Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.09UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.09UNLIKELY
Fear
0.1UNLIKELY
Joy
0.62LIKELY
Sadness
0.57LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.27UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.87LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.82LIKELY
Extraversion
0.09UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.46UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.66LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Jeremiah 31:1-6, 27-34
From Jugement to Hope – New Covenant
September 18, 2022
Rev’d Chris Johnson
It used to be that you only bought batteries for torches and children’s toys.
At the moment we are
going through a technological revolution where batteries are becoming the energy source for just
about everything.
The way this has affected me recently is a move to battery powered tools rather than the ones you
plug in or the ones that use petrol.
So now I have a mower which has an electric motor powered by a
battery pack.
I can attach the same batteries to a blower, an outdoor vacuum and a trimmer.
In time
I'm sure there will be other tools I will purchase that can use the same rechargeable batteries.
I have
to say these battery tools are so much easier to use than the petrol version.
They start in an instant.
There is less vibration.
And they are much lighter.
A lot of new things are coming with the
development of battery technology.
Today we come to the final week in our series on Jeremiah and the pivotal Chapter 31 and
the promise of a New Covenant.
Read vv 31 – 33
What a wonderful message for the people to hear.
The nation has been devastated by war.
The
leaders have been carted off to the Babylon and are in exile.
As I said last week the people are
wondering If this is the end of the nation.
-They're wondering what happened about the covenant with Abraham and the promise to be a great
nation.
-They're wondering what's happened to the covenant with Moses - the salvation of the exodus and
the giving of the law.
-They're wondering what ever happened to the covenant with King David and the promise of an
everlasting dynasty.
They are asking, ‘Where is God in the midst of this disaster?’
Jeremiah chapter 31 assures them there is hope.
A new covenant is coming.
God has not forgotten
them.
This New Covenant will fulfil and transcend all previous covenants.
God will keep his promises
but in a way the people of Jeremiah's time could not possibly imagine.
It may be like trying to explain to someone in the 1960s that one day cars will be powered by
batteries and homes as well.
That would have been something very hard to grasp back in the 60s.
The
new Covenant must have been something that was very hard for the people of the 6th century BC to
grasp.
But all they needed to know was that God had not forgotten them.
There was a New Covenant
coming.
There was hope.
In a similar way for us today it may be difficult at times for us to grasp the future promises of the
New Covenant - of a life forever with our creator/redeeming God in a new creation.
It's very hard for our minds to completely take it in.
But when we look at Jesus we can believe the
promises are true and we have hope.
For the people of Jeremiah's day the promise was that after 70 years they would return to the
promised land and God would restore the nation.
Jerusalem would again be the capital of the nation.
1
The Temple would be restored.
The people would again have a visible sign of God's presence with
them and a future and a hope.
Look at this in vv 4-6
So God is going to build up the nation again and they'll be able to plant their vineyards and rejoice in
the Lord at the Temple.
I want to point you again to the Call of Jeremiah in Chapter 1, v10.
Remember we were told he was
being appointed to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.
Over
these weeks we've seen the prophecies of Judah being overthrown.
Here now is the prophecy of the
renewed nation that will emerge, the building up and the planting.
And look at verses 27 and 28 where the Call narrative is recalled and reinforced.
“The days are
coming, declares the Lord when I will plant the kingdoms of Israel and Judah with the offspring of
people and of animals.
Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow,
destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord.”
We have seen in Jeremiah a number of passages of judgement where the nation is overthrown and
destroyed.
But now in Chapters 30 & 31 we find passages which speak of God planting and building.
God is planting a new seed.
The people will be restored in the promised land.
But the New Covenant is much bigger than the promised land, it is actually the New Testament.
And
the question in my mind is, In what way is the New Covenant actually new?
V33b “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God and they will be
my people.”
How new is this New Covenant?
-After all Deut 6:4 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your strength.
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.”
-Deut 11:18 says “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds.”
So what does Jeremiah mean when he says, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their
hearts in v33?” Isn't that already in the Old Covenant?
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9