LENT
5
March
20-22, 2021
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
“IT’S A NEW COVENANT!”
SERMON TEXT: Jeremiah 31:31-34 (EHV) “Yes, the days are
coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of
Israel and with the house of Judah. 32It will not be like
the covenant I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand and led
them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant of mine, although I was
a husband to them, declares the Lord. 33But this is the covenant I
will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will
put my law in their minds, and I will write it on their hearts. I will be their
God, and they will be my people. 34No longer will each one teach his
neighbor, or each one teach his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they
will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord,
for I will forgive their guilt, and I will remember their sins no more.”
Just imagine you are on the game show
The Price is Right. You get picked and make the right bid. They reveal what you
can win. “It’s a new car!” You know what happens next. Screams and cheers from
the crowd and the best reaction from the contestants. The opportunity to win a
new car is just so exciting. And to be sure there is something to be said about
the excitement of something new, like our new addition, or new clothes, or new shoes
for my wife. Excitement and appreciation for something new builds when the old
is worn out and broken.
That’s what God had the prophet
Jeremiah announce. It was about 600 years before Jesus was born. The prophet
Jeremiah announced something new was coming, a new covenant. Any of the people
back then who truly understood the covenant they were living under would be so
excited at the prospect of a new covenant with God to replace the old. I
imagine them screaming. “It’s a new covenant!” Things are a little different
with us. We are living in the days the Lord was talking about, the time of the
New Covenant. It’s what the Church year season of Lent points us to: how Jesus
marches to Jerusalem to deliver a new covenant and then signs and seals it with
His blood. Now here’s the problem. When you’ve had something new for a while,
it doesn’t feel new anymore, even if it’s in perfect condition. It starts to
feel old. And what happens with to us with stuff that feels old? We don’t
appreciate it anymore. So today let’s eagerly examine the two covenants God put
into place, the old and the new, with the goal that we will walk out of here
once again excited that we have a new covenant!
Now the best way to do this is simply
to have a side by side comparison of the old and the new covenants which is
really a comparison of life for believers in the Old Testament to life for
believers in the New Testament. That’s what the word testament means, covenant.
It’s important to remember that believers in the Old Testament were saved by
believing in the Savior who would come and believers in the New Testament are
saved by believing in the Savior who has come. Same Savior. Jesus. Life was
very different however. Let’s look at some of the differences between old and
new.
First, the Old. It was given only to
the Old Testament nation of Israel. Anyone who wanted to be a part of it would
have to walk like an Israeli and by that I mean live like them and follow all
the rules. Secondly it was put in place by a man, a great man, but just a man.
Moses delivered the covenant to Old Testament Israel. Thirdly, the Old Covenant
was conditional, two sided. God promised He would do certain things for the
nation of Israel like fight their wars and bless their crops and herds. The
people had to do their part and keep the laws of the covenant. And there were
lots of them like food laws. Certain foods were considered unclean. Did you
know that if you lived at the time of the Old Covenant you would never get to
eat a BLT or a half or full rack of ribs or have eggs with bacon for breakfast,
not even bacon bits on your salad? You would not have ham and rolls for Sunday
lunch like so much of the rest of Milwaukee. Pork was an unclean food. Speaking
of unclean there were all kinds of laws that made you unclean for a period of
time which meant you could not come before God and had to be isolated from
other people. You were unclean if you were near a dead body of man or beast.
Unclean if you had a rash. All kinds of natural body functions made you unclean.
When you learn all those laws you wonder how anybody spent any time being
clean. But actually that was one of the points. You can’t clean yourself up. If
you lived at the time of the Old Covenant you would have to worship on Saturday
and you have to make your schedule work around that day. No going to Badger
games. Nothing that resembled work. Fourthly the Old Covenant was bloody all
the time. Take a read through Leviticus and find out about the many, many
animal sacrifices that were required. Kids when you came to church you would
see and smell a lot of blood. I’d have to be an expert butcher. Now the reason
for all of this is that the Old Covenant was a teaching covenant. It taught
very bluntly that sin makes you unclean so you can’t come to God. Sin is
horrible and requires payment in blood and death. Either the sinner paid or a
substitute and as soon as I say that word substitute you know what the Old
Covenant was designed to do, point to and picture Jesus. Finally the Old
Covenant was a broken covenant. It forced you to say, “I must. I have to. I
can’t.” Actually do you know how long it took the Old Testament nation of
Israel to break their side of the covenant? Remember what Moses found when he
came down Mt. Sinai? The Golden Calf. Do you think we could have done better?
What good news to hear “It’s a New
Covenant!” “Yes, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32It
will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers, when I took
them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that
covenant of mine, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. 33But
this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds, and I will write it on
their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34No
longer will each one teach his neighbor, or each one teach his brother, saying,
“Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the
greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their guilt, and I will
remember their sins no more.” Let’s look now at the new Covenant that you
and I get to live under. First, it’s for everybody, not one nation. For God so
loved the world. Secondly it was put into effect by Jesus Himself, the only Son
of God. Thirdly it’s unconditional. It’s one sided. It’s all God’s doing. Six
separate times God says “I will” when talking about the new covenant. It’s a
covenant that frees us from those unkeepable Old Testament laws. So fire up
your Traeger and smoke that pork but just remember as you do so that life under
the New Covenant means whether you eat, drink or whatever you do, you can do it
all for the glory of God. That happens my friends when realize that our freedom
from “I have to obey the law” is replaced with the freedom of “I get to” of the
Gospel. Jesus has perfectly obeyed for you in this New Covenant. So obedience
flows from love. It’s not I must, I have to, I can’t. It’s I want to, I get to,
I will. And when we fail. Did you hear what He said? “For I will forgive
their guilt, and I will remember their sins no more.” With God nothing is
impossible, even forgetting and what He forgets is our sins. And He can do that
because the New Covenant was put into effect with the blood of Jesus shed one
time on the cross which made full payment for all sin. And that payment points
to another difference. The New Covenant is permanent. It can’t be broken
because it’s all on God. This covenant makes us God’s people forever! As great
as we might think it is to be able to eat Easter ham and not worry that what we
eat or touch will make us unclean what’s so much better is to know that forever
is real and forever is with God and forever is with all my fellow believers.
It’s a new covenant!
Now I suspect that those who win a new
car on a game show gradually lose their excitement—especially when they realize
they owe taxes on what they won. Then the new car becomes old. Friends, let’s
not let that happen with us. It’s a new covenant. God’s mercies are new every
morning. Every day you wake up you have a fresh start because God remembers
your sins no more. And to help us remember Jesus gave us something that every
time we see it, every time we participate, is to lead to renewed excitement and
joy. You know what that is. “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is
poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.” What a blessing! Amen.
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