The Christmas Covenant[2018]-3 Series

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.”