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You may turn in your Bibles to 
Jeremiah 31 for our study, concluding study in the covenant of grace. We have defined covenant in its 
most basic definition as an agreement between two or more persons. The covenant of grace, however, 
is God's of the working out of God's dealings with man in history. There is one overarching covenant 
of grace made with the Lord Jesus Christ to save his people from 
their sins and that one covenant of grace is administered through 
history through various historical covenants. We saw the Adamic 
covenant or the covenant of commencement with that promise in Genesis 
315 that the seat of the woman would crush the head of the seat 
of the serpent. We saw the Noahic covenant, the 
covenant of preservation. We saw the Abrahamic covenant 
or the covenant of promise, the Mosaic covenant, the covenant 
of law. Last week, we saw the Davidic 
covenant, which was the covenant of kingdom. And this evening 
we come to the new covenant prophesied by Jeremiah in announcement and 
then fulfilled in the life and ministry and death of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Well, I'll just pick up reading 
in Jeremiah 31 at verse 31. Behold, the days are coming, 
says the Lord, when 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 lead them out of the land of Egypt. My 
covenant, which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says 
the Lord. But this is the covenant that 
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says 
the Lord. I will put my law in their minds 
and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God and they 
shall be my people. No more shall every man teach 
his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, 
for they all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest 
of them, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their 
sin. I will remember no more. Thus 
says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances 
of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs 
the sea and its waves roar. The Lord of hosts is his name. 
If those ordinances depart from before me, says the Lord, then 
the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before 
me forever. Thus says the Lord, if heaven 
above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched 
out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for 
all that they have done, says the Lord. Behold, the days are 
coming, says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lord 
from the tower of Peniniel to the corner gate. The surveyors 
line shall extend again, extend straight forward over the hill 
Gara. Then it shall turn toward Goethe 
and the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes and all 
the fields as far as the Brook Kidron to the corner of the horse 
gate toward the east shall be holy to the Lord. It shall not 
be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever. Amen. Well, as we said with the other 
covenants, we're just providing a bit of a thumbnail sketch. 
So much more could be said for each of these historical covenants, 
but it's just been a broad overview, and tonight is no different. 
I want to focus on three things, primarily with reference to the 
new covenant. First, its announcement in the 
prophet Jeremiah. Secondly, its features as demonstrated 
or indicated here in the prophet. And then thirdly, its fulfillment 
in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. But with reference 
to its announcement, it's important to understand the larger context 
in which Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34 is given. Look for a moment at 
the end of verse 40. Look at the end of verse 40. 
It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever. That is reminiscent of a key 
theme in the book of Jeremiah or some key words. If you go 
back to Jeremiah chapter one for just a moment, you can see 
this in Jeremiah chapter one. After God has selected or called 
Jeremiah to function as a prophet to the nations, he then gives 
him this particular message of this particular Emphasis upon 
his ministry, Jeremiah 110. See, I have this day set you 
over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull 
down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant. And that is precisely what we 
find in the Prophet Jeremiah. He prophesied the destruction 
of Judah in the sixth century. They are being rooted out. They 
are being pulled down. They are being destroyed and 
they are being thrown down. But there is a promise that they 
would be rebuilt and planted. And in that prophecy in Jeremiah 
31, we see that given through Jeremiah. Now, Jeremiah wrote 
or prophesied from 627 B.C. to 582 B.C. That was a very unique 
time in Judah's history. The northern tribes had already 
been judged about 100 years previous. The northern tribes of Israel 
had been taken away into Assyria, who was then the world power. 
And here the prophet Jeremiah is sent to call the nation of 
the southern tribes of Judah to repentance. If they do not 
repent, then the Lord God will bring a judgment upon them, similar 
to what he did with the northern tribes. There was a time of reformation, 
a time of revival, if you will, under King Josiah when Jeremiah 
prophesied, but it didn't last. It didn't take. It wasn't enough 
to avert the coming of God's wrath. So, Jeremiah again called 
the nation, called the people back to repentance and faith, 
but ultimately saw Judah fall in 586 BC to Babylon, specifically 
to Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon. And then we notice, as well, 
the sin of Judah. If you look at Jeremiah chapter 
two for just a moment, just so you can kind of get a feel for 
what life was like at that particular time. We often think we live 
in the worst time ever. Well, we really don't. I mean, 
we live in a bad time to be sure. But look at what was going on 
in Judah, who were the covenant people of God in this particular 
time. Notice just a few specimen passages 
here in Jeremiah, chapter two, verse four. Hear the word of 
the Lord, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house 
of Israel. Thus says the Lord. What injustice 
of your fathers found in me that they have gone far from me, have 
followed idols and have become idolaters. Neither did they say, 
where is the Lord who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, 
who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and 
pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, through 
a land that no one crossed and where no one dwelt. You see, 
this the nation that was in covenant with God instead of asking, where 
is Jehovah who brought us out of the land of Egypt? They were 
seeking the idols of the nations around them. They were engaged 
in Moloch worship. They were engaged in Baalism. They were engaged in all form 
of idolatry and ungodliness. Dropping down, notice in verse 
11, has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods, but 
my people have changed their glory for what does not profit. Be astonished, O heavens, at 
this, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate, says the Lord, 
for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken 
me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns, 
broken cisterns that can hold no water. You see that he says 
the nations surrounding Judah were faithful to their gods. Has a nation changed its gods? 
No, but my people have exchanged me. My people have sought out 
something a little bit more practical, something a little bit more helpful, 
something a little bit more right here and right now, something 
that relates more to our feelings and to our emotions. They had 
abandoned God of the covenant and engaged all manner of wickedness 
and evil. Look at verse thirty one, a very 
powerful illustration of just how degenerate Judah had become. 
Oh, generation, see the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness 
to Israel or a land of darkness? Why do my people say we are lords? We will come no more to you. 
Can a virgin forget her ornaments or a bride or attire? Yet my 
people have forgotten me days without number. Brides don't 
show up on the day of their wedding in their blue jeans and in a 
ratty old shirt. They make sure they're decked 
out. They make sure that they're decorated. They make sure that 
they're adorned and ready to go. You see the analogy. Can a virgin forget her ornaments 
or a bride or attire? Well, of course not. That would 
be our answer, he says. Yet my people have forgotten 
me days without number. And then the call to repentance 
comes in Jeremiah three after highlighting the severity of 
their sin, the severity of their wickedness, the fact that they 
had apostatized and broken the covenant. God, through the prophet, 
says repeatedly, yet return to me, says the Lord. It's almost 
a heartbreaking thing, brethren, as you read through chapter two 
and you see the backdrop and just how wicked everyone was 
and how bad these times were in Judah. And then you get to 
Jeremiah three and God is saying, yet return to me, says the Lord. Remember, God through the prophet 
says, I have stretched out my arms to you. I have called you 
back to myself. That was the generation in which 
Jeremiah lived. He was preaching to a godless 
people. He was preaching to an apostate 
people. He was preaching to a people 
that were going to be cut off by a Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon. And yet the Lord through him 
announces the coming of a new covenant. And when we look at 
this very particular in Jeremiah 31 at verse 31, behold, the days 
are coming, says Jehovah, when I will make a new covenant. We talked about a unilateral 
covenant. This is not bilateral. God does 
not ask for our agreement. God does not enter into negotiations 
with us. God unilaterally acts and imposes 
this new covenant and praise God that he does so. Praise the 
Lord, that he is bent on saving his people from their sins. And in the immediate context 
of Jeremiah 30, 31, and 32, we see the promise of restoration 
in Jeremiah 30, the promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 
31, and then an illustration of God's faithfulness in Jeremiah 
32. He tells the prophet to buy land 
in Judah. Now, if you're thinking for a 
moment, you would think, why? If Nebuchadnezzar and his hordes 
are coming in from Babylon to take away our land, why would 
anybody in their right mind buy a piece of land? I mean, wouldn't 
you? If you knew that a big earthquake 
was going to come and Vancouver was going to end up in the ocean, 
would you go immediately and buy an apartment building? I 
mean, you might get it somewhat cheaper than you normally would, 
especially if everybody knew the forecast. But the idea is, 
is that this piece of land, I'm not picking on Vancouver, it 
could be California. When I lived in California, we always lived, 
not really, but we always thought we were going to fall off into 
the ocean. That would be the big one, they 
always called it. The earthquake would come, California 
would fall off, and we'd be in the ocean. The idea being is, 
if you knew that was going to happen, would you be keen to 
go buy land? Of course you wouldn't. Jeremiah 
is the one prophesied that Nebuchadnezzar and the hordes are coming in. 
So what does God say? He says, buy a piece of land. 
Why? It's an illustration of his faithfulness. It is to show and highlight that 
though they'll be rooted out, though they'll be dispossessed, 
though they'll be destroyed, God is going to bring them back 
to their land. And when he does, that title 
deed will be good. Now, Jeremiah wouldn't have occupied 
it, but whoever. in Jeremiah's family. So that's 
the immediate context here in Jeremiah 31. Now, let's look 
at the features of the new covenant. And there are four. Again, there's 
several others we could look at or we could hold in on. But 
there's four essential features of this new covenant that we 
need to observe. And the first is the unbreakable 
nature of the covenant. Theologians call this the inviolability 
of the new covenant. Viability means that you can 
break something. Inviolability means you cannot 
break this. Notice, behold, the days are 
coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel and with the house of Judah. And why he speaks 
of Israel and Judah is that when the prophets spoke of God's blessing 
in the future, they always saw it in terms of a reunification. They always thought in terms 
of Israel and Judah, not being a divided kingdom, but being 
a reunited kingdom under one king, even David, the Lord. And 
we see this applied in the New Testament, specifically in Hebrews 
eight and in Hebrews ten to the church of Jesus Christ. So much 
so that Paul can sign off in Galatians and say, may peace 
be upon the Israel of God. So much so that Paul in Romans 
2 could say, you're not a Jew just because you're circumcised 
outwardly, but a Jew is one who circumcised inwardly. And Paul 
in Philippians 3 can say, we are the circumcision or as the 
new American standard translate. And I think that I think it's 
accurate. We are the true circumcision who worship God in the spirit, 
who boasts in Christ. It's not a matter of race in 
the new covenant. It's a matter of grace. That's 
how we enter in. That's how we are part of this 
reunified kingdom that the Lord Jesus Christ rules and reigns 
over. But the inviolability of this 
covenant is a blessed reality or a blessed truth. The old or 
mosaic covenant was breakable. The Abrahamic covenant was breakable. We have a promise from the new 
covenant that all those who, by the grace of God, are placed 
into this new covenant. You will not break it. You will 
not violate it. You will not fall out of it. Turn to Jeremiah 32 for just 
a moment. Jeremiah 32, which there are 
several other passages in the Old Testament that highlight 
the new covenant. Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34 is the 
only place that it's identified as the new covenant. But in a 
couple of places in Ezekiel, we see the everlasting covenant. We see something similar in the 
prophet Isaiah as well. Again, I think they're all looking 
forward to that time in Jesus Christ when he will bless his 
people and save them from their sins. But notice here, Jeremiah 
thirty-two verse thirty-six. Now, therefore, thus says the 
Lord, the Lord, the God of Israel concerning this city of which 
you say it shall be delivered into the hand of the king of 
Babylon by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence. 
Behold, I will gather them out of all countries. where I have 
driven them in my anger in my fury and in great wrath. I will 
bring them back to this place and I will cause them to dwell 
safely. They shall be my people and I will be their God. Then 
I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me 
forever for the good of them and their children after them. 
And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will 
not turn away from doing them good, but I will put my fear 
in their hearts so that they will not depart from me. The 
inviolability of the new covenant does not rest upon the faithfulness 
of the member in the new covenant, but upon her covenant had the 
Lord Jesus Christ. This new covenant is unbreakable 
because Jesus saves us to the uttermost. This is the backdrop 
for promises such as Romans chapter eight. When Paul says, I am convinced 
that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of 
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the backdrop 
for the covenantal context for Paul's statement. Philippians 
one six. I am confident of this very thing that he began a good 
work in you will complete it on to the day of Christ. If you 
are, by God's grace, a recipient of the new covenant, you are 
safe and secure. You are eternally blessed. You 
have been given a gift that no man can ever strip away from 
you. That's good news. That's a blessing. That is great grace demonstrated 
by the Lord God most high. the idea that someone can actually 
participate in the new covenant and then finally be lost. is 
foreign and contrary to Jeremiah's word. It is foreign and contrary 
to the New Testament scripture. There is a teaching out there 
called specifically the federal vision. They teach that you enter 
in savingly to God's favor. You enter in savingly and possess 
all of the gifts that the Lord confers upon his elect, but that 
you can finally apostatize and fall away and be lost. They don't 
explain Hebrews six and ten, the way we might. We might see 
someone who, for all intents and appearances, looks like a 
New Covenant member. But if they fall away, we conclude 
they never were really of us. First John two, they were not 
of us. Because if they were of us, they 
would have continued with us. You fall away. It's evidence 
that you were never in to begin with. Not so with the federal 
vision. They say that the new covenant is breakable, that you 
possess the power to finally and ultimately fall away. Well, 
who does that ultimately reflect upon? It reflects upon Jesus. Either he saves to the uttermost 
or he doesn't. God announces to Jeremiah 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 lead 
them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke. The new covenant is unbreakable 
because it is guaranteed by God most high. Secondly, a second 
feature of this new covenant. is the internalization of God's 
law. God, with his own finger, according 
to the Book of Exodus, wrote the Ten Commandments on the tablets. According to Jeremiah, he takes 
that same law and writes it upon your heart. There is continuity 
between the covenants and law is one of them. It's not a brand 
new law. It's not something out of left 
field. What law is Jeremiah referring to? He is referring to the Decalogue 
primarily. God wrote those things or those 
10 words with his finger on the tablet. And in the new covenant, 
it goes from an external tablet to an internal heart disposition. Notice what he says. He says 
in verse thirty three, but this is the covenant that I will make 
with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I 
will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. This was not absent from old 
covenant believers. Some within the old covenant 
were saved and had the law written on their hearts. But in the new 
covenant, everybody who is in the new covenant by the grace 
of God has the law written on their hearts. God puts that disposition 
in us to want to obey the Decalogue. God puts the desire in us that 
we will have no other gods before him, that we will not make for 
ourselves idols, that we will not blaspheme his name, that 
we will not violate his holy day, that we will not rebel against 
and exercise insubordination against lawful authority. God 
puts it in our hearts to not want to murder, to not want to 
commit adultery, to not want to steal, to not want to bear 
false witness, to not want to covet. God has taken that external 
code and he has internalized it in us. And so that we're able 
to say with the psalmist, oh, how I love your law. The problem 
is that God's law. The problem is that we don't 
always fulfill it or always obey it. Well, the Prophet Jeremiah 
tells us that in this new covenant, God writes his law upon our hearts. So much so that Jesus can say, 
if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. After Paul opens 
up the doctrine of justification by faith in Romans three thirty 
one, what does he say? What shall we say that is the 
law nullified? Certainly not. It is established 
not as a means of salvation, not as a means of justification, 
but those who have been justified freely by his grace now have 
an internal disposition, an internal desire to do what God calls them 
to do. Romans 7, Paul speaks favorably 
of the law. Romans chapter 13, 8 to 10. I 
alluded to it this morning. How do I know what loving my 
brethren looks like? It looks like not breaking the 
decalogue. It looks like me treating them 
in the manner in which God specifies. So a feature of the New Covenant 
is the internalization of God's law. A third feature is the knowledge 
of God. Notice in verse thirty three 
again, this is not absent in the old covenant. David and Jeremiah 
certainly knew God in the manner specified here. But Eli's sons, 
who were priests of the Lord God most high, engaged in temple 
or acts of temple prostitution. They weren't the prostitutes, 
but they lie with women and they stole sacrifice. Imagine that 
you come to the temple to present your sacrifice to the Lord God. 
And these two priests take your meat and they go and they eat 
it. Well, the book tells us that 
the Prophet Samuel or the book of Samuel tells us what the issue 
was. First, Samuel 2, 12. Eli's sons 
did not know the Lord. Now, of course, they knew about 
the Lord. It wasn't as if they had never 
heard of Yahweh of Israel. I mean, here they are, priests 
serving in the temple. They didn't know the Lord. They 
didn't have that intimate knowledge. You could be an old covenant 
member. You could serve in the priesthood 
and not know the Lord savingly. Jeremiah says not so in the new 
covenant. When you're in the new covenant, 
God's law is internalized and you know him. You're intimate 
with him. You're his friend. He's your 
God. You're his son. I will be their 
God, he says, upon O. Palmer Robertson's calls this 
the Emmanuel principle, something that we see running through these 
covenants is the Emmanuel principle. What is that? God with us. You 
shall call his name Emmanuel, God with us. That Emmanuel principle 
runs through these historical covenants and reaches its pinnacle 
in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God with us. This is the promise 
of new covenant blessing, which is consummated in the book of 
Revelation 21. We see this promise come up again 
where it is realized in its fullness and in its beauty. He says, and 
I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No more shall 
every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 
Know the Lord, for they all shall know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest of them, says the Lord. Just to see this knowledge 
that he is speaking about, turn for a moment to Jeremiah 9. Jeremiah 
chapter nine, just to see that this knowledge of the Lord is 
that saving knowledge, that intimacy, that blessed reality that by 
God's grace we come into a saving relationship through him, wherein 
he is our God and we are his sons. Jeremiah nine at verse 
twenty three. Thus says the Lord, let not the 
wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory 
in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but 
let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and 
knows me, that I am the Lord exercising lovingkindness, judgment, 
and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says 
the Lord. Does that describe you? Is that 
the way you think? Is that what makes you happy? 
Is this where you find fulfillment or do you glory in your wisdom? Are you pretty proud of your 
understanding? Have you accomplished much in 
the workplace? Are you defined by what you have 
done in this world? Or is that defining characteristic, 
that thing which you most certainly treasure above all other things, 
is that you know the Lord. That's the essence of New Covenant 
religion. He's not saying don't be wise. 
He's not saying don't work hard. He's not saying don't be godly 
in society and effective in your area of influence and all that 
sort of thing. But he's saying when all is said and done and 
when push comes to shove, what is most valuable to you? What 
is most important to you? I think we see something of an 
illustration of this in the life and the ministry of our Lord 
Jesus. Remember what he sent his 70 out to preach and to teach 
and to announce the coming of the kingdom of Jesus. They return, 
and then they say, Lord, even the demons were subject to us 
in your name. They were elated. They were delighted. They were happy. They were ecstatic. 
They had done great things. They had seen great things. And 
Jesus says, Behold, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 
He acknowledges that they had made an impact through their 
preaching and through their announcement of the coming of this kingdom. 
But he says, nevertheless, I say to you, do not rejoice in this, 
what you've accomplished, what you perform, what you've done 
in terms of service, but rather rejoice that your names are written 
in heaven. I love that passage, brethren, 
don't rejoice in your performance, don't rejoice in your your accomplishments, 
don't rejoice in how much wealth and knowledge you've amassed 
while I've read all these books. No rejoice in your name is written 
in heaven. You see, that joy lasts, that 
joy is incorruptible. See, if we bank all of our joy 
on our performance, as long as we're doing well, we're happy. But man, when we're in the valley 
of the shadow of death, we are going to be most miserable. But 
when our minds are focused on that blessed book of God, then 
we have a lasting joy. Our God says that this will be 
indicative of the New Covenant community. When he says in Jeremiah 
31, 34, no more shall every man teaches neighbor and every man 
is brother. Say no, the Lord. What does he 
mean by that? He doesn't mean get rid of preachers 
and teachers. Ephesians 4 says that Jesus ascended 
on high. He left captivity captive and 
he gave gifts to men. He gave some to be apostles. 
He gave some to be prophets. He gave some to be evangelists 
and some to be pastors and teachers for a threefold purpose in terms 
of building up the people of God. We saw in Colossians 3 that 
we are, in all wisdom, to teach and admonish one another. Having 
let the word of Christ dwell in our hearts richly, we're supposed 
to teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. What he is talking 
about here is this. In the old covenant Israel, Isaac, 
who was saved, or Jacob, who was saved, had to evangelize 
Esau, who was not saved. In the new covenant community, 
that's not the case. We may teach and admonish one 
another in all wisdom. We may exhort one another daily 
while it is called today. But if you are a participant 
in the New Covenant community, you are not to be evangelized 
in terms of know the Lord because you don't. That's not the case 
in the New Covenant. In the New Covenant, one of the 
features, one of the things that we possess being in the New Covenant 
is that knowledge of God most high. Now, we may preach the 
gospel so that sinner or redeemed sinners can fall in love with 
the Savior all over again and marvel at his redemptive work. But if you are a new covenant 
member, the issue is that you need to believe for the first 
time. The issue may need to be you need to repent from your 
sin. And then, fourthly, the fourth feature that we see here 
is the forgiveness of sins. Verse thirty four at the very 
end. For I will forgive their iniquity 
and their sin, I will remember no more. Again, a defining feature 
of the New Covenant. In the Old Covenant, Esau was 
a member of the Covenant, but he wasn't saved. He wasn't forgiven. 
Esau went to hell. In the New Covenant, everybody 
in, by God's grace, is forgiven. You see, this is the beauty of 
the newness of the Covenant. A lot of guys, especially in 
Pedobaptist theology, want to minimize the newness of the New 
Covenant. If you want to do that, that's 
fine. There is continuity. It's not brand new. It's not 
as if God's just dropping a brand new thing upon redemptive history. The newness is seen in these 
features. These were not part and parcel 
of being the Old Covenant member. They are in the New Covenant. 
If you don't possess these four, or you don't possess the three, 
really, because the unbreakable nature of the covenant simply 
describes the context. But if the law hasn't been internalized, 
the knowledge of God is not yours. The forgiveness of sins is not 
yours. You haven't come to Christ. You're not in the new covenant. 
Your issue is, you need to believe the gospel. You need to believe 
that Jesus came into this world, sinners to save. You need to 
believe that he gave himself for sinners at the cross of Calvary. You need to believe on him for 
the forgiveness of sins. We enter into the new covenant 
by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. It's not because we were born 
of father Abraham or we were born into Israel or we receive 
the external sign of circumcision. That's how you entered into the 
old covenant. Not so with the new covenant. 
John tells us that very distinctly in John chapter one verses twelve 
and thirteen. He says he came to his own in 
verse eleven and his own did not receive him. But as many 
as received him to them, he gave the right to become children 
of God, to those who believe in his name. Right. How do you 
become a child of God? Believe in his name, believe 
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. A lot of confusion on 
this isn't there. A lot of people wondering, how 
am I going to get to heaven? Believe on the name of the Lord 
Jesus. Right, that's what he says. It's 
not your doing, it's not your performance, it's not your accomplishment, 
it's not your dying. It is the doing and dying of 
Christ. And when you believe, you are saved. That's what John 
says. Notice, but as many as received him to them, he gave 
the right to become children of God, to those who believe 
in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of 
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, the God who 
is sovereignly imposed this new covenant, the God who has initiated 
this new covenant, the God who has sent his son, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, to be the surety of a better covenant. You see, the New Covenant 
is blessed. The New Covenant is glorious. 
The New Covenant isn't brand new like we've never heard before, 
but it is new in terms of its superiority. And if you have 
a problem with that word, you need to read the book of Hebrews. 
You need to come on Wednesday night because we are seeing over 
and over just this quick in Hebrews chapter two. This is a better 
covenant. We ought not want to go backwards 
in redemptive history. We have been blessed amazingly 
and richly and gloriously. Let's enjoy the blessed covenant 
that we are participants in. So the announcement, the features 
quickly and finally, the fulfillment. We read it, God willing, every 
every year. We at least allude to it every 
Sunday that we participate in the Lord's Supper. Matthew 26, 
26. And when and as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed 
and broken and gave it to his disciples and said, Take this 
is my body. Then he took the cup and gave 
thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you, for 
this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the 
remission of sins. Remember, we've seen in Exodus 
24 after the reading of the law, after the codification of the 
judgments for Israel, Moses takes the blood and he sprinkles it 
onto the book. He ratifies the covenant in blood. Christ does the very same thing, 
only he doesn't ratify it in the blood of bulls and goats, 
which can never take away the sins of the world. He ratifies 
it in his own precious blood. Please remember this. Please 
think fondly of this each and every time that you consider 
this glorious gospel. When these disciples heard him 
say this, they didn't scratch their head, say, well, I wonder 
what he's talking about here. Oh, they understood Jeremiah. 
They understood Ezekiel. They understood Isaiah. They 
knew the prophets. They were standing or sitting 
rather right before the very one that Jeremiah preached in 
Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34. What a glorious and wondrous 
God we have, who has brought us into this place of saving 
grace and in redemptive mercy. O. Palmer Robertson highlights 
the relationship or the role of the New Covenant, and he's 
a bit wordy in some sense, but please listen. I think he nails 
it. He says, because of its unique role, the new covenant in gathering 
together the various strands of covenantal promise throughout 
history, this last of God's covenants appropriately may be designated 
as the covenant of consummation. It's almost like it's the big 
snowball rolling through history, grabbing the law from Moses, 
grabbing the kingdom from David. Grabbing preservation from Noah, 
grabbing that promise from Adam, grabbing all those things as 
it's rolling down the hill in terms of progress of redemption. 
And it is the fulfillment, the consummation. He said this covenant 
supersedes God's previous covenantal administrations. At the same 
time, it brings to focal realization the essence of the various covenants 
experienced by Israel throughout their history. Consummation characterizes 
the substance of this final covenant throughout the heart of this 
consummated realization consists of a single person as fulfiller 
of all the Messianic promises. He achieves in himself the essence 
of the covenantal principle. I shall be your God and you shall 
be my people. He therefore may be seen as the 
Christ who consummates the covenant. Amen. A hundred fold. That is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who fulfills. He is the one that Jeremiah preached. He is the one that Ezekiel pointed 
to. He is the one that the prophets 
gave witness concerning. In fact, when Peter is preaching 
in Acts chapter 10, he alludes to this reality. He's with the 
household of Cornelius, and he makes this statement in Acts 
chapter 10. He says. just picking up here in verse 
thirty nine, and we are witnesses of all things which he did both 
in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. He's talking about 
the life of Jesus here, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. 
Him, God raised up on the third day and showed him openly, not 
to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to 
us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. 
And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify 
that it was he who was ordained by God to be judge of the living 
and the dead to him. All the prophets witness that 
through his name, whoever believes in him will receive remission 
of sins. Paul in Pisidian Antioch does 
a very similar thing in terms of his preaching with reference 
to a Jewish audience. In Acts chapter thirteen at verse 
thirty-six for David, after he had served his own generation 
by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers and 
saw corruption. But he whom God raised up saw 
no corruption. Therefore, let it be known to 
you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness 
of sins. And by him, everyone who believes 
is justified from all things from which you could not be justified 
by the law of Moses. Everything in the past pointed 
to the fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. So the new covenant 
again, Robertson, is not only the new covenant, it is the last 
covenant. Because it shall bring to full 
fruition that which God intends in redemption, it never shall 
be superseded by a subsequent covenant. Amen. The way in is 
by grace. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you shall be saved. That is what we need to preach 
to people. Not simply because you were born 
in this covenant household, not simply because you were brought 
up in this parent under this parent parentage. It's because 
of grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Pato sprinkling, 
brethren, oftentimes blurs that. We cannot assume that because 
a child has received water that he is necessarily a participant 
of the New Covenant community. This is where it becomes very 
dangerous. This is where it becomes very, 
very dangerous to treat or assume that somebody is a partaker of 
New Covenant privilege simply because they were born in the 
right house. You must be born again. You must 
be born of God. You must believe the gospel. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank you for the new covenant, and we thank you that it has 
been fulfilled and realized by our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank 
you that it's been ratified through his blood and our father. We 
thank you that there is forgiveness in him. And God, we pray that 
you would just help us to value and to prize our Savior, to see 
him as the surety of a better covenant, to see him as our mediator 
and as our Lord and as our Savior, to see him as the one whom Jeremiah 
spoke of and whom all the prophets pointed unto. And we thank you, 
God, for causing us to see these things. We thank you and we praise 
you that you have brought us in out of darkness into marvelous 
light and help us to celebrate these things and help us to rejoice 
in these things and grant us opportunity to point many, many 
sinners unto the Lord Jesus Christ. For we know that he is the only 
way of salvation. And we just pray now that you 
would go with each one of us. Watch over us. Protect us. Grant 
us wisdom in this coming week to bring glory to you. And we 
ask in Jesus most holy name. Amen.