The New Covenant

The New Covenant
Jeremiah 31:31-34
February 7-8, 2026

Bibles and open to Jeremiah, the Book of Jeremiah, chapter 31. We'll begin in verse 31, and at the time of our message, the New Covenant. Very, very important what God has for us in His Word today. Let's pray and receive from God's Word together.

Lord, we are so thankful because we know that Your Word reveals Your heart. You show us the way of life, of blessing, and honor to Your name, so our prayer, God, is that You would pour out Your Spirit of life through Your Word that You would meet us here by Your Holy Spirit now. We pray in Jesus's name, and everyone said, "Amen."

We'll be going verse by verse now through the Book of Jeremiah. He's taken us through some of the darkest valleys, some of the darkest days in the history of Israel, and then suddenly into the highest mountaintops of hope. Jeremiah sent by God to preach to Israel to call them back. They had gone wayward, gone towards the gods of the world, and He's preaching to them in the final days before Judah and Israel was defeated and taken into captivity to Babylon.

He was warning them, weeping. In fact, He's called the weeping prophet, watched as that nation that God had chosen, delivered from Egypt, and wedded to Himself. He says, "I was a husband to them, but they turned away again and again and again." In the old covenant written on tablets of stone sealed at Mount Sinai, they broke this covenant over and over and over. God had been a faithful husband. They had been an unfaithful bride.

Then right in the middle of the pronouncement of this judgment and consequence of their hearts turning away, God inserts amazing, breathtaking promises. In the very shadow of the coming destruction of Jerusalem, He says, "I know the plans that I have for you, plans for welfare, for good, for peace, not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope," Jeremiah 29.

Then, here, in Jeremiah 31, "Days are coming, sayeth the Lord." Not "maybe," not "I hope." "Days are coming when I will make a new covenant." This is one of the most important passages in the entire Old Testament. It's quoted almost word for word in the Book of Hebrews, chapters 8 and 10, and it's the foundation of everything that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross of Jesus Christ.

This New Covenant is not just patchwork on the old. It's something entirely new. Something far better. Something that changes entirely our relationship to the living God through Christ Jesus. These four verses in Jeremiah are some of the most powerful verses in the entire Old Testament, and the spiritual application cannot be clearer that if you are in Christ Jesus, you are already living under the New Covenant. The law is no longer external stone. It's internal life.

You don't have to strive to know God. You can know Him personally, intimately, from the least to the greatest. Your sins are not just covered. "They are forgiven," He says, and remembered no more. He won't hold it against you. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Old Testament glory. It's meant to be applied personally. It's meant to set you free, filled with joy, empower you to live a life that pleases God from the inside.

Let's read it, Jeremiah 31:31. "'Behold, the days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah. Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke. Although I was a husband to them,' declares the Lord, 'but this is the covenant which I will make with the House of Israel after those days,' declares the Lord. I will put my law within them, on their heart, I will write it. I will be their God, and they will be my people.'"

Now, we've seen these words describing the relationship that God so desires to have with His people. "I will be their God. They will be my people. We will have glorious fellowship together." It's God's heart. He says, verse 34, "And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord, for they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them,' declares the Lord, 'For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.'" Oh, what wonderful verses.

I. The New Covenant Transforms Your Soul

Well, look at the other verses around this. Of course, at the Wednesday verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter service. Here, He gives us amazing words, comparing the old to that which is greater in the new, starting with this, that the New Covenant transforms the soul within. Notice verse 33, "I'll put my law within them. I'll write it on their heart. I'll be their God. They'll be my people." See, the old covenant was external. The new is internal. This is a very important and great difference, and that changes everything in regards to our relationship made possible through what He has given us in the New Covenant.

Now interestingly, in the Old Testament, Old Covenant, there is a tremendous aspect of the glory of God. It's a very important part of God's relationship to Israel, the glory. Love talking about the glory of God. What we understand, however, is that the glory of God in the Old Testament was external, and in the New Testament, there is a great emphasis and understanding on the glory of God as well in the new. In the new, it is internal, abiding in the soul.

Here's what I mean. When Moses led the nation of Israel out of their captivity in Egypt through the Red Sea into the desert, he brought them to Mount Sinai. There, God told Moses to ascend Mount Sinai, and he would receive the law. Moses dwelt with God on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights. He dwelt in the glory. This is amazing to consider; 40 days, 40 nights, directly dwelling in the glory of God such that when he descended from the mountain at the end of that 40 days, 40 nights, carrying the tablets of stone, there was a radiance of glory that was visible to the eye. In other words, people can see a radiance of glory. He had been in the presence of God. The glory was visible to the eye. Amazing, but the glory was external.

Now in the New Covenant, yes, we receive glory, and interestingly, it's the same glory-- this is important. The same glory that abided upon Moses abides upon the soul of the believer, but it is internal in the soul. Notice 2 Corinthians 3:7-8. If the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, that's clearly the old covenant, the law, if it came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face-- I mean, that's how brilliant it was. In fact, he put a veil over it. Notice, fading as it was.

In other words, the more that he was away, the longer he was away from the mountain, from the glory, it began to fade bit by bit. Fading. Fading. Fading. He says, "If that had glory, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fill to be even more with glory?" This is important. In other words, the glory that we receive under the New Covenant is greater than the glory that Moses received under the old covenant. This is amazing to me. Consider the glory that abides in the soul, the beauty, the wonder, that same glory abides with us.

A. God wrote the Old on tablets of stone

But notice this, that God wrote the old on tablets of stone. Very important distinction. Old covenant, written on tablets of stone. New covenant, written on tablets of the heart. Tablets of stone. Tablets of heart. Now, the old covenant, written on stone, given to Moses to bring down the mountain for the nation of Israel, became known as the "Law of Moses."

Now, what was the purpose of the law written on those stone tablets? Well, firstly, to reveal God, to reveal His heart, to reveal His character, to reveal His righteousness, His justice, His purity and love, to show the way to live in a covenant relationship to God and with one another. The problem was that it had no power to transform.

Now, we can see the issue in living color when you consider the day that Moses came down the mountain carrying the tablets in his arms. Moses was there on the mountain 40 days. People became impatient, and so they said to Aaron, Moses's brother, "Come make a god who will go before us, for we don't know what's happened to Moses." So Aaron told them, "Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives and your sons and your daughters and bring them to me." So he took the gold, fashioned it into a golden calf, and said, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."

Then Aaron made a proclamation and said, "And tomorrow shall be a feast to Jehovah." Now, did you notice what happened there? So Aaron fashioned a god of a golden calf and then said, "And tomorrow we'll have a feast to Jehovah." What? Wait. They get both? The golden calf, they get the golden calf of worldliness, and they get Jehovah? God says, "I think not."

Now, it says the next day, they rose early and brought offerings, and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and then they rose up to play. All right. Now the Hebrew makes it clear. It's a party. They're rising up to play. They're dancing and there's music. The Hebrew suggests, "And it's lewd." It's a party. When Moses is descending the mountain along with his servant Joshua, Joshua said, ''I hear there's the sound of war in the camp.'' Moses said, ''That's not the sound of war. That's the sound of music. That's the sound of singing. That's what I hear." That their people are partying down there. "I'm hearing Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones. That's what's going on down there.''

He got so angry, he threw the tablets down and busted them. Imagine the contrast. Moses had been in the glory 40 days, 40 nights. Oh, the wonder of the glory. Then he comes down, and the people are like, ''Party.'' There is the whole story right there. Glory of God, nature of man. What a living color right there it is. That's why this covenant, New Covenant in Jeremiah 31, is so important.

Notice, for example, Romans 8. Romans 8 is one of the most amazing chapters in the Bible. Great verses here. Notice Romans 8:3-4. ''For that which the law could not do, God did.'' This is amazing. ''For that which the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.''

You can write books on that one sentence right there. That one sentence is deep. [chuckles] ''That the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.'' What was it that the law could not do? It couldn't make you righteous, it couldn't make you holy, it couldn't transform your life. No. It was a taskmaster, a schoolmaster with a stick telling you every time how you failed.

B. God writes the New Covenant on your heart

Then when you failed, it would wrap you on the hands. ''No. That wasn't right. No. Not this. No. No. Not that.'' It couldn't transform. Then comes Jeremiah 31, where he says, ''God writes the new covenant on your heart. I'll put my law within them," verse 33, "and on their heart I will write it." The law written in stone had no power because it was external. It had no power to transform. In fact, the law created the desire to sin even more.

Notice Romans 7:5, ''For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions of the flesh,'' which we all understand what that means. ''While we were in the flesh, the sinful passions,'' notice, ''which were aroused by the law,'' like the law aroused sinful passions. ''They were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.'' Let me give an illustration of how law causes or arouses even more desire.

Imagine this. You go on a diet. A diet is a great illustration because you say, ''Okay. I got to go on a diet. No sugar for me. No junk food for me.'' As soon as you say, ''I'm going on a diet, no sugar, no junk food,'' what is the one thing you think about all day long? Sugar and junk food. It makes you want Hostess cupcakes all the more, and Doritos and Ding Dongs. Anybody know what Ding Dongs are? Oh, my, I was addicted to Ding Dongs when I was in my 20s. I had Ding Dong-stained fingers. Oh, the chocolate cake with ooey goodness inside, wrapped in aluminum foil like a hockey puck.

Oh, and Snickers bars. Oh, I love Snickers bars. Oh, the chocolate, the peanutty caramel. Oh, the nuggets. Oh, it was amazing. As soon as you say, ''No more of that,'' you wanted more. We were born in that. That was the nature and condition in which we were born. As soon as you say to a kid, ''Don't touch that,'' what's the one thing he wants to touch? That.

I remember hearing a story from Gayle Erwin. He's a conference speaker for Calvary Chapels and a friend of mine. He was telling a story about when his kids were young. He and his wife went out to dinner and hired a babysitter. Just as he's getting ready to leave, he says-- I don't know why I said it because I never said it before. Maybe he thought it was funny, just as he's leaving the door, he says, ''Don't put any beans up your nose, kids.'' Yes. They spent the night in the emergency room with the doctor taking the beans out of the nose.

The new covenant is altogether new. Instead of law written on stone tablets, the law is written on the heart. It touches the very passions of the soul. It touches the very desires of the heart. It touches the very longings, the deepest longings of the soul. It's internal, and that's where the power to transform resides. It's the fullness of God that resides within the soul.

Here's an illustration. Some of you know or have heard about Hudson Taylor. Hudson Taylor was a great pioneer missionary in China. He wrote a letter to his dear sister in which he describes an amazing spiritual transformation that happened for him. It later became known and written in a book. I have the book in my library. It's called Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret. What was his spiritual secret?

Well, before this understanding, he was living his Christian life as if under the old covenant way. He hated his sin, but there was no strength against it. He agonized. He fasted. He prayed. He made resolutions. "I resolved trying everything to live a holy life and a powerful life, but it only brought failure and guilt and defeat." Then one day, a letter from a friend opened his eyes. The truth of the New Covenant broke through, and now he understood the power of living in a New Covenant relationship to God through Jesus Christ.

Now he understood that he needn't strive to get more out of Christ, somehow striving to get more out of God for him to have strength. No. He began to understand. He was already in Christ, and Christ was in him. In fact, he says, "'The fullness of Christ dwells in me." Now he understood. It's not the striving, harder in the flesh. No. It's about resting in the exchanged life, Christ living through and in Him.

Now he began to understand. It's not the striving. He says, "I am dead, and I'm buried in Christ, and now Christ lives in me. The fullness of God arising is the power that I need in my life." He says, "I have striven, and I have striven, and I have striven, and I will strive no more." It's not about striving. It's about resting in He who abides in me. It's the arising of God in my soul that brings forth the power to transform my life. The letter says, "And His ministry was never the same." Ah, such a glorious transformation happened.

In other words, 2 Corinthians 5:14, "The love of Christ compels me." I'm driven by this love. When I understand how much He loves me and what He's done for me and that how He abides in my soul, in the fullness of God, it compels me. Here's an example. Did you know that there is a law, modern law written in the books? It's the law that parents are required by law to take care of their children. It's the law. Parents, do you take care of your children because it's the law? No. You take care of your children because love compels you. You don't need a law telling you to take care of your children. Love compels you to do such.

II. A Better Covenant with Better Promises

That's the way of Jesus Christ. It touches the very deepest passions of the soul. It touches the deepest desires of the heart. It touches the very deepest longings of the soul. It compels me. It's a beautiful understanding. Ah, it's the rising of God that brings the transformation. That's why He then says in Jeremiah 31, he's showing us that the new is a better covenant with better promises.

By the way, that one phrase right there, "A better covenant with better promises," that right there, that one sentence summarizes the entire book of Hebrews. The whole book of Hebrews right there. "Better covenant with better promises." It's a new covenant altogether. He means it to be new to you. It means it to be personal. God's covenant for you is to make you altogether new. Hebrews 8:6. But now Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as He is the mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better promises, because it's founded, enacted, initiated by His blood.

Everything that Jesus did for us on the cross opened the door to everything that's behind the name of Jesus and all that's in the New Covenant. It's all about the blood. When Jesus, on the night in which He was betrayed on that last supper, He took the bread and He said, "This is my body given unto you. Do this in remembrance of me." He then says, "And this cup, this cup is the cup of the New Covenant, initiated, enacted in my blood."

It's all about the blood that is applied to your life. It's all about the blood being sprinkled, applied to your life. You can climb any mountain in search of God. You can memorize every holy book. You can pray until your knees are calloused and bloody, but if you don't have the blood of Jesus Christ, you are not entering into a relationship to the living God. Give me your praise and glory for that understanding.

Amen. 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things pass away. Behold, new things have come." He shows us what it means. For example, "And they will all know me." Verse 34. "They shall not teach again. Each man his neighbor or his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord.' No. They will all know me from the least to the greatest of them."

A. “They shall all know Me…”

Now, see, this was not the way it was in the old. In the old covenant, only the priests could approach God, and only a few of them, and only the high priest, one man, could enter into the holy of holies, the place where the glory of God dwelt, there in the temple of the living God. One person. One time a year. Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Then he could only enter in on that one day if he was carrying the blood of bulls and goats, on which he would sprinkle the blood seven times on the mercy seat in the holy of holy places was the Ark of the Covenant, covered by the mercy seat, which represented the very throne room of God.

The temple there was an image of that which resided in heaven, a copy of that which resided in heaven. The holy of holies represented the very throne room of God, and the mercy seat represented the very throne place where God's glory would abide. Wonderful understanding. But he would come in on this one day and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat. On the throne room? On the throne? It's a very deep understanding. This was the old. It was in shadow, a shadow of greater things.

In the New Covenant, everything changed. "God has made a way for anyone, from the least to the greatest," it says right here. "From the least to the greatest, to enter into a relationship to the living God." Not one priest one day for one year. Anyone. He's made a way for sinners. Can you imagine this with me? Sinners, from the least to the greatest, they're all invited to come into the holiest of holy places. He's inviting you.

See, when Jesus died on the cross, Scripture says that the veil was torn into from the top to the bottom. The veil in the temple was made of sewn material of blue and purple and scarlet threads of fine twisted linen, four inches thick, 60 feet high. Torn from top to bottom on the day that Jesus died. The veil in the temple separated man from God. The only one who could enter past that veil was the high priest, caring and offering for sin.

When Jesus died on the cross, the veil was torn and the way into the holy of holies was now open to sinners because Jesus became our high priest. Do you know that you have a High Priest? His name is Jesus Christ. He's your high priest. He's your king. He's your Lord. We give God praise. Right? This is our understanding.

As our high priest, as the high priest of the old would enter behind the veil bringing blood of bulls and goats, sprinkling the blood on the throne itself, it says Jesus became our high priest. He shed His own blood as an offering for sin. Then He entered the temple, not the temple made with hands, but the temple in the heavenlies. That temple made with hands was just a shadow. He entered into the heavenly place because He shed His own blood. He brought the shedding of blood into the throne room of God. Then He sat down on the throne next to the right hand of God the Father. Hebrews 4. This is absolutely amazing and deep.

He became the first fruits for anyone who follows after him, who has the blood sprinkled upon them can enter into the holiest of holy places. Oh, I want you to understand the depth of that great understanding. He has made a way for any sinner who desires relationship to the Holy God. You have a high priest who gave his own blood so that you can enter that holy place. God has made it possible because God loves you so much that He is inviting you into the nearest place, the holiest place.

B. God will forgive iniquity

Now you can know the Lord intimately. Now you can know the Lord personally. Nothing needs stand in the way between you and the living God. You say, "Well, my sin stands in the way." Well, then, let me remind you of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31. He says, "God will forgive your iniquity, and He will remember your sins no more."

Now this wasn't the way of the old covenant. There were daily offerings for sin, daily reminder of their sins. It was always there. Like, for example, what reads in Hosea 7:2. Look at this great verse. What a contrast it is. "But they do not realize." God says, "They do not realize. I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulfed them. They're always before me." Jeremiah 2:22. "Although you wash your soul with lye and use much soap, the stain of your iniquity is before me,' declares the Lord."

The stain brings the shame, but in the New Covenant, Christ died once and for all. The stain has been removed, the shame has been removed, and there is no need for any other offering. "It is finished," Jesus declared on the cross, to tell us that it's over. It's finished. God has accomplished that for you. Yes. Sure. Let's hear the little praise.

Hebrews 10:3-4. "In those sacrifices, there is the reminder of sins year after year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." In Christ Jesus, it's not the blood of bulls and goats that takes away your sin. It's the blood of our high priest, Jesus Christ, that takes away our sins. He brought that blood into the throne above the heavenlies and then sat down at the right hand of our Father. He says not only will He forgive your sin, but He will remember it no more. He will never hold it against you. Other people may hold it against you, but God will never hold it against you.

Hebrews 10:12-14, "But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God for--" notice, "For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified." You need no other offering. One sacrifice has caused the righteousness of God to be in your heart and in your account that you would see be perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Therefore, since God has made a way for sinners to draw near, then draw near. He's made a way. He's made a way of forgiveness. Nothing needs stand between you and God.

Since He's made a way, then draw near, but draw near with full assurance of faith. Notice Hebrews 4:16. What a great verse is this. "Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace." Now, this is counterintuitive to the way people often think. They don't think of confidence when it comes to approaching God. They're ashamed of their sin. They shrink from the presence of God because of their sin. No. He says, "Take hold of this by faith, understand what God has done for you, believe in what God has done for you. He's made a way. Draw near with all confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Here's another one, Hebrews 10:21-23. "Since we have a great priest, a great high priest over the House of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled clean, sprinkled by the blood of Christ from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water, let's hold fast this confession of our hope, do so without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."

Now, what does it mean to have a sincere heart? It means to have a heart that's true, genuine. You mean it. I remember reading Chuck Smith talking about a guy in Texas that used to advertise on TV that he sold genuine simulated diamonds. People said they needed real money to buy a genuine simulated diamond. The English word "sincere" is rooted in the Latin "sin cera," and it means literally in Latin, "no wax." What does this have to do with the word "sincere"?

Well, in the Greek and Roman culture, artisans would carve statues from marble. When you go to Athens or Rome today, you'll find so many of these amazing, glorious, beautiful statues carved by hand out of marble. Now, can you imagine an artisan working the marble for months by hand, crafting a beautiful statue, and then just as it nears completion, a piece falls out? Oh, no. Months of work, months and months of work. What does an unscrupulous disreputable artisan do? Take some of the chunks of the marble, grind it into powder, mix it with wax, and put it back?

You won't even know. You can't even tell until you put it in your back patio, and the heat of the day, the sun starts to rise, and then you start looking at that statue and think, "Did that nose move? Wait. He sold me a statue with wax. I can't believe it. That statue's got wax." So the artisans had to issue a certificate. When you went to go buy a statue, the certificate would say, "This statue is sincere. It has no wax."

When it comes to relationship to others, we want to sell a better version of ourselves. Then it's real. We want to hide our flaws. We don't want people to see our flaws. We want to conceal them, so we put wax. Oh, it'll come out in the heat of the day, but we want to hide it. Therefore, many people think they can do the same with God. They want to sell a better version of themselves to God, but this is a great mistake. It keeps them farther from the very one who can help them in their brokenness. He's your advocate.

Well, first of all, it's ridiculous to deceive ourselves into thinking that He doesn't already know the flaws. People hide their flaws because they're ashamed. They're embarrassed. We certainly understand that. They either want to hide it forever like skeletons in the closet, or they think they can fix it on their own. Oh, I can't tell you how many times I've heard somebody say, "I just got to figure this thing out. I just got to work this thing out. I will get this thing. I will figure this thing out."

My answer is always the same. No. You won't figure this out. It's you figuring things out on your own that gets you into this problem. No. You need an advocate. If you're in deep trouble, wouldn't you want a friend who could come alongside to help and advocate someone who wouldn't cast you out? But would come to stand with you? That's what God would do.

I remember many, many years ago, a friend called me he said, "I've done something really stupid. I just need a friend. Please, don't judge me. I just need a friend to help me." I thought, "What would Jesus do?" I said, "You're my friend. No matter what it is that you've done, I'll stand with you. I'll walk with you. We're going to walk through it together."

You come to God with a sincere heart, knowing that He is for you. If God be for you, who could be against you? That He is your advocate. It says that Jesus is your advocate. He is interceding in your behalf to the Father. In Him, you will find help in time of need. Therefore, draw near. He's inviting you. Draw near to the throne of grace with confidence, with full assurance of faith. Ah, it's the arising of God in your heart that is the power that transforms your life. It's not the striving of man. It's the arising of God. Draw near to the throne of grace, and you will be transformed from the soul within. This God is inviting you today. Let's pray.

Oh, Lord, how we thank you. What wonder and glory you reveal to us in these verses, describing all that you've done for us in the New Covenant under the blood of Jesus Christ. God, you've made a way for sinners like us to draw near to the holiest place. Church, how many would say to the Lord today, "Lord, I want to draw near with my whole heart in full assurance of faith"? Is that you? Would you say that to the Lord today? I want to just declare it, God. I want to draw near with my whole heart in full assurance of faith.

Would you just raise your hand as a way of declaring that to the Lord? God, I want to just say it. I want to just declare it. I want to raise my hand of way of just saying it to you right now, God. I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful that you would invite someone like me to draw near to you. God, I want to draw near with my whole heart in full assurance of faith. We love you and honor you for all that you've done for us in your Son, Jesus Christ. Church, let's give Him glory and praise. Can we give Him, Amen?