Jeremiah 31:33–34

0:00 Tonight, we're going to look at verses 33 and 34 of Jeremiah 31, not the verses that are printed in your bulletin, as interesting as those might be. Let's pray, please. Heavenly Father God, please speak through me by your Holy Spirit, and please teach our hearts, Lord, what you would have us learn from your word. In Jesus' name, amen. When I was in college, I signed up for a canoe trip on a Saturday morning.

0:30 We were going to be on the river for about four hours and have a one-hour shuttle ride back to the campus. I'd done a lot of canoeing when I was growing up. I was pretty good at it, and I needed something adventuresome to do. At that point in my life, I had just broken off a two-year relationship with the woman that I mistakenly thought was the one for me. And I needed my freedom. In fact, I had sworn off women for the rest of my life. So, when I got to the put-in place, there were about a dozen students there, and all of them but one had already paired up with a friend, and so the other one and I got into a canoe, and I got into the stern, because that's where you steer, and I was the one with all the experience, and so off we went.

1:13 Now, there were a few things about that canoe trip that were significant. The most significant thing about it is the person in the front of the canoe was Amy. That's how we met. Now Amy's reason for being there was that her boyfriend had been giving her a hard time about not doing anything adventuresome, so she signed up for a canoe trip. The third thing was that about halfway through the trip, I didn't see that boulder just under the surface and I tipped the canoe. It was March, just about this time of the year, and we were up to here in icy cold water. And the fourth thing was that for the ride back, there were 12 students and the shuttle was a 10 seater. And so Amy sat on my lap for an hour. Now, there was nothing improper. I had sworn off women for the rest of my life and I had no interest. And she was trying to prove something to her boyfriend and probably wanted nothing to do with the guy that had put

2:17 her in ice water in the middle of March. But over the next few weeks, I did reflect on how pleasant she was to be with for four hours in that canoe, and how pleasant she was to have on my lap for an hour. And I had a change of heart. I had a change of heart about my resolve to give up women for the rest of my life. And that had some great results. It reordered my priorities. It caused me to change my behavior, and it had lifelong impact. Now, in this room, literally 50 years to the month from that canoe trip, Amy's here, our two sons are here, their wives are here, and our seven grandchildren are here. So, amazing lifelong impact. Well, tonight we're going to look at a text that talks about a change of heart that has eternal impact if you would turn with me in your bibles to jeremiah chapter 31 we're going to look at verses 33 and 34 that's on page 660 of

3:24 your pew bibles if you're using one of those page 660 jeremiah 31 verses 33 and 34 please follow along as i read for 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 and no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother saying no the lord for they will 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 the main idea of this passage is that god transforms our hearts and forgiveness is key Two points, and they are the two parts of the main idea.

4:09 One, God transforms our hearts. And two, forgiveness is key. So first point, God transforms our hearts. Now, in our passage, God announced to Jeremiah that he was going to make a new covenant with his people. And the previous verse 32 tells us that God said it was not going to be like his previous covenant, which was the law given to Moses. Now, God's law is a reflection of God's character. It is a picture of what a human life would look like if it was lived in total harmony with God and in complete obedience to his will.

4:44 God promised blessings if his law was obeyed, and he promised punishment if it was disobeyed. The problem was, as Greg mentioned again this morning, we've been hearing in 2 Kings, that people just couldn't obey. They failed because there was a heart problem. So God announced to Jeremiah that he was going to create a new covenant with his people. He was going to put his law within us. It would no longer be external on tablets of stone. He would put his law within us. He would write his law on our hearts. God would take a reflection of his character and actually imprint it on our hearts.

5:18 That would enable us to love God and to want to obey him. God said he would be our God and we would be his people. God wants an exclusive relationship with us. He wants to be our number one priority all the time. God said his people would all know him. God wants a close personal relationship with every one of us. And God said he would forgive our iniquity and remember our sins no more. In this new covenant, God will transform our hearts. He will make it possible for us to love him, to know him personally, to want him to be our number one priority and to desire to obey him.

5:57 Now, we know that our physical hearts need to be healthy in order to function properly. And we know what that takes, diet and exercise. Our heart muscles need nourishment. We need to exercise. They need oxygen to function properly. And even though we know that, a lot of times we don't do it. Well, why not? Well, ice cream's good. Exercise is hard. sometimes in the moment our priorities change we know that we want healthy hearts but that ice cream looks really good and so the priority of the healthy heart kind of takes a back seat to the priority i want that ice cream and i want a healthy heart but exercising his heart it's easier to skip it well just like our physical hearts our spiritual hearts need to be healthy to function the way god intends them the nourishment that our spiritual hearts need is god's word the bible the oxygen that our spiritual hearts need is prayer our conversations with god

7:04 the exercise that our spiritual hearts need is obedience submission to god's will we are so blessed in this church to be in a church where the bible comes first The Bible's preached here, it's sung here, it's taught here. We pray. Tonight we pray. We do that every Sunday. Our unofficial email circulates prayer requests every day of the week. We covenant under our church covenant to support each other under God's word, to pray for each other, to admonish each other, to help us stay within God's will.

7:39 So the question for you is, how's your spiritual heart? Is it as healthy as God wants it to be? Well, if you're like me, the next question is, why not? Even with regenerated hearts, we're sinful people living in a fallen world. In Luke 12, Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So where's your treasure? Not just on Sunday night when we're here together in church and we have a lot of Christian brothers and sisters around us And we've sung the word, we've been taught the word, not on Sunday morning when Greg or Brandon or another preacher is teaching us.

8:19 But how about on Monday morning when you don't want to get up and you have to to go to work? Kids need to get ready for school. Or how about Wednesday afternoon when you just left the third store that didn't have what you need for dinner that night. Somebody pulled out in front of you and the car is making that noise you wish would stop. Or how about the middle of the night when you wake up just filled with anxiety? hmm what's your treasure in those months those times well god wants to be our treasure 24 hours a day every day so brothers and sisters ask god to nourish your transformed heart through his word every day be ready to pray every time the holy spirit prompts you ask the holy spirit for help obeying and submitting to god and when you fall and we all fall confess your sin and ask for forgiveness well our second point is about forgiveness forgiveness is key the last sentence in our text god says for i will forgive their iniquity and i will remember

9:28 their sin no more that first word is very significant it isn't and this is one of the list of things in this new covenant but for implies causation it implies a cause and effect god might have said because i will forgive their iniquity and i will remember their sin no more i will work this change in their hearts it's almost like god forgiving us is like a starter switch for the new covenant so when was this to take place when was it to get started early in our text god said this is the covenant that i will make after those days so we know from the text that this would be future to jeremiah's time in fact the bible tells us it was over 600 years later through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus that God made it possible for our sins to be forgiven forgiveness is such a blessing it opens closed doors in our relationships did you ever need forgiveness from another person

10:28 I did a couple years ago when Amy and I joined the church we met so many wonderful people just wonderful brothers and sisters and one gentleman tried to introduce himself to me and get to know me a little bit and I was rude to him. I don't really know why. Maybe I was tired, maybe I had a bad day or I was in a hurry, but I was rude to him. And I felt bad about it, but I didn't say anything. And for weeks and literally months, I found myself avoiding him. And I just knew inside it wasn't right.

11:03 That relationship wasn't right. And thank God I finally had the courage to approach him and tell him what I had done and that I felt bad about it and ask his forgiveness. Well, we all know what that's like to need forgiveness from another person. Imagine standing before the holy God of the universe. Because whether you believe in him or not, you're going to stand in front of him someday. But do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If you do, praise God and thank him for the blessings of the new covenant that we're living under.

11:38 without jesus we have a heart problem we just we can't love him and we can't really want to obey him and please him if you don't know jesus is lord and savior listen to what he said in matthew 11 come to me all you who are weary and burdened and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for i am gentle and humble in heart and you'll find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light are you weary are you burdened come to jesus maybe you're here tonight and you know about jesus but you don't know him personally and you want your freedom have you sworn off jesus have you determined not to submit to him and surrender listen to what he said in john 11 i am the resurrection and the life he who believes

12:39 in me will live even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die and then jesus asked the most important question that there is do you believe this he didn't ask are you good enough he didn't ask have you said i'm sorry enough he didn't ask have you given enough money or have you achieved enough? Do you believe this? Friends, believe in Jesus. Be forgiven. Have the transformed heart that God promises under his new covenant.

13:11 That's the ultimate freedom. If you want your freedom and you don't know Jesus, that's where it is. You will live forever in paradise and while you're here, be sure to tell others about him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father God, you know every heart in this room. For those who don't know Jesus as their Savior, please draw them to Jesus and let them believe in him. And Lord, for those of us who do believe in Jesus and are under the new covenant, please nourish our hearts each day.

13:44 In Jesus' name, amen.