THE NEW COVENANT

August 2, 2026

Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31-34

How many of you have started a conversation with the phrase, “What’s new?”  It’s a question we sometimes use to jump start a conversation as we are curious to find out what is new in one’s life.  Now, I find this concept of “new” rather psychologically and socially fascinating!  There is something within each one of us that likes new.

We celebrate things that are new such as a New Year, a new baby, or a new marriage. We like to buy new things such as new clothes, a new computer, a new cellphone, or a new car. We like to go see things that are new such as a new movie or a new travel experience. We like to know what is new in the world of politics, sports, business, local news, or 101 other areas.

Scripture often uses the idea of “New” as being something positive. Scripture notes that as believers in Christ, we are a new creation, we are made new in the attitude of our minds; we are to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. We have been given a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  We look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

There is something positive about this idea of “NEW.”  Now, not everything that is new in this world is necessarily an improvement, but today I want to talk about something which is a huge improvement, the New Covenant! 

When Jeremiah prophesied about the New Covenant, it gave the people hope about their future. Today, my hope is each one of us will grasp the significance of the New Covenant and experience God’s grace and love. So, let’s look at our text.    

Jeremiah prophesied, verse 31, The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.

What is a covenant?  Webster’s Dictionary says a covenant is a binding agreement made by two or more individuals or parties. For example, in Genesis 1, 2, God provided for Adam and Eve.  He walked with them and blessed them. God’s only requirement was that Adam and Eve were not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If they ate it, then they would die. You know what happened. Adam and Eve disobeyed. Sin entered the world. Yet, God renewed his commitment despite disobedience and failure. He promised humankind’s future salvation as in Genesis 3:15, we have the first recognized prophecy concerning Christ in the Old Testament.

He made a covenant with Abraham and later Moses. Hundreds of years after the time of Moses, Jeremiah prophesied that the Lord would make a New Covenant.  

So, did Jesus fulfill this? Absolutely! Jesus fulfills this as the New Covenant was inaugurated at the Last Supper.  Scripture says in Luke 22:20, In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. The new covenant represents the shed blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sin!

The writer of Hebrews in also confirms that our text is fulfilled in Jesus as he quotes all of Jeremiah 31:31-34 in reference to Him in Hebrews 8. Then in Hebrews 10:14-18, the Hebrew author again quotes a portion of Jeremiah 31:31-34.  

In addition, in II Corinthians chapter 3, Paul indicates this 600-year prophecy came to fulfillment as he contrasts the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.

Jeremiah 31:31 also notes that the covenant was to be made with the Jewish people. As Jesus said in John 4:22, for salvation is from the Jews. Jesus fulfills this as he is Jewish and announces it to his Jewish disciples. Christianity started with a covenant to a group of Jewish people.

Paul writes in Romans 11 that because of the Israel’s unbelief, the Gentiles were grafted in. By God’s grace, we now partake of the benefits of the new covenant that were promised to the Jews.   

Gentiles may share in the benefits off the New Covenant, just like they could have been beneficiaries of the Old Covenant. Now for the time being, it is the time of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24; Romans 11:25) However, one day this will change. As Romans 11 notes, the Lord will once again turn his attention to the Jewish people.  

Jeremiah 31:32 states, It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. (Also in Hebrews 8:9).

The New Covenant will not be like the old covenant. The old covenant was established when the Lord had taken His people by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. He promised them new land. He fed them in the wilderness. He was like a husband to Israel, and Israel was like a bride to Him.

In Exodus 19:5-6, The Lord instructed Moses to tell the people, 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.  In Exodus 20, the Lord gives Moses the 10 commandments. 

Then in Exodus 24:7 Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.  

Yet, instead of being a faithful bride, Israel was more like a runaway bride. They repeatedly turned to other gods—gods that promised them prosperity, fertility, success, and happiness. They built altars to Baal and Asherah. They even sacrificed their children. They broke the commandments. They were never satisfied with what the Lord had given them.    

The problem was not with the Law itself, but with the people who failed to keep it. The Apostle Paul stated in Romans 7:12, The Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. But he goes on to say in Romans 8:3, 4, For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

This leads to Jeremiah 31:33a, This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.

The old were written on stone tablets, the new is to have the law on their minds and written in their hearts. This needed to happen because as Jeremiah 17:9 notes, The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9).

Now, the prophet Ezekiel also predicted as he writes in Ezekiel 36:26, 27, Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

After Jesus died on the cross for our sins, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, he then sent the Holy Spirit (John 16:7). God’s Holy Spirit came upon Jesus disciples on the Day of Pentecost. Then those who came to believe in Jesus. And as Peter stated in Acts 2:38, 39, Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call. The Holy Spirit is the key distinctive of the New Covenant over the Old.

In II Corinthians 3, Paul identifies the Holy Spirit as transforming our hearts. He writes in verse 3, You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

The Lord works internally in our lives by the power of his Holy Spirit. He transforms us from the inside out. God uses his written word inspired through His Spirit (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:21) to transform our minds so we can test and approve His will (Romans 12:2). He writes His word on our hearts to shape our will according to His will. As II Corinthians 3:18 states, Are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

We are given power from within, empowering each of us to live a life in joyful obedience to the Lord.  Now, obedience to the Lord is a delight because of our love for the Lord.  As Jesus said, if you love me, you will obey me. 

Often, people will have the mindset of “I have to….”  I have to attend another boring church service.  I have to love my inconsiderate spouse. I have to watch my language. I have to be nice to others. I have to, I have to do this or that.

Under the new covenant obeying God is not a “have to.”  It’s a want to and will. I want to and will spend time worshipping the Lord! I want to and will hear God’s word taught. I want to and will be kind and generous! I want to and will serve. Under the new covenant, we have a love relationship with the Lord Jesus! His love prompts us!    

Now, living under the new covenant means daily surrendering to Christ, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead, and trusting in God’s promises. As Galatians 5:16-18 states, So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now let me note this. We continue to receive the power of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives as we walk by faith in Jesus. Since the heart is wicked and Satan wants to divert Christians from the Truth, so many professing believers fall into a works or legalistic mindset. Too many professing believers are fooled into thinking that they are good or good enough Christians. As Galatians 3 states, Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?...  5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

Principle 1: You are under a better covenant because you have been given the Holy Spirit to help you, to transform you into the image of Jesus! He gives us power to overcome this sick, sinful, death stinking world.

I strongly encourage you to ask daily to be filled with the Spirit. Fill your mind and heart with what the Spirit teaches through His word and walk in His Spirt (Please note: Romans 8 and Galatians 5:13-26). 

Verse 33b, I will be their God, and they will be my people. 

So, what makes an individual the Lord as their God and one of his people. The Apostle John wrote in John 1:12, 13, Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  

Receiving Jesus, believing in Jesus, putting your faith in Him, following Him, loving Him is the key to being a child of God. If we do, we are born of God.

In John 3, Jesus told Nicodemus, Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.  Jesus goes on and explains born of God by telling him that one has to be born of God’s Holy Spirt which comes by believing in Him. 

The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 2:28, 29, A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God. 

Peter would later write in I Peter 2, As you come to Jesus, the Living Stone,..You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Principle 2: You are under a better covenant because through wholeheartedly believing in Jesus you have become his child! 

Jeremiah 31:34a states, No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord (Also found in Hebrews 8:11).

The new covenant means that every believe in Christ, from the least to the greatest, knows God personally. If you wholeheartedly believe in Jesus, know Him, you can go directly to God through Jesus Christ.

Under the old covenant, only the high priest on the Day of Atonement was to enter the Holy of holies. Under the new covenant, all believers are encouraged to enter God’s presence, to draw near to Him through the blood of Christ, to receive grace and mercy.  No longer do we have to depend on priests to perform once-a-year sacrifices on our behalf.  We have access to God through Jesus.

I love what the writer of Hebrews states in chapter 10:19-22 states, Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Too many people take a similar position today as they did under the Old Covenant. They look to the priest, the pastor, or some spiritual person as their connection with God. They might even say things like, “He has a direct line with the Lord.” 

Listen, if you know/believe in Jesus, then the Lord provides a close, intimate, personal relationship between Himself and you!

Principle 3: You are under a better covenant because each of you can have direct access to Almighty God!  You have an intimate and personal knowledge of the Lord Almighty! Please take to heart this great privilege!!!

Verse 34b, For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

Forgiveness is the fundamental need of every human being! Under the Old Covenant, sin was only forgiven up to your last sacrifice. Every year the high priest would go to the temple and make an offering to cover all the sins that people had committed in the last year. 

Jesus came to offer forgiveness once and for all. Matthew records Jesus stating at the Lord’s Supper, This is my blood of the (new) covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus Christ, by the one offering of Himself, cleanses our conscience and puts away our sins once for all!!! 

When I was a kid, I had an Etch a Sketch. I would attempt to draw something, then I would shake it and the drawing would disappear. Like an Etch A Sketch, sin makes it mark on the screen of our lives. The evidence of our disobedience is indisputable. It's not a pretty picture. But when we trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus, the blotches of sin on the screen of our lives are erased and we are made like new.

Today, many people sadly don’t consider their sinfulness before a Holy God. They don’t realize the need for God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Many think God is love, love, love. And he is! But he is also just. He paid a huge price to redeem humankind. Let’s never take this for granted. Oh, how we need to comprehend the depth of our sinfulness, our wickedness before a Holy God and then take to heart that we are forgiven through Jesus! 

Principle 4: You are under a better covenant because the Lord forgives your wickedness and remembers your sins no more!

Let me close with this story by Max Lucado for his book, “In the Grip of Grace.”   During the spring of 1995, professional ball players were on strike. The baseball owners, determined to start the season, hired almost anybody who knew how to scoop a grounder or run out a bunt.  These were not minor leaguers.  The minor league players were also on strike. These were fellows who went from coaching little league one week to wearing a Red Sox uniform the next. The games weren’t fancy.  But the players had fun.  The baseball diamond was studded with guys who played the game for the love of the game.  When the coach said to run, they ran. When he needed a volunteer to shag flies a dozen hands went up.  They arrived before the park opened. When it was time to go home, they stayed until the ground crew ran them off. They thanked the attendants for washing their uniforms. They thanked the fans for paying the dollar to watch. They were more than happy to sign autographs for the line of fans. These guys didn’t see themselves as a blessing to baseball but baseball as a blessing to them. It was baseball again. It was a joy watching the guys who really enjoyed the game. They didn’t make the big leagues on skill; they were picked because they were willing.  And they knew it. No one argued over poor pay. No jockeying for position.  No second guessing the management. No lockouts or walkouts. No complaining. They were just happy to be on the team.  

Shouldn’t we be like this as well?  We don’t deserve to be on God’s Kingdom team.  Nobody does! Do we deserve to be saved? No. But would you trade the privilege?  Not for the world.  God’s grace through the new covenant, Jesus shedding his blood for you and me, has placed us on a dream team beyond our imagination. Our past is pardoned and our future secure. In Christ, we live a life that we don’t deserve!    

Let’s pray!

So, as we approach communion, it is a time to remember God’s amazing love in Jesus and to examine our lives……