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Sermon of the Week

The Covenant Renewed
Exodus 24
Hebrews 9:21-28

I want you to imagine the scene. There on the hard rocky floor of the desert are the Israelites, with their tents spread out in every direction. Overshadowing them is Mt Sinai, the mountain of the Lord. It stretches up to heaven. And as they watch, a cloud descends and covers the top of the mountain. There's thunder and lightning, and what looks like a great bush fire glows out of the cloud on top of the mountain. There's a deafening trumpet blast and the sound of God speaking from the cloud. And in the midst of all this Moses is told to come up to God, along with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel. God is calling them to him to renew the covenant he had made with Abraham some 400 years before.

Now it's hard to imagine what that would have been like for the People of Israel, let alone for Moses and Aaron and the others. I'd say if they weren't scared stiff, there was something wrong with them. The picture is one of an awesome deity, unapproachable, a consuming fire.

Well, Moses isn't going to approach God unprepared. He first speaks to the people to tell them all the things God has said - all his words and laws. That is, he tells them the basis on which God is about to make this covenant with them. The response of the people is unanimous, if a little quick: "Everything the Lord has said we will do." This isn't good enough for Moses, though. He's had a bit of experience with these people over the past few weeks. So the next morning he gets up early and builds an altar surrounded by 12 stone pillars, representing each of the 12 tribes of Israel. Again he assembles the people, and this time they offer sacrifices: burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. He takes the blood from the bulls and divides it in two as a sign of the twofold nature of the covenant. The first half he sprinkles over the altar as a sign of God's gracious forgiveness of them. The second half he puts in a bowl while he's reading out the Book of the Covenant. Now don't miss this. The sacrifice and the blood are important signs, but their value rests on what they signify. That is, the words that Moses has written down in the book of the covenant. The people had heard all the words before, back in ch 19, but here Moses reads them out again to reinforce what the basis of the covenant is. And again the people respond: "We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey." And then Moses takes the remaining blood and sprinkles it on the people as a sign that what they've committed themselves to is a binding oath, sealed in blood. Then Moses says: "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words." From that moment on, Israel is bound by their covenant with God. We know God will keep his end of the bargain, but will they?

Well, having sealed the covenant, Moses and the others ascend the mountain to speak with God. Then 2 amazing things happen. We're told in very blunt language that they saw the God of Israel. No description is given, except that under his feet was something like a pavement of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. It was as if they could see through this pavement up to God himself. The effect is one of awe-inspiring majesty, leading far beyond the human imagination, even without being given any concrete details. But here's the first amazing thing. The elders were able to look on God and still live. Then, as if that weren't enough, we're told a second amazing thing: that they ate and drank before the Lord.

One of the highlights of our trip to Europe was visiting an Italian friend I'd met when I worked with CAA. He invited us to his house to have dinner with his family one night. And it was like we were being invited into their life for a short time. That's what it's like when we're invited to share a meal with someone isn't it? It's an invitation not just to fill our stomachs with something tasty, but to enter into or build on a relationship with that person. Eating together is a very important part of being a community. That's why we have events like the progressive dinner and cheap eats: because they help to build up the community of St Theodore's. Well, the same significance applies to his event here in Ex 24. They ate and drank in the presence of the Lord as a sign of the new relationship of fellowship they now had with him. God is an awesome and unapproachable God, yet he invites his people into his presence to eat and drink with him. He's a God of holiness and purity, yet he forgives us for our sinfulness and invites us to become part of his family.

But the story doesn't end there. Moses and the elders return to the base of the mountain, and then Moses is again called to go up to God to receive the tablets of stone with the 10 commandments engraved on them. Moses leaves Aaron and Hur in charge and goes up to the top of the mountain. There Moses receives instructions for the ordering of the worship of Israel: instructions about building a tabernacle, an altar table, the Ark of the Covenant, the lampstand; instructions about priests and sacrifices and offerings. All of them aimed at helping the people remain in fellowship with the Lord.

But the trouble is, as we'll see next week, it's all too hard for them. As much as they may proclaim their intention to do all that God commands, they're weak human beings who fail over and over again. Let me take you forward a hundred years to the end of Joshua's time as their leader. To Joshua ch 24. They've conquered much of the land, though not all, and Joshua has assembled all the people of Israel to give them his farewell speech. He says: (Josh 24:14-23 NRSV) ""Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. ¹⁵Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." ¹⁶Then the people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; ... we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God." ¹⁹But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. ²⁰If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good." ²¹And the people said to Joshua, "No, we will serve the LORD!" ²²Then Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him." And they said, "We are witnesses."

It's the same scenario isn't it. Joshua reminds them of the covenant they have with God and they say "We'll do it." Well, listen to what happens just a few years after Joshua's death: (Judg 1:27-36 NIV) "But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. ²⁸When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. ²⁹Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. ³⁰Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, who remained among them; but they did subject them to forced labor." And so on. They didn't do what they'd been told to do. And what was the result? (Judg 2:1-3 NIV) "The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, ²and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? ³Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you."" (Judg 2:10-12 NIV) "After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. ¹¹Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. ¹²They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger" So early in their history and already they failed to keep the covenant! In fact this is a story that's repeated over and over again in the history of Israel until God at last casts them out of the Land.

So what about the covenant that God had made with his people? Had it failed? Was God's covenant ruined by their disobedience? This is a question that Isaiah faces when he's first called by God to deliver a message of judgement to the people of his time. Here's what God tells him: (Isa 6:11-13 NIV) "Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?" And he answered: "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, ¹²until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. ¹³And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."" The nation was to be totally decimated, yet even that wouldn't mean the end of the covenant. Even amidst the carnage of God's judgement a holy seed would remain. A shoot would come up from the stump of Jesse, Isaiah 11 tells us. A branch that would bear fruit. And the spirit of the Lord would be upon him. Isaiah didn't know it but he was writing about Jesus Christ, God's own Son who would come to renew the covenant for a final time.

As Hebrews ch 9 tells us, Jesus makes the covenant truly new, sealing it, not with the blood of bulls or goats, but by his own blood which he offered once and for all to do away with sin altogether. Here's where the new covenant is so different from the old. Whereas the old covenant relied on the ability of the people to keep their end of the bargain, the new covenant relies entirely on Jesus' ability to keep the covenant with God. The covenant that Moses made, the Mosaic covenant, had this basic flaw. That was, that no matter how hard they tried, the people just couldn't do it. They couldn't live the sorts of lives of obedience to God that God required of them. Only one person was capable of doing that, and that was Jesus Christ. Yet here's the wonder of the new covenant. Its there in Heb 9:24. (NRSV) "For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf." Jesus' life of holiness and his death and resurrection didn't just help him. It also meant that he can represent us before God in heaven. So when God wants to examine us, Jesus appears before him on our behalf. It's as though God looks at us, but sees Jesus in our place.

And when we fail, as we will because we're just as sinful as the people of Israel were, we don't have to despair, nor do we need to fear that God will reject us the way he rejected Israel in the end. Rather we can turn to Jesus with confidence that his sacrifice has done away with the effects of sin, once and for all. And we can have the same confidence as we await Jesus' return to bring his final salvation to all those who are waiting for him.

So what is our response to be? Hopefully part of our response will be the same as that of the people of Israel: 'Everything the Lord has said we will do." But we won't rely on our ability to do it. We'll acknowledge our failings, our fallenness, and constantly be turning back to God for forgiveness.

But don't miss the warning in all this. If you're one of those people who tell yourself or others that you've been a pretty good person and you've done your best to keep God's law, then you're still living under the old covenant, and that covenant has been shown to fail over and over again. It can't save you. The only way to be confident about the future, about your salvation is to be one of those who have put their confidence in Jesus Christ and are waiting for his return. And don't be one of those people who think they can make a deal with God. You know the sort of thing. People who say to God, "I'll do my best to serve you God, as long as you look after me." or "I'll believe in you God, as long as you do this miracle for me." No, the true and lasting covenant is the covenant that God has made with us and sealed with the blood of Jesus. That's the covenant that asks us to acknowledge Jesus as Lord of our lives and turn away from our sin to serve him, and promises us complete forgiveness for anything we've ever done wrong. If you haven't accepted that covenant with God then you've made the wrong choice. God is a consuming fire who nevertheless desires a personal relationship with his people and has made that relationship possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Make sure you choose the right covenant to belong to. Make sure that you're ready and waiting when Jesus returns.


	Contact us	Preaching Program	Home		Last Week's Sermon

	I want you to imagine the scene. There on the hard rocky floor of the desert are the Israelites, with their tents spread out in every direction. Overshadowing them is Mt Sinai, the mountain of the Lord. It stretches up to heaven. And as they watch, a cloud descends and covers the top of the mountain. There's thunder and lightning, and what looks like a great bush fire glows out of the cloud on top of the mountain. There's a deafening trumpet blast and the sound of God speaking from the cloud. And in the midst of all this Moses is told to come up to God, along with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel. God is calling them to him to renew the covenant he had made with Abraham some 400 years before.
	Now it's hard to imagine what that would have been like for the People of Israel, let alone for Moses and Aaron and the others. I'd say if they weren't scared stiff, there was something wrong with them. The picture is one of an awesome deity, unapproachable, a consuming fire.
	Well, Moses isn't going to approach God unprepared. He first speaks to the people to tell them all the things God has said - all his words and laws. That is, he tells them the basis on which God is about to make this covenant with them. The response of the people is unanimous, if a little quick: "Everything the Lord has said we will do." This isn't good enough for Moses, though. He's had a bit of experience with these people over the past few weeks. So the next morning he gets up early and builds an altar surrounded by 12 stone pillars, representing each of the 12 tribes of Israel. Again he assembles the people, and this time they offer sacrifices: burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. He takes the blood from the bulls and divides it in two as a sign of the twofold nature of the covenant. The first half he sprinkles over the altar as a sign of God's gracious forgiveness of them. The second half he puts in a bowl while he's reading out the Book of the Covenant. Now don't miss this. The sacrifice and the blood are important signs, but their value rests on what they signify. That is, the words that Moses has written down in the book of the covenant. The people had heard all the words before, back in ch 19, but here Moses reads them out again to reinforce what the basis of the covenant is. And again the people respond: "We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey." And then Moses takes the remaining blood and sprinkles it on the people as a sign that what they've committed themselves to is a binding oath, sealed in blood. Then Moses says: "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words." From that moment on, Israel is bound by their covenant with God. We know God will keep his end of the bargain, but will they?
	Well, having sealed the covenant, Moses and the others ascend the mountain to speak with God. Then 2 amazing things happen. We're told in very blunt language that they saw the God of Israel. No description is given, except that under his feet was something like a pavement of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. It was as if they could see through this pavement up to God himself. The effect is one of awe-inspiring majesty, leading far beyond the human imagination, even without being given any concrete details. But here's the first amazing thing. The elders were able to look on God and still live. Then, as if that weren't enough, we're told a second amazing thing: that they ate and drank before the Lord.
	One of the highlights of our trip to Europe was visiting an Italian friend I'd met when I worked with CAA. He invited us to his house to have dinner with his family one night. And it was like we were being invited into their life for a short time. That's what it's like when we're invited to share a meal with someone isn't it? It's an invitation not just to fill our stomachs with something tasty, but to enter into or build on a relationship with that person. Eating together is a very important part of being a community. That's why we have events like the progressive dinner and cheap eats: because they help to build up the community of St Theodore's. Well, the same significance applies to his event here in Ex 24. They ate and drank in the presence of the Lord as a sign of the new relationship of fellowship they now had with him. God is an awesome and unapproachable God, yet he invites his people into his presence to eat and drink with him. He's a God of holiness and purity, yet he forgives us for our sinfulness and invites us to become part of his family.
	But the story doesn't end there. Moses and the elders return to the base of the mountain, and then Moses is again called to go up to God to receive the tablets of stone with the 10 commandments engraved on them. Moses leaves Aaron and Hur in charge and goes up to the top of the mountain. There Moses receives instructions for the ordering of the worship of Israel: instructions about building a tabernacle, an altar table, the Ark of the Covenant, the lampstand; instructions about priests and sacrifices and offerings. All of them aimed at helping the people remain in fellowship with the Lord.
	But the trouble is, as we'll see next week, it's all too hard for them. As much as they may proclaim their intention to do all that God commands, they're weak human beings who fail over and over again. Let me take you forward a hundred years to the end of Joshua's time as their leader. To Joshua ch 24. They've conquered much of the land, though not all, and Joshua has assembled all the people of Israel to give them his farewell speech. He says: (Josh 24:14-23 NRSV) ""Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. ¹⁵Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." ¹⁶Then the people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; ... we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God." ¹⁹But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. ²⁰If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good." ²¹And the people said to Joshua, "No, we will serve the LORD!" ²²Then Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him." And they said, "We are witnesses."
	It's the same scenario isn't it. Joshua reminds them of the covenant they have with God and they say "We'll do it." Well, listen to what happens just a few years after Joshua's death: (Judg 1:27-36 NIV) "But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. ²⁸When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. ²⁹Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. ³⁰Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, who remained among them; but they did subject them to forced labor." And so on. They didn't do what they'd been told to do. And what was the result? (Judg 2:1-3 NIV) "The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, ²and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? ³Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you."" (Judg 2:10-12 NIV) "After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. ¹¹Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. ¹²They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger" So early in their history and already they failed to keep the covenant! In fact this is a story that's repeated over and over again in the history of Israel until God at last casts them out of the Land.
	So what about the covenant that God had made with his people? Had it failed? Was God's covenant ruined by their disobedience? This is a question that Isaiah faces when he's first called by God to deliver a message of judgement to the people of his time. Here's what God tells him: (Isa 6:11-13 NIV) "Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?" And he answered: "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, ¹²until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. ¹³And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."" The nation was to be totally decimated, yet even that wouldn't mean the end of the covenant. Even amidst the carnage of God's judgement a holy seed would remain. A shoot would come up from the stump of Jesse, Isaiah 11 tells us. A branch that would bear fruit. And the spirit of the Lord would be upon him. Isaiah didn't know it but he was writing about Jesus Christ, God's own Son who would come to renew the covenant for a final time.
	As Hebrews ch 9 tells us, Jesus makes the covenant truly new, sealing it, not with the blood of bulls or goats, but by his own blood which he offered once and for all to do away with sin altogether. Here's where the new covenant is so different from the old. Whereas the old covenant relied on the ability of the people to keep their end of the bargain, the new covenant relies entirely on Jesus' ability to keep the covenant with God. The covenant that Moses made, the Mosaic covenant, had this basic flaw. That was, that no matter how hard they tried, the people just couldn't do it. They couldn't live the sorts of lives of obedience to God that God required of them. Only one person was capable of doing that, and that was Jesus Christ. Yet here's the wonder of the new covenant. Its there in Heb 9:24. (NRSV) "For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf." Jesus' life of holiness and his death and resurrection didn't just help him. It also meant that he can represent us before God in heaven. So when God wants to examine us, Jesus appears before him on our behalf. It's as though God looks at us, but sees Jesus in our place.
	And when we fail, as we will because we're just as sinful as the people of Israel were, we don't have to despair, nor do we need to fear that God will reject us the way he rejected Israel in the end. Rather we can turn to Jesus with confidence that his sacrifice has done away with the effects of sin, once and for all. And we can have the same confidence as we await Jesus' return to bring his final salvation to all those who are waiting for him.
	So what is our response to be? Hopefully part of our response will be the same as that of the people of Israel: 'Everything the Lord has said we will do." But we won't rely on our ability to do it. We'll acknowledge our failings, our fallenness, and constantly be turning back to God for forgiveness.
	But don't miss the warning in all this. If you're one of those people who tell yourself or others that you've been a pretty good person and you've done your best to keep God's law, then you're still living under the old covenant, and that covenant has been shown to fail over and over again. It can't save you. The only way to be confident about the future, about your salvation is to be one of those who have put their confidence in Jesus Christ and are waiting for his return. And don't be one of those people who think they can make a deal with God. You know the sort of thing. People who say to God, "I'll do my best to serve you God, as long as you look after me." or "I'll believe in you God, as long as you do this miracle for me." No, the true and lasting covenant is the covenant that God has made with us and sealed with the blood of Jesus. That's the covenant that asks us to acknowledge Jesus as Lord of our lives and turn away from our sin to serve him, and promises us complete forgiveness for anything we've ever done wrong. If you haven't accepted that covenant with God then you've made the wrong choice. God is a consuming fire who nevertheless desires a personal relationship with his people and has made that relationship possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
	Make sure you choose the right covenant to belong to. Make sure that you're ready and waiting when Jesus returns.

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