When Covenant Stops Meaning Anything

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[0:01] Our text today comes from Jeremiah chapter 11 verses 1 through 17. The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, Remind the people of Judah and Jerusalem about the terms of my covenant with them. Say to them, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. Cursed is anyone who does not obey the terms of my covenant. For I said to your ancestors when I brought them out of the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt, If you obey me and do whatever I command you, then you will be my people and I will be your God. I said this so I could keep my promise to your ancestors to give you a land flowing with milk and honey, the land you live in today.

[0:54] Then I replied, Amen, Lord. Let's go. Let it be so. Then the Lord said, Broadcast this message in the streets of Jerusalem. Go from town to town throughout the land and say, Remember the ancient covenant and do everything it requires. For I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, Obey me. I have repeated this warning over and over to this day, but your ancestors did not listen or even pay. Instead, they stubbornly followed their own evil desires. And because they refused to obey, I brought upon them all the curses described in this covenant.

[1:43] Again, the Lord spoke to me and said, I have discovered a conspiracy against me among the people of Judah and Jerusalem. They have returned to the sins of their ancestors. They have refused to listen to me and are worshiping other gods. Israel and Judah have both broken the covenant I made with their ancestors. Therefore, this is what the Lord says. I'm going to bring calamity upon them and they will not escape. Though they beg for mercy, I will not listen to their cries. Then the people of Judah and Jerusalem will pray to their idols and burn incense before them, but the idols will not save them when disaster strikes.

[2:26] Look now, people of Judah and Jerusalem. You have as many gods as you have towns. You have as many altars of shame, altars for burning incense to your god Baal, as there are streets in Jerusalem. Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah.

[2:45] Do not weep or pray for them, for I will not listen to them when they cry out to me in distress. What right do my beloved people have to come to my temple, when they have done so many immoral things? Can their vows and sacrifices prevent their destruction?

[3:04] They actually rejoice in doing evil. I, the Lord, once called them a thriving olive tree, beautiful to see and full of good fruit. But now I have sent the fury of their enemies to burn them with fire, leaving them charred and broken.

[3:23] I, the Lord of heaven's armies, who planted this olive tree, have ordered it destroyed. For the people of Israel and Judah have done evil, arousing my anger by burning incense to Baal. Let's pray. Our God, we thank you for this word, and we ask your blessing upon it. We ask that you speak to each of us through your Holy Spirit. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[4:00] I sometimes resented rules when I was growing up. You get that when you're young, there are rules for everything, and it feels like you don't get to participate or make any of them. They're just put on you. Rules for all the things you do. I wasn't allowed to go to the park across the street from our house without one of my parents or my older brothers. I had to be home from my friend's house at five on the dot.

[4:34] We were limited in how much TV we could watch, and we all had to chip in with chores. And if I broke these rules, there were consequences. So I didn't break the rules, not that much, because I didn't want to be punished.

[4:57] But as I grew up, I learned that I had to be a good person. And as an adult, I realized that rules were so much more than consequences or punishments. Those rules were there for a reason, and they were formational.

[5:12] Breaking the rules consistently was about growing and learning, or following the rules consistently. I guess you can grow and learn from breaking them, too. If I had crossed the street by myself, I would have faced danger. Or my parents might not have known where I was. It was a busy street. It wasn't good for me.

[5:39] Getting home at five o'clock on the dot gave me responsibility. But it was also a way to set up a healthy schedule, and it was a way for my mom to know where I was and that I was safe. It kept me accountable to my family. And it ensured that I was home in time to have a relational family dinner.

[6:04] We had chores because we needed to take responsibility for the home that we lived in. And we needed to share each other's actions and rules. We needed to chip in to help each other out. It's part of being a family, and it's part of living in a home. These were formational things that if there had been no rules, I wouldn't have learned.

[6:33] Punishment was temporary for breaking rules. But the rules were about teaching me how to live my very best life and how to participate in a collective family relationship. Israel had a lot of rules. In fact, a lot of rules. A lot of people today look at religion, any religion, but they look at religion, they look at Christianity and maybe Judaism as nothing more than an activity that enforces extra rules that people have to follow. It puts constraints on life.

[7:17] And people say, but don't we have enough rules in life as it is? Without having to add religion into the mix. But the more I study God's word, the more I study God's character, the more I'm just blown away by his absolute and never-ending commitment to relationship.

[7:41] And that's something that I see through these rules and these laws that have been set up. Now this is something that I've always known about God, that he's committed to relationship with us. It's the reason I came to Christ years and years ago. But the more I study his word, the more I learn about his desire for relationship, and I still don't think that I fully get it.

[8:09] I can't. Because the depth of his commitment to relationship is a level beyond my human understanding. In his absolute mercy, God gave us rules. It was merciful that God gave us rules. It wasn't to show off his power. It wasn't to make us have to obey him. It wasn't for no reason. It was out of mercy that God gave us rules. He gave us boundaries for our own protection, and guidelines to teach us how to live. How to live in our fullest relationships with each other and with him.

[8:56] We sometimes talk about the old covenant and the new covenant. The new covenant being the covenant of grace, being washed in Jesus' blood. And that's true. That is the covenant of grace. But the old covenant was also the covenant of grace.

[9:15] Now there had been a few covenants in ancient Israel. The Noahide covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, and those were important. They led up to and they were part of the Mosaic covenant. Whenever God made a covenant between himself and the people, it was a God-initiated act of mercy. And it was meant for the purpose of maintaining the relationship between God and his people and bringing redemption to them. We have always had the better end of that bargain. A covenant began for our sake and was completed for our sake. Always.

[10:09] So the covenant began with a relational act of mercy from God. That is God reaching out to the people in some way. And it led to a commitment from God for further benefits. The covenant we're looking at today is the Mosaic covenant. And it began with God hearing the plight of his people and delivering them from the hands of the Egyptians and naming them his people. That's how the covenant began. It was God-initiated mercy before the people ever even agreed to the terms of the covenant.

[10:49] He was merciful without us having to do anything. And that's how the covenants always are. God's further promise to the people was to bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey. That means a fertile land, one that produces livestock who produce milk, and one that is fertile the land itself.

[11:16] Along with his own protection over them, and a special relationship between God and the Israelites, he would provide these things. But the big thing to pick out here is the special relationship between God and the Israelites. That's something that the covenants always had, a special relationship between God and the Israelites. That's something that the covenants always had, a special relationship between God and the Israelites. That's something that the covenants always had, That's something that the covenants always had, That's something that the covenants always had, a special relationship between God and the Israelites. a special relationship between God and the Israelites. That's something that the covenants always had, a special relationship between God and the Israelites. That's something that the covenants always had, a special relationship between God and the Israelites. That's something that the covenants always had, a special relationship between God and the Israelites. That's something that the covenants always had, a special relationship between God and the Israelites. was carefully constructed to help God's people live in the best way possible. And if followed carefully, the people would be in complete harmony with God

[12:23] and with each other and with creation. That is the mercy of the law. Jeremiah has some echoes of Deuteronomy. As it should, the people needed to see that God was following his own word and keeping to his promises. Because this section we just read in Jeremiah, and honestly, a lot of the chapters of Jeremiah are about this upcoming destruction. And it's hard, and the people are confused, and the people are frustrated, and they don't know why God is bringing about their destruction when he has made a covenant with them. And yet, Deuteronomy plays a part here. Because there was never a doubt that the covenant came with promises and blessings if the people were to uphold their end.

[13:23] But there was also never a single doubt that the covenant came with curses. And that's a hard truth to handle. But the covenant came with curses. From day one, it wasn't a surprise. We heard a few of these in our opening reading today. And I do say a few. Because right in that section, Deuteronomy 27, 28, 29, right in that section, there are lists of the curses and the blessings that come with either breaking or upholding the covenant. It was not a surprise. And we only read, from chapter 28, 1 to 25, there are 63 verses in chapter 28. Or 68 verses. So it goes on another 43 verses just in curses that would come to the Israelites if they broke covenant. This was not a surprise.

[14:38] And God held to his promise. He gave them the land. As Jeremiah said, the land you live in today, here is proof that I, your God, have upheld my end of the deal. God has also upheld his end of the deal when it comes to curses. Throughout the history of Israel, they went through cycles of falling away from God, breaking covenant, experiencing some of those curses, covenant curses, and then repenting and crying out to God in humility and asking for his mercy. And God upheld his promise then too, to then restore the blessings.

[15:35] So they know. That's the point of this. They know what they're in for. They know what they're in for. When it actually came, when the destruction was actually happening, they felt surprised. They felt confused. They cried out to God. They wondered why he wasn't saving them. But they knew from the very beginning that this was the deal. And God had never wavered from his end of the bargain or from his promise of blessing or of curse.

[16:08] But there came a time when they simply no longer tried. They had been out of covenant with God for so long that they didn't even remember how to be in covenant with him. Now the kings of Israel had a special role. They were the leaders, and it was their example and their rule that demonstrated faithful covenant relationships to the rest of the nation. And so upon ascending to the throne, each king was expected to affirm and recommit to the words of the covenant.

[16:46] King Josiah had done this in 2 Kings 23. And I'll just read verse 3. The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes, and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. So the kings were like shepherds, and they were often referred to as such. But we see in Jeremiah's prayer from just a few verses before we started today in chapter 10 that the shepherds had been foolish.

[17:28] They had led the people astray and the people had followed. Josiah was a godly king, but he came after a long series of problems. He was a man of brokenness in the kingship, and what followed him was another short series of brokenness.

[17:48] Josiah was used by God to bring about reform, but not everybody reformed. Because they were in such a broken place for so long, they had so much work to do. At the time of his reign, we saw that the word of the Lord was pretty much entirely forgotten altogether. And perhaps the commitment of the kings to the word was nothing more than what seemed like a tedious ceremony to them by that time, one that they just had to do as they ascended to the throne. But it certainly hadn't been an act of the heart for a long time.

[18:32] They had forgotten God's law completely. And I just want to take a moment to let that sink in. Because it wasn't that they had stopped following the covenant. It was that they had stopped following the covenant for so long that they didn't even remember it.

[18:56] Josiah was a good king, but they needed a line of good kings. The line was filled with evil. This type of disobedience is steeped in generations of stubbornly refusing to follow the law. It wasn't an accident. It wasn't a mistake. It was willful disobedience that they declared his word so unimportant that it wasn't even worth remembering. They showed God no respect, no adoration, no consideration.

[19:36] Jeremiah 6.10 says, To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them. They find no pleasure in it. I just get this image of stubborn children covering their ears and shouting, la la la la la, so that they don't have to hear what God is saying to them. God sent warnings and judges and prophets and reminders, but the people still deliberately refused to listen. They refused to remember.

[20:21] So the whole book of Jeremiah so far, up to this chapter 11, has shown us lists and examples of the commandments that they had broken. Which is all of them, by the way. All of the commandments had been broken. And just one example comes from chapter 7, 5-9. If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each one justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors, forever and ever. But, look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. You steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods you have not known.

[21:25] They were lying. They were cheating. They were oppressing. They were murdering. They were sacrificing their own children and doing so to false gods. Gods that could never know them, could never relate to them. And if they were real, probably wouldn't care to.

[21:47] And then they were called out. They thought that they were safe when they were called out. They thought that they could just invoke the name of God and stand at the temple and be saved. But just simply shouting God's name does not signify repentance.

[22:07] I said before that there were cycles where they would forget God's word, they would break the covenant, but then they would repent. Well, that repentance was real, and God knows their hearts. But just shouting his name at the temple and expecting to be safe from that act alone is ridiculous. It had been a long time since I had been in the temple, and since Israel had known the power of God's name.

[22:35] This was not just a problem for ancient Israel, by the way. I mean, I'm really glad that today, now, we're not sacrificing our children, but sin is sin, and disobedience is disobedient. I am disobedient. Whenever I choose myself, or my comfort, or my convenience, over the word of God, or over the welfare of another, whether it's deliberate or I just haven't cared to look, that is sin, and that is willful disobedience.

[23:19] We may be washed in Christ's blood, but disobedience is still sin. As God's people, we have examples to set. Leaders in the church especially, but all of God's people, because the world looks to us to gain an understanding of who God is. The world is watching, and they might see a religion full of people who just follow pointless rules for the sake of following rules, or even for the sake of making themselves look good.

[23:53] Or maybe they see a religion full of people who don't follow rules, who look exactly like the rest of the world, and that's not appealing. Or maybe they see a religion full of people who behave worse than the rest of the world, and they justify it because they say, well, we're washed by grace, so I'm allowed these sins and mistakes.

[24:23] But disobedience is disobedience. And covenant is covenant. That means that we have made a commitment to step away from our disobedience, whether we're under the old covenant or the new covenant. Just because we have grace through the blood of Christ doesn't mean we get a free pass and no longer have to worry about walking in obedience with the Lord. We don't obtain salvation through obedience, but God expects of his people that we live in obedience in light of the covenant promises.

[25:02] God says you're to walk in obedience because of your deliverance. Obedience is the evidence, not the cause of entering into God's family. So by being obedient to God's law, by breaking, sorry, being disobedient to God's law, by breaking the covenant, here's the important thing. It's not, at the end of the day, it's not just about being disobedient, but by breaking the covenant, we forsake God. We willfully rebel against our actual relationship with our creator. And that is what the ultimate problem was with the Israelites. The reason they were able to so easily and blatantly disobey God, disregard God's word and his law, was because they had ultimately disregarded God himself.

[26:01] And that's where God's absolute fury came from. In disregarding and forsaking relationship with God, and by sinning and forsaking relationship with each other, the people had just become evil. And that had to be stopped. He was furious that their cry, and their sacrifices, and their burning incense, he was so furious that it meant nothing to him.

[26:31] And why should it? It was obvious by their disobedience that their relationship with him meant nothing. And if their relationship with him could be tossed aside so flippantly, then their worship and their sacrifices and all of their burning incense also meant nothing.

[26:52] He was so furious he told Jeremiah not to even pray on their behalf. They had no regard for themselves. If they did, they would stick to the covenant that saved them. They had no regard for others. If they had, they would have acted justly. They had no regard for God. If they did, they would have run back to relationship with him.

[27:22] Instead of following the example of Israel and Judah, we need to learn from them and follow Jeremiah's example instead. We need to have the obedience of Jeremiah. When it all came crashing down, because remember, Jeremiah was heartbroken at the words he had to proclaim to Israel. He was heartbroken that they were being forced into exile. He was broken and just shattered at what was happening around him. But when it all came crashing down, Jeremiah said, Amen. Let it be so. And he meant it.

[28:06] When we are tempted to disobedience, when God calls us to do what we'd rather not do, or when following God's rules is difficult, we need to have the type of relationship that Jeremiah had with the Lord, which enables us to choose our covenant relationship to God and our responsibility to his kingdom. And so that's our task. So I'm just going to leave us with one simple or not so simple question this week. And that is this. Where will you say in your life this week, Amen, Lord, let it be so.

[28:52] Let's pray. Our gracious God, we ask for your help that we would come to you, run to you in strong relationship with you, that we would choose to follow your ways. And God, even when it's hard, that we would say, Amen, let it be so.

[29:21] These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.