May I turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 31? While you are turning there, I'll just remind you of the stanza we just sang, stanza number three. When I stand before the throne, dressed in beauty not my own. What a glorious depiction of that last day.

When I see thee as thou art, love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know, not till then, how much I owe. that indescribable gift of his beloved son, through whom we have pardon and the imputation of righteousness. and to keep us well-grounded in God's covenantal dealings with us. Jeremiah 31, beginning 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.

Amen. Well, let us again ask the Lord's blessing as we consider His Word. Father, fill us now with Your Spirit. We thank You that He is our guide, He is our teacher, our instructor.

We pray for illumination and we pray for help as we look at this passage of Holy Scripture. We thank You that You are a God who is faithful, a God who engages in covenant, and a God who does not relent, a God who blesses His people. Father, we just praise you for the fulfillment of these prophecies in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. May we stand in awe, Lord God, of what you've done.

May we stand in awe of the benefits that you have conferred upon us. And may we indeed worship you aright and accordingly. And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Well,

Introduction

I basically want to do three things this evening as we consider the New Covenant. The first is to look at the announcement of the New Covenant. Secondly, look at some essential features of the New Covenant. And then thirdly, the fulfillment of the New Covenant.

This is a significant prophecy. It's the only place in the Old Testament where the language New Covenant is used. Now, the concepts are present elsewhere in Isaiah, in Jeremiah, and in Ezekiel, to be sure, but this is the sole place where the prophet Jeremiah highlights the fact that God is indeed going to make a new covenant with the house of Israel. and with the house of Judah. So,

Announcement of the New Covenant

let's first of all look at the announcement here. The way that we want to do this is by considering the larger context. You can go back to Jeremiah chapter 1. The larger context.

I think as we appreciate what is going on in Judah's history at this particular time, the announcement of this new covenant is that much more glorious. The New Covenant is given, or this promise is given, and the backdrop, or the background, is sin among the people of Judah. Now, Jeremiah prophesied from 627 to 582 BC. of Biblical history, you'll know that something significant took place in 586. That was when God sent Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon to Judah to close them down, to destroy their temple, to destroy their city, and to take a band of exiles back into Babylon.

And thus began the Babylonian exile. So Jeremiah lived right on the brink of that. and during that, and through that. He ends up going to Egypt, he is told basically that he has to do that by lawless men, and as far as we know, he died there. But there are, to use Robertson's words here, in Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 10.

Robertson identifies these as the six key words in the prophet Jeremiah. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, to pull down, to destroy, and to throw down. to build and to plan, and what this envisages is the destruction, the exile. But it looks beyond that exile to that time where there would be building and where there would be planting. So even in the midst of a prophecy of destruction upon the nation of Israel, God is giving hope, God is giving consolation, God is providing for the faithful more promises concerning their future.

As we consider the larger context, note with me Jeremiah chapter 2. This is where the Prophet comes to indict the people, to indicate to them why it is they're going to suffer, why they are going to be chastised, why they're going into the Babylonian captivity. We don't have time to rehearse all of chapter 2, but let's just look at some of the verses. Notice in chapter 2, verse 5, thus says the Lord.

What injustice have your fathers found in me that they have gone far from me and have followed idols and become idolaters? I mean, at the outset, we are greeted with this picture of idolatry in the rank and file of Judah, God's covenant community. Notice in chapter two at verse eleven, has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods, but my people have changed their glory for what does not profit. Don't miss the significance of this.

God, through the prophet, is saying the pagans are more faithful than the covenant children of Israel. The heathen are more in solidarity with their idols than Israel is with their God. This is a high crime, it is an offense to the Lord, and it provides the framework for our understanding why they went into exile. So that when we reflect on the new covenant, it ought to, may I say, blow our minds that God visits them with such a promise of such great blessing to a people who are not deserving.

Isn't that what grace is all about? to a people who are not deserving. Verse twelve, 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.

They've rejected the God of Israel. They have sought out the gods of the heathen or the pagans around them. Notice, in chapter 2, verse 17, have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the Lord your God when he led you in the way? And now why take the road to Egypt to drink the waters of Sior?

Or why take the road to Assyria to drink the waters of the river? Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and the fear of me is not in you. It says the Lord God of hosts.

There was a baptismal service here at three thirty. Another church, Pastor Reed Fowler, brought in some of the flock and they baptized three people. Not because ours is a holy baptistry or, you know, the preferred one in Chilliwack. I just don't think they had access to one in their present situation.

We sang John Newton's hymn. I don't want to say unfortunately, but unfortunately, we didn't sing the second stanza. What does Newton write? Twas grace that taught my heart to fear.

Look at what happened here. You have forsaken the Lord your God. The fear of me is not in you, says the Lord God of hosts. After the announcement of Jeremiah 31, after the proclamation that there is a new covenant coming, God then tells Jeremiah, in good faith, to go buy property.

You might wonder, why is that in there? Why is Jeremiah the prophet instructed to buy land? Well, brethren, the real estate market wasn't looking very good in Judah at the time. Who wants to buy property when God the Lord has said that Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar are going to come in and devastate everything.

So God tells Jeremiah, buy this property, buy this land. It is a token. It is a symbol. It is a sign that Judah will be reconvened, that they will return to their land post-exilic under Haggai and Zechariah.

We see that return of the exiles. And then, toward the end of Jeremiah 32, as God reiterates new covenant blessing, he says, I will put the fear of me in their hearts. It was absent among the people here, but it is an essential feature of new covenant religion that the people of God fear God, because grace taught our hearts to fear. Brethren, this is the contest.

Notice in verse 20, chapter 2, for of old, I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds. And you said, I will not transgress when on every high hill and under every green tree you laid down playing the harlot. The idea here is idolatry, sinfulness, wickedness, abomination. They say to a tree, verse 27, you are my father, and to a stone, you gave birth to me.

For they have turned their back to me and not their face. It's a great indictment. They've turned their back to me and not their face. Sounds like Paul in Romans 1.

They did not even like to retain the knowledge of God. They say no to God. That's precisely what the community is doing. Verse twenty nine.

I'm sorry. Verse twenty eight. But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise if they can save you in the time of your trouble.

For according to the number of your cities are your gods. Oh, Judah, it's a horrible situation, isn't it? Everybody with me. Everybody tracking.

But I understand if God doesn't break in graciously with the promise of a new covenant, we're all hell bent. It's easy for us to read Jeremiah 2 and say, those dirty, rotten Jews, those horrible Judahites, those wretched Israelites, how in the world did they do that? If you know your heart but a little, and you know the Bible at all, you will realize that you are in this passage, that you are guilty. Verse thirty one 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. You see, God through the prophet appeals to something that we would call a no brainer. There is no woman on the face of the earth that would come to the wedding altar, having forgotten to get herself out. There is absolutely no way she wouldn't put on her dress, she wouldn't do her hair, she wouldn't put on her ornaments.

That is a special day, and she wants to look good. She wants to look good for her man, and she wants this to go well. God uses that analogy. He says, can a virgin forget her ornaments or a bride her attire?

Well, no, they can't. Yet my people have forgotten me days without number. You see, that's the larger context. The immediate context.

Turn to Jeremiah 30. Jeremiah chapter 30, this is the book of consolation or the book of hope. There is a promise of restoration. Jeremiah 30 verses 1 to 3, the promise of the new covenant, Jeremiah 31, which we'll unpack in more detail.

And then, as I mentioned, an illustration of God's faithfulness, specifically when Jeremiah is instructed to go and purchase this field. Jeremiah 32, just pick up reading at verse 36. Now, therefore, God says 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. Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and with all my soul.

So that, brethren, is the immediate context. It is the book of consolation.

Essential Features of the New Covenant

Let's look at the essential features of the New Covenant.

The New Covenant Is Unbreakable

First, it is unbreakable. This is good news. Isn't it? You want to be in a covenant with God that you can break and end up in hell?

Notice the language in Jeremiah 31, 31. Behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Hebrews 8 and 10 tells us this is the church. It is the church.

That's whom the prophet is speaking of. Again, Hebrews 8, Hebrews 10, leave us in no suspense who this finds application in. It is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to understand that.

We'll look at that a bit later. But notice, I will make this covenant, 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. It was a viable covenant. That means they broke that covenant.

You can read about that in Deuteronomy chapter twenty nine. The new covenant is not like that. God brings us into this position and we enjoy eternal, blessed security. We might refer to this as perseverance of the saints, but we need to make sure we underline its preservation by God, the Lord, as he enters into this new covenant.

Christ is the covenant that he is the one with whom this covenant is made, and all the elect in him, according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which I think rightly understands biblical covenant theology. This is an unbreakable covenant. The old covenant was breakable. The idea that one can enter into the new covenant, be a genuine possessor of all of the other benefits indicated here, and then lose his or her salvation has no warrant in the scripture whatsoever.

Remember years ago, I think Steve Lawson and I talked about this once, the I found it sticker and then the I lost it sticker. Bumper stickers on your car. I think I found it was salvation in Christ. And then they came out with these stickers that say, I lost it.

Is that accurate? Anyone? Everybody with me? You don't lose salvation in Christ.

Why? Because God says, I'm making a new covenant, not like the one I made before, which they broke. The implication is that the new covenant is inviolable. It is unbreakable and it's because of Jesus Christ.

He satisfied all the requirements, all of the obligations. He fulfilled perfectly the entirety of God's law. He dies as a substitute and sacrifice in our place. He rises again so that Paul can say, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

Paul can write in Philippians 1, I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Christ. Jesus says that when you are in the hand of the Father, in the hand of the Son, there is no one who can strip you out of God's hand. There is no one who can pluck you out of God's hand. Paul celebrates this reality in the last portion of Romans chapter 8, when he says, I'm convinced nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We saw that in the promise of Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah 32 at verse 40, 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. When you believe on the Lord Jesus, when you repent from your sins by the grace of God, you are saved to the utter most. You can hang your life, your soul, your comfort, your everything on that reality.

The fact that Christ will never let you go if he has secured your salvation. It is an unbreakable covenant.

Internalization of God's Law

A second essential feature is the internalization of God's holy law. Notice in Jeremiah 31 at verse 33. 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 heart.

Now, this was not a foolish audience. They may have been a sinful audience, but they were certainly conscious of what law God the Lord was speaking of here. He uses this phrase, my law, in several other places in the prophet Jeremiah, highlighting the fact that they had broken it, highlighting the fact that they had rejected it, highlighting the fact that they had heard it and yet rebelled. The Israelite would remember as well from Exodus 24 and Exodus 31 and Deuteronomy chapter 9 that the finger of God himself wrote this particular law.

As we have seen in our studies in Matthew, Jesus is not giving us some new law, rather he is clearing away the misinterpretation of this moral law, this Decalogue, these Ten Commandments given by God to his people. Now, this was not absent from Old Covenant believers. David could say, Oh, how I love thy law. Men of God could rejoice in the law, but it was not an essential feature of Old Covenant religion.

Within that Old Covenant community, you had Jacob's who loved the law, who had it internalized, but you had Esau's who God hated. They did not love the law. It was not internalized. In that old covenant, you had Isaac, who was faithful and who had the law on his heart.

But then you had Ishmael, who was faithless and did not have the law on his heart. But you see what God through the prophet is saying, the new covenant will not be like that. You see, everybody in the new covenant has this law written on their hearts. You see, in the new covenant, you really shouldn't be an antinomian.

In the new covenant, you shouldn't reject the law of God. In the New Covenant, you shouldn't despise those things that Jesus says, do not even begin to think that I have come to destroy the law. I belong the prophets. I have not come to destroy, but rather to fulfill.

And then he pronounces that penalty upon those who break and those who teach others to break the least of these commandments. What the prophet envisions here is God taking that finger that he wrote on the tablets of stone and writing them into our hearts, internalizing them, putting them in that place that is most intimate in a person, within his mind, within his heart. The law of God is a blessing. It is a necessary feature.

Again, not unto salvation, for by the law, or therefore by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. But when we have come to Christ, when we have believed the gospel, God puts this law in our hearts, and hopefully we say with David, oh, how I love your law. Doesn't John say this in 1 John? He says the commandments are not grievous.

They're not burdensome. You need somebody who rails against the Word of God, the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue. Oh, that's not for us. I can't stand that.

They make it sound like it's this heavy burden. No, the burden is our sin. The law is holy and good. The law is right.

We had an internalized, we ought to say with the psalmist, oh, how I love it, how it is my meditation day and night. This is an essential feature of New Covenant Christianity. Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Paul in Romans 3, after discussing justification by faith alone, he says, what then?

Do we nullify the law? May it never be. Rather, we establish the law in Romans chapter 3 at verse 31. Our confession of faith says that the gospel does not militate against the law, but rather Christ in the gospel strengthens our obligation to it.

Again, the idea being now that it's internalized, it's in our minds, it's in our hearts, and we have been empowered and enabled by His Spirit to actually walk in the law. It's a good thing. Shun, reject, despise and forsake antinomianism. Doctrinal and practical.

It's not biblical.

The Knowledge of God

A third essential feature, the knowledge of God. I will put my law on 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." Again, think back to that big circle, Old Covenant community. You had knowers and non-knowers.

You had Isaac and Ishmael. You had Jacob and Esau. You had David and not David. So the idea here is what the prophet is saying is that within that new covenant community, we don't have to do evangelism with one another.

We have to come to our brother who's a New Covenant member and say, well, brother, you need to really know the Lord. Now, if we suspect they're unsaved, we suspect they're unconverted, perhaps their fruit, their evidence, all those things are not present. We need to encourage them and call them to examine themselves. But the idea being that within this New Covenant community, those whom the Lord God has called out of darkness into marvelous light, put his law in their minds and in their hearts, they don't need to be evangelized.

They know the Lord. Again, this was not absent from the Old Testament. Believers there knew the Lord, but you could be an Old Covenant member and not know the Lord. You could even be a priest in the Old Covenant and not know the Lord.

There were two sons of a man by the name of Eli. And Eli's sons engaged in gross sin. They engaged in wickedness. They lied with temple prostitutes, and they stole offerings.

They stole meat that people brought to offer before the Lord. Well, the crux of the matter is identified in 1 Samuel 2, 12. Their problem was that they did not know the Lord. Certainly, catechetically, they understood who God was.

They knew that Yahweh was the King of Israel. They knew about the sacrificial system, they had some of that head knowledge, but they didn't know the Lord. They didn't walk in his ways, they couldn't call him Father. An essential feature of New Covenant Christianity is that we know the Lord.

Look back to Jeremiah chapter 9 for just a moment. Jeremiah chapter nine, 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 loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight, says the Lord. What a feature, an essential feature of New Covenant Christianity. How does Jesus define eternal life in John 17, 3?

He says, for this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. That's everything. You see, theology matters for Jesus. Theology is important for Jesus.

Theology ought to matter and be important for Jesus' people as well. I mean, it's interesting. Let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me. Let's just know of a conception of a God out there.

He not only knows this God, but he understands him. And then there's particulars, what we call attributes or perfections of God. You see, there is an imperative here. There are an illustration here of what we should be learning.

That I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the Lord. The child of God, the new covenant believer, wants to know his God. He wants to understand his God.

He wants to learn of Christ. He wants to understand redemption. He wants to know what sanctification is. He wants to know what justification is.

He wants to know what glorification is. You see, the child of God in the New Covenant knows the Lord. This is his chief blessing. This is his everything.

The psalmist says, great are the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them. If you're a New Covenant believer and you don't study the works of the Lord, repent. Forsake that.

Study God, study Christ, study the system of redemption set forth in the Bible. Study these beautiful things because they teach us more about the God we know and the God that we love. The knowledge of God is an essential feature in New Covenant Christianity.

The Forgiveness of Sin

And then the fourth essential feature is the forgiveness of sin. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin, I will remember no more." Don't you just want to jump up and do a flip at this point? I mean, these essential features are beautiful, aren't they? It's unbreakable.

I mean, what means when God saves me, he saves me to the uttermost. The essential feature of the internalizing of his law, the fact that what was once a burden is now a joy and a pleasure. The burden isn't the law. The burden is God, enable me.

God, fill me with the Spirit. God, give me the zeal. Give me the desire to pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord. The knowledge of God, knowing God.

That's what He created us for. To worship Him, to glorify Him, to please Him, to honor Him. Well, in redemption, as new men and women in Christ, we get that privilege. And then look at this essential feature. will forgive their iniquity and their sin.

I will remember no more. Again, this was not absent from Old Covenant believers. After David falls into gross sin, to grievous sin, Nathan, the prophet, reproves him. David says, I have sinned against the Lord.

I have sinned against the Lord. What does God do? God forgives him. God provides atonement.

God cleanses him. Isaiah the prophet, when he's confronted with the glory of Jesus in the throne room, says, Woe is me, for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king. What happens?

God dispatches an angel to deal with the sin of his lips. Forgiveness was not foreign in the Old Covenant, but again, it wasn't an essential feature. You could be an Esau, you could be an Ishmael and not have the forgiveness of sins. The New Covenant is not like that.

When you are in the New Covenant, these essential features are yours. You see why it's by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We don't have the ability to establish and maintain an inviolable covenant. We don't have the ability to internalize the law of God.

We don't have the ability to know God apart from his first knowing us, and we certainly cannot forgive ourselves. This is an essential feature that ought to make a skip, sing and praise to God Almighty from now until the Lord of Glory returns. Psalm 51. David understood.

Romans chapter 4 appeals to Psalm 32, and the example of the illustration of David. Again, it wasn't foreign and absent in the Old Covenant, but in the New Covenant. What's Peter's words of instruction on that day of Pentecost? Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.

Paul the Apostle is in Pisidian Antioch, and he's preaching the Gospel to Jews. And at the very end, he says, therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man, Christ Jesus, the Lord is preached to you, the forgiveness of sins. This is what defined Jesus mission in many of his statements. He says, the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

Why? Because we're sinners. Jesus said he came to seek and to save that which was lost. Reverend, this is an essential feature of the new covenant that we ought to rejoice in.

Not that we shouldn't with the other elements, but when we see ourselves rightly, when we reflect upon Jeremiah 2, when we reflect upon what we are apart from the saving grace of God, when we reflect upon where we were before God reached down and saved our souls, We ought to praise, concern how much sin we have been forgiven of. The Lord truly is good. The Lord has dealt with our sins decisively. I love the picture in the prophet Micah.

Micah chapter 7. Micah uses his own name. His name means, who is a God like you? Micah asks that very question.

He says, who is a God like you? And then he doesn't say, because you destroy people or because you send wrath on people. That ought not to surprise us when we're sinners living in God's world. What surprises the prophet?

And when he says, who is a God like you? He then says, pardoning and equity. That's what's mind blowing. That's what's amazing.

That's what ought to cause us to raise our arms and say, who is a God like you? And then he says, you will subdue our iniquities, and he will pass that into the depths of the sea. Beautiful picture of our sin getting sent out, getting taken away. Remember that day of atonement, Yom Kippur, according to Leviticus 16, the children of Israel had a visible representation of expiation or the removal of guilt from the camp.

After the high priest laid his hands upon that goat and confessed the sins of Israel, what did they do? They drove it out into the wilderness. It's a great illustration. That's a great way for the faithful in Israel to see their sin going into the wilderness where it won't haunt them anymore.

Well, the prophet Micah foretelling new covenant reality says that very thing. God will subdue our iniquities. He will cast our sins into the depths of the sea. The forgiveness of sin is a blessing, and we have been made participants by virtue of Christ's life, death, and resurrection in being the surety of a better covenant.

So we've seen the announcement, the essential features,

Fulfillment of the New Covenant

thirdly, and finally, the fulfillment. Matthew 26, 28. We can't forget that. Matthew chapter 26, Jesus at the Last Supper institutes or inaugurates the Lord's Supper, and in so doing, he highlights this reality of Jeremiah's covenant prophecy.

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 sin." That's the fulfillment. That's the realization. That's what the types and shadows pointed forward to. That's what the ceremonies looked at.

That is everything right there. Christ is saying to the people of God that I am the one of whom Jeremiah prophesied. And it is in my blood that this covenant is ratified. Remember that ceremony in Exodus chapter 24, after going through the 10 commandments, after opening up the specific case laws for Israel as a body politic.

Then Moses and the people, or the leaders, the priests, they inaugurated, or they ratified, rather, this covenant, and they did it with blood. They took blood and they sprinkled it on the people there. And remember the confession of the people, this law we will do. This law we will do.

Well, there's the failure in old covenant religion. Man couldn't do it. New covenant, blood of Christ, this law I have done, Jesus says. This sacrifice, I will render.

It is Christ who is head. It is Christ who is mediator. It is Christ who is surety. It is Christ who ratifies this covenant and he brings it to fruition.

Hebrews 8 and the Better Covenant

The book of Hebrews, chapter eight. And there's several other texts we could use to illustrate this reality. I just want to point to one more Hebrews, chapter eight, as we begin to close our study here this evening, Hebrews chapter eight. Well, just pick up in verse seven, just look at a few things here.

Notice concerning the new covenant. Now, these statements don't mean the old covenant was a horrible, bad thing. No, it served God's purposes. It was ordained by God.

It was instituted by God for a very specific reason. However, the new covenant surpasses. We see that the new covenant affords a better hope. Chapter seven, verse 19.

The New Covenant affords a better, a glorious surety, and therefore it is a better covenant. Hebrews 7.22, by so much more, Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. In Hebrews chapter 8, verse 6, but now he has obtained a more excellent ministry inasmuch as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. You see, the New Testament, the book of Hebrews highlights the temporary nature of old covenant religion and that it pointed forward to and that it finds its fulfillment in the covenant mediator, Jesus Christ.

In him, the new covenant is ratified. In him, the new covenant is not inaugurated. And then notice in verse seven of chapter eight, for if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second, because finding fault with them, he says, 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 when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins, and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. In that he says a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Let me just try to amplify verse 13 for you just a little bit. He has made the first obsolete at the cross. It is finished. The veil was rent in two.

The old covenant is now obsolete. The law transcends it because it reflects the moral nature of God and what he demands trans-covenantally. But notice, the old covenant as a system is now obsolete. Now, when the apostle says, now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away, I think what he is speaking of here is that the temple was still standing.

I believe that he wrote prior to AD 70, the temple was still standing. People were still offering up sacrifices. But what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. when the Roman army surround Jerusalem and destroy the temple. That would be the public significant piece of evidence that it was gone forever, never to return.

Brethren, we are in the new covenant because of the surety of a better covenant. I just want to close the exposition with a quote from O. Palmer Robertson, his little book, The Christ of the Covenants. He says, because of its unique role 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.

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 consummative 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. Jesus, or he therefore, may be seen as the Christ who consummates the covenant." I thought Robertson said it quite well there.

Application

In conclusion, we learn a couple of things and then we close.

Members of the New Covenant

The first, the members of the new covenant. This is why we're Reformed Baptists. We believe that Reformed Theology necessarily implies Believer's Baptism. We believe that Reformed Theology, Covenant Theology, understanding God's dealings through his covenantal arrangements, necessarily leads to Believer's Baptism.

You see, in the Old Covenant, Jacob and Esau both got the sign. In the Old Covenant, Isaac and Ishmael both got the sign, but Jeremiah makes a fundamental distinction. The New Covenant community is marked by people who have these four essential elements. It is marked by those who are brought in graciously and savingly, never to be lost.

It is marked by those who know or who have the law of God internalized. It is marked by those who know the Lord and who have received the forgiveness of sins. Therefore, covenant theology implies believers baptism. Now, I realize our Pato Baptist brethren would want to debate that, and that's OK.

We can debate that. But this is one of the reasons why we do what we do. We hold to reform theology, covenant theology. And I hope it's a robust one and a very biblical one and a very confessional and most excellent one.

But understanding Jeremiah 31, an old covenant prophecy concerning new covenant membership, necessarily implies believers' baptism.

The Finality of the New Covenant

A second thing we learn in this section, the finality of the new covenant. Again, Robertson says, it is not only the new covenant, it is the last covenant. We're not to be looking for something else. were not to be like the modern church that always wants the latest fad, were not to be like the people who are never content with what they have. It doesn't get any better than this.

Are you with me? There is nothing in earth, nothing in heaven that gets better than what Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34 specifies. Can you tell me something that exceeds the forgiveness of sins? Can you tell me something that is better than a place that is open for sin and uncleanness?

When Zechariah 13, when he prophesied, behold, in that day there will be a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. Is there anything better than that? I mean, we're sinners, brethren. As Christians, we're redeemed, but we're sinners.

Isn't it wonderful to have a fount that we can go to? Isn't 1 John 1, 9 precious? Isn't Psalm 130 verse 4 precious? Isn't the reality of the remission of sins by Jesus Christ the best thing in your life?

Is there anything that surpasses this? Is there anything that surpasses the knowledge of God? There isn't. We're not looking for another covenant.

We have the final. It is not only the new covenant. Robertson says 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.

It is as good as it gets. You cannot exceed these essential elements of covenant blessing. We have everything in Jesus. And

Call to the Unconverted

thirdly, and finally, if you don't know Jesus tonight, I want you to reflect upon at least some of the things that I've said tonight. It's God who teaches men to fear. It is God who is gracious. It is God who puts the fear of God in hearts.

It is God through Jesus Christ. He is the one that you desperately need tonight. You don't need moral reform. You don't need to fix your life a little bit.

You don't need to stop this and start that. You need to bow to the Lord of glory. You need to believe the gospel of Christ. You need to repent of your sin.

Now, when you, by the grace, do that, there will be fruit. There will be benefit. There will be evidences. All those things will follow in sanctification.

But right now, you need that fountain that is open for sin and uncleanness. You need to go to Christ. You need to understand that it's him alone that grants forgiveness. It's him alone that causes men, women, boys and girls to be clothed in a righteousness, not their own, fit to enter in to the presence of God Almighty.

Believe on Jesus and you will be saved. That is a promise from the scriptures. Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank you for covenant theology. We thank you for this announcement of the new covenant. and for the blessed features that we have received by your grace through faith in Christ Jesus. We thank you for the surety of a better covenant. We thank you for our mediator.

We thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ and his work on behalf of sinners. And I pray God this gospel would be proclaimed, his life, his death, his resurrection would be proclaimed throughout the earth and men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation would believe on him and know the joy of everlasting life. Go with your people now, Father. Cause your face to shine upon us.

May we know your peace and may we walk in a manner that is consistent with our calling as Christians. And we pray through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

Scripture References

• Exodus 24; 31
• Leviticus 16
• Deuteronomy 9; 29
• 1 Samuel 2:12
• Psalms 32; 51; 119; 130:4
• Isaiah 6
• Jeremiah 1:10; 2:5; 2:11; 2:12; 2:17; 2:20; 2:27; 2:28; 2:31; 9:23-24; 30:1-3; 31:31-34; 32:36; 32:40
• Micah 7:18-19
• Zechariah 13:1
• Matthew 5:17-19; 26:28
• John 17:3
• Romans 1; 3:20; 3:28; 3:31; 4:6-8; 8:38-39
• Ephesians 1:3
• Philippians 1:6
• Hebrews 7:19; 7:22; 8:6; 8:7; 8:13; 10
• 1 John 1:9; 5:3