New Covenant
Jeremiah 31:33 “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” [1]
I. Shall
A. Future
B. Forever
II. Be
A. Standing
B. Solid
III. The
A. Only
B. Obedient
Introduction: We seem to relish the idea that there is a bad guy and a good guy and if I can figure out who is who, I’ll be OK. Somehow if I can avoid those who fit into my mean person mold, my life will be comfortable. We purchase alarm systems and have mean dogs to keep out the intruders that might wreck our comfort zone. Then before I know what has happened, the good guy somehow turns out to not be such a good guy; so now what will protect me from that one?
Today we will hear from the prophet Jeremiah. No, not the bullfrog. Jeremiah’s role as prophet was during the time that Babylon was about to take Judah into exile. The northern kingdom of Israel had already fallen to the Assyrians years before Jeremiah prophesied and now the southern kingdom of Judah was about to fall which would mean the destruction of the city of Jerusalem.
There were false prophets who were telling the people that Jeremiah was crazy. Everything he told them was met with a rebuttal from someone who would tell them everything was going to be better if they would only have faith in that which they were already doing. Nobody believed that God was going to finally say enough is enough and now your time has run out. The good time preachers were talking the loudest and few wanted to hear from Jeremiah.
This that we will hear from today is from the middle of Jeremiah’s prophecy. All was not gloom and doom after all. Yes there was coming a time that things were going to have to be dealt with. As Christians we must understand that as Jesus carried His cross, so must we carry ours. As Jesus was not at home in this fallen world, neither as Christians are we. Things that we must go through will not be as easy as some good time preachers say. Those who try to turn your attention to what you can do to make your life better are turning your attention away from what Jesus has done and is doing. This prophecy contains the truth even for us today that yes we must be witnesses in this time to the truth that Jesus alone made possible that home not made with hands. As we are adopted into the family of God, we have a future waiting for us that is promised. As Israel was promised The Messiah, we, His Church, are included and we have The Savior. Look forward to the New Covenant that is Jesus Christ who was, is, and forever more shall be.
Scripture: The scripture is Jeremiah 31:33. When you have found it please rise to honor the reading of God’s written word.
Prayer: Please be seated
Message: Back in verse twenty-seven, God is speaking to Jeremiah to reassure us that even though there is going to be a time when the soil must be broken so that the ground is ready for planting, things will have to be turned over so that His chosen will be planted in a place to take root and grow as He intended, then will be the everlasting when He will have that which He planned from the beginning.
Often others feel the punishment inflicted against those who have transgressed. We watch with amazement and even warn others who are involved in the transgression. Yet those who offend God often are not the only ones affected. Many are caught up in the results of the sins of others. Many times the innocent ones die while the ones who make the decisions seem to go free.
There were those then like us today that know God is a God of justice. Surely God will not allow us to be taken into bondage along with the others! God loves us. We learned that old song from childhood, Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. To be sure we won’t be caught in the crossfire.
Pretty sure those in the towers were wondering why that September morning. Those at Pearl Harbor probably also wondered what they had done to deserve what happened that winter day in paradise. The Jews couldn’t believe that a thing as nice sounding as Socialism could have leaders who wanted to wipe them out.
Jeremiah was careful to record what God said. Notice that God did not say that everyone dies for his own iniquity back in those days before the exile. Those then seemed to say what we know even today, “29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” [2] One does wrong and many suffer who have done no wrong. Verse thirty carries on to say what will happen in God’s promised time after those days have passed. In verse thirty God promised that this injustice will not always be. “30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.” [3] When God’s time comes and He says enough is enough, we will answer and pay for our own deeds. Are we there yet?
We were not there some two thousand years ago. Jesus, who had no sin, died for the sin which we have. But now, if you are a Christian, one day you and I will certainly hear about everything we have done whether good or bad while here in the flesh and we will only have ourselves to blame.
Jeremiah said starting at verse thirty-one, “31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. [4]
“This shall be”, means that though it has not happened yet, it most certainly will in the future. “This shall”, means that it will last. It might have been in the past but now this covenant will last forever.
So what happened to the old covenant? Does it still stand? What is a covenant anyway? A contract is an agreement between two equal participants that sets into agreement regulations that must be complied with by both parties or the contract is dissolved. A covenant is an agreement that one who is superior makes with a subordinate which includes promises from the superior that will not be broken as long as the subordinate keeps his/her part of the bargain. A marriage therefore is not a covenant because the spouses enter into the agreement as equals. At least that is the plan. The old covenant that God made with us serves to teach us that we cannot keep it with the old so-called human nature that we took upon ourselves when we first decided against God’s will. Adam and Eve left His will but we cannot blame them for our not breaking the chain. We who have reached the age of accountability are all guilty.
As you read back in this chapter, Jeremiah speaks about the covenant that God made with Moses and the Israelites in the desert. They received the Ten Commandments yet before Moses got down from the mountain, the people had already broken the covenant. Was this a trick from God that they could not follow? No! It was to prove that they needed God more than what God commanded, we need God Himself!
The old covenant stands. Due to our desire for inability to stay in His will without Him, we sin when we break any of His commandments and one break causes the entire covenant to be broken. God knew that there had to be a way to bridge the divide that we cause every time we try to do our will without following His.
To be or not to be is what Shakespeare said. Either it is or it’s not. If it shall be then it will be a standing covenant. It will not depend on our ability as was the first when it was up to us to follow commandments. No! This new covenant is solid because it requires God in the person of Jesus Christ and nobody and nothing can stand against Him.
So then, are there two ways or only one way. The text says this shall be THE covenant. Not another covenant. Not a covenant. This shall be THE covenant. Jesus is not a spare tire in case we mess up and pick up a nail and fall flat like a flat tire because we left the road God set before us. Jesus Christ is THE covenant. As Abraham told Isaac that day when Isaac asked where the sacrifice was, God provided Himself, the only sacrifice that would suffice.
Jesus is The Only Way. Through the first covenant, Israel and we who are grafted into His family as His church must learn that we have not and will not possess the ability to be obedient to His will. We all decide to make our own decisions as soon as we are able to make our first decision. It is necessary that we have the first covenant so that we realize how much we need THE COVENANT. Jesus is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE. He is the fulfillment of His Covenant with us and there is no other.
But there is always more isn’t there? After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
As Jesus was about to leave this place, He reminded them and us of the second part of THE covenant that is recorded here in Jeremiah’s prophecy. Jesus went back to His Father’s side but He did not leave us alone. He left us with the Holy Spirit who indwells us. The Holy Spirit puts the law into our inward parts and writes it in our hearts. He talks to that inward part we think of as consciousness. We humans have that thing called a soul but we don’t all have the Holy Spirit speaking within us unless we believe in Jesus and THE Covenant that God made with us and for us. Unless we are Christians we will never know The Truth. But as Christians, we will never be without God and we will always be His people.
Prayer:
Invitation: The covenant that THE Superior made with His creation is binding and pure. We have no contract because we did nothing to deserve or contribute to the agreement. He made us and He loves us and there’s really nothing that we can do about that unless we decide to ignore Him, His mercy, His grace.
Today is the day to consider that this day is temporary. There is that promise that has been fulfilled. Jesus has come and He is coming again. Israel was looking for a worldly leader who would bring the two kingdoms back together again to be the super power that would bring the world under their rule. They got so much more than they could imagine. They got Jesus.
But Israel is not big enough for Jesus. Jesus came for whosover believeth. If you truly believe, then Jesus came for you. Jeremiah warned those then to live in such a way as to show hope to those who felt all hope was gone. Jeremiah wanted more for God’s people than what they wanted for themselves. Do you want that for those you love? Do you want it so much that you can show this world that the true hope is in you because you have Jesus? Live in such a way that others want what you have! Live in such a way that others will want to know the truth that you believe. Do not let the worries of this world take you to a place that you feel you must make up a better place. His place for you is much more than you can imagine because He is there and He wants all who are obedient to His will to be with Him forever.
Please consider as we sing…
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (1995). (electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version., Je 31:33). Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[2] ibid., Je 31:29
[3] ibid., Je 31:30
[4] ibid., Je 31:31–34
