Broken Covenant

The people who agreed to go into the covenant with God - Israelites, and foreigners who lived among them - SWORE that they would OBEY God. Obedience was His condition for giving them the inheritance promised to their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

• Exodus 19:5 “Now IF YOU WILL OBEY ME AND KEEP MY COVENANT, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me.”

• Deuteronomy 11:9 “IF YOU OBEY, you will enjoy a long life in the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors and to you, their descendants—a land flowing with milk and honey!”

Those who DISOBEY God = WILL NOT receive the promise God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

However, GOD DOES NOT BREAK HIS PROMISES.

• Does that mean those who disobey will be rewarded anyway? NO!!!

🔥 THE COVENANT INCLUDES THE CURSES FOR BEING DISOBEDIENT! 🔥

God SWORE to punish and curse them if they were to break their promise to be obedient.

PROS AND CONS ARE ALL PART OF THE COVENANT.

It's like a contract. Curses are the "small print" people tend to ignore.

Deuteronomy 29:9–29

“Therefore, OBEY THE TERMS of this covenant so that you will prosper in everything you do. All of you—tribal leaders, elders, officers, all the men of Israel—are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God. Your little ones and your wives are with you, as well as the foreigners living among you who chop your wood and carry your water. You are standing here today to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God. The Lord is making this covenant, INCLUDING THE CURSES. By entering into the covenant today, he will establish you as his people and confirm that he is your God, just as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

“But you are not the only ones with whom I am making this covenant with its curses. I am making this covenant both with you who stand here today in the presence of the Lord our God, and also with the future generations who are not standing here today.

“You remember how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we traveled through the lands of enemy nations as we left. You have seen their detestable practices and their idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you—no man, woman, clan, or tribe—will turn away from the Lord our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit.

“Those who hear the warnings of this curse should not congratulate themselves, thinking, ‘I am safe, even though I am following THE DESIRES OF MY OWN STUBBORN HEART." This would lead to utter ruin! The Lord will NEVER pardon such people. Instead his anger and jealousy will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the Lord will erase their names from under heaven. The Lord will separate them from all the tribes of Israel, to pour out on them all the curses of the covenant recorded in this Book of Instruction.

• Jeremiah 9:25-26 “A time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body BUT NOT IN SPIRIT— the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the people who live in the desert in remote places, and yes, even the people of Judah. And like all these pagan nations, the people of Israel also have UNCIRCUMCISED HEARTS."

• Ephesians 2:11 “Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and NOT THEIR HEARTS."

• Galatians 5:24 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and DESIRES OF THEIR SINFUL NATURE TO HIS CROSS AND CRUCIFIED THEM THERE."

“Then the generations to come, both your own descendants and the foreigners who come from distant lands, will see the devastation of the land and the diseases the Lord inflicts on it. They will exclaim, ‘The whole land is devastated by sulfur and salt. It is a wasteland with nothing planted and nothing growing, not even a blade of grass. It is like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger.’

“And all the surrounding nations will ask, ‘Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why was he so angry?’

“And the answer will be, ‘This happened because THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND ABANDONED THE COVENANT that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. Instead, THEY TURNED AWAY to serve and worship gods they had not known before, gods that were not from the Lord. That is why the Lord’s anger has burned against this land, bringing down on it EVERY CURSE RECORDED IN THIS BOOK. In great anger and fury the Lord uprooted his people from their land and banished them to another land, where they still live today!’

“The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.”

• Romans 3:3-4 "True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they were unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful? Of course not! Even if everyone else is a liar, GOD IS TRUE. As the Scriptures say about him, “You will be proved right in what you say, and you will win your case in court.”

How to OBEY the Covenant

• Have Faith in Jesus Christ and who He claims to be - the visible Image of God.

• REPENT - crucify your sinful nature. It's a transformation that can happen only by the Power of God, therefore, faith, humbleness, remorse, sorrow, and grief NEED to be genuine - God knows everything. Repetition of sin indicates the sinful nature was NOT crucified.

• Receiving of the Holy Spirit - having the law and covenant written in your HEART.

Colossians 2:11-13

“When you came to Christ, you were “CIRCUMCISED,” but NOT BY A PHYSICAL PROCEDURE. Christ performed a SPIRITUAL CIRCUMCISION—THE CUTTING AWAY OF YOUR SINFUL NATURE. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And WITH HIM YOU WERE RAISED TO NEW LIFE BECAUSE YOU TRUSTED THE MIGHTY POWER OF GOD, WHO RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD.

You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then GOD MADE YOU ALIVE WITH CHRIST, for he forgave all our sins.”

It's being raised to a NEW LIFE with Christ and a NEW CIRCUMCISED HEART - that makes people OBEY God.

No one is able to obey God with an Uncircumcised heart - an active sinful nature.

Moses called people to do that - to have Faith and REPENT!

Deuteronomy 30:1-10

“In the future, when you experience all these blessings and curses I have listed for you, and when you are living among the nations to which the Lord your God has exiled you, TAKE TO HEART ALL THESE INSTRUCTIONS.

• Jeremiah 31:33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

• 2 Corinthians 3:3 “Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but ON HUMAN HEARTS.”

• Galatians 4:5-7 “God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent THE SPIRIT OF HIS SON INTO OUR HEARTS, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.”

• 1 John 5:12 “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.”

If at that time you and your children RETURN TO THE LORD, and IF YOU OBEY WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND ALL YOUR SOUL all the commands I have given you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you. Even though you are banished to the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you from there and bring you back again. The Lord your God will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will possess that land again. Then he will make you even more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors!

“THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL CHANGE YOUR HEART and the hearts of all your descendants, SO THAT YOU WILL LOVE HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND SOUL AND SO YOU MAY LIVE! The Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate and persecute you. Then you will again obey the Lord and keep all his commands that I am giving you today.

“The Lord your God will then make you successful in everything you do. He will give you many children and numerous livestock, and he will cause your fields to produce abundant harvests, for the Lord will again delight in being good to you as he was to your ancestors. The Lord your God will delight in you if you OBEY HIS VOICE and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, AND IF YOU TURN TO THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND SOUL."

• John 8:42-47 “Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, YOU WOULD LOVE ME, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. Why can’t you understand what I am saying? IT'S BECAUSE YOU CAN'T EVEN HEAR ME! For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.”

• Deuteronomy 10:12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and LOVE HIM and serve him with ALL YOUR HEART AND SOUL.”

Ezekiel 36:22-32

“Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name, on which you brought shame while you were scattered among the nations. I will show how holy my great name is—the name on which you brought shame among the nations. And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign Lord, then the nations will know that I am the Lord. For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land.

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a NEW HEART, and I will put a NEW SPIRIT IN YOU. I WILL take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT IN YOU SO THAT YOU WILL FOLLOW MY DECREES AND BE CAREFUL TO OBEY ME REGULATIONS.

“And you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people, and I will be your God. I will cleanse you of your filthy behavior. I will give you good crops of grain, and I will send no more famines on the land. I will give you great harvests from your fruit trees and fields, and never again will the surrounding nations be able to scoff at your land for its famines. Then you will remember your past sins and despise yourselves for all the detestable things you did. But remember, says the Sovereign Lord, I am not doing this because you deserve it. O my people of Israel, you should be utterly ashamed of all you have done!”

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Does that mean those who receive the Holy Spirit should still bring physical sacrifices and follow the rituals written in the law? NO. Those instructions were meant to purify them from their sins, but they kept sinning because it was their nature.

Those who live a NEW LIFE in Christ with His Holy Spirit become perfect in the SPIRIT. God's Spirit made them Holy, so they do not repeat their sins. It's no longer their nature.

• Galatians 3:13-14 “But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that WE WHO ARE BELIEVERS MIGHT RECEIVE THE PROMISED HOLY SPIRIT THROUGH FAITH.”

However, if anyone who has repented and received the Holy Spirit, but later WILLINGLY decides to return to sinful living - they will be lost forever. Repentance for such people is no longer an option.

Hebrews 6:4-8

“For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— and who then turn away from God. It is IMPOSSIBLE to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.

When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.”

• Stay away from people who tell you that humans will always be sinners and that we should "repent every day." These people give permission to sin by spreading this foolishness and they DO NOT belong to God!

1 John 3:4-10

“EVERYONE WHO SINS IS BREAKING GOD'S LAW, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. ANYONE WHO CONTINUES TO LIVE WILL NOT SIN. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is.

Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into God’s family DO NOT make a practice of sinning, because GOD'S LIFE IS IN THEM. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.”

John 3:36

“And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who DOESN’T OBEY THE SON will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”

• 1 Peter 4:17 “For the time has come for judgment, and IT MUST BEGIN WITH GOD'S HOUSEHOLD. And if judgment begins with us, WHAT TERRIBLE FATE AWAITS THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER OBEYED GOD'S GOOD NEWS?"

If you keep sinning - you are UNABLE TO OBEY - expect curses.

If you repent and trust Jesus to circumcise your heart - you will be ABLE TO OBEY - expect blessings.

John 5:28-29

“Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have CONTINUED IN EVIL WILL RISE TO EXPERIENCE JUDGMENT."

The Blessings and Curses INCLUDED in the covenant.

Deuteronomy 28

Blessings for Obedience

“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God:

Your towns and your fields will be blessed. Your children and your crops will be blessed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed. Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed.

“The Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven!

“The Lord will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

“If you OBEY the commands of the Lord your God and WALK IN HIS WAYS, the Lord will establish you as his HOLY people as HE SWORE he would do. Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a PEOPLE CLAIMED BY THE LORD, and THEY WILL STAND IN AWE OF YOU.

• Romans 8:29-30 “For God knew his people in advance, and HE CHOSE THEM TO BECOME LIKE HIS SON, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, HE GAVE THEM HIS GLORY.”

“The Lord will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. If you LISTEN to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully OBEY them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them.

Curses for Disobedience

“But if you REFUSE TO LISTEN to the Lord your God and do NOT OBEY all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you:

Your towns and your fields will be cursed. Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be cursed. Your children and your crops will be cursed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be cursed. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be cursed.

“The Lord himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in everything you do, until at last you are completely destroyed FOR DOING EVIL AND ABANDONING ME. The Lord will afflict you with DISEASES until none of you are left in the land you are about to enter and occupy. The Lord will strike you with wasting diseases, FEVER, and INFLAMMATION, with SCORCHING HEAT and drought, and with BLIGHT and MILDEW. These disasters will pursue you until you die. The skies above will be as unyielding as bronze, and the earth beneath will be as hard as iron. The Lord will change the rain that falls on your land into powder, and dust will pour down from the sky until you are destroyed.

“The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You will attack your enemies from one direction, but you will scatter from them in seven! YOU WILL BE AN OBJECT OF HORROR TO ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE EARTH. Your corpses will be food for all the scavenging birds and wild animals, and no one will be there to chase them away.

“The Lord will afflict you with the BOILS of Egypt and with TUMORS, SCURVY, and the ITCH, from which you CANNOT BE CURED. The Lord will strike you with madness, blindness, and panic. You will grope around in broad daylight like a blind person groping in the darkness, but you will NOT FIND YOUR WAY. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will come to save you.

“You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will sleep with her. You will build a house, but someone else will live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will never enjoy its fruit. Your ox will be butchered before your eyes, but you will not eat a single bite of the meat. Your donkey will be taken from you, never to be returned. Your sheep and goats will be given to your enemies, and no one will be there to help you. You will watch as your sons and daughters are taken away AS SLAVES. Your heart will break for them, but you won’t be able to help them. A foreign nation you have never heard about will eat the crops you worked so hard to grow. You will suffer under constant oppression and harsh treatment. You will go mad because of all the tragedy you see around you. The Lord will cover your knees and legs with incurable boils. In fact, you will be covered from head to foot.

“The Lord will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. There in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone! You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the Lord sends you.

“You will plant much but harvest little, for locusts will eat your crops. You will plant vineyards and care for them, but you will not drink the wine or eat the grapes, for worms will destroy the vines. You will grow olive trees throughout your land, but you will never use the olive oil, for the fruit will drop before it ripens. You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, for they will be led away into captivity. Swarms of insects will destroy your trees and crops.

“The foreigners living among you will become stronger and stronger, while you become weaker and weaker. They will lend money to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail!

“IF YOU REFUSE TO LISTEN TO THE LORD YOUR GOD AND TO OBEY the commands and decrees he has given you, ALL THESE CURSES WILL PURSUE AND OVERTAKE YOU UNTIL YOU ARE DESTROYED.

These horrors will serve as a sign and warning among you and your descendants forever.

IF YOU DO NOT SERVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH JOY AND ENTHUSIASM for the abundant benefits you have received, you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. You will be left hungry, thirsty, naked, and lacking in everything. The Lord will put an iron yoke on your neck, oppressing you harshly until he has destroyed you.

“The Lord will bring a distant nation against you from the end of the earth, and it will swoop down on you like a vulture. It is a nation whose language you do not understand, a fierce and heartless nation that shows no respect for the old and no pity for the young. Its armies will devour your livestock and crops, and you will be destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine, olive oil, calves, or lambs, and you will starve to death. They will attack your cities until all the fortified walls in your land—the walls you trusted to protect you—are knocked down. They will attack all the towns in the land the Lord your God has given you.

“The siege and terrible distress of the enemy’s attack will be so severe that you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you. The most tenderhearted man among you will have no compassion for his own brother, his beloved wife, and his surviving children. He will refuse to share with them the flesh he is devouring—the flesh of one of his own children—because he has nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns. The most tender and delicate woman among you—so delicate she would not so much as touch the ground with her foot—will be selfish toward the husband she loves and toward her own son or daughter. She will hide from them the afterbirth and the new baby she has borne, so that she herself can secretly eat them. She will have nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns.

“IF YOU REFUSE TO OBEY ALL THE WORDS OF INSTRUCTION THAT ARE WRITTEN IN THIS BOOK, and IF YOU DO NOT FEAR THE GLORIOUS AND AWESOME NAME OF THE LORD YOUR GOD then the Lord will overwhelm you and your children with indescribable plagues. These plagues will be intense and without relief, making you MISERABLE and UNBEARABLY SICK He will afflict you with all the diseases of Egypt that you feared so much, and you will have no relief. The Lord will afflict you with EVERY SICKNESS AND PLAGUE there is, even those not mentioned in this Book of Instruction, until you are destroyed. Though you become as numerous as the stars in the sky, few of you will be left because you WOULD NOT LISTEN to the Lord your God.

“Just as the Lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply, the Lord will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy. For the Lord will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship foreign gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods made of wood and stone! There among those nations you will find NO PEACE OR PLACE TO REST. And the Lord will cause your heart to tremble, your eyesight to fail, and your soul to despair. Your life will constantly hang in the balance. You will live night and day in fear, unsure if you will survive. In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were night!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ For you will be terrified by the awful horrors you see around you. Then THE LORD WILL SEND YOU BACK TO EGYPT in ships, to a destination I promised you would never see again. There you will offer to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but NO ONE WILL BUY YOU."

• Ezekiel 30:7-9 “EGYPT WILL BE DESOLATE, surrounded by desolate nations, and its cities will be in ruins, surrounded by other ruined cities. And the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord when I have set Egypt on fire and destroyed all their allies. At that time I will send swift messengers in ships to terrify the complacent Ethiopians. Great panic will come upon them on that day of Egypt’s certain destruction. Watch for it! IT IS SURE TO COME!”

Ecclesiastes 5:4 “When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him.”

Psalm 145:13 “For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. You rule throughout all generations. THE LORD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS PROMISES; he is gracious in all he does.”

Abba Father! 🙌🏼 💞