Sermon Cloud

August 2, 2009

Jeremiah 31:31-36 “New Covenant”

            God has been good to Israel.  He revealed Himself in the Law to her.  He rescued her out of Egypt and promises to do it again out of Babylon.  Jeremiah’s prophecies take entirely new force when we get to the 31^st chapter.  He is promising something WAY greater than a simple return to the land. Check it out: 31 “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, 32 not like the covenant that 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 that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. OK, so its going to be a better covenant.  Let’s take a look at the old one and then a close look at what the new one will be like.  This is the only time in the OT that God speaks specifically of a new covenant.

What was the old one like?

First, let’s be very careful to say that God’s Law was good.  Sometimes when Christians read the New Testament they can get a very sour impression about the Law and assume that it only is good for showing people how they fail.  It does that for sure, but it does more. 

            The reality is that the Law was good.  It showed them what God was like. It showed them that you must relate to Him on His terms and that He is very different than His creation in many ways.  We call this attribute God’s holiness.  Additionally, He showed her how to respond to Him in the right kind of way and how they should relate to one another as this new humanity that God was forming.  All of this is good.  God’s Law shows humanity the right was to live and what kinds of behavior will dishonor God and simultaneously make us miserable. 

            The problem wasn’t with the Law.  It was with us.  Instead of warm, alive hearts, Israel demonstrated cold, dead hearts.  They would reject God’s standard and pursue what seemed right to them.  This is why the New Testament speaks negatively about the Law as a means of righteousness.  The Law is going to repeatedly show us where our hearts are dead and cold.  The Law is good, but it can never justify us with God.  In fact, if we look for justification from the Law, we will only find condemnation. 

            On top of this, the Law sets the standard, but it doesn’t transform the heart.  It shows what we need to do, but because of our brokenness, we can’t do it and the Law in of itself doesn’t change that condition.  We’ll see that we are pretty indifferent to God.  So, do you see the problem with the first covenant?  It was on our end, not God’s.  Let’s look now to the second covenant. 

What will the new one be like?

33 But 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 will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one 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.” 35 Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the Lord of hosts is his name: 36 “If this fixed order depart sfrom before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.

            This new covenant will give a new desire for obedience to God’s people.  God’s Law won’t be discarded, but the biggest problem will be addressed: our cold hearts!  All of God’s people will know God.  This passage doesn’t imply equal knowledge of God, but that the person that ranks dead last among them in this category will still have adequate and satisfying knowledge of God.  Also, this wont’ rule out the need for teachers, but all of God’s people will have a basic desire already to know God.

            This will be part of the restoration of God’s people (see vs. 38-40).  Like the prophecies of the last two weeks, there is an element of initial fulfillment in a very small way and a much greater fulfillment in the days of Jesus and of His church.  Initially, God’s people do return to the land of Israel and there is a new desire for obedience and just about everyone was one board with it.  Of course, it didn’t last, but it was just a taste similar to having a Davidic leader providing better shepherding.  It was a little fulfilled when they returned with a descendant of David and a lot fulfilled in Jesus’ ministry and in the ministry of shepherds (pastors) that were called and empowered by the Spirit.  Here in Jeremiah 31, the new desire to obey the Law was a taste of the New Covenant era.

            But now we live in much of the reality that Jeremiah announced.  Hebrews 9:15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.  Hebrews 12:24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 2 Corinthians 3: 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.  Getting the picture?  We live in the new covenant era.  The NT tells us how to understand this promise from God announced by Jeremiah.  Let’s put it simply:  If you are a Christian, you’ve been given this new heart for God that will result in a new desire to obey God’s commands out of love for God.  In other words, we need to reject quickly brands of Christianity that indicate that God’s commands don’t need to be obeyed or that make obedience into a sort of optional category.  To clarify, I am not saying that we need to obey to be accepted by God (this is religion), but that we are accepted and therefore we obey (this is the gospel).

What do I do when I don’t want to obey (or love God)

            Good question, don’t you think?  Most honest Christians would admit to some nagging obedience and authority issues.  If this covenant is so great, why isn’t there more progress now?  I think this is the most shocking reality for newer Christians.   We all assumed that God would just handle our issues, but it’s a very slow process, isn’t it?  This can range from apathy to deep doubts that make us think about pressing eject on the whole deal.

            There will be a real new desire for obedience for Christians that flows from our love for God.  Do you have a desire for obedience?  How about a desire for a desire?  For some of you, my hope is that you might realize that all you’ve ever known is empty religion.  You’ve never loved Jesus.  You’ve never wanted to submit your desires to Him because of His excellence.  Turn to Jesus and believe in Him and live!

             Most of you in here have turned to Jesus and you are living, but your motives are mixed.  You are, as Luther said, simultaneously saint and sinner.  Is Jesus beautiful enough to you to pursue and to obey?  Let me say it more directly:  Is He beautiful enough right now to you to pursue right now and to obey right now?   You never accidently walk into Christian growth, it is something that requires intentionality.  Have you become laxed in cultivating your love and obedience for Him? 

            Last, what about if you recognize that you don’t have a desire for God or obedience?  What then?  First, let me encourage you a desire for a desire is still a desire and is a good starting place.  John Piper’s book “When I don’t Desire God” would be very helpful to you.  Here’s my advice:  God is the driving engine of conversion and growth to be sure.  But the Bible is very consistent in not letting us rest with the little games we’ll play on considering God’s sovereignty, like… “I’m not into all of it right now, but until God changes my heart, there’s not much I can do.”  Or, “I don’t want the whole God thing right now and I don’t want to try to pretend otherwise by reading the Bible and going to worship services.  I mean, that would not be true to myself.”  In playing these theological or psychological games, we keep ourselves from the thing that would actually help: The Bible and God’s church.  So put yourself in a position for your heart to change by consistently coming to the Bible and worshiping with Christians. If you are doing the right stuff, then be patient.  This may not happen overnight, but with the Spirit inside of you, it will happen.

            Let’s go together then to Jesus right now indicating our desire to walk in the blessings of the new covenant era.  Let’s submit to His leadership and care and pledge our obedience as a response to His acceptance of us. In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”