Sermon Jeremiah 31:27-34 A New Covenant

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon  Jeremiah 31:27-34  "A New Covenant"
Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church
September 22, 2019

This is my final sermon in a series called Jeremiah – Prophet to the Nations.  Jeremiah was called by God to call God's people to read and obey God's law.  This was part of a covenant that God had established with his people.  God promised to bless his people with an economic system based on private property owned in perpetuity by families in what was called the “Promised Land.”  In exchange for this land, God required obedience to his law. 

       But political leaders failed in upholding their end of the covenant by refusing to have people read and obey God's word.  And the covenant was broken. 
In 587BC the Empire of Babylon took their land and destroyed Jerusalem and their political system.  The people were taken into exile for a generation or two.  But Jeremiah, the Prophet to the Nations, had some good news for them.  We will get to this, but first, let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification.  Amen.”   (John Calvin)

When Moses descended from Mt. Horeb with the Ten Commandments, he announced to the people of God the terms of the covenant, contract, promise between them and God.  Here is what he said.

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

And so it was the responsibility of family leaders to ensure that God's word would be read and obeyed generation to generation.  Moses put it this way.

 24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”

Kings and governmental officials, tribal and city elders, priests and prophets were all to work together to ensure that each generation read and obeyed God's word.  And God promised to bless his people.

Deuteronomy 7:12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. 13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. 14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young. 15 The Lord will keep you free from every disease.

But this didn't happen.  The King, the elders, the priests, and prophets all turned from God and stopped reading and obeying his law.  Listen to this about King Manasseh.

2 Kings 21:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. 4 He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.” 5 In the two courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. 6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.

With that, the Book of God's Law was sent to storage.  No one read it.  No one did what it said.  And God was very angry.

 12 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.

But God gave them one more chance when King Josiah sent his officials to the temple on an accounting matter and this happened.

2 Kings 22:8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. 9 Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: “Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the Lord and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.” 10 Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.

2 Kings 22:11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. 12 He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: 13 “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”

And that’s when God raised up a Prophet to the Nations named Jeremiah who told them to read the Book of the Law and do what it says if you want to continue to receive the blessing God promised in the covenant.

Jeremiah 11:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. 3 Tell them that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed is the one who does not obey the terms of this covenant— 4 the terms I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.’ I said, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God. 5 Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’—the land you possess today.”

I answered, “Amen, Lord.”

And with that Jeremiah proclaimed to the people of Jerusalem and Judah that they were to return to God.  They were to read his law and obey it.  But the people refused.  They mocked Jeremiah calling him a madman and put him in jail. With the covenant broken and his prophet ignored, God decided to remove his people from the land and end the political system that was set up to ensure that his Word would be read and obeyed.  God used Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon to accomplish this task.  He destroyed Jerusalem.  And God's people found themselves in exile.  Then God sent Jeremiah to proclaim his good news to the people he loved.

Jeremiah 31:27 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will plant the kingdoms of Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals. 28 Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord.

And with that God comforted his people with the promise that they would return to their homes and farms.  They would rebuild what the Babylonians had destroyed.  After a generation in exile, God was unwilling to punish a new generation for the sins of their fathers.  God put it this way.

29 “In those days people will no longer say,
‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
    and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30 Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on edge.

The new generation being born in Babylon would return to their ancestral homes and farms and restart.  But there would be a change.  The returning exiles would return not to the old covenant their ancestors had with God, but to a new covenant.  The old covenant had broken down because the King, elders, priests, and prophets had all failed to have people read and obey God's law.  This political and religious system had come to an end because it was no longer useful to God.  And God needed a new way to ensure that his people would read and obey his law.   So God decided to do two things.  The first was to forgive and forget their sin.  No longer would God punish them for what they had done in the past.  Only what they did from now on would be important.  And the second thing God did was to put his Holy Spirit in their hearts so that they would want to read and obey his law.  The Holy Spirit would take the place of Kings, and elders, and priests and prophets.  The Holy Spirit would encourage people to read the law and do what it says.   Here is how Jeremiah put it.

31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
    though I was a husband to[d] them,[e]”
declares the Lord.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
34 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”

God has promised to send his Holy Spirit to shape us into people who want to read and obey his law.  And God has promised to all who receive this Holy Spirit that their sins will be forgiven.  This covenant was fulfilled on the night when Jesus was betrayed when at dinner he lifted up a cup and said:

Luke 22:20 “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

For all who believe in Jesus and make Him the Lord of their lives God promises to forgive your sins and to give you the Holy Spirit to begin your transformation to new life.  No longer do we need a King, or an Elder, or a Priest or Prophet to tell us to read the Bible and do what it says.   That system is over.   God's Holy Spirit, in us, forms us into a community called the church and brings us together in worship, prayer, and Bible study.   The Holy Spirit uses what we do here in church to shape us, as a potter shapes a lump of clay, into the image of God.  Through this process, we become more and more like Jesus Christ.  We are the people of the new covenant.  Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we accept you as the Lord of our lives.  We ask you to fill us with your Spirit.  We pledge to cooperate with that Spirit by reading the Bible and doing what it says.  We thank you for the love of the Father that we have received.  And we promise to love and serve you and to love our neighbor.  Amen.