Sermon Tone Analysis

Leader Guide ESV, Unit 15, Session 3

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Edited by Rev. Lex DeLong, M.A., Feb. 2023.

Summary and Goal

The Israelites had a sin problem resulting in a vicious cycle they couldn’t self-correct.

The old covenant provided an external law system that allowed a righteous God to be in relationship with His unrighteous people.

But the people’s sin remained a hindrance to their faithfulness and worship.

Something needed to change.

In this session, we will look at Jeremiah 31:31-40, which foretells of a new covenant and projects a future in which God’s righteous judgment against sinners is satisfied by His sovereign work of redemption through Jesus.

Now we live by faith in Jesus for our redemption and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey God’s commands and live on mission for Him.

Session Outline

++The new covenant is [Needed for God’s Law to be] written on the heart (Jer.

31:31-33).

++The new covenant brings about [effective] knowledge of God (Jer.

31:34a).

++The new covenant provides [the means for] lasting forgiveness (Jer.

31:34b-40).

Background Passage: Jeremiah 30–31

Session in a Sentence

The new covenant describes a time when God’s people would truly know, love, and obey Him [willingly from their heart].

++The New Covenant empowers the heart to produce meaningful obedience to God.

Christ Connection

Despite having God’s law, God’s people were still unable to obey Him because of the sinfulness of their hearts.

The prophet Jeremiah prophesied about a coming day when God would write His law on His people’s hearts and provide lasting forgiveness of sin.

This prophecy points to God’s provision of Jesus.

Through Jesus, God offers all forgiveness, and through the Holy Spirit, God enables everyone to obey His commands.

Missional Application

Because we have been given new hearts that love God by grace through faith, we now have the ability to yield to the Holy Spirit as He empowers us to obey God’s commands and live on mission for Him.

DDG (p.

94)

Laws are not new to us.

Systems of laws have been utilized for millennia.

In the United States, laws help guide and maintain our court system with the hope of “justice for all” being implemented effectively.

But from the start, laws have been used to justify the unjustifiable.

For example, the institution of slavery found its home throughout the world and its history: Laws that attacked the unwanted, laws that impoverish people, laws that protect the guilty, and so on.

Laws can serve a good purpose, but in the hands of sinners, laws will always fail us, both for justice and for righteousness.

What are some rules or laws that fail to reflect the ideals of the people who implement them?

(the implementation and management of the social security system, etc.)

Say: God’s law in the Old Testament revealed His perfect will for sinners to demonstrate their love of God and others.

It even made provision for the times His people failed to live up to His expectations.

But for all their effort, God’s chosen people failed and eventually rejected the old covenant.

Something new was needed.

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God revealed a new covenant that would accomplish the redemption of sinners once and for all, something that the Mosaic covenant could never do.

Jeremiah 31:31-40 foretells of a new covenant and projects a future in which God’s righteous judgment against sinners is satisfied by His sovereign work of redemption through Jesus.

Now we live by faith in Jesus for our redemption and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey God’s commands and live on mission for Him.

Point 1: The new covenant is [Needed for God’s Law to be] written on the heart (Jer.

31:31-33).

Read: Ask a volunteer to read Jeremiah 31:31-33 (DDG p. 95).

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.

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 will be their God, and they shall be my people.

DDG (p.

95)

In this passage in the Old Testament, Jeremiah spoke of spiritual renewal of the Israelites’ minds and hearts and of God remembering their sins no more—of a new covenant.

God promised to cleanse His people, to do good to them, and to cause them to prosper.

But why a new covenant?

The problem in this relationship was not with God or with the old covenant He had made—it was in the hearts of the people.

They could not reciprocate God’s love despite God’s faithfulness to them.

Because of the sin of the people, the old covenant was broken and a new one was needed because of sin.

· Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit (Rom.

5:12-21), and God cut them off from full access to His presence (Gen.

3).

Ever since, the results of humanity’s sinful nature have been dreadful.

· The Israelites were caught in a wicked cycle of sin: short-term repentance followed by a return to their false gods.

God, true to His character, was faithful again and again to Israel (Jer.

3:12–4:2).

He had upheld His end of the covenant (Josh.

21:45; 1 Kings 8:56) while His people had continued in their evil cycle of sin.

So God, again faithful to His character, disciplined them in their rebellion.

God sent the Northern Kingdom of Israel into judgment for their disobedience, and just 136 years later, He would do the same to the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

· Because of sin, humanity was not capable of obeying the old covenant regulations.

We needed a new way, a better way, that depended not on what we could do but rather on what God would do for us in Christ.

Ask:

What are some ways God had demonstrated His faithfulness to the Israelites?

(He brought them out of slavery in Egypt; He kept His covenant with Abraham to give his descendants the promised land; He gave them His law; He graciously protected them from external threats; He sent His prophets to confront them in their sin so they would repent)

In our Western culture, we believe all of our problems can be solved if we work harder, study more, stay up later, and rise earlier.

But the relationship problem between God and humanity can’t be fixed by more or harder work.

Instead, God promised to bring about the necessary change in people’s inner nature, which would make them capable of obedience.

DDG (p.

95)

God promised a change in His people that would make them capable of a deep, rich, abiding love with the Creator of their souls.

God would set His law within them and write it on their hearts, minds, and wills.

The old covenant was written on stone (Ex.

31:18; 34:28-29; Deut.

4:13; 5:22) and scroll (Ex.

24:7).

The new covenant would be written on the tender flesh of a new heart.

There can be no loving obedience of the sovereign God apart from His grace-filled, transforming work on the heart.

The very act of the Ninevites’ repentance was confirmation of the sovereign grace and loving mercy of God.

Had He not turned their hearts, they would never have turned.

John F. MacArthur

· A covenant simply means a formal, solemn, and binding agreement.

But biblical covenants are not agreements between equals; instead, biblical covenants are based in grace.

The covenant between God and His people was established so that the stronger party, God, might rain down grace on the weaker party, humanity.

Simply put: God loved His people so much that He was bonding Himself to them although they could do nothing in return.

This is grace.

· Lest we think we have anything to do with this gift of grace, God declares otherwise (see His four “I will” statements in verse 33).

And these promises were not just for the people of Israel.

The Old Testament proclaimed a future for God’s people, a future not realized in Jeremiah’s day.

These promises are for all of Israel, and residual blessing for all those who hear the Lord’s declaration and believe, Jew or not.

Ask:

Why is God’s grace necessary for us to have a relationship with Him?

(our sin has made us enemies of God who hate and resist His love and commands; we rightly deserve God’s just punishment for sin, which is eternity in hell; in our sin, we cannot know God and His goodness apart from His grace to communicate that to us through His Word about Christ)

Point 2: The new covenant brings about [effective] knowledge of God (Jer.

31:34a).

Read Jeremiah 31:34a (DDG p. 96).

34a 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.

First paragraph DDG (p.