Not Leaving the Guilty Unpunished

Jeremiah 31:23-34

Introduction: Last we spoke about forgive and used the story of Jonah. How that we who are christians should not judge who receives mercy and grace, but rather be the example of how to forgive those who trespass against us or those we can’t get along with. The ushers are passing out some sheets that I want you take one and think about someone you need to pray about that you can change your heart about them. Bring those with you on Wednesday night for prayer time.

Now lets turn our attention to the book of Jeremiah as we conclude our series God according to God. I believe this topic needs our attention. We reference the book of Jeremiah as we discuss how the guilty do not go unpunished. We have been walking through the Exodus 34:6-7 and now we are in verse 7. Before I can share that with you I need to prepare the background story for us all. You are going to here two sermons in one. I will also talk about the messiah.Guess this is your pre-christmas sermon. Jeremiah is the only old testament profit who speaks of the new covenant that Jesus inaugurated in Matthew 26:28. ( This was the Blood that was shed for the remission of your sins) Some readers, desiring to celebrate what is new in the new covenant might be tempted to disparage the former covenant, the mosaic covenant. But we should be careful to avoid any implication that there was something wrong in the covenant God had gracefully bestowed on Israel. God never designed the law to Moses, as a means to obtain salvation. Instead, forgiveness of sins has always been God’s gracious gift to those who humbled themselves before him in faith. That’s why we are having this conversation with God about His ways and in our main verse He shows us how that is slow to anger so that people can repent and be forgiven of their sins., see (Genesis 15:6, spoke about how God beleived in Abraham and called him righteous Micah 6:6–8: Romans 4:1–5:2, Shares how Abraham and David where justified by there faith 7:13–25). The law was God's way of pointing out the pathway that believers should walk. Not only that God had a cloud by day and fire by night to lead the way. That’s the problem with the Covenant at Mount Sinai, it was not in God‘s provision, but in Israel’s response. ( Example using your GPS and it having to redirect you)

The Israelites had continually broken the covenant time and time again, God even used priest and prophets to help call God’s people to repent, but any change of heart they underwent they soon abandoned. In the days of Jeremiah, king Josiah destroyed the idols that were in the land. But soon after this godly king died, the people turned back to worshiping the idols of the neighboring countries. The hearts of the people remain unchanged. So God saw that Only God himself could change hearts and minds of His people. Thus a new covenant was needed. The announcement of a new covenant by the prophet Jeremiah would have been alarming to godly Israelites. After all, the old covenant had come from the very hand of God, and had been accompanied by miracles and wonders. But the new covenant would also be accompanied by the miracle of a changed heart and lives. The very spirit of God would enter peoples lives in order to assure their adherence to the covenant and no longer would a priest, or prophets, have to stand between the people of God and God. As the Spirit of God is telling this story, I can only imagine how excited He is to share this good news about what type of relationship is yet to come. The spirit himself will teach the people the knowledge of God a knowledge that would be evidence by faith, by obedience, and devotion to the Lord and savior Jesus the Christ. Jesus fulfilled Jeremiah‘s prediction of the coming of a new covenant through his work on the cross. By his death, the giving of his blood for many redemption and forgiveness of sins were attained While Jesus was on earth, he instructed his disciples in his father’s ways. But after Jesus ascended to heaven, the Spirit of God was poured out on the believers gathered in Jerusalem, fulfilling the promise spoken by Jeremiah. So lets dive into this text by starting at Verse 3

“the Lord speaks, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you again I will build you and you shall be rebuilt, O Virgin of Israel! Do you see that in your text? Earlier in the book Jeremiah referred to God‘s people as a whore as a spiritual adulterer, and now he calls her a virgin of Israel, and this is a testimony of how far God will go when he extends his mercy and his grace. You know when God forgives, he really does forgive. His forgiveness is so complete that once forgiven God treats you as if you had never sinned. Jeremiah 31:34b (Iniquity) is quoted in (Heb. 8:12) says’ And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

I’m glad God does not treat us the way we treat each other. That’s what it means to be justified to be treated just as if you never sinned. So God can look at us with no shame or disgust. Though we’ve gone to bed with the world though we committed spiritual adultery, though you’ve not been faithful to God. Once you are forgiven with the blood of Jesus, God can look at you and say rejoice oh virgin daughter of Isreal.

so let’s talk about the importance of this new covenant

which becomes the new outline for the rest of the Bible, and here are the three parts of the new covenant that really shared over and over again throughout these four chapters, chapter 30 - 33 the 3 new covenants consist of

1. Regathering of the Jews, back to their land, In chapter 29 the Book of Jeremiah says: 14. And I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will return your captivity and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will return you to the place whence I exiled you.

2. Regeneration of their hearts. God will give them a new heart and forgive their sins. The Bible speaks often of the heart. The word heart can mean different things depending upon the context. Most often, the heart refers to the soul of a human being that controls the will and emotions. The heart is the “inner man” (2 Corinthians 4:16).16 “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are[e] being renewed every day.”

3. Reestablishment of the kingdom to Israel. That branch of David will sit upon the throne and rule the kingdom forever. Remember that Jerobiam would receive 10 tribes of the southern parts and 2 would remain judah and Benjamin.(Northern) Jeremiah 30.2-3 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Write down for the record everything I have said to you, Jeremiah. 3 For the time is coming when I will restore the fortunes of my people of Israel and Judah. I will bring them home to this land that I gave to their ancestors, and they will possess it again. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Those 3 R’s is what the rest of the Bible is all about the cities in shambles they’re about to be enslaved the old Covenant was not able to save them, so God institutes a new covenant. He will gather them to the land through the blood of Jesus, he will regenerate their hearts, and one day soon he will reestablish the kingdom to Israel. And that’s what the rest of the bible is all about. Isa. 43:1-7; 18-28

Verse 15 This is what the Lord says:“A cry is heard in Ramah— deep anguish and bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted— for her children are gone.” a prophecy was heard in Rama lamenting is bitter, weeping, Rachel, a mother, weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children are no more. Wow!! that’s tough to read or even witness. Ramah was near Bethlehem, and was Nebuchadnezzar’s staging area where he brought the captives before deporting them to Babylon. It was a sight of bitter weeping, mothers gather there. Witnessing their children, taking off in shackles. This verse is also quoted in Matthew 2:18; A cry was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children refusing to be comforted for they are dead Mt 2:18. this passage referred to king Herrod’s slaughter of the innocent babies of Bethlehem. In an attempt to snuff out the Messiah king Herrod executed the males, two years old and younger, and again Rama was the sight of much weeping. One day God will end their tears. He will replace the weeping of Rama with joy and rejoicing.

in verse 22 for the Lord has created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall encompass a man. Before the coming of Jesus many of the Jewish rabbi’s understood this verse to refer to the virgin birth. One rabbi wrote, Messiah, is to have no earthly father, another writes the birth of Messiah will be without defect. The birth of Messiah will be like that no other man, and the third Rabbi offer this interpretation, the birth of Messiah, will be like the dew of the Lord is like drops on the grass without the action of a man. What this means is that the old covenant did work, because it depended on our performance. So what else had to change? Verse 27

27 “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will greatly increase the human population and the number of animals here in Israel and Judah. 28 In the past I deliberately uprooted and tore down this nation. I overthrew it, destroyed it, and brought disaster upon it. But in the future I will just as deliberately plant it and build it up. I, the Lord, have spoken! 29 “The people will no longer quote this proverb:

‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.’

Fathers have eaten sour grapes This proverb, which also appears in Ezek 18:2, carries an implicit criticism of Yahweh for punishing people for the sins of others. The proverb is clearly expressed refutedly, which means to prove wrong by argument or evidence. in Jer 31:30 with the assertion that everyone is punished for their individual sin. Ezekiel might be quoting from Jeremiah here and expanding on the concept more fully.

The teeth of the child became blunt Depicts a person’s involuntary reaction to an extremely unpleasant taste. Since experience cannot be transferred, the saying implies that the children’s suffering for their parents’ sin is unnatural. Their criticism of Yahweh is later illustrated in a false proverb in v. 25, which expresses that the way of Yahweh is not right. The popularity of the saying here in v. 2 is shown by the parallel in Jer 31:29–30, which also rejects the saying and promotes individual responsibility.

Now that we’ve seen how God operates (i.e., people are punished for their own sins), we can talk about how this works for us. Let me ask this question? did you ever get grounded or a woopin growing up? Did you enjoy it? Did you think it was necessary to correct your behavior?

If you have children of your own, how has your attitude toward punishment changed now that you are a parent?

1. Not all bad things are a punishment from God

Read Luke 13:1-5

Some people are telling Jesus about Galileans who had fallen under Pilate’s punishment

(1). Evidently they think that these Galileans who died were receiving divine punishment for their unusually bad sins, but Jesus corrects them. They were not worse sinners. In fact, everyone needs to repent (2). Jesus also mentions some people who died when a tower fell on them (4). They, too, were not more wicked than everyone else. Everyone needs to repent (5). The takeaway: Not every disaster or misfortune means God is punishing someone.

2. Sometimes Punishment can be natural consequences

Certainly there are stories in the Bible where God intercedes and doles out a

punishment that otherwise wouldn’t have happened.

After David’s affair with Bathsheba, God decides that the baby born from this illicit

union will die (2 Sam 12:14).

Infant death is not a natural consequence of getting pregnant from an affair.

Plenty of babies born under these circumstances have been born and lived a long life. When Ananias and Sapphira lie about money, God strikes them dead on the spot (Acts 5:1-10). Lying about money does not naturally lead to sudden death.

Plenty of people have lied about money and were not struck dead. However, sometimes punishment means we bear the natural consequences of our choices. Having an affair might mean you lose your marriage. This isn’t necessarily God arbitrarily punishing you; it’s a natural consequence of cheating on your spouse. Embezzling money might get you fired from your job.

3. Punishment may seem harsh but it means God is just

Here’s the reality: We never want God to punish us, but we’d be upset if God never

punished anyone. (In other words, we really do want a God who doesn’t put up with

wickedness).

When we read the lament psalms – especially the ones that call for God to give the

wicked their due – we realize that God’s people have never wanted a hands-off God who was uninterested in punishing wickedness.

If God’s nature is good, and his desire is for holiness and purity, God can’t avoid

punishing. Letting evil and wickedness run amok is counter to God’s nature.

Kids will complain about some of our hardest teachers, but they are the ones who provide structures and discipline that they return and say thank you. You know what teacher in your life did that for you. That’s God and he is always with you under this new covenant

Read Hebrews 12:4-11

There is certainly a distinction between discipline and punishment, but they are related and often are mistaken for each other. Here, the writer urges readers to “endure hardship” (equated with rebuke and

discipline – see v. 5-6) because this means they are legitimate children of God (8). In other words, God wouldn’t waste time disciplining you if God didn’t care about you!

Why does God discipline? “...for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness”(10).

The passage ends with a statement that we might make to children, but that we need for ourselves: Discipline isn’t fun at the time, but it pays off! (11).

Closing

Who would wish for hardship and difficulty? You command us to endure these troubles, not to love them. No one loves what he endures even though he may be glad to endure it.

Augustine of Hippo

God's provision for today is sufficient to sustain you for all that you will experience today, for God is fully aware of everything you will experience today. God will provide for your needs for tomorrow, at exactly the right moment, not a moment early, and not a moment late – you have nothing to worry about.

We have endured some hardship, but aren’t you glad once it was done that you went through it. Whether its trying to get a promotion, going back to school to better your life. Or just going through a day chemo to ring the bell to be cancer free. Know that God is with you and thanks be to Him for His daily provisions