What is the covenant?

I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. Therefore, say to the Israelites: 'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.'

-Exodus 6:4-7a (NIV)

What are the Promises of God?

• I will bring you out of slavery.
• I will redeem you with outstretched arms.
• You will be my people.
• I will be your God.

What does God mean when He says: 'You will be my people, and I will be your God?'

1. A Covenant Relationship:

A covenant is more than a promise; it is a mutual relationship with responsibilities.

2. Personal Belonging and Identity

"...I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." Romans 9:15 (NIV)

3. Protection and Provision

"I will take responsibility for you."

4. Presence With His People

As a Father would be with His children.

5. Faithfulness From God

Concerning the nation of Israel—Has God kept His end of the covenant?

God’s covenant with his people is permanent.

Israel can never lose its identity as the covenant people of God, because God’s covenant is irrevocable.

Deuteronomy 28: the covenant God made with Israel included both blessings and curses.

• God had warned them that if they worshipped other gods: "The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies…" Deuteronomy 28:25a (NIV)

• The nation and the people of God would never cease to exist, but there would be times they would be expelled from the land because of their unfaithfulness to God.

Simply put:

• The covenant God made is permanent.

• The blessings of the covenant are conditional on obedience.

How does the covenant apply to Israel and Christians today?

Is Israel, as a nation, still in covenant with God?

Yes. But that is good news and bad news.

Good news: He freed them, redeemed them, is their God and they are His chosen people.

Bad news: Israel as a nation has not in many years walked with God.

...I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God…

-Exodus 6:6-7a (NIV)

They are His people; He is their God.

1. The history of Israel is one of despair and exile.

2. The history of Israel is one of miraculous survival.

What does all of this have to do with me?

I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 'Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me'? And what was God’s answer to him? 'I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.' So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

-Romans 11:1-6 (NIV)

Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring! I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, 'Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.' Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved.

-Romans 11:11-26a (NIV)

Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: 'God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you'

-Romans 2:17-24 (NIV)

A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.

-Romans 2:28-29a (NIV)

For Christ-followers, this should wake us up to two realities:

God gave the people of Israel this land. Period.

God promised to bring the people of Israel back to this piece of land he promised their forefathers.

The days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their ancestors to possess,' says the Lord.

-Jeremiah 30:3 (NIV)

In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.

-Isaiah 11:11-12 (NIV)

I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. I will bring them to live in Jerusalem…

-Zechariah 8:7-8a (NIV)

But the thing that should concern Christ-followers most is this: God has indeed brought His people back to the land and activated the final phase of redemption.

So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

-Romans 11:5-6 (NIV)

No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.

-Romans 2:29a (NIV)

For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

-Romans 11:21 (NIV)

We have been grafted into the covenant.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.

-Hebrews 11:13-16a (NIV)

Jesus gave his life away so that we could keep ours for eternity!

What does this mean for us?

One: We are on our way to the Promised Land.

We have been grafted into the people of God by grace.

Two: God will exile His people when they are in disobedience.

If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

-Hebrews 12:8-11 (NIV)

Three: Not all who begin the journey will arrive.

We are God’s people living under grace.

Does that mean we are immune to discipline and judgment?

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

-James 1:12 (NIV)

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, "I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing." But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

-Revelation 3:14-22 (NIV)

There will be some who will not make it. Who are they?

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

-Hebrews 6:4-6 (NIV)

To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

-Hebrews 6:6 (NIV)

…Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. The Lord said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they." Moses said to the Lord, "Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them. And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, Lord, are with these people and that you, Lord, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, 'The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.'"

-Numbers 14:10b-16 (NIV)

The Lord replied, "I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it."

-Numbers 14:20-23 (NIV)

Contempt: knowing God—but dismissing Him.

Where are you in all of this?

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