Promises #1 "Covenants" 5-1-22
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 8 viewsNotes
Transcript
Promises #1: Covenants In The Bible
Big Idea of the Series: This six-week series explores the promises of God through his covenants. By understanding the Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenants, we can more fully understand the God who has given us a new covenant and promises in Jesus.
Week 1
Text: Deuteronomy 7:6–11, Exodus 19:3-6 and Psalm 135
Topic: Covenant, Faithfulness, God
Big Idea of the Message: The God of the Bible is a God who makes promises and keeps those promises through covenants. Covenants are more than just contracts; they are relational.
Application Point: The next time you sign a contract or click “I agree” on a set of terms for an app, think of how God’s covenant is broader, more relational, and full of love.
Housekeeping
Housekeeping
-First Fudds!
-A BIG Thank You to Doug for leading while I was in Israel. thank you my friend
-
Prayer Requests
Prayer Requests
-Pray
Teaching Time
Teaching Time
Covenant: we don’t hear that word often.
However, if you have ever been told how many hedges you can plant and that you can’t have a project vehicle parked in front of your house, you might be a part of a neighborhood covenant.
These types of agreements “may also refer to a promise or agreement (as formalized in a deed) concerning the use of the land, as where a purchaser of land ‘covenants’ to abide by certain restrictions associated with the use of the land.
Essentially, such covenants are promises made by a prospective purchaser as a condition of purchasing the land in question”
** God’s covenants are often misunderstood. Put simply, they are God’s loving agreements with us. Understanding them helps us understand His plan for us.**
From a biblical perspective, a covenant is an “oath-bound promise whereby one party solemnly pledges to bless or serve another party in some specified way.
Sometimes the keeping of the promise depends upon the meeting of certain conditions by the party to whom the promise is made.
On other occasions the promise is made unilaterally and unconditionally.
The covenant concept is a central, unifying theme of Scripture, establishing and defining God’s relationship to man in all ages.
In the OT, the Hebrew word translated ‘covenant’ is berit. The term probably derives from the verb bara, ‘to bind.’
The noun berit originally denoted a binding relationship between two parties in which each pledged to perform some service for the other.
Deuteronomy says, “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7:9).
God is a faithful God.
He is faithful because of his nature and the covenants and promises that he enters into with humanity throughout Scripture.
The Bible lists a few important covenants that help create the history of redemption throughout Scripture:
The covenant with Noah:
God’s with Noah
God’s confirmation of, and commitment to maintain, his relationship with the natural order- implicit in the act of creation- whereby he promised never again to destroy the earth with a flood. This divine pledge, given unconditionally to Noah and to every living creature on earth, was accompanied by the sign of the rainbow.
The occasion of the covenant
The flood as divine judgment Ge 6:17
17 “Understand that I am bringing a flood—floodwaters on the earth to destroy every creature under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
God’s promise of salvation to Noah and his family Ge 6:18
18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives.
God’s promise never again to destroy the earth with a flood Ge 9:11 See also Ge 8:21; Isa 54:9
11 I establish my covenant with you that never again will every creature be wiped out by floodwaters; there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”
The sign of the covenant
Ge 9:13 See also Ge 9:14-17
13 I have placed my bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
The covenant with Abraham:
God’s with Abraham
God’s gracious promise made to Abraham, and repeated to his descendants, to bless both them and, through them, the whole world. In response God calls for faithful obedience, expressed particularly in the outward sign of circumcision.
Features of the Abrahamic covenant
The covenant is based upon God’s gracious promise Gal 3:18 See also Ge 15:4-7; 17:4-8; 18:10,14; Heb 6:13-15
18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.
The covenant was confirmed by sacrifice Ge 15:9-18
9 He said to him, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10 So he brought all these to him, cut them in half, and laid the pieces opposite each other, but he did not cut the birds in half.
11 Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was setting, a deep sleep came over Abram, and suddenly great terror and darkness descended on him.
13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know this for certain: Your offspring will be resident aliens for four hundred years in a land that does not belong to them and will be enslaved and oppressed.
14 However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many possessions.
15 But you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
16 In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
17 When the sun had set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the divided animals.
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I give this land to your offspring, from the Brook of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River:
God’s promises to Abraham
2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
God promised the land of Canaan Ge 17:8 See also Ge 12:7; 15:18-21; Ex 6:4; Jos 1:3; Ne 9:8; Ac 7:5
8 And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.”
God promised that Abraham would be the father of a nation Ge 15:5 See also Ge 12:2; 17:4-6
5 He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.”
The change of name from Abram to Abraham is a sign of God’s covenant with him; Ge 17:16 ; 22:17; Heb 11:11-12
16 I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
God promised a relationship with himself Ge 17:8 See also Ge 26:24; Dt 29:13; Mt 22:32 pp Mk 12:26; Ex 3:6; Ac 7:32
8 And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.”
The requirements of the covenant
Obedience Ge 17:9-14
9 God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant.
10 This is my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, which you are to keep: Every one of your males must be circumcised.
11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12 Throughout your generations, every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old—every male born in your household or purchased from any foreigner and not your offspring.
13 Whether born in your household or purchased, he must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as a permanent covenant.
14 If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
Circumcision is the sign of Abraham’s commitment to God’s covenant with him; Ge 22:18 See also Ge 26:5; Nu 32:11 by contrast, the consequences of disobedience; Heb 11:8,17-19
18 And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command.”
Faith Ge 15:6 ; Ne 9:8 See also Ro 4:3,11-12,18; Gal 3:6-7; Heb 11:8-12; Jas 2:23
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
God’s faithfulness to the covenant
God remembers his promise Ps 105:42 See also Ge 21:2; 50:24; Ex 33:1; Ac 7:17; Heb 6:15
42 For he remembered his holy promise to Abraham his servant.
God shows compassion for his people 2Ki 13:23 See also Ex 2:24-25; 32:13-14; Dt 9:27; Lk 1:72-73
23 but the Lord was gracious to them, had compassion on them, and turned toward them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was not willing to destroy them. Even now he has not banished them from his presence.
The scope of the covenant
The covenant continued through Isaac, not Ishmael Ge 17:19-21 See also Ge 21:12; Ro 9:7-8; Gal 4:28
19 But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring.
20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father twelve tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation.
21 But I will confirm my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”
The people of Israel are heirs to the covenant Dt 29:12-13 See also Ac 3:25
12 so that you may enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, which he is making with you today, so that you may enter into his oath
13 and so that he may establish you today as his people and he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
All nations will be blessed through Abraham Ge 18:18 See also Ge 26:4; Ac 3:25; Gal 3:8-9,14,29
18 Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.
The covenant with Moses and Israel:
God’s at Sinai
God’s faithful commitment, made in pursuance of his promises to Abraham, to acknowledge the newly-redeemed Israel as his own special people. Israel’s required response to the grace of God in election was to be holiness and obedience to the law.
The occasion of the covenant
The covenant fulfilled God’s promises to Abraham Dt 29:12-13 See also Ex 2:24; 6:4-8; Dt 7:8
12 so that you may enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, which he is making with you today, so that you may enter into his oath
13 and so that he may establish you today as his people and he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The covenant followed Israel’s redemption from slavery Jer 34:13 God’s covenant at Sinai was made in the context of his historical acts of deliverance. Covenants (“treaties”) between a supreme (suzerain) overlord and a subordinate ruler (vassal) are well known in ancient Near Eastern writings. They are not “agreements” but “requirements”
13 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, saying,
The covenant was mediated through Moses Ex 34:27 ; Lev 26:46; Dt 29:1; Jn 1:17
27 The Lord also said to Moses, “Write down these words, for I have made a covenant with you and with Israel based on these words.”
The covenant was accompanied by signs of God’s presence Ex 19:18-19 20:18-19; 24:16; Ps 68:8
18 Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.
19 As the sound of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.
The blessings of the covenant
Inheriting God’s promises Dt 6:3 ; 26:18-19; 28:9; Jos 23:5
3 Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.
The requirements of the covenant
Obedience to the law Ex 24:7 ; 34:27-28 See also Dt 4:13; Jos 8:31; Ne 8:1
7 He then took the covenant scroll and read it aloud to the people. They responded, “We will do and obey all that the Lord has commanded.”
Holiness Dt 14:2 Israel has been made holy through her election as the covenant people of God. The ensuing call for holiness is a call to work out the implications of that relationship and to live in accordance with its demands; Lev 11:45 See also Lev 20:26
2 for you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
Wholehearted devotion Ex 34:14 ; Dt 10:12 See also Ex 23:32; Dt 4:23; 6:5; 10:20; Jos 24:14-15
14 Because the Lord is jealous for his reputation, you are never to bow down to another god. He is a jealous God.
Breaking the covenant
The consequences of breaking the covenant
Disease: Lev 26:15-16 ; Dt 28:21-22
15 if you reject my statutes and despise my ordinances, and do not observe all my commands—and break my covenant,
16 then I will do this to you: I will bring terror on you—wasting disease and fever that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will sow your seed in vain because your enemies will eat it.
Drought and crop failure: Lev 26:19-20 ; Dt 28:23-24
19 I will break down your strong pride. I will make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,
20 and your strength will be used up for nothing. Your land will not yield its produce, and the trees of the land will not bear their fruit.
Defeat by enemies: Lev 26:17 25; Dt 28:25
17 I will turn against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even though no one is pursuing you.
Exile from the land: Lev 26:32-33 ; Dt 28:36-37; Jos 23:16; Eze 17:19-20
32 I also will devastate the land, so that your enemies who come to live there will be appalled by it.
33 But I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword to chase after you. So your land will become desolate, and your cities will become ruins.
God’s commitment to the covenant
God’s covenant of love Dt 7:9 “love” translates the Hebrew word “hesed”, which here expresses God’s loyalty and faithful commitment to his covenant people.
9 Know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commands.
The everlasting covenant Eze 16:60 God’s faithfulness to the covenant at Sinai will result in a new covenant that will never come to an end.
60 But I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish a permanent covenant with you.
The covenant with David:
God’s with David
God’s promise to establish David and his descendants on Israel’s throne forever. It provided Israel with a basis for the hope of deliverance and restoration, and became a focus for the Messianic expectation which was fulfilled, ultimately, in Jesus Christ.
God’s promise to establish David’s line
God’s election of David Ps 78:70 See also 2Sa 6:21; 1Ki 8:16 pp 2Ch 6:6
70 He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens;
God’s covenant is everlasting Ps 89:3-4 See also 2Sa 7:11-16; 23:5; 1Ki 2:45; 2Ch 13:5; Ps 18:50; 89:28-29,35-37; Jer 33:17
3 The Lord said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn an oath to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever and build up your throne for all generations.’ ” Selah
God’s covenant is inherited through obedience Ps 132:11-12 Though God’s promise to maintain David’s throne is unbreakable, individual descendants must continue to be faithful if they are to inherit the blessings promised to David.
11 The Lord swore an oath to David, a promise he will not abandon: “I will set one of your offspring on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant and my decrees that I will teach them, their sons will also sit on your throne forever.”
God’s promise is fulfilled by grace 2Ch 21:7 Though particular kings may suffer God’s anger because of their sin, God’s faithfulness to the house of David as a whole, and thus to the nation of Israel, will continue.
7 but for the sake of the covenant the Lord had made with David, he was unwilling to destroy the house of David since the Lord had promised to give a lamp to David and to his sons forever.
The Davidic covenant as a basis for hope
God’s election of Jerusalem 2Ki 21:7 God’s Name signifies his presence. God’s choice of David was closely related to his choice of Jerusalem, the city established by David, as the place where the divine presence symbolized in the temple and the ark of the covenant was to be found.
7 Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah, which he made, in the temple that the Lord had spoken about to David and his son Solomon: “I will establish my name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.
God’s promise to defend Jerusalem Isa 37:35 pp 2Ki 19:34 See also 2Ki 19:20; Zec 12:7-9
35 I will defend this city and rescue it for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
God’s promise to restore David’s house Am 9:11 See also Ac 15:16; Jer 33:25-26
11 In that day I will restore the fallen shelter of David: I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old,
Hopes expressed in the Davidic covenant are focused in the Messiah
The Messiah fulfils the Davidic hope Jer 23:5-6 See also Ps 110:1-2; Isa 9:7; 11:1-2; 16:5; 55:3; Eze 34:23-25; Zec 3:8; Jn 7:42
5 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration— “when I will raise up a Righteous Branch for David. He will reign wisely as king and administer justice and righteousness in the land.
6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. This is the name he will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.
God’s promise to David fulfilled in Jesus Christ Lk 1:32-33 ; Rev 22:16 See also Mt 1:1; 22:41-46 pp Mk 12:35-37 pp Lk 20:41-44
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to attest these things to you for the churches. I am the root and descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.”
Many Jews in Jesus Christ’s day were expecting a literal fulfilment of God’s promise to restore the Davidic empire. The true hope expressed in the Davidic covenant and fulfilled in Christ is the coming of the kingdom of God
And finally, the new covenant that Jesus has made for humanity. That we will go into greater detail in our last week.
We can view covenants as a contract. We are around contracts all the time. Most work cannot be completed without a contract being in place between parties. We sign contracts when we get a mortgage or loan and when a new construction project is being completed. We might have agreed to terms with many of our phones and software. Contracts keep terms clear between people. But we can get in trouble with contracts. There is always the fine print or loopholes that can leave someone being taken advantage of in a contract. God’s covenants are like contracts but are much deeper, more intimate, and more vital than just a piece of paper in a court of law.
“God’s Covenant is by many dimensions a deeper kind of personal relationship than a contract and must not be confused with any form of bargained pact. In the Covenant of Grace, the Church’s life is rooted in the mystery of the divine election of a chosen people, and points toward the destiny of human history in God’s everlasting Kingdom. Just because this intimate personal bond with God is a gift with promise, it involves a task, i.e, the people’s responsible participation in the servant life of God’s covenant-community”
Let’s close by closer looking at Deut 7:6-11
6 For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
7 “The Lord had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
8 But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 Know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commands.
10 But he directly pays back and destroys those who hate him. He will not hesitate to pay back directly the one who hates him.
11 So keep the command—the statutes and ordinances—that I am giving you to follow today.
Quick FlyOver:
We see Covenants as a display of devotion towards obedience.
See, the Canaanites had been devoted to idolatry, and now are to be devoted to destruction. Israel, though, are to be devoted to the Lord. He has chosen them, and they need to choose, and keep on choosing, the Lord—just as we do.
The word ‘holy’ literally means ‘separate’ and has two aspects: who they are to be separated from and who they are to be separated to.
On the yolk of all my Children’s Ministry camp shirts I have the words, “Separated to God” on them. This is why I do that.
Israel are his treasured possession, and they ought to treasure him.
It would do them good to remember their humble beginnings and be aware that they owe their current strength in numbers to the love and faithfulness of the Lord.
The love shown and the oath sworn to their fathers came out of nowhere—it was pure grace. While totally unexpected and undeserved, it came from a faithful, covenant-keeping God.
It was no short-term arrangement but had the potential to bless ‘a thousand generations’ (v. 9). Those hard-hearted enough to hate such a good God would be repaid with destruction.
Two key verses I would like us to commit to our hearts for the next six weeks. Verse 6 and verse 9.
6 For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
The term possession translates a Hebrew noun (segullah) that describes an unusually precious treasure. It occurs also in Ex 19:5 upon the Lord’s offer of the Mosaic covenant to Israel at Mount Sinai. As Creator he has claim to all the peoples, but in line with his purposes to redeem them, he chose only the holy people Israel as the vehicle of his saving grace (Rm 9:1–5; 11:28–32).
5 Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine,
1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit—
2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.
4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises.
5 The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.
9 Know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commands.
A thousand generations is a term denoting an immeasurable future and not a specific span of time. The point is that God’s covenant loyalty is boundless and unending. Though Israel (and mankind in general) might prove to be unfaithful to the Lord, the promises of God to the nation cannot fail to be fulfilled (30:1–10; Jr 31:31–34; Ezk 36:24–32; Rm 11:29).
31 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
32 This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”—the Lord’s declaration.
33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.
29 since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable.
Friends, each of us, as followers of Christ must truly own in our hearts that we are His possession and continually display that truth by the way we love Him and keep His commands.
The next time you sign a contract or click “I agree” on a set of terms for an app, think of how God’s covenant is broader, more relational, and full of love. We are His possession.
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
For Next Week:
For Next Week:
Noahic Covenant
Text: Genesis 6:1–21; 8:20–22; 9:1–16
Topic: Noah, Covenant, God’s Love
Big Idea of the Message: After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah and humanity that was symbolized in the rainbow.
Application Point: We will see God’s covenant love for all people on earth.