March 27, 2022 - A Trail of Broken Promises - Pastor Paul Vallee

The New Covenant is a fulfillment of that promise. God would help us internalize and empower us to know Him and be able to obey His word. However, the context of the story of Judah’s imminent exile is that they disregarded God’s laws and embraced the idols of the people in the land. As most prophets proclaimed, the story of God’s people is a trail of broken promises, while God continued to be faithful to His pledge to His people. However, there is a cost to neglecting our part of the covenant. In Jeremiah 11, we will find a formal charge against the people because of their perpetual violation of their covenant with God. We will see in Jeremiah that the people were consistently breaking the terms of the covenant. There is a sense that the prophets were God’s attorneys bringing His case against His people for violating the covenant. We may be thinking, so what does this have to do with us? Just like God’s people under the Old Covenant, as believers in Jesus Christ, we are in a covenant relationship with God, and there are also things that we need to consider. Often, Christianity is presented in such a way that God is responsible for everything, and we are simply recipients of all these amazing blessings. Yet a more careful study of the New Testament will reveal that we also have certain conditions or responsibilities toward God and others that need to be fulfilled to experience all the benefits of this relationship with God fully. This is not designed to negate grace or create a legalistic understanding, but unfortunately, today, our sense of grace has been skewed. We act as if we are allowed to serve God on our terms. We have embraced the culture’s consumer mentality. We take what we like from God’s provisions and often leave the challenges optional. In essence, we invert the role of God and others, where we see God and others serving us, rather than being called upon to serve God and others. As I considered this text, I had an epiphany that we also have responsibilities in the New Covenant. One of the more notable areas is the instruction Jesus is about to give the disciples regarding their mission and covenantal responsibilities. "Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20) We also discover covenantal language in Ephesians 1, where we read how God has made amazing provisions for believers. Consider God's amazing provisions and promises toward followers of Christ, namely the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, being adopted into His family, and every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. In Matthew 28, we are told that God will always be with us. Yet, we also see that we have covenantal responsibilities. We are to go, make disciples, baptize people, and teach them to obey all that Jesus commanded. Are we going? Are we making disciples? Are we obeying all that Jesus has taught us in His word? In each of our hearts, there should be a strong desire to do God’s will by obeying God’s word. In Jeremiah 11, we see what happens when God’s people violate His covenant.