The New Covenant: Grace, Spirit, and the God Who Makes All Things New

This evening's scripture reading is from the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31, from verse 31.

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although I wasn't husband to them, saith the Lord.

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel.

After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my Lord in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

The new covenant, grace, spirit, and the God who makes all things new.

My dear brethren and sisters in Christ, and I pray you are in Christ.

We have come a long way on this road of the seven covenants together.

We've come from Eden to Noah's Ark, from Abraham's tent to Ceres, Hassani's thunder, from the zeal of Phineas to the throne of David.

We have seen God's faithfulness and humanity's frailty.

We have seen covenants made, broken, renewed, and stretched across centuries, and we have seen a glimpse of hope and shadows of great disappointment.

And now we come to that one great covenant, the final, well the penultimate covenant that gathers them all up.

The covenant that fulfills every promise, heals every wound, and opens the way for all people, all people, without exception, to know God intimately.

This is the new covenant.

The covenant of grace, written not on tablets of stone, but on the human heart.

Sealed not with the blood of animals, but with the blood of Christ, intimately, sustained not by human effort, but by the Spirit of God.

A longing for something more.

It always feels to me like there's something just out of touch, just out of reach.

And you sort of go, if I had a if I could just reach across that chasm, it would all be okay.

And that's what we're talking about is breaching that final death.

By the time we reach the prophets, Israel lived under the Mosaic covenant for centuries.

They have seen kings rise and fall, they have watched the priesthood falter, and they have experienced exile, return, rebuilding, and you guessed it, disappointment.

The law is good.

Don't let anybody tell you different.

The law is good, but it cannot change the heart of man.

Sacrifices are meaningful, but they cannot cleanse of conscience.

The priesthood is necessary, but it's flawed.

The monarchy is promising, but it collapses.

And it asks itself, is this it?

Is this all there is?

Is there no deeper healing for us?

No fuller forgiveness?

No true relationship with God?

Is this it?

And into this longing God speaks, and he speaks through the prophet Jeremiah.

The days are coming, says Jeremiah, when I will make a new covenant.

I will put my law within them.

I will write it within us.

And I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Do you get the echo there from the Mosaic covenant?

When Moses comes down Sinai with the two tables and he says to the people, Are you going to be God's people?

He reads the law out to them, and they go, Yes, he will be our God, and we will be his people.

And then they go off and build a golden calf.

You know, it really worked that one, didn't it?

And then God goes, I will forgive their iniquity.

Because God knows that on the ending of they shall be my people, what the Hebrews did was to go off and build a golden cough.

But God goes, I'm going to forgive them if they do it again.

And what's even better is I will remember their sin no more.

And this boils nicely into Rachel and Daniel's baptism because when they accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, all their sins were taken away.

They were ripped out of the book of life and entered into the book of death, and they can sin no more in a way that matters.

It's not a minor adjustment.

As Gary can tell you, and as Barry can tell you, it's a transformation.

To accept Christ as king is to be transformed from an old person to a new person.

And this is what Jeremiah is saying to the people of Israel.

You will be transformed.

You will have a new beginning.

All of those things that you did wrong in the past have gone away.

They have been removed.

I have forgotten them.

It's fine.

And it's going to be a covenant between us.

I am going to make this arrangement, and it will be unlike we agreed before.

And this new covenant is promised in several places in the Old Testament.

It's talked about in Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Isaiah, and each promise adds a layer of death.

So Jeremiah, wonderful Jeremiah, offers and says, it'll be a new heart and a new relationship, a new intimacy with God, full forgiveness.

And Ezekiel's promises there'll be a new spirit in us, a light to the nations.

You will be a light to the nations, a covenant for all peoples, and a kingdom of peace.

And Isaiah talks about the cleansing of impurity and God's Spirit dwelling within us and the power to obey because there's nothing to obey, not like the law.

The new covenant is not a patch on the old, it's a fulfillment of everything that the old covenant pointed towards.

And this is the first truth of the new covenant.

God does not simply repair the old, he creates something new.

And if you read your Bible, you'll notice that God likes creating things new.

He created heaven and earth new.

He created man, new.

And then when we get it wrong, he creates a new man from the old one when we turn to Christ, because the old man goes and the new man comes.

And in the end of days, there will be a new Jerusalem and a new heaven and a new earth.

And the verb used in the Greek and Revelation is I will make all things new, not a repair job, something that hasn't been made before.

The new covenant is inaugurated in the most unexpected place.

It's a simple upper room during Passover.

During a meal with a group of very confused people.

Jesus takes bread.

He gives thanks.

He breaks it.

He gives it to them.

This is my body, he says, which is given to you.

And then he takes a cup.

And he says, This cup is a new covenant in my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

And the disciples are totally confused by this.

They don't get it.

They don't understand what heaven knows about it.

And heaven understands it.

Hell certainly understands it.

And creation understands it.

The covenant promised for centuries is being sealed.

And it's not sealed with ink, nor with stone, nor with animal blood, but with the life of the Son of God.

See, this is the second truth of the Oak of the New Covenant.

It's founded on the sacrifice of Christ, once for all, perfect and complete.

And if you want a discussion about what other churches teach, we can do that after the service because I could go on for ages.

The cross represents the covenant is sealed.

The curtain in the temple is torn, the barrier removed.

The final sacrifice is offered.

No more animals are needed.

The debt is paid fully, finally, forever.

The power of evil defeated, publicly, decisively.

And the love of God is revealed utterly, beautifully, painfully.

The cross is not simply an event.

It is the hinge of history.

It's the moment the new covenant becomes a reality.

And this is the third truth of the new covenant.

Forgiveness is not a theory, it is the blood brought reality.

And if the cross seals a covenant, the resurrection confirms it.

Christ rises, death is defeated, new creation begins.

The kingdom breaks in and hope becomes unshakable.

The resurrection is God's declaration, but the new covenant is not wishful thinking.

It's a reality of a brave and grand new world.

And this is the fourth truth of the new covenant.

The life of Christ becomes the life of his people.

And the new covenant is not only about forgiveness, it's about transformation.

At Pentecost, the Spirit of God is poured out onto the people in that room.

Not on a select few, not on just Peter and the leaders, but everybody.

No difference.

The Spirit writes God's law on human hearts.

It empowers obedience to God.

The Spirit creates unity.

And the Spirit gives gifts.

The Spirit forms the church.

And this is the fifth truth of the new covenant.

What God commands, God will also empower.

But you know, we're not left to just struggle alone about with this.

When we come to the act of baptism, we are then filled with the Spirit which makes holiness possible.

Before, when we were just normal me, the Spirit couldn't touch us.

But we needed a change in our heart, and that change can only come from the conviction of sin that the Holy Spirit brings.

It tells us that there's something wrong with our lives because we are out of step with the Creator.

When you accept Christ, when you come to baptism, well, when you accept Christ, that inward repair job is done.

Your spirit is back to the image of God.

The sign of being washed publicly is an external look at that inward action.

But you know, the you the new covenant it's not it doesn't erase human phrasing.

The early church struggled terribly.

It struggled with division, with hypocrisy, with fear, with conflict and confusion.

We only have to look through the book of Acts.

Ananias and Sopha lie and die for it.

Peter withdraws from Gentiles, Paul and Barnabas argue.

Corinth descends into chaos.

New covenant does not create perfect people, and dear Lord, are we grateful for that?

It creates forgiven people, spiritful people, people on a journey of transformation.

We start.

I don't think I'll ever get to the end of it.

But we start with a major struggle, and as we go along that journey and we defeat each obstacle in our way, and we take the next step and the next step, and it never ends.

But this is the sixth truth of the new covenant.

Grace does not remove the struggle, it redeems it.

The new covenant isn't ancient history either.

It's the covenant we live in.

The air we breathe, the ground we stand on, the hope we cling to.

Firstly, it gives us full forgiveness, not partial, not temporary, not conditional, full forgiveness, remembered no more.

The second thing it gives us is new heart.

God reshapes our desires, our loves, our habits.

Thirdly, it gives us the Holy Spirit.

We're not left on our own.

One of the things I said last night was Rachel and Daniel are going to go around with targets, not visible targets.

I said the same to Gary and Barry when they got baptized.

You see, once you become for baptism, Satan knows.

Hell is aware.

And they're after you.

And you have targets on.

I've got targets on.

George has got targets on.

And believe you me, you know, you end up with more knives in your back and holes in your body from those targets because Satan never lets go.

And when I'm talking about Satan, I'm not talking about some guy with pointy ears and big red tail and a stick.

I'm talking about the world.

I'm talking about a world that will go.

Don't go to church, there's footy on.

Or don't read your Bible, look, we've got porn on TV.

Or, oh, don't pray to God, let's go for a beer instead.

You see, you get these whispering little voices in your head, don't you?

Let's go and do this, it'll be more fun because the world can make everything fun.

But if you're a believer in God, we go, actually, no, thank you.

We have a better way to do it.

We have more important things to do.

I would prefer to sit with my Bible than to sit in front of the TV.

I would prefer to talk to God and not look at poor because I don't want to look at poor.

I would prefer to pray and talk to God and give them all my problems so I don't have to cover them alone.

Then go for a drink.

Because everything the world offers you is only temporary.

It lasts for a bit.

Whatever that length of time is, 90 minutes if it's football, as long as you win, and that's doubtful of times.

But God offers for you eternally.

You pray, God listens.

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, nobody else, but God listen.

We read God's word, it's been around for some 2,226 years for the New Testament, and some 3,000 years before that for the old.

It's pretty eternal, isn't it?

You know?

It's uh there's nothing short-lived about it, no short-term gratification.

Fourthly, it gives us direct access to God through this new covenant, as I've just said, there's no priestly hierarchy.

We don't have to go and pay somebody to pray for us or give sacrifice an animal or whatever.

There's no temple curtain.

For those of you that don't know, in the uh the temple in Jerusalem, there'd be a curtain dividing the holy from holies from everybody.

And the only person that could go in that would be the high priest, and he could only go into it once a year, and I think it's Yom Kippur.

Yeah, once a year at Yom Kippur.

And then he would uh sprinkle the blood of the animal that'd be killed for the sacrifice for all people.

Um, when Christ died, if you if you look at your Bible, and I can't give you the exact quote, uh the temple curtain splits, and there's nothing behind that.

And the way we read that is that it's finished, it's done.

The covenant's gone, the ark's gone, but the ark went many years before.

There's no barriers.

There is no, as I've said to you all over time, there is now no barrier between you and me.

Again, this is a reference to the temple where um as you went in, there was a barrier which went, no women pass this point.

And then you can go a little bit further and went, no Gentiles pass this point, and then you get all the Jewish men, they would suddenly come to barrier which went, only the priest can go past this point, and they'd actually hand over the animal for sacrifice.

Because there were barriers between these people talking to God.

There are no barriers anymore.

You don't need me, you don't need any priest, pastor, whatever.

You, because of what Christ did, have direct access to God.

When we come to study Hebrews, we'll talk about that a little bit later.

Fifth, it gives us a new identity.

We are God's people.

You are God's people.

But not by birth, but by grace.

And it gives us a new community, the church.

My brothers and sisters.

The term brothers and sisters truly only respond that belongs to the church.

We use it in other organizations upstairs, but it's for a false use of the word.

Believers are brothers and sisters.

Do you know why we're brothers and sisters?

Because because of Christ's death, we are adopted sons of God if you put your trust in him.

So in the theological terms, God is our, Jesus is our half-brother, and we are adopted into God's family.

We are higher than the angels in the belief structure.

Again, we'll come back to Hebrews.

It gives us a new future.

It gives us a kingdom that can't be shaken.

Remember in the times of Christ, and there were kings and thrones, and there could be rebellions, and there could be wars, and this can't happen under our kings.

And there's a new creation that cannot be undone.

You know, if you're new to faith, the new covenant is your home.

You don't enter it by your own effort, you can't work your way in.

You don't earn your place, you can't buy it.

You are welcome into this covenant because Jesus wants you there.

By grace.

By grace are you saved.

No matter how bad you are, no matter how bad you think you are, no matter how matter how bad I think you are, Gabby.

You know, but no, that's a bit mean of me, wasn't it?

No, but you know, no matter how bad you think you are, no matter how God couldn't want me, believe me, God wouldn't have wanted me when I was your age.

Um it's by grace.

What do we mean by grace?

The love of God unearned.

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that we know that that phrase off the back of our hands.

We see it every Christmas.

This is what it means.

God so loved you, even though you were a sinner, that he sent his only begotten son.

And if you want to know why he's begotten, comment at me later.

And because of his death on the cross, he opened and paid for our death of sin.

And the grace of God could flow freely.

There's a wonderful hymn that we sing sometimes, Dharma Gary.

It goes, here is love thus as the ocean, love and kindness of the Lord.

And then it goes on, and then the letter uh it talks about the flowing rivers of grace and mercy because Christ died for us, and we are all partakers in that grace and that mercy.

God forgives you everything you've done fully, and he fills you with his spirit, and he writes his Lord in your heart, and he called you his own.

Now, you know, I'm a dad, I've got two girls.

I'm mine, and I call them my own, I call them a few things actually, but I call them my own because I love them dearly, and I would do almost everything in my power.

In fact, I would do everything in my power for them.

And that's what God's done for you.

He loves you so dearly that he's done everything in his power for you.

He doesn't want to enslave you.

He could do that, he could just click his fingers and you would submit to it.

But he doesn't want that, he wants you of your own free will and accord to accept it for what he is.

You are when you become a Christian, Rachel and Danielle, Gary and Barry, and all the rest of us, we are no longer what we were.

We are changed.

We are new people.

And if you're somebody who's been here and have walked with Christ for many years, you're I think we're the oldies here.

Andrew outclude you in that one.

The new covenant is a reminder that our faith isn't built on any performance.

It's not like you go into some churches and you have to cross yourself and kneel down, or you have to turn to the east to say the creed in the Church of England.

It's none of that.

There's no performance at all.

It's built on Christ's finished work at Calvary.

You are not kept with God by your own strength or your own ability.

You are kept by God's Spirit.

You are not defined by your failures, you are defined by God's forgiveness, and you are not waiting for God to love you because he already does.

The covenant, this new covenant changes everything.

The image marred at Eden is restored.

The preservation promised by Noah is fulfilled.

The blessing promised to Abraham is extended to all nations.

The holiness demanded at Sinai is written on our hearts.

The priesthood promised to Phineas is perfected in Christ, and the kingship promised to David is fulfilled in the risen Lord.

This is the covenant of grace, the covenant of the Spirit, the covenant of a new creation.

This is the covenant we live in, the covenant we proclaim, the covenant that we carry with us into eternity, and may we walk forever in its freedom, in its power, and in its hope.

Amen.