The Great Covenant
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Pool Blanket
Rules for vertical and horizontal, which are broken.
Jeremiah is speaking to God’s people who have done the same. Broken God’s laws and placed themselves in a desperate situation.
Living in a time when the northern kingdom of Israel had already been dominated by Assyria, now Babylonia was on the rise and would invade and conquer the Southern Kingdom of Judah during Jeremiah’s ministry.
Although there were moments of hope in Jeremiah’s ministry, most of those years were filled with despair. Yet, Jeremiah was not overcome - because He trusted in his God.
When we experience brokenness or despair we must turn to the God of restoration and renewal.
We receive something new.
We receive something new.
v. 31
Throughout this prophecy, started in ch. 30, Jeremiah has provided a message of both justice and hope.
Northern kingdom went into exile in 722 BC. Discipline for their rebellion. But hope.
The 2 nations would become a single nation again.
What they had broken, God would restore.
But this would require something new replacing the old.
What was the Old Covenant? Abraham & Moses.
You follow this and I will continue to bless you. Reject me and there will be discipline.
As your God who has freed you from Egypt, here are the instructions for life.
God promises restoration.
Replacing something broken. AirPods?
We were prepared for something new.
We were prepared for something new.
v. 32
Jeremiah talks about the old covenant.
God shares the care He had for His people.
He took them by the hand. Bringing them out of their land of slavery. As a husband (master) to them.
“that they broke” So what was the purpose?
The Old Covenant existed to reveal a need and point to a future hope.
The Old Covenant created a longing.
Unfortunately, the Old Covenant worked with external motivations.
External vs Internal motivations. For most people, their jobs vs hobbies.
The Old Covenant demonstrates the weakness of external motivation.
However, the promise of something new, something that changes us internally.
We are transformed internally by something new.
We are transformed internally by something new.
v. 33
Something new, something different is coming. To fulfill that longing.
Torah / Instructions will be put on their inward parts / inside them. No longer something external.
And it will be written on their hearts - their inner person. Who they are when no one else is looking.
And a heart that can be written upon.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
What difference does this heart of flesh make?
The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip.
And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
This internal change then makes a lasting external change.
“Obeying will be as normal and as readily accepted as breathing and eating…All inclinations to resist, refuse, or disobey will have evaporated.” - Walter Bruggemann
Now the relationship is secure. It is a possessive.
They will say, “The LORD is my God.”
God will say, “They are my people.”
The story of Hosea.
Lo-Ruhamah = No-Mercy & Lo-ammi = Not my people
But, eventually, Hosea went and rescued her from her sin and adopted the two children she had conceived with another man.
And when he adopted them, he changed their names. Mercy. My people.
Here we find Jeremiah using the same word for people. You are my people.
As recipients of the new covenant, we are internally transformed and
The external follows that transformation.
We are forgiven by something new.
We are forgiven by something new.
v. 24
Again, we find this external pressure. Someone else has to convince someone else to trust in the LORD.
But there will be an inner knowledge by those who believe.
We have equality in acceptance and access.
No longer do we have to go to a priest as an intermediary but we can pray to God.
Because...
God has chosen to pay your sin debt.
All of it. Every sin. Great sin or small sin. Known sin or secret sin.
Conclusion
Conclusion
And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Every covenant required some sacrifice.
Because of the greatness of sin it required a great sacrifice. Jesus.
By His death, He has covered your sin.
Will you receive the internal transformation that forgiveness brings?