Deal Or No Deal

(Point to a brief case) "Deal, or No Deal?"

Since December 2005, ... the television host ...Howie Mandel ...has asked that question ...countless times ... to contestants on the game show ... with the same name.

It did not take much talent ... to be a contestant on Deal or No Deal.

It only took guts ... or maybe foolishness ... to keep playing through the game.

Contestants would select a briefcase ... with an amount of money inside ... that could range from ... one penny ... to $1 million.

Then ... one by one ... they would open the other cases on stage ... to narrow down the possible amounts ... that could be in the case they had chosen.

Every so often, ... the "Banker" made a money offer ... to the contestant. (Pause)

What would you do ... if two cases were left ... one case with ... $100.00 and the other with $500,000.00 ... And the banker offered you ... say $145,000.00?

Would you press the red button ... and take the deal, ... or would you say ... "No deal", and open one more case ... that will either give you half a million dollars ... or leave you with a hundred?

Deal, ... or No Deal?

What made the show interesting, of course, ... was that no one knew what would happen ... if the contestant kept playing.

That is where the drama came in. (Pause)

But what if you knew ... that your case you had chosen ... contained at least $500,000.00

If you could be guaranteed the best deal, ... you would surely ignore the banker's offer ...and play on?

Of course, ... you would!

Well ... Our Old Testament Lesson from Jeremiah ... speaks of two "deals" ... between God and his people.

The word that is used to describe these two possible deals is ... "Covenant."

Unlike the game show, Deal or No Deal, ... we can see in advance ... which of the two covenants ... is the better deal.

In fact, (Slow) God explicitly states ... that his New Covenant is ... the best deal.

So, let's take a closer look at our Old Testament Lesson, found in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Let us look into the first covenant ... God's first deal that He made ... with his people,

And then we will look into the New Covenant ... the New Deal ... he now extends to all people.

BIBLE "'The days are surly coming,' says the Lord, 'when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.'" END (Jeremiah (31:31-34)

Clearly ... The words "New Covenant" ...indicates that Jeremiah ... is comparing two different covenants ... through which .... God established a relationship ... with his people

If God is going to make a new covenant, ... that means ... there was an old one.

Jeremiah tells us a little about this old covenant.

BIBLE "'It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand out of the land of Egypt, a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband. says the Lord." END (Jeremiah 31:32)

Jeremiah looks back several hundred years ... to the time ... when the Israelite's ... escaped from slavery ... in Egypt.

God, ... after several plagues, ... convinced Pharaoh ... to let his people go.

But then Pharaoh ... changed his mind.

And Pharaoh sent Egypt's army ... after the Israelite's, ... who were pinned between the impending army ... on one side ...and the Red Sea ... on the other.

With the odds against them, ... God performed a stunning miracle ... for his people.

He opened up a dry path through the sea ... so that the nation ... could escape ... to the other side.

When the armies of Egypt followed, ... God sent the waters back over them ... and turned them into ... fish food.

With that stunning incident fresh in their minds, ... God established a covenant ... a deal ... with his people.

And This Covenant ... was a two-sided deal.

If they, ... the people, ... observed his laws ... and observed his commands, ... he would bless them.

But if they failed to live ... as his law instructed, ... they would suffer ... for it.

Yet ... Before the Ink was dry on the old covenant, ... they had already broken it ... by engaging in all sorts of ... pagan immorality.

They had just been the beneficiaries ... of one of the greatest miracles recorded.

Yet quickly ... they had forgotten what God had done for them.

But this did not only happen during the Exodus.

(Slow) It was the story of their whole history. (Long Pause)