Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 4:25-31.

“When you become the father of children and children’s children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD your God so as to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it.  You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed.  The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD drives you.  There you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.  But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.  When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.  For the LORD your God is a compassionate God;  He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.” Deuteronomy 4:25-31.

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Consider the following from the “ESSENTIALS OF REFORMED DOCTRINE A Guide in Catechetical Instruction” by Rev. H. Hoeksema (revised by Prof. H. Hanko) of the Protestant Reformed Churches.

Lesson 18: The Covenant of Grace

1. How does God save His people?
   By means of a living faith in the Mediator of the covenant, our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. What is the fruit of the work of Christ?
   That God maintains, restores, and perfects His covenant through Him. Jeremiah 31:33 .
3. What is the covenant?
   It is the gracious relation of living fellowship and friendship between God and His people in Christ, wherein He is their God and they are His people. Genesis 17:7 ; Psalm 16:5 ; Psalm 33:22 .
4. How many covenants are there?
   There is only one covenant in both the Old and New Testaments established with God’s people throughout all time.
5. Did not Adam stand in a covenant relationship to God?
   Yes, but he violated the covenant through his sin so that the covenant must be restored through Christ.
6. How does God establish His covenant?
   God establishes His covenant by His own work of grace whereby He takes His people into His own covenant fellowship. Ephesians 2:8 .
7. Does God establish His covenant with all men?
   No, He establishes His covenant only with His elect people in the line of continued generations. Galatians 3:16, 29 .
8. What does God do for His people in that covenant?
   He forms them to be His people, makes them partakers of all the benefits of Christ, and leads them on to eternal glory. Ephesians 1:23 .
9. Through Whom does God make us partakers of all Christ’s benefits?
   Through the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in Christ as the Head and in His people as members of His body. Ephesians 1:23 .

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“For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.”  So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”  Romans 9:15-16.

“But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;  for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD;  you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”  1 Peter 2:9-10.