A Short Sermon by H. A. ST. JOHN

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 26, 1915

A Short Sermon

By H. A. ST. JOHN

The New Covenant

H. A. ST. JOHN

TEXT: “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: and they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” Heb. 8:10-12.

In the text we find five blessings to be secured by all who enter into this covenant with the Lord. Let us briefly consider these blessings in the order of their fulfillment:—

1. He will forgive their iniquities. This is the invaluable blessing promised by the Lord to all who will, with godly sorrow, repent and confess their sins, and in faith look to Jesus. O how sad that many refuse pardon on conditions so manifestly reasonable!

2. “I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts.” O, what a rich blessing to have such a just, good, and holy law written in our minds and hearts by the Spirit of God! Then, like Jesus, we shall surely delight to do our Heavenly Father’s will, and he will be well pleased with us.

3. “I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” Who can measure the value of this great blessing? All who enter into this covenant with our Heavenly Father become at once the sons and daughters of the Almighty, children of the heavenly household. What an honor! one for which we ought to praise the Lord continually. A relation, too, which our Heavenly Father would be pleased to have us maintain to all eternity.

4. “Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” What a blessed and glorious thought that our loving Heavenly Father will not only forgive our sins, and in the judgment blot them from his book of remembrance, but he will blot them from his memory. He will regard us with the same love as he does the angels that never sinned.

5. “They shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all will know me, from the least to the greatest.” To know God is to keep his commandments; hence this promise relates to the kingdom of glory, where his children will have an eternal home, and where there will be no sin, but all will be lovingly and eternally obedient to God’s holy law of love. O what will it be to be there!

Dear reader, consider the many new things this precious new covenant embraces. First, we receive a new heart, a new spirit, a new mind, and a new song; then when Jesus comes, we shall get new bodies, and go with him to the New Jerusalem, and at last have an eternal home in the new heavens and new earth. Here is a list of new things, every one of inestimable and eternal value, placed within our grasp; and the best of all is, not one of them will ever grow old.