Sunday, 27th April 2014
Rev Daniel Poon
It is said in Hebrews 8:7-10 (NIV) that, “For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them”, declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time”, declares the Lord. “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
God loves His people and want us to be better, so He made covenants with us. But often people broke those promises. Rev Daniel took us to look deeply at 4 important covenants God made with His people.
1. The First Covenant: Between God and humanity was made in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:16-17)
God created every good thing in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had all the freedom to themselves, but they chose not to listen and ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God gave us freedom but we chose to give restrictions to ourselves; He always prepares the best for us but often we don’t listen.
2. Through the covenant of God and Abraham we can learn a lesson of Faith (Genesis 12:1-3)
Abraham set a good example, and held onto the promise from God, even after he had to give up his country, his people, and his father’s household. By faith, Abraham gave us his old life, and that’s why he was so blessed by God. God promised us a great future, but do we believe in this covenant before we see the end result? And can we take the step of faith before God’s promise come to past?
3. The first covenant that God made with the Israelites was the covenant at Sinai (Deuteronomy 28:12-14)
The covenant at Sinai promised us an open heaven and abundant blessings, and the only thing we had to do is to pay attention to God’s commands and carefully follow them. A lot of time we cannot see the blessings is because we set up our own world standards and idols in our heart, and we cannot see how God can bless us in our situations. But today, God is telling us to give all our burdens to Him, follow His commands, and He will show us the abundant blessings from the open heaven!
4. God made the ultimate covenant with humanity (John 3:16)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus Christ is our savior and the answer to all our questions. He showed us that when we are willing to become a “nobody” and offer all of our life to God, He will use us for a greater purpose.
Rev Daniel shared that the covenants God made with us are the guidelines to help us live a life of His purpose, so the question we should ask ourselves is “Are we willing?”