God's Covenant With Us and Our Relationship With Him

Thank you again, Mr. Henry. You know, it's at this time of the year when we particularly focus on the lessons that God would have us to learn through the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread season. God says we are to examine ourselves, and we did that something that I mentioned the last time that I was here, and talking about examining ourselves. And it's something that God wants us to be able to do and to take a look at. But it's also a time that we look to recommit ourselves to the covenant that we entered into with God at baptism, for those of us that are baptized. During this time of Unleavened Bread and Passover, I suppose there's different things that we could study, different ways that we could study, various things that we could learn. But for the message today, I'd like to begin with 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 11. So let's turn there. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 11. Now this is a book that was written, inspired by God, through Paul. And it's a book that was written before the Passover days of Unleavened Bread season. We look at 1 Corinthians chapter 5, and it talks about we should keep the feast, not with the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And so we know that. We know that 1 Corinthians chapter 11 talks about Passover and how God inspired Paul, and Jesus Christ inspired Paul, of how we should partake of this Passover. So we know all of that is within this book. And as we look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10, we'll see some of the lessons of the children of Israel. God's people. Some of the things that happened to them as they were coming out of Egypt, they were leaving sin behind, and on their journey to the Promised Land. And as we begin with the first, we won't take the time to read the first few verses of chapter 10, but it talks about some of the things that Israel went through. It discusses their journey. Some of the things they did well, and some of the mistakes that they made, and some of the problems that they created for themselves along the way.

So let's pick it up here in verse number 11 of 1 Corinthians chapter 10. It says, all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come. So in a sense, a lot of these things happened to Israel so that we could learn from them. In fact, God said they were written down as examples for us to admonish us, or as some translations say, to warn us that they're there for you and me. Some of the difficulties, some of the trials, some of the choices that they made, God says, I want a later generation to learn from them. And so God, in His wisdom and His plan, and of course He'll work things out, He'll judge them accordingly. You know, they didn't have a preceding generation for them that they had examples to look from, or to look to. And so He'll judge them accordingly. But we do have their examples to look at, don't we? And so, of course, He'll judge us accordingly as well, for these things are written down for our admonition. So in other words, for the things that they went through, it wasn't just history for history's sake. God was going to utilize that for good. He was going to use that as a teaching opportunity. Their problems, their stories, their difficulties, their trials, their tribulations, the things that they went through were written down for our admonition, for us today. And so all of this, of course, is happening in the context of a people that are coming out of a way of life and heading towards a promised land or to a kingdom of God.

Now, if we ever wanted to go on a roller coaster of history, we could really look at God's people back then, the children of Israel. Because as we read their story, whether it be the major prophets, the minor prophets, chronicles, kings, etc., we see that as a nation, that they hit bottom several times. That they had a spiritual decline, and they hit bottom several times in their history. And when those things happened, the spiritual problems turned into a removal of physical blessings. They had physical things that happened to them. God began to remove their blessings, and they began to suffer consequences for some of the spiritual choices that they made. But you know, every once in a while, in the children of God's history, the people of Israel, they actually had a turnaround. They had a change. There was a renewal. There was a return back to God, a renewal of the covenant that they made with Him.

And so, we're going to take a look at some of the things, and maybe try to tie some of those things together with us, because... And when we come together for Passover, we have a renewal of the covenant that we have made with God. We have a refreshing, a renewal, a reminder of some of the things that we entered into with God. So today, I'd like to talk to you about the covenant.

The covenant that God made with His people Israel, and what we can learn from their examples and experiences that they had. And then I'd like to also talk with you about the new covenant that God has made with those who were baptized and committed their way to Him. So the title of the message today is God's covenant with us and our covenant with Him. So we'll talk about covenant today. We'll tie this in with the Passover, the days of 11, this journey that we have that we're on as we head towards the Kingdom of God. Let's turn with me please to Joshua 24, verse 11. Joshua 24, verse 11. So we'll begin to see one of the times that there was a renewal among the people of God. With the covenant that they had made with their God and that God had made with them. So let's notice that in Joshua 24, verse 11. And you may remember the story that God's people had now entered the promised land. They'd entered into a covenant with Him prior to that before they got there on Mount Horeb. And they'd entered into a promised land. But the people had not entirely forgotten the false gods on the other side of the river or the false gods in Egypt. And Joshua is beginning to notice this. And of course, God noticed it as well. So as Joshua begins to talk with them, He begins to reiterate their history that they had with God. The things that He'd done with them. The covenant that they'd entered into. He reminds them of all the promises and all the commitments. The things that God had done for them. And then as we'll read here, He points to a renewal of that covenant. Let's notice verse 11 of Joshua 24. He says, you went over to Jordan and you came to Jericho.

Remember, Jericho was the very first city on the other side of the Jordan River that they entered the promised land. Very much to have a lot of symbolism of us entering the kingdom of God. There was the priests that led the ark around the city for seven days. They blew the trumpets, kind of tying into the feasts of trumpets a little bit when Jesus Christ returns and ushers in His kingdom. Some similar things were happening before the children of Israel went into the promised land. So He says in verse 11, you went over to Jordan and you came to Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought against you. Remember the story Rahab was there and there was the scarlet cloth that was laid down so that she and her family would survive because they'd helped the spies. But God says the men of Jericho fought against you. And also the Amorites and the Parazites, the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Gergashites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. But God says, but I delivered them into your hand. So God says basically, I was the one that helped you in this regard. Verse number 12, and God says, and I also sent a hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword and not with your bow. And I've given you a land for which you didn't labor and cities for which you didn't build and you dwell in them. You're eating of the vineyards and the olive groves which you did not plant. God says you're dwelling in houses you didn't build. You're eating from vineyards which take years to grow and to produce fruit. And you're eating from the olive groves which can take years. You didn't plant them. You didn't have to wait. I'm just giving them to you as a gift. God says, I want you to have this. I've promised this to you, to you and to your descendants. And I'm giving you this land. I'm giving it to you as a gift.

And then he says in verse 14, and it's a transitional verse or a transitional word here, phrase where it says, Now therefore, fear the Lord. So he begins to talk about the fact that, you know, I entered into a covenant with you. There were promises that I made, but you have obligations and responsibilities as well. Fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth.

And that phrase, sincerity and truth, I wonder if Paul didn't get that idea from Joshua when he wrote about that in 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 8. So fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth. And put away the gods which your fathers have served on the other side of the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. He says, and if it seems evil to you today to serve the Lord, then you choose for yourselves whom you will serve.

You know, this is one of the fascinating things about God in a sense is that He doesn't force you or I to do anything. He says, I want you to think about it and I want you to choose. You have to voluntarily decide, God says, whether or not you want to enter into this covenant with me. If you think it's wrong to serve me, well then you choose. If you'd rather serve these gods of the Amorites, who, by the way, I have just pushed out of the land. If you want to serve Him or those gods, you have that choice. If you think it's wrong to serve me, then you decide. Whether the gods which your fathers serve, which is on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me, Joshua lets everyone know where he stands. But as for me and my house, we're going to choose to serve God. We're going to choose to serve the Lord.

Now, God, through Joshua, is trying to get their attention. There's no question about that. He's telling them, you're not with me all the way. You're divided. You're unfocused. You're not serving me. You're not serving me the way that we talked about. I followed through with my part of what I said I would do. I've given you all these wonderful things, all these wonderful homes, all these vineyards and these olive groves. But you're still divided in serving me. I mean, you had told me back in Exodus, you know, I think we read about that, maybe back in Exodus 19, when you entered into that covenant with me, you told me that all that the Eternal has said, I will do.

But he said, you're still divided in your thoughts. You haven't left those gods behind. You're still serving two masters. So Joshua says in their hearing, as he said, as for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord. He takes a stand in that regard. And then it says in verse 25, so apparently they must have decided to take a stand as well. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day. So this is a different covenant that they made with God earlier. But they made a covenant with the people that day and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. So here they've left Horeb, the Mount Horeb, where the lightnings and the Ten Commandments were given and the trumpet blasts.

And they said that they would do what they would do. And now they're further along. They've gotten into the Promised Land, even. And they're making a new covenant. They're basically renewing the covenant that they had made with God earlier, when they were in the wilderness. Joshua says in verse 25, they made a covenant with the people that day. So this is a covenant to renew the original covenant.

And they made for them a statute and an ordinance there in Shechem. So we see there are times when God's people come back. They turned back to Him. They renew a covenant that they'd already made with God, because they realized that they were backsliding. Let's take another example of that in Deuteronomy 29. Deuteronomy 29 in verse 1. We'll see another example here. And as we review some of these Scriptures in the Old Testament, as we look at some of the examples of the things that they did, and some of the times when they renewed the covenant, let's keep in mind this in the context of us renewing our covenant, the new covenant that God has made with us.

That it's an annual reminder that God has for us an annual renewal of a new covenant that we made with Him, when we come into the Passover season. So let's take a look and see what we can learn from their examples here. Deuteronomy 29, verse 1. Now these are the words of the covenant, which the Lord God commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he had made with them in Horeb.

So here we see again they're going to make a covenant that day in Moab. Now they're on their way to the Promised Land. They haven't gotten there yet. Moses is still with them. And they've left Mount Horeb and they've moved on. They're still on their journey. And now they've come into the area of Moab. And they make a covenant while they're there, besides the one that they've made already in Horeb. I think what we'll see here is a renewal of that covenant that they made in Horeb. But then God adds a little bit more in this covenant.

But let's go on in verse 2. Now Moses called all Israel and said to them, You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all of His servants, and to all His land, the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs and the great wonders. And boy, did they ever see a lot. They were eyewitnesses of all of those plagues, all of those signs, all of those wonders. They saw it with their own eyes. Even after they left Egypt, they saw how the Red Sea split as they were surrounded by either water on one side or the enemy, the Egyptians, on the other.

And God performed that sign as well. Verse 3, Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive, and the eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. Now I think that's noteworthy in a sense. The Scriptures speak to the fact that God never really opened their eyes so they could completely see. Now there are other prophecies that talk about how God was going to blind them so they wouldn't necessarily understand.

And so, in a sense, they're not going to be held entirely accountable for some of the choices that they made, because to this very day, they really don't have hearts to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear.

Now we do know that accountability comes when you really do see, when you really do understand. And of course, under the New Covenant, we understand that God said, I'm going to give them something that they need. I'm going to give them My Spirit so that they can see. My Spirit will teach them things of God. They will see, and they will begin to understand. And of course, that's when accountability really does begin, is when we do see. So we go on, yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see to this very day, and ears to hear. And I have led you these forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out upon your feet. Let's jump to verse number 9. Therefore, keep the words of this covenant, and do them. Why? He goes on to say, that you may prosper in all that you do. You know, God wants us to prosper. He wants us for things to go well. And you know, His ways do work. We've been talking about going through the book of Daniel, and how Daniel, he was constantly elevated to be an administrative leader. Whether it be under Nebuchadnezzar, and Babylon, he was elevated under Darius, and the Persian Empire. World ruling empires, and Daniel was right there at the top. Why? Well, because he studied God's Word. He perceived wisdom from the Scriptures, and those things worked. And the leaders of the nations could tell that those things worked. And so, when they instituted something that Daniel suggested, they found that there was good fruit that came from it. He learned from the Scriptures. So God's laws work. His ways work. They produce fruit. They produce a good life. A good living. So Moses is reminding Israel of a few things here. He's reminding them of everything that God had done for them, and everything also that God was still willing to do going forward under this covenant with Him. But they had a responsibility, too. They had a responsibility to keep the words of this covenant, as it says in verse number 9, to keep the words of this covenant. God would do His part, but they had a part to play as well. So it says in verse number 10, All of you stand today, and so it's like a way of getting everyone's attention. You know, I'll come forward. Let's stand here before God. Come forward. All of you stand today before the Lord your God. Your leaders, your tribes, your elders, your officers, and all the men of Israel.

Your little ones, and your wives, and also the stranger who's in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water. In other words, everyone. It's kind of a way of saying from the leaders down to the servants that are bringing your water or cutting your wood. Why? Verse number 12. That you may enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath, which the Lord makes with you today.

Now, they'd already entered into a covenant at Horeb long before. You know, several months, maybe even years before. But now they're entering into a covenant that day. As it says in verse 12, they're entering into a covenant that day. Well, what they were doing is renewing the covenant that they had already made. They began to understand that they were starting to slide, and they needed to be refreshed. They needed to come back. They needed to be reminded of what God's promises were to them, and what their promises were to God.

So it was something they were entering in that day. It was a different covenant besides the one in Horeb. Now, we can learn from them. What can we learn, you know, as we approach Passover, by what we see them doing? Well, we can glean from them that it was important at times to renew your covenant that you had made with your God.

You know, as we look at God's people, Israel, when it came to a renewal of their covenant, there were a couple of things that were in common, because it happened several times, and we'll actually cover another one at the end. It happened several times, but there were always two common things that were part of their renewing of their covenant with God. There were two common denominators, two common factors that seemed to be there in all of those cases.

The first factor is this. It was a rehearsing or a reminder of what God had promised to do for them. It was a rehearsal, a reminder of God's promises, His obligations, His duties to them, to His people. They would rehearse those types of things.

It was also a second common factor that was involved. They would be reminded of their obligations, of their promises, of their duties, of the things that they said that they would do for God. The promises that they said that they would fulfill, that they would perform for God. You know, as we look on here, we're going to cover these two factors, and we're going to see that under the new covenant, it's no different. That there are times that God wants us to reflect. In fact, annually, He wants us to reflect on the covenant that we've entered in with Him.

Now, I want to talk about covenants just for a moment, because that's sometimes a real fancy word. It's not a word that we use really very much. We actually used it a generation or two ago, particularly in the legal environment. That they would use that word covenant when it came to an agreement. That we covenant together, or we agree together. So, let's talk about covenant, because it's really not a difficult thing, but since it's an uncommon word, we may not maybe understand it as clearly as God would want us to. Simply speaking, a covenant is an agreement. It's an agreement or a contract between two different parties, where each party agrees to do something.

They commit themselves. They commit themselves to each other. They commit themselves to the agreement. And they obligate themselves to each other. They have duties to each other that they each promise to perform. So, a covenant is a legally binding contract. And when we talk about a covenant, again, it's a word that's used in the legal profession, we have two parties that agree to do something.

They covenant with each other. And what's also, I think, noteworthy is that most of the time when these two parties come together, they come together voluntarily. So, no one's twisted their arm. No one's been coerced to do anything. They've each decided to do their obligations voluntarily. They basically say that we make a decision voluntarily, that this is what we will do.

So, in a covenant with God, or that God has with us, God obligates Himself. He obligates Himself to His people. He commits Himself to be faithful to them to do the things that He said He promised He would do. To be faithful. You know, some of the promises that God has made, you probably can enumerate a lot of them. Promises that God has made, blessings that He's promised, interventions that He's promised. What does a God do? What does our God promise?

He promises to protect. He promises to bless. He promises to provide. He blesses. He prospers. And He heals. Those are just some of the promises. There's many more, which we'll cover in another sermon. And in turn, His people obligate themselves to Him. They have duties. They have obligations. They've made promises to God to be faithful to Him.

And to do what He has asked them to do. And of course, we're relying on God to do what He's promised us to do. Well, let's turn over to the New Testament here. Jesus Christ has something to say to us, to you and me in Matthew 6, in verse 22. Jesus Christ came as the mediator of the New Covenant.

And He's got something to say. And I think we'll see here that He touches on these two common factors that we talk about reflecting on when we renew a covenant. These two common factors that we look at what God has promised to do. And to be encouraged by that, because He's got tremendous promises in His covenant agreement that He says He will do.

And of course, the second factor is that we look to Him. And we promise to do what we said we would do. So let's take a look as we remind ourselves of the duties that God has and that we have here in Matthew 6, in verse 22. Because Jesus Christ brings us out a little bit of a different way.

He says, the lamp of a body is the eye. Therefore, if your eye is good, and that Greek word, good, could actually be translated, focused, then your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, in other words, if your eye is unfocused, then your whole body will be full of darkness.

Therefore, if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? And then He goes on in verse 24, He says, no one can serve two masters. So Jesus Christ, the mediator of a new covenant, lets us know pretty plainly here that when we enter into a covenant of God, that we can't serve more than one God.

I mean, that was part of the agreement, you know, that God says, you worship Me and worship Me alone. I'm going to be your God, and I will provide these things for you, but you have to worship Me. Of course, we know from history that sometimes the Israelites began to worship other gods besides the true God. So Jesus Christ makes it pretty plain that if we're going to enter into a covenant with God, we can't serve two masters. We can't serve two gods. And I suppose that wouldn't be fair to God, would it?

If He's the one that's providing all these blessings and making all these promises, and then it says, okay, now your part is that you trust Me. I'm your God, and there is no other. It wouldn't be fair to Him. We wouldn't be performing our part of the agreement. So Jesus Christ says here pretty plainly it's impossible to serve two masters in this covenant with God. He says eventually we'll serve one or the other, but we can't serve both.

And then He goes on to the last part of verse 24, for either He will hate the one and love the other, or He'll be loyal to one, and He'll despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. And in the example He's given, mammon is referring to money. I mean, you could have a lot of different types of things that could be a false God. Whether it be money, whether it be material things, cars, what have you. Our own choices and lifestyle, which is in conflict with what God would have us clearly to do, we make our own selves God, I suppose, in a sense. So we may try to serve two masters, but we can't. Jesus Christ makes that clear. And it would be a breaking of the new covenant that we made with God. So they had their focus split. They did, and sometimes we do too. We can get unfocused. We can get sidetracked. And then God reminds us through His Son, Jesus Christ, that we can't do that. And so He was telling the children of Israel too the same thing. They can't do that either. But just like them, we can get sidetracked and derailed. But we can learn from that. And then in the beginning of verse 25, He begins to remind us of who really is out there looking out after us. The one who promised to look out after us. He says, don't worry about your life. Basically, you know, if you have God as your God, you don't have to worry about your life, about what you're going to eat, what you're going to drink, or what you're going to put on. All this is in the context of not having two masters. Isn't life worth more than that? Look at the birds of the air. They don't sow, they don't reap, and yet they're fed by God. God feeds them. He says, aren't you more important than them?

He goes on in verse 27, which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to a stature? So why do you worry about clothing, He says, and consider the lilies of the field? He says, even Solomon wasn't arrayed as one of these. Jesus Christ reminds us that God is our provider, we don't have to worry about our life. To have your God, the one who promises to take care of you, you can put your trust and faith that He will take care of His heart of the bargain, of what He promised to do in this covenant.

In verse 30, He says, if God is going to take care of those things, and of course He does, and He will, how much more will He take care of you, O you of little faith? He says, therefore, the transitional verse or word, don't worry. Don't worry what shall we eat, what shall we drink, or what shall we wear. Because all of those things in Gentiles, other Gentile word meaning also nations, or other nations, for all these things that Gentiles, those who haven't entered into a covenant relationship with God, that's the things they think about.

That's the things they're focused on. That's what they worry about. But your Heavenly Father knows that you have need for all of these things. And then He goes on to tell us, the one who brought the new covenant, what we should focus on, keeping our eyes focused on, verse number 33. He says, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of those things will be added unto you.

So He tells us to keep our focus on God, on His kingdom, on His righteousness, on the part of the agreement that we said we would, for those of us that have entered into that covenant relationship. Part of the meaning of Passover and the Passover season is renewing our covenant with God. Of being reminded of His promises to us, His obligations, His duties, and of course His love for us. And the love that Jesus Christ, our older brother, has for us.

In fact, God's love was so great He offered His Son so that we could have a different life. So we could have a chance at something better. Something that would exceed our expectations. Now, we talk about expectations being exceeded. I always remember that on a trip I went to the Grand Canyon one time. And, you know, you often hear a story about something and how great it is.

And then when you actually experience it, you think it wasn't that great. And that's probably happened to you at certain times in your life. But there was a time I went from, I was traveling from California to Minnesota, and I stopped at the Grand Canyon. It was at night, couldn't see anything, but I pitched my tent near the rim. It was the southern rim.

And then the next day, the sun came out, I got up and I started to walk over to the edge. And what I saw was an incredible sight. I don't know how many of you have seen the Grand Canyon? Okay. I don't know about you, but it exceeded my expectations.

So when it comes to the things that God has promised us, His kingdom, everlasting life, divine nature, it is going to exceed our expectations. That's what God voluntarily offers to you and to me. Well, let's take a look. This is actually going to be a two-part sermon as we talk about covenants, and we talk about our covenant with God and God's covenant with us. It's going to be a two-part sermon.

We'll cover as much as we can today. But we want to talk about some of the vitally important things that God has promised to us under this agreement, this covenant. And we need to be reminded of some of the very important vital things that we promised that God, that we would do for Him in entering this covenant. With the time that I've got left today, what we're going to do is review a few things here, just as Israel did on numerous occasions in their history where they had renewal.

I'd like to take us through some of their examples, a reminder, a refreshing, or a renewal of the covenant that God made with us and that we made with Him. And essentially, we're going to do it in the same way that it was with the children of Israel, those two common factors that came to mind when they had their renewals with God, with the covenant that they had made.

Let's begin by discussing some of God's promises. As we looked at some of the things that He obligated Himself to, that He promises, let's notice John 3, verse 16. This is a pretty well-known Scripture. It's been on television over the years. Perhaps you've seen a man with multicolored hair, a wig that is holding a little sign in the end zone of a football game.

And maybe some of you have seen that. He's holding the sign that says John 3, verse 16. So, a lot of people are aware of this particular Scripture, but there's a lot here in this Scripture. And it's basically talking about something that's pretty important, one of the promises that God has made. We'll pick it up in verse 14 here. Jesus is having a conversation with Nicodemus.

And He says in verse 14, And as Moses lift up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. So, Jesus was giving Nicodemus maybe a little bit of a clue, and maybe you and I as we read, something that they probably didn't understand at the time.

That the Son of Man was going to be lifted up on a pole, just as a snake at the time of Moses was lifted up on a pole. Remember that story? That the children of Israel had started to backslide, and God was punishing them for their evil. And they were being bitten by poisonous snakes. And so, God had Moses construct a pole that had a snake wrapped around it, very similar to the medical icon that we see today.

That if they looked at, I mean, they were dying. These snakes were killing them with the venom. But if they had been bitten by a snake and they looked at this pole, that had a snake around it, that they would live. That they would not die, but they'd survive. And so, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus about this whole situation here. And he says in verse 14, He says, Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Well, why? That whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. You know, there's a lot here in verse 15. We know we talk about the fact that we need to believe in the Son of Man. We need to believe in Jesus Christ in order to have eternal life. And that word, believe, actually has a lot more to do with just understanding that Jesus Christ exists, or that He is the Son of Man. I mean, that is part of what this means. Because God the Father said, I want you to understand and believe that, yes, I have sent this person, this Son of Man, to believe that. But I also want you to believe the things that He says. And I want you to believe Him so much that you'll follow His example. So, the word, believe, is an entire message, all of its own. But it was the way that God the Father was trying to tell us that, look, I want you to listen to what He says, and I want you to believe what He says, and I want you to follow it. So, it has a lot more to do with just acknowledging that somebody exists. So, He says in verse 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish, in other words, cease to exist, but have eternal life. And then in verse 16, we see how much the Father loved us. Because He's referring to God the Father. He says in verse 16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and He reiterates again that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's a promise. That if we believe in the Son of God, that we won't perish, but will have everlasting life. It's part of the covenant promise. Remember the story, brethren, of Abraham when God asked him to sacrifice His Son? We're going to come back to John 3, verse 16. You might want to keep your finger here. We're going to come back to it. But let's go to Genesis 22, verse 1 for a moment. Trying to understand just how much God loves us. This was a story, I think, that a lot of people wonder, well, why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice His Son? I mean, after all, He had waited a long time to have the Son. And that was a miracle in itself. God performed a miracle that Isaac could even be born, because Sarah was long past the time of being able to bear a child. It doesn't seem to make sense that God's asking Abraham to sacrifice His Son. When all those promises of the covenant that they'd entered in between God and Abraham was that His descendants would come through His Son, Isaac.

So, it maybe didn't seem to make a lot of sense, but Abraham had faith. In fact, he had to have a lot of faith to follow through with the instructions that God was giving to him here. Verse number 1, Genesis 22, Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham. So we see a little bit about the context here that God was testing him. And He said to him, Abraham. And he said, well, I'm here.

And then He said, well, now take your Son, your only Son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer Him there as a earned offering on one of the mountains, which I should tell you. So now Abraham, his son had grown up, they'd become pretty close. You know, as a father and son can, just like Jesus Christ and the Father are like one, they're so close. The love that they have, Jesus Christ says, I love the Father and the Father loves me.

I abide in Him, He abides in me. Here we have Abraham and Isaac, and they were close. They loved each other and they cared for each other. They had a close relationship. And again, there's this promise that God had made through Isaac. Well, let's read on. Verse number 3, so Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey. It's amazing. He just, okay, God, this is what You want me to do. So he gets up early in the morning, saddles his donkey, takes two of his servants with him, two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac.

And he split the wood for the burned offering, and he rose and he went to the place which God had told him. Now, this was a test. We know that because of what we've already read, but you know, this is a tough test for a parent. Verse 4, then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and he saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, I want you to stay here. My son and I will proceed as we go forth from this place.

He says, stay here with the donkey. The lad and I will go yonder in worship, and we will come back to you. Now, I think that's noteworthy, brethren. Did you read what we just read there? That Abraham said, we will come back to you. You know, Abraham knew that he was supposed to be sacrificing his son, and yet he tells those two servants that the two of us are going to come back to you. We will come back to you. You know, I don't have time to go there, but you might want to write this down. Hebrews 11 and verses 17 through 19. Hebrews 11, 17 through 19. Abraham believed that if he was going to sacrifice his son, if he was going to slay his son, that God could bring him back to life.

That's exactly what he thought. That was the faith and the trust that he put in his Creator, that he put in his God. To his commitment to the covenant that he had entered into with God, because you see, he had entered into a covenant with God too, hadn't he? He had his own covenant that he was willing to do what God asked him to do, and God said, I'm going to make certain promises to you, and to your lineage, and to your family, and to your descendants through your son.

And so Abraham had a lot of faith that God would honor his commitment to this covenant. So Abraham says to his servants in verse 5, we will come back to you. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and he laid it on his son. He bound him up and says, well, we'll read on, I'm getting ahead of myself. He laid it on his son Isaac. He took the fire in his hand, and he took the knife, and the two of them went together.

But Isaac spoke to Abraham as father, and he said, well, my father, and Abraham said, well, yes, my son. He said, well, look, we have fire, we have wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God will provide for himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So apparently at this time, Isaac didn't know. Abraham had not yet explained to his own son what God had asked him to do.

So the two of them went together. Verse 9, and they came to the place in which God had told him, and Abraham built an altar there, and he placed wood in order, and then he bound his own son with rope, and he laid his son prone on the altar. He laid him on the altar and upon the wood, and Abraham stretched out his hand, and he took a knife to slay his son.

But the angel of the Lord called him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, I'm here. And he said, do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. And then Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in the thickets by its horns. So Abraham went and he took the ram, and he offered it for a bird offering instead of his son. You know, there's a lot that we can glean from here, probably a lot more than maybe we can even understand, but these are things that are all here that God wanted us to understand.

He wanted us to learn from. He wanted us to begin to understand a lot of things, including the fact that God the Father was willing to give up His own son as a sacrifice for you and for me. He didn't ask Abraham to do that with His son, because he made a substitute offering, but He did offer His own son because of the love that He has for you and me. There's a lot here. You know, Abraham, he loved God.

He had a relationship with God. He entered into a covenant with God. And he trusted God enough to do what God asked Him to do, even when it came to this, because he felt that God was going to fulfill His promise, and so he said, we will come back to you. He was willing to offer Him as an offering, though, and to burn Him.

Burn Him after He slayed Him with a knife. But He believed God would bring Him back to life. Let's go back to John 3, verse 16. See what we can pull out here from some of the lessons. John 3, verse 16. There was a lot of love that God had in sacrificing His Son, because we know that Jesus Christ was tempted in all ways as we, and yet without sin. But we also believe and have an understanding in the church that Jesus Christ could have sinned.

You know, when He was here in the flesh, that He could have succumbed to sin. Satan certainly felt he had an opportunity and was going to try to have him do that. But Jesus Christ would have sinned, of course, the penalty for sin, His death. And so, who would have saved Him? Who would have paid His penalty? That would have only left the Father. And if the Father would have died, there would have been no one left to resurrect Him.

And so, this was the only plan that could possibly work in order to save us from that penalty of death. This was the only way. They talked about this. You know they planned this. They talked about it. And they said, this is the only way and we only have one chance. And Jesus Christ was willing to put Himself at risk for you and me. And the Father was willing to put His Son at risk.

You know, they were close. You know how it is when two people are close, spouses can get so close. And that if one dies, it's like their heart is ripped in two. Because of the love that they have for each other, that they become one. And Jesus said, the Father and I are one. And yet, the Father loved you and me so much, He was willing to risk the life of His Son, the Word of God, Jesus Christ, so that we might live.

And Jesus Christ was willing to risk everything as well, for you and for me. So, when it says, God so loved the world, that He was willing to give His Son. There's a lot more to that Scripture, maybe, than what we thought about. You know, I don't think we can ever really doubt the fact that God loves us, can we? That He was willing to put everything on the line, so that we could live. So that's something to think about in this particular Scripture, that God voluntarily did this.

He didn't have to do this. Jesus Christ voluntarily did this. He offered this to you and me, that if we believe on the words that came forth from the Son of God, and all that that means, and enter into that covenant, this is what they were willing to offer everlasting life. This is the risk they were willing to take, voluntarily. So God has truly shown His love to the world, and so is Jesus Christ. Let's go to Romans 5 and 6. Romans 5 and 6. You know, that's an amazing love that God has for us. And that should be an encouraging thing.

That we should never ever doubt the love that He has. It should be an incredibly encouraging thing. Let's notice, as we were talking here about the promises that God has made, the things He's willing to do, the commitments He's willing to make, this covenant, this new covenant, what it says here in Romans 5 and 6. And I know we're busy, and we have busy lives. But God wants us to think about these things every once in a while. And so it's the time of the year where we think about this. Romans 5 and 6.

It says here, For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. And I think that pretty much defines you and me, doesn't it? We are the ungodly. God knows from the beginning, no, and He sees our potential. He sees the end from the beginning. But we were in a state of ungodliness. We were without strength when Christ died for the ungodly.

Verse 17, it says, For scarcely for a righteous man one will die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love. So we want to see a demonstration in action. God demonstrates His love towards you and towards me, and that while we were sinners, He died for you and for me.

Much more, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from anger or wrath through Him. For when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. So that's one of the gifts of this New Covenant, is everlasting life. We believe. We follow His commandments. If we follow the example of His Son, that we'll be given this promise, this gift.

That's His obligation. That's His promise. And He doesn't lie. You know, it's a little bit of a side note, but I heard this the other day, and I thought it would be helpful to cover. In verse number 10, you know, the Scriptures talk about reconciliation. In fact, even the Gospel talks about it. It's a Gospel of reconciliation, of bringing mankind back to God, reconciling God to man and reconciling man to man. And that's something that God wants us to learn, something that we've sometimes had troubles with in the past, among ministers, among people of God, among laymen alike.

It doesn't seem to matter. It's something that we've struggled with. Well, I was talking with a minister a while back, and it's not in this area, so you don't have to worry. It's not anyone that you know. It's way out on the East Coast. But he had someone that came to him and said, I don't want to reconcile with that other person because I don't believe that they have God's Holy Spirit, and I do not want to be one with somebody that doesn't have God's Holy Spirit.

Now, talking about reconciliation and coming back together as one. So how would you answer someone that came up to you? Put yourself in the minister's shoes for a moment, and how would you answer that question if someone says, I don't want to reconcile with that person, because I don't see the fruit of God's Spirit, or I don't see them having God's Spirit.

Well, let's see what God has to say, because He's our example. Let's take a look at what He says and what He did. Let's look at His example. What was He willing to do? Verse 10, it says, For when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, to the death of His Son. So there's our example. There's the Father's example. There's Jesus Christ's example. So there's the God family example, that they were willing to reconcile with us when we were enemies, when we were sinners, when we didn't even have God's Holy Spirit.

So that's the standard for God's sons and daughters. That's the standard for His family. We're going to follow our father and our elder brother. Verse 10, for when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. God doesn't give up on anyone, does He? And we can be grateful for that.

What a blessing it is, that we have this type of God. He died for the ungodly. He died for His enemies while we were sinners. That's their commitment. That's the love that they have towards us. They reached out voluntarily into this covenant relationship, and they made these promises. You know, it says that Christ, and I'll just refer to Revelation 13, verse 8, that Christ was slain from the foundation of the world. So this was part of the plan of the love that they were going to have for their sons and daughters or brothers and sisters before the earth even existed, before we existed.

God took the first step. We didn't take the first step. He did. Let's notice 1 Corinthians 11, verse 25. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 25. Let's talk about this shedding of blood, this mediator of a new covenant that Jesus Christ was and this new covenant that He brought. You know, it's different than the old covenant. It's a new covenant. That's why God refers to it that way.

Christ instructed Paul to write about it so that he could share it with us in the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 25. In the same manner, and Christ is instructing this now, in the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in My blood. So now He's introducing the new covenant, and we see here that this cup is the new covenant in My blood.

This dew is often as you drink it in remembrance of Me. So we have an annual reminder, don't we, of this new covenant in His blood. It's an annual memorial, a reminder that we come together and we renew this covenant.

It's part of God's plan for you and for Me. Part of the annual Holy Days Passover is an annual festival. It's one of the feasts that are mentioned in Leviticus 23. So we have this annual reminder of what we voluntarily entered into when we came into this covenant with God. He didn't force us. That's not the way He works. Verse 26, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes, so we know that He's coming.

So this is the blood of the new covenant which frees us from sin, which of course produces death. The wine that we drink at Passover symbolizes the blood that Jesus Christ shed and it symbolizes the blood on the doorposts when the children of Israel were still in Egypt before they left that saved the lives of their firstborn. And it also, I think, signifies that little scarlet red scarf that hung down over the wall of Jericho, that saved the lives of Rahab and her family, all pictured by the blood of Jesus Christ that would come in the future.

Now think about this for a moment. I need to think about it too. God was willing to pay the greatest price possible. He was willing to pay the greatest price that could possibly be paid for you and for me under this covenant. That's what He agreed to do. Sometimes when we go into Passover, I think, and we examine ourselves, we feel a little discouraged, maybe a little bit of dread, foreboding. But you know, it should be also at a time in one sense of thankfulness, of appreciation of what God promised to do in this covenant, what He was willing to do.

Because He loves us this much. It's an annual reminder of how much He loves us and how far He was willing to go. I'll read a little bit of a letter, part of the letter that Robin Weber, the acting president of the United Church of God, talks about. He says, what a privilege we have to observe the New Testament Passover to renew our covenant relationship with our Heavenly Father through the ultimate sacrifice of His dear Son, Jesus Christ.

It reminds us that each of us has been truly forgiven, reconciled, and fully restored into God's presence. Members of the body of Christ around the world, whoever and wherever they may be, will partake of the sacred symbols of the wine and the 11 bread that represent the completeness of God's appointed Lamb who takes away the sin from the world. Some of us will be physically alone that evening, others will be with our beloved brethren, but all of us will be spiritually united in full fellowship with God the Father and Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul defines the evening and the moment when stating, when the cup of blessing which we bless isn't the communion of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body, for we all partake of that one bread.

Indeed, we are not alone, and truly our fellowship is with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. This fellowship revealed in the Scriptures reminds and restores us the ever-present spiritual reality that all things work together for those that love God and are called according to His purpose. As we partake of the bread and the wine, and we renew our holy covenant with God, let's not listen to lesser human voices that swirl around us or give a room to personal doubts that can paralyze our personal witness that Christ lives in us.

Rather, consider the following declarations of the Apostle Paul regarding God's grace when he said this.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Part of that promise. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is He who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God and who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Yet in all of these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. As we partake of the bread and the wine, we are reminded to worship God in our daily walk. We are reminded that each of us has been crucified with Christ, and that it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Yes, Christ died that we might live apart from sin and its judgment, and live in newness of life as depicted by the days of unleavened bread. We are a new creation in Christ, with a consecrated life that desires to keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

And that's for Mr. Robin Weber.

Brethren, let's turn to the final Scripture now. We're going to cover some things in Part 2 later on that have to do with all of the promises that God has made, all of His obligations, and our promises and obligations to Him in Part 2. But let's finish up here. Let's turn to 2 Kings 23, verse 1.

2 Kings 23, verse 1.

What I've tried to bring out from some of the Scriptures today and some of the examples are things that we can learn from, the examples that they did that we can learn from as we renew our covenant. No, they didn't have examples for them, but we do. Their example is our example. But God has given them and their experiences to help us. Let's note a 2 Kings 23, verse 1. As we can see from their example, that there were times that they began to stray, and yet they returned. They strayed from the path of times and then came back. Let's notice a time that they came back here. A third example in 2 Kings 23, verse 1. Now, the king sent them... we're talking about King Josiah. The king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. Sounds a little bit like what we read earlier about how all the leaders came together. You know, from the leaders to the servants. Even the strangers, they came before God. Verse 2, And the king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. So they're all coming together to renew this covenant. And that's what God's people are going to be doing all over the earth when they come together Sunday evening to keep and renew their covenant with God.

Verse 2, They came before the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, with all of him the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great. And he read and they're hearing all the words of the book of the covenant, talking about the book of the covenant, which had been found in the house of the Lord just recently.

The covenant that they'd made with God in Horem. And so, we're beginning to see that they're all coming together. And if you remember at this time in history, the ten tribes had already gone. They were already removed into a captivity because they had broken the covenant. And now what's left are just a couple of tribes, probably Judah, Benjamin, maybe some of the Levites, and they're renewing this covenant.

So it's a time in history when some of God's people have already been taken away into captivity and actually never to return. Verse 3, "...and the king stood by a pillar, and he made a covenant before the Lord." He's making in that day, he's renewing the former covenant. He's saying before God and all the people that were going to renew the covenant that was originally made. We're going to repent. We're going to change. We're going to renew our obligations and the performances that we promised under this covenant that we previously made with our God.

So he stood by a pillar and he made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord, to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statues with all of His heart and with all of His soul and to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. Now, it seems as we read here that it's the king talking. He's not...all the people aren't necessarily saying this when the king says this. It's like the king is standing before the pillar and making this covenant to follow the Lord.

As your leader, in other words, he's saying, I am going to follow all the words of this book and perform the promises we made to keep the commandments, the statutes, the testimonies with all of my heart and all of my soul. And you know, it says the people said, not just you, king, but we want to as well. We want to too. It says, and all the people took a stand for the covenant. They came before God, small and great. They listened to what the king said and they said, we're all going to take a stand. Brethren, that was pretty inspiring to say that at this time.

They renewed a covenant. They recommitted to the covenant that they had made with God. And they wanted to return to Him. You know, God was pleased with this. He was pleased. I mean, He wants us to change and to turn back to Him, to soften our hearts and to come back. All the people took a stand for the covenant. Brethren, those of us that are baptized have entered into a covenant with God, a new covenant with God. And sometimes when I counsel with people for baptism, you know, I tell them, before you enter into this covenant agreement that God has expectations for you.

He makes promises, but He also has expectations for you and for me. God obligates Himself to us and He wants us to obligate ourselves to Him. Israel as a whole forgot their covenant with God. There were a few exceptions in some generations when they would turn back to Him. They renewed that covenant. And God wants us to learn from their examples, both good and bad. But if we've strayed, if we've backslid, God says, I want you to renew your covenant with Me. You know, it's something that when the children of Israel repented, God was pleased. It softened His heart. And God says, if you or I have individually strayed, if we've been derailed, if we've become unfocused, God says, turn back to Me.

He promises to forgive as far as the East is from the West. So as Passover approaches, let's use this as an annual reminder, not only of the promises that God has made to us and the things He said He'll perform, but also let's be reminded of our obligations and our duties and our commandments that we made to Him. Brethren, just like they did, let's take a stand for the covenant, for the new covenant of God.