous, and it's speaking of our end time inheritance that we're entering into in preparation for the rapture. And if you look at Ephesians 1, I believe it is in Romans 8, it speaks of adoption a little bit differently than Galatians 3 and 4 does. Galatians 3 and 4 is putting it uh adoption onto our putting our faith in Jesus Christ and entering into the covenant of grace. Whereas in Romans 8 and Ephesians 1, it's speaking of a placing of sons that takes place when there's a training of maturity and growth in the word in preparation for the rapture. And so in this, we inherit the promise by faith. How do we get faith? It's a gift of God. By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of the works, lest any man should boast. So we we enter into the heritage of the covenant of grace, this family heritage that we receive and the promises that we receive, they come by grace through faith. All right. Let me not belabor that point. Let's keep moving. Brother Branham says in the sermon sermon, God's Chosen Place of Worship, 1965, there was also two covenants given to the people. We're going to speak of them in the morning. One of them was given to Adam on condition. If you do this and don't do that, but that law was broken. Adam, Eve broke that in the Garden of Eden. Then God made the second covenant and gave that to Abraham, and that law was unconditional. It isn't what you've done or what you will do. He said, I have already done it. That's grace. That's the law of life. God did that for Abraham and his seed after him. That's all of Abraham's seed. As the Bible said, all Israel will be saved, but that don't mean Jews. As Paul said, that that Israel, which is inward, or Israel outward, outward, as we spoke of the other night, it was Isaac's children by sex. But the law of God was through Christ, which was Abraham's royal seed, that by grace all Israel is saved. That's all that's in Christ is saved, all God's sec second covenant. But all these things foreshadowed Christ. Amen. In the Sermon of Faith, 1956, Brother Branham says, Notice then Abraham called by election, and God giving him the covenant of grace of an unconditionally. You know, when God makes a covenant with man, man breaks his covenant. You make a promise to God, nine times out of ten you'll not do it. When God made a covenant with man in the Garden of Eden, this you do, and if you do this, there's an if in it. Man turned right right back around and broke his covenant with God. God was determined to save man. So a covenant is an alliance or agreement, agreement, or a confederacy, or a compact. The promise was made to the seed of Abraham, was made to Abraham and his seed after him, Christ. And men of men of men of all nations can be can be the seed of Abraham. How? By faith in Jesus Christ and by receiving the promise of the Spirit. Alright. That speaks of the new covenant. So this covenant of grace takes various forms before Christ, but all it find their fulfillment in Christ. Praise the Lord. So you have the covenant of grace to Abraham, you have the covenant of grace to David, and you have its final form in the new covenant. That's the fulfillment of the covenant of grace. Jeremiah 31 speaks about that. But but Hebrews 10 details the fulfillment. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, for after that he said had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin, having therefore bret brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true with a true heart, full in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. So we see that he says, I'm going to make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah in those days, saith the Lord, not after the covenant that I made with in them in Horeb, which they break, though I were a husband unto them. But this is the covenant that I will make with them. I will put my laws in their hearts and write them in their in their in their inward parts. And he says that they they shall not every man teach his neighbor know the Lord, but every man will know me from the least to the greatest, will know him because his spirit is dwelling in us, and writing his word on his hearts, convicting and working. Within our conscience and revealing Himself to us. And then out of that He says, And I will remember their sins and iniquities no more. It's not a conditional covenant, it's an unconditional covenant. God says, I will write my word on your heart. You will know me from the least to the greatest, and I will remember your sins and iniquities no more. So it's an unconditional covenant, and that comes through the blood of Jesus Christ. So out of the blood of Jesus Christ comes the Holy Spirit into us to bring regeneration and to bring a change and to make us heirs according to the promise. We have an inheritance that we are going to receive based upon that. We have the down payment. The Holy Ghost is the down payment. It is the first fruits of the Spirit, Paul calls it. It is the earnest of the inheritance, Paul calls it. He also says it's the spirit of adoption, and that we are waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our bodies. And so we we have the down payment, we're waiting for the full inheritance. All right. If he's a firstborn, he's not going to get the full inheritance until his father dies. But up until that time, he'll receive a partial, he receives a down payment of the inheritance. But when when when the time comes for a rapture and a new body, that's when we'll get the full inheritance, the adoption to wit, the redemption of our bodies. All right, now again, we're speaking, you might have gotten a few clues, but we're speaking on a larger subject of love, family, inheritance, and redemption. So the covenants are significant because we can look at this and realize that the promises we are given are not on condition. They're unconditional and that they're based on the election of God. So ultimately, we understand this is God electing pre certain individuals before the foundation of the world to be a part of that covenant. He's he's our we've been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Christ is the seed that was to come in the future, Abraham's seed that was to come in the future. But Abraham's seed that was to come in the future was predestinated to come, right? He was already in the mind of God, and he was already a part of the Logos, the Word of God, from before the foundation of the world, just before creation got put forth his Logos, and through that Logos he's created. And that Logos itself is a prefiguration of the Son of God that was to come, who is the seed of Abraham. And all of us are in the seed of Abraham, and through the seed of Abraham we receive our inheritance. And those are not conditional on our obedience, they're unconditional, and they're based on what God will do in us and through us and for us. And they're looking back to election and they're looking forward to predestination. And then we also know that there's an outworking of the covenant in our lives. Just as Abraham was given the sign of circumcision, we are also given the sign of circumcision, which is the receiving of the Holy Ghost. And he writes the laws in our hearts and in our minds so that we are able to obey the word. So now then we look at in the at this in the context of family. How does this work out? How does this pass on? Now, two things that we a few things we need to understand before we move forward in this. For the inheritance of salvation to be received by our children, they need to experience the following. One, you must be born again. John three, five says to a circumcised Jewish man who is part of the outward covenant to Abraham, an outward covenant of Moses, he says, You must be born again. And he's implying everyone must be born again. Luke 13, one through three tells us, do you suppose these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such thing? The the the Pilate mingled their blood with the sacrifices. And he says, Do you think they're worse than everybody else? He says, No. Unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish. So you to res to be a part of the covenant, you have to re be born again. And second, you have to must all must repent. John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. They have to believe. And next it says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, temper, temperance. Against such there is no law, so they have to have the accompanying fruit of receiving the Holy Ghost. So all have to be born again, all must repent, all must believe, and all must bring forth the fruit of faith. Right? It's also clear that our children that are born to us, so we're talking speaking about two believers that bring forth a child into their family. There's promises of God for them, but they have to, in order to fully enter into the promises, they have to be born again, they have to repent, they have to believe, and they have to have the fruit of the Spirit in their life. If you're born again, you will have the fruit of the Spirit in your life. But we also know that our children are born with a fallen sin nature. Psalm 51 5 says, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. And Psalm 58, 3 says, The wicked are estranged from the womb, they go astray as soon as they are be born, speaking lies. So by an extension, this is an individual experience that each person needs to receive. With that step said, it is clear that we have been given certain promises by by the Lord to our children, to our seed, and it also tells us that the children of a believer, chill even even a children of a mare from a marriage of one believer that though that those children are holy. Now that seems to be excuse me, that seems to be a self-contradiction. How can a child be holy when he's born in sin, shaped in iniquity, come into the world speaking lies? So we'll we'll break that down and we'll look more closely at it. But number one is we do have a promise. Let's look at the promise, seeing that Abraham, Genesis 18, 18 and 19, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him, for I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him. So there's a promise to Abraham and to his children, and that God says, I know you that you're going to command your children and your household after you, that they will keep the way of the Lord, that they'll know the Lord, and that they'll walk in his ways. And so Acts 2, 38 and 39, then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promises unto you and to your children, to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Right? So he specifically says, Your children, if it's only just it's only for individuals, then it there'd be no for need for him to say it's for you and for your children. Instead, he could say the promises all unto all that call upon the name of the Lord from all nations. No, he doesn't say that. He says that at the end, he says, promises to you, one, to your children, two, and to all that are far off. Even as many as the Lord our God shall call. He could have just the promises to as many as the Lord our God shall call. But he says it's promises to you and to your children. It's a specific promise of God for salvation to the children of believing parents. We'll read what Brother Branham says about this more, but we'll keep keep looking in the scriptures. Acts 16, 31. And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Philippian jailer saying, What shall I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized, he and all his straightway. Brother Branham speaks about this in the token. And so I want to I want to take some time to read through this. You want to read another one, Acts 16, 31. Paul told the centurion, believe on the message of the hour, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou and thy house shall be saved. That right? Believe for your house, bring them all under. Now you've seen the God of heaven perform a miracle. It's before judgment. Do you believe it? Yes. What can I do? He said, Rise and be baptized. Paul took him out and baptized him, said, Now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou and thy house shall be saved. Believe what? Believe the Lord Jesus Christ for your house. Apply the token to your house. Then what do you do when you apply it to your house? Move all the trash out. Get all the short skirts and the shorts and the cards and the cigarettes and televisions and whatever more and kick them out the door when you go to apply the token. Won't stand still for it. Yes, sir. Take it all out. All the dances and parties and rock and roll and old vulgar newspapers and the stuff that's of the world, kick it out the door. Say we're cleaning out this place around here. Like Jacob did. He said, told his wife, all of them, wash your clothes, everything, put away them gods. Amen. You know what Joshua said before crossing over. He said, Wash your clothes, come not at your wives, and so forth, and get ready, for within three days we'll cross Jordan. Amen. He was getting ready, was applying the token. Amen. That's it. Get ready, apply it, believe it, clean up, let your children, let your family, let your loved ones see it in you. That's right. It'll take effect. Yes, sir. Then apply the token in prayer with consideration, with believing. Listen, apply it with such love. Don't apply it with such zeal that you hammer the heads of your family. Apply it with love and consideration and so forth to you know it's going to take place. It's going to take place, that's all. Apply it in confidence, believing it's going to help. When you talk to that child, so what's the it requires talking to them? When you talk to your husband, talk to your wife, talk to this loved one, believe that it's going to help. Just stand there and say, Lord, I've claimed them. They're mine. I'm getting them for you. Apply it and create that atmosphere around you that they'll just drop right into it. See, oh, you are, you are. If you got the token, you create a spirit around you, a power that when you walk, people know that you're a Christian. They love for you to say something to them. They believe your word, what you say, they hold on to it. See, that's it. Apply the token, then walk in it. Claim your household. You must do it now. This is evening time. Now you've been listening for a long time. This is evening time. It's applying time. The wrath will strike. One of these days, it might be too late. Then, see, apply the token with confidence. So a child growing up in a home that's a part of this covenant, when they're when they're born, they immediately have access to the means of grace, right? And the work of the Holy Spirit. They're going to church, they're hearing the we the word preached. So, of course, they're born in sin and shaped in iniquity. Of course, they have to experience salvation. When I say experience salvation, they got to be born again, they've got to repent, they got to believe, and they've got to have the manifestation of that faith in their life, right? These things have to be there. It's not just it's automatic. As soon as they're born into our family, they're saved, and that's the end of it. No, they they when they're born, they're they're born under a blessing in that father and mother are going to going to live the life of Christ before them from the time that they're little children. They're going to meet together to sing and to read the word and to pray together almost on a daily basis. Father is going to take the time to teach the children about salvation, teach the children about this covenant of grace, show them about the fulfillment of the church ages, and Malachi 4 and uh Revelation 5 and 10. He's going to take the time to teach these things to his children. They have access to a means of grace and the work of the Holy Spirit. And they are also not only that, but they have a promise that this uh repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ and the receiving of the Holy Ghost is promised to them. They can look directly and say, Oh, I'm the children of believers. The promise for the Holy Spirit is given to me as long as as long as I repent and get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and get filled with the Holy Ghost. It's for everyone, obviously, but we're saying our children are a part of the, they've they're born into the covenant. Not that they have it applied to them, but they're in a place where there had there's a promise over them. So 1 Corinthians 7, 12 through 14, very mysterious verse, but I want you to just understand it in the context of what I just said. But to the rest speak I not the Lord. If any brother has a wife that believes not, and she pleased to dwell be pleased to dwell with him, let not let him not put her away. And then the woman which hath a husband that believes not, if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him, for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Else were your children unclean clean, but now are they holy. So they're legitimate children. Not only they're legitimate children, but they're given a promise because one of their parents is a believer, and that the promise is to them, not just to the believer, it's the promises to them. So children are a part of the covenant, it's a household, a family covenant, and it's our duty to pass that covenant on to our children. We must pass the covenant on. God is the one who's under obligation to save them. We cannot save them. Being it just being born naturally into our family doesn't mean they're saved. They have to experience it. But not only they have access to the means of grace in such a way that the promise is for them. Ephesians 6, 1 through 4. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Or that could say the training and admonition of the Lord. So we pass the covenant on to our children, and we bring redemption into their lives. So being a part of our family means they have access to the covenant and the work of the Holy Spirit. They're blessed, and then they have a promise upon them. They go to church to hear the word with their parents. They have access to the glorious message on a daily basis. This sets them apart. Word holy means set apart. This sets them apart with a promise, but God has to work the details into them. It's God that does the work. We can't do it, and it isn't done based on simply being born into our family. Romans 2.4 says the goodness of God leads thee to repentance. John 6.4 says, No man could come to me unless the Father draws him first. Ephesians 2.1, and he and you hath he quickened who are dead in trespasses and sins. All right. Brother Branham says in adoption number two, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou in thy house shall be saved. If you've got enough faith for your own self to be saved, have enough faith. Faith enough, no matter how wayward that boy is or that girl is, they'll be saved anyhow. God somehow, if he has to lay them on their back, laying them there in a hospital, dying, they'll be saved. God promised it, the inheritance. Oh, and they shall be there, said Isaiah, and all their offspring with them. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord. So let's read then. So that's again, you have faith. God has promised salvation to your household, so you believe. Now they've got to come to their own faith, but you believe for them, so that through your faith, God will then drop faith into their hearts so that they believe. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, my spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in my mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever. What a promise. This promise is down that the word will be in the mouth of your children and of your children's children. In adoption number one, he said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and I and thy house shall be saved. Did you hear that? Die in thy house. Now look, if you have faith enough for salvation for yourself, can't you have also faith enough for your house? And in show us the Father, he said, You know what the Roman centurion said, as I have said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thy thou and thy house shall be saved. How? Did that mean because he believed Saus would be saved? No. If he has faith enough for himself, he can have faith enough for his house. Believe with all your heart, and you and your sweetheart will live together in that paradise of God beyond the river. God bless you. Go and receive what you have asked for. All right, so as we kind of bring this to a close, I want I'm I want to tie this together, and we're gonna continue on looking more deeply into family and and our attitudes about family and our approach approach towards raising our families. So this is a promise. You know, we we have a covenant, it's a covenant of grace, and it's of course, we know it's by election. We're we're we are the seed of Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ. So in Christ, uh we become his seed. And when were we chosen in Christ? Before the foundation of the world. And how do we get into Christ? By one spirit, we're all baptized into one body, and so we enter into this uh covenant of grace in that way. So we'll just go ahead and bring it to a close. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this, please like it. Please, please comment, please give me some feedback. If you have some subject or some questions, please let me know. I love to hear from you. Appreciate that, and may the Lord richly bless you.