Announcing The New Covenant | Jeremiah 31 | Pastor William Hixson

used up. We don't have any more out

there. But on the back of the bulletin,

if you have one from this morning,

there's some upcoming events that I want

everybody to be aware of and as much as

possible support. We've got two

missionaries coming in. I know we had

two last month. We're getting pretty

heavy on missionaries, but when they

come that far, we ought to, if at all

possible, support and uh their time with

us uh with our presence and so forth.

And so, the first one is Gospel Mission

of South America missionaries. This

church is well aware of that mission.

And uh Dave and Christy Flink and their

son Lucas are going to be with us August

5th.

And that's Wednesday night at 7. So

instead of Bible class on Wednesday, we

you're new with us tonight, we have

Bible class every Wednesday. But instead

of Bible class, they will be giving a

report and they are doing the same thing

the Morelss were talking about when the

Morels were here a couple of weeks ago.

The uh they're they're start trying to

start a church in northern Chile. That's

a RA. That's right on the that's right

on the border with Peru. it it is out in

the middle of nowhere. And uh so Dave

and Christie are good church planters.

Christie was raised on the mission

field. Her dad was general director. I'm

very good friends with her dad's mom.

Her mom was a baby in China when the

communists took over and they had to run

from the communist down the river in a

boat. But u uh that's that's Terry and

Terry Thompson and his wife. And then um

Dave is a pastor's son from Minnesota.

Good guy. Some of you know him. Some of

you met him. And I'm looking forward to

having them here. Please be here and

encourage others to come August 5th,

Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Then

>> August 12th,

>> I think

>> that's that was a mistake.

>> I'm sorry. That was a mistake. Yeah. Uh

>> my bad.

>> Okay. You're loud, Mike. You're loud. I

got the authoritative autograph here,

right?

>> Yeah.

>> But uh

>> we have a guest speaker from Friends of

Israel. And if you get the magazine

Israel, Mike Lori, the these are people

do Jewish evangelism in Israel. and

Annne Harper, who's not here tonight

obviously cuz she can't get a ride uh uh

from from Albany, but uh she supported

this man and his wife for years. I've

never met him. An's never met him.

They're coming to meet the woman that's

prayed for them and supported them all

these years. And so I don't know this

guy at all. His name is Jack Curts and

he will be speaking at our evening

service August 9th. August 9th. And so

that'll be a Sunday evening, I believe.

Am I right, Linda? And so he'll be all

Sunday evening, August 9th. I love the

the I love the people that love the Jews

and try to minister there. And I know

that that'll be a blessing to have him

with us. We're trying to invite people

in from some of the other churches to

hear this guy when he comes uh and so

forth.

So, those are two things going on and uh

let's be aware of that.

>> Yeah,

>> Dave and Christie, you said they were

going to be here Wednesday at

>> Dave and Christie will be here August

5th, Wednesday at 7.

>> 7 o'clock. 7 o'clock. Yeah.

>> And then

>> August 9th, that's a Sunday evening.

>> Six.

>> At six o'clock.

>> Yeah. Because you remember on Wednesday,

B prayer meeting is 6 and then Bible

study 7. So this guy's coming. He's

going to be teaching it. So,

okay, enough of all of that. We welcome

you to our local assembly. Glad to have

you with us tonight. And it's our

practice often what we do, we do

different things. Uh I have different

sermon series I'm going through. I'm

doing great text of the Bible on Sunday

morning. We were in the book of Job this

morning. Uh but uh and then we're all

doing a whole study on the resurrection

kind of alter of Christ and our

resurrection. We're al those are topical

studies. We are alternating

uh that back and forth on Sunday

morning. But we're doing the book of

Jeremiah

on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights.

Sunday night and Wednesday nights we are

normally going through the book of

Jeremiah.

So that's where we are. And guess what?

We just got to the good part.

This is a powerful place to be. If you I

don't know how many of you have ever

really worked through the book of

Jeremiah. It's a big book. It's a long

book. 50some chapters. And if you don't

know where it is in your Bible, it's

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel.

So if you hit Isaiah, it's in the back

of your Bible. If you hit, if you hit

Isaiah, just go right. If you hit

Ezekiel, go left, you should be able to

pick it up. And we are in Jeremiah 31.

And for those who haven't been with us,

when I was preparing for this particular

series, I read through the book of

Jeremiah, and I like I like to mark up

my Bibles. I always have study Bibles I

can mark up.

And I found references to idols 70 times

in this book.

That was a big problem back in

Jeremiah's day.

70 times.

And uh you say, "Well, how could that I

can't relate to that. I don't worship

idols. Never have worshiped idols."

Everybody worships idols. Anything that

you put above God's an idol. Anything I

put above God is an idol. Anything that

has God's place and is out of place in

your life is an idol. Some people

worship their car. Some people worship

their house. Some people worship their

job. Some people worship their country.

Some people worship their kids. Now, we

should love our country, should love our

kids, but we don't worship them, right?

We don't put them in God's place. We

want God in God's place. And I love my

wife, but I don't want to worship her. I

I love her, but I don't want to give her

God's place. And she doesn't certainly

she's certainly not going to give me

God's place. I'll tell you that. And so,

it's very important for us to grasp some

of these things. It's very applicant.

But a lot of book of Jeremiah is

negative. It's so negative you get tired

of hearing it.

And uh there was a Greek teacher at

Princeton Seminary. His name was James

Gisham Mach. And he was a he was a big

shot. His family was very uh very uh

well off and they they were very

wellconed. They were friends with

President Wilson back in the 20s.

That's he was up with the upper crust.

But when he went to Princeton Seminary,

he they called him the accusative case.

That was his nickname, the accusative

case, because he would he would come

after things that were wrong. And and

that can get very worrisome, can it?

When somebody's always negative. Some

preachers are always negative. Don't do

this. Don't watch out for that. They're

against this. They're against that. But

they never preach what they're for.

And that's that wears people down.

But Jeremiah was in a situation where

God wanted him to give the people bad

news.

Now, I've had to give bad news to people

many times. There's no way you can enjoy

that. Someone's died and I need to tell

them. Someone

other things happen and they want me to

tell them. And that's part of a pastor's

job. And sometimes we have to give

people bad news. And Jeremiah did it

because that's what God told him to do.

But after the bad news comes the good

news. And guess what? Finally, we get to

the good news. After 30 chapters, we get

to the good news. 30 chapters of

preaching against idolatry. And now we

get to the good news. So you came at the

right time tonight.

So go come with me to Jeremiah 31.

Jeremiah chapter 31.

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

Now Jeremiah wasn't very popular. People

wanted to kill him. I already wanted to

execute him once for his preaching in

the temple.

He got through that.

But finally he gets some good news. I

want to give you the background.

Jeremiah's preaching in the Jewish

temple in Jerusalem.

And Jeremiah has a prophecy here that

God gave him that's absolutely

stunning

and it relates to us.

It relates to what we're going to do

tonight at the Lord's Supper

and it relates directly to the Jewish

people. But Jesus applied the same truth

when he initiated the Lord's supper

to the church to us.

It's given to them, but we get in on it

because of our relationship with Christ.

And so, let's look at Jeremiah 31.

And if you will read along with me,

we're going to just, we cannot even

begin to get through this chapter. It's

40 verses. We're just going to get the

first 20 so verses and that'll be it.

And we can just got a glance at that.

So, please read along with me.

At that time, says the Lord, will I be

the God of all the families of Israel,

and they'll be my people. That's good

news.

Now, for those who haven't been with us,

the Jewish nations split in two,

and the 10 northern tribes split off and

went into total idolatry, worshiping

Baal, doing all kinds of other stuff.

The two southern tribes were called

Judah and the northern tribes were

called Israel.

So it was a split just like in America

we had our civil war but the south split

from the north in our civil war. In

theirs the north split from the south

but the south was where Jerusalem was.

In fact it's still there. Jerusalem is

still there. South was where Jerusalem

is and the south was where the temple

and the palace was.

So that's the background here. And the

North had been split off for over a

century. It's been a long time. And the

North got in terrible idolatry, horrible

idolatry.

And God sent them into captivity with

the Assyrians.

Syrians came in, conquered them, took

them all the way.

And then the people down south didn't

learn their lesson. They got into

idolatry and God's getting ready to take

them all the way to Babylon. So, the

northern tribes ended up in Assyrian.

Uh, and then the southern two tribes

ended up in Babylon. They didn't take

everybody, but they take most of

everybody.

And now Jeremiah is talking about all

this stuff.

And it's a promise about the future.

At the same time, says the Lord, will I

be a God of all the families of Israel.

All the families of Israel. That means

every family, every tribe. This is a

future prophecy. This has not happened

yet.

This is future.

But it's God's promise

and they'll be my people.

So, this is a promise that God's going

to work among the Jewish nation at the

end of history.

Thus says the Lord, the people who were

left of the sword found grace in the

wilderness, even Israel, when I went to

cause him to rest, the Lord appeared of

old to me, saying, "Yay, I've loved thee

with an everlasting love. Therefore,

with loving kindness have I drawn thee."

Loving kindness is a Hebrew word, has

said. It means covenant loyalty.

I love you and I'm loyal to you. You

haven't been loyal to me. You've cheated

on me with other gods. You've committed

spiritual adultery. You've been

unfaithful.

But I'm I'm coming after you. And I'm I

love you with everlasting love. God's

got more love than we got sin.

Isn't that good?

>> God has more love than you have. God has

more grace than you've got sin. Isn't

that good?

>> Yes.

>> Praise God for that. I got a lot of sin.

We all have. Thank God he's got more

love and more grace than we have sin.

And he said, I've loved you with an

everlasting love. Therefore, with loving

kindness, that's covenant loyalty, I'm

going to be loyal to my vows to you,

even though you weren't to me.

And with loving kindness

have I drawn me. That word loving

kindness translates that Hebrew worded.

Nobody knows how to translate it. It

means covenant loyalty. I'm going to

keep my word

even though you don't.

And again, I will build thee and you

shall be built, oh virgin of Israel.

They were anything but a virgin. They

were spiritual adulterers worshiping all

these other gods. They were so

unfaithful to God. God's going to make

them different than they are.

Isn't that what the new birth is?

God gives us a new heart.

We still have our old sin nature, but we

got a new one. We're not the same. I'm

not the same I was before I was saved.

You're not the same you were before you

were saved. What happened? A miracle

happened.

Heaven came down and what happened?

He filled our soul.

Jesus Christ made us whole. I'll build

thee and you'll be built, oh virgin of

Israel. So calling him a virgin after

he's called him adulterers for 30

chapters. Obviously a work got done

there. God's doing a repair job.

You shall again be adorned with your

timberalss and go forth in the dances of

those who make Mary. Thou shalt yet

plant vines on the mountains of Samaria,

and the supplanters shall plant and

shall eat them as common things. For

there shall be a day that the watchmen

upon Mount Ephraim shall cry, "Arise!

Let's go up to Zion to the Lord our God.

Zion is in Jerusalem."

Now, ever since Jeroboam and and Rehab

got into a squabble, the north and

northern tribes split from the two

southern. Now, you remember this in Old

Testament history, they had a united

monarchy, all 12 tribes. Saul was the

first king. David was the second king.

Solomon was the third king. Three kings

over all 12 tribes. And then because of

Solomon's spiritual adultery, uh uh they

they split. God judged them. And the 10

northern tribes split off of the two

southern.

And that was a terrible split all these

years. Nothing has ever healed it. But

God is God is now saying he's going to

deal with all of that. And he says of to

the 10 northern tribes, "You'll plant

vines upon the mountains of Samaria. The

planters shall plant and shall eat them

as common things." Verse six. And I'm

getting to my verse where I'm really

going to get it. That there'll be a day

that the watchmen on Mount Ephraim shall

cry, "Arise, let's go to Zion in the

Lord our God." They didn't do that ever

since the split. Remember the king of

the north, Jeroboam, said, "That's too

far for you to go down there to

Jerusalem to worship." And he built an

idol in Bethl and in Dan. One way up in

the north and one way up the south. You

don't have to go that far. Just stay up

here. And they did.

Decades, decades, over hundred some

years they did it.

They weren't going down. In fact, they

were fighting each other.

They were split.

And now God's telling them

something completely different that must

have stunned them. You're going to Zion.

You're going to worship down there

again. No more Bethl. No more Dan.

Remember the gold the golden calf idol

and Bethl. And the golden calf idol and

Dan. Dan was way up in the north and and

Bethl was right on the border. And so

Jerobam did that so he wouldn't lose his

people to the other tribes. They're

going to go back to David. They're going

to go back to the temple. I got to do

something. He had a plot and they fell

for it.

So what does God say? You people are

going to go back to Jerusalem for the

first time in a very long time to

worship.

Now this hadn't happened yet.

This is going to happen.

In verse six, for there shall be a day

that the watchmen on Mount Ephraim shall

cry, arise, let us go up to Zion. They

say up because you know Jerusalem's on a

hill

unto the Lord our God. For thus says the

Lord, sing with gladness, O Jacob, and

shout among the chief of the nations.

Publish ye praise and say, Oh Lord, save

thy people the remnant of Israel. The

Israel is a name for the 10 northern

tribes.

Behold, I'll bring them from the north

country and gather them from the

farthest parts of the earth and with

them the blind and the lame and the

woman with child and her she who

travails with child together. A great

company will return here. This isn't

talking about the people in northern

Israel. This is talking about the Jews

scattered all over from syria and all

the countries.

I'll bring them. He says in verse 9,

"They shall come with weeping

and with supplications

will I lead them, and I'll cause them to

walk by the rivers of the waters in a

straight way in which they shall not

stumble. For I'm a father to Israel, and

Ephraim is my first born."

Now, Ephraim was the biggest tribe in

the north.

And so, he stands for the whole group.

Hear the word, O Lord, oh ye nations.

declare it in the coast far off and say,

"He who scattered Israel will gather him

and keep him as a shepherd doth his

flock." What's he talking about? He's

talking about national resurrection from

the dead.

You know, the Bible is a big book on

resurrection, isn't it? Jesus

resurrection, our resurrection. Did you

know there's going to be a political

resurrection?

The nation of Israel is scattered, gone.

When the people were taken off the land,

that was judgment from God.

The people need and the land needs to go

together. When the people are off the

land, they have political death. When

the people are back on the land, they

got political life.

And so, just like when you die, your

soul leaves your body. There's a

separation between your impetaterial

part and your material part. Uh, and uh,

when the political death is when the

people were taken off the land, God told

him he would do it and he finally did

it. Now he says, "I'm going to take I'm

going to bring him back."

He's promised. This is a political

resurrection.

That's exciting to me. What is the new

birth? It's a spiritual resurrection.

You're dead and you're born again. You

hath he quickened who were dead in

trespasses and sins.

So, I've already got a spiritual

resurrection.

God's already given me life inside. The

day I was saved, I was dead. That's what

Ephesians 2 says. We were dead in

trespasses and sins.

We were graveyard dead in the sense that

we were separated from God. And but the

day you got you were born again, God

gave you life, spiritual life. That's

called the new birth. It's called the

new creation. If anyone's in Christ,

he's a new creation. and all things are

uh uh become new.

And so there there's the there's

personal resurrection uh physical

resurrection, there's spiritual

resurrection, and there's national

resurrection. And that's what this is

talking about. A a dead nation that's

people are separated from their land are

coming back. They're coming back and

God's bringing them back.

So, let's keep going a little bit as we

work through this. I'm g I'm going

working down to where we're going to be.

Verse 10. Hear the word of the Lord, oh

ye nations, declared in the coast far

off. He who scattered Israel will gather

him and keep him as the shepherd does

his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed

Jacob and ransomed him. He's not talking

Jacob the man. He's talking about the

people, the nation. and ransomed him

from the hand of him who was stronger

than he. Therefore, they shall come and

sing in the height of Zion. So the

northern Israelites are going to be for

the first time in hundreds of years

singing and worshiping in Jerusalem and

shall flow together to the goodness of

the Lord, for the grain, the wine, the

oil, for the young of the flock and the

herd, and their soul shall be like a

watered garden and they shall not sorrow

anymore.

You say, "What does this have to do with

me?"

I can see how they get excited.

The God who loves Israel with an

everlasting love as a nation and all the

bad things they've done loves you and

me.

How many people

that used to be real close to us said,

"I'm not with you because we maybe did

one bad thing or we said one bad thing.

I'm out of here. You're out of my life.

God still loves the Jewish people

even after they crucified Jesus.

So any that hadn't happened yet, but he

still loves them. And so notice what it

says in verse 15. Thus says the Lord, a

voice was heard in Rama. Rama is five

miles from Bethlehem. And Rama, excuse

me, from Jerusalem. And Rama is was the

staging area for the exile. When the Bab

when the neoablonian armies came in,

they took all the people out of

Jerusalem and they gathered them

together in Rama. Kind of like the Nazis

would do to staging area to put you on

the train to go to the furnaces and they

would they all they gathered the people,

men, women, and children. They put them

in Rama and that's where they started

marching them in chains to Babylon a

thousand miles away. Took them out of

the country.

Thus says the Lord. A v voice was heard

in Rama. Lamentation and bitter weeping.

Rachel weeping for her children,

refusing to be comforted for her

children because they're not.

Now, we know that verse. We read that at

Christmas in Matthew's gospel when Herod

the Great killed all the babies in

Bethlehem, right? Matthew refers to this

very thing.

And you say, "Well, wait a minute.

Rachel, she died long time before this.

She's a thousand years in the grave."

Yeah. Do you remember Rachel's death?

In fact, do you remember Rachel's life?

Who did Rachel

who who um what children did Rachel

have?

Who remember they got in the baby wars?

Who could have the most babies? Leah and

Rachel. and Rachel lost.

And what?

>> Yeah, Benjamin was one of them.

>> And Joseph was another. Benjamin and

Joseph. That was the two. And guess

what?

Benjamin is the northern tribe of Judah.

And Joseph got married to an Egyptian

when he was down there. And there were

two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, that

came from Joseph. And Ephraim is a the

Ephraim tribe is a descendant from

Joseph. Therefore, a descendant of

Rachel.

So, this is this is very interesting.

It's not talking about the individuals.

It's talking about all the people that

came to Rachel. Rachel's crying because

all of her kids are all her descendants,

all of the people she's an ancestor for

are going to Babylon.

They're being taken away.

And whenever Jews are killed, whether

it's the Benjamites in the south or the

uh the Israelites in the north, Rachel's

crying for her children cuz they're not.

That's it's it's a poetic it's a poetic

thing.

And she's weeping for her children and

refused to be comforted for children

because they're not. By the way, Rachel

Ston's near there, too.

Thus says the Lord, "Restrain the voice

from weeping and the eyes from tears.

For thy work will be rewarded, says the

Lord, and they'll come again from the

land of the enemy." Why is Rachel upset?

Because she sacrificed her life. She

died in childbirth. She gave her life so

she could have babies.

And then

all the ones through Joseph are in

captivity.

And the ones through Benjamin are going

into captivity. She's got a lot to cry

about.

You know, a lot of our life success

comes from our children

because we pour our lives into them

so hopefully they can do bigger things

than we ever did. I read something

online and I thought it was interesting.

He was talking to young men and this

person said, "The only man in the world

that wants you to be better than him is

your father."

Isn't that what a father wants from his

kids? He wants it his kids to be better

than him, to do more than him, to be

more successful than him. A good mother

and a good father want that for their

kids, right?

Because if our life is bound up in their

life and what they accomplish,

we get some credit for we get some

because we put them, we brought them

into the world. We raised them.

And so it's not just us. It's what our

children do that's important.

That's one of the reasons I love working

in Athens is because we have a lot of

people that coming and going. Athens is

a is a town of a revolving door. People

come, people go. That's a terrible place

to have a church if you want a big mega

church, but it's a good place if you

want to if you want to reach people from

all over, all over the country, all over

the world. They come and go. They come

and go. And and so I can have a we can

have a smaller church with a bigger

impact.

Every one of you have heard me say this.

I wanted to go to China as a missionary

or Taiwan or we didn't have China. China

wasn't open when I was thinking about

this

or Hong Kong back in the day.

And that's was my thinking. I'll be a

pastor in Athens 5 years and maybe I'll

go to the mission field. Well, I've been

here for 50 years and I'm not to the

mission field yet. God brought the

mission field to me. And my wife and I

have often said we've done more for the

Lord than if we were there.

if when we look back on it

and there's some of you that are doing

Asian Bible studies uh that God's using

you here even though you're not there.

God's ways are not our ways. His

thoughts aren't our thoughts. He puts

something in our mind on something in

our heart and then he does it

differently than we think. And that's

okay, right? We're not driving.

God's driving.

God's not our co-pilot.

That's a terrible statement. God is my

co-pilot. God's not the co-pilot. He's

the one that's a pilot. He's driving.

You're along for the ride. You're not

even the co-pilot.

So Jeremiah is talking about these big

issues, national and international

issues and uh talking about

this is prophet po pro po pro po pro po

pro po pro po pro po pro po pro po pro po pro po po po po po po po po po po po

po po po po po po po po poetic as well

as prophetic.

So they said, "Dry your tears, Rachel.

Dry those tears. Wipe those tears away.

Wipe those tears away. All you people

that are disappointed in your children

and grandchildren, great grandchildren,

great grand great great grandchildren.

There's a future and you've been part of

it. You've been part of it.

Without you, they wouldn't be here.

And so, and you notice what he says in

verse 17. There is hope in thine end.

Now, this talk about the nation of

Israel. There's hope in thy end. Well,

listen. It's not going to be United

States that saves Israel.

It's not.

It'll be God.

The Jews were always latching on to the

Egyptians or somebody else to save them

from the Babylonians, from the

Assyrians, making covenants with this

one, that one, and it always fell apart.

And it'll fall apart with America, too.

We'll we'll turn on them at some point.

It we have to because everybody turns on

them in the future. They're all by

theirel. It's just them and God.

And that's what the prophecies talk

about.

But anyway,

notice what it says in verse 17. And

there is hope in thy end, says the Lord,

that thy children shall come again to

their own border, and have I've surely

heard Ephraim bemoning himself thus.

Thou hast chastened me, and I was

chastened. That talk about a whole

nation of Jews, the 10 tribes. You've

corrected me. We've been corrected.

Took 2,000 some years to do it.

You've corrected me and I've been

corrected like a bull unaccustomed to

the yoke. Turn me back and I'll be

restored for you are the Lord my God.

There is a time at the end of history

when the Jews who don't believe in

Christ will believe in Christ. Bible

promises that

and uh this is referring to some of

those things in verse 19. And surely

after I was turned away, I repented. And

after I was instructed, I smoked my

thigh. I was ashamed, even confounded

because you because I did bear the

reproach of my youth. Here are people

repenting. I wish I didn't. I wish we

hadn't lived the way we lived. I wish

we'd have done differently, but we

didn't. Don't you wish that? I tell you,

I wish my teen years were a little

better than they were. No, a lot better

than they were.

You don't get them back, do you?

My high school class has a 10

three-month reunion and I go to it, but

I can't make up for the years when I

didn't have a good testimony.

Can't rewind the clock. Can't rewind.

But I can go and try to do better now.

And so can you.

But in verse 20, is Ephraim my dear son?

Is he a pleasant child? For since I

spoke against him, I do earnestly

remember him still. Therefore, my heart

is troubled for him. I'll surely have

mercy on him, says the Lord.

Set thee up way marks, make thee high

heap. Set your heart toward the highway.

Even the way which you went, you'll turn

again, oh virgin of Israel, he calls her

a virgin again. Turn again to these thy

cities. How long will you go about, oh,

you backsliding daughter? For the Lord

has created a new thing

on the earth. A woman will compass a

man. That's a really strange prophecy.

A lot of people thought this was a

prophecy of the virgin birth and it

might be so, but many don't think that

that's the best view now. But the whole

point here is whatever it means and I

think most there's many interpretations

it's some say it's a woman's going to

I'm going to empower you to fight so bad

the women are going to fight with the

men and the women will be protecting the

men. It'll be that good.

I don't know about that.

But either way, God's going to come

through for this nation.

He's coming through. I'm not worried

about Iran. I'm not worried about all

these people say they want to kill the

Jews.

They're going to find out they're

fighting God. And that that's not a good

thing to do.

Now,

we're we're slowly coming to the good

part. But look in verse 23. Thus says

the Lord of armies, the Lord of hosts,

the God of Israel, as yet they shall use

this speech in the land of Judah and in

its cities when I bring again their

captivity. In other words, now we're

bringing down the south people in the

south as well as the people in the

north. The Lord bless thee, o habitation

of justice and mountain of holiness, and

there shall dwell in Judah himself

itself and in all its cities together

farmers who will go forth with flocks.

For I filled full the weary soul, and

I've replenished every sorrowful soul.

Upon this I awakened, and beheld, my

sleep was sweet to me. That ends the

first part.

So apparently this was a revelation

given in a dream.

Now I got to slip ahead to the next part

because this is where communion comes

in.

I'm doing that. We're going to really

develop this next week. Please slip with

me to the next part. Verse 27. Behold,

the days come, says the Lord, I'll sew

the house of Israel, that's the north,

and the house of Judah, that's the

south, with the seed of man and with the

seed of beast. It'll come to pass that

as I've watched over them to pluck them

up and break them down, to throw them

down and destroy and afflict, so I'll

watch over them to build and to plant,

says the Lord. Other words, I sent them

both into exile.

Now I'm bringing them both back.

I judged them for their idolatry, their

unfaithfulness. Now I'm bringing them

back.

In those days they shall say no more.

The fathers have eaten sour grapes and

the children's teeth are set on edge.

But every man will die for his own

iniquity. Every man eats the sour grapes

his teeth shall be set on age. Here it

is. Behold, the days come, says the

Lord, I will make a new covenant

with the house of Israel and with the

house of Judah. They're both all 12

tribes. The house of Israel, 10 tribes,

and the house of Judah. I'm making a new

covenant. A this a new deal. You say,

"Well, what was the old covenant?" The

old covenant was the ten commandments.

The old covenant was given right after

God brought him out of Egypt. That was

the old covenant.

But the old covenant says, "You got to

obey me or I'll take you out of the

land." Well, they blew that. So, he took

them out. So, the new covenant is an

improvement over the old covenant.

You couldn't do this. I gave you

centuries to do it. You kept blowing it.

Now, I'm going to do this. A new

covenant. A covenant is a legal

agreement. A covenant is where God binds

himself to do something.

And he says in verse 32, "Not according

to the covenant I made with their

fathers in the day that I took them by

the hand to bring them out of the land

of Egypt." Not like that one.

That was the ten commandments.

They broke them all

which my covenant they broke, although I

was a husband to them. But this shall be

the covenant I'll make with the house of

Israel after those days. I'll put my law

in their inward parts. Now listen to

this. You know what that is? That's

where God changes your heart and your

heart has an affinity for his word.

You love God's law. You have you're in

this comes from the inside out.

You have a new heart for God. You have a

new heart. You have a new love for God.

You have a new love for your neighbor.

You have all that. It's all there. It's

a It's part of the new birth. And I'll

put my law in their inward parts and

write it in their hearts and will be

their God and they'll be my people.

Don't say God's done with the Jew. This

says he's not. Now, they're done with

God. They don't believe Jesus was God.

They crucified him, most of them. But

God's not done with them.

And I'll teach no more every man his

neighbor, every man his brother, saying,

"Know the Lord." For they'll all know

me, from the least of them to the

greatest, says the Lord. For I'll

forgive their iniquity, and I'll

remember their sin no more. Now, we will

get into this. You will have a new heart

for God, and your sins are all forgiven.

And thus says the Lord, who gives the

sun for a light by day, and the

ordinance of the moon and stars for

light by night, who drives the sea with

its waves roar. The Lord of hosts is his

name. If those ordinances depart before

me, says the Lord, then the seed of

Israel shall cease from being a nation

before me forever. In other words, the

only way I'm going with the Jews if the

sun stops shining and the moon stops

reflecting that.

Moon and the sun got to be out of a job

before they're out.

Thus says the Lord, if heaven above can

be measured, Anybody want to try that?

That's that's going clear into outer

space, out of the universe. If heaven

above can be measured and the

foundations of the earth searched out,

anybody want to try that? I will cast

off all the seed of Israel for all that

they've done, says the Lord. In other

words, I'm not going to do it.

Now, many people say God's done with the

Jew. God says, "I'm not Jew."

Now, today, the Jewish people that are

not Christians, they're as lost as

anybody else. But God's going to do a

work in their heart, and it's going to

involve forgiveness and a knowledge of

God. And guess what? That's what you got

when you got saved.

We get in on this.

We get in on this. We're Gentiles. We're

not Jews, but we get in on it. Well, how

am I in on this? I'm not a Jew. This is

promised to the Jew. You're in it

because you're related

to the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ.

He's your husband.

He's your spiritual husband. We are all

the church is married to Christ

and we're one with him. And since he's

in on this, we get in on it because of

our relationship with him ahead of time.

This is an amazing thing. You said,

"Pastor, you're talking out of your

head. What? What are you talking about?

The night before Jesus was betrayed, he

took bread."

Remember that

a Passover meal, celebrating the

Passover. And the Passover was given to

celebrate the coming of the Jews out of

Egypt. Once a year, they'd take the

blood of the Passover, put it on the

door, and eat the Passover meal. And it

was at the Passover meal the night

before Jesus died. The very night he was

arrested. He took Passover wine,

Passover bread, and he said, "This is my

body which is broken for you. This do in

remembrance of me. This is the blood of

the new covenant." That's what he said.

This is the blood of the new covenant.

He used that terminology.

So he applied to his followers and

therefore the ones who follow the

followers, the church

what Israel is going to get in the

future. We get it ahead of time.

Now that's kind of interesting.

Turn with me to the New Testament. I'm

going to show you what I'm talking

about. 1 Corinthians 11. We're almost

done tonight.

This is Paul's account

of the Lord's table.

Paul's account

of the Lord's table.

He says this

in verse 23.

1 Corinthians 11:23.

1 Corinthians 11:23

For I've received of the Lord that which

also I delivered to you, that the Lord

Jesus the same night in which he was

betrayed, took bread,

and when he given thanks, he broke it

and said, "Take, eat. This is my body

which is broken for you. This do in

remembrance of me."

And that's what we're going to do

tonight. We're going to take the bread

and remember

the body of the Lord Jesus was broken

for us.

And after the same manner also he took

the cup when he slept, saying, "This cup

is what?"

The new testament

in my blood.

This do as often as you drink it in

remembrance of me. For as often as you

eat this bread and drink this cup, you

do show forth or proclaim the Lord's

death till he come.

Now, this is where we come in and this

is what we're going to be. We are

celebrating because we get in on the new

covenant early. We don't replace the

Jews and we just get in on the covenant

early because of our relationship to the

one who made the covenant.

And they didn't deserve it. And we

Gentiles certainly don't deserve it.

What do you think your ancestors were

doing? I know what mine were doing. They

the Irish, they were worshiping idols in

Ireland. And

my northern European ancestors were

worshiping idols up there.

And my German ancestors were worshiping

idols there.

They didn't know God either.

And so what God is doing with what Jesus

is doing and is in the church age is

beginning, he's he's letting the church

know you're in on this ahead of time.

I will develop this more for you next

time, but tonight I just want us to stop

here and just rejoice. I'm getting in on

something I had nothing no hope of ever

being in.

I was a gentile. I had no hope in us

without God in the world. And that

wasn't just me. It was everybody else.

And then Jesus came along and died for

my sins and rose again and sent the

gospel into all the world. Preached the

gospel to every nation.

And Jesus did what the Jews could never

do. He kept God's law. He never broke

any of the ten commandments.

He kept them all. He's the only one that

ever has. Only one person's ever kept

the ten commandments. It's Jesus. But

don't tell me I'm going to I ask people,

"You going to heaven?" Yeah, I keep the

ten commandments. No, you don't. You

You're fooling yourself. You haven't

kept any of them. And neither have I.

Not the way God interprets it. Take the

10 and shoot them down to two like Jesus

does. The first of the ten commandments

is love God with all your heart, all

your soul, and all your might. Oh, I

guess I haven't done that. Not every

day. Some days. And your neighbor as

yourself. I know I haven't done that.

So the first is the first five and the

other is the next five

because the first commandments deal with

our relationship with God and the second

deal with our relationship with each

other. So Jesus is doing something very

precious here and Paul is doing

something very precious here and Paul's

not the only one. The book of Hebrews

Hebrews 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8 and nine are filled with this

and um uh it's very clear here that

we're in on something we could never

imagine. You know, when God did this,

I'm sure all the people of the tribes of

tribe of Judah and Benjamin thought,

"Wow, this is fantastic." And then God

said, "Oh, by the way, the 10 northern

tribes are in ON THIS, TOO." WHAT? Not

those people. We've been fighting those

people. They're idolattors. They

worship. They were under King Ahab. They

had they're they're evil people up

there. No, they're in on it, too.

And then the surprise,

Gentiles.

I'm Jews. I thought we were something. I

thought we had an exclusive thing with

God. Well, you got something special.

But in the church, there's no Jew or

Greek, bond or free, male or female.

And so God is doing something ahead of

time now among the gentile people and we

get in on it because of our relationship

with the Lord.

Charles Fineberg said the dominant

themes of this chapter are the

restoration of God's people and the new

covenant.

And the new covenant. Another one said,

"The glories of the restored nation of

Israel and Judah is is the theme of this

chapter."

And what a precious thing that is. So

Jeremiah sees a united people worshiping

the Lord in Jerusalem. This passage is

precious and it represents according to

one writer the deepest insights in all

prophetic literature. This is deep

stuff.

You can't keep the law, can you? Nope.

Then I'll write it in your heart.

Put it on the inside out. That's what

Christianity is. Inside out religion.

I'm going to put it in your heart so you

have a heart affinity for it.

So you're not just going through the

motions outwardly, but there's a heart

affinity.

God knows what's in the heart. He know

God. The Lord knows the heart and the

heart's not too pretty. Mine isn't easy

as yours. We needed a new heart. We need

a heart transplant. And that's what God

does.

So all of this is really kind of

shocking and

it's a pray I love that stuff about

Rachel weeping and stop weeping crying.

You got you got a future because your

descendants have a future

and you you contributed to the program

of God and the purposes of God. You

know, these are wonderful things to

think about

and they're bigger than we can grasp. By

the way, the prophet Ezekiel said the

same thing. He put Israel and Judah here

and he had two sticks. He wrote Israel

on one and Judah on the other. And then

he had the two sticks becoming one.

That's Ezekiel 23.

And uh these two st excuse me, Ezekiel

Ezekiel 37:15–24

37 verse 15 to 24.

So tonight, we're going to celebrate the

Lord's supper.

And I am so glad for the grace of God

that blotss out all the failures of the

past,

not only for the Jewish people,

but for Bill Hixon

and for you.

Um,

this is a stunning, stunning thing that

we're looking at.

And tonight, we're going to celebrate

it. The Lord's Supper is a celebration.

It's a celebration of Jesus. It's a

celebration of who he is and what he's

done. Because we don't deserve to be in

on this.

We don't. We're not We're not taking the

Lord's supper because we think we're

better than other people. We're not

saying we're Christians because we're

better.

We may have been worse. Probably were.

But God's done a change. And that's what

the new birth is. If you've been born

again, if you if God has worked in your

heart, we invite you to come and take

the Lord's supper with us tonight. Our

practice here is to pass the bread, wait

for one another, and take together. If

you've not yet trusted Christ as your

savior, just please let the bread pass.

We're not going to judge you. We're not

interested in whether you're a member of

our church, and you don't have to be a

member to take the Lord's supper. But if

you feel that that's something you want

to do tonight, and you know the Lord,

please join us. We'll pass the bread,

wait for one another, and we'll eat

together. And then we'll pass the cup,

wait for one another, and drink

together. And the bread represents our

Lord's body.

The the cup rep the cup represents his

blood. We are celebrating his death till

he come.

We are doing it publicly because we're

not ashamed. Our faith is in that. The

eating and drinking symbolizes our faith

and our appropriation of what he did at

the cross. And we do it public because

you know what

Paul said? Ass often as you eat this

bread and drink this cup, you do

proclaim or preach his death till he

come.

So everybody that takes the Lord's

supper is going to have a sermon

tonight.

You're preaching a sermon. I'm preaching

a sermon. When we take the bread and we

take the cup, we are telling everybody,

"I'm a sinner. I can't get to heaven by

being good. I've already blown it. Jesus

died for me. He rose again. I'm trusting

his death to get me into heaven. I'm not

trusting my good works. I'm trusting his

work. You're preaching that. That's what

First Corinthians says. You're

proclaiming that. It's a nonverbal

sermon.

And so, it's kind of a sacred time. But

some people say, you know, I haven't had

a very good week. I don't have my sins

confessed up. Well, you better do that

before you take the Lord's supper. But

if you if you aren't quite caught up or

you're not you you you're not sure if

you're saved or not, just let the bread

come to pass. We're not going to judge

you. That's God's job.

But we are going to celebrate together.

And if you're not yet a Christian, maybe

seeing others take the bread and the cup

will preach to you louder than the

sermon. You know, when I was a kid, you

know what preached to me about the fact

I wasn't a Christian more than to preach

a sermon?

when I had to let the bread and the cup

go by because I wasn't saved and I knew

it.

I didn't get saved till I was 13.

I was raised in the church

and I'm glad I was. But, you know, every

time that cup went by and I didn't take

it, it kind of hit me. I need to trust

Jesus.

That that was a better sermon than the

preacher ever preached every time the

bread went by. So, don't be ashamed of

that. We're not going to judge you. This

is between you and God and uh it

everybody here and you don't have you

don't have to uh uh worry about that

from us.

But we are coming to honor our Lord and

celebrate his dead.

Father, we thank you for the time we

spent tonight.

Jeremiah's a hard book. There's nothing

easy about it.

He had a hard job. Everybody hated him

and uh wanted to kill him. Want threw

him in a sistern like a prison. We're

going to do that. We'll see that very

soon. But what a wonderful privilege he

had to give the message of the new

covenant ahead of time, hundreds of

years before Jesus came.

It's in the Bible.

And as we take the bread and the cup, we

look back

not now to Jeremiah, but to Jesus

and his death on the cross. He took our

hell. He suffered our our hellfire.

He was separated from God on the cross.

He died for our sins. How can we not

love him? How can we not rejoice in him?

And so we take the bread and the cup

with joy tonight in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Amen.

>> Oh Lord, as we go from this place

loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine to a sin darkened

world as we go from this place.