Jeremiah 31:21-40 | A New Covenant | 4.23.1997

We read the words, "Set up signposts. Make landmarks. Set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went. Turn back, O Virgin of Israel. Turn back to these your cities. How long will you gad about, oh you backsliding daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth. A woman shall encompass a man. Now, as we're about to enter into verse 21, let me remind you of a few things that we've already looked at. We'll begin at verse 17, just reminding you of how the Lord has made a promise and is in this chapter making a promise to the nation of Israel. And we noted last time in verse 17 that the Lord had said there is hope in your future. Now the Lord in other words was saying that though the nation of Israel as we're studying the book of Jeremiah through the entire book from chapter 1 up to where we're at right now is being chastised by the Lord because of their idolatry and rebellion. And though the Lord has stated all through the book up to this point that he was punishing them and we know that they are in Babylonian exile, yet the Lord is saying to them that though he is chastising them for their disobedience, yet there is still hope for them. In other words, the Lord has not completely forsaken them. The anger that he has towards them isn't for eternity. It isn't forever, but he is going to have mercy on them. In the book of Isaiah in chapter 54:8, the Lord says, "In a surge of anger, I hid my face from you for a moment. But with everlasting kindness, I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your redeemer." So notice the Lord says, "Yes, I do have anger, but it is for a moment, but the overriding reality of my relationship with you is my merciful compassion." Habach in chapter 3:2 said,"Lord, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, oh Lord." He says, "Renew them in our day, in our time. Make them known." And then he goes on to say, "In wrath, remember mercy." And so the Lord is giving a promise to the nation. And though he is angry with them, he says, "My anger really is but for a moment. And though I am bringing judgment upon you, yet I will also bring restoration. Remember what he said in chapter 30 of the book of Jeremiah verses 2 and three. In chapter 30:es 2 and three, he said, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, write in a book all the words I have spoken to you. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their forefathers to possess, says the Lord. So, as the Lord is saying, there is hope in your future, we saw the response of Ephraim. And as I was mentioning to you last time we were together, Ephraim represents the northern tribes of the nation. The 10 northern tribes would be looked at as being Ephraim. Judah represents the two southern tribes. We'll be looking at that in just a moment. But the Lord is speaking at this point to the 10 northern tribes. And as we see that Ephraim is pictured as a son, he says in verse 18, bemoning himself. I shared with you last time we were together that this is a picture of true repentance. That word bemoning speaks of lamenting or showing grief and sorrow. In other words, Ephereim has recognized that he has sinned and has revealed a godly repentance through the confession of sin. And notice with me that he had said, "You have chastised me and I was chastised." In other words, he recognized the source of his sorrow was the hand of the Lord. The hand of the Lord was bringing chastisement with him on him because God is dealing with him. And as God is dealing with him, he desires restoration. I believe that there are times when the Lord's hand of chastisement is on not only this nation but on us individually. And there are times when the Lord is dealing with us in our sins. And he does so because we are his children. Because the Lord spans his children. He chasens his own. I remember hearing of a man who was walking through a park. And as he was walking through the park, he noticed two kids who were being severely rep reprimanded by by a man. And he and he had just been watching these kids as they were fighting. And he saw everything as it came down. And they were both at fault. But this man had taken this one boy and had paddled him. And so the man walking in the park walks up to this other gentleman and he says, he says, "Both of those boys were wrong. Why are you only hitting the one?" And he said, "Because this one's my son." And I really believe that there are times when the Lord takes care of his children. And there are times that he spans us. He chasens us. And as his hand of chastening is upon us, it's intended not to destroy. It's intended to correct. It's intended to cause us to turn to him and say, "I've blown it, Lord. Forgive me." And that's the mercy of the Lord. God deals with us. Remember what Psalm 51:es 10-12 says. In Psalm 51:es 10-12, the Psalmist said, "Create in me a clean heart, oh God. Renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy spirit from me. restore unto me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with your free spirit. So he said in verse 19, after my turning, I repented. After I was instructed, I struck myself in the thigh. In other words, I openly repented and you have dealt with me. I left off last time in verse 20 where the Lord is basically being revealed to us once again as being a loving father. Remember how he says, "Is Ephraim my dear son, is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still. Therefore, my heart yearns for him, I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord." And let me one more time return to a simple thought that's so important to me. It's a thought that has kept me going for 20 almost 27 years in my walk with the Lord. It's a thought that God gave to me when I got saved and has faithfully reminded me through all of these years. It's one thought that's so important and it's this, that God is love. That God is love. I remember as a 20-year-old going to Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa for the first time. I remember walking into that church, small little chapel there, seating just what about 300 or so. I remember walking in and being absolutely blown away. It was during the summer of 1970. I was one year old. And as I walked in with my mom, I was 19. And as I walked in there, I remember just absolutely being blown away by the sense. There was something different about that building, the environment, the atmosphere. There was something absolutely different than anything I'd ever experienced in my life. I can still remember it. Even though I'd been smoking pot and drinking beer, I still remember it. And when I walked in there and I sat down and I saw the hundreds of young people there and then when they came out and they did their music and and then this hippie by the name of Lonnie Frisbee. What a name, huh? Lonnie Frisbee came out. Lonnie was the absolute personification of a hippie. He had the long flowing shirt and he was either barefoot or had sandals. I can't remember now. And he had blonde sunbleleached hair past his shoulders and a beard that went to the middle of his chest. And I remember as I was looking at him, I wasn't even listening to what he was saying. I was thinking, "Man, he looks cool." You know, I wish I could grow a beard like that. That's what I was thinking. I was looking at this guy. Oh, wow. What a beard. There were some girls with beards too, but we'll talk about that some other time. But I remember I remember so very well just being ambushed being ambushed by the presence of the Lord. It was a nonjudgmental place. It wasn't that people didn't have priorities in order. It wasn't that they didn't seek the heavenly things. It's that they were so focused on reaching people for the Lord Jesus Christ that the people who were not welcome in another church were absolutely welcome there. There was a spirit a spirit of the Lord. I didn't I couldn't have told you. I didn't know what it was. I can tell you now it was a spirit of the Lord. There was something different there. These people were serious were committed. I saw them as being absolutely different than any church people that I'd ever been around. And the bottom line was these were people who knew they were sinners saved by grace. And so there was that lack of judgmentalism. And these were people who were learning that God, the God of the universe, is a God of love. and they were experiencing the freedom that comes through knowing a loving God. And I have to tell you that that environment was so convicting that even before the message was preached, I knew I was different than these people around me. I knew there's something different about me. I am not like these people. I was very uncomfortable. That's one of the reasons why I didn't get saved that day. That's very uncomfortable. But you want to know something? The Bible reveals over and over and over again that God is a loving, loving God. He is a loving father. When he said, "Is Ephereim, my dear son?" It reminds me of something he's already said a little bit earlier in the same chapter in chapter 31 at verse three, as he's been revealing to us this loving God in this chapter when he said in chapter 31:3, "The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you. I've loved you with an everlasting love. What an incredible love that is. The book of Hosea was written right around the same time as the book of Isaiah, some 750 or so years before Christ. Hosea was written in a time when the Lord was bringing judgment against the nation of Israel through the Assyrians. And in chapter 11 of Hosea, page 103 in the anointed Bible in chapter 11 of Hosea, the Lord gives a similar thought in verses 1-4. Hosea chapter 11. He said, 'When Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt, I called my son as they called them. So they went from them. They sacrificed to the bals and burned incense to carved images. But he goes on to say in verse three, I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them. When I was studying the book of Hosea, and I've heard a message preached on this, it spoke to my heart. Verse three, when he said, "I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms." Well, that's an image that really speaks to my heart, and I'll tell you why. I am a father and I know what it's like to have children to train them how to walk. I know what it's like to hover over them as a father. I know what it's like when your child is just learning to walk and how for us we would take something that the kids liked and whether it was keys or some bright object and we would we'd dangle them in front of them and and they would be there and they had climbed up to the you know they had crawled up to the couch and then they had climbed up on the couch and then they were standing there all wobbly and all like and then you would call their name and then they would turn towards you and then you'd you'd be blowing kisses or whatever you did and then you'd take I would do this all the time. I I would take the keys out of my pocket and I would I would shake them in front of them like this and and they would reach for it. And normally they would hold on to the couch with one hand and then they would reach with the other like this because they wanted these keys. And I would just shake them in front of them and it would make the sound and they like that sound. And then they would let go for just a moment and kind of stand there. And then they would take a step towards me and I would be dangling the keys but hovering over the child. And then the child would reach for the keys and normally would fall but I'd be catching them. And after a while, they take a second step and a third step. And you just keep stepping back a little bit further. But always hovering over them and always making sure that they don't go near the edge of a hard table or hurt themsel. We taught our children, some of us, how to walk. And that's what the Lord is saying here that I taught them. I hovered over them as a father protecting them every step of the way as they learn to walk. Now, those of us who have had the blessed privilege of being that involved in the life of somebody else from the time that they're infants and and having them as your own child understands the heart of the Lord. He said in verse 7 of the same chapter though he said, "My people are bent on backsliding for me. Though they call to the most high, none at all exalt him." And then I think some of the most passionate words of scripture are found in Hosea 11:8 when the Lord cries out and he says to the nation of Israel personified by Ephraim when he says, "How can I give you up Ephraim? How can I hand you over Israel? How can I make you like Adma? How can I set you like Zeoim? My heart churns within me. My sympathy is stirred. How can I give you up? When he uses the name Adma and the other name Zohoim, these are the two cities that were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah. And he's saying, "How can I allow destruction to overtake you? How can I give you up?" And once again, as a father, as the Lord loved the nation of Israel, the thought of losing his son, the thought of losing his child, the one that he loved with all of his heart just caused this passion in the heart of the Lord to be revealed to us by the spirit of God in scripture. God does not want to lose you. He doesn't want to give you up. And yet so often I think it's so often I think we take God's love for granted. We act as if his love doesn't care. We don't care. It doesn't matter. And I have to say to you, as I read the scriptures and I see the way the Lord's heart churns within him when it comes to judgment, chastising a child is never pleasant. It isn't ever a pleasant experience. I remember when our children were growing up, it really hurt me to realize that there were times when I out of necessity needed to bring physical chastisement. And I've told my children over the years when they were small, it gives me great pleasure to hear you laugh and it breaks my heart to hear you cry. And I don't want to have to cause the tears, but I will because I love you. Father loves the child, but if father truly loves child, he chasens that child so that the child learns responsibility, community, and all the things that are necessary. And so as we look here in Jeremiah, the Lord is saying to them, he loves them. Keep that in mind that the Lord loves you. He is a loving father. When he says in verse 21, "Set up signposts, make landmarks, set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went. Turn back, oh virgin of Israel. Turn back to these your cities." He's saying, "Eere signs as you're going off into captivity. Erect signs that will lead you home." When he's speaking about the landmark, set up stones. Set up pillars. Set them up so that they can guide you when I bring you back. In other words, mark out the way home so that you can retrace your steps and that you can return because the Lord is giving to them in this passage a promise. In verse 22, when he says, "How long will you gad about?" When's the last time you said that? How long you going to gad about? Well, the word gad means to vacasillate or to waver. And so he's saying, "How long will you waver, oh you backsliding daughter?" Now the bottom line is in spiritual things, and you may want to mark this in your heart and your notes, in spiritual things, the Lord does not in any way, shape, or form condone double-mindedness. It's either for him in scripture or against him. And you see this over and over again as you study your Bible that the Lord calls us to decision. For example, in First Kings 18:21, when Elijah the prophet was there before the children of Israel and was calling them to make a decision, he cried out to them in First Kings 18:21 and he said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if thou be God, then follow him. Make up your mind is what he was saying. You can't follow them both." In Luke 16:13, Jesus said, "No servant can serve two masters. either will hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. You can't do it. You've got to make your choice. Which is it going to be? Now, I think all of us who love the Lord know what what Jesus is talking about because we all have failed to love him with all of our heart. Every one of us have. I have. All of us have. And you know, it's a miserable place when you're in the world and trying to walk with Jesus at the same time. It's a miserable place. You can't have them both. You can't have water cold and hot at the same time. It doesn't work that way. Make up your mind. What's it going to be? And the Lord tells us that throughout scripture. So when he's saying here, how long are you going to run around? How long are you going to vacasillate? How long are you going to waver? When are you going to get solid with me? That's a challenge. When are you going to take your faith? He's saying seriously. When are you going to finally stop trying to have both things? You got to have one thing. You have to have your mind set on one direction. Now, is it going to be the Lord or is it going to be the world? But you can't have the world and the Lord at the same time. Now, that's true, but for some of us, it takes a long time to refine that because when you first get saved, you may have said, you know, it's all Jesus and nothing else. And then somewhere along the line, you begin to take a little bit of that something else back. I was I was saved as a guy who abused alcohol. And it took a while for the Lord to finally just clean me up. And then I'm just I'm not drinking anymore. And then bang, I started hanging around with some friends, Christian friends who began to influence me. And it's not their fault I made the choices, but they were experimenting at that time. They were raised in the church, had never drunk before. Before you know it, they're saying, "Hey, what what's wrong with you, Dave? What's the big deal? What's wrong with a beer and some pizza? And because they never knew what it was like to struggle with beer. They never knew what it was like to struggle with wine. They never had those problems. I did. I was that one who would drink my bottle of wine and if you walked out of the room, I drank yours, too. And that was just the way it was. And that's really absolutely true. If you walked out of the room and you left your can, it was mine. And then if you came back and said, "Where'd my beer?" I'd say, "Man, somebody came in and drank it." And I tried to stop them. But my mouth was full of your beer. That's how I was. I I was not able to just drink one beer, just one small glass of wine for dinner. You've got to be kidding. You drink the whole bottle, you drink the whole six-pack, and then you go and buy another one. And that's the way I want. And so I have these friends who had never drunken gotten drunken in their life. And that was my my lifestyle. And so they never could understand why I was so uptight with this. And so they started teaching me grace. Grace, David, stop being so legalistic. Are you a new creation Christ or not? Well, if you are, then you're free because where the spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. Made sense to me. And so I found myself occasionally drinking a beer and going back slowly but surely to the old way of dealing with things. And I had to discover the hard way like so many of you. You can't have it both ways. You have to make a choice. Is it all of Jesus or none of them? You want to know something? That's biblical. So when the Lord says, "How long are you going to run around? How long are you going to vacasillate? How long are you going to waver?" God is simply saying, "I don't tolerate double-mindedness." You have to make up your mind. In Romans 6:16, "Know you not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey. His servants you are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness." So the Lord tells us, "Make a decision and yield yourself. Is it to God or is it to the world? Choose this day whom you will serve." And so when he goes on and he says, "The Lord has created a new thing in the earth." And he says, "A woman shall encompass a man." According to the commentators that I use when I study, this is one of the most difficult passages in the whole Bible to understand. And when you read the different scholarly approaches gets really confusing. So I'll give you what I think is a very ancient interpretation and that is this. The early church fathers taught this. They believe that this particular scripture here when he says, "For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall encompass a man." They believe that this is a prophecy concerning the virgin birth. They believe that this is in reference to the Virgin Mary who is going to give birth to the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he says encompassing, it would speak of how the Virgin Mary would tenderly protect and embrace her child Jesus. Now, that is a very ancient interpretation of this scripture. And so, it would seem that this is a prophecy concerning Messiah who is to come. In verse 23, he says, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, they shall again use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities when I bring back their captivity. The Lord bless you, oh, oh habitation of justice and mountain of holiness. And there shall dwell in Judah itself and in all its cities together farmers and those going out with flocks. For I have sat satiated the weary soul and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. Now as I was sharing with you earlier up to this point he's been speaking to the northern kingdoms and he's referring to them as Ephraim. But notice with me here in verse 23 he speaks of the land of Judah. So this shows you that his his uh his message encompasses all of Israel. Ephraim, the 10 northern tribes, and now Judah, which represents the tribe of Judah and the other tribe of Benjamin. And so he's speaking to them here, and he says, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, they shall again use this speech in the land." So he's speaking to them now and talking about the ancient form of greeting that shall be heard in Jerusalem once again. And what was that ancient form of greeting? The Lord bless you, oh habitation of justice and mountain of holiness. He's speaking about what will take place there in the city of Jerusalem where the temple was and how they associated this place with the Lord. And so he said that is an ancient form of greeting. In verses 24 and 25, there shall dwell in Judah itself and in all its cities together farmers. And he goes on to begin to speak of what is going to take place. In other words, when Israel's spiritual priorities are once again in order, God is going to not only take care of them spiritually by being there for them, but he's also going to take care of them in a material sense. Because it says in verse 24, there shall dwell in Judah itself and all it city together farmers and those going out with flocks. I have satiated the weary soul. I have replenished every sorrowful soul. So the Lord is going to bless them when his he's saying when your spiritual priorities are in order I will also take care of your material needs. That's what the Lord is saying in this passage here. I want to develop that with the thought in the New Testament. Let's turn our Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 9. The point he's making, put your spiritual life in order. As you put your spiritual life in order, I'll take care of your physical needs. That thought is echoed not only in the old but also in the new. And in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verses 6-10, the Apostle Paul writing to the church of Corinth said this. Paul said, remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever sws generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. God loves a cheerful giver. God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written, he has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. Now he who supplies seed to the sewer and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. In other words, the Lord will take care of your spiritual and your physical needs. He says just give to him with a willing and happy heart, having a generous spirit and a hilarity in your giving. Some people never learned that lesson. And I remember hearing of three men who had been longtime members of a church. And because the church had the same routine every Sunday, they knew the events of the service and how long each event took. They knew that there would be some time of worship. They knew that there'd be a time of bulletin reading. They knew that there was going to be a time of the offering. And they also knew that the preacher would begin to teach at a certain time. So for years, these guys, these three buddies would come after the offering had been taken and had been avoiding giving for years. And the pastor knew it very well and he finally got tired of it. So he changed the order of service. And so they showed up this Sunday and he did the whole service the way it normally was. And they came at the moment that they normally came. And then he said, "We're changing the order of service today." And as you notice, we didn't receive an offering at the beginning of the service. And we're going to now receive an offering. And when he said that, one of these guys fainted, and the other two guys carried him out. You'll always find a way not to give. You don't want to give. But the Lord says, "Get your spiritual priorities in order, and I'll bless you not only with the physical. I will bless you not only with the spiritual, but also with the physical." That's the point he's making back in Jeremiah 31. Let's go on back there. He says in verse 26, this gives us some insight here. He says, "After this, I awoke and looked around and my sleep was sweet to me." So, this tells us that he had received this particular word from the Lord while he was asleep. And in other words, the Lord had revealed to him these things while he was dreaming. Now, you might be saying, "Does the Lord or did the Lord really do that?" And the answer, of course, is yes. In the book of Job, for example, in chapter 33 14 and 15, the Bible says, "For God does speak now one way, now another, though man may not perceive it in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds." And there are times that the Lord in the Old and in the New Testament spoke concerning that he would reveal things of himself in a dream. And that's what is taking place here in Jeremiah 31:26. In verse 27, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build, and to plant, says the Lord. In other words, when they went into exile, the desolation of the land was not just the exiling of the Jewish people, the inhabitants there, but also included the taking of all of their oxen and all. So, the Lord is saying, when I return you to your land, I'm going to also bring these cattle with you. I'm going to sew them in the land. In those days they shall say no more. Uh the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes his teeth shall be set on edge. So there was a saying at that time amongst the Jewish people there uh speaking concerning the children paying for the uh the sins of the father. So that is not a biblical teaching. But they had gotten to the point of saying, "If my dad has blown it, then I'm going to have to reap the consequences of what he's done." In some ways, obviously through experience, there is a certain amount of truth to that in the sense that if a father or a mother were to reject the Lord and raise a child in a home that rejects the Lord, then uh obviously uh because these people have no relationship with the Lord, Lord's blessing and all of that would not necessarily be on that house. So God has a common grace that he bestows on all people. Causes the sun to shine on the just and the unjust alike. Causes his rain to fall on the fields of those who love him and those who don't alike. There's a common grace that the Lord has. And yet at the same time if a parent rejects the Lord then his child is undoubtedly going to be raised in a home that does the same. And yet the Lord is greater than that and has a tendency of reaching the children who in turn bring the gospel to the parent. So, it was an unbiblical thing in the sense that they believed that they were paying the price for their parents' sin. And that's what this particular proverb meant when it said, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge." The point that the Lord is making is no, you're not going to say that anymore. You're going to realize that people pay for their own sin. And if the father eats the sour grapes, then it's going to be his teeth that are set on it. As we get into verse 31, this is one of the most powerful portions of scripture. And we're about to look at a new covenant. That's what I chose to entitle this particular installment because the Lord is giving at this point a promise. Let's read verse 31 following verse 34. 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 that I took them by the hand to bring 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. Oh, 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." One of the more powerful promises in scripture, and we're going to look at it in some detail at this point here. It's very important to look at it as thoroughly as is possible. I want you to notice right from the beginning here in verse 31 when he says the days are coming that is a prophetic way of saying that these things are going to occur in a later period of your time. If you take that phrase the days are coming says the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and notice with me briefly in verse 27 he used the same formula the days are coming says the Lord. We know from the context of the way that Jeremiah is approaching this that he's speaking and we know that all of chapter 31 is reflecting this. And those of you who've been with me through uh chapter 31 know this is how chapter 31 unfolds before us. We know that what he's referring to is in what we would call the latter times. And when he says here, the days are coming, he's speaking concerning the nation of Israel that will enter into the fulfilled promises of the nation, which is not occurring yet. It has not happened yet. This has to be a prophecy that is really going to be fulfilled in what the Bible calls the millennial reign of Christ, the time after the tribulation has been complete and the Lord Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning on the earth. It's called the millennium. And what is going to happen is Jesus Christ as he's ruling the the worlds as the king of kings and the lord of lords that is when this precise prophecy will be physically and completely fulfilled. So when he speaks here saying the days are coming says the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah he's speaking of a restored nation that will be fearing God through the Lord Jesus Christ. because he says that he is going to write this law on their hearts. He says, "It's not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days," says, "Look, I'll put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts." That comes through regeneration. That comes through being born again. The way the law of God is written on your hearts is through the spirit of God. And so the nation of Israel has yet to receive those promises from the Lord. They're not a united nation in the biblical sense yet. They haven't they haven't reached that point yet. But God is reathering. And we see that since 1948, we see the miracle of Israel. It's just a foretaste. It's just the beginning of what the Lord is going to do. Let's turn our Bibles for just a moment to the book of Hebrews. I want to show you something and I want to develop this with you. The Lord is going to make a new covenant. He says, we call that new covenant the New Testament. In the old covenant, it reminded Israel, this old covenant reminded Israel of the deliverance from Egypt and it included sacrifices of bulls and goats and all. But the new covenant speaks of a spiritual deliverance from sin and death through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the book of Hebrews chapter 10 16- 22, the writer of Hebrews said, "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts. I will write them on their minds." Then he adds, "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there's no longer any sacrifice for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened up open for us through the curtain that is his body. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Now the Lord has offered this relationship to the nation of Israel through his son Jesus Christ. That's what the gospels are all about. That's what the mission and ministry of Jesus is. Not only that, but the ministry of the Apostle Paul was the same kind of ministry. What is it that Paul said to us in the book of Romans to the Jew first and after that the Gentile? And those of you who have been students of the Bible know that when you read the book of Acts and you see the travels of the Apostle Paul, where is the first place he'll go to when he enters into a city? And the answer is the synagogue. Paul when he'd enter into a city, first thing he does, and read the book of Acts, and you see this unfolding over and over again through the whole book until finally he says, "You know what? I'm taking the gospel to the Gentile." over and over again. You see Paul going first to the synagogue, speaking to his brothers, looking for synagogues in the city that he could communicate to them, Messiah has come. But what happens every time? They reject. They reject. It's consistent throughout the Bible. Finally, he has the statement that he makes to the Galatians. He says, "God has given to me ministry to the Gentiles as he has given to the Apostle Peter ministry to the Jews." And Paul recognized himself to be the apostle to the Gentiles. That doesn't mean that he lost his love and desire to see Israel saved because he said, "Would to God, I'd lose my own salvation if it were possible to see my brethren according to the flesh saved. I'd give it up in a heartbeat just to see them right with God. I have that desire. I want to see them right with the Lord." But they're rejecting it. They rejected the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord through his mercy reached down and touched us. Paul said to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 15-17, "Even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts." But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now, he said, the Lord is the spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom. The Jewish nation as a nation rejects the gospel historically, but the Gentiles welcomed it because in Romans in chapter nine, Paul said in verses 30 through3, the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith. But Israel who pursued a law of righteousness has not attained it. Why not? because they pursued it not by faith but as it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written, "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." Now, God hasn't forsaken the nation of Israel because the Bible tells us that God has in Romans 11 a remnant, a chosen that he's going to work with. But the Lord has given to us. So guys, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord has given to us is his law written on our heart. When I first got saved into first several months, like I shared earlier, it wasn't the easiest thing to get cleaned up, but the Lord began to clean the fish once he caught me. And and there got to be a point where I finally At one point, maybe this will minister to somebody. Maybe you're struggling with this. At one point, I had desires to still drink, but I had to make decisions not to based on what it does to me, what it does to other people. The desires were still there, though. I have to confess, the desires were still there. And when I saw somebody drinking a beer or some champagne or whatever, I I would I would I would want to reach over there and I would want to take that glass and I had that desire in my heart. But I got to the point where I started saying that's really not a good thing. I remember when the Lord really started hammering and it wasn't immediately. It was a while after I'd been saved. I was at this one of my friends who was into the freedom of grace and all and we were at a pizza parlor. I've shared this before. And while we were there in the pizza parlor, we ordered a pizza and a picture of beer. And I used to think, hey, nothing tastes better than beer and pizza. an older man came in. And this older man was probably about 65, 70 years old. At that time, I was in my early 20s, so I thought he was really an old man. Now he's a young guy, but he was an older man to me. And when he walked in, he kind of shuffled in off the street and he walked through the doors there. And it's one of these pizza parlors that had the large kind of picnic bench kind of things. And I was sitting in such a way that I could see the man come in through the door and I saw him sit in a table directly across from me, straight across from me. Table right across there. My friend didn't notice him, but I did. I was looking at him and as I was there, I had a picture of beer and I had glass of beer and I had my pizza in front of me and I distinctly sensed the Lord speak to my heart saying, "Go share my love with him." I distinctly sense that. Go share my love with him. And I said, I can't. I started thinking I I can't. And the question came to me, why not? And my immediate answer was this. Now, remember this like it happened yesterday. I said, because I'm drinking beer. And if I'm drinking beer and I go and tell him about your great love, he's going to look at the picture of beer and he's going to say, if God's so good, why are you still doing that? Now listen, I have had the debates and I'm not going to debate anymore over this point. I've had people walk up to share with me but the grace of God please. I've already gone through that. Now maybe you feel you have the freedom to drink. And now I'm not going to argue your liberties in the Lord. But I will tell you what he spoke to my heart and I believe this is the way the Lord would have me to be. And I think that he wants all of us who are maturing in the Lord to understand this. When he said to me in my heart that day, why not? And I said, because I'm drinking beer, I understand American culture. We're we're a country that passed laws against alcohol. We aren't Italy. We are not Germany. We are not a European country. We are America. And Americans have a real negative image. They're especially Christians. And I know how people feel. Oh, I can argue with them about my liberty and all of that, but guess what? There's so many people who used to be alcoholics today, they don't even want to hear the thing that you're saying about your freedom in Christ and how he set you free and all of this because to to them you're still in bondage and that's how they think. And no matter whether we argue this or not, we try and bring him into freedom. That's the bottom line. And as I was there, the Lord really spoke to my heart about that. And I said, I can't because I'm drinking and he's going to ask he's he's not going to receive from me. And and and I was bummed out. But this is what the clincher was. This is the knockout punch was two people came walking off of the street came walking in. One sat on and this is the gospel as I'm telling you. It's the truth before God as I stand here. One sat on one side, the other sat on the other. One of them pulled out a Bible track and began to share the gospel with this man. And the spirit of the Lord spoke to my heart a second time and he said, "If I can't use you, I will find somebody else to use. I've never forgotten that. I have never forgotten that. And I repented and I said, "Lord, I want to be used." Now, the bottom line is I just want to be in the position where I can be used. So, I'm not arguing whether you have freedom in Christ to drink or not. The point I'm making is God put something in my heart that's greater. And you know where before when I used to sit there say, "Well, I can't because now I have no desire for it. There's no desire at all. You could surround me with any kind of I have no desire at all. I no desire at all." The Lord gives you new taste buds, you know, but at one point you sit there saying, "Oh, I Oh, Lord, give me Oh, Lord, give me strength. That looks so good and it's so hot and just one sip won't kill me." Some of you know what I'm talking about. And the Lord says, "No, no, I don't want because his law is written on my heart. because it's in you. Because it's in you. Now, here's the here's the bottom line. The nation of Israel at this point has not received this fulfillment of the promise. They will during the millennial reign of Christ, but the church receives it. The church receives it. You guys today can live for the Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the spirit. You can do that today. It just depends on whether you want to, whether you have that desire, whether you hunger for that. What is it that Jesus said? Blessed is the one who hunger who thirsts and hungers after what? After righteousness. It's up to you. It's up to you. And so in the nation of Israel, he's speaking concerning the millennial reign of Christ. And at that point, he's going to be their God. They shall be his people. And the Lord will be covering the earth with his knowledge. Right now, he has given to us as the Gentiles that blessed privilege because we've received him and he writes his laws on our hearts. In verse 35, thus says the Lord, who gives who gives the sun for a light by day, and 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 also, or 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 Anneil to the corner gate. The surveyor's line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Garb. Then it shall turn towards Goliath and the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes and all the fields as far as the brook Kadrron 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. This is simply God's promise to the nation. Every morning that you wake up and see the stars, it's to remind you that God is still God. Every morning when you see the sun, as dawn breaks, God is saying, "As sure as the sun rises, my promises are firm and forever." Let me close with the thought. In these very last days, in these very last days, I believe that we are faced as a church, as the church, the body of Christ, internationally. The church is being faced today with some of the greatest challenges that we've ever faced in the history of the body of Christ. We are rapidly entering into those days when people will no longer endure sound d. We are rapidly moving into the days when people begin to associate the church with everything but what it is. We're living in a time when all of the actions of the body of Christ are scrutinized and sometimes I think necessarily, other times unfairly. For those of you who read the newspaper, perhaps you read today one of the columns in the local newspaper bringing some accusations against a local ministry, local minister. And as I was reading that, I began to think, how quick the world is to look to the church to try and find perfection. And anything that they see that they don't like, they immediately will say, "This is wrong. This is wrong. This is wrong." I remember on one occasion when Billy Graham, who I happen to admire as much as I can admire anybody, Billy Graham as one of the most wonderful testimonies and his character being impeccable was asked in a uh kind of like a meeting with newspaper reporters. Somebody said, "How come you're flying on a jet to England when you come and preach a message about a man who rode a donkey into Jerusalem?" The world has a tendency of trying to put people on the spot, especially those who represent the kingdom. How come you're flying when you represent a man who rode a donkey into Jerusalem? And immediately one of Billy Graham's men who were there said, "You find a donkey that can swim the Atlantic and Billy will ride him." You know, I believe that what we're looking at right now in these last days is uh a a continuation of assault on the body of Christ. Now, I would never stand up and say someone's guilty or innocent unless I had 100% fact. And thus I'm not saying anything to that in that in that direction. I'm simply saying that the world is looking very carefully at the body of Christ trying to find some kind of of uh a speck in our eye. I think it very important for us to see this as a challenge. I also believe that the Lord has a way of confounding the world and that we have been given tremendous opportunities to be lights in a very very dark place that's growing darker every day. My heart like yours is pierced over the death of this little boy in Bulma. Absolutely pierced like you. I prayed for him every day. Father in Jesus name. Father in Jesus name. His mama is there testifying on national television. Anthony loved Jesus. Anthony is with the Lord. Anthony will never suffer again. Who will never have to fear a man like this again. And my heart breaks for her and for his stepfather like yours does. But the world is in a rage when those who have been victimized are saying, "Let God be the judge." We need to pray for guys like that. We pray that he's pulled off. That's that's Christianity. It's like when Job said, "Naked came I into the world, and naked I shall return it. The Lord gives return from it. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. God's in control. I don't understand these things, but I'm telling you, if we don't take our walks with the Lord Jesus Christ seriously, we will be destroyed. We will be eaten by the world. I guarantee it. I guarantee it. And if we don't have something firmer than our emotions and feelings holding us firm to the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ, I guarantee you will be shipwrecked in your faith. I guarantee you are going to be victimized by false teachers. I guarantee you. And the bottom line is that a lot of believers today don't even know the basics of their faith, let alone tolerate Bible study. And that's the condition of the church in these last days. And so that's the reason I'm taking this direction. And that's the reason I'm encouraging. That's the reason I want to give you a thorough study in what we get into. Why? So that you are well equipped for works of service. My responsibility as a pastor, teacher, line upon line, precept upon precept. here a little and there a little. Your responsibility. Take, check, obey what is true and move on in the things of the world. Because in these last days, people will no longer endure sound. If you don't have 15 different things going on to keep people's attention focused, they lose their interest because apparently heaven isn't interesting enough. And so what we need to do guys in these last days is get very serious, very serious with Jesus Christ. Allow him to reign in you and don't play games with him anymore. Like we've already read, choose who you're going to serve. Who's it going to be? How long will we vacaselate? How long will we wander about? How long are we going to pick and choose the places that make us feel best? When are we going to get serious with the Lord? Because he gives us such wonderful promises, but we're so busy, so busy, so stressfilled, so preoccupied that we're not even hungry to go to heaven anymore. We're too busy right now getting all we can. And in that, we made a great mistake because we're quenching the Holy Spirit. We're stifling his work in our life. We're making Christianity a naturalistic religion based on my willpower, my positive thought. And when tragedy hits, because we built our lives on foundation of sand, we're overwhelmed and crushed by that wave of adversity. We find ourselves spitting out sand on the beach wondering what happened. And the bottom line is we didn't build on the solid rock. So the Lord is calling us to do that. That's why it's so important for us to understand he writes his laws on your heart. Let him write today and obey him.