Jeremiah 31:31-37 - The New Covenant - The Covenant of Grace - Part 5

Introduction

There is a saying that most of us know, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." This saying has a corollary, "If it is broken, fix it." When do you know that something needs fixed or replaced? In general, there are two simple ways to know. First, it isn’t doing what it is supposed to. Second, it has done all it was supposed to.

An example of something that doesn't do what it is supposed to do anymore would be a car that you have had for 14 years that is starting to break down. Though, theoretically, a car isn't made to have a limited use, it eventually can no longer be used because it is made of material that wears out. Once it is worn out, it must be replaced.

An example of something that has done all that it was supposed to do would be a disposable air filter for a forced air furnace that is clogged and dirty. Most air filters are intended for limited use. They filter out the dirt and cannot be washed because of the material. Once it has served its intended use, it must be replaced.

Today we are going to see from Jeremiah 31:31-37 that Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Covenant of Grace through the New Covenant in order to grant God’s people the promised blessings in all the previous covenants. These promised blessings find their ultimate fulfillment in God’s people having God as their God and being his people.

Background

To give you a very brief background of this book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah prophesied from 626 until after the fall of Jerusalem in 586. He had declared that judgment was inevitable for Israel. Why? Because they had broken the terms of God's covenant…they were unfaithful to God. They had sinned greatly and kept doing it even when they were warned over and over. Though they had been given the land, now they must be cast out of the land. The people who were chosen to be "my people" were now declared "not my people".

Yet, this passage is part of a collection of declarations based on a common theme of the promise of God for the restoration of Israel after it had been devastated. Jeremiah chapters 30-31 are chapters of hope that speak of Israel's ultimate deliverance. God will fulfill his covenant promises to Abraham in Jesus Christ.

Exposition

I want to look at Jeremiah 31:31-37 under two simple headings: The necessity of the New Covenant (vv. 31-32); The nature of the New Covenant (vv. 33-37).

Let’s just dig in to our first point, the necessity of the New Covenant (vv. 31-32). At a high level, verses 31-32 show that the New Covenant is necessary because God’s people had broken the previous covenant.

But what Covenant did they break? This covenant is the Covenant of Law which we spoke about last week. In Exodus 24:3-8 at Mt. Sinai we see Israel entering into a covenant to be God’s people, and have him as their God. They committed to follow him and obey the moral law. Yet, Israel, in the time of Jeremiah, had gone after other gods and rebelled against all God’s commands. Jeremiah 3:14 says, “Return, O faithless children, declares the Lord; for I am your master…”

Now that we know what covenant was broken, the Covenant of Law, which was simply the next step in the Covenant of Promise given to Abraham, they have truly violated the entire Covenant of Grace, the Covenant made with their ancestors.

Yet, there are more reasons why the New Covenant was necessary. To see these, we need to look at Hebrews 8:1-13. In this passage, Jeremiah 31:31-34 is quoted and explained.

I don’t have time to carefully walk through this, but I want to draw out six reasons from this passage why the New Covenant was necessary. But, before we look at this, I want you to think about your mortgage if you have one. When you sign the covenant, you have to do so, generally in person. When you are done signing what feels like an infinite amount of times, you get a copy of the covenant. But the mortgage lender keeps the original. Though a copy is nice to have, the reality is that the original is the one that is binding, for it was signed by you, not a copy of your signature. Thus, though copies are helpful, they are not binding.

The New Covenant was necessary, first, because the Old Covenant operated in copies or shadows of the true tabernacle (Heb. 8:2). In other words, the Covenant of Law, with its tabernacle, was pointing to heaven where God is. The tabernacle’s holy place represented the actual presence of God. So, when things were done in the copies, they were simply pointing to heavenly realities. Jesus, the true tabernacle or presence of God with his people, performed his work in the heavenly reality, not just in earthly copies.

The New Covenant was necessary, second, because the Old Covenant was typical and only pointed to what needed to be done in heaven (Heb. 8:3-5). The priests and ceremonies were typical of what Jesus would do in the heavenlies. Jesus, the true High Priest, would offer a substitutionary sacrifice for sin once and for all time to God directly in himself for us. Jesus did these realities permanently and eternally (cf. Hebrews 9:11).

The New Covenant was necessary, third, because the Old Covenant had inferior promises (Heb. 8:6). The Old Covenant did not promise that it would fulfill all the promises of the previous covenants. And it pointed to a future work that needed to be accomplished permanently. Jeremiah 31:33-37 tells of all the promises that the New Covenant fulfills through Jesus. We will get to this shortly.

We all know that it is difficult to follow rules when we don’t really want to. For instance, when we don’t believe that speed limit laws are good, or we really want to drive fast, because that is our hearts desire, obeying the speed limits is either incredibly difficult or impossible. In general, we will slow down if we think we are going to get caught, not because we think it is amazing and love to drive the speed limit because we care about others.

And so, we see that the New Covenant was necessary, fourth, because the Old Covenant had the law written on stone that was external to God’s people (Heb. 8:9-10). The Old Covenant showed our need to live out the reality of redemption externally by writing down the way we are to obey God on stone, whereas, in the New Covenant, Jesus would send his Spirit to take our hearts of stone away, giving us hearts of flesh, and then write it onto our hearts, signifying giving us new desires for the way we are to obey God out of love.

The New Covenant was necessary, fifth, because the Old Covenant was mediated by men (Heb. 8:11; 1 John 2:27). In the Old Covenant, only Moses could hear directly from God. If someone wanted to learn of God, they had to have it mediated through Moses. Yet, in the New Covenant, the Spirit makes known the mysteries of the Gospel directly to us through his word. Though God does give us teachers, these teachers are only trying to point us to Jesus Christ, the fountain, whose Spirit teaches us exactly what we as individuals need to know.

Think of it this way. I can be up here preaching Christ to you, and pointing you to him, and each one of you can get a unique-to-you application by the Spirit. The Spirit takes the things of God and makes them known to you personally. It is not my job to tell you what the Spirit is requiring of you personally, rather, it is my job to open the word so that you can understand what God is saying so that the Spirit can apply his word, which reveals the person and work of Christ and all its implications to you in your unique situation.

Sixth and last, the New Covenant was necessary because the Old Covenant could not provide true expiation or remission of sins (Heb. 8:12). What this means is that the sacrifices were typical, they were showing that true expiation of sin would only come through Jesus Christ in his final sacrifice, this is why the sacrifices were made over and over again. It is Jesus Christ alone in the New Covenant who gives irrevocable grace. He gives a once-and-for-all sacrifice with once-and-for-all forgiveness.

Now that we have seen the necessity of the New Covenant, let’s look at our second point, the nature of the New Covenant (vv. 33-37).

Have you ever been asked to do something that you Jew was the right thing to do, but you didn’t have the ability to do it? I was a really bad student before my senior year of high school. I took the bare minimum I needed to graduate and didn’t do well in most of it. When I finally got serious in my senior year of high school it was too late. I decided to go to college after I took a year off. I applied to Kent State University, got accepted, but had to take an entrance exam. Well, guess what, I took the exam but was completely unable to pass the basics needed for college. It was a good thing, but I had no ability. The end result was that I had to take a bunch of “Intro to…” classes. My point is that it is a miserable thing to have to do something but not have the ability.

This is what is so incredible about the new covenant. If we look at Jeremiah 31:33b, first we see the nature of the New Covenant is to solve God’s people’s inability to keep the covenant by writing his law on their hearts ("I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts." - v. 33b). Since humanity is dead in their trespasses and sins and has a heart of stone, God needs to first give them a heart of flesh. Once they are born again and receive this new heart, then God writes his law (or character) on their hearts. This promise of the New Covenant would be fulfilled after Jesus Christ completed his work. Jesus receives the Spirit as the Father promised him and then gifts the Spirit to his people. Having his Spirit in us gives us the ability to manifest his fruit, which essentially allows God’s people to have God’s law internalized in them with the ability to obey it.

If we look at Jeremiah 31:33c, secondly, we see the nature of the New Covenant is to solve the problem of our lack of union with God by fulfilling the Covenant Formula in us. He would give us his Holy Spirit who would grant us the ability to live as true people of God ("And I will be their God, and they shall be my people." - v. 33c). This is done through union with Jesus Christ who purifies us by his blood and enables us to serve the living God. Having the Spirit of Christ in us makes our Triune God present with us. This allows us to live as those who are one with God.

Thirdly, if we look at Jeremiah 31:34a, we see the nature of the New Covenant is that God removes the need for intermediaries as he directly communicates his word to us (v. 34a). On the night when Jesus was betrayed, in the upper room discourse, he taught the disciples that he would send them the Holy Spirit, who would bring to mind all that he taught them. Before Jesus’ completed work, there was a need for intermediaries to teach God’s people. Now that Christ has come and sent his Spirit, giving us his word, and putting his Spirit in us, we no longer have to rely upon an intermediary to understand God’s word. We can now do this on our own. As I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t negate the need for pastors and elders, because their job is to be in the word and prayer, and continually remind the people of who they are and what they have in Christ. Why? Because we forget.

Have you ever had to do something temporarily until the full and complete solution was in place? Not too long ago, I was replacing the lights in my basement. I took the lights out, got my fresh new lights out and then quickly realized that there would be a noticeable hole in my ceiling unless I got the ceiling repaired before putting in the lights. So, I capped off the wires and had to use a temporary light situation for light before the ceiling was repaired. Like this, until Jesus came, the temporary solution for sin was continual sacrifices that pointed to the once-and-for-all work that Jesus would do at a later time.

Fourthly, if we look at Jeremiah 31:34b, we see the nature of the New Covenant is that we have permanent forgiveness or expiation from sin (v. 34b). Jesus redeemed us through his blood, forgiving us of our sins once and for all. Hebrews 10:15-18 tells us that before Christ came, there was no complete and final forgiveness of sins. Continual atonement had to be made. Why? To remind people of the final atonement that Jesus would make. So, it isn’t that God’s people weren’t saved before Christ came, it simply means that God passed over their sins with the reality that their sins would be covered by Christ finally and fully at a future time by their faith in Jesus, the promised Messiah.

What is the strongest guarantee that you have ever been given? Maybe it was a product that you bought that said that no matter what happened, if you didn’t like the product you could return it for a full refund. Or, maybe it was something like a water-proofing company that guaranteed to fix any water damage that happened after they finished their work.

Regardless, there is no stronger guarantee than that which God makes about his promises in Jeremiah 31:35-37. Here we see that fifth, the nature of the New Covenant is that God’s promise is so sure that there is absolutely nothing that can prevent it from being fulfilled. The language in these verses is powerful. God, as Yahweh, the eternal, covenant faithful God, says that he as the one who made the sun and moon to give us light during the day and the night, who ensures that the waves of the ocean continually roar, the eternal covenant faithful God of armies will ensure that all of his people will be fully and finally saved.

And how can we know this? Because God guarantees it. Is it possible for you to measure all the galaxies? No. Is it possible to explore every inch of the ocean and land? No. Well, if you can’t do that, then you can be sure that God will not cast away his people and their children, even if they have been unfaithful.

Verse 37 shows us that the New Covenant is not based upon us, what we do. The New Covenant is God’s covenant. If his people break the covenant, they can be sure that God will not cast them away because Jesus’ body was broken and his blood was shed because of the way that we have broken his covenant.

Can you imagine if the covenant was dependent upon you or me? It would be the most horrifying thing imaginable. But we don’t have to fear our own failures and sins. Jesus made that once-for-all payment for our sins. Jesus tells us in John 10:25-30 that “no one” can snatch us out of Jesus’ hand? This means that Satan, you, or me, or anyone else cannot prevent Jesus from saving us. And this isn’t because of Jesus only, he and the Father are both united in the same purpose to have us as his people and we have him as our God.

Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Covenant of Grace through the New Covenant in his blood and has granted us the promised blessings in all the previous covenants. These promised blessings find their ultimate fulfillment in us having God as our God and we being his people.

God has done great and mighty things in us. He has brought us from the domain of darkness into his light. He has taken our heart of stone away and given us a heart of flesh. He has written his law on our hearts and has enabled us to have not only the desire, but through the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us, the power to live and follow after him. Which is what Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:10 and Galatians 5:16.

Application

Now, how do we bring this passage down into our lives? What is it that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you today?

First, I think this passage should give us great confidence that if you trust in Jesus and are united to him that you no longer have to fear condemnation. God has forgiven our iniquity and he no longer remembers our sin (counts them against us). Practically, this means that if you have done a sin and repented for it, you are saying something terrible about God if you keep remembering it and feeling like God is holding it over you. God promises that in his New Covenant completed by Christ, that our iniquity and sin no longer counts against us. We are free from the condemning power of sin. So, if you feel anxiety about past sins, you should claim the promises of Jeremiah 31:34 and trust that God truly has covered your sin in Christ.

Second, I think this passage should give us great confidence that if we trust in Jesus and are united to him that we truly have his law of God written on our hearts. Jesus told his disciples that if we love him we will keep his commandments. The apostle John in 1 John 4:7-12 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” Which is why Paul in Romans 13:8-10 said, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

You see, love is the fulfilling of the law. God wrote the law on our hearts. We love God because he first loved us. This love is written on our hearts. This is the law that we obey. God’s Ten Commandments are truly a representation of the law of loving God and loving others. If we have the love of God in our hearts then we will love and our love will look like the fulfilling of the law. Our hearts truly have a new affection in them, a love for God and others. God alone has done this by his Spirit.

1 John 4:13-21 continues, “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” Our love is the measure of whether or not God has written his law on our hearts. And so, practically speaking, if we do not love our brother or sister that we can see, we truly don’t love God whom we can’t see. And so, practice the abiding presence of God by living in love one toward another, being tenderhearted, compassionate, caring for one another, and if anyone wrongs you forgive them as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Third, and last, rest in the reality that the God who made the heavens and the earth has committed to you that he will not cast you off. Rest in the assurance of faith that if you know and love Jesus because he first knew and loved you, there is no way that God will ever cast you off. Why? Because you are the children of Israel because of your faith in Jesus Christ.