Jeremiah 31:31-34 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 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; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Jeremiah was known as the “Weeping Prophet”. He wept because – though he spoke the Word of the Lord – neither Israel nor Judah would not hear him. There is nothing more trying than to be a spokesman for God, and yet none hear you. I often think of that old saint Noah who, preaching for 120 years, had no one willing to ride on his Ark but 7 family members and a bunch of animals. Jeremiah had worst to deal with. Israel and Judah had so hardened their hearts that God could not reach them, though Jeremiah tried his best. The problem was not Jeremiah, nor Noah.

The problem was and has always been the human heart.

When God saves, He saves by and because of Grace

Look in verse 31. God is speaking to “the house of Israel, and … the house of Judah”. God saved these two “houses”, the Hebrew בַּיִת bayith, {pronounced bah’-yith}. This word is used to describe a “family”, as in “The Bayith of Buffaloe” (my family name). Israel is divided into two families at this writing. Now, this was not the way it was supposed to be. God said that He was going to make a NEW Covenant with the two houses of Jews – Israel and Judah – a covenant distinctly different from

Jeremiah 31:32 … 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;

First of all, who was Judah and Israel when God first met those families, those peoples? They were a people in Egypt. The Bible says that one King of Egypt died. Judah and Israel were not TWO in Egypt, but they were one House, one bayith. The Bible tells us:

Exodus 1:8, 11, 13 (ESV) Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. … 11 .. Therefore {the Egyptians} set taskmasters over {the Jews/ Israel} to afflict them with heavy burdens. .. 13 {the Egyptians} ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

Judah and Israel were only ONE Household in Egypt. They were a household of SLAVES. I think there is nothing worst than being a slave. To be taken against your will, to be made to do any labor, any debauched or evil thing, made to obey the voice of the Master. To be beaten, and tormented, and killed as no more than a beast of burden. To be sexually abused, at the whim of the Taskmasters. What a horror slavery is!

God brought Israel and his family of twelve sons to Egypt to bless them, and to care for them. They came to an Egypt co-ruled by their brother Joseph (remember, him who had the coat of many colors?). God loved Israel, the Father of that nation. God loved Israel the nation, and called them to love Him. God told Israel:

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 (ESV) It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers …

God loved Israel because of the promise He made to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3). God loved Israel because Abraham loved God, and in love God promised Abraham an Israel, a Messiah, and a blessing to all the families of the earth. God did not call Israel because they were worthy. Oh, no, God does not call the worthy. God told Israel before leading them into the Promised Land:

Deuteronomy 9:6 (ESV) … the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.

God approached Israel in love. In love, God sent Israel and his twelve sons to Egypt. And Israel, placed in a wonderful land and in a great place to grow, grew into millions and into a nation.

And Israel forgot to love God. They grew cold in their love for God.

Wandering away from the love of God, Israel found herself enslaved, horribly enslaved. God spoke to Israel, saying:

Jeremiah 2:14, 17, 19-20 (ESV) Is Israel a slave? Is he a home-born servant? Why then has he become a prey? 17 Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the Lord your God, when he led you in the way? Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts. 20 “For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, ‘I will not serve.’ Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore.

Israel drifted away from the love of God, and in drifting away from the love of God, they drifted away from loving one another. Israel began to worship the gods and goddesses of Egypt, ignoring the God Who saved them.

When they drifted away, God stayed right where He always is. Beloved, when you drift away from God’s love, when you forget that it is He Who saves, and He saved you though you are unworthy, God does not leave. But when we begin to absorb the gods of the land:

sexual immorality with its consequences (abortion, disease, abandoned children)
sensual immorality (drunkenness, drug addiction, early death & disease)
social immorality (perversion of Biblical marriage & family)
soulish immorality (wokeness, gender dysphoria, racism)
surgical immorality (intentional defilement of the human body)

we harden our hearts to the love of God. As Israel became acclimated to Egypt, normalizing the false worship, God was there but He stopped blessing Israel. Let us learn a lesson from this. Compromise with the darkness, with that which God considers evil, will always boomerang and end up hurting the compromiser. Israel became brutally enslaved. The Bible says:

Exodus 2:23-24 (ESV) … the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning …

Don’t you love the love of God? Though Israel messed up their lives and caused themselves to be enslaved, when they cried out to God, “God heard their groaning”. Oh, our God is SO GOOD. “Truly God is good to Israel” (Psalm 73:1). God told Israel and Judah:

Jeremiah 31:32 … I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt…

Though Israel had turned from God, when they turned back to God and cried out for rescue, God said “I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt”.

God did not send an angel to save Israel. God Himself came to save Israel. God Himself saves His people.

God took them by the hand. They were in a deep place – a pit – that they could not climb out of. But God stooped down and “took them by the hand”. God did not leave them in Egypt, enslaved and mistreated. God took them out. He took them away from there, and led them toward the Promised Land. The Bible says:

Exodus 13:21 (ESV) … the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.

God Himself became the GPS for Israel. Israel left Egypt with but one law – love and follow God. This is what the Grace of the Bible is all about. God is to be our focus. What did our Lord Jesus called “The Great Commandment”?

Matthew 22:36-40 (ESV) … You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.

You are to love God FIRST, above all else. Why? Why should God be our FIRST love? Because like Israel, we are unworthy. We are weak. Yet God love us still. If we love God because of Who He is, then we will love our neighbor as we love ourselves, for we are all made in the image of God. Every life has value. Every life is precious. From the conceived in the womb, to the oldest person in a nursing facility, that life is precious. God loves, and loves them still.

God led Israel by pillar of cloud and pillar of fire. It was God, not an angel. It was God, not a phenomena or a miracle. The Apostle Paul talked about this “cloud” in:

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (ESV) For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud,{the Pillar of Cloud} and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud {the Pillar of Cloud} and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

The Messiah – God the Son – was in the Cloud, in the Fire, and in the Rock that gave Israel water in the wilderness.

How did Israel repay God’s love? Did they love Him back? Did they rejoice that the Christ, the Messiah, the Great Shepherd watched over them? No, they didn’t.

Jeremiah 31:32 … my covenant they brake, although I was an Husband unto them, saith the Lord:

Word Study: God was a “Husband” to Israel, to every person in that nation. God saved them all equally. They followed God to salvation. What is interesting about the Hebrew for “Husband” here isבָּעַל bâʻal, {pronounced baw-al’}, which means “to be married to another, to love and cherish and look over, as a man should properly do for his wife”. Yet Israel broke the Covenant of love. Though God was bâʻal {pronounced baw-al’} to Israel, each time the going got tough Israel did not look to their “Husband”, but to false gods, to serve Baal (Hebrew בַּעַל Baʻal, {pronounced bah’-al}, the false gods of Egypt and Canaan. If you’ll notice, both Hebrew words are very close to being the same – and yet, they are not. Israel turned from following God to following the made up gods of Egypt and Canaan.

So God took Israel to Mount Sinai,
& gave them The Law through Moses.

Israel would not follow God by love, so God gave Israel the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law given on Sinai had Moral Laws (which are hard wired into the human conscience), as well as Civil Laws and Ceremonial Laws that were given only to Israel.

This is why our Bibles are divided into “Old Testament” or “Old Covenant” and “New Testament” or “New Covenant”. The FIRST Covenant of God is a Covenant of Love, a Covenant that says “Follow God and put Him first, not because you have to, but because He loves you, infinitely loves you”. The great American preacher Gardner Taylor said:

“If you are in Jesus Christ, you are on the right road. Don’t let anybody turn you around. I am as certain as I stand here that there is no other way to life, life radiant, life glorious, life triumphant, except in Jesus Christ …. if you’re in Christ, you’re on the right road”.

Israel followed Christ out of Egypt (for He is the Pillar of Cloud and Fire), and were safe, protected, and provided for. But then Israel began to lose their focus. They PUT THEMSELVES FIRST instead of the Lord. So the Lord gave them the Law on Sinai. The Apostle Paul tells us why God gave us the Law:

Galatians 3:19 (ESV) Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made…

The Law was given because Israel refused to follow Christ in love. The Law reflected the perfect holiness of God. The Law demanded animal sacrifices, and the sprinkling of blood shed. The Law regulated the diet and life of Israel, and specified when and where worship must be given.

The Law was a Taskmaster, and Enslaver of God’s people. The Apostle said:

Galatians 3:21-23 (ESV) … if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.

Oh, this is so good! God gave Israel the Mosaic Law. The Law could not give life. The Law could not save. But the Law acted as a TASKMASTER that would whip Israel until, like they did when the Egyptian Taskmasters whipped them, they would call out to God. It was God’s plan to ALWAYS SAVE BY FAITH. We are saved by love, by putting God first – not because we HAVE to, but because we WANT to.

Illustrate: I have a little game I play with Sherry, my beloved wife. She sometimes will ask me for something, and I’ll reply, “Sure. I’ll be glad to do this. Just fill out a form (I’ll make up a number here) in triplicate, all signed, and I’ll get right on it.” Instead of getting a “form” (which is but a joke), I usually get a poke in the ribs for my silliness. Wives do not have to fill out a form to get their husbands to do something. I serve my wife – not because I HAVE TO – but because I LOVE HER AND WANT TO.

So it is with God.

God does not want us serving Him because we HAVE to. He wants us walking with Him because we LOVE HIM, because we WANT TO. Some of you are in Church today because you feel you HAVE TO BE. Well, that’s fine. The Bible does say “NOT FORSAKING the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more as you see the day {of judgment} approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). It’s good to assemble together as God’s Church. But if you’re here because you HAVE to be, not because you WANT to be, then how much good will you get out of it? If your hearts aren’t in it, what good is it?

What did the Law do for Israel? It exposed the hardness of their hearts to God. Go back to our text:

Jeremiah 31:31-33 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 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; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel;

Israel started out as ONE house, ONE nation. But when God addressed them He spoke of a “new covenant” He was going to make with “the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah”. They were ONE house when they followed God in love, but are now TWO houses – Israel and Judah. What happened?

Though Israel was given the Law, the Law had no power to change their hearts. It was a measuring stick, a ruler to show them how how Holy God is. But the Law did nothing to change the heart. When King Solomon died, his son Rehoboam reigned in Solomon’s stead (1 Kings 11:43). Now God told His people, ALL of His people,

Deuteronomy 6:5 … thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

This is the GREAT COMMANDMENT. God also told His people in the Law:

Leviticus 19:18 … thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord.

This is the heartbeat of the Law. Love God with your ALL. Love your neighbor the way you want to be loved. That’s it! When Rehoboam became King the ten northern tribes of Israel came to him, and asked the King to lower their taxes (1 Kings 12:4). The Ten Northern tribes were suffering, and asked their brother to alleviate their suffering. Do you know what Rehoboam did? He told the Ten Tribes:

1 Kings 12:11 (ESV) … my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.

Anytime I see trouble in a nation or in a Church, it’s when we have “I problems”. Rehoboam was lifted up by pride because he was king. Rather than love his people, and treat others with the respect that he wanted to be treated with, he made himself NUMBER ONE.

When you make yourself NUMBER ONE, you automatically
make God and Others NUMBER TWO.

That day the Ten nations walked away from Judah, the ruling tribe of Israel. What was “Israel” became “Israel and Judah”. The Ten Northern tribes went to Samaria, and set up headquarters there. The Ten Northern tribes also stopped worshiping God, but began to worship the false gods and goddesses of Canaan.

God was not pleased.

Israel was TWO, though she was to become ONE. How would she become ONE? God said:

Jeremiah 31:33-34 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel;After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

God said “I’m going to make the TWO (Israel and Judah) into the ONE (Israel)”. How was He going to do this? By making a NEW COVENANT with Israel, a NEW COVENANT with His people. Some 600 years before Jesus came to this earth, Jeremiah prophesied of His coming.

God stooped to lead Israel out of Egypt by His hand.
God stooped again in Jesus Christ.

Born of a virgin (Matthew 1:23) in a manger in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1), Christ became Jesus, and this God/Man came to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). When you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior:

Romans 10:9-13 (ESV) … if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

When we believe that He is the Messiah – the Pillar of Cloud and Pillar of Fire – the One Promised Who would write the Law on our hearts – then He does this. God sends His Holy Spirit into the life of those who receive Jesus (John 14:26; 1 Thessalonians 4:8; Romans 8:9). God writes His Law – the Law of Love – on our hearts.

Our Lord Jesus is God bringing the New Covenant
to us who believe.

How do I know this? Because of the Lord’s Table. The Bible tells us that, at the first Lord’s Table,

Luke 22:19-20 … {Jesus} took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Though the King James renders this “New Testament” (διαθήκη diathḗkē, {pronounced dee-ath-ay’-kay]), it means the same thing. A “testament” or “covenant” is a legal document that binds two parties to one conscience and direction. When you receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, God sends his Spirit to your heart. God prophesied of the New Covenant in …

Ezekiel 36:26-27 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh 27 And I will put My Spirit in you, and move you to follow My decrees ….

God writes His love in the hearts of those who come to Christ. God writes in our hearts “not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God; not on tables of stone {like the Law was}, but in fleshly tablets of the heart”. Do you know the proof of salvation? It is that you love God. Not because you HAVE to, but because you WANT to. Do you know the proof of salvation? It is because you LOVE OTHERS. Not because you HAVE to, but because you WANT to. The Lord’s Table reminds us that we are under the New Covenant. The Lord’s Table reminds us that we are of the House of Christ (Hebrews 3:6), and that we are to be in one accord in loving God and loving one another.

Do you know Him? Do you know my Jesus? I pray that God the Holy Spirit will draw you to His side, to His nail scarred hands, this very day. Praise Him. Love Him. In Christ’s name, Amen and Amen.