The CHRISTMAS COVENANT-III—Jeremiah 31:31-34
God informed Jeremiah & Jeremiah the people, of the promise of a new covenant to supplant/fulfill/uphold/empower the ineffective covenant.
God’s people have the promise of an effective covenant.
What is the Christmas Covenant?
Why is the promise of a differing covenant encouraging to God’s people?
5 elements/encouragements concerning the covenant people of God.
The covenant people of God are promised...
Heb. 10:12-23—“But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, & in their minds I will write them,” then He adds, “Their sins & their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new & living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, & having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience & our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
We had found earlier that The Christmas Covenant is...
1. A PROMISED Covenant(:31a)
2. A NEW Covenant(:31)
3—The Christmas Covenant is...
A UNITING Covenant(:31)
Explanation:(:31)All in
:31—“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel & with the house of Judah—”
No longer a separation among God’s people. Israel & Judah—Tribe against tribe—Region against region—Family against family—Might against weakness, etc...
Across the board, the New Covenant cuts thru all hindrances to unity.
Ezek. 37:16-28—““As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself & write on it: ‘For Judah & for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick & write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, & for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ “Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, & they will become one in your hand. And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’--“say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, & the tribes of Israel, his companions; & I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, & make them one stick, & they will be one in My hand.”’ “And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, & will gather them from every side & bring them into their own land; & I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; & one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, & will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, & I will be their God. David My servant shall be king over them[Mat. 1:1ff.], & they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments & observe My statutes, & do them. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, & it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them & multiply them, & I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them[Rev. 21:7, 22; 22:3-5]; indeed I will be their God, & they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”’”
Rom. 9:1-8—“I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow & continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, & the promises; of whom are the fathers & from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.”
Rom. 11:1-15—“I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, “LORD, they have killed Your prophets & torn down Your altars, & I alone am left, & they seek my life”? But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, & the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.”[Isa. 29:10] And David says: “Let their table become a snare & a trap, A stumbling block & a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, & bow down their back always.”[Ps. 69:22-23] I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, & their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh & save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”
“With”2X—ta ayth—Preposition—1) With, near, together with—1a) With, together with, 1b) With(of relationship), 1c) Near(of place), 1d) With(possessive), 1e) From...with, from(with other prep). Strong—properly--Nearness(used only as a preposition or an adverb), near; hence, generally, with, by, at, among, etc.. Used 24X.
“House”2X—tyb bah’-yith—Noun Masc.—1) House—1a) House, dwelling habitation, 1b) Shelter or abode of animals, 1c) Human bodies(fig.), 1d) Of Sheol, 1e) Of abode of light & darkness, 1f) Of land of Ephraim; 2) Place; 3) Receptacle; 4) Home, house as containing a family; 5) Household, family—5a) Those belonging to the same household, 5b) Family of descendants, descendants as organized body; 6) Household affairs; 7) Inwards(metaph.); 8) (TWOT)--Temple. Adverb—9) On the inside. Preposition—10) Within. Strong—probably from hnb[to build] abbreviated; A house(in the greatest variation of applications, especially--Family, etc.).
“Israel”—larsy Yisra’el—Noun Proper Masc.—Israel = “God prevails” OR “He will rule as God”—1) The second name for Jacob given to him by God after his wrestling with the angel at Peniel; 2) The name of the descendants & the nation of the descendants of Jacob—2a) The name of the nation until the death of Solomon & the split, 2b) The name used & given to the northern kingdom consisting of the 10 tribes under Jeroboam; the southern kingdom was known as Judah, 2c) The name of the nation after the return from exile. Strong—‘He will rule as God’; Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically)Of his posterity.?From—hrs saw-raw'—a primitive root; To prevail or have power(as a prince).—&—la ’el—Strength; as adjective--Mighty; especially--The Almighty(but used also of any deity).
“Judah”—hdwhy Yeh-hoow-daw’—Noun Proper Masc.—Judah = “praised" or "celebrated"—1) The son of Jacob by Leah; 2) The tribe descended from Judah the son of Jacob; 3) The territory occupied by the tribe of Judah; 4) The kingdom comprised of the tribes of Judah & Benjamin which occupied the southern part of Canaan after the nation split upon the death of Solomon; 5) A Levite in Ezra's time; 6) An overseer of Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah; 7) A Levite musician in the time of Nehemiah; 8) A priest in the time of Nehemiah. Strong—Celebrated; Jehudah(or Judah), The name of five Israelites; also Of the tribe descended from the first, & of its territory.
Argumentation:
Rom. 10:5-13—“For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or,” ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth & in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus & believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, & with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew & Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.””
*Gal. 3:28—“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Col 3:9-11—“Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, & have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all & in all.”
*Christ is all, in all those who are of faith.”
Rom. 3:28-30—“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith & the uncircumcised through faith.”
Eph. 2:11-16—“Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel & strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope & without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, & has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, & that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.”
1Cor. 8:5-6—“For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods & many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, & we for Him; & one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, & through whom we live.”
Rom. 15:5-6—“Now may the God of patience & comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind & one mouth glorify the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”.
Eph. 4:11-16—“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, & some pastors & teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith & of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to & fro & carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ-- from whom the whole body, joined & knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
Col 3:12-17 “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy & beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, & forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; & be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching & admonishing one another in psalms & hymns & spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
Heb. 12:22-24—“But you have come to Mount Zion & to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly & church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, & to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.”
1Tim. 2:1-6—“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, & giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings & all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet & peaceable life in all godliness & reverence. For this is good & acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved & to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God & one Mediator between God & men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,”
Illustration:
Secular Government Christmas decorations/Altogether they should present a unified theme—recognizing & honoring the birth of Jesus!/BUT most, if they recognize Jesus at all, present a somewhat confusing picture by putting a Santa Claus, presents, snowmen, snowflakes, dolphins, mountains, rivers, etc. near or in a ‘manger scene’—ignorantly & arrogantly attempting to give the appearance of everything being equal/In doing so, they, either intentionally or inadvertently, lower Christianity to what it is in their own eyes—the status of a manmade religion/A Falsely UNITING Covenant
This year(Since Thanksgiving 2018) I’ve seen commercials for The Balsam Hill Company, which is headquartered in northern California/They manufacture artificial Christmas Trees/One type of tree they make is pre-lit/It can be taken apart & stored in 3 sections/If you plug in their tree prior to assembling it & then put the 3 sections together, each section lights as it is added!/Balsam Hill’s ‘covenant’ is thus a UNITING Covenant
There are various parts which compose an engine/Separated, the parts are incapable of being an engine—They cannot power a car, boat, truck, plane, train or anything/The parts need someone to bring them together/But they also need to work together/A UNITING Covenant
God has a particular design & means of achieving His ends.
Each person that is part of the New Covenant is all in—There is no middle ground. Thereby those outside the New Covenant are all out!—Again, there is no middle ground.
Application:
?Is The Christmas Covenant your UNITING Covenant?
?You living in Covenant with God thru His only-begotten Son?
CONCLUSION:
Action:
The Christmas Covenant is...
3. A UNITING Covenant(:31)
1. A PROMISED Covenant(:31a)
2. A NEW Covenant(:31)
Christmas celebrates the fulfillment of these promises!
Pt#s. 3 only! Presented 12/23/2018am to:
FBC Cbelle
206 Storrs Ave. SE(SE Ave. A)
Carrabelle, FL 32322
Pts. 1-5 Presented 12/05/20004pm to:
Providence Baptist Church
975 Providence Road
Whigham, GA 39897
