God, we come before you this morning and ask that you might still our hearts, might still our thoughts.
That God, we might avail ourselves to you. Let your spirits be truth to us.
God, may you convict us. May you turn us towards you.
May us, let us have a greater understanding of who you are.
God, let us be people who love you more and love those around us more.
We ask this in your name. Amen.
We're looking today at Jeremiah 30-31.
I'm specifically focusing on the New Covenant when the Scripture reading was taking place.
That was just from Jeremiah 31, but we'll be looking at both chapters today.
As we begin today, I want to give you an illustration.
I want you to draw a picture in your mind.
Imagine that there is a mother and her child are walking towards a busy intersection.
And as they move towards the busy intersection, the cars are going by.
And the mother says to the child, stop. Stop. Stop.
And the child just keeps wandering into the road.
And then the mother grabs the child and she pulls the child back.
And then she says, what are you doing? You need to listen to me.
When I tell you to stop, you need to stop.
I love you so much. I just don't want you to get hurt.
You need to stop when I tell you to stop.
If we were to think of the book of Jeremiah, as we look at chapters 30-34 and that illustration,
today we are looking at the kiss on the forehead.
The I love you so much.
Chapters 30-34 in Jeremiah are called the book of consolation.
It's because the book of Jeremiah takes a respite from the message that it has been provided
to move towards a message of hope.
A message that God says, I'm with you.
There may be judgment coming, but I am still with you.
I will rescue you.
And we're going to be looking at that today.
One of the first things we see out of Jeremiah 30, in the first three verses,
is that restoration is going to be for all God's people.
Let me read the first part of Jeremiah 30 for us.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel.
Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.
For behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore my fortunes of my people,
Israel and Judah, says the Lord.
This message is to Israel and Judah.
And what is important about that is that this is a message for the entire nation.
The Israel to whom this message is provided, they were previously destroyed.
They were part of the northern tribes that were destroyed before this.
At the time of Jeremiah's writing, only two of the 12 tribes remain, Judah and Benjamin.
But when Jeremiah comes and says this is a message for Israel, he's saying it's for all of them.
Even those who have been sent away.
God says to Israel and Judah,
I will bring them back to the land that I gave their fathers,
and they shall take possession of it.
God promises restoration for his people.
He promises a return to their land.
As we go through the message today,
what we're going to see is we have three things that we're looking at.
The first is we're going to be looking at discipline.
A tool for training.
The second will be hope.
Love with an everlasting love.
And the third will be a new covenant.
A fulfillment of the old.
First, let's look at discipline.
A tool for training.
It begins with God acknowledging the woes of his people.
In verse 5 it says,
We have heard a cry of panic, of terror, and no peace.
The following verses provide imagery for their condition.
The people are described as showing the anguish of childbirth.
They're described as having a yoke on their neck.
They're being guided like a farm animal.
They are experiencing fear.
And discipline will come.
Verse 11 says,
For I am with you to save you, declares the Lord.
I will make a full end of all the nations, among whom I scattered you.
But of you I will not make a full end.
I will discipline you in just measure.
And I will by no means leave you unpunished.
There's two promises that come out of this passage.
The first promise is that I am with you.
God is saying to his people, I am with you.
The second promise, I, that is God, I will discipline you in just measure.
Discipline is coming.
Before we talk about that, let me just make a difference between discipline and vengeance.
Discipline and vengeance can sometimes look the same.
Something's done wrong and someone else does something back.
Someone responds to the wrong that has been done.
The difference is this, is that discipline seeks the betterment of the person.
Discipline is a tool for training.
It's a tool for building people up.
Vengeance, however, seeks harm towards the other person.
Vengeance is a tool of retribution.
God to his people is saying, I am sending punishment to you.
But I am with you to save you.
God seeks the betterment of his people.
God disciplines his people.
But God seeks vengeance on his enemy.
So in today's message, if you are part of God's people, this message is very hopeful.
If you are not part of God's people, this message might be quite discouraging.
It might feel quite hopeless.
If you are not part of God's people, you are his enemy.
But if you are the enemy of God, there is hope.
The door to God's house is always open.
And Jesus stands ready to welcome all who would come.
The reason for the discipline.
And we know that discipline is always warranted when it comes from God.
The reason for the discipline is that their guilt is great.
And their sins are flagrant.
And their disobedience is significant.
Let me read from verse 14, starting part of the way through that.
I have dealt you the blow of an enemy.
The punishment of a merciless foe.
Because your guilt is great.
Because your sins are flagrant.
Why do you cry out over your hurt?
Your pain is incurable.
Because your guilt is great.
Because your sins are flagrant.
I have done these things to you.
There is a purpose for this discipline.
It is a training tool.
It shows the consequences of flagrant sin.
And as a result of their flagrant sin and their disobedience, the people will be sent into exile.
One of the things that we see from that is that sin destroys God's relationship with his people.
Through discipline, God reveals that truth.
When people sin, they are separated from God's goodness.
The goal that God has for us is that we would be in a perfect relationship with him.
That there would be a perfect relationship between God and his people.
Verse 22 says,
You shall be my people.
And I will be your God.
And the purpose of discipline is to restore that relationship.
Through punishment, God seeks to restore the relationship.
The betterment of his people.
We see that once again from verse 11 when he says,
I am with you to save you.
Now, question of reflection for us.
Have you experienced the discipline that comes from God?
Have your personal sins resulted in harm?
More harm perhaps than seemed warranted?
More harm than it seems came to others who did the same things?
Be reminded that God disciplines those who he loves.
Sometimes we are like that foolish child who wanders into danger.
God is there to protect us.
God says to us,
I am with you to save you.
One of the things that we see here in Jeremiah 30
is also the destruction of the neighboring nations.
God has used these neighboring nations to Judah
to punish his people.
To that end,
these nations have experienced victory.
They have experienced the spoils that come from victories.
As for these victorious nations,
God proclaims in verse 11,
I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you.
These propersering nations will face judgment
after their temporary victory.
Their victory did result from God's intervention.
Their victory did not result from God's approval of them.
So while they have experienced victory,
it wasn't because God said that they were righteous
or they had done the right thing.
God was simply using them for his greater purposes.
As we reflect upon this with ourselves,
my encouragement for all of us
is that we would be people
who avoid situational theology.
And what I mean by that
is that we would be people
who avoid looking at the circumstances of our life
to see what that tells us about God.
Life's success does not mean you are blessed by God,
nor does life's difficulty mean that you are cursed by God.
Our circumstances, our present situation
does not necessitate a response from God.
A fundamental problem with situational theology
is it puts the individual at the center of our relationship with God.
Our behavior becomes the determining action for God's favor.
From this passage, an important point is iterated.
God's plans are beyond our understanding.
That's a good thing.
What might situational theology look like in our life?
It's like when you have a big exam coming up,
or you have a big job interview,
or you have that project to do at work,
and you want it to go well.
And you say to yourself,
I haven't read my Bible so much today.
I haven't read it yesterday.
Actually, this week has been bad.
Well, before I go to that job interview,
I'm reading my Bible this morning.
Not because you want to spend time with God,
but because you want that job interview to go better.
God is not there to be manipulated
by our decisions.
God is not there to be manipulated by our decisions.
Next big thing that we see,
our second point that we are looking at is hope.
And that is that we are loved with an everlasting love.
We're going to be in chapter 31 now.
Chapter 31 begins with the repeated goal.
In verse 1 it says,
I will be the God of all the clans of Israel.
They shall be my people.
The goal of the promise provides the theme for the following verses.
It begins with the assurance of deliverance.
Let me read that for us in verse 2.
The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness.
When Israel sought for rest,
the Lord appeared to him from far away.
The passage uses the imagery of the wilderness as a place of rescue.
We've seen that before in the scripture.
In the fleeing from Egypt,
where wilderness is a place of respite.
We'll see that in Revelation,
where the wilderness once again is described as a place of rest.
And God's motivation through all of that is love.
His love for his people.
We know God's goal.
That's perfect relationship with us.
I am your God.
You are my people.
We now know God's motivation.
Everlasting love for us.
The second part of verse 3 says,
I have loved you with an everlasting love.
And because of that love,
the passage continues on.
Therefore,
I have continued my faithfulness to you.
God is faithful to us because of his love.
No other reason.
I want us to reflect on that for a moment.
That we are the recipients of God's unconditional love.
Many people think God's love is conditional.
Much like that situational theology of which I spoke.
When we act one way,
we think God's love is abounding.
When we act another,
we think God's love is waning.
People who especially struggle with this unconditional love
that we have from God
are those who have experienced friends or families
using love as a tool of manipulation.
Knowing only conditional love.
These people struggle to believe that God's love might be boundless.
The problem is that when we view God's love as conditional,
as something to be earned,
is that it leads to guilt.
We can never live up to God's standard.
When we are constantly failing,
we are left feeling guilty for being a failure.
It's especially troubling.
When we act like God's love is conditional.
We act like God is a vending machine.
We put in the right combination of coins
and push the right buttons
and then we will receive the desired product.
God says to us,
go and experience the fullness
of that unfaltering love that I have for you.
Live with the freedom of knowing you are loved
by a perfect love,
no matter how you act.
Experience the overwhelming abundance of love that I have.
Stop spending your life searching for loose change.
God's saying to us,
stop searching for the love that I've already given you.
Stop believing the lies.
Start living in the freedom
of God's everlasting love.
Maybe you're asking,
I don't know where to start.
We're going to get there.
The next thing we see
out of the chapter 31
is that God intervenes for his people.
He builds, he saves, and he restores.
We see God building.
Verse 4.
He says,
Again, I will build you
and you shall be built,
O virgin Israel.
With building comes much favor.
They dance the dance of merrymakers.
They plant fruitful vineyards.
The people of Ephraim,
Ephraim is a reference to the ten tribes
that had previously been lost.
Ephraim was the largest of those ten tribes.
And so sometimes those ten tribes are called Israel.
Sometimes they're called Ephraim.
Ephraim, the people of Ephraim,
will go down to Zion,
which is Jerusalem,
to worship God.
Next we see that God saves.
The people are instructed in verse 7
to implore,
O Lord, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.
And God will save them.
God will send them home.
Verse 9, it says,
I will make them walk by brooks of water
in a straight path
in which they shall not stumble.
For anyone who has ever hiked
a lengthy trail,
you know the value of a path
that is along a stream,
straight,
and smooth.
We also see that God restores.
He brings His people back.
Not by their power,
but by God's power.
Let me read verse 10 for us.
Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far away.
Say,
He who scattered Israel
will gather him
and will keep him
as a shepherd keeps his flock.
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob.
He has redeemed him
from hands too strong for him.
And the coming exile,
God will scatter His people.
But the promise is given.
God will also gather them,
ransom them,
and redeem them.
We also see that the people
will return.
We have a section here
which might be described
as Rachel's lament.
And to understand that section,
we need to know
that Jacob is the father
of the twelve tribes of Israel.
And his beloved wife
and mother of two of the sons
who would become those tribes
is Rachel.
Rachel, as such,
is considered here
the de facto mother
of the tribes.
And verse 15 says,
Thus says the Lord,
A voice is heard in Ramah,
which is near the location
of Rachel's burial site.
Lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping
for her children.
She refuses to be comforted
for her children
because they are no more.
The image that is being drawn here
is that Rachel
is weeping from her grave
over the exile
of her descendants.
Verse 16 continues,
Thus says the Lord,
Keep your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward
for your work,
declares the Lord.
And they shall come back
from the land of the enemy.
There is hope for your future,
declares the Lord.
And your children
shall come back
to their own country.
The message here is of hope.
This is a message to Rachel
saying,
Stop weeping.
Your children are coming home.
It's a powerful image
of her mother thinking
her children have been lost forever.
that God declares otherwise.
Can you imagine
a mother grieving
the death of her children?
And God intervenes
and says,
Stop weeping.
Your children are saved.
That is the image
that is being drawn here
as God reflects
upon His people
eventually returning from exile
and reestablishing themselves.
And reestablishing themselves.
This verse
out of Jeremiah
is also used
in the book of Matthew.
But
not in a happy sense.
In a sense of understanding
the loss of life.
There is
a part of Matthew
in the story
of Jesus' birth
that is referred to as
the massacre
of the innocents.
What takes place
is that
Herod,
who is the ruler
of the land,
learns of Jesus' birth.
And he seeks
to have Him
killed.
So he sends
the wise men
on his behalf
to ascertain
the location
of Jesus.
And these wise men
do ascertain
Jesus' location.
But being warned
not to return to Herod,
they do not.
Herod,
upon realizing
he has been tricked
by these wise men,
begins the execution
of the children
in the land
in an effort
to wipe out
the true king.
The king
who he knew
would eventually
take his place.
Let me read for you
from Matthew
chapter 6.
Then Herod,
when he saw
that he had been
tricked by the wise men,
became furious.
And he sent
and killed
all the male children
in Bethlehem
and all that region
who were two years
old or under,
according to the time
that had been ascertained
from the wise men.
This was fulfilled
with what was spoken
by the prophet Jeremiah.
A voice was heard
in Ramah,
weeping
and loud lamentation.
Rachel,
weeping for her children.
She refused
to be comforted
because they are
no more.
In Matthew,
it only quotes
this part,
the prophecy,
because those children
were indeed lost.
it is a reminder
to us
that Jesus
is contentious.
Even as an infant,
people realized
he is powerful.
He is the one
who God said
inherit,
tried to put an end
to Jesus' life
before it could even
get started.
But God's plans
would go for it.
Jesus and his family
would escape away
before Herod's wrath
was felt
upon the innocent children.
As we move back
into Jeremiah 31,
the next thing
that we see
is Ephraim's repentance.
And this section
is written
like Ephraim,
the Tim tribes,
is speaking.
And in verse 19,
it says,
For I have turned away.
I relented
after I was instructed.
I struck my thigh.
I was ashamed.
And I was confounded.
The use here
of I struck my thigh
that is translated
by the New Living Translation
as I kicked myself
for my stupidity.
Which is a good feel
of what that striking
of the thigh
is supposed to mean.
It's kicking yourself
for your own stupidity.
It is Ephraim's repentance.
And we see that
restoration will take place.
God promises
to restore the nations.
And he tells them,
he says,
Make road signs
so that you can remember
the way back.
In this message
of restoration,
an unusual expression
is used.
There in verse 22,
it says,
For the Lord
has created
a new thing on earth,
a woman
encircles a man.
The imagery
that is being used here
is that the women
will guard the men.
That idea
is novel
and unprecedented.
For God,
the establishment,
the reestablishment
of Judah
and Israel
is novel
and unprecedented.
In verse 28,
God promises
to Israel and Judah.
He says,
I will watch
over them
to build
and to plant.
This is followed
perhaps by
an unknown expression
to us.
In verse 29,
it says,
In those days,
they shall no longer
say,
The fathers
have eaten
sour grapes
and the children's
teeth
are set
on edge.
So the expression
of children's,
of teeth
being set on edge
is an expression
to convey
the physical reaction
to a sour taste.
I don't actually
know the English word
for that
other than squinty face.
But we can imagine
a sour taste
and then the physical
response
that you have
to that,
that is what this passage
is speaking to.
And the proverb
that was presented here
is the idea
that children
receive the punishment
for their parents' actions.
And it's actually
mentioned again
in Ezekiel 18.
So this expression
is something
that the people
of that day knew.
So what would happen
is the father
would eat the sour grapes,
but the children
experience the unpleasant taste.
The idea for Israel
and Judas,
they are both
being punished
for generational
disobedience.
They are being punished
not for their sins,
but the sins
that their predecessors
committed.
A good example
for us might come
from financial debt.
Imagine someone
has inherited
significant financial debt.
And they are experiencing
the burden
and the consequences
that go with that debt.
Someday,
they would be unburdened
by another's debt.
They would experience
debt forgiveness.
This idea of
debt forgiveness
is a great segue
into our final section.
As we look at
the new covenant,
a fulfillment
of the old.
In verse 31,
it begins,
Behold,
the days are coming,
declares the Lord,
when I will make
a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and the house of Judah.
Once again,
this is for all tribes
of Israel.
Not like the covenant
I made with their fathers
on the day
when I took them
by the hand
to bring them
out of the land
of Egypt.
My covenant,
so God is speaking here
of the Mosaic covenant,
which is given
in the first five books
of the Bible,
also known as the law.
My covenant
that they broke.
So the people
broke covenant
with God.
God did not break
covenant with them.
The people broke
covenant with God.
Though I was their husband,
declares the Lord.
And the imagery
that's being used
is the imagery
of adultery,
of breaking the covenant.
like breaking
the marriage vow.
Now we need to stop
for a moment
and understand
a little bit
about this Mosaic covenant.
This covenant
that is being replaced
here in the prophecy
of Jeremiah 31.
To give us an understanding
on the Mosaic covenant,
we're going to look
in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy chapter 6
beginning in verse 1.
This is a section
of scripture
that is an introduction
to the Ten Commandments.
So what would follow
this passage
in Deuteronomy
would be the Ten Commandments.
And one of the things
I want you to see
in this introduction
to the Ten Commandments
is that
the connection
that is made.
The connection
is that
the people need
to keep the commands
of God
and then they will
live long
in the land.
They will be prosperous.
This is a repeated theme
through the old scripture.
That in being faithful
to God,
in being obedient
to God,
the people then
would experience
the blessings
that comes
from God.
Jeremiah,
as a prophet
thus far in the book,
would say there's been
a lack of obedience.
There's been a lack
of obedience
for an extended
period of time.
In fact,
there's been such
a lack of obedience
that their land
has been whittled down.
That the number
of tribes,
once,
twelve,
has been reduced
to two.
And now they are
going to be losing
the very final,
last remnants
of their nation
because of their
lack of obedience.
As we look at
this Mosaic covenant,
I want you to see
two things that come
from that.
First,
I want you to see
the importance
of obedience.
And as I read
through it,
and you'll see it
on the screen,
you're going to see
words that have to do
with obedience
in blue.
And I want you to see
their connection
to the land.
And as I read that,
you'll see connections
to the land.
And there's three
of those.
And they are going
to be in bold
italicized.
Now this is the
commandment,
the statues
and the rules
that the Lord
your God
commanded me
to teach you,
that you may
do them
in the land
to which you
are going over
to possess it,
that you may
fear the Lord
your God,
you and your son
and your son's sons,
by keeping
all his statutes
and his commandments,
which I commanded
you all the days
of your life.
And that your days
may be long.
Hear therefore,
O Israel,
and be careful
to do them,
that it may go
well with you,
and that you may
multiply greatly,
as the Lord,
the God of your
fathers,
has promised you,
in a land
flowing with milk
and honey.
Milk and honey
is a reference
to fertile land.
The people,
however,
God's people,
have broke covenant.
covenant.
Verse 32,
a reminder,
it says,
my covenant
that they broke.
That covenant,
that they would
keep the commands
of God,
live long in the land.
It's perhaps
an oversimplification
of that covenant,
but it's somewhat
accurate,
I think an accurate
representation of that.
The people broke
covenant with God
through their
generational disobedience.
But there is a new
covenant coming.
This is going to be
God's solution
to this problem.
The breaking of the
covenant,
God says,
I've got a solution.
In verse 31,
he says,
I will make a new
covenant with the
house of Israel
and the house
of Judah.
This is an
unprecedented idea.
The Mosaic
covenant has been
in place for a
thousand years.
This new covenant
idea of which
Jeremiah is speaking,
does not appear
in scripture
until the time
of Jesus.
Actually,
though,
after Jesus,
about 650 years
later,
Jeremiah's
proclamation
of a new
covenant,
his prophecy
of things
to come.
The two focal
points of this
new covenant
is that the law
will be written
on people's
hearts
and that there
will be the
permanent
forgiveness
of sin.
Let me read
for us
from verses
beginning
in verse 33.
For this
is the covenant
that I will
make with the
house of Israel
after those
days,
declares the
Lord.
I will put
my law
within them
and I will
write it
on their
hearts
and I
shall be
their God
and they
shall be
my people
and no
longer
shall each
teach his
neighbor
and each
his brother
saying,
know the
Lord,
for they
shall all
know me
from the
least of
them
to the
greatest,
declares the
Lord.
For I
will forgive
their
iniquity
and I
will remember
their sin
no more.
So the two
significant aspects
of this new
covenant.
first,
God saying,
I will put
my law
within them
and I
will write
it on
their hearts.
No longer
is the law
written on
stone tablets.
Rather,
the law
is written
on people's
hearts.
The implication
being that
their hearts
are no longer
stained by
sin.
This
implication
is asserted
as the
verse continues.
It says,
I will
remember
their sins
no more.
The
Mosaic
covenant
brought
forgiveness.
But forgiveness
was continually
needed.
There was
no
lasting
forgiveness.
Permanent
forgetting
that is
mentioned
here in
Jeremiah 31
is a
new
thing.
This
new
covenant
addresses
the fundamental
problem.
And that
is that
sin,
that sin
is the
barrier
to God.
So this
new covenant
will address
that fundamental
problem of
sin.
And one
person finally
resolves that
sin barrier.
That person
is Jesus
Christ.
And he is
able to do
that because
he lives a
sinful life.
He dies a
substitutionary
death,
meaning that
Jesus died
for other
people and
took their
punishment.
This new
covenant
promised here
in Jeremiah
31 is
explained
more in
the book
of Hebrews.
The book
of Hebrews
is a
New Testament
book written
about 30
years after
Jesus'
resurrection.
This book
is written
about 650
years after
Jeremiah.
Let's take
a look at
Hebrews so
we can get
an idea of
how this
new covenant
idea mentioned
in Jeremiah
centuries before
the time of
Jesus is
then applied
to him.
We're going
to be in
Hebrews
chapter 10
beginning in
verse 11.
What we're
going to see
is that
Jesus,
or Christ
as he is
called in
this passage,
that Jesus'
sacrifices
once for
all time.
And every
priest stands
daily at his
service offering
repeatedly the
same sacrifices
which can
never take
away sins.
So the
Mosaic
covenant
required many
sacrifices which
were continually
repeated.
These sacrifices
acknowledged but
did not resolve
the problem of
sin.
They were like
bailing water
out of a
leaking boat.
The sacrifices
help but they
don't solve
the fundamental
problem.
But when
Christ had
offered for
all time a
single sacrifice
for sins,
so Jesus
gave himself
as a
sacrifice,
dying on
the cross
for our
sin,
his sacrifice
was for
all time,
having eternal
efficacy.
He, that
being Jesus,
he sat down
at the right
hand of God
waiting for
that time
until his
enemy should
be made a
footstool for
his feet.
For by a
single offering
he has
perfected for
all time
those who
are being
sanctified.
So through
the sacrificial
death and
resurrection of
Jesus, the
permanent
dismantling of
sin occurs.
We're going to
continue on in
the book of
Hebrews.
This section
quotes exactly
from Jeremiah
31.
And the
Holy Spirit
also bears
witness to
us for
after saying
this is the
covenant that
I will make
with them and
after those
days declares
the Lord,
I will put
my law on
their hearts
and write
them on
their minds.
And then he
adds, I
will remember
their sins
and their
lawless deeds
no more.
We continue
on in the
book of
Hebrews as
now looks at
the issue of
people's hearts.
This brings
clarity from
the first aspect
of the new
covenant that
the law will
be written on
people's hearts
with the sin
barrier removed
through the
work of Jesus
Christ.
New hearts
unstained by
sin.
are available.
Where there
is forgiveness
of these,
that being
sins,
there is no
longer any
offering for
sin.
Therefore,
brothers,
since we have
confidence to
enter the
holy places
by the blood
of Jesus,
by the new
and living
way that he
opened for
us through
the curtain,
that is his
flesh.
So the
passage speaks
about the
temple area,
which was
restricted to
everyone but
the high
piece.
But through
the work of
Jesus,
this restricted
area is now
accessible.
So the idea
of being opened
for us through
a curtain,
this is a
physical example
that provides a
figurative
illustration to
play,
to explain this
new reality,
that God and
his people are
no longer
separated.
we continue
on.
And since we
have a great
priest over
the house of
God, let us
draw near with
a true heart
in full assurance
of faith,
with our hearts
beacled clean
from an evil
conscience,
and our bodies
washed with
pure water.
True hearts,
clean hearts,
washed with
pure water.
one of the
things I want
us to think
about is
that many
people struggle
with accepting
the reality
of sin.
They believe
in the innate
goodness of
people.
This might be
especially true
for parents with
young children
who see their
innocent child
before them.
They can't
imagine that
that child might
be a sinner.
sinner.
But one of the
things that
scripture teaches
us is that
we are all
by nature
children of
wrath.
We are all
by nature's
sinner.
And Jesus
serves to
come and
take away
the effect of
sin upon us.
He relieves
us from the
curse that has
come through
creation and
has come upon
us through
the effects
of our
own sin.
When we
fail to
account for
sin, when we
fail to see
the reality
of sin,
then we
dismiss the
work that
Jesus Christ
has done for
us.
We fail to
see the
great love
that he
showed and
his
sacrificial
and substitutionary
debt on
our behalf.
God.
As we
continue
looking into
Jeremiah,
one of the
questions that
may arise is
this Mosaic
covenant and
its connection
to the new
covenant.
A question that
could come to
us is, why
didn't God
just skip the
Mosaic covenant
and go right to
this new
covenant?
Why did we
have to go
through that
process?
And by
way of
analogy, I
might ask
this.
So Apple
just released
their latest
phone, the
XS.
We might
ask, why
didn't they
just start
with that
one?
Why did
they have to
go through
these previous
iterations of
Apple phones
in order to
get to this
one?
But one of
the things we
see is that
those previous
designs helped
them reach the
one that they
have now.
In the same
way, the
Mosaic covenant
sets the
course towards
the new
covenant.
The Mosaic
covenant sets
the course
towards the
redeeming work
of Jesus
Christ.
But unlike
the 10S, this
new covenant
through Jesus
Christ will
not be replaced
in 18 months.
The Mosaic
covenant, we're
going to look
at how it is
a law
fulfilled.
So the
Mosaic covenant
establishes the
law and the
purpose is to
provide the path
to God.
But to
follow that
path, we
would need to
be perfect.
We would need
to have
perfection.
No one
could keep
this, though.
No one is
perfect.
Each of us
faces the
stain of sin,
the separation
from God.
It affects us
all, except
one, that
be Jesus.
Jesus, the
Son of God,
lacks sin, so
he follows the
law perfectly.
as such, Jesus
is able to
fulfill the
law.
He experiences
the perfect
relationship with
God.
We see this as
Jesus says,
do not think I
have come to
abolish the law
or the prophets.
I have not
come to
abolish them,
but to
fulfill them.
And since
Jesus has
fulfilled the
law, he has
followed it
perfectly.
He provides
the way for
his followers
to do
likewise, to
experience the
perfect relationship
with God the
Father.
Jesus provides
the way through
his sacrificial
death and
resurrection.
So we must
ask ourselves,
have we made
that decision
to follow
Jesus and
say, Jesus,
I want that
perfect relationship
with God the
Father.
I want to
follow you.
I want to
receive what
you are
offering.
Well, to
receive what
Jesus is
offering, we
must accept
our sinful
nature.
We must
accept that
we are
flawed and
at our very
best, we
are still
stained by
sin.
And we
must repent,
we must
turn of that
sin.
And we
must say to
Jesus, Jesus,
I trust you.
I believe that
you are the
way to God
the Father.
I believe that
you have the
solution to
the sin that
separates me
from God.
If that's a
decision that
you're considering,
if that's a
decision that
you haven't
made, take
this day to
give consideration.
At the end of
our time together,
we always have
people available
here at the
front to
speak with
you, to
counsel you,
to answer
questions that
you might
have.
We continue
on in
Jeremiah 31.
And we see
that the
promise is
indeed assured.
Verse 35
refers to the
fixed order of
the moon and
the stars.
And just as
this fixed order
remains, so
God's people
remain his
people.
Verse 37
proclaims that
if the heavens
can be measured,
which they
cannot, then
God will
dispose of
his people,
which he will
not.
Verse 38
through 40
continues in
this idea of
assuring us.
It promises the
rebuilding of
Jerusalem.
And specific
places are
mentioned.
But no,
Jerusalem is
indeed going
to be
destroyed.
God's
discipline will
come.
The people
will experience
God's wrath,
but only for a
season.
Only for a
season.
It's
interesting of the
places that are
noted there in
Jeremiah, of
places that
would be
destroyed in
the city.
The book of
Nehemiah tells
of the
reconstruction of
part of
Jerusalem.
And it
includes a
couple of
these places,
the Tower of
Hanel and
the Hors gate.
The promise is
assured.
God's plan is
not changing.
Destruction is
coming for the
people.
The days of
warning are
Jerusalem will
be destroyed.
But
Jeremiah brings
a message of
hope.
He says a
new covenant
is coming.
This new
covenant is
good news for
us.
Because this new
covenant is about
the work of
Jesus.
And through
Jesus we have a
relationship with
God.
And that
each Sunday
we remember
Jesus'
forging of
this relationship.
In communion
as we partake
together we
take from the
cup of the
new covenant.
Let's take a
moment now.
Give you a
chance to
reflect upon the
message today and
the worship time
today.
And avail
yourself to God
to see how
he is speaking
to you.
Let us take a
moment now of
silent reflection
before God.
Thank you.