The Story of God: The Old and New Covenants
Jeremiah 31:31-34
If you are a follower of Jesus then you are in a war against supernatural beings who want to destroy your trust in Jesus. And to help us fight God has given us a sword – the sword of the Spirit – the Word of God.
Now, the Word of God has two parts: the Old Testament, 3/4th’s of the Bible, in which God is operating under the Old Covenant, and the New Testament, 1/4th of the Bible, in which God is operating under the New Covenant. And God has given this whole Bible as a sword to fight against temptations and worries and unbelief.
But too many followers of Jesus don’t understand the Old Testament. They think the Old Testament is a bunch of rules; that it’s burdensome; that it required perfection; or that it teaches a different way to be saved than the New Testament. And so they avoid the Old Testament and try to fight this battle with only 1/4th of a sword.
But we’re passionate at Mercy Hill about having each of us be equipped with a whole sword – and so this morning I want to have us think about the Old Covenant and the New Covenant – how they are different and how they are the same.
Let’s start by turning to Exo 20. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we’ll bring one to you. Exo 20 is on page 61 in the Bibles we are passing out. Exo 20 is where God gives Israel the Law and establishes the Old Covenant.
So what did the Old Testament Law teach? What did the Law call Israel to do? Many people think the Law is just a lot of commands. But that’s not true. The very first statement of the Law is not a command. Look at what God says in v.2 --
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
The Law starts by describing God. God reminds them that He delivered them from slavery in Egypt. He wants them to think back to what they experienced of God in how He delivered them. And there’s at least five things this showed them about God.
First, that God loves. They were slaves in Egypt. But as they cried out to God, He heard them. And He did not just hear them, He cared about them, loved them, and freed them. So, first, God loves us.
Second, that God forgives. The Passover was part of their deliverance from Egypt. The Passover showed that even though they were sinful, God made a way to forgive them, through the blood of the Lamb. And the Passover pointed ahead to Jesus’ death on the Cross. So in the Passover Israel saw that God forgives.
Third, that God guides. He guided them every step of the way. Everything He had told them to do – kill a lamb, paint your door-posts with its blood, head to the Red Sea – worked perfectly for them. God guides.
Fourth, God provides. He provided everything they needed – miraculous signs and wonders to deliver them from Egypt, a way across the Red Sea, manna in the morning and meat at night. God provides.
And fifth, that God satisfies. The reason God delivered them from Egypt was so He could make His name known to them; so they could clearly see that God is a being of perfect love, goodness, power, wisdom, mercy. And as they saw who God was – and beheld God and worshiped God – their hearts were filled. They were secure. They were at peace. They were completely satisfied.
So the Law starts with God declaring: I have loved you, forgiven you, guided you, provided for you, and satisfied you in myself. Then God gives the first and most important command of the Law – found in v.3 –
You shall have no other gods before me.
What does that mean? Here’s what God is saying: “don’t rely on anything else to do what only I can do. Only I can perfectly love, forgive, guide, provide, and satisfy. So rely on me alone.”
Now think of the power of these two verses. Israel, and each of us here this morning, needs love, forgiveness, guidance, provision, and heart-satisfaction. And in v.2 God says: you’ve seen my unmatched love, forgiveness, guidance, provision, and satisfaction.
And then in v.3 God says to them: “For the rest of your life, rely on me to continue this. Don’t rely on anything else – because nothing else will do this. Rely on me to continue loving you, forgiving you, guiding you, providing for you, and satisfying you.” That’s the Law. You can sum-up the whole Law as God saying: rely on me – trust me – have faith in me. That’s what the Law commands.
And all the other commands in the 10 commandments, and the rest of the OT Law, are results of relying on God. So, for example, if you rely on God to provide, then you won’t steal (v.15); if you rely on God to get you out of tough situations, you won’t lie (v.16); if you rely on God to satisfy, you won’t covet (v.17). And the same is true with all the rest of the commands.
So think about this. Does the Law give a different way to be saved than the Gospel? No – the Law called people to bring animal sacrifices, which pointed to Jesus, and the Law taught that Israel was justified by faith alone. Did the Law require perfect obedience for people to be saved? No – the Law taught that God forgives sin. Does the Law encourage Israel to earn favor from God by works? No – the Law taught that we can never earn anything from God – Israel was to be justified by faith alone, not by works.
So the Law is not burdensome, or harsh. It’s God saying: rely on Me to love you, forgive you, guide you, provide for you, and satisfy you. That’s why David said: “Oh how I love your Law – it’s my meditation all the day.” The Law is good news!
So picture Israel – knowing they need love, forgiveness, provision, and satisfaction. And God says to them – “You have seen with your own eyes my God-sized love, forgiveness, provision, and satisfaction. Rely on me and I will continue this – forever.”
So how did Israel respond? It’s shocking. Turn to Exo 32 (p.72). After giving Israel God’s Law, Moses went back up on Mt. Sinai, where God continued to instruct him. And look at what happens in v.1 –
When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."
With their own eyes they had seen God’s love, forgiveness, guidance, provision, and satisfaction – but they turned away and made their own god. And what’s tragic is that this is not a one-time event. Even though God had revealed Himself to Israel again and again and again -- all through her history the vast majority of Israel turned their backs on God again and again and again.
To see this, look at Nehemiah 9:23-29 (page 405) --
23 You [God] multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess.
24 So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would.
25 And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.
26 "Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies.
27 Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies.
28 But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies.
29 And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey.
All through her history, the vast majority of Israel turned their backs on God.
And because of this you could think God’s plan for Israel had failed. But that’s not what God’s Word says. We saw last week that God had set Israel in the center of the nations so the nations could learn crucial spiritual truths. And in Rom 5 and Gal 3 we read that God purposefully allowed Israel to turn from Him again and again and again to teach us a crucial spiritual truth: the depth of our sin.
Now let me warn you; this isn’t pretty. If you’ve thought the Bible was all about feeling good about ourselves – this is going to be shocking. The Bible is all about us feeling good – not about ourselves – but about God as He’s revealed in Jesus. And to see God most clearly – we need to see the truth about ourselves.
The truth is that we’ve all responded to God just like Israel did. God revealed His love, forgiveness, guidance, provision, and satisfaction to Israel again and again and again – and Israel rebelled against God again and again and again.
Why? Because they wanted to be independent and in control and self-sufficient. The same is true with us. My years in high school of turning my back on God were of one reason: pride. I wanted to be independent and in control and self-sufficient.
But we are not independent and in control and self-sufficient. We are created beings. We were created to rely on God for everything. So for us created beings to turn our backs on God and try to be self-sufficient like God is evil. It’s wicked. Period.
But now if that’s true, then how can anyone be saved? Feel the problem: Israel’s heart did not want God. So what can God do for people who don’t want Him?
Look at Ezekiel 36:25-27 (p. 724) –
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
This passage makes me lean to the Calvinistic side of things. I don’t see any other way to understand these verses. How can God save people who have hearts of stone that don’t want to turn to Him? Only one way: by taking out their hearts of stone, and giving them hearts of flesh which will turn to Him, trust Him, love Him.
That’s the point of the New Covenant which God promised Israel. You can see this also in Jeremiah 31:31-34 (p. 660). But the New Covenant is not just for Israel – it’s for all of us. This same passage is quoted in Hebrews 8 to show that everyone who trusts Jesus has experienced the New Covenant. And when Jesus celebrates Passover he says that the cup is the New Covenant in His blood. So as you read this – if you trust and love Jesus – this is what you’ve experienced:
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, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 But 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. 34 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."
So with the Old Covenant, God gave Israel His Law and called Israel to trust Him. But then God let Israel be what she was – sinful – and Israel turned from God. But with the New Covenant, God doesn’t just give Israel the Law; God writes it on her heart – changes her heart – so Israel turns to God, relies on God, loves God.
But of course there were some in the Old Testament who experienced the New Covenant work of God changing their hearts – people like Moses and Ruth and Samuel and Isaiah and Hannah and the 7000 who would not bend the knee to Baal (1Ki 19:18).
So with the New Covenant, God doesn’t just reveal Himself to people and let them turn from Him; God reveals Himself to people and changes their hearts. And if you are trusting Jesus, this is why. It’s because God changed your heart.
So what does this mean for us? Let me spell out four implications:
First, humble yourself before God’s astonishing mercy. If your heart is trusting and loving Jesus, then understand that this didn’t come from you. This is a gift given to you by God. God saw that your heart would never turn to Him. And so, because of what Jesus did, God set His love on you, and took out your heart of stone, and gave you a new heart which repented of sin and trusted Jesus so you were saved. So let this humble you before God’s astonishing mercy.
Second, call upon God to change your heart. If you are not trusting Jesus – don’t despair. God changes hearts! So ask Him to change your heart – call upon Him to change your heart – and He will. And then look at who God is – who God has revealed Himself to be in Jesus – see Him. Trust Him. Rely on Him.
Third, be bold in sharing the gospel. God does not wait for people to be open to the gospel. No, God opens people to the gospel. God sends you to lovingly share the gospel with them – because it’s through the gospel that God opens hearts. So be bold and humble and share the gospel with everyone you can.
Fourth, rely on Jesus to love you, forgive you, guide you, provide for you, and satisfy you. That’s the gospel. Trust His death on the Cross to pay for every sin, and confess your sin to Him freely. Talk to Him about every worry, every disappointment, every need. Trust His Word, the Bible, to guide you. Seek him for every emptiness, every heartache, every discouragement. He will love you, forgive you, provide for you, and satisfy you – this afternoon, tomorrow, and forever. Rely on Him.