GOD'S COVENANT
TITLE: COVENANT OF DELIVERANCE
TEXT: JEREMIAH 34
Introduction
God is a God of His word, when made a promise He will fulfills it. Today we are
God make promise only to the redeemed only to the one that He saved.
SLAVERY - God is against the slavery system, because slavery is the nature of the devil and it is counted as bondage.
Babylon influence has a system of slavery in which Abraham has to be free from
Abraham - God made covenant with Abraham when he left Babylon and decided to follow God, God promised him the land.
Egypt people were enslaved to build construction to the pharaoh, it was so bad that they cried, and were in great deal of agony. Exodus 3 God told Moses that He heard the misery of His people and he was coming down to set them free.
Illustration - The children who grew up during the of slavery, they thought that life is like that, but they don’t realize that their world was built to honor the dead and to worship their king.
Moses - He gave Moses his covenant on Mount Sinai, and if they live under the covenant (Exodus 20) they will inherit the blessings promised. But fail to uphold the covenant they will be enslave again. We know that, that what happens to the Israelites.
Israelites - Slavery does occurs in the house of Israel Exodus 21:2 “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything.”
Few ways in which people can come under slavery, and the Bible does gives us how people can be come under slavery.
Illustration
The country was under siege by the Babylonians, God gave His word to Jeremiah Judah will be taken captives to Babylon under slavery, due to their disobedience.
TRUST IN THE COVENANT OF THE LORD (Vs 2-7)
How much do we trust in the promises of God?.When God made a Covenant He swore under oath (Hebrews 6:13-15) When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”[d] 15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
God told Joshua (Joshua 1:) 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
On this case God told Jeremiah to tell the King what is going to happen
Application - The Covenant was meant to be, believed, to be kept and to be obeyed
COVENANT and SLAVERY (Vs 8-11)
The Covenant will keep us away from slavery
8 The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves. 9 Everyone was to free their Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to hold a fellow Hebrew in bondage. 10 So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free. 11 But afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.
Illustration - Violation of the Covenant is the violation of both, against His nature and against His name. God will never do that, and if we do it, it will resulted in bearing heavy consequences.
God marked this on His work in Egypt on the Children of Israel, Children of Israel were liberated from slavery, suffering and torture by the Egyptians.
Which is the picture of what God is going to do in the future.
LIVING UNDER THE COVENANT MEANS LIVING IN LIBERTY (Vs14-15)
The curse always come under slavery, it breaks the heart of God. In the Old Testament it says that angry when the people violate His word.
The swore in their Covenant to free the people, but they turned around and change their mind again and took them back for slavery.
Spiritual lesson we can learn from here, do slavery occurs in church? Yes. How does that happen?
Illustration - When we fail to remember the covenant we are going to act in contrary. The disciples ask Jesus how many times do we have to forgive our debtors, Jesus said 77 times.
We enslave people in our hearts, and turn out we enslave ourselves, the biggest sin that can take us to hell is the sine of bondage.
Application - May God help us to clean our hearts and release people that may be kept there as slave, so that your heart can be free too.
CONCLUSION
STORY OF A POOR COUPLE
A very poor newly wedded, young couple lived in a small farm. One day the husband made the following proposal to his wife:
Honey, I will leave the house: I will travel faraway, get a job and work hard in order to come back and give you the comfortable life that you deserve. I do not know how long I will stay away, I only ask one thing, please wait for me, and while I am away, you should be faithful to me, because I will be faithful to you. His wife agreed, so the young man left. He walked many days until he found a farmer who was in need of someone to help him. The young man offered his services. He was accepted. Therefore he discussed the terms with his boss:
Let me work for as long as I want and when I think I should go home, please relieve me of my duties. I do not want to receive my salary. I ask you to save it for me, until the day I leave. The day I decide to go, please give me the money and I will go my way. They agreed on that. So, the young man worked for twenty years without holiday and without rest. After twenty years, he came to his boss and said:
Boss, I want my money, because I am returning to my home. The boss replied:
All right, after all, I made a deal with you and I will stick to it. However, before you go I want to offer you something new: I will give you all your money and send you away; or I will give you 3 pieces of advice and send you away. If I give you money, you lose the 3 pieces of advice. If I give you the 3 pieces of advice, you lose the money. Now, go to your room and think about your answer. He thought for two days. Then he went to the boss and told him:
I want the 3 pieces of advice. The boss stressed again, if I give you the 3 pieces of advice, I will not give you the money, and the man replied:
I want the 3 pieces of advice. The boss then told him:
1: Never take shortcuts in your life, shorter and unknown paths can cost your life. No.
2: Never be too curious, for curiosity towards evil can be deadly. No.
3: Never make decisions in moments of anger or pain, because when you repent, it
could be too late.
After giving these 3 pieces of advice, the boss said to him:
Here, you have 3 loaves of bread, 2 are for you to eat during the journey and the last is for you to eat with your wife when you get home.
So, the man went his way, after twenty years away from home and from his wife, whom he loved so much. After the first day of travel, he found a man who greeted him and asked:
Where are you going? He replied:
To a distant place which is about 20 days away if I continue walking. The man said to him:
Ol' boy, this path is too long! I know a shortcut that is very safe and you will arrive in 5 days only. The man began to follow the path suggested until he remembered the first piece of advice. Then, he returned and followed the long path. Days later he learned that the shortcut led to an ambush.
After a few more days of travel, he found an inn by the roadside, where he could rest. He paid for a room and after taking a bath he lay down to sleep. During the night he woke up as he heard a terrifying scream. He rose to his feet and went to the door to check what happened. As he was opening the door, he remembered the second piece of advice. Therefore he returned, lay down again and slept. At dawn, after breakfast, the owner of the lodging asked him if he had not heard the scream at night. He affirmed that he heard. Then, the host said:
Were you not curious to see what happened? And he replied:
No, I was not. Then the host said:
You are the first guest to leave this inn alive. My neighbour is completely crazy. He usually shouts at night to call someone’s attention. When some of the guests come out, he kills them and buries their bodies in the backyard. The man continued his long journey, eager to arrive soon.
After many days and nights walking, he was very tired, but he finally saw his house far away. It was night. He saw some light coming out of the window of his house and was able to see the silhouette of his wife. But he also saw that she was not alone. He came closer and saw there was a man with her. She softly caressed his hair. When he saw that scene, his heart was filled with hatred and bitterness. He decided to rush at and kill them both mercilessly. However, he took a deep breath and he remembered the third piece of advice. Then he stopped, reflected and decided to sleep outside that night. He slept in the midst of the bushes, determined to make a decision the next day. At dawn, he was calmer and thought:
I will not kill my wife and her lover. I am going back to my boss to ask him to take me back. But before I go, I want to tell my wife that I have always been faithful to her.
He went to the front door and knocked. When his wife opened the door and recognized him, she cried and embraced him warmly. He tried to push her away, but he
was not able. Then, with tears in his eyes he told her:
I was faithful to you but you betrayed me.
She was shocked, so she replied:
How did I betray you? I have never betrayed you. I waited patiently for you for twenty good years. Then he asked:
How about the man that you were caressing yesterday? And she said:
That man is your son. When you left, I discovered I was pregnant. Today he is twenty years old. Hearing that, the man asked her forgiveness. He met and hugged his son. Then he told them all the things he had experienced while away. Meanwhile, his wife prepared some coffee for them to eat together, the last bread given by his boss. After a prayer of thanksgiving, he broke the bread. When he looked at it, he found all his money inside. In fact, there was even more than the right payment for his twenty years of dedication and hard work.
Friends, our God is like this boss. When he asks us to make a sacrifice, he wants to give us more than what we give Him. He wants us to have His unique wisdom as well as the
material blessings.
I've read this post and it blessed me. I copied it so you can also share to others..
TEXT: JEREMIAH 34
Introduction
God is a God of His word, when made a promise He will fulfills it. Today we are
God make promise only to the redeemed only to the one that He saved.
SLAVERY - God is against the slavery system, because slavery is the nature of the devil and it is counted as bondage.
Babylon influence has a system of slavery in which Abraham has to be free from
- Everyone was enslaved by the way of life there. Pleasure of the world.
- People working under some people who are inn authority
Abraham - God made covenant with Abraham when he left Babylon and decided to follow God, God promised him the land.
Egypt people were enslaved to build construction to the pharaoh, it was so bad that they cried, and were in great deal of agony. Exodus 3 God told Moses that He heard the misery of His people and he was coming down to set them free.
Illustration - The children who grew up during the of slavery, they thought that life is like that, but they don’t realize that their world was built to honor the dead and to worship their king.
Moses - He gave Moses his covenant on Mount Sinai, and if they live under the covenant (Exodus 20) they will inherit the blessings promised. But fail to uphold the covenant they will be enslave again. We know that, that what happens to the Israelites.
Israelites - Slavery does occurs in the house of Israel Exodus 21:2 “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything.”
Few ways in which people can come under slavery, and the Bible does gives us how people can be come under slavery.
- If they are been bought, people pay to have servants but it is more like slave
- If they owe debt to their debtors Matthew 18:23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[b] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
Illustration
The country was under siege by the Babylonians, God gave His word to Jeremiah Judah will be taken captives to Babylon under slavery, due to their disobedience.
TRUST IN THE COVENANT OF THE LORD (Vs 2-7)
How much do we trust in the promises of God?.When God made a Covenant He swore under oath (Hebrews 6:13-15) When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”[d] 15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
God told Joshua (Joshua 1:) 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
On this case God told Jeremiah to tell the King what is going to happen
- The Babylonian is going to conquer them
- They going to destroy the City
- And take the people as their slaves or possession
- They are going to suffer big loss
Application - The Covenant was meant to be, believed, to be kept and to be obeyed
COVENANT and SLAVERY (Vs 8-11)
The Covenant will keep us away from slavery
8 The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves. 9 Everyone was to free their Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to hold a fellow Hebrew in bondage. 10 So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free. 11 But afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.
- Covenant Shows the Nature of God-
- It bind under His name -
Illustration - Violation of the Covenant is the violation of both, against His nature and against His name. God will never do that, and if we do it, it will resulted in bearing heavy consequences.
God marked this on His work in Egypt on the Children of Israel, Children of Israel were liberated from slavery, suffering and torture by the Egyptians.
Which is the picture of what God is going to do in the future.
LIVING UNDER THE COVENANT MEANS LIVING IN LIBERTY (Vs14-15)
The curse always come under slavery, it breaks the heart of God. In the Old Testament it says that angry when the people violate His word.
The swore in their Covenant to free the people, but they turned around and change their mind again and took them back for slavery.
Spiritual lesson we can learn from here, do slavery occurs in church? Yes. How does that happen?
- We need to have passion about Setting people free from the bondage of the devil and the world.
- We involve in Mission of the Church
- We engage in the business of the Kingdom
- Reach out to someone who is in bondage
- When someone does you wrong
- Spread rumors about you
- Falsely accusing you of something that is not true
- Spat on your face
Illustration - When we fail to remember the covenant we are going to act in contrary. The disciples ask Jesus how many times do we have to forgive our debtors, Jesus said 77 times.
We enslave people in our hearts, and turn out we enslave ourselves, the biggest sin that can take us to hell is the sine of bondage.
Application - May God help us to clean our hearts and release people that may be kept there as slave, so that your heart can be free too.
CONCLUSION
STORY OF A POOR COUPLE
A very poor newly wedded, young couple lived in a small farm. One day the husband made the following proposal to his wife:
Honey, I will leave the house: I will travel faraway, get a job and work hard in order to come back and give you the comfortable life that you deserve. I do not know how long I will stay away, I only ask one thing, please wait for me, and while I am away, you should be faithful to me, because I will be faithful to you. His wife agreed, so the young man left. He walked many days until he found a farmer who was in need of someone to help him. The young man offered his services. He was accepted. Therefore he discussed the terms with his boss:
Let me work for as long as I want and when I think I should go home, please relieve me of my duties. I do not want to receive my salary. I ask you to save it for me, until the day I leave. The day I decide to go, please give me the money and I will go my way. They agreed on that. So, the young man worked for twenty years without holiday and without rest. After twenty years, he came to his boss and said:
Boss, I want my money, because I am returning to my home. The boss replied:
All right, after all, I made a deal with you and I will stick to it. However, before you go I want to offer you something new: I will give you all your money and send you away; or I will give you 3 pieces of advice and send you away. If I give you money, you lose the 3 pieces of advice. If I give you the 3 pieces of advice, you lose the money. Now, go to your room and think about your answer. He thought for two days. Then he went to the boss and told him:
I want the 3 pieces of advice. The boss stressed again, if I give you the 3 pieces of advice, I will not give you the money, and the man replied:
I want the 3 pieces of advice. The boss then told him:
1: Never take shortcuts in your life, shorter and unknown paths can cost your life. No.
2: Never be too curious, for curiosity towards evil can be deadly. No.
3: Never make decisions in moments of anger or pain, because when you repent, it
could be too late.
After giving these 3 pieces of advice, the boss said to him:
Here, you have 3 loaves of bread, 2 are for you to eat during the journey and the last is for you to eat with your wife when you get home.
So, the man went his way, after twenty years away from home and from his wife, whom he loved so much. After the first day of travel, he found a man who greeted him and asked:
Where are you going? He replied:
To a distant place which is about 20 days away if I continue walking. The man said to him:
Ol' boy, this path is too long! I know a shortcut that is very safe and you will arrive in 5 days only. The man began to follow the path suggested until he remembered the first piece of advice. Then, he returned and followed the long path. Days later he learned that the shortcut led to an ambush.
After a few more days of travel, he found an inn by the roadside, where he could rest. He paid for a room and after taking a bath he lay down to sleep. During the night he woke up as he heard a terrifying scream. He rose to his feet and went to the door to check what happened. As he was opening the door, he remembered the second piece of advice. Therefore he returned, lay down again and slept. At dawn, after breakfast, the owner of the lodging asked him if he had not heard the scream at night. He affirmed that he heard. Then, the host said:
Were you not curious to see what happened? And he replied:
No, I was not. Then the host said:
You are the first guest to leave this inn alive. My neighbour is completely crazy. He usually shouts at night to call someone’s attention. When some of the guests come out, he kills them and buries their bodies in the backyard. The man continued his long journey, eager to arrive soon.
After many days and nights walking, he was very tired, but he finally saw his house far away. It was night. He saw some light coming out of the window of his house and was able to see the silhouette of his wife. But he also saw that she was not alone. He came closer and saw there was a man with her. She softly caressed his hair. When he saw that scene, his heart was filled with hatred and bitterness. He decided to rush at and kill them both mercilessly. However, he took a deep breath and he remembered the third piece of advice. Then he stopped, reflected and decided to sleep outside that night. He slept in the midst of the bushes, determined to make a decision the next day. At dawn, he was calmer and thought:
I will not kill my wife and her lover. I am going back to my boss to ask him to take me back. But before I go, I want to tell my wife that I have always been faithful to her.
He went to the front door and knocked. When his wife opened the door and recognized him, she cried and embraced him warmly. He tried to push her away, but he
was not able. Then, with tears in his eyes he told her:
I was faithful to you but you betrayed me.
She was shocked, so she replied:
How did I betray you? I have never betrayed you. I waited patiently for you for twenty good years. Then he asked:
How about the man that you were caressing yesterday? And she said:
That man is your son. When you left, I discovered I was pregnant. Today he is twenty years old. Hearing that, the man asked her forgiveness. He met and hugged his son. Then he told them all the things he had experienced while away. Meanwhile, his wife prepared some coffee for them to eat together, the last bread given by his boss. After a prayer of thanksgiving, he broke the bread. When he looked at it, he found all his money inside. In fact, there was even more than the right payment for his twenty years of dedication and hard work.
Friends, our God is like this boss. When he asks us to make a sacrifice, he wants to give us more than what we give Him. He wants us to have His unique wisdom as well as the
material blessings.
I've read this post and it blessed me. I copied it so you can also share to others..