A New Covenant
Notes
Transcript
Salvation By God’s Own Hands
Salvation By God’s Own Hands
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more (Jer. 31:31-34).”
Hope for Humanity
Hope for Humanity
By God Delivering People by His own Hands, humanity has hope.
To the Christian this truth is sweet, but to the proud it is bitter…Why?
Because it requires the proud in heart to trust in someone who is more powerful than them.
The New Covenant
The New Covenant
“ ‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart (Jer. 3:15-17).”
Pastors
Pastors
The Pastoral Standard: After God’s heart.
The Pastoral Task: To feed sound doctrine and wisdom
A Promised Spiritual Kingdom
A Promised Spiritual Kingdom
Joyous Prosperity
“Those days” refers to Christ’s advent and Kingdom (Jer. 33:14-16)
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
No More Ark
The Ark was a shadow of Christ. Just as in the Ark dwelt the Law, so did it dwell in Christ.
A Loving, Loyal, Binding Allegiance to the Lord.
“Jerusalem” refers to the Christian Church (Rev. 21:2; Gal. 4:26; Zech. 2:10-11).
Outward Evidence to an Inward allegiance to God
“My Law in their Hearts”
“My Law in their Hearts”
The Sermon on the Mount is the old Mosaic Law changed by love (Matt. 5-7).
Even Moses could not carry those tables in his hand without breaking them, nor can I do any better than he did.
God’s Writing Upon Man’s Heart, Volume 52, Sermon #2992 - Jeremiah 31:33
Charles Spurgeon
Universal Knowledge of God
Universal Knowledge of God
Primary Application: Israel shall know Christ as Lord (Isa. 54:13).
Secondary Application: All who come to see Christ for themselves as their Saviour, Lord, and God (John 6:45; 1 Cor. 2:10; 1 John 2:2, 20).
Broad Application: All people are able to gather to one faith in Christ (Ps. 2:8).
Jeremiah 31:35-38
Jeremiah 31:35-38
“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 shall the offspring of Israel 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 below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord.” “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.”
God’s Guarantee to His Church
God’s Guarantee to His Church
Note: In this section of scripture, there is a historic reference to Israel literally.
To the Church Spiritually
To the Church Spiritually
Guardianship by the unfailing care of the Lord
And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
2. Security in Christ
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
3. Bound to Christ
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
The Rebuilding of Jerusalem
The Rebuilding of Jerusalem
Literally
Spiritually
Literally
Literally
Jerusalem shall be rebuilt in all its extent, “from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.”
This was accomplished by Nehemiah
Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel.
and above the Gate of Ephraim, and by the Gate of Yeshanah, and by the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate; and they came to a halt at the Gate of the Guard.
Spiritually
Spiritually
Jesus Christ built up the ruins of our fallen nature, and raised up the walls of the spiritual Jerusalem.
His universal Church
Hananel and the Corner Gate
Hananel and the Corner Gate
Hananel means “graciously given by God”
Therefore the building of the spiritual Jerusalem begins with the gift of grace.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
The Gate of the Corner
Christ is the cornerstone in which the walls of both the Jews and the Gentiles meet.
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“ ‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
Now the church is not wood and stone, but the company of people who believe in Christ.
Martin Luther
The New and Old Covenants
The New and Old Covenants
The old covenant is revealed in the New, and the New Covenant is veiled in the Old.
—Augustine
Augustine of Hippo
Gathering Goal
Gathering Goal
In order for something to be written on your heart, you must first desire to be known by the Author and second faithfully trust that the words being written are better than any words you could write yourself.