I hope you don't mind my posting again in response to the original OP. It was a good and thought provoking message, and I hope it can be brought back on topic. (A little hesitant to post.)
I was studying a different subject this morning and came across some passages from the last part of Jonah ch. 2, That right away made me think this message, and wanted to share a bit on it. It goes into the OP, with a bit about how actions are part of agreements.
The scriptures show in so many places that it wasn't the law that was bad, but it was sin. It always was. (As you showed in your original message.)
A covenant is an agreement, we can either be in agreement with God, or with sin. If we are in agreement with God (in all our ways,) in Christ, then sin will not rule over us. (We will be dead to sin.) This is why Paul said that he puts his flesh under (1 Cor 9:27)
Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
There's a picture of this with Cain.
Genesis 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well,
sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him.
Cain choose opposite of God's will, so that's where his heart was, and he was a servant to sin.
So, anyway, here are the verses that I came across this morning that go into agreement.
[SUP]Jonah 2:8) [/SUP]“Those who worship vain idols
give up their source of mercy;
[SUP]10:[/SUP][SUP]9) [/SUP]but I, speaking my thanks aloud,
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed, I will pay.
Salvation comes from Adonai!” (CJB)
Jonah 2:8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
Jonah 2:9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. (KJV)
I did a word search on "covenant and death," and came across another passage:
Isaiah 28:14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
Isaiah 28:15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
Isaiah 28:17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
Isaiah 28:18
And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
Which also shows that it wasn't the law that was bad, but sin is.
In Isaiah 28: 15, it shows that they made a "covenant with death and hell, they were in agreement with the opposite of life through disobedience. (Although they entered into the vow at Mt. Sinai, by their actions and weakness of the flesh, they continuously did the opposite.) Which was the "curse," part of the agreement.
But in Christ there's no longer and attempt to overcome sin by the flesh, but are empowered through and by Him to be overcomers. Seeking His will.
"In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths." We go from faith to faith and glory to glory in Christ as we mature in Him having our minds renewed from the natural ways of the flesh to the heavenly ways of the Kingdom.
Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Also to answer one of the questions presented..it's never bad to be in agreement with God by His word in Christ.
The original covenant showed the weakness of the flesh and made it clear that we all have need of the Savior and being born again in Him we will overcome this world. (I believe that this was the purpose and part of the whole plan.)
1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Faith would always be in agreement with God. What other faith can there be if it's not in Christ and the truth contained in God's word?