Living as a Covenant People

Introduction:

How many of you here tonight live under some kind of covenant?

You may have to think for a minute to figure out what the question means, but the truth is that we all live under a covenant, in fact many covenants.

If you live in a nice, well-kept neighborhood, you may have a Homeowner’s Covenant you live under.

If you have land, you may lease it out or be the one leasing the land and you are under a rental covenant.

If you are married, you live under the covenant of marriage.

If you are a church member, you live under the covenant of your church membership.

However, all of us as Christians live under what we call the New Covenant. We sometimes refer to the second half of our Bibles as the New Testament, or New Covenant.

Being under a covenant is a form of relationship where we agree to certain requirements.

God’s people have always been a covenant people. They have always lived under covenant, but unfortunately, they have also almost always broken the covenant that they lived under.

Tonight, we are going to see the covenant that the people of Israel had broken and hear God call them back to it. He is even going to provide HIs Son as the covenant keeping Son.

Jeremiah 11:1–17 ESV

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 3 You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant 4 that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God, 5 that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.” Then I answered, “So be it, Lord.” 6 And the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them. 7 For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice. 8 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.” 9 Again the Lord said to me, “A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers. 11 Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble. 13 For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Baal. 14 “Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. 15 What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult? 16 The Lord once called you ‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ But with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed. 17 The Lord of hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.”

Pray

1. The Importance of Keeping Covenant (vv.1-5)

Keeping covenant begins with hearing God’s Word

Keeping Covenant requires obedience to what we hear

Illustration:

Imagine for just a moment that you get yourself into a sticky situation. You are walking through the woods and all of a sudden you step into quicksand.

What do you do?

Some of you may have an idea, but most of us don’t run into quicksand often enough to have a clue.

However, now you hear your trail guide speaking to you and they do no how to get you out. They say, “Listen to me very closely.”

When danger is heightened, we must learn to listen closely.

We walk in a dangerous world. We need to listen to the Lord very closely.

The Law was intended to help the people live a holy life that would be free from the hazards of this world. It was critical to listen to God’s voice so Israel could walk the narrow path through this world.

We also must listen to the voice of the Lord and obey Him if we are going to make it.

2. The Blessing of Keeping Covenant (vv. 4-5)

Jeremiah 11:4–5 ESV

4 that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God, 5 that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.” Then I answered, “So be it, Lord.”

If the people would obey God’s commandments, they were promised that they would be blessed

Deuteronomy 28:1–6 ESV

1 “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

They would be God’s people

It is a privilege to have God as our Lord

God was giving them a land flowing with milk and honey. This was a foreshadowing of the heavenly promised land and a step back towards Eden restored.

God would provide for their needs

God would protect them

3. The Consequences of Breaking Covenant (vv.6-17)

Just like there were blessings for keeping the covenant, there were also consequences for breaking them.

Deuteronomy 28:15–19 ESV

15 “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. 16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

Ultimately the consequences for breaking the covenant would lead to the Great Covenant Keeper needing to come - Jesus Christ

4. The Covenant Keeper to Come (vv. 18-23)

vv. 18-23 show Jeremiah being attacked for the message he prophesied

Jeremiah would be rejected and made the object of scorn by the people who didn’t want to hear God’s message to them

Jeremiah 11:18–23 ESV

18 The Lord made it known to me and I knew; then you showed me their deeds. 19 But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.” 20 But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause. 21 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand”— 22 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, 23 and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.”

Jeremiah was a foreshadowing of Christ to come.

In the same way that the shepherds of Israel stuck down the Good Shepherd, Jeremiah was a shepherd of God's flock and the shepherds of Israel would seek his life.

There was no help available to Jeremiah's people because they had hardened their heart to God's warning. Neither was their hope for the generation of Jesus day because they had hardened their hearts to the very Word of God in the flesh.

Conclusion

In the NT we are God’s covenant people just like they were in the OT

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

We are called to live as covenant people obeying the commands of Jesus