The Christmas Covenant[2018]-4 Series

The CHRISTMAS COVENANT-IV—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. A UNITING Covenant(:31)

4—The Christmas Covenant is a...

An INVIOLABLE Covenant(:32)

Explanation:(:32)Unbreakable/Differing/No middle ground

:32—“not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.”

‘Inviolable’=‘Something that cannot be ‘violated’ or changed.

This new covenant will not function as the old one has & is(at Jeremiah’s writing). The old covenant was made with the Israelite’s & Judahite’s “fathers”(ancestors). The old covenant was made in the time period when God led them “out of the land of Egypt”(the Exodus). God cared for the Israelites as a husband would care for his wife(Eph. 5:22-33). He “took them by the hand” in order to “lead them out.” God worked with a specific people—thru their kinships, blood ties, & lineages.

The former(present) “covenant” was initiated by God & thus it was actually His(“My covenant”). Israel & Judah “broke” the old covenant. Even though God had loved them & still loves them(fulfilling His portion of the covenant), Israel & Judah failed in their commitment to Him. They had no lasting, solidifying, personal connection to God, as do Christians by the Holy Spirit’s indwelling.

*Unlike the ‘old covenant’, breaking the New Covenant will be impossible! Trust in Christ yields eternal security! See :33-34.

Jn. 10:27-30—““My sheep hear My voice, & I know them, & they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, & they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; & no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I & My Father are one.””

Jn. 3:3, 5-7—“Jesus answered & said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”.....“Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water & the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, & that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”

Sadly, there are those in Christian circles who teach that a person can lose their salvation once they have become born again or born from above! Whereas being ‘born of the Spirit’ speaks of a separate & solidly different life!

“The children of Israel used God’s covenant as an end in itself instead of as a means to an end. That misunderstanding of the Law is seen throughout Jeremiah & is especially evident in the[ir false] doctrine of the inviolability of Jerusalem.”—BS JerE.#2, C21-52

Jer. 7:1-11—“The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, “Stand in the gate of the LORD’S house, & proclaim there this word, & say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD!’” Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways & your doings, & I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.’ “For if you thoroughly amend your ways & your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man & his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, & the widow, & do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever & ever. Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, & walk after other gods whom you do not know, & then come & stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, & say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the LORD.”