A Covenant Renewed

God is a covenant-maker.  A covenant is like a contract where there are two parties who enter into an agreement with terms and conditions for each.  Unlike a human covenant, the covenant that God makes, God keeps!  Over the few thousands of years of mankind's existence, He has taken the initiative to make covenants with various people groups:

Table 1 - God's Covenants with Mankind

Covenant	Type	Description
Noah	Unconditional, Unilateral	After the world-wide, planet altering flood, God made a unilateral covenant with mankind through Noah that He would never again destroy the world by water.  God sealed this covenant with the sign of the rainbow.  Every time you see a rainbow it is a reminder that God keeps His promises.
Abraham	Unconditional, Unilateral	God promised to make the descendents of Abraham into a great nation and that through His seed the Messiah (Christ) would be born.  The nation God promised to build was through Isaac, the child of the promise He made to Abraham.  And the Messiah (Christ) was indeed born to the descendent of Abraham through Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and all the way to Joseph and Mary (ref. Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 2:23-38).
Moses	Conditional, Bilateral	This covenant was given at Mt. Sinai, conditioned on the obedience of the Israelites in loving God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.  The covenant was outwardly entered into through circumcision of the males.  But the real circumcision was to be deep within their soul as they put the LORD God first in their lives.
David	Unconditional, Unilateral	God promised to keep a descendent of David on the throne of Israel forever.  This promise was fulfilled through Messiah (Christ) as well.
The World	Conditional, Unilateral	Through Messiah (Christ) a new covenant was initiated -- not just with Israel but with the whole world as well.  Jesus said, "this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28, NKJV).  The new covenant is conditioned on an individual's repentance in regard to sin and belief in the LORD Jesus Christ as Savior.  Salvation through the new covenant is granted eternally and unilaterally by God Himself.

Our Scripture passage today is from the latter chapters of Deuteronomy.  Chapter 29 begins the last of three major addresses by Moses to the Israelites.  Moses has recited the Law given to Israel by God along with an exposition and application of the Law based on the forty years that have passed in their wilderness journey.  In Deuteronomy 29-30, the challenge is given to the next generation of Israelites to embrace God through His covenant given their parents at Mt. Sinai.

Significant in the Deuteronomic Code, and God's covenant with Israel, is the point that love is reason God chose Israel.  Her response of obedience was to be born out of the love shown to them by the LORD.  This gave a brand new dimension to law and morality unheard of in the pagan world of their time.

Scripture Passage:  Deuteronomy 29:1-30:20

Main Point: God is a covenant-maker.  Over the few thousands of years of mankind's existence, He has taken the initiative to make a covenant with various individuals and people groups because He wants to have a life-giving/life-changing relationship with you.

Outline:

1. God called the people of Israel to a covenant relationship because of His great love for them.
2. God calls all people to have a relationship with Him through His Son.
3. God even calls those back who have become disobedient over the years.
4. God makes His will clear and plain to you -- if you will listen.
5. God puts down a clear choice for you -- to choose life over death.

 

1. God called the people of Israel to a covenant relationship because of His great love for them.

1 These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb. 2 Now Moses called all Israel and said to them:

“You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land—3 the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 Yet the LORD has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. 5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God. 7 And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them. 8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh. 9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do." (Deuteronomy 29:1-9, NKJV)

In Deut. 29:1, the Bible refers to a covenant God made with the Israelites just prior to entering the Promised Land.  This is "besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb" (Deut. 29:1, NKJV).  Did He make two covenants or just one with the Israelites?

Covenant at Horeb

Horeb means "wasteland" and is a general area containing mountainous terrain.  In particular, it is the location of Mt. Sinai from which God gave the Law to Israel through Moses.  These were the Israelites who were freed from bondage in Egypt by the mighty hand of God.

Over four hundred years prior to the giving of the Covenant Code, God had already made a promise to Abraham that He would make Abraham's descendents into a great nation and give them the land of Canaan. (Gen. 15:9-21)   God confirmed this promise with a blood sacrifice indicating that He would be faithful to fulfill it (see the message "Personal Faith in a Personal God").

The Covenant Code was given to the Hebrew people after God had miraculously delivered them from bondage in Egypt.  He met them at Mt. Sinai where He offered the Covenant to them that "... if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exo. 19:5-6a, NIV).  The people agreed (Exo. 19:7) and the LORD gave them the Covenant Code which follows in Exodus 20:1-17,20:22-23:33.  Again the people agreed to this Covenant. (Exo. 24:3)

This covenant came with the assurance that God would fulfill it.  It provided great blessing for the people as they obeyed God and certain discipline if they did not.  Nevertheless, God would be faithful to fulfill the covenant because it is His nature.
 

Covenant at Moab

Moab is the area just south and east of the Dead Sea, the location of the Israelites just prior to entering the Promised Land.  These were the children of the Israelites who left Egypt.  Because their parents were rebellious, selfish, rude, complaining, "stiff-necked" (stubborn), but fickle regarding the LORD, they were judged by God most severely (before we get too self-righteous in condemning the Israelites, let us each soberly evaluate these very things in our own lives).  All the adults died off during a 40-year wilderness journey, none being allowed to enter the Promised Land.

The Deuteronomic Code was given to the next generation of Hebrew people after their forty years of wandering.  Amazingly, God graciously provided for His people throughout this wilderness journey of rebellion and judgment.  Moses notes:

I have led you forty years in the wilderness.  Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet.  You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God. (Deut. 29:5-6, NKJV)

Moses recited the messages in Deuteronomy in what might be viewed as a reflection on the application of God's Law during the previous years.  It also provides a significant exposition of the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments.  In chapters twelve through twenty-five, each of the Ten Commandments is reiterated and expanded upon as follows:
 
 

Scripture Passage	From the Ten Commandments
Deuteronomy 10:12-11:32	No other "gods," put the LORD God first
Deuteronomy 12	Proper worship of the LORD
Deuteronomy 13-14:27	Use of God's name
Deuteronomy 14:28-16:17	Sabbath observance
Deuteronomy 16:18-18:22	Authority
Deuteronomy 19-22:8	Homicide/Murder
Deuteronomy 22:9-23:19	Adultery and marriage
Deuteronomy 23:20-24:7	Theft and property rights
Deuteronomy 24:8-25:4	False charges
Deuteronomy 25:5-16	Coveting

The covenant at Horeb and the covenant at Moab then are really one and the same covenant.  It was initially given to the Israelites that had been delivered from bondage in Egypt.  Later it was affirmed by a new generation of those same Israelites. In both cases, we see the Almighty God offering this covenant to a people who did not deserve His grace or His truth.  Yet because of God's great love for them, He offered the children of Abraham the tremendous blessings inherent in a personal relationship with Him.  The God -- who does not change (Malachi 3:6) -- has that same desire for a relationship with you today!

 

2. God calls all people to have a relationship with Him through His Son.

10 “All of you stand today before the LORD your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11your little ones and your wives—also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water—12 that you may enter into covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath, which the LORD your God makes with you today, 13 that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Deut. 29:10-13, NKJV)

ALL are called into a covenant relationship with the LORD. Notice in this text:

• leaders, elders, officers, all the men
• your children, your wives
• the strangers living among you

Great, small, and in-between -- God wants a relationship with you!  Though the covenant at Horeb/Moab was for the Israelites prior to the arrival of Messiah (Christ), a new covenant is offered to the whole world through Christ.  As our LORD Jesus Christ instituted what is known as the LORD's supper:

26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” (Matthew 26:26-29, NKJV, also Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20).

The old covenant was for the descendents of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, providing specific material and spiritual blessings to the NATION of Israel.  The new covenant is for every person in the world -- including all Jews by the way -- and providing "every spiritual blessing" (Eph. 1:3, NKJV) to those who embrace our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.  Again, as our LORD Jesus declared:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18, NKJV)

God is calling you into an eternal relationship through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Have you answered His call? It does not matter who you are, what you look like, how smart or dumb you are, rich or poor -- it simply does not matter to God.  What matters is that He so loved "the world," that is everyone in the world, that He gave us the opportunity to have eternal life -- an eternal relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ!
 

 

3. God even calls those back who have become disobedient over the years.

14 I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone,... 18 so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood; 19and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober. 20 The LORD would not spare him; for then the anger of the LORD and His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the LORD would blot out his name from under heaven. (Deut. 29:14,18-20, NKJV)

God declared this covenant to all the people so that no one could say, "Well, I didn't know anything about this covenant-thing so it does not apply to me."  So many today, horrifically even some Christians, have this same attitude about God's word.  When someone points out that God commands the Christian in the Bible to do or not do certain things, some Christians do not care.  They would rather choose their own way (which they perceive is easier or more profitable) than follow Christ by obeying His word.

God will deal with your disobedience to His word.  Though the Christian is forgiven completely for all sin for all time, God is still in the business of sanctifying you -- making you more like Jesus.  If you willfully turn away from God to go your own way, our LORD Jesus Christ willfully chooses to (1) be with always -- Matt. 28:20 and (2) discipline you like a father disciplines the son he loves -- Heb. 12:7.  God will keep His covenant because He alone is faithful.

The good news is that God will restore you.  When you humble yourself before Him and seek His cleansing from sin, He wraps His arms around you and tells your of His love that never fails.

2and you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. 5Then the LORD your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (Deut. 30:2-6, NKJV)

I remember one of the old western movies "Support Your Local Sheriff".  The main street was dirt and, at this particular point in time, was mainly mud.  A street brawl emerged and soon a dozen people were punching, biting, and wrestling in the mud -- just having a wonderful time.  The sheriff tried to get there attention but no matter how he signalled nor how loud he spoke, they continued to wallow in the mud.  So this clever sheriff called on the other townspeople to work the water pump.  They pumped water through the fire hose as hard as they could.  The sheriff aimed the hose at the brawlers and literally knocked them down with the force of the water.  The hose had the advantage of gaining their undivided attention and cleaning them up quite a bit!

God will not allow His children to wallow in the mud, not for long any way.  He will continue to love you even when you are trying to go your own way in life.  As the Bible says, "The way of the unfaithful is hard" (Prov. 13:15, NKJV).  God will resort to any means necessary to get your attention.

The good news is that God will take you back and He will restore you. "A broken and a contrite heart — These, O God, You will not despise" (Psalm 51:17, NKJV).  Come humbly back to the LORD and He will take you back. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you. "No sin is too big and no problem too small"¹  for our great and mighty God.

What will be the result of your turning back to the LORD, renewing your commitment to Him?  He will "circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart ... that you may live" (Deut. 30:6, NKJV).  Circumcision refers to a symbolic act that happens on the inside as you cut away the things in your life that hinder you from loving and serving the LORD Jesus Christ.  What is left is pure devotion to the LORD.
 

For the LORD will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deut. 30:9-10, NKJV).

Do you want God to rejoice over you?  Then turn to Him with your whole heart.  Give yourself first to Him.  Give your best to Him.  You can be very thankful that He desires your return, He will not refuse your return, and He even delights in your return!
 

 

4. God makes His will clear and plain to you -- if you will listen.

Who is privileged to hear the call of God?  Is God choosy about who gets the message?

11 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. (Deut. 30:11-14, NKJV)

God has declared His word from the very beginning.  Through His word, He created all things (Gen. 1:3,9,11,14,20, and more).  His word goes out to accomplish His purposes, to the very ends of the earth (Isa. 55:11).  In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul recalls Deut. 30:14 as He relates it to the gospel of Jesus Christ:

8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” (Romans 10:8-13, NKJV)

You do not have to be deeply religious to hear and understand God's call to follow Christ that you might have life.  That is what salvation really is when you get down to its core -- life.  A meaningful  life here on Earth (John 10:10) and life eternal in Heaven with our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ (John 14:1-3).
 

 

5. God puts down a clear choice for you -- to choose life over death.

Listen -- "There Ain't No Fence, Pilgrim!"  There is no fence on which to sit and ponder your choice. Moses laid down the Gauntlet of God: choose life or choose death.

19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” (Deut. 30:19-20, NKJV)

There is no such thing as a non-choice! A non-choice is rejection of God!

God loved us enough to provide a way for each and every one of us to be saved and it is called the Good News because it applies to everyone: John 3:16.

There was a man convicted to die for a murder committed in 1829 called George Wilson. His friends prevailed upon then President Jackson to issue a pardon for him. I don't know the circumstances of the crime but President Jackson issued the pardon.  However, Wilson refused it! The case went to the Supreme Court which ruled that a pardon is no good unless accepted by the person implicated. Wilson died while having a Presidential pardon sitting on the sherriff's desk.

Is there anyone you know with a "pardon" sitting on the desk of God who has refused it - either outright or by sitting on the fence?

 It's never too late ---> until you die  ---> then it is too late.  God is knocking at the door of our spirit - but if we turn from the knock, if we ignore the knock, we have a harder time hearing it as we LEARN to resist it!

The point here is that we have the free will to choose but our days are numbered - we don't know how long we have to live!
Dr. Tony Evans pointed out one time - "I may be 35 and think I've got many years ahead of me. But God knows I may die in two years ... That makes me OLD!"

 "... I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2b, NIV)

Choose to enter into an eternal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ.  "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:12-13, NKJV).
 

Pray:

•   For the lost who need salvation and need to choose
•   For the close friends who need to choose
•   For our own resolve to let others know of your Good News
•   Help us to find out what is the status of our family and friends
•   Help us find your courage to witness to them boldly in your name

End Notes

1. Song unknown, lyrics of the late Keith Green.  If you know the song name and the writer, please provide that information to this ministry so the proper credit can be given -- thanks a bunch!

Our Creator God loves you and wants you to know Him! If you would like to contact this ministry for further information or questions, please send your e-mail to:
Email: ministryrequest1@WordTruth.Com
Web Site: WordTruth.Com

Copyright 3/25/2002, Randy Lariscy.