Hebrews 8:10-12 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, said the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind… I. WHAT IS IMPORTED GENERALLY IN THE WORDS. 1. That a covenant shall be made, and a covenant-relation shall subsist, between God and every member of the New Testament Church. 2. That both parties, so related to one another, shall behave in a due and becoming manner, agreeable to the relation in which they stand. 3. That the relation itself and the due behaviour of the relatives on both sides shall be wholly the work of God. II. WHAT IS MORE PARTICULARLY IMPORTED IN GOD'S PROMISING TO BE OUR GOD. 1. That God will graciously bring us to have a real and saving interest in Him as our God. Now, in order to our having such an interest in God, two things are necessary; both which are secured by this promise and both are accomplished in behalf of every one who is brought within the bond of this covenant. (1) That God make a gracious grant and offer of Himself to us. declaring us welcome to claim an interest in Him, and to look for the rest and happiness of our souls in the enjoyment of Him. Without such an offer it would be impossible that ever we should be interested in Him as our God. Such a happiness is incapable of being purchased by any creature. (2) It is likewise necessary that He enable us to accept this gracious offer, and really to choose Him as our God and Portion. There can be no covenant without the consent of both parties. 2. This part of the promise imports that God will do all that for us that any people has reason to expect or usually does expect from their God. He would be ashamed to be called our God, if He were not to act up to the character. And His allowing us to claim Him in that character may be viewed as an engagement that He will do for us whatever corresponds unto it. (1) Be will set you free from all spiritual bondage, oppression, and misery of every kind, and put you in ample possession of the glorious liberty of the sons of God. (2) He will guide and conduct you through this weary wilderness in every step of your journey towards the land of promise. (3) He will lead you forth against all your enemies, and make you completely victorious over them in due time. (4) In a word, He will bring you home in the event to the possession of a plentiful and pleasant inheritance. III. WHAT IS IMPORTED IN OUR BEING TO GOD FOR A PEOPLE. 1. That God would gather into one all the members of the New Testament Church; so that in whatever place of the world they should have their residence, from whatever nation they should spring, whatever should be their kindred, tongue, or language, they should all be closely united one to another and constituted one body mystical. 2. That this dignified people, and every particular person among them, shall, in due tree, be enabled to dedicate themselves unto God, and cheerfully to acknowledge themselves to be His property. 3. That having made such a dedication of themselves to God, the Church and her members shall be preserved from ever attempting to alienate what they have devoted. 4. That God will graciously accept the dedication that we make of ourselves to Him and all those evangelical services which we perform in consequence thereof.Lessons: 1. From what has been said, we may see one very remarkable difference between the covenant of grace as it is exhibited in the gospel and actually made with every Christian in the day of believing, a difference, I say, between this and all other covenants. In all covenants there are mutual engagements entered into by both parties respectively; and something which they become bound to perform one to another on both sides. So far this covenant agrees with all others. But the amazing difference between this and every other covenant lies in this, that here one party binds Himself for the performance of the engagements of both. 2. We may see that all true Christians are really covenanters with God, however little relish some of them may have for the name. 3. From hence we may see that neither faith, nor repentance, nor sincere obedience, nor anything else wrought in us or done by us, can be the condition of the covenant of grace. 4. We may see from this subject that real Christians are the only happy person- in the world. All the things that men value or esteem, and in which they look for happiness, riches, honours, power, pleasure, they possess in a supereminent degree. They arc the only persons who deserve to be called rich, having an interest in God Himself, an infinite and inexhaustible good as their portion and inheritance. (John Young, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: |
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