Jeremiah 31:31-34, Believe The New Covenant Promises
1. God’s Promises Are Received By Faith (v31)
2. God Promises To Transform You (v32-33)
3. God Promises You Personal Access (v33-34)
4. God Promises Eternal Forgiveness (v34)
Jeremiah 31:31-34, Believe The New Covenant Promises
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As we look at Jeremiah Chapter 31 this morning, we recognize how good God is here in the midst of a string of prophecies by Jeremiah. Really his whole ministry in such a dark time for the nation of Judah as he is announcing the.
Judgment that is to come, and Babylon that will come and conquer the nation and take people captive.
And and Jeremiah is watching these things unfold as Babylon conquers Jerusalem a total of three times, and so.
So all of these battles are happening and people are being hurt and judgment is being announced time and time again through the Prophet Jeremiah.
And yet God is so faithful in the midst even of those announcements of judgments to provide hope for his people, that he provides hope through some incredible promises.
And here is a.
Good example of that, he announces a new.
Covenant, a new covenant which has incredible implications, which is incredibly encouraging for the people of Judah at the time of Jeremiah, but also impactful and hugely important for all people today as well.
This new covenant supersedes the old.
Covenant and what is a covenant?
Well, sometimes we compare it to a contract or an agreement and it has some parallels with that.
But this morning, I would encourage you to think about a covenant in this way.
A covenant is a collection of promises.
A covenant is a collection.
Of promises, and very often a covenant will involve promises on multiple sides as parties come together and each one declares the promises that they are making in that arrangement in that agreement.
In the new Covenant, the promises are primarily from God to his people.
And he asks very little of us, in contrast to the old covenant, which we'll see as we work our way through.
And so this collection of promises includes for us some incredible things to grasp, hold of, and to believe in what God has told us.
God has a collection of promises for you.
And he calls you to consider them this morning.
And so I've titled the message believe the New Covenant promises.
Believe the new covenant.
It promises throughout time God is always related to his people through covenants.
You can see this with Noah as he instituted that covenant that he would never again flood the Earth.
Give it a sign of the the rainbow to really authenticate and remind us of that covenant that he made.
He made covenants with Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob, with David where God is promising on his end.
To fulfill his word and to bless his people to work in their lives and to bring about a good, finished work in them.
But we also have the old covenant, the covenant that God made with the Nation of Israel at Mount Sinai, where they heard the law of God delivered.
2 Moses there on Mount Sinai brought down to the people.
The people heard those words, read to them, and then they agreed.
They fulfilled their side, or at least declared they would fulfill their side of the covenant, and they promised to keep the law of God and to do everything that God had said.
But that old covenant, there is some issues with it.
Not with the covenant, not with the promises of God, but with the people who were unable to keep their side of the agreement and to follow the law of God completely.
And so the Lord decided.
He knew in advance, of course, but he announced this new covenant promised here in the Old Testament, fulfilled and outlined and detailed in the New Testament.
This new covenant is active now, promised before and.
It's what we have opportunity to walk in and live in, if we will believe so, believe the new covenant promises 4 points we'll walk through in these promises, looking at them and considering this passage this morning, we're going to start out in verse 31. Here's point number one. God promises are received.
By faith, before we get into actual promises and considering what it is that God has promised to us in this covenant, we need to 1st of.
All be reminded.
How we receive those promises and how those promises are fulfilled in our lives. Verse 31 says the day is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.
Here God introduces and announces this idea of.
A new covenant?
It has been alluded to and mentioned by various prophets up to the time of Jeremiah and a little bit after the time of Jeremiah mentioned and discussed in different ways.
But here it is clearly introduced as a new covenant, as a replacement to the old Covenant, and it's.
A covenant that God has made specifically with Israel and Judah.
Before we get into all of the promises that are here and available to us, we need to understand some very important things about this covenant.
And so here here's a.
Quick list of some things to consider here in verse 31. The covenant that God made. This new covenant is with Israel and Judah.
In verse 31, again it says it's a covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. Verse 33 he goes on to say. But this new covenant will make with the people of Israel and so God reiterates this point that this new covenant is not just.
Meant to be with mankind generally at this point, but it is specifically addressed to the nation of Israel, which is important again considering where Jeremiah is at in the midst of the nation that is about to be devoured and conquered by Babylon.
God is.
Making it clear to them he is not finished with them, although the outlook is bleak.
Although it looks like they are right on the verge of extinction.
God is making it clear I'm not done.
I have a new covenant in store for this people.
In just a few verses, verse 35, the Lord goes on to say it is the Lord who provides the sun to light the day in the moon, and stars to light the night, and who stirs the sea into roaring waves.
His name is the Lord of Heavens armies, and this is what he says.
I am as likely to reject my people, Israel, as I am to abolish.
The laws of nature, God says.
Look at the sun, look at the stars, look.
At the moon.
As long as those things are still there, as long as those things are still in operation, you can rest assured I have not rejected my people Israel.
The apostle Paul goes to great detail in this point as well in the Book of Romans chapters 9:10 and 11:00 if you want to dig into that further.
But the point here is that God still had a work for Israel, and so he makes this covenant with Israel and Judah.
But it's a future covenant. In Jeremiah's days, he delivered this message. It was not a covenant that they would get to experience the benefits of, right?
Then they were going to have to wait some time. There was going to be a delay, and then the covenant would be instituted, he says in verse 31. The day is.
So the day is not yet for this covenant as Jeremiah is delivering this message, but the day is coming and when will this happen?
This will take place for the nation of Israel during the tribulation period and at the return of Jesus Christ.
As you consider the future that God has outlined for us, we live in the church age right now.
The present time there is coming up on the world, seven years of great Tribulation.
Where the wrath of God will be poured out, but at the end of that Jesus will return. The second coming of Christ establish his Kingdom for 1000 years. We call that the.
Millennium and then beyond that will enter into eternity.
And so it's during that tribulation period when the Jewish people as a nation realize what they have done in rejecting Jesus as the Messiah and in realizing that they will mourn.
Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10 tells us that they will suddenly realize.
That Jesus is the one that God had promised all along, and they will come to him with humility, with mourning, having neglected and rejected him previously.
But but that will be when they as a whole, as a nation.
Turn to the Lord and get to experience all of the things that God has promised here in this covenant, as recorded here in Jeremiah Chapter 31.
And so it is a future covenant for the Nation of Israel. It was future in Jeremiah's day, and it is future in our day in regards to the nation of Israel.
But of course it is also present in our day in regards to us personally and we'll get to that in a second.
And finally, it's a new covenant.
The Old covenant was found to be lacking again, not because of some deficiency on the law or some deficiency on God's part. But humanity could not, would not, did not keep the law of God.
And the reality is the old covenant was designed from the beginning to be.
Pray God never intended that as the final solution for his relationship with humanity.
It was the interim covenant that he made.
In the meantime, until the Savior comes, here is the way that we will operate.
And here is the promises that I have for you and how we will have our relationship.
And so it's a new covenant that is now permanent and replaces the old covenant.
But looking at these things should kind of beg the question.
So why do we care about it?
This is a covenant with.
Israel and Judah.
This is a covenant that seems to have future fulfillment.
Why are we concerned with it?
What does it matter to us today?
Well, the reason why we're concerned with it, of course, is because.
This new covenant, announced here in Jeremiah 31, was taken up by Jesus and extended to all humanity through his work for us upon the cross Jesus and instituting communion.
Reference to this idea of a new covenant in Luke, Chapter 22, verse 19. He took some of the bread and gave thanks to God for it.
Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, this is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
After supper he took another cup of wine and said this cup is the new covenant between God and his people, and agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.
And so this institution of communion is centered around this whole concept of this new covenant that is announced here by the Lord in Jeremiah Chapter 31.
It happens today that we are partaking of communion at the end of service.
So if you are watching online, you can prepare some communion elements and partake with us at the end.
But, but we.
We we we do this regularly.
We do this as the Lord instructed us to, to remember this new covenant.
And so, yes, primarily it is a covenant with.
Israel and.
Judah and yet, as Paul explains in the Book of Romans, we have been grafted in by faith in Jesus Christ to that covenant and we get to receive the benefits of it and and experience the promises that God has made in this new covenant and so a covenant with Israel, but it's extended too.
All who believe in Jesus.
It's a future covenant for the Nation of Israel, but it's available now for each person who will believe.
And it's a new covenant, different in nature.
It's based on faith in God to fulfill his promises, not on our performance and our keeping of the law, but on the Lord in what he has accomplished for us at the cross, finishing the work on our behalf and giving us access to.
And so we need to understand this morning as we talk about this new covenant, that it does apply to us.
It is for us there are yet future elements that apply specifically to the nation of Israel.
But there is so much for us today that God has promised in this new covenant, and we to receive these promises, we need to approach God by faith.
This is important to remember.
Because many people try to relate to God.
With old covenant ideas, even today there is a tendency I think in our hearts and in our nature to kind of divert back, to revert back to religious ritual type relationship with God as opposed to faith-based.
Relationship with God.
Paul had to address this in writing to the Galatians, where they had been caught up in this idea of legalism and their relationship to God was becoming performance based.
And you can tell it's performance based when you feel like you have to earn or deserve God's work in your life.
And you can tell it's performance based when you stay away from God because of failures in your life.
Those are good indicators to you that your relationship to God has changed and you've you've kind of gravitated back to the old covenant instead of the new.
Covenant there's a difference in our relationship with God, and by faith, we need to receive the work that God has done for us and the promises that God has extended to us.
Let me read to you a little bit from Galatians Chapter 3.
Paul says in verse five.
I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law?
Of course not.
It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.
He says in the same way Abraham believed God and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.
The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.
What's more, the scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith.
God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said all nations will be blessed through U-verse 9. So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received.
Because of his faith.
Paul challenges us and wants us to ask the question.
When you received the Holy Spirit, was it because you finally rose to the level of performance that you were perfect and flawless in your life?
No God bestowed upon you the Holy Spirit because you believed in Jesus Christ.
When God is worth miracles in your life, was it because you finally reached that plateau of perfection where you had no more room for development or growth and you had it altogether and everything was in place?
No, none of us have reached that plateau.
If God has worked miracles in our lives, it is because.
Because of his grace and our faith in him.
And so he makes the point here that the real children of Abraham are those who put their faith in God.
In a spiritual sense, the children of Abraham are not just those who have the bloodline descended from Abraham, but for those who are trusting God and believing God at his word like Abraham did.
And when Abraham believed God, it was accounted to him as righteousness.
And when you and I believe God at his word.
He accounts it to us as righteousness, and we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
And so all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing that Abraham received because of his faith.
Would you think about that?
I mean you could think about Abraham.
You could look back and and consider the the blessings that Abraham received from God.
And God says those same blessings, that same relationship, and those promises, and that goodness bestowed upon Abraham is available to you, who put your faith in Christ.
You get to share the same blessings as Abraham, God promises.
Are received by Faith. Well, what are those promises that are found in the new covenant? Well, walking, continuing through Jeremiah Chapter 31, we get point #2.
Looking at verses 32 and 33.
Here's the first promise we'll consider.
God promises to transform you.
God promises to transform you to change you radically so that you are completely different at the end from where you started.
Verse 32 says this covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt.
They broke that covenant, though.
I loved them as a husband loves his wife.
Says the Lord.
But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days, says the Lord.
I will put my instructions deep within them and I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God and they will be my people.
God says he is going to do a radical work.
In this covenant.
The old covenant.
Was broken.
Because it depended upon the people to perform their end of the covenant, God made his promises.
And the people of Israel made their promises.
But the people broke the covenant, verse 32 says. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife, says the Lord.
And so the covenant, the Old covenant, was broken.
God was faithful to it.
God upheld his end of the covenant and fulfilled all of the promises that he provided for it, but but the people did not fulfill their promises.
Their promise as they heard the law of God was yes, we will do that, yes, we will keep it, we will obey God exactly the way that he has called us to.
And the promise that they made was not perfection.
Remember, the old covenant included sacrifices and a means to make amends.
And so the the promise was to operate according to the instruction that God had provided, and to come to God with the sacrifice, and to seek the Lord in that way.
But still, it was based upon their performance and they had to keep up their end.
To fulfill their promise.
But they did not.
The Old covenant was broken.
And so now this new covenant is an entirely different kind of covenant, a much better covenant.
The author of Hebrews really spend some time talking about the comparison and the contrast.
Between these two covenants, Hebrews, chapter 89 and 10, if you want to check it out later, I'm going to refer to a few verses from those portions, but.
Hebrews 8-9 and 10 gives us a clear outline and understanding of how we operate in the new covenant. Let me give you an example here out of.
Hebrews chapter 8.
It says.
But now Jesus, our high priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood.
For he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God based on better promises.
If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it.
But when God found fault with the people, he said, the day is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. And so the author of Hebrews here quotes from Jeremiah Chapter 31 to say, Look, Jesus is.
The mediator of this new covenant.
And so it's a far superior covenant with better promises.
The issue with the old covenant was that God found fault with the people.
The people did not keep up their side.
The people failed to fulfill their promises.
But here we have a new covenant.
With a superior high priest.
So it's a better covenant based on better promises.
And what is better about this covenant?
Well, it is not so much based on the people.
On the performance.
Of the law instead God says in verse 33 here of.
Jeremiah 31 I will put my instructions deep within them and I will write them on their hearts.
Moses received the Law of God and came down the mountain and read it to the people, and the people said we will obey.
They promised, and they made the covenant together with God.
But it was external.
The words were given to Moses were read to them.
Here the Lord says.
The New Covenant is going to be different instead of having the words.
Of my instruction.
Read to you.
Those words.
Are going to be written deep within you.
It's going to be internal more than it is external.
God promise here in this covenant is to work deep inside of you.
Now this is really important to remember because again, there are a lot of people who get confused, who look at the old covenant and kind of gravitate towards that.
And many of those who do that, they look to the outward external things.
And so they make promises to people about health, about wealth, about physical things and blessings here in this life.
Looking at the old Covenant and using that as a model, as a pattern by which to approach God and try to relate to God but.
Again, God explains.
The Old covenant is obsolete.
It's invalidated, it has been superseded by a much better covenant, and it is a covenant that God is committed to work inside of you.
That doesn't mean that we do not get to experience blessings externally in in this life.
But that's not the primary aspect of this covenant.
The primary thing and the most important thing is the work of God inside of you, not the work of God on the external side of this life.
And the ultimate fulfillment of all of these promises that God gives for health and blessing and and goodness is in eternity.
But what God seeking to accomplish in this covenant is not so much on the outside, it's on the inside.
In the old covenant, the Nation of Israel was promised national blessing.
As the nation of held the Covenant have held their promise to the Lord, the nation would experience national blessing, and there's a difference between national and personal.
In the new covenant, God says it's going to be personal.
And it's going to be internal.
You you know the difference.
Between external and internal, right?
You know the difference and you can tell the difference.
And in different activities, when there's something that you do because you want to that's different than something that there's that you do because you know you have to.
You approach it differently, your mindset, your attitude, your heart about it.
Is different when it's something you know you have to do or it's something that you want to do.
It's been often mentioned throughout the years.
Some people have such a hard time waking up early enough to be at church.
On a Sunday morning at 10:30.
But waking up at 4:00 AM to go fishing is no problem on a Saturday, right?
Like, Oh no problem.
When I want to do something, I could wake up early when I'm not so excited about it.
Getting up for work on Monday morning?
Oh, that's a lot harder, right?
There's a difference.
There is the things that we do because there is this external expectation and pressure and we know we have to do certain things, but there are certain things that we are motivated.
To do because it's internal to us and we have a burden within and a passion for and so we can even extend ourselves in in much more sacrifice because we're so willing and excited internally.
This is what God is saying.
This is his new covenant.
He promises to do a work.
Deep within.
To put his instructions in our hearts in a in a way that we are not forced to follow God and we do it begrudgingly because it's such a, you know, important thing, and if we don't, then we are out of heaven.
No, no, it's because he has stirred up within us and written upon our hearts, his word, his.
Instruction and we willingly, joyfully respond.
And even sacrificing greatly to follow the instruction of God because of the change that he has made within.
I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts.
The commentator Phillip Reichen says obedience to the law is not a prior condition for entering the new covenant.
Rather, it is one of the promised blessings of the New Covenant.
When you are relating to God in this new covenant by faith.
There is a transformation work that God does.
And it's not that you have to get your life together and have everything in order and behave perfectly and have, you know the law in place in your life.
In order to receive the benefits from God and Blessings from God and relationship with God.
Now all of that is the outflow of.
Trusting God at his word, approaching him by faith, as he's called us to.
And he says I will do.
That work in you?
I will change you from the inside out.
God promises to transform you.
And those struggles that were there previously, God promises.
That they will be removed.
Those deficiencies and failures that are there present within you, God promises he's going to complete that work and you will come to a point where you no longer struggle with those things and fail in that way now.
Much of this, of course, will be fulfilled in eternity.
The ultimate fulfillment is that.
And yet, between here and eternity, there is still so much that God wants to fulfill in this that God is going to be doing this work in you.
Paul says this in Second Corinthians chapter 3.
For the Lord is the spirit, and wherever the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord.
And the Lord, who is the spirit, makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious.
Paul here reminds us there's this process of transformation that is taking place.
Also known as sanctification.
The Lord, the Holy Spirit within us, is working, the Holy Spirit given to us as part of this new covenant.
It's how the Lord fulfills this aspect of the new covenant.
He promises to transform you from the inside out by implanting within you.
The Holy Spirit who dwells within you takes up residence within you.
To change you more and more.
Notice it says again in verse 18 of 2nd Corinthians 3.
He makes us more and more like him.
Notice that growth and progression more and more like him.
That it's not a instant transformation that is complete.
In one moment.
Or in one week, or in one year, or in 25 years.
It is a transformation that progresses.
More and more and more.
Until we enter into eternity.
And more and more we are changed into his glorious image.
In this new covenant.
That God, by his Holy Spirit, will be working in us, transforming us, changing us.
From the inside out, it's a work that is in progress and accordance with what God has promised to us.
It's not fully done yet this transformation.
It's something that God continues to do.
And how does he do that?
Well, you need to understand that trials are part of the way that God transforms you.
And puts his instruction deep within your heart.
Sometimes the hardest trials that we go through in life are for that very purpose, to work those instructions deep within our hearts.
Those trials hurt and cut to the core, and it's through that.
I don't know why I'm thinking about this, but I'm just thinking it, so I'm going to say it sometimes.
It's like putting a dry rub, you know, on, on a piece of roast or something.
And and, you know, there's those crevices, right?
And sometimes you even cut it with your knife, and so then you're like poking in there, those spices and seasonings so that you can get some good carne asada later.
And it's like.
Oh yeah, like you gotta get it all in there, right?
But but you gotta.
You gotta go deep many times to to get that that into that deep within part of the meat in a similar way.
God uses trials in our lives, James.
Chapter one tells us that we ought to count it as joy, because that's what.
God is doing.
And so sometimes we can look at trials and think, man, God must be upset with me, he must hate me, he must be judging me.
But really it is God goodness towards us, promising to transform you, he says.
Let me work that spice, rub my instructions in there so that you can be changed and transformed and be some delicious carne asada later on, right that that you can.
Or carnitas really is what I was thinking.
Not garness, although, but.
Trials are part of the work.
That's the point.
The Holy Spirit is part of that work, the fruit of the spirit.
Galatians, chapter 5, Paul encourages us to walk in the spirit.
To be led by the spirit and the outflow, and what the Holy Spirit will produce in us.
His love and joy and patience and goodness and kindness and gentleness and self-control.
And like fruit, it's not just appearing overnight, but it's developing over time.
As you walk in the spirit and are led by the spirit, listen.
God promises to transform you.
I think this is such an important, unnecessary reminder.
Especially for those of us who have been with the Lord for some time.
You know, when you first believe in Jesus, there's a lot of change that happens pretty quickly because it's a new life, a new relationship with God, and the Holy Spirit is at work and active.
But sometimes as we progress in that walk and we've been walking with the Lord for some time, we kind of slow down in our expectations of God and are looking to God to transform us.
I would ask you to consider this morning.
Do you actually expect to change at this point in your life?
Do you actually expect to change?
Some of us have given up on the idea of transformation.
And some of us have just settled into, hey, I've always been this way, I've always had this temper and I've always thought this way and spoken that roughly and dealt with people like that.
I've always treated my wife this way or my husband this way.
I've always had this struggle and we've just settled into that's just how.
I am, and we've given up.
On this understanding of transformation.
It is true that we will not see this fully fulfilled until eternity, but it's also true.
We will see this work progress.
As we look to Jesus in faith, more and more, he's changing us.
Into his image.
God promises to transform you believe the new Covenant promises, believe that don't give up and just settle in and just surrender to.
Those patterns in your life that you even recognize are hurtful and harmful, are not good, and are not of God.
But continue to trust God and to ask God to work in those situations and to transform you and your heart and your mind and your attitude.
And all of those things.
Moving on to verses 33 and 34, we get point #3 this morning, and that is that God promises you personal access.
God promises you personal access to his presence and to his throne again, verse 33 says. But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days.
Says the law.
I will put my instructions deep within them.
I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God.
And they will be my people.
God says.
There's going to.
Be this new work in this new covenant.
I will be their God and they will be my people.
In the old covenant they had Moses as the mediator.
They were at Mount Sinai counter there they saw the presence of the Lord descend on Mount Sinai and the nation was freaked out and said, Moses, you go talk to God and just come back and tell us.
What he said.
We, we are not able to hear from God ourselves.
That is too overwhelming, too hard.
We we are not in that place.
You go represent us.
And we'll listen to you and you.
Tell us what God says.
And so the old covenant.
Was established in that pattern.
In the old Covenant, the people would come to the temple or the Tabernacle.
They wouldn't have access.
To the sanctuary.
Only the priests could be inside the sanctuary.
You guys would all have to be sitting outside in the outdoor seating.
And the priests would be inside, ministering to the Lord on your behalf.
And then even the priests couldn't go into the most holy part of the sanctuary except for one time a year.
And so there was this, these limitations.
And it was a covenant of mediation.
Other people would directly represent you to God.
You did not come to God on your own or directly.
And so now the Lord says, this new covenant is going to be different.
I will be their God and they will be my people.
There is one mediator, but his name is Jesus, who is God.
And he grants you access to the father because of what he has done. Another portion in Hebrews that refers back to and quotes from Jeremiah Chapter 31 is Hebrews chapter 10.
Let me just read you a couple verses and remind us how these impact us as believers today.
By that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.
And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so, for he says.
This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts. I will write them on their minds. Then, he says. I will never again remember their sins and their lawless deeds. These are all quotations directly out of Jeremiah 31. Then verse 18.
And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer anymore sacrifices. Hebrews 1019 and so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's most holy place because of the blood of Jesus.
By his death, Jesus opened a new and life, giving way through the curtain into the most holy place.
And since we have a great high priest who rules over God House, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts, fully trusting him, for our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ blood to make.
This clean and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.
Here the author of Hebrews takes this new covenant, applies it directly to us, and says, look this pattern of the Tabernacle and the most holy place.
That's a pattern to show us that by faith in Christ we now have access right into the very presence of God.
There's no limitations.
There's no.
Mediators that have to go in between us.
There's there's no filters, you know, that have to be in place that that we by faith in Christ have access because of the blood of Jesus.
And so the conclusion is.
So therefore, let's enter in.
Let's take advantage of this access that we have been given.
If I give you the keys to I don't know what do you want the keys to Disneyland? jack-in-the-box wherever you want to go.
If I give you the keys, you have access, but you never use it.
Well, you you never benefit from the access that you are given right in.
In a similar way, the author of Hebrews is saying we have access.
God promises you personal.
So take advantage, use the keys by faith, believe in Jesus, trust in the work of Jesus Christ, and draw near to God and enter into his presence.
And don't let sin and failures keep you away from God, but you can always approach God and dwell with him.
God will be your God and you will be his people. You have direct access to God. Verse 34 back in Jeremiah 31 says they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying you should know the Lord.
Won't that be nice when?
You don't have to teach other people.
Hey, you really need to learn about Jesus.
You need to to know him, everyone from the least to the greatest.
Will know me.
Already, says the Lord, again looking at the national fulfillment.
Later on in the future, the whole nation of Israel will be believers and will know the Lord in the meantime.
At the current time in Jesus Christ, every one of us has this access from the least to the greatest.
And so if you consider yourself the least, or if you consider yourself the greatest.
Now, if you consider yourself the greatest, you might need to go back to .2 and have some more transformation.
Take place, right?
But but even if you consider yourself the least.
You have access to the very presence of God the same way that every other believer in Jesus does.
And so there won't be this need.
To teach one another, hey, you should really know the Lord.
You should spend time in his presence.
You should hear from him.
He has insights for you and good things for you.
God has given his body spiritual gifts and roles within the body and teachers and the roles of prophecy and and things like that.
And those are all temporary things.
We need.
Still instruction in the Lord.
But our access.
To the Lord is not dependent upon that instruction.
We all have room to develop and grow, and he's transforming us, and that will continue to work until eternity, Paul tells us in First Corinthians chapter 13 as he's talking about spiritual gifts in Chapter 12 and Chapter 14, and then in between focuses on love, but here also says our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy.
Reveals only parts of the whole picture.
But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
And so there is the appropriate place of teaching and receiving and being encouraged by those that God has anointed and raised up and those that got us placed in our lives.
We benefit from one another as believers, and God has designed us to be interdependent upon one another, but not for access to God.
Each one of.
Us has access to God by faith in Jesus Christ.
And So what we.
Need most is time with God.
The transformation that God wants to do in our life takes place as we spend time with God.
If I want to take that.
Piece of carnitas that I was about to cook, but it's all seasoned and put it in the fridge.
So that it stays good, right?
If I if I just introduce it to the fridge and hold it on the outside and say, carnitas, look at the fridge and become that temperature, it's not going to do it.
It's not going to be changed.
But if I put it inside and let it dwell in the fridge, then while there's going to be a change, the temperature will adjust right to reach.
And if I pull it out too quickly that it's not going to change temperature.
I know this is a bad example, 'cause.
The meat should have started cold before I season there, right?
So I know, I know, I get it.
I understand.
But you get also what I'm saying.
You can't put something on the outside of the fridge.
Show it to the fridge, put it in there for 30 seconds and expect it to be.
The temperature of the fridge?
That doesn't work that way.
In order for it to be changed and transformed, you have to let it stay there long enough to experience the change, right.
In a similar way, we have access to God.
But some of us we have the keys, but we don't use it, and we don't spend time with God, and we don't seek the Lord.
And so there's not much transformation that happens in our lives because we're on the outside of the fridge, looking at the fridge, saying how come I'm not cold yet?
How come there's no change?
Well, take advantage of the access that you're given, enter into the presence of the Lord and let him transform you from the inside.
Out he'll do the work.
What he calls you to do is to trust him, to believe in him, and to spend time seeking him well. Finally, point #4 looking at verse 34, God promises eternal forgiveness.
Verse 34 again says and they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives.
Saying you should know the Lord for everyone from the least to the greatest, will know me already.
Says the Lord.
And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.
God says I will forgive part of this covenant, one of the promises that is given.
I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.
Can God forget?
The bad things that you've done and.
The way that you failed.
Some discussion about that theologically.
Seems to be best understood that God refuses to remember.
You know, sometimes you mess up, you hurt somebody, and they refuse to forget you ever had that experience.
And so frequently, regularly when you interact with them, they remind you remember that time you messed up and really hurt me.
Remember that time you you really jipped me or really messed up and and and caused me some pain or hurt?
Remember that.
And sometimes people refuse to forget the things that you've done towards them.
God handles it the other way.
He refuses to remember.
So it's like he forgets because he refuses to change his relationship with you based on your past failures.
He refuses to reduce your access because you've messed up previously.
He he refuses.
To close the doors because you've failed so hard, he says.
I refuse to remember that.
And so you have access enter in.
You're forgiven.
As far as the east is from the West, that's how far your sins have been cast from you.
You can know God, you can draw near to God, you can call out to God.
You can trust in God.
You can rest in God.
He promises eternal forgiveness.
About 20 years ago, I borrowed $24,000 from my parents trying to get out of.
The crazy amount of debt that I had accrued for myself.
Then Kim and I on a journey of paying down that debt, I think we got it down to about $5000 remaining and then one Christmas they.
Gave us a gift and we opened it up and it said your debt is cancelled, your debt is forgiven.
They're really good at not reminding us.
Of that or not reminding me of that?
They never guilt me with that.
Saying you know.
Are you sure you're not coming to Thanksgiving?
Not even for your parents to visit?
Your parents?
Who forgave you?
$5000.
They don't use that to try to manipulate.
They don't use that to try to force us to, you know, do something.
Technically, it's not forgotten.
I'm sure my dad already knows, maybe even thinks about it every day.
Man, that one time I could have been $5000 more in my retirement account, if only.
But it has no bearing on our relationship, is the point.
It's not a tool to manipulate.
This is the way that God works towards us.
The debt that we owed him, that he forgave.
Has no bearing on the relationship.
It's not a tool to manipulate us.
It's wiped clean, he refuses to remember.
That $5000, that millions and billions of dollars that we owe him that.
Incredible debt that we can never pay back.
He paid the price fully by the cross.
With his own blood.
And so he mediates this new covenant.
Where he offers us eternal forgiveness, believe the new covenant promises and an appropriate time for us to.
Come to the communion table and remember this new covenant instituted for us by Christ as he went to the.
Cross on our behalf.
Remember that God's promises are received by faith. He gave us the bread as a reminder of his body that was broken for us. He gave us the cup as a reminder of his blood that was shed on our behalf.
The blood of the new covenant by which he would work in us to transform us.
To draw us nearer to him, to forgive us completely and eternally of all sin, past, present, and future, so that we would be unhindered, unencumbered, and we could come to God and know God and walk with God.
As long as we receive his promises by faith, and so this morning, let us.
Refresh that covenant in our hearts.
Let us renew that covenant.
From time to time, the nation of Israel would gather together and renew the old covenant and they would profess, yes, we're coming back to and now we're going to be obedient again and we're going to perform again and we're going to do great things again.
And of course they would always fall back and fail on that covenant that they would make again.
But this morning, as we approach the communion table, we can come back and refresh and renew the new covenant.
That is not based on our performance.
But is based on us receiving by faith.
And we can come again in this.
Morning and say yes, Jesus, I believe.
That you will transform me even this hard, stubborn pattern, habit, attitude, mindset that I have and have had for so long.
I'm I'm presenting that to you again.
Lord, would you transform me and make me more and more like you?
Would you draw me?
Nearer to you, and forgive me of my sin.
The new covenant.
By faith.
And so Lena is going to come up and lead us in a worship song.
The ushers are going to pass out the bread and lift up.
And you're invited at any time during the the worship to partik between you and the Lord as you renew that covenant, and as you're ready and prepared to receive by faith all that God has promised you.
I want to finish with this one last verse from Romans, Chapter 4 verse 16.
Paul tells us the promise is received by Faith.
It is given as a free gift.
So don't come to communion and start bargaining with God.
God, I'm gonna partake of this and I'm going to give you these things and then, you know, because I'm giving you these things where you then bless me and work in my life in this way.
No, no.
The promise is received by Faith.
It is given as a free gift.
Alright, God, I'm gonna quit this and I'm going to do good here.
And I'm going to give this much there and I'm.
Going to work this way now.
It is given as a free gift, and we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses.
If we have faith like Abraham's, for Abraham is the father of all who believe.
As you receive communion today, don't bargain with God.
Believe God.
Trust God.
And receive by faith the promises that he's made to you in this new covenant.
Lord, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for your promises.
I pray God that you would help us to receive by faith your word and your work in our lives.
We pray this in Jesus name.