A Promise
On Wednesday mornings at 9:30 we have been working out way through the Bible from the very beginning. I’m really proud of the group. Next week we will finish the books of Moses. We will be starting the book of Joshua after. Now is a great time to jump in, if you were wondering. Anyway, one of the things we will be talking about a lot is the covenant. God makes a covenant with his people.
What is a covenant?
Before you get married, you have a series of serious conversations.
Permanent residence, last names, bank accounts, where holidays are spent, work home life, ideal number of children, goals, dreams…this and so much more should be discussed before either party says “I do”
You have to know what the other party will commit to.
The word covenant is much like a contract. This is what will happen, both X and Y. As a participant in this covenant, I have the right to expect “this” and “that”.
Thus, when God makes a covenant with the people of Israel in Exodus 19 He makes his position very clear: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations, you will be my treasured possession… you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Yet they would not keep the covenant. Time after time they abandon God. To stay with the marriage analogy, they commit adultery. They step out of the relationship. Not once, but multiple times. So much so God uses the whole book of Hosea to show just how filthy they had become.
Yet, despite their unfaithfulness, God remained faithful.
Despite their lies, He held to His truth.
In fact God shows His love by not only refusing to abandon them, but also by making a New Covenant with them. Starting in verse 31
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to[d] them,[e]”
declares the Lord.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
That is the love of God, and it is essential that we recognize it.
If you believe that your status with God began because you were good enough, or that you have the discipline to hold up an agreement, then you are in bad shape
You can’t.
In stead I want you to remember and dwell on this point today.
God’s love for you is so encompassing, that at times is practically one sided. God takes you into His family, despite your unfaithfulness, your guilt and your shame. He declares you forgiven, debt free to Him, because it was paid for by His son, Jesus Christ.
See you Sunday or Wednesday my friends,
- Pastor Dan