The Need For A New Covenant – Hebrews 8:7; Jeremiah 31

Open to Hebrews chapter 8 That's what we're gonna be looking at this morning Hebrews chapter 8

Let's bow in a word of prayer Father it is always the joy of your people to gather around your word for any you reveal to us the mysteries of Christ the glories of your redemptive plan

Your purpose is for us your comforts and encouragements to your people And we pray that this morning our hearts may take solace and comfort in your word and that you would encourage us again

With what you have accomplished for us in your son May we rest in that trust in that and may that be our confidence and our joy

Everlastingly we pray your blessing upon this time that you would give us insight and understanding in your word as we look at it together

For Christ's sake and in his name we pray. Amen Well, it has been two full months since we were in the book of Hebrews That's long enough for many of you to forget what book we were studying before We stopped meeting together.

And so we are here in Hebrews chapter 8 and and I say two full months I mean, it was exactly two full months

March 1st was the last time we were in Hebrews after that I came back from Shepherds Conference and Dave rich preached and then the following week

I married off my oldest daughter and Justin Peters preached and we weren't in Hebrews for either of those two and Then the world fell apart and we haven't been back here together since and when

I say the world fell apart, I meant that I Did all of this to you by marrying off my oldest daughter and I apologize for that.

I Lost a tax deduction and a plague hit the country and it has been just horrible ever since Children continue to cost you money after they leave home, but just in a different way.

That's how that works I figured that out now after marrying off two of them. So we're here in Hebrews chapter 8 and it would be tempting to go back and to review all of the introductory stuff that we covered prior to this because we kind of stopped at the end of verse 6 and then

I took three weeks to introduce the subject of a new covenant and talk about the hermeneutical approach that we're taking and the difference between dispensational theology and covenant theology and our how our view of the covenant affects our interpretation understanding of this passage as well as eschatological passages and we talked about the distinctives of all of that and and then we kind of went through all the

Covenants remember we reviewed the Noahic Covenant Abrahamic Covenant the Mosaic Covenants priestly covenant the Davidic Covenant and all of that to just prepare us to look at the new covenant

So there was a lot of groundwork that we laid and there to get ready for this And if if you need review on that all of those messages are online

If this is your first time here and you're wondering why in the world are you just dropping in parachuting into Hebrews 8?

We're not There's been a lot of groundwork laid for this and I'm not it would take me three messages to go back and to review everything

That we covered already. So I don't want to do that We're just gonna jump in as if we were all here last week for the last of the introductory messages to the new covenant

So there is a transition in verse 6 where the author in summing up the previous section comparing the priesthood of Jesus with the priesthood of the

The Old Covenant the Aaronic priesthood He transitions in verse 6 to introduce us to this idea of a new covenant by saying in chapter 8 verse 6

But now he that is Christ has obtained a more excellent ministry meaning a more excellent priesthood

Since he is the mediator of a better covenant Which has been enacted on better promises and there you have it a better ministry of a better covenant

Enacted on better promises and it is altogether better what we have in Jesus that's the way the author sums up all of the comparisons of Chapter 6 and 7 regarding the priesthood the

Aaronic priesthood and all of that And now he has come to the point of reminding us that Christ is better in so many ways

His power is better as preeminence is better as permanence as a king and as a priest is better his work as our high priest

Is better than anything you could get under the Old Covenant? he's that's his way of sort of concluding that comparison and then saying

He's the mediator of a better covenant enacted on better promises. Now if you were a first century

Jew and You're sitting in your your little church. However, they met in the first century in a home or Out under the trees and the the letter to the

Hebrews has just arrived in your first century Church And you're a first century Jew and you're reading through this you would have one

Pressing and preeminent question that you would need to have answered and it would be this Why should

I think? that that Old Covenant instituted 1 ,500 years ago

That has was good enough for Moses. It was good enough for Aaron. It was good enough for David It has served our country our nation our people for 15 centuries

Why should I think that that Old Covenant has been replaced with something new? If it was good enough for all of those men if it has functioned for 15 centuries uninterrupted

Why should I think that something new has come along? Why should I think that something new would be better? You know the old adage if it's new it's not true.

And if it's true, it's not new Have you heard that first century Jew would be asking that question. Why should

I think that we need something new? The answer to that is because even in the

Old Covenant in the Old Testament God told you he was going to give to you something new he promised a new covenant and the author of Hebrews argument is the time and the person and the means of that new covenant have now arrived

So a first century Jew asking the question Why should I think that something new has come the short answer because Jeremiah the prophet under the

Old Covenant? Promised that a new was going to come and so he quotes and you see it there in verses 30 or verse 8

All the way through verse 12 that long extended quotation which comes from Jeremiah chapter 31 verses 31 to 34

So here's what we're going to do this morning two things first We're going to look at why a new covenant was necessary why there was a need for a new covenant and then second we're going to go back into the book of Jeremiah and look at the historical and literary

Context of the giving of that new covenant so we can understand how a Jew would have understood

So we can see how a Jew would have understood the promises of that new covenant what they would have meant to a

Jew in Jeremiah's day and that's what they would have meant to a Jew in the first century in the book of Hebrews day

So let's begin We'll just read together verse 7 for if that first covenant had been faultless there would have been no occasion sought for a second

Now you'll notice that he he mentions that there were faults with the covenant It's not that the covenant was false

FALSE or that it was untrue or or bad It's just that there were faults with it.

You could say it was faulty in certain terms now we've used I've used the term before a Designed inadequacy because you looked at some of the old covenant in the priesthood and I've said why if God instituted a priesthood

Why would it not accomplish X Y & Z and the answer to that has been under the old covenant and in the old priesthood there

Were designed inadequacies the old covenant the old priesthood were not designed to do certain things that's why

God said there's gonna come another one another priesthood and another covenant because that old priesthood and that old covenant could not do

Certain things and it's not that the old covenant was bad It's that the old covenant was did exactly perfectly what exactly what it was designed to do

There were certain things that it was not designed to do wasn't designed to take away sins Wasn't designed to cure the secure the salvation of God's people wasn't designed to do that It was designed to point to our sin to highlight our sin to show us our need for a

Savior It was designed in order to portray and to picture the Messiah who had come and the work that he would do

But it was not designed to do with the work that the new covenant has done So there were certain faults with the old covenant or as the author of Hebrews calls it the first covenant look in verse 7 if the

First covenant had been faultless. There would have been no occasion sought for a second So now there's now the question comes up What is the first covenant that he means by first covenant because remember there were five previous covenants

There was the Noahic Covenant and then the Abrahamic Covenant and then there was the Mosaic Covenant which is the covenant with the law and Mount Sinai and Then after that there was the priestly covenant and then there was the

Davidic Covenant a covenant God made with David So notice that the author here doesn't say old and new because in his mind.

It's not contrasting the age of the Covenant It's not the age of the Covenant that is the significance of it But the order of the

Covenant there is an order here in the mind of God There was a first covenant and that was to be followed sequentially by a second covenant

So what covenant is it that the second covenant has replaced which is the first covenant which of those five covenants?

Is it the Abrahamic Covenant the Noahic the Mosaic the priestly or the Davidic Covenant? Which of those five covenants does the second covenant replace which one of those is the first that's been replaced by it

He answers that look in verse 9 in quoting Jeremiah Not like the covenant which

I made with their fathers on the day would I took them by the hand to lead them out of The hand of Egypt for they did not continue in my covenant and I did not care for them says the

Lord So here's the contrast between the old and the new or the first and the second the old or the first covenant was the

Mosaic Covenant listen carefully not the Noahic Covenant not the Abrahamic Covenant not the priestly covenant and not the

Davidic Covenant There was one covenant and one covenant only that was intended to be replaced by the second covenant the second covenant

Which we call the new covenant does not abrogate and erase and do away with every previous covenant

There's one covenant that is intended to become obsolete and to pass away that the new covenant will replace and make obsolete

One covenant and one covenant only the covenant that I made with them and they brought them out of the land of Egypt That is the covenant that is replaced by the second covenant

So he identifies it and the the argument here is if the first covenant were sufficient to accomplish all that God intended to do

Then there would have been no need for a second But he says Jeremiah promised a second covenant

Therefore the first covenant was not sufficient Do you follow the argument if the first covenant were faultless if it were perfect if it could do everything that I?

intended it to do then there would have been no need for a second covenant the Lord says but the Lord made a second covenant and Therefore the first had faults it had inadequacies and they were designed inadequacies and the author of Hebrews has been sort of moving this

Direction with his argument for the last couple of chapters remember back in chapter 7 verse 11 He talked about how the

Old Covenant could not perfect the worshipper. It could not bring the worshipper near to God It was unable to do that because the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin and that Old Covenant with all of its sacrifices and all of its accoutrements and all of its smells and bells and the whistles and Everything that attended at the priesthood and all of that none of it could bring the worshipper near to God and perfect them

That is why he says in chapter 7 verse 11 if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood For on the basis of it the people received the law

What further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek the first priesthood could not perfect the worshipper

So there was necessary for there to be a second priesthood another fault with the Old Covenant was that it was weak and useless as the author says in chapter 7 verse 18 for on the

One hand there was the setting aside of a former covenant because of its weakness and uselessness It was weak and useless to do

X but not a B and C When we talked about the designed inadequacy the Old Covenant could do a

B and C That's what it was designed to do and it did it very well did it perfectly it fulfilled God's purposes to do a

B and C but X Y & Z it could not do so it was a designed and this would be like me taking a

Screwdriver and saying, you know the fault the problem with the screwdriver is it cannot turn nine sixteenths nuts That's the problem with the screwdriver.

You said well the screwdriver is not intended to turn nine sixteenths nuts, right? But I could say that that's a fault with the screwdriver, right? But the screwdrivers perfectly designed and does exactly what it is intended to do when

I use it to do what is intended to do That's the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was not intended to do certain things

There were certain uselessness is to it certain weaknesses certain faults that it had the New Covenant takes care of all of those

The New Covenant is also better because it is called a better covenant chapter 7 verse 22 The Old Covenant had dying priests chapter 7 verse 25

Therefore he is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him since he that is Christ always lives to make intercession for them

We have a priesthood that features and a never ending never dying always living priest

Who never ceases to make intercession for us? The Old Testament couldn't provide that the Old Covenant the

Old Covenant was insufficient because of its repeated sacrifices chapter 7 verse 27 Jesus does not need daily like those other priests who offer up Sacrifices first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people because this he did when he offered himself up once and for All one time sacrifice the

Old Covenant multiple sacrifices. That was a weakness. That was a uselessness aspect of that covenant

But in Christ we in the New Covenant We have something better one sacrifice sacrifice made one time once and for all the

Old Testament featured weak priests chapter 7 verse 28 Law appoints men for as priests who are weak and then the

Old Testament and the Old Covenant Simply had things which were mere copies of the things which were to come and we read that in the

Scripture reading this morning chapter 8 verses 4 and 5 They the Old Testament priests serve a copy in a shadow of the heavenly things

We serve as we have a Savior a priest who functions in the true tabernacle of God and who dwells at the right hand of the

Father and Majesty all of those are weaknesses of the Old Covenant and there's another one which we're going to talk about more next week

Well, maybe not next week, but certainly in the weeks to come There's another inadequacy and that is that the

Old Covenant could not did not provide The ability of for the people to obey the terms of the

Covenant There was no provision made whereby the people could obey the terms of that Old Covenant The New Covenant provides that how does the

New Covenant provide it by writing the law of God in our hearts and putting the Spirit of God within us By making us able to obey the terms of the

New Covenant That's something the Old Covenant couldn't do the Old Covenant Just said thou shalt not and thou shalt you do this and you don't do this and yet the people broke the

Covenant why? Because they were unable to obey the terms of that Covenant the New Covenant Solves that problem and you see in verses 9 through 11 the disobedience of the people

Contrasted with the provision of the New Covenant look at verse 9 Not like the Covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt for they did not continue in my

Covenant and I did not care for them says the Lord for this is the Covenant that I Will make with the house of Israel. That is the New Covenant After those days says the

Lord I will put my laws into their minds and I will write them on their hearts and I will be Their God and they shall be my people and they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen and everyone his brother

Saying know the Lord for all will know me From the greatest of them to the least of them for I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no

More complete forgiveness knowledge of God and the ability to obey the law written on our hearts by the indwelling of the

Holy Spirit That is what the New Covenant provides. And so therefore it is a better covenant in every way

That was the glaring inadequacy of the Old Covenant now every time That as we've gone through the book of Hebrews Nearly every time that we've come across a quotation from the

Old Testament We've done something We've gone back into the Old Testament to look at the quotation how it was originally used to look at its context so we can understand how they would have understood that passage when it was written and so that we can understand how

Jews in the first century should Have or would have understand that passage as it is quoted in the book of Hebrews and where we do this for this reason number one

We don't want to be guilty of Taking a text that is quoted in the New Testament and understanding it differently than it would have been understood by the people who wrote that passage or quoted that passage and the only way we can make sure that we understand that the passage correctly is if we understand how it was originally used so we can get into the mind and the heart of the original reader and the original author and see

What it is how it is that they would have understood that passage because the New Testament never quotes an

Old Testament passage in such a way as to Overturn or change the meaning of the

Old Testament passage get that down The New Testament never quotes an Old Testament passage in such a way as to change the meaning of the

Old Testament passage Now New Testament authors might quote the Old Testament to say here's another meaning that is intended by the

Spirit of God in this passage Like a double entendre or to show that there is another fulfillment of this passage that was intended by the author

But New Testament authors never quote the Old Testament so as to change the meaning of the Old Testament So as to say as it were

To the New Testament audience, you know that passage back in the Old Testament They would have understood it like this.

It's not like that at all totally different we're just gonna radically re -understand and reinterpret and and Revise the meaning of the

Old Covenant and the Old Testament in such a way as it has a radically different meaning That's not how the New Testament uses the Old Testament So we want to go back to the

Old Testament and see if we are faithful in our understanding of the context In which the New Covenant was promised so go back to the book of Jeremiah Back to the book of Jeremiah chapter 31

Actually, we're gonna begin at verse at chapter 29. So go back to Jeremiah 29 the historical situation in which

Jeremiah found himself and the original audience would have found themselves in the book of Jeremiah was It's very it's essential that we understand it and that we that we kind of get the context of it

Because it's it'll help us to understand the meaning of the New Covenant as it was promised in Jeremiah's day So we're starting in Jeremiah chapter 29

Now the New Covenant promises in chapter 31 So we're gonna cover chapters 29 through actually chapter 33

Today all the way through chapter 33 and I'm not exaggerating when I say that and I'm not promising you more than I'm gonna deliver

I'm actually gonna cover that entire passage of Scripture because that whole historical and literary context is

Significant and important and I think you'll see that as we bring it all together here what by the time we're done

We're not gonna get done till 4 but at least what we got a lot of catching up to do But you'll see what happens when we get when we get to the end.

It's all done Now here's the historical context of of Jeremiah's day. I want you to read chapter 29 verse 1

Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet Sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile the priests the prophets and all the people whom

Nebuchadnezzar had taken into Exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. I'll stop right there Here's the historical context

Jeremiah lived at the end The visual end of the Davidic Kingdom and the end of the southern kingdom the nation of Israel Jeremiah lived somewhere around 600

BC or just prior to 600 BC till just after 586

BC Jeremiah lived in the southern kingdom and he was a prophet to the southern kingdom and to put all of that in a little bit

Of context you remember if we go back 1 ,500 years to the time of David No, sorry, that would be

Abraham if you go back a thousand years to the time of David a thousand BC a thousand BC to the time of David after David Died his kingdom was divided into the northern kingdom in the southern kingdom

The northern kingdom was Israel and the southern kingdom was Judah and that's how after the divided kingdom That's how they were referred to as Israel and Judah there were two kingdoms ten tribes in the north and two in the south and in the

Lord allowed the two kingdoms to remain in the south because he was going to fulfill his promise to David and so all the

Descendants of David sat on the throne of the kingdom of Judah in the south all the way up until it was conquered by Babylon in 586

BC but the northern kingdom never had a single good righteous King not one of them all of them followed after the sons of Jeroboam the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat Who made

Israel sin with all of his idolatry and his immorality and his wickedness? And so the northern kingdom actually fell over a hundred years prior to the fall of the southern kingdom

The northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians. And so as you go back through the Old Testament prophets there are some prophets who prophesied to the northern kingdom like Amos and then there are some prophets who prophesied to the southern kingdom like Jeremiah, so Jeremiah lived at a period of time where he watched and prophesied over all of the immorality that Idolatry that was going on in the southern kingdom that was the focus of his prophecy the northern kingdom had already been conquered and fallen to the land of Assyria to the kings of Assyria and Isaiah records that because Isaiah was there for for all of that conquering of the northern kingdom, etc

So that took place during Isaiah's time, but Jeremiah watched basically the southern kingdom of Judah fall

He watched Nebuchadnezzar came in and and Jeremiah Jeremiah prophesied and predicted that Nebuchadnezzar was going to come in He promised the people because of all of your idolatry your immorality your violation of the covenant because of all of your sin

The king of Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians are going to come in. They're going to destroy you They're gonna lay the entire city in the entire region

Waste God is gonna punish you for your iniquity and for your sin And then Jeremiah the weeping prophet watched what it was only a shell of its former glory his his kingdom his nation he watched it fall to the

Babylonian Empire as invaders and raiders came in and did exactly that destroyed the temple broke down the temple destroyed the king's palaces and Took people captive from Jerusalem out to Babylon.

That's where Daniel. That's how Daniel got to the city of Babylon He was taken from Jerusalem and he went to Babylon.

So remember Daniel and Jeremiah would have been contemporaries And likely would have lived in Jerusalem at the same period of time

Jeremiah being a very old man Daniel being a very young man, but they were contemporaries. They lived at the same period of time

So now after the city has fallen in 586 BC You might say why did the city fall because of all the immorality that Jeremiah mentions in the first 28 chapters go back

I would encourage you this next week go back and read the first 28 chapters of the book of Jeremiah and just look at the sins that Jeremiah lists

They have violated the covenant time after time after time God says in through Jeremiah Should I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?

after listing their immorality their injustice their lack of mercy the perversion of their priests the wickedness of their kings their national rebellion and idolatry and all of that which

Jeremiah likens to spiritual adultery and he says you have violated the terms of my covenant you have broken it down You have ignored me of chasing after broken cisterns.

You've worshipped other gods. You've offered your children up in the fire things I never commanded you to do you've listened to false prophets

You say peace and peace when God has told them time after time if they will not repent He will bring destruction and they ignored all of that hard -hearted stiff -necked people with four heads of iron that did not receive or listen to a word that God said to them not one and God continually says should

I not avenge myself on such a nation? These are my people and they don't worship me and all of their sin is just piled up to the heavens.

God describes it that way Without number without limit. These people were were idol worshippers and covenant breakers

Babylonians came in and destroyed that they invaded the land and destroyed the nation of Israel Took away all of their best men their brightest men their best -looking men

Took them all captive to the land of Babylon and left everything in Judah in ruins So in 586

BC, here's the question that is on every Jews mind Does the sin of the nation of Israel mean that God has cast off his people with all of our iniquity

With all of our sin with all of our idolatry have violated the terms of the covenant For hundreds of years they had done that violated the terms of the covenant.

Will God cast us off? Because to Abraham God promised a land and a blessing and that the people would be a blessing to the nations and the the nation of Israel wasn't that in 586

In fact, I Jeremiah describes the nation of Israel as a hissing and a reproach among the nations Everybody looked at the

Israelites and shook their head You're just a shell of your former self all your former glory that you enjoyed under David And now all they had was vassal kings who ruled according to the dictates of the

Babylonian Empire. They had nothing They were anything but a blessing to the world anything but that and so now the question on every

Jews mind does this mean we're cast off God not only promised that to Abraham that we would be his people and that and that he would be our

God and that he would give us this land and that we would dwell in this land and Be a blessing to the nations and that there would be a seed that God would give to to the

Abraham through us that would End up blessing the rest of the nations But God also made certain promises to David To take of David's line and sit somebody on David's throne and let him rule forever and ever so that in fulfillment to the covenant to Abraham and the covenant to David Israel would end up blessing the nations through that Messiah that one who would come to fulfill both of those covenants and yet if you if You stood in the ruins of the city of Jerusalem and looked around you would see the king's palace

Laid waste all of the rocks on the ground absolutely destroyed You couldn't point to anybody and say there's the descendant of David.

There's the king. There was no such thing There was no king in Jerusalem. All of them have been taken away and killed by Nebuchadnezzar So the kingdom was in ruins.

There was no king. There was no throne and now they don't even have the land and they're ruled by Nebuchadnezzar is

God gonna fulfill his promise to Abraham and is God gonna fulfill his promise to David or Because we have violated the terms of the

Mosaic Covenant Will God cast us off as his people that?

That is the million -dollar question and Every Jew would be asking for an answer to that question well

God answers that question through Jeremiah and it is in the context of that answer that the promise of the new covenant is given

So let's pick it up in verse 30 Sorry chapter 30 Jeremiah chapter 30 and I've never done this before but I need to do this

Because I'm gonna be reading a lot this morning so I know I'm reading a lot.

It's not funny Chapter 30 Verses 1 through 3.

I want you to notice how God promises that the land would be destroyed now when I look at you I'm look over top like this

Unless I have to talk for a long time, then I'll take my glasses off and do this to point at you And then put them back on I Promised myself

I would never do that Chapter 30 verse 1 the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying thus says the

Lord the God of Israel Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book For behold days are coming declares the

Lord when I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah The Lord says I will also bring them back to the land which

I gave to their forefathers and they shall possess it Is God gonna fulfill his promise to Abraham that they would okay with the

God would fulfill his promise to Abraham and give them the land What does verse 3 say? I'll restore them and they will possess it

That's the answer to this question has God cast off his people because of their disobedience. The answer is no

Is God gonna fulfill his promise to Abraham even in spite of their disobedience and the answer is yes

Because he promises in verse 3. I will restore their fortunes verse 4 Now these are the words which

Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah for thus says the Lord I have heard a sound of terror of dread and there's no peace ask now and see if a male can give birth

Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in childbirth? And why have all the faces turned pale?

Alas for that day is great. There is none like it and it is the time of Jacob's distress

But he will be saved from it It shall come about on that day declares the Lord of hosts that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear

Off their bonds and strangers will no longer make them their slaves. That is they would be delivered from the land of Babylon Verse 9, but they shall serve the

Lord their God and David their king whom I will raise up for them Hold on a second. David has been dead for 500 years

How would they come back into the land and serve David their king? If you stood in the center of Jerusalem, you would see no royal palace.

You would see no throne of David You would see no king and no kingdom. There was no monarchy.

It was over. It was done How would they come back into the land and possess the land and serve

David their king? You understand the reference to David? It's not literal David Looking forward to somebody who was it?

It's the Lord Jesus Christ the son of David God promises they will come back into the land.

That's the Abrahamic Covenant and they will serve David their king That's the Davidic Covenant does God cast off his people

Does he abrogated or tossed away the promises of the Old Covenant under Abraham or the promises?

Covenant to Abraham and the promises to David not at all God will restore their fortunes.

He will bring them back to the land They will possess it and they will serve David their king that is the promise to fulfill all the conditions of the

Abrahamic Covenant and all of the conditions of the Davidic Covenant in spite of the sin of the

Nation of Israel Look down at verse 18 of chapter 30 verse 18

Read together through verse 24 that says the Lord behold I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwelling places and The city will be rebuilt on its ruin and the palace will stand on its rightful place

From them will proceed Thanksgiving in the voice of those who celebrate and I will multiply them and they will not be diminished

I also will honor them and they shall will not be insignificant Their children also would be as formerly and their congregation shall be established before me and I will punish all their oppressors

Their leaders shall be one of them and their rulers shall come forth from their midst and I will bring him near and he shall

Approach me for who would dare to risk his life to approach me declares the Lord You shall be my people and I will be your

God I want you to notice that promise you shall be my people and I will be your God notice that he does not say

You were my people and I was your God What does he say in the future? You will be my people and I will be your

God That's significant We'll talk about why next week But I just want you to notice that promise and I want you to notice as we read how often that promise is reiterated

You shall be my people and I will be your God verse 23 Behold the tempest of the Lord wrath has gone forth a sweeping tempest

It will burst on the head of the wicked the fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has performed

And until he has accomplished the intent of his heart in the latter days You will understand this and then a chapter 31 beginning of verse 1

You see how there is promise here again to restore their fortunes and to rebuild the city verse the chapter 31 verse 1 at that time

Declares the Lord I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall be my people Thus says the

Lord the people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness Israel when it went to its rest The Lord appeared to him from afar saying

I have loved you with an everlasting love Therefore I have drawn you with loving -kindness again. I will build you and you will be rebuilt

Oh Virgin of Israel again You will take up your tambourines and go forth to the dances of the merrymakers

Again, you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria The planters will plant and will rejoice it or will enjoy them

For there will be a day when watchmen on the hills of Ephraim call out arise and let us go up to Zion to the

Lord Our God for thus the says the Lord sing aloud with gladness Jacob and shout among the chief of the nations

Proclaim give praise and say O Lord save your people the remnant of Israel behold I am bringing them from the north company country

I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth among them the blind and the lame the woman with labor and she who

Is with labor with child together a great company. They will return here with weeping. They will come in by supplication

I will lead them I will make them walk by the streams of water on a straight path in which they will not stumble For I'm a father to Israel and Ephraim is my firstborn

Now if you're a Jew who just watched the destruction of your nation These are comforting words, and I hope you're catching that God's promise.

I'll bring you back. I'll gather you back from the north country the east the south the west whatever I'll bring you all back. I'll bring you into this land.

You'll plant will rebuild the cities. I'll restore your prosperity I will bless you again.

You will possess the land you will serve my king David. These are all promises given To the Israelites to the

Jews now. I want you to look down in verse 23 of chapter 30 verse 23

Thus says the Lord of hosts Sorry, we're in chapter 31 Chapter 31 verse 23 thus says the

Lord of hosts the God of Israel once again They will speak this word of the land of Judah and in its cities when

I restore their fortunes the Lord bless you Oh a boat of righteousness a holy ill Judah and all its cities will dwell together in it the farmer and they who go about with flocks for I will satisfy

For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes at this I awoke and looked in my sleep was pleasant to me

Behold days are coming declares the Lord when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast as I have watched over them to pluck up to break down to overthrow to destroy and to bring disaster

So I will watch over them to build and to plant declares the Lord in those days

They will not say again. The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge

But everyone will die for his own iniquity each man who eats the sour grapes his teeth will be set on edge

I'm gonna explain it just for briefly for a moment There was a proverb in Jeremiah's day that the fathers ate sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge

What happens when you eat something sour, you know, what happens to your teeth kind of makes your teeth kind of set on edge

Well, there was a proverb going around that. Hey, we're suffering this destruction, but it was our fathers who sinned For 500 years.

They've been sitting a racking up guilt And now we have to suffer the consequences of it and they're all dead in the grave and they don't have to deal with that And so the fathers ate the sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge

They did the sinning and we're suffering the punishment for it And the Lord says there's coming a day when that judgment will not be like that It will not be that the father sinned and the children had to suffer the punishment for it

There's coming a day says the Lord when judgment for sin will be swift and severe and it will be meted out to every individual

Who sins in that way and so you'll no longer say the father sinned and it's all their sin and now we're suffering for it

They won't say that why? Because in that day in the day that he's about to describe here The judgment upon people for their sin will be swift and immediate and severe and it will be just So verse 31

This is the passage quoted by the author of Hebrews verse 31 behold days are coming declares the

Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel at the house of Judah not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day

I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt my covenant which they broke Although I was a husband to them declares the

Lord, but this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days Declares the

Lord. I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it and I will be their God and they shall be my people

They will not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother saying know the Lord for they will all know me from The least of them to the greatest of them declares the

Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more So what is the answer for their violation of the old covenant?

You did not keep the covenant that I made with the house of Israel and I brought them up at the land of Egypt What is God's answer to their violation of that covenant?

Is it to cast them off? Is it to make them no longer his people? Is God's answer to all of their sin and rebellion to simply say well look, you know

All of those promises that I was going to give to you no longer to you all those promises. I've stored up I'm gonna pour those out on a different people

Gentiles or some other nation or the church. That's not God's answer God's answer is to make with them a new covenant and Through the new covenant

God will end up fulfilling all of the terms of the Abrahamic Covenant and the Davidic Covenant So the promise to possess the land and the promise of a king who would rule in their nation

Those promises would be fulfilled not because they were able to fulfill the terms of the old covenant

They weren't they sinned and they violated the terms of the old covenant but those promises would be fulfilled

God would fulfill them because he would make with them a new covenant and Thus you notice the the promise there.

I Will be their God and they shall be my people again This is future tense for the nation of Israel making them as a nation his people and him being their

God So what is the answer to the question does Israel sin and their disobedience nullify the promises of God Will he cast them off because of their disobedience?

Their sin was insurmountable It was it was horrific and it was not just we need to understand the

Babylonian captivity did not happen because the Jews missed a couple of Sabbaths That's not why it happened.

It's not like they missed a couple of Sabbaths and guess. Okay. God, I'm just gonna bring the Babylonians in They're gonna destroy you and wipe you out.

That's not why they were punished by the way You know why the Babylonian captivity was 70 years Jeremiah reveals the reason of that because every seventh year the

Israelites were not supposed to plant their land They were to leave it fallow and to not plant anything and not harvest anything

They were to live off of the produce of the previous six years every seventh year. The land was to enjoy arrest So later on in the book of Jeremiah God says the captivity in Babylon will last 70 years

Because I'm going to give to my land all of its Sabbaths right in a row 70 of them That means they had been violating the terms of the

Covenant for how long if every seven years They were supposed to give up one year How many of those seven -year periods of time have to elapse before you get to 70 70?

What's 70 times 7 no 70 what hold on? How long had that been going on that violation of the

Covenant a long time? We're talking centuries of them ignoring the commands of God Centuries of them violating the terms of the

Covenant wasn't that they missed a Sabbath forgot to offer a sacrifice Misscheduled the

Passover. It wasn't anything like that generation after generation after generation

Was the most wicked immoral and unimaginable Idolatry it is beyond what

I can even describe to you And you read the book of Jeremiah and Ezekiel and you've got to wonder why didn't

God destroy that nation? Every last one of them wiped them out. Why is there a single

Jew left alive today? When they have disgraced him that badly

You know the answer Because God promised Abraham he would give them the land He promised to David he would give him a king

He promised to Jeremiah give him a new covenant through which he would fulfill both of those old covenants

The Abrahamic Covenant and the Davidic Covenant in spite of all of the disobedience of the nation of Israel God has not cast off his people

Nor has he taken all of the promises to them And poured them out on us We get certain blessings from the new covenant

But God is not in the business of taking those promises that he made to them and now fulfilling them spiritually in some sense

Will God cast off his people actually the answer to that question is in verse 35 of chapter 31

Look at it 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 If this fixed order Departs from before me declares the

Lord then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever Thus says the

Lord if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below Then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done declares the

Lord Behold days are coming declares the Lord when the city will be rebuilt for the Lord and from the Tower of Hanel to the corner

Gate the measuring line will go out farther Straight ahead of the hill of Gereb and then it will return to Goa and the whole valley of the dead bodies of the ashes and of all the fields as far as The brook

Kidron to the corner of the horse gate toward the east shall be holy to the Lord It will not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever more basically the

Lord is saying all the boundaries in the nation of the City of Jerusalem all of those boundaries have been expanded and this they will possess that and I will rebuild that and he specifically gives

Some of the details of that rebuilding and that blessing Does the Lord cast off his people?

Well, if it's possible to measure the heavens and plumb the earth's depths Yeah If you can if you can stop

The Sun from shining and giving light and day and stop the moon and the stars from shining and being light by night then the Lord Who cast off his people?

See these promises are given to national Israel. You know why Israel does not cease to be a nation even to this day

You know why there are no more Edomites and Amalekites and Horites and Jebusites, but we have

Israelites You know why that is It's because of what he says in verses 35 and 36

If you can if you can change that order then Israel stopped seeing a nation before me forever

These promises the promises of the new covenant are given to national Israel. That's what

Jeremiah would have understood That's what every Jew in Jeremiah's day would have understood and that is what we should understand as well

These promises are given to national Israel just in case Just in case you doubt whether God was serious about this or not or whether Jeremiah got it, right or not

After chapter 32 which details Jeremiah's time in prison look at verse 30

Sorry, look at chapter 33. I promised you all the way through chapter 33 and here I'm gonna deliver it It's a little behind schedule, but we're gonna deliver it chapter 33

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah at the second time While he was still confined in the court of the guard saying thus says the

Lord who made the earth The Lord who formed it to establish it The Lord is his name call to me and I will answer you and I will tell you great mighty things

But you do not know for that says the Lord God of Israel concerning the houses of the city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah which are broken down to make a defense against the siege ramps and against the sword while they're coming to fight with the

Chaldeans and to fill them with the corpses of the men whom I have slain in my anger and In my wrath and I have hidden my face from the city because of all their wickedness.

Yes. Sin was real Yes God judged it verse 6 behold I will bring to it health and healing and I will heal them and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth

I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and I will rebuild them as they were at first I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me

I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against me and by which they have transgressed against me I will be to it will be to me a name of joy praise and glory before all the nations of the earth

Which will hear of all the good that I do to them for they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all

The peace that I make for it. That's the blessing to the nation's part verse 9 Thus says the Lord yet again There will be heard in this place of which you say it's a waste without man and without beast

That is in the cities of Judah in the streets of Jerusalem That are desolate and without man without inhabitant without beast there will be heard again verse 11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of The bride and the voice of those who say it thanks to the

Lord of hosts for the Lord is good and his loving kindness is everlasting and of those who bring a thank -offering into The house of the

Lord for I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first says the Lord Thus says the

Lord of hosts there will again be in this place Which is waste without man or beast and in all its cities a habitation of shepherds who rest their flocks in the cities of the hill country in the cities of the low land in the cities of the

Negev in the land of Benjamin in the environs of Jerusalem in the cities of Judah The flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who numbers them says the

Lord Behold days are coming declares the Lord when I will fulfill the good word Which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah in those days and at that time

I will cause a righteous branch of David to spring forth and he shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth

Hold on a second a righteous branch of David will swing forth spring forth You realize it's not

David What is it? It's a descendant of David It's not what he said a couple chapters ago

Do you know that you'd notice that before the giving of the New Covenant God promised two things? I'll fulfill the terms of the

Abrahamic Covenant and I will fulfill the terms of the Davidic Covenant Just as I promised to your forefathers You will get the land and you will serve

David your king Then the New Covenant right in between there and then what has he said now after the New Covenant?

I'm gonna forgive you the land again. I will rebuild the cities I will restore your fortunes and I will cause a

Spring from the root and the offspring of Jesse of David to spring forth and he will do what he will rule now

If you looked if you looked at the kingdom of David in this in this period of time What you would have seen was like a tree stump.

It's dead There's nothing there, but God promised that one would come from the line of David Who would be a king?

And so what does verse? 15 of chapter 33 say in those days and at that time

I'll cause a righteous branch of David to spring forth and he shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth

In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety And this is the name by which she will be called the

Lord is our righteousness for thus says the Lord David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel and the

Levitical priests Shall never lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings to burn grain offerings and to prepare sacrifices continually the word of the

Lord came to Jeremiah saying thus says the Lord if you can break my covenant for the day and my covenant for The night so that the day and the night will not be at their appointed time then my covenant may also be broken with David my servant so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne and With the

Levitical priests my ministers as the host of heaven cannot be counted in the sand of the seashore Cannot be measured.

So I will multiply the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me What has

God promised to do? Establish the Davidic Kingdom, which was then in ruins and Establish a king from that kingdom who will rule and execute justice on the earth

Before the giving of the New Covenant and after the giving of the New Covenant God promised I will fulfill the terms the

Abrahamic Covenant and I will fulfill the terms of the Davidic Covenant Because my covenant with night and sky my covenant day and night cannot be broken.

So my covenant with David cannot be broken God would establish one to sit on David's throne and to rule

Forever to establish justice and righteousness Not from a spiritual throne in the heavens, but the promise to Jeremiah was on the earth

That's the promise has God cast off his people because of their sin. No, oh No, he's just getting started

The best is yet to come If your theology of the

New Covenant Does not have room for the fulfillment of all of these promises

Reiterated throughout the Old Testament right in the context of the New Covenant promises to national

Israel for a land for a city in Jerusalem for a descendant of David to rule and to reign on David's throne and over his kingdom forever to fulfill the terms of this new covenant if your

Theology of the New Covenant does not have room for all of these promises to national Israel your theology of the

New Covenant is wrong You have missed the point God has not cast off his people

He's not taking all these promises and spiritualized them in some sense so that they can be fulfilled in the church

God will fulfill all of these promises How would the Jews have understood the New Covenant?

They would have said we failed We've sinned mightily and we've lost everything as a result of it

But God has promised that he will restore all of that because he's making a new covenant Which we'll be able to keep so we'll get the land and we'll get a king and we'll get a kingdom

Everything will be rebuilt and we will be his people and he will be our God. Those are the promises

If you have a if you have an idea of the Covenant or theology of covenant does have room for that Your theology of the

Covenant is wrong, we'll come back to that next week I want you to focus now for just a moment on the on the promises of forgiveness in the

New Covenant Look at verse 34 of chapter 31 This really is the aspect of the

New Covenant that we enjoy today Verse 34 of chapter 31.

Hope no, I got that wrong. Hold on. Oh, yeah.

No, sorry verse 33 Beginning verse 33, but this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days declares the

Lord I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it and I will be their God and they shall be my people

They will not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother saying know the Lord For they all will know me from the least of them to the greatest of them declares the

Lord For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember no more Now obviously we're not sitting under a messianic kingdom.

We don't have a king ruling over us The branch that comes from David's line is not executing justice and righteousness in the earth

Those things have not been fulfilled. What has been fulfilled is this part? We have become his people and he has become our

God and by that and because of that in the words of verse 34 He has forgiven our iniquity and our sins who will remember no more.

That is the promise of spiritual forgiveness in the New Covenant Israel would have understood their violation of the

Old Covenant But all everything the law said not to do they did everything the law demanded of them They failed to keep all of it and like them

We found ourselves in a similar way before we came to Christ before God made himself known to us and opened our eyes and our hearts

We had violated the law of God We were liars and thieves and blasphemers and fornicators and adulterers and God haters

We violated all the terms of that Old Covenant everything the law said thou shalt not do we had done Everything the law demands of us.

We did not do and Jesus did not come to mediate the Old Covenant He came to fulfill the terms of the

Old Covenant on our behalf To obey it fully so that we could have his righteousness and he would take away our sin

He came to initiate the New Covenant by his blood and as we celebrate communion, that's what we were acknowledging

We're not pretending that right now all the terms of the New Covenant have been fulfilled We're recognizing that we have been grafted into the

New Covenant We enjoy this blessing of forgiveness as an aspect of the New Covenant that has been initiated by the blood of Christ But we like national

Israel must look forward to a day when all of the terms of this covenant will be fulfilled for us and in us

We are his people and he is our God and all of that because of what Christ has done in his death on the cross

To forgive us and to give us his righteousness All the righteous demands of the law are met in Jesus Christ So that if I am in him in God's eyes all the righteous demands of the law are met on my behalf

Because Christ met them and then he died on a cross to pay the price for sin and for sinner

Father we thank you for your great mercy toward us that you have included us in the New Covenant Though we are not national

Israel and though we are not those among whom Jeremiah lived You still have in your wise providence and your sovereign grace

Have intended to extend the blessing of forgiveness to a people that were not yours We're not called by your name that that is us

And so we thank you that we have forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ We thank you for the blessing of our forgiveness and our calling our election of your sanctifying work and the work of your word and the indwelling of the

Holy Spirit all of these are Elements of the New Covenant that you have so graciously lavished upon us and we did not deserve any of it.

We are Idolaters by nature children of wrath even as the rest scripture says we're dead in our trespasses and sins

Hostile to your word and to your law Unable to submit ourselves to the righteous demands of the law and certainly unable to keep the righteous demands and requirements of the law

Being dead and being without any hope and without our God in this world You have forgiven us of our sins and you have called us to yourself

And so it is with great joy that we thank you for this forgiveness and for this provision of righteousness and forgiveness in Jesus Christ Be glorified in us and sanctify us now as we remember that sacrifice and that righteousness and that forgiveness together in Christ's name