SUNDAY - MARCH 29, 2026 "The New Covenant"

Welcome to DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.

Our Sunday morning services are weekly at 9 and 10 30 a.m.

You're listening to an audio recast of this past week's service.

We hope you enjoy.

God bless.

If you have your Bibles this morning, we're going to be in the book of Jeremiah.

Not Acts this morning.

We're going to be in Jeremiah chapter 31.

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

And this morning we're going to be looking at the new covenant.

Now, before we get to the new covenant, maybe we need to answer the question, maybe not, but maybe we need to answer the question this morning, what is a covenant?

Like, what is it?

Like, if you listen to the podcast this week, and some of you are saying, Grant, what's a podcast?

That's another conversation.

If you didn't know, we we do a podcast every week at DeSota Hills.

We on Sundays we'll post a message that from from that Sunday morning and on Wednesday, Mark will release a podcast that he's done with me or David or Laura.

This coming week, he's gonna talk to some people that went on the mission trip to Orlando.

So it's a good little podcast, but but after this past week on the podcast, we talked about covenant and what it is.

So if you listened, you're gonna get it twice, but only 27 of you listened, so you probably all need to hear it.

What is a covenant?

In in the ancient Near East, which included Old Testament Israel, in the ancient Near East, there were really three kinds of covenant.

A covenant is basically a contract that people enter into together, and there were there were three kinds in the ancient Near East.

The first one we could also call a treaty, and it would be when two or more nations, or it could be people of unequal power, entered into agreement in which the lesser power had obligations to fulfill to the higher power.

We're gonna talk about this a little bit more in a moment, but but think of the Mosaic covenant, the covenant that God entered into with the people of Israel, the covenant that he entered there at Mount Sinai, that was two unequal powers, God, Israel, and which Israel had to fulfill obligations for the higher power.

A second kind of covenant would be more like a contract that two equal powers enter into.

In the Bible, we we see some of those.

Think back into the book of Genesis when Jacob fled from Esau, his brother, went to his uncle Laban's, and said, Hey, I'm gonna work for seven years.

After that seven years, I want Rachel's hand in marriage.

Contract.

Now we know Laban tricked him.

That's another story, right?

But but that was a contract.

Both had obligations that they would fulfill.

The third kind is more like a, it could also be called a grant.

It's when two unequal powers enter into a commitment together to which the higher power obligates himself to the lesser power for the benefit of the lesser power.

Okay, in this, in this type of, if you look in the Old Testament, we see those a lot.

One of those would be God's covenant with Abraham.

Think about it.

God told Abraham, God's the higher power, Abraham's the lesser power.

God says, Abraham, I'm gonna give you land, descendants, and you're gonna be a blessing for the nation, and there's no obligations really for Abraham.

Nothing he had to fulfill to get that.

And so you see, so three types of covenants.

And the Mosaic covenant being more like the treaty, which we're gonna talk about, the new covenant that we're going to enter into, that we see that we are in and under the new covenant, is the grant type of covenant, where the higher power is obligating himself for the benefit of the lesser power.

So in Jeremiah chapter 31, what we see is God entering into, he told Jeremiah that he was going to make a new covenant with Israel and with Judah.

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

And you say, Grant, that's with Israel and Judah.

Well, listen, as the church, we have been grafted into this relationship that God has with Israel.

So guess what?

We receive the blessings and the benefits from the new covenant because we have been grafted in and have become God's people.

And so we can benefit and we receive blessings from this new covenant.

So the challenge for us is going to be this live in this new covenant that we've been given.

Live within this context, live within the covenant that God has given us and entered into with us.

So the question that we seek to answer then is this well, what is the new covenant?

You've told us covenants, but what is the new covenant that we're going to look at?

So we're going to turn to Jeremiah chapter 31, which is really the first place that the new covenant is kind of mentioned.

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

So Jeremiah chapter 31, we're going to begin reading in verse 31.

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

If you are able, I invite you to stand with me as we give honor to the reading of God's word.

Jeremiah 31, verse 31, God speaks.

Jeremiah 31:31

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand and bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord.

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.

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

Let's pray together.

God, we thank you for your word.

And we thank you for the new covenant which you have given to us.

Help us this morning as we study about this new covenant, not just to learn about the covenant.

But God, as your word says, to know you.

Help us to know you.

Jesus, it's in your name that we pray.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So God begins and he says, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.

Then in verse 32, he says, Not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

What he's talking about here is the Mosaic covenant, the covenant that God entered into with Israel way back at way back at Mount Sinai.

We see the beginning of this back in Exodus chapter 19.

Exodus 19 · chapter mention

In Exodus chapter 19, we know that Exodus chapter 20 is the Ten Commandments, so God is giving them the obligations that they that are required for them in order to fulfill this covenant arrangement that they are entering into.

Exodus 19 · chapter mention Exodus 20 · chapter mention

But in chapter 19, he begins and he says this in verse 1 On the third new moon, after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.

They set out from Rephedim, and they came into the wilderness of Sinai.

There Israel encamped before the mountain while Moses went up to God.

The Lord called out to him, called to him out of the mountain, saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle eagle's wings and brought you to myself.

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.

So God is entering into this covenant relationship, this that what we call the refer to as the Mosaic covenant.

He's entering this relationship, and here's what he says if you obey my commands, if you obey my commands, you will be my treasured possession among all the earth.

Why?

How?

Because all the earth is his.

In any religion, people must keep this, these outward, but make these outward behavioral changes in order to appease a deity.

But what God is telling Jeremiah, what is God is telling Israel and Judah, what God is telling us is under the new covenant, it's not going to come that way.

He says, I'm going to put my law within you.

I am going to write it on your heart.

This is not religion that we have to that that we change, it's made from the outside in to appease the deity.

What he is bringing us into in this new covenant is a relationship with Almighty God, where Almighty God indwells us and He fills us and He changes us from the inside out.

It is a relationship.

This new covenant is going to come through a relationship through this inside change.

Not only is this covenant relationship going to be a change that comes from the inside out, it is going to be, he says, he goes on and says, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

You know, under the old covenant, God said something like that.

Back in Leviticus chapter 26, verse 12, God says, and I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.

Leviticus 26:12

Here's the difference.

In Leviticus 26, if you go back to the beginning of that chapter, here's what God's telling them: here's blessings that are going to come upon you if you obey my voice.

If you obey my voice, I'm going to walk among you.

If you obey my voice, I'm going to be your God, and you are going to be my people.

But within the new covenant, when he comes and he says, I will be their God, they will be my people.

This is not the same kind of change.

What he is pointing to here is there are going to be marks of a believer, and we talked about some of these even last week.

There's going to be marks on the life of a believer that people are going to see.

And when people have these things, I will be their God and they will be my people.

But these marks are not changes that we have to make.

He goes on and tells us, he says, and no longer shall each teach his neighbor.

What he's talking about, what he's going to come to here is this change.

The New Testament word, the new covenant word.

For this change that is going to take place is this regeneration.

Here's what regeneration is: it is reborn.

We are reborn.

We are given new life in this new covenant.

But it's not because of what we've done, we get new life that we receive from the blood of Christ and the indwelling spirit.

In Romans chapter 8, Paul really goes and he explains well what is happening under the new covenant.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

In Romans chapter 8, Paul writes this there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

See, this old Mosaic law, what it brought upon Israel was sin and death because they were unable to keep it.

And so they were unable to keep this law.

But the life found in the Spirit, in Christ, in that life, it has been kept, and we have been set free from the law of sin and death and been given the spirit of life.

How does that happen?

Look at verse 3.

For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do.

People could not keep the law.

So what we could not keep, God has done.

He says, by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh have set their minds on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on things of the Spirit.

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.

Indeed, it cannot.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

If in fact the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

Here's what Paul is saying.

Here's what Paul is saying.

He's saying to those who are under the blood of Christ, because Christ came and he satisfied all the requirements of the law.

He lived a perfect life and he kept the law perfectly.

But then he was condemned to death and on the cross through the blood of Christ, the blood that was shed for the remission of our sins, he took the punishment of God that is required for all of those who don't keep the law.

Christ took that punishment on the cross.

And because of the resurrection, he defeated death, he defeated sin, and now he gives to those who live in the Spirit, who have believed in Christ as the Savior and have been given the Holy Spirit to those he gives his righteousness.

So when God looks at us, he doesn't see our sin, he sees the righteousness of Christ.

That's how Paul can say at the beginning of this chapter there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

And it's not because of requirements that we have fulfilled, because he says it we cannot.

We can't do it.

Even if the good outweighs our bad, guess what?

There's still bad.

There's still sin.

And a just God deals with sin.

So he sent his son.

And now through the blood of Jesus.

And when we believe in Christ, and we are under the blood of Jesus and have been given the Spirit, not because of what we have done, but because of what Christ has done.

We become his people, and he is our God.

The new covenant is not about keeping rules.

The new covenant is about being in a relationship with God through his son and the Holy Spirit who indwells us.

So what we see with the new covenant is unlike the old covenant, it brings change from the end.

The mark of the new covenant is regeneration, that we have been reborn through the blood of Jesus Christ and through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Finally, we see this morning that this faith brings a relationship.

From the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.

Here's how we become a kingdom of priests, the treasured possession of God.

Is we enter into a relationship with God where we no longer need a priest to offer a sacrifice to us for atonement because we have believed and trusted in the high priest who made his sacrifice once and for all time and sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Father.

We have trusted in Jesus.

And in the relationship that comes with that, we find true forgiveness.

Forgiveness that can only be given by the one who paid the price for our sin, who died and defeated death and arose and now places on us his righteousness.

That's where we find true forgiveness.

And it only comes.

It only comes through faith in the Savior.

Now, he said, Behold, the days are coming when this would take place.

So I told you that we are now under the new covenant.

Well, when did that happen?

Well, if you turn to Luke chapter 22, here's what's happening in Luke chapter 22.

Luke 22 · chapter mention Luke 22 · chapter mention

In Luke chapter 22, they have begun, Jesus and the apostles there in what we refer to as Holy Week.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday today, goes through Easter.

Where we're at in Luke 22, it's where we're going to read, beginning in verse 14, is where at about Thursday, when Jesus is celebrating the Passover with the Apostles.

Here's what he says in verse 14.

And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him, and he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

And he took a cup.

And when he had given thanks, he said, Take this and divide it among yourselves, for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.

And he took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and he gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

Now hear verse 20.

And likewise the cup, after they had eaten, saying, This cup is poured out for you, is the new covenant in my blood.

We enter into the new covenant.

They entered into the new covenant when Christ died and arose.

And now today, because, once again, because we have been grafted into this new covenant, we have been grafted into the people of God.

Because of that, we can experience the blessings of this covenant, which are a relationship with God Almighty.

If you believe in Him and are covered with the blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit dwells within you.

Oh, I pray that today, I pray that today you are receiving the blessings of the new covenant and are in a relationship with Jesus.

But if you are not, we're about to enter into a time of invitation where we are inviting you to come.

If you've never believed in Jesus, if you've never accepted the forgiveness that he has offered to us through his death and resurrection that we have talked about, oh, may today be the day of salvation for you.

And just a moment, as we stand and we sing, we invite you to come.

If you have, but you have not been living, living under the new covenant, receiving the blessings of the new covenant because you have gone wayward and not trusting in him.

Because again, it's not about how much you can do, it's how much he does in you, how much you rely and depend upon him.

Maybe this morning you need to repent of trying to do, do, do, and you need to rely and lean on him.

We invite you to come.

Maybe this morning you're looking for a church home.

However, God is leading you, in just a moment as we stand and sing, we invite you to come.

Let's pray together.

God, I thank you for today.

I thank you for how you love us and for all you have done for us.

God, I'm thankful for this new covenant that you have entered into with your people.

God, we don't deserve it.

It's that kind of covenant, Father.

It's that grant covenant, Father, where you have placed obligations on yourself for our benefit.

And we are so thankful that you fulfilled those obligations in Jesus Christ, that He lived, that He died, that He arose.

And we know that He is coming again.

I pray for those who have never trusted in that sacrifice, that today will be the day of salvation for them.

God, I pray for those of us who have, who just have forgotten, and we're trying to live under the old covenant where we do to appease you.

But God, help us to find rest and peace and life.

And that there is no condemnation for us because Christ appeased your wrath when he died for us.

Help us to repent and fall to you.

God, however you are moving and working among us today, we ask you to give us the faith that we need to respond.

Jesus, it's in your name that we pray.

Amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at DeSoto Hills.com.