A Covenant with Your Eyes - Jonathan Roiz

Job 31:1 - "I have made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I look upon a young woman?"


Biblical Interpretation


Job begins this chapter by declaring his resolve to guard his eyes from lustful gazes. He understands that the eyes are a gateway to the soul, and what one chooses to dwell on visually often dictates the condition of the heart. This verse illustrates a profound awareness of sin’s deceptive nature—it begins subtly, with a look, but can grow into destructive lust. Job's covenant shows his proactive stance against sin, understanding that avoiding temptation at the source is essential for maintaining purity.


As Christian men, we must take Job’s example seriously in a world full of visual temptations. Lust can quickly overpower a man’s heart if left unchecked, leading to more grievous sins such as adultery or emotional infidelity. Job’s resolve points to a deep desire to live in a way that honors God, not just in public but also in private thoughts. This is the kind of offensive strategy we must take in our daily battle against the flesh.


Life Application


In your battle against sin, you must, like Job, make a covenant with your eyes. What does this look like in the modern world? Practically, it involves avoiding certain websites, entertainment, or even social situations that provoke lustful thoughts. It also means being mindful of wandering eyes and choosing instead to focus on things that honor God. This war is not fought passively; you must engage actively by guarding what you allow into your mind and heart. Lust isn’t just an issue of behavior but of the soul.


To fight this battle, meditate on God’s Word daily and pray for strength. Surround yourself with accountability—brothers in Christ who can support you. Remember that every time you guard your eyes, you honor God and win a victory in your fight against the flesh, the world, and the devil.


New Testament Connection


Matthew 5:28 - "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."


Theologian Quote


"Self-denial is the knife that must cut the root of sin." – John Owen
Original Post: https://www.hopemovement.com/post/a-covenant-with-your-eyes



Unconditional love in Christian marriage - Paul Washer

How would you ever learn unconditional love if you were married to someone who met all the conditions?

How would you ever learn mercy, patience, long-suffering, heart-felt compassion if you were married to someone who never failed you? Who is never difficult with you?

Who never sinned against you? Who is never slow to acknowledge their sin or ask for forgiveness?

How would you ever learn grace, to pour out your favor on someone who did not deserve it, if you were married to someone who was always deserving of all good things? Do you see that?

The main purpose of marriage is that through your marriage, you both become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

Marriage is the greatest instrument of sanctification. You are married to a person who does not meet all the conditions so that you might learn unconditional love. You are married to a person who needs mercy so that you learn to give it. You are married to a person that does not deserve so that you learn to pour lavishly yourself out on a person who does not respond appropriately & thus you become like the Lord we worship.

~Paul Washer

Wake-up call for Christians

1. My life is short, and few are my days on earth and therefore I will concentrate on things related to eternity.

2. I may face death anytime, and I take nothing that I have acquired with me. Therefore I will have a life of constant repentance and my conscience  cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

3. I am created for God's glory, and Christ has purchased me by His blood to live for this very purpose. Therefore I will do that which is pleasing to God.

4. After I die, I face the Judgment of God to give an account of my life on earth. Therefore I will be careful about my works I do here.

5. Heaven is my home, and I live there with my Christ forever and ever. Therefore I will be prepared for Jesus' Coming always.

Selected and edited.

Brethren, We Have Met to Worship by George Askins

Brethren, we have met to worship
And adore the Lord our God;
Will you pray with all your power,
While we try to preach the Word?
All is vain unless the Spirit
Of the Holy One comes down;
Brethren, pray, and holy manna
Will be showered all around.

Brethren, see poor sinners round you
Slumb'ring on the brink of woe;
Death is coming, hell is moving,
Can you bear to let them go?
See our fathers and our mothers,
And our children sinking down;
Brethren, pray and holy manna
Will be showered all around.

Sisters, will you join and help us?
Moses' sister aided him;
Will you help the trembling mourners
Who are struggling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Savior,
Tell them that He will be found;
Sisters, pray, and holy manna
Will be showered all around.

Let us love our God supremely,
Let us love each other, too;
Let us love and pray for sinners,
Till our God makes all things new.
Then He'll call us home to heaven,
At His table we'll sit down;
Christ will gird Himself, and serve us
With sweet manna all around.


"FAREWELL PRAYER" by Thomas Watson (1620-1686)

(This prayer given by Watson, on the eve of his ejection from his church, because of his non-conformity to the state church.)

O Lord God, all our springs are in You. It is good for us to draw near to You through Jesus Christ. You are all fullness, the quintessence of all sweetness, the center of all blessedness. You are the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him—our Father. You are our light. You give us these blessed opportunities of enjoying communion with Yourself, God blessed forever.

These mercies are forfeited mercies. We have abused the blessings of Your house; we have grieved Your blessed Spirit; therefore, it is just with You to deprive us of these comforts, and to make us know the worth of these mercies—by the lack of them.

Lord, we desire to judge ourselves, that we may not be condemned with the world. Righteous are You, O Lord, and just in all Your judgments. We confess, we are unworthy to have any converse with so holy a God. We are polluted with dust and ashes, not worthy to tread Your courts—and it is of Your mercy that we are not consumed. How often have we plucked fruit from the forbidden tree! We have sinned presumptuously against the clearest light—and always against the dearest love. Your footsteps have dropped fatness. You have shown mercy to us—but the better You have been to us, the worse we have been to You! You have loaded us with mercies—and we have wearied You with our sins! When we look into ourselves, O the poison of our natures! Whatever the leper touched, was unclean; thus do we, by our spiritual leprosy, infect our holy things.

Our prayers need a pardon, and our tears need to have the blood of Christ to wash them. How vain are our vows! How sensual are our affections! We confess, we are untuned and unstrung for every holy action. We are never out of tune to sin—but always out of tune to pray. We give the world our superior affections and our strongest desires. We should use this world as if we used it not; but, alas, we pray as if we prayed not, and serve You as if we served You not. There is not the reverence, nor that devotion, nor that activeness of faith that there should be. Lord, if You should say that You would pardon all our sins to this time and only judge us for this prayer—woe unto us! What breathing of unbelief and hypocrisy is there now, when we approach unto You!

We beg You, pardon us for Christ's sake. Who can tell how often he offends? We can as well reckon the drops of the ocean—as number our sins! We are filled up with sins—but have not filled Your bottle with our tears. This is that which exceedingly aggravates our sins—that we cannot mourn for sin. We can grieve for our losses—but we cannot mourn for our unkindnesses to You. Sin has not only defiled us—but hardened us. Nothing can melt us—but the love of Christ! Nothing can soften us—but the blood of Christ! O, do not withhold Your mercies from us! O help us to eat the Passover Lamb with bitter herbs. Let us look on Christ—and weep over Him. Let us look on a broken Christ—with broken hearts; and on a bleeding Christ—with bleeding hearts. Let us mourn for our insincerity, and that we should grieve You, who is always doing us good. O humble us for our unkindness and, for Christ's sake, blot out our transgressions! They are more than we can number—but not more than You can pardon!

Though we have lost the obedience of Your children—You have not lost the goodness of a Father. Let us be held forth as patterns of mercy, so shall we trumpet forth Your praise to all eternity! Whatever afflictions You lay upon our bodies—let not our sins be unpardoned; let there be peace in heaven—and peace in the court of conscience. We have found this part of Your Word true—in the world we shall have trouble. Let us find the other part true—in Jesus Christ we shall have peace. O let peace and holiness go together. Make us new creatures, that we may be glorious creatures! Without faith, Christ will not profit us. When we can call nothing in the world ours—let us call Christ ours.

Lord, draw Your image every day more lively upon us! Give us a more lively hope, and a more inflamed love to Christ. Let us have a spirit of courage and resolution; keep us from the fallacies of our own hearts; keep us from the defilements of the times; make us pure in heart that we may see You, that we may have gospel spirits, humble spirits, and meek spirits.

As Christ took our flesh, let us partake of His Spirit. You embitter the breast of the creature to us—that we should find the sweetness of the promise. There is as much in the promises as ever. Let us live upon You; let us cast anchor in heaven, and we shall never sink.

Bless all Your ordinances to us. Make them to be fullness of life to every one before You. We are come this day to partake of them. O pour in wine and oil into our souls. Let us be as a watered garden; let this blessed Sacrament be a poison to our lust—and nourishment for our grace! Hear us—be our God—follow us with mercy—crown us with acceptance. Do all this for Christ's sake, whom not seeing we love, in whom believing we rejoice.

To the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit—be glory, honor, and praise, now and forever, Amen!

_______________________________________

Thomas Watson (c.1620-1686) was educated at Cambridge, England, and in 1646 was appointed to preach at St. Stephens in Walbrook. He became one of the “puritans” who sought to bring reformation to the Church of England. In the year 1651, he was imprisoned several months for his faith. He obtained great respect until the Restoration of the monarchy, when he was ejected for non-conformity to some of the Church of England’s unbiblical practices. In 1666, after the fire in London destroyed the churches, he held public worship services in a rented hall. When the Declaration of Indulgences came into being in 1672, he obtained a license for the great hall in Crosby House. After preaching there for several years, his health failed, whereupon he retired to Barnston in Essex. The Body of Practical Divinity is his most famous work.

Salvation Throughout the Ages - James C Morris

The scriptures could not be more clear in insisting that “by grace you have been saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
(Ephesians 2:8-9) Many understand this, but somehow imagine that this only applies to the current
age, or Dispensation, as it is sometimes called, and thus imagine that it was different under the
Old Testament law. And some of these also imagine that during the millennium there will be a
return to this imagined salvation being brought about, at least partly, by works. But both of these
notions are contrary to explicitly stated scripture.

In considering this question, we need to examine how the Holy Spirit developed His argument, in
teaching this critically important truth. He first developed it on the basis of His relationship with
Abraham. That is, he based the doctrine that salvation is “by grace, through faith... not of
works,” on what He had previously said about Abraham. That is hard proof that, before the law
was given, salvation was “by grace, through faith.” for we read:

“Then Abram said, ‘Look, You have given me no off
spring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!’ And behold, the word of the LORD came
to him, saying, ‘This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body
shall be your heir.’ Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and
count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your
descendants be.’ And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for
righteousness.” (Genesis 15:3-6)

And in the New Testament, God said:

“What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if
Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For
what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness.’ ” (Romans 4:1-3)

“For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are
heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about
wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it
might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to
those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the
father of us all (as it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence
of Him whom he believed--God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do
not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the
father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And
not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about
a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully
convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore ‘it wasaccounted to him for righteousness.’ Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was
imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up
Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was
raised because of our justification.” (Romans 4:13-25)

“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before
whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to
learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of
faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by
the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain--if indeed it was in vain? Therefore He
who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of
the law, or by the hearing of faith?-- just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to
him for righteousness.’ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel
to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those who
are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” (Galatians 3:1-9)

But what about the time when the law was in effect? It is the same. God also proved the fact that
salvation is “by grace, through faith.. not of works,” by quoting two different passages from
the time that the law of Moses was in effect. The first of these was:

“Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.”
(Habakkuk 2:4)

Ths was quoted three times in the New Testament, to prove that salvation of “by faith”

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for
everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness
of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ ” (Romans
1:16-17)

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is
everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do
them.’ But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for ‘the just shall
live by faith.’ ” Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them."
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is
written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), that the blessing of Abraham might
come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith.” (Galatians 3:10-14)

“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need
of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
‘For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.’ ‘Now the just shall
live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of
those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”
(Hebrews 10:35-39)

And the second of these was:

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit.” (Psalm 32:1-2)

And this was quoted in Romans:

“Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who
does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for
righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes
righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.’ ”
(Romans 4:4-8)
And God also went all the way back to Abraham prove eternal security.

For we read:
“Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said:
‘By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not
withheld your son, your only son-- blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply
your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and
your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the
earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.’ ” (Genesis 22:15-18)

And we read in Hebrews 6:13-14, “For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He
could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, ‘Surely blessing I will bless you,
and multiplying I will multiply you.’ ” And why did God stress the fact that He “confirmed”
this promise “by an oath?” “For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is
for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs
of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable
things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have
fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” (Hebrews 6:16-18)

But how did “we” get into the picture. The promise, and the oath, made to Abraham, was made
so that “we might have strong consolation.” But who is the “we” here? It is those of us “who
have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of
the soul, both sure and steadfast” and it “enters the Presence behind the veil, where the
forerunner has entered for us.” (Hebrews 6:18-19)

Thus we see that this promise and oath, made to Abraham, was not for his sake alone. It was also
to teach us a lesson. And what was the lesson? God will most assuredly keep His word. What
He has promised He will certainly perform. But why does God make such a strong point of this?We learn this in Galatians 3:15-20:
“Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet
if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his Seed were
the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, And
to your Seed,who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred
and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by
God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is
of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.”

Here we see that the promise was stronger than the law. The Law could not annul the covenant,
because it had already been made. But the covenant was not based on law. It was based on promise.

We see the same in the promise made to David, saying::

“My mercy I will keep for him forever,
And My covenant shall stand firm with him.
His seed also I will make to endure forever,
And his throne as the days of heaven.
‘If his sons forsake My law
And do not walk in My judgments,
If they break My statutes
And do not keep My commandments,
Then I will punish their transgression with the rod,
And their iniquity with stripes.
Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him,
Nor allow My faithfulness to fail.
My covenant I will not break,
Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.
Once I have sworn by My holiness;
I will not lie to David:
His seed shall endure forever.”
(Psalm 89:28-36)

And although this was not repeated in the New Testament, it was extended to us, saying:

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me.
Hear, and your soul shall live;
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—
The sure mercies of David.”
(Isaiah 55:1-3)

So both the fact that salvation is “by grace, through faith... not of works,” and eternal security
were clearly taught, both before the time of the law, and during the time of the law.

But what about the time to come? Many imagine that salvation by works is taught concerning
either of two future ages, or Dispensations. One of these future ages is the time we all “the
tribulation,” and the other is the millennium. What are we told about salvation in those ages?

First, we need to notice Revelation 9, where we first read: “After these things I looked, and
behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and
tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with
palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs
to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’ ” (Revelation 7:9-10) As these ones are
in heaven, we see that they are unquestionably saved. But how were they saved? a few verses
later we read:

“Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘Who are these arrayed in white robes,
and where did they come from?’ And I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’ So he said to me,
‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ ” (Revelation 7:13-14) This says absolutely
nothing about works of any kind, but rather, their presence there in heaven is explained by the
fact that they had “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” But
who are they? “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation.” so we see that,
during the time of “the great tribulation,” people will be saved in exactly the same way we are
today, through “the blood of the Lamb.” That is, “by grace, through faith... not of works.”

This leaves only the millennium to consider. Many imagine that at that time, there will be a
return to th law of Moses. But that is serious error. While the latter part of Ezekiel indeed
describes a future system of worship based on animal sacrifices, but the sacrifices and the
associated ordinances described in Ezekiel are distinctly different from those described in the law
of Moses. And even it they had been he dame, we have already seen that under the law of Moses,
salvation was, even as it is today, “by grace, through faith... not of works.”

But how will the people be saved at the beginning of the millennium? We are clearly told.

"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of
grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn
for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of thehouse of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.” (Zechariah 12:10-14)

So these will be saved exactly in the same way we are saved, by deep repentance, brought about
by the “grace” of God. And what will be the result of this universal repentance?

“ ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- not according to the covenant that I made
with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of
Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,’ says the LORD.
‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the
LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their
God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every
man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they all shall know Me, from the least of
them to the greatest of them,’ says the LORD. ‘For I will forgive their iniquity, and their
sin I will remember no more.’ ” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Again, we see that this promise is to be an act of God, not an act of man. And it will be a work in
their hearts, not their bodies. And it will be based on pardon, not on works.

So we see that the scriptures could hardly be more clear in teaching that salvation always was,
and always will be “by grace, through faith... not of works.”