Why we need a personal relationship with GodIt is one of the great joys of the Christian church that the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is so easily accessible and readily available to sinners. The salvation He has procured is not hidden somewhere remote, but there for the taking. The question is whether those who need it most will actually take possession of it and make use of it. The Saviour must be embraced, His salvation needs to be grasped hold of. One pastor who felt the urgency of this point was Patrick Gillespie, who wrote a book on the covenant of grace. Patrick Gillespie (1617–1675) was minister in Kirkcaldy and Glasgow before being appointed Principal of Glasgow University. George Gillespie was his older brother. The following updated extract is from the section of his book devoted to explaining how the covenant is personal.What is personal about it?No one else can do it for meThis is a work and business which no one can transact for someone else, but each one must personally enter the covenant for himself. I mean, the saving interesting of a soul in Christ is an act which you cannot do by a proxy, nor transmit to your heirs, not even to your children.
It’s about persons, not thingsThe covenant of grace is not only, or even mainly, a covenant of goods or of things, but of persons. Both parties to the covenant speak the apostle’s words, “I seek not yours, but you” (2 Corinthians 12:14). On God’s side, it consists not so much in God promising life and salvation and all good things to us, as in His promising and bequeathing Himself to us, even Himself personally considered, the Father, Son, and Spirit. On the sinner’s side, it does not consist in our covenanting our service and duty and obedience to God, so much as in our giving ourselves away to him. “Ye shall be my people, and I will be your God” (Ezekiel 36:28). “And I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:18).
It involves my whole personIt is a covenant with the whole person. It is not a covenant with this or that part of you, but with the whole person, soul and body. “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:17). “Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:20). There is no part in him that is not in covenant with God; yea, the very dust of the saints, their dead bodies are in covenant with God, and by virtue thereof, shall be raised up again at the last day, as Christ proves. (Matthew 22:31, 32).
It requires me to personally do somethingThis covenant requires and presupposes something to be personally done by us (beside what Christ did for us, and in our name) before we can actually have any benefit by it. “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me (John 6:57). And “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).
What is so important about it?All who hear the offers of the gospel, as particular individual souls, have a duty to explicitly enter covenant with God through Christ on the terms of grace. The weight and importance of this duty will be apparent if we consider the nature and necessity of it, as follows.
Our survival depends on itConsider the wretched condition under which all lie, if they have not personally, each one for themselves, entered in covenant with God. They must stand or fall by their own righteousness, and by the tenor of the covenant of works that was made with Adam. “For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them” (Romans 10:5). They are “by nature the children of wrath, even as others … without Christ, strangers from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:3,12). “For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a-whoring from thee” (Psalm 73:27).
Our blessedness depends on itConsider the thoroughly blessed state of these who personally enter into a covenant with God. If someone’s state is blessed on account of personal covenanting with God, then this must needs be a very weighty duty, and of huge importance. “Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 144:15). “O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou are my Lord … The Lord is my portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage” (Psalm 16:2,5,6).
Our access to Christ’s redemption depends on itConsider the ineffectualness of all that Christ did and suffered, without this personal covenanting with God on our part. This is the very application of the cure and remedy. Without it, we can have no actual benefit by the covenant of redemption, nor by what Christ suffered and did in order to fulfilling the covenant of suretyship. This is the very sprinkling of the blood of the covenant upon us (Hebrews 9:19–20). “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you” (Ezekiel 36:25).
It is like when a man contracts for himself and his heirs. His heirs cannot actually have any benefit by that covenant, till they have taken possession of the inheritance. So we can have no actual benefit by, nor right in law to claim, the everlasting inheritance by Christ’s covenant and death, until we take possession of Him by faith in Him. That is how we come to inherit the promises. “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit by faith. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:14,22,26,29; see also Hebrews 9:15).
Our union with Christ depends on itWithout personally covenanting with God we cannot have an actual being in Christ, for it is by personal covenanting with Him through faith that we come to have the reality of a spiritual and mystical union with Him. As we can have no evil by or from Adam, without having a being in his nature, so neither can we have any good or benefit by Christ, until we have a being in Him, and be made partakers of the divine nature. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me” (John 6:57).
Our assurance depends on itWithout this we cannot make our calling and election sure, the greatest business that is committed to us. How can a soul that has not personally entered covenant with God come to know certainly its everlasting estate? It is impossible for a soul to find out its election, if it has not found this effect of it, or to for the soul to make sure of its calling to the state of grace, without personal covenanting with God. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness within himself … He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life … These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:10,12,13).
Someone who has not covenanted with God is so far from having certainty about his everlasting state, that he lacks both the grounds of certainty, and the witness and evidences of it. “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3). “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14). “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16).
Our peace depends on itWithout personal covenanting with God, the soul can never be quiet inwardly, as being settled in a solid, well-grounded peace and satisfaction about its estate. It is continually tossed about, till it settles on this mountain, “Neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy upon thee” (Isaiah 54:10). Though this is not the harbour and port where the souls of the saints shall arrive, yet sure it is a safe road for hope to anchor in, and for the soul to lie quiet and safe in, with peace at home. “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil” (Hebrews 6:19). “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever” (Isaiah 32:17). “Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow” (2 Samuel 23:5).
Our boldness with God depends on itWithout this personal covenanting, no boldness or familiarity of access to God can be reached, or maintained. We find that the saints have been bold on this account, and have maintained their faith in evil times, when their souls have witnessed to a personal covenant between God and them. “My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever” (Psalm 73:26). “The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him” (Lamentations 3:24). “Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not” (Isaiah 63:16). See also Psalm 42 throughout. It is on this ground that we are exhorted to boldness (Hebrews 10:22).
Our comfort in difficult situations depends on itWithout such covenanting with God we will not be able to put a good construction on providences which do not look good at first sight, when there is any harshness in them. This is the very spring of satisfaction with all our providences, that God is in covenant with me, and these providences must come from covenant love. “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies” (Psalm 25:10). “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot … Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Psalm 16:5,9,10).
Now, if personal covenanting is a duty of such importance, how is it that you dare to slight it? How does it come about that you dare not shake off and slight other duties, yet you are not more taken up with this? Will you hear the gospel, pray, read, meditate, and yet not personally enter into covenant with God? Let it be far from you!
← Seven reasons why pastors need to be holyFURTHER READINGRead more articles from the blogAUTHOR MENU* Samuel Rutherford * George Gillespie * James Durham * Alexander Henderson * David Dickson * Alexander Nisbet * Donald Cargill * Andrew Gray * George Hutcheson * Hugh Binning * Westminster Assembly * The Covenanters * James Fergusson * James Fraser of Brea * James Guthrie * William Guthrie * James Renwick * John Brown of Wamphray * John Livingstone * Richard Cameron READ MORELIKE THISSubscribe to our weekly newsletter and receive an updated article every week.
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