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CrossPointe Community Church
P O Box 126
Chippewa Lake, OH 44215
CALL TO WORSHIP
But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.
John 4:14
SCRIPTURE
“The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord.
“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
Jeremiah 31:31-34
When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table. Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”
Luke 22:14-20
Then He took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”
He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”
After supper He took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and His people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.
Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is why He is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
Hebrews 9:13-15
SERMON
A Promise Is a Promise!
Randy K’Meyer
A hen-pecked husband became sick and tired of continually being badgered and bossed around by his wife, so he decided to see a psychiatrist for help. The psychiatrist promised the man that if he would be willing to come to six one-hour training sessions on assertiveness that it would solve his problem with his wife.
Six weeks later, after the last session, as the man is leaving the psychiatrist’s office, the doc asks him to promise that things are going to be different with his wife when he gets home. Our hero says, “Things are definitely going to be different; I promise.”
So the newly reinvigorated fellow storms into the house, walks up to his wife, puts his finger in her face, and says, “From now on, I want you to know that I am the man of this house, and my word is LAW! I want you to prepare me a gourmet meal tonight, and when I’m finished eating my meal, I expect a sumptuous dessert. Then, after dinner, you’re going to draw me a nice hot bath so I can relax. And, when I’m finished with my bath, guess who’s going to dry me off, get me dressed, and comb my hair?”
“The funeral director,” says his wife, as she picks up a ball bat, “I promise.”
I don’t know if I am right or wrong, but does it seem to you that there WAS a day when keeping your promise meant something more than it means today? Perhaps I have seen too many old movies where someone said to someone else, “My word is my bond,” and you knew they meant it. There was a day when people sealed a business transaction by shaking hands and that meant that each party would stick to his word.
Today we toss the word ‘promise’ around much too loosely. ‘I promise I’ll make that appointment with the doctor,’ when we have no intention of making that call. ‘I promise your secret is safe with me.’ Today it seems that a promise is a comment, rather than a commitment.
The reasons for our lower standards can be attributed to many societal factors which I am not going to take the time to enumerate; I just want to note that we live in a society that doesn’t seem to place as much value on promise-keeping as we once did. And this dynamic affects our ability to trust that God always keeps His promises!
One antidote to that adverse dynamic is to understand the relationship between God’s promises and the word ‘covenant.’
‘Covenant’ can be thought of as a mutual agreement between two parties to do something or refrain from doing something in order to merit a reward.
In the Old Testament, covenants are sometimes made between men, when for example, David and Saul’s son, Jonathon, entered into a covenant of friendship, whereby, each promised the other they would watch each other’s back.
And covenants are sometimes made between two different groups of people; as when the Israelites entered into a covenant with the Gibeonites (Joshua 9). “We promise we won’t drag your women off by the hair if you promise you won’t steal the hubcaps off our chariot wheels.”
All of this makes a fascinating study; however, today we’re drilling down on the kinds of covenants God has made with His creation.
The first thing to understand is that there is a difference between the covenants that people make with other people and the covenants God makes with His people. In the former case, people have some part in setting the terms of the agreement; whereas, the Bible indicates that God is the One who always dictates the terms of the covenants He makes. His people simply have the choice of either accepting or rejecting God’s offer, but not of offering alternative plans or conditions.
Secondly, whereas we, as human beings, can, and often do, fail to hold up our part of any agreement/covenant made with God, God never, never, never fails to uphold His part of the covenant. And in this sense, the covenants God makes with His people are His secure promises to His people. We can count on them because He is God. Genesis 46:27 says it all in this regard, “When God makes a promise, He is perfect, and He always keeps it.”
(By the way, were you aware that the word ‘testament’ as in the Old and New Testaments is an old English word that translates the Hebrew and Greek words for ‘covenant?’ So, yes before the English Bible came along, they were referred to as the Old and New Covenants? And, therefore; can be appropriately thought of and/or even referred to as the Old and the New Promises).
The first covenant we encounter in the Bible is the covenant God made with all humanity; as God told Noah after the flood, “I will establish My covenant with you and with every living creature on earth, never again to destroy the earth with a flood.”
In this case, Noah wasn’t required to do anything except receive the blessing.
Most often; however, when God made a covenant with His people, He made His promise conditional by requiring something of them. For example, God made a covenant with Abraham, promising him land and many descendants, if he would be willing to leave his home and journey to the land of Canaan.
Then there was the major covenant of the Old Promise: the covenant of Law given to Moses; where God’s promises to either bless or curse His people, depending on if they, in turn, would obey His law. (If you care to dig deeper into this, read Deuteronomy chapter 8 carefully).
And sure enough, the Hebrew people found this covenant difficult to live with. Oh, don’t get me wrong; they certainly enjoyed God’s blessings. But they had a little trouble living up to their part of the bargain. You see they had this tendency, this propensity, this inclination to sin. And although God offered them a way to be forgiven of their sin, God would still hold them accountable and allow negative consequences to occur. After all, that’s what He promised them.
And so one of the huge theological questions emanating from the Old Testament was, ‘What was to be done when a covenant-keeping God was linked to a covenant-breaking people?’
Jeremiah the prophet had an answer:
“The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord.
“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins”.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Jeremiah’s prophecy of a new covenant finds its fulfillment in the atonement: When Jesus took bread and broke it, speaking of it as His body, and when He took the wine and said, “This is My blood of the New Covenant,” He was referring to Jeremiah’s prophecy of a new covenant.
The writer of the letter we call Hebrews wants to emphasize that Jesus’ death on the cross is God’s way of instituting a new covenant, a covenant of grace that will replace the old one of law. Yes, Jesus is inaugurating the new covenant that will be sealed, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with the blood of God’s Son!
“This is the blood of the new covenant” (Luke 22:20).
What are the promised blessings that result from this new promise?
I want to focus on two.
The first is found in verse 34: “And I will forgive their wickedness and will never again remember their sins” (34b).
Do you trust God to make good on that promise? Or do you insist on holding yourself accountable and therefore, beating yourself up over some sin committed in your past?
Pastor Steve Brown, in a book titled, When Being Good Isn’t Enough, writes:
Early in my ministry, I counseled a woman who, some twenty years before, had been unfaithful to her husband. For years that sin had haunted her. I was the first person she had ever told about it. After we talked and prayed for a long time, I recommended she tell her husband. (That, by the way, isn’t always the advice I give. In this case, I knew the woman’s husband and knew that her revelation, after the initial shock, would probably strengthen their marriage.) It wasn’t easy for her, but she promised she would tell him. “Pastor,” she said, “I trust you enough to do what you ask, but if my marriage falls apart as a result, I want you to know I’m going to blame you.” She didn’t smile when she said that, either.
After she left, I commenced praying with a high degree of seriousness. “Father, if I gave her dumb advice, forgive me and clean up my mess.”
I saw her the next day, and she looked fifteen years younger.
“What happened?” I asked.
“When I told him he said that he had known about it for twenty years and was just waiting for me to tell him so he could tell me how much he loved me!” And then she started to laugh. “He forgave me twenty years ago, and I’ve been needlessly carrying all this guilt for all these years!” 1
Perhaps we are like this woman. We entered into a new covenant with God through our faith in Jesus; whereby He promised to forgive us. And yet some of us have been needlessly carrying a load of guilt for all these years! And to make matters worse, we’ve been denigrating God’s promise.
But God’s promises are ROCK SOLID!
“When God makes a promise, He is perfect, and He always keeps it” (Genesis 46:27).
“And I will forgive their wickedness and will never again remember their sins” (Jeremiah 31:34).
Before he became a Christian, Bob Sheffield played professional hockey in Canada. Like most hockey players, Bob was tough as nails, loved to fight, and found himself in jail one night after a barroom brawl.
Later, Bob and his wife became Christians and accepted a temporary assignment with The Navigators here in the States. Bob had to apply for ‘landed immigrant’ status, which would allow him and his wife to minister in the United States. But because he had a criminal record, his request was denied. So they decided to apply in Canada for what is called the Queen’s Pardon. Following a thorough investigation, the pardon was granted. And Bob Sheffield received the following notice in the mail:
“Whereas we have since been implored on behalf of the said Robert Jones Sheffield to extend a pardon to him in respect to the convictions against him, and whereas the solicitor general here submitted a report to us, now know ye therefore, having taken these things into consideration, that we are willing to extend the royal clemency on him, the said Robert J. Sheffield. We have pardoned, remitted, and released him of every penalty to which he was liable in pursuance thereof.”
Because of this official pardon, on any document from that time forward on which Bob was asked if he had a criminal record, he could honestly answer no. The pardon meant he was released from any possible punishment for that brawl, and the record of it was completely erased. 2
That is the kind of pardon we have in Jesus Christ. We are set free from any penalty or punishment. Any record of any offenses against the Lord our God have been complexly erased because there is more grace in God’s heart than there is sin in our past.
This is the Lord’s promise to each of us: “I will forgive your wickedness and I will never again remember your sins.”
This is not some willy-nilly promise made without a modicum of forethought. This is the promise of God! And that’s it, that’s all, enough said. We can count on it, we can take it to the bank, indeed we can bet our lives on it, literally.
This leads to the second promised blessing of the New Covenant.
“I will be their God, and they will be My people” (33b).
This blessing has to do with the promise of God’s faithfulness to us which some refer to as ‘eternal security.’ We sang about this a while ago: “Blessed assurance Jesus is mine, O what a foretaste of glory Divine.”
Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me and I give eternal life to them” (John 10:27-28a). What kind of life? ‘Eternal life.’ “And they shall never perish” (John 10:28b). When will they perish?
‘Never perish.’
I John 2:25 says, “This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.”
Or as the writer of Hebrews put it: “That is why He is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them” (9:15).
What kind of response can we make in light of the way that God has blessed us so abundantly with forgiveness and eternal life?
There is a story told about a little boy who was consistently late coming home from school. Every day, it was the same old script: his parents would say, “don’t be late,” and he would say, “I promise I won’t be.”
Finally, his parents reached the breaking point, so as he left home for school, they promised him that he must be home on time that afternoon or ready to face the consequences. Would you believe that the boy was later than usual? When he finally walked in about two hours late, his mother met him at the door,
welcomed him home, but said nothing more. He thought sure he was going to get it when his father got home from work, but his dad plopped into his recliner to read the newspaper and other than a ‘hello,’ said nothing. The kid thinks, ‘I guess mom and dad forgot about their promise.’
But when he was called to dinner he sat down at the table and immediately noticed a slice of bread on his plate along with a cup of water. He glanced across the table at his father’s plate and noticed it piled high with pot roast and tators and carrots. He looked up at his father’s face, but his father remained silent. The boy was not only disappointed, he knew he had only himself to blame.
The father waited for the full impact of the situation to sink in on his boy, then he quietly picked up his plate full of pot roast and tators and carrots placed it in front of his son, and took his son’s plate with one slice of bread, smiled at his son, and began eating the bread.
That little boy promised to never disappoint his father again by coming home late. And guess what? He never did. Why? Because he decided to treat his father the way his father treated him. And when that little boy grew to be a man, he said, “All my life I’ve known what God is like by what my father did that night.”
That’s what our Father has done for us. He took away the old covenant of the law, where we certainly deserved punishment for breaking it time and again. And He replaced it with a new covenant, a new promise of grace. He took our empty plate of bread and cup and made it His own, and in its place, He provided an abundant plate of grace and eternal life.
“This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you” (Luke 22:20).
1 Steve Brown, When Being Good Isn’t Enough, [Brenham, Texas: Lucid Books,
© 2014], Pages 10-11.
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2014/september/6092214.html
2 Tom L. Eisenman, Temptations Men Face, [Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, © 1992], Pages 21-22
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2003/march/14301.html