Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31-34

C.I.: Hang in There ( Something Better is Coming! )

As we saw in our 1 st lesson – Jeremiah's message would begin “bad” but would end “good”!

•  ( 1:10 ), “See, I have appointed you this day to over the nations and over the kingdoms, - to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

•  During the last several weeks – we have seen Jeremiah – pluck up (sin), break down (unrepentant hearts), destroy (false beliefs), and overthrowing (religious pride).

•  Today we will build & plant! – (build up their hopes & plant the seed of a new covenant)!

•  God sets each major point apart – by the phrase, “…declares the Lord.”

•  Four Reasons to Hang in There, “…declares the Lord,” (Chapter 31:31-34)

•  Reason #1 - A New Covenant is Coming, (v. 31)

•  “Behold, days are coming,' declares the Lord , ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”

•  Most of us can “hang in there” – if we believe there is an end in sight. – God promises there is.

•  ( Pro. 23:18 ), “Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.”

•  ( Jer. 29:11 ), “I know the plans I have for you … plans for welfare & not calamity, to give…”

•  Someone has said, ‘It is always too soon to quit!” (true secular: Lincoln, Edison, etc.).

•  Yet this is never more true – than when God is in the picture!

•  ( Jms. 1:12 ), “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial ; for once he has been approved he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him .” (same!!!)

•  This covenant would be “new” – not only in time – but also in quality (as we shall now see).

•  Reason #2 – It will Not be Like Any Other Covenant, (v. 32)

•  “‘…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 .”

•  Notice; this was a covenant “I [God] made” – but which “they [people] broke.”

•  God had made great covenants through Abraham & Moses: ( Cf. Gen. 12:1-3; Deut. 28 )

•  While God proved to be a loving husband – the nation of Israel chose spiritual infidelity – ( 3:9 ), “…she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones & trees.” (i.e., idolatry)

•  Indeed, the covenant God gave had a far greater purpose than the people supposed…

•  ( Heb. 10:1 ), “The law, since it was only a shadow of the good things to come , can never by the same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who….”

•  ( Rom. 3:20; 7:7 ), “Through law comes the knowledge of sin” – “…I would not have known

•  ( Rom. 8: 3), “For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did….”

•  ( Quote Gal. 3:23-25 ), “Before faith came we were kept in custody under the law, being….”

•  Reason #3 – Because of What We Want to Do, (v. 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.'”

•  This is paradigm (explain) shift: (a pattern, model, for a way of thinking): “I could work really hard & teach 12 people about Jesus. Or, I could show 12 people how to teach & reach 144 for Jesus in a year!” – ( II Tim. 2:2 ), “The things you have heard from me in the presence of….”

•  Old Law = they conformed lives to God's will because they had to (cf. Ezekiel 18:20 ).

•  New Law = we change our lives because we want to (cf., II Cor. 5:15 ), “Jesus died for all, so that they who live, may no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died & rose….”

•  The Change in motivation - “Have to” vs. “Want to” – causes our lives to be transformed!

•  Reason #4 – The Two-Fold Greatness of the New Covenant, (v. 34)

•  “‘They shall not teach again, each man his neighbor & each man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know Me from the least of them to the greatest of them,' declares the Lord

•  Under the 1 st covenant (Abraham, later Moses) – a child became part of the covenant at birth –then later they were taught the will of the God.

•  Abraham - ( Gen. 17:10 ), “This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me & you and your descendants after you: every male shall be circumcised.”

•  Moses - ( Lev. 12:3 ), “On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.”

•  Later taught ( Deut. 6:6-7 ), “These commandments which I am commanding you shall be on your hearts, and you shall teach them diligently to your sons, when you sit in your house….”

•  So it was – enter the covenant first – then later learn what you need to know.

•  Under the New Covenant: Learn first – then enter the covenant if you desire!

•  ( Quote Matt. 28:19; Jn. 3:3, 5; I Pt. 1:23; Mk. 16:15-16; Col. 2:11-12)

•  Therefore, those who are members of the New Covenant – do not need to be taught to “know the Lord” – for indeed, they all do already know the Lord, “from the least of them to the….”

•  “ …for I will forgive their iniquity & their sin I will remember no more.” (Scripture interpret scripture)

•  Under the covenant God established through Moses – Israel was reminded of their sinfulness.

•  ( Heb. 10:1-3 ), “The law, since it was only a shadow of the good things to come, can never by the same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. – Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? – But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.”

•  The sacrifices could not remove from their minds they broke God's covenant, I'm a sinner !

•  But under the new covenant – they would get the focus off themselves and their sinfulness – and onto God and His goodness - the great thing God did.

•  ( Matt. 26:26-27 ), “And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them saying, ‘Drink from it all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant which is poured ….”

•  ( I Cor. 11:26 ), “In the same way also He took a 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 .'”

•  Thus, we begin every week – by remembering how great and wonderful God is!!!

•  Review 4 main points – We are now the recipients and sharers in this new convenant!!!

•  Now we can have joy in our relationship w/God – for what He has done, Rom. 8:1; 6:3-4 .