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People of the Covenant
August 24, 2014
God took Abraham and made a covenant with him that He would make of him a, who was no nation, a nation above all others. It would be small in size, compared to other kingdoms, but would outshine them all. In return, He asked the descendants of Abraham, now known as the people or nation of Israel, to renew the covenant, and they assented. He warned of a curse if they forsook Him for man-made gods, or idols. They broke that agreement --contract, covenant -- and so it was no longer binding.- Bernie Parsons
People Of The Covenant
by Bernie Parsons
Presented to Globe church of Christ on 08-24-2014
Presented to Load church of Christ on 09-28-2014
I have studied with you regarding the selection of the family of Abraham to
be a special people, a nation – family – chosen to show the world what God
can do. God made a contract, or covenant, with the offspring of Abraham.
Genesis 17:7 "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy
seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a
God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein
thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession;
and I will be their God."
Exodus 34:10 “And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people
I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any
nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the
LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.”
Deuteronomy 7:7 "The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you,
because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of
all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which
he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty
hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh
king of Egypt.
9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which
keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments
to a thousand generations;
10 And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will
not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.
11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the
judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.
12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and
keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant
and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:"
In exchange for their elevation, God asked that they listen to Him, and obey
His laws.
Deuteronomy 10:12 “And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of
thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love
him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
13 To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command
thee this day for thy good?”
He would do them good if they obeyed, but placed curses upon them, if they
did not.
Deuteronomy 28:15 “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto
the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his
statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come
upon thee, and overtake thee.”
Deuteronomy 28:36 “The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt
set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known;
and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all
nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.”
Deuteronomy 28:45 “Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall
pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou
hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments
and his statutes which he commanded thee:”
They agreed to serve the living and true God, and not the false gods.
Joshua 24:21 "And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the
LORD.
22 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that
ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses."
God knew that the Israelites would turn from Him to serve the false gods of
the land. They would break the agreement that they had made with Him.
Deuteronomy 31:20 “For when I shall have brought them into the land which I
sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall
have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto
other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.”
Jeremiah 11:6 "Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the
cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words
of this covenant, and do them.
7 For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them
up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and
protesting, saying, Obey my voice.
8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the
imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the
words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not.
9 And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah,
and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which
refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the
house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made
with their fathers."
Jeremiah 22:5 "But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith
the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
6 For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead
unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness,
and cities which are not inhabited.
7 And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons:
and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
8 And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to
his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city?
9 Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the
LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them."
God tells Jeremiah that He will make a new covenant with Israel in the
future.
Jeremiah 31:31 "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day
that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which
my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel;
After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts,
and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my
people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least
of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their
iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
Jesus Christ ushered in the new covenant with the children of Israel, and
included the Gentiles.
Acts 3:25 "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which
God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all
the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless
you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities."
Hebrews 12:22 "But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in
heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect,
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."
1 Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy
nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who
hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God:
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."
The believers – Christians – make up the new chosen nation of God.
