And those who have transgressed My covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces. The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf, I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. And I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon that had withdrawn from you. vs18-21

A broken covenant leads to broken promises! If we dwell with God in a covenant that can be broken - a covenant that is not of God doing 100% - then we will perish under wrath.

Zedekiah has his eyes gouged out, but his life was spared. The Babylonians will return!

We must deal with God by the grace of Christ in the covenant that is based on His blood, the power of His Spirit, and God the Father’s sure promise: It cannot depend on us at all.

First, we have proven ourselves sinners. Just like Zedekiah and Judah turned away from the Lord, after their morning goodness, so do you and I. We sin after He’s been good to us, and our love, devotion, and goodness fall away.

Adam is the chief example of this transgression: he was made upright, at peace with God, but he wandered out of the way, wilfully turning his back on the good Creator. He sinned because he became unthankful, and it is what happens to us. No man can stand on his own, be good enough, or continue without sin.

We need to be CHASTENED IN LOVE, but we must never stand upon our own obedience: it must be grace to the guilty, righteousness imputed, and an everlasting covenant of an unfailing God. Do not destroy yourself in self-deceit.

Secondly, the covenant ordered in God is sure. He is unfailing, and He will provide what we need, including grace for our sins! It is not a meritorious covenant but a gracious covenant; it is not man doing his part, but God doing it all, and God gets all the glory. We are saved for His praise and honor, so that He might be looked at for all eternity as the One who is gracious, merciful, and who died for our sins!

Christ’s death is the stipulation of the new covenant; He is what God really demands, which is an ANSWER FOR OUR SINS, so they cannot be held against us, so that every wandering and disobedience… every breach… is forgiven!

For I will forgive their iniquities

and will remember their sins no more.” [Heb 8:12]

In the new covenant there’s no possibility of falling away, and it saves every sinner who approaches Him. He will not cast us out for any reason, because all manner of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven [Matt 12:31-32].

Thirdly, do not fear the new covenant is insufficient! Men leave it, because they want to be holy, and puffed up in pride, we think that we can do it. Others get puffed up thinking that we’ll never fall, but the new covenant cleaves us to Christ and keeps us believing: It doesn’t allow for any strength, but the weak glory in Christ’s strength among them.

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. [2 Cor 12:9-10]

It is a covenant that provides and produces holy living, as we look to Him; it is a covenant that makes us gracious, as we obtain mercy. Nothing more excites kindness towards our neighbor than thinking upon Christ’s love for us, who says,

A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another. [John 13:34]

This summarizes everything in Scripture regarding our responsibilities toward each other: Look on Him, and then go and do likewise.