I Will Renew
The Plans I Have for You • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsGod Brings Us into Covenant with Himself by Changing Our Hearts
Notes
Transcript
Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34
31 “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,
32 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.
33 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.
34 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.”
Prayer
I’ve said something before in my preaching that we need to consider this morning. Some of you may remember me talking about how Israel’s relationship with YHWH is different from all other ancient peoples. In the ancient world, people invoked the names of their gods whenever they made treaties with one another. They would swear by their own gods, calling the gods to witness the covenants they made and to bring judgment on them if they violated those covenants. That was common.
But what made Israel different was that they didn’t just invoke God in their covenants - they actually had a covenant with God. Obviously, since Israel’s God is the only true God, no other nation could have a covenant with their own god. But no other ancient people would even try to say they had a covenant with their own deity. That was unthinkable.
Yet Israel did. And it’s not that Israel made the covenant on their own and just claimed God was involved. God actually made covenant with his own people. Look back with me to Exodus 19:
1 On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.
2 They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain,
3 while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:
4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.
8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
God leads the Israelites out of Egypt and down through the Sinai peninsula to the foot of Mt. Sinai. We don’t know for sure which mountain is the actual site of the biblical Mt. Sinai, but this mountain here - Jebal Musa - is very likely the one.
When they arrived at Mt. Sinai, God begins to institute his covenant with Israel. He had covenanted with individuals before: Adam, Noah, and Abraham had all lived in covenant with God. But now he will covenant with an entire nation. God has brought them out of Egypt - he has rescued them from their slavery. Now he is going to establish his ongoing, permanent relationship with his people.
He gave them his laws to guide them, including such basic laws that we still base our laws on them. God laid out for them his good plan and gave them the instructions to live long in this good land he was giving them. He poured out his blessings on them and nurtured them through the wilderness. He went before them, guiding the way and bringing them victory to conquer the land.
But Israel rejected God’s laws. They chased after other gods and broke the commandments on which the covenant was based. They forgot God’s blessings and took for granted the good things he gave them. Hosea 4 summarizes Israel’s sinfulness:
1 Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;
2 there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Israel broke covenant with God. The first covenant - the covenant God made with his people at Sinai - was a dead letter. It had been trampled upon and voided by a people who professed with their lips, but their hearts were far from their God.
What is God to do? God desires fellowship with men, but those who ought to have been in closest fellowship with God turned their backs on him. The words of Isaiah 53 were true of God the Father long before Jesus hung upon the cross:
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Israel had abandoned the God who loved them with an everlasting love. God could have abandoned his people. He could have wiped them off the face of the earth like you wipe a plate dry after you wash it in the sink. He would have been entirely justified to do so. But instead, God chooses to do something radical. In the face of such direct opposition from his own people, God chose to deal with the sin problem head on.
31 “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,
Rather than abandon the old covenant, God seeks to make a new covenant with his people. Notice that this promise directly applies to Jews - the house of Israel and the house of Judah. God does not abandon his people - EVER! Though all the world align itself against the chosen people of God, he never abandons them and never leaves them without a hope of a future.
There is coming a day when God will renew his covenant with Israel. Not the modern political state we call Israel - the Jewish people. God will renew his covenant with them.
But God doesn’t just want to rehash the old covenant.
God Is Not Content To Continue a Failed Covenant with His People, So He Establishes a New Covenant.
God Is Not Content To Continue a Failed Covenant with His People, So He Establishes a New Covenant.
He says this time will be different:
32 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.
This covenant will be different:
33 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.
When he made the first covenant at Sinai, God wrote the Law on tablets of stone. This time, he will inscribe the law on the hearts of the people. He will etch his commands directly upon the heart. God is not interested in merely having people do the right thing - God wants them to become the right kind of people. That’s a major distinction. God isn’t just looking for our behavior to improve; he wants to change us from the inside out. When God puts his law on our hearts, he is making us new.
And he does that through the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said of the Holy Spirit:
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
The role of the Holy Spirit is, in part, to write the law on our hearts. He is the one that guides us into all truth. He is the one who applies the Word of God to our lives. He is the one who leads us in God’s paths. Just as the Holy Spirit was active in creation, bringing the will of the Father to pass, so he is present in us today, bringing the will of the Father to pass in us.
When God Makes a New Covenant with His People, It Changes Us
When God Makes a New Covenant with His People, It Changes Us
And there are some major changes that result from the Holy Spirit’s activity in our hearts. First,
We Draw Closer to Him
We Draw Closer to Him
The end of verse 33 says:
33 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.
When God writes his law on our hearts, there is no more “hearts are far from me.” That cannot be true any longer. When God inscribes the law on the hearts of his people, they cannot help but draw closer to him. They become his people - his in every sense. Not only do they belong to him, but they desire to know him and to please him. That kind of bend toward God is not possible apart from God’s work within you. You cannot come to God simply on your own. God takes the initiative, and it is up to us to respond to him in faith. We draw closer to God as a result of his work in us.
We Know Him Personally
We Know Him Personally
A second change from God’s work in our hearts is that we do not have to make each other know God. When God is at work in us, we come to know God for ourselves.
34 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.”
One of the most interesting Bible verses to me is found in Job 42:
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;
What a difference it makes to see God for yourself! Maybe you remember hearing all about God as a child. Your parents, teachers, pastor all talked about God, but he was no more real to you than a country on the other side of the world. But then you met God yourself. He did a work in you, and now you know him personally. That’s the difference here - they will all know God because he will reveal himself to each and every one of them.
And it doesn’t matter what their status in life is - verse 34 tells us that from the least of them to the greatest, that they will all know him. God doesn’t just reveal himself to the well-connected or the creme-de-la-creme of society. He shows himself to all who are willing to see him.
We Experience His Forgiveness
We Experience His Forgiveness
And the third difference is perhaps the most amazing change of all. Not only does God relate with them and reveal himself to them, but he also forgives them of their sins. Look once again at verse 34:
34 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.”
When God is at work within you, he wipes the slate clean. He chooses to forgive us, casting our sin away from his presence and drawing us in ever closer to his heart. The Psalmist says:
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
God shows his love to us by removing the iniquity from our hearts and renewing right spirits within us. He seeks to renew us from the inside out. Are you willing to let him? Will you allow God to make his change inside you?
Pray: Holy Spirit, move in our hearts. Apply your Word, Father, by your Spirit, that we may put faith in your Son.