Now, if you will, turn it to me in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 31.
And I'm going to be reading two sections from chapter 31 verses 1 through 6 and 31 through
34.
In the book of Jeremiah there have been changes.
And of course one of the big changes is God's people are going to be exiled for their sins.
They're going to go from Israel to Babylon.
But this morning I want to look at another change.
And it's not the change of locations.
It's the change that can take place within the soul of a person.
This morning we're going to look at what is known as the New Covenant in which God says,
I'm going to change my people.
And one of the great comforts we have is that God can change you.
Let's give attention to God's word.
At that time declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel.
And they will be my people.
This is what the Lord says.
The people who survived the sword will find favor in the wilderness.
I will come to give rest to Israel.
The Lord appeared to us in the past saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love.
I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
I will build you up again.
And you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt.
Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful.
Then you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria and the farmers will plant them
and enjoy their fruit.
There will be a day when a watchman will cry out on the hills of Ephraim, come let us
go to Zion to the Lord our God.
And then down from verse 31 through 34, let's continue reading what God is doing.
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.
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 them,
declares the Lord.
This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel.
After that time declares the Lord, I will put my laws in their minds and write it on
their hearts.
I will be their God and they will be my people.
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 remember their sins no more.
Let's pray.
Our Heavenly Father help us to approach scripture today with not only inquiring hearts but grateful
hearts because you have entered into a relationship with us in which you will change us.
And while we may not like change, this change is ultimately for the good.
Holy Spirit bless this reading and work with your people.
I make this prayer in His name, amen.
Now what comes to your mind when I say you need to be in a relationship with Christ?
Some of you may say, well that means I'm a disciple.
True you are a disciple.
Some of you may say, well it means that I'm a follower.
True you are a follower.
Others may say it means that I'm a believer and you are a believer.
You cannot be justified unless you do believe in Jesus Christ.
But in the Bible there is another way of defining that relationship we have with God and it's
called a covenant.
You and I are in a covenant with God and it's been there throughout the Old Testament.
It's been there in the New Testament.
And the way you've got to think about covenant, it's like a marriage bond.
Vows are taken, promises are made.
Obligations are there.
Well it's the same when it comes to our relationship with God.
Promises are made by God.
We have made promises to Him.
It is also like the way our families run.
Everybody has their obligations within the family.
And the deepest relationship we have with God comes because of that covenant relationship.
You read a dictionary and you look up the word covenant.
It's a promise to somebody.
It's a bond and in the Bible it's a bond in blood which ultimately looks forward to Jesus
Christ.
In essence though if we're looking for a biblical definition of what a covenant is, here it is.
I will be your God and you will be my people.
That in essence is what a covenant is.
Our God is the only God we have and we are His people.
We are bonded together to God.
And this morning I want to look at that relationship that you have with God.
Ultimately a relationship that changes us and makes us into something new.
But it is a relationship.
And many people when it comes to church they think the only thing that we offer is just
a set of beliefs.
Those beliefs are important but there's more to it than that.
It is that relationship aspect that we have with the Lord.
And here what we're going to see is that God further reveals His covenant relationship
with us beyond that of what He promised to Moses and the people of Israel.
That covenant is still in effect with Moses but God has changed us in a very unique way.
And that covenant shows us the very heart of God.
And when you think of the heart of God this morning, God's motivation for entering into
a relationship with you is His love.
That's right.
His love for you.
That's what drives that relationship.
That's why there was a relationship with God's people at Sinai.
That's why Jesus came into this world.
It's because of God's great love.
Now I'm going to tell you this morning, there's barriers to that.
There were barriers for Israel.
I want you to think for a moment what Israel was experiencing when Jeremiah tells them
these words that I read to you earlier today.
Look at what they were experiencing.
Oh God, you've made all these promises to us but now we're going to go into exile.
I guess those promises don't mean anything to you God.
You said we were your treasured possessions.
Why are we being treated like garbage?
It seems God you've thrown us away.
Lord, what about all those promises that you have made throughout the Old Testament and
the prophets?
Now what are we doing?
We're in exile.
We are in Babylon.
We're in tears because we want to go home and you don't seem to be doing anything at
all.
We are hopeless.
We are deserted.
We're a wreck, God.
That was Israel.
What about you?
Sometimes as Presbyterians we do stress the logical, reasonable aspects of our faith and
there is a place for that.
But sometimes we become so caught up in that and people will say, well, this is how Presbyterians
do things and what they're really saying is we have no passion for God nor are we interested
in God's passion for us and it's simply not true.
It is not biblical.
And if you are not struggling with that, you may be struggling with the fact that you are
no longer in the Garden of Eden and we live in a world full of sin, full of disappointment,
full of disgrace.
It may occur because you have faced accidents that have harmed you and your body.
Any Christian who have had a severe accident and they're in a wheelchair for life, there
is the problem of age which leaves us weak and none of us can escape it because it is
the decay of our body and we have become limited.
We started out in youth, thought we could do anything we wanted to do but then age comes
in and takes away our power.
And then of course there is rejection which probably everyone in this room has faced in
one form or another.
We are not getting picked.
We are not getting chosen.
We have failed plans as well because perhaps we didn't have enough information and so how
does that leave us?
God you don't care.
God you're not for us.
We feel like we are meet at the grocery store that has been rejected because we don't live
up to the grocery store standards and we're going to get thrown out.
Ever felt that way?
Everything that's what your life is like, plenty of people do and it's a struggle.
But I want you to look at what God says in Jeremiah, one of those prophets where there's
all the gloom and doom and the judgment and promises of disaster.
Look at what he's saying in these first six verses.
There's going to be a remnant.
There's going to be a people who will survive.
And even though they're in the wilderness of their lives, they're going to find favor
from God and he's going to give them rest.
He's going to bring them back to the land one day.
That's for sure.
But he's also going to give them rest for his soul.
Why?
Look at verse three.
I want you to think of the passion of our God here, which is something we don't often
think of.
I have loved you with an everlasting love.
I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
I will build you up again and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt.
And if you go and you study the biblical words here that are used for love, you read the
scholarly articles, they'll all sell you.
It is God's passionate love for his people that is everlasting.
It is no wonder that when Israel violates the basic covenant agreement, it is considered
adultery because one of the pictures we have in our human life of that covenantal love
is the relationship between a man and a wife.
We may think of the tenderness that should be there in marriage.
That's what it is saying that God has for his people.
And it all harkens back to the very beginnings of Israel's history.
And I want you to see what God said to his people in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter
7, verses 7 through 9.
The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous
than other people.
You were the fewest of all people.
But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath.
He swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you
from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.
He's drawing you by his love.
And God has always loved his people.
God has always had affection for his chosen lot.
And look at what it says again in verse 3.
How does he draw his people with that unfailing kindness towards them?
This is what we think relationships should be like on earth because that is what our
relationship with God is truly like.
And one of the most passionate Bible verses in the Old Testament is, it's from my Posea
chapter 11.
Listen to what God says about fallen Israel.
I led them with cords of humankindness, with ties of love.
How can I give you up?
That's why you are in a relationship with God because from eternity past, God set his
affection.
Yes, I mean affection on you.
So how do you see your relationship with God?
How do you feel about your relationship with God?
How do you think about your relationship with God?
How do you act upon it?
Is it one of that love?
Let me ask you this.
Do you think God is passionate about you or you're just one of the number?
It says here that God is passionate towards his people.
And yet some of you have a problem with this idea that God would love you that much.
You may think it is undignified because it's not scholarly enough or presbyterian enough.
You may think to yourself, you are not worthy because over and over again in your life,
you've been told that by people.
Or you may have done something that really is terrible.
But look at Israel, look at all they did.
They did terrible things.
But if you look at verse 34, God says this, they'll all know me for I would forgive their
wickedness and remember their sins no more.
Your relationship with God is one of great, great love.
And I dare say that in this world we can hardly imagine it.
But let me go on a little further and explain this love to you.
How much did God love you?
He will change you.
He's going to change you.
God's love is so great that he's not going to let you go on falling away from him.
Let me tell you why this is important.
Look at the history of Israel.
Lots of people have had a problem of responding to that love.
Adam and Eve, I want you to think about that whole situation in the garden where Adam and
Eve had everything.
They walked with God, they talked with God.
God gave him a whole garden.
And he only gave him one commandment.
Now you get to Moses, you got 10.
Okay?
What'd they do?
They broke the one commandment.
And why?
Really what Satan's saying, God's really mean.
He's restricted you.
And so they fall.
One commandment where they had everything.
And then we go on in the Bible and God shows his mighty work to Israel, bringing them out
of Egypt, drowning Pharaoh's army and destroying them.
And what do they do right after they get up?
Complain, complain, complain.
God's not for us.
We're going to die in the desert.
And God gives them man and quail.
We go on where he gives them the 10 commandments.
And what's the next thing they do?
They create a golden calf and an ideal.
Because they didn't believe nor trust in the love of God.
And in the background of Jeremiah 31, what has happened to God's people?
He's told them what the law is.
He's told them what is required.
He said here to be different than the rest of the world.
And Israel acts just like the rest of the world.
Despite the prophets, despite his word, despite it all.
And so what God is going to do here is going to say, I'm going to kill you.
I'm going to change you all.
You won't follow my good commandments.
I'm going to have to do something different.
I'm going to add more power into my relationship with you.
I'm going to enter into a new covenant with you.
Now don't think here he's getting rid of the Mosaic covenant.
He's not.
But he is going to make some changes, and here's the big change.
Those Mosaic commandments were written on tablets of stone.
But in the new covenant, where are those commandments now written?
Where in your heart?
I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
God is going to change you.
It will be internalized so that you really want to follow God and his ways.
If you go to 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 3, this is what the Holy Spirit does.
You show that you are a letter from Christ, the results of our ministry written not with
ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of
the human heart.
God loved you enough that he changed your heart so that you will now have a desire to
know God.
Same God who was the potter, who molded Israel is now in the business of remolding your heart.
So much so that your sins are forgiven.
The truth of the matter is that God changes you because he loves you so much.
And it's not a passionless love, it is not an intellectual love, it is a desire to enter
into your life by the Holy Spirit to change you.
Let me ask you, do you believe in Jesus this morning?
Trusting in Jesus?
Do you have a desire to follow Christ?
You know what that means?
God has worked.
God has shown his passionate love for you so much so that he wants you to follow him.
And we think of the miracles in the Bible.
Let me tell you what one of the greatest miracles is, is when that Holy Spirit gets hold of you,
changes you so that you want to be with Jesus.
And that is your greatest desire.
Now in my house, I have t-shirts.
And I'm the type of person who wears one t-shirt a week, the same shirt.
Yes, I take my weekly bath to everyone, okay?
I have a t-shirt that goes back, I think, to 1978.
It has holes in it.
It is barely hanging together.
And my dear wife has said, why don't you throw it away?
And I say to myself, no, no, I love that t-shirt.
Amen.
Now, let me tell you, that t-shirt is never going to be thrown away.
I mean, it's not going to go anywhere until probably I'm in the grave or something.
Then I guess you might get rid of it.
But I'll take, here's what God's love is like.
It's like that t-shirt.
In fact, He has preserved us and He does something even better.
He rejuvenates that t-shirt in a way that I can't.
He makes it beautiful again, where the reds are really red and the colors aren't faded
anymore and there are no more holes in it.
That's what God's love is like to change, to protect, to preserve you.
That's the relationship you have.
And you know what that tells us how weird to respond?
It's with love.
Yes, it's obedience too.
But all of our obedience is based off of love of God and love of neighbor.
The real change, though, that has to flow from us has to come from our hearts.
The heart that truly loves God.
That's the response that He wants.
After all, it's a relationship.
A relationship.
That's what God wants from you, a heart that loves Him.
And you know what should motivate us?
It's because this covenant ultimately refers to Jesus Christ.
He talks about the forgiveness of sin and we all know that that's because of Jesus'
death on the cross.
And what does 1 John say?
This is love.
Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for
our sin.
He took away our guilt and our sin and He changed our hearts.
And the response should be love.
Well this past week was Valentine's Day.
And Valentine's Day is one of those holidays that always catches me off guard.
So on Valentine's Day morning, Jen brings me a Valentine's present.
And it was a cup and it's got two dogs on it because we're big dog fans and she's like
us, you know, the two puppy dogs and everything.
Okay, great.
Love it.
I did.
I loved it.
I felt sort of sheepish because guess what I got in her?
Nothing so far.
So basically I need to go to the store real quick and yes, I got it at the present.
But think about it.
Why did I do that?
Because I love my wife.
I want to please her.
That's why.
Yeah, I'm a little dim-witted at times.
Yes, I forget.
I don't pay attention to the calendar.
But you know, that type of response for what someone has done for us, well, that's what
God wants from us.
And think about what we say and listen to every communion service when we think of Jesus.
This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Just pour it out for you.
Pour it out.
It means he died for you.
So what does God want?
A relationship.
A relationship that is marked by his love for you and you are changed so much so that
you love him.
And isn't that what we all want?
Let's pray.
Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ, the blood that flows
from love.
Be with us now.
Increase our love and faith for you, Jesus, because we're in the new covenant.
And we have your law written not on tablets of stone, but on our human hearts.
Amen.