Now we're going to look at Jeremiah
chapter 31, the last set of verses in this chapter. I've spent quite
a bit of time in this chapter, I know. I've been talking about
this section of the prophecy of God through the prophet Jeremiah
called the Book of Consolation, which goes from chapter 30 to
chapter 33. Here we have a prophecy of the
coming of the Messiah. It's given to those who are in
captivity, the Jews who are in captivity in Babylon for their
sins and those who are about to go into captivity. The city
is about to be destroyed, the city of Jerusalem. The temple
was going to be destroyed here pretty soon. And so this prophecy,
this book of consolation is given and revealed by God through Jeremiah
to comfort the people of God and to encourage sinners to flee
to Christ for salvation. We have no hope of salvation
in anything of this earth. And I think that's important
for tonight's message. People are tied to this earth. We read that in Isaiah 51. Those who are so tied to this
earth that they refuse and will not seek the Lord. I think about
Colossians chapter 3 It says, set your affection on things
above. And it seems like, well, we know,
it doesn't just seem like, we know that man by nature is tied
to this earth and his affections, his interests are all set in
this world. But this world is going to perish. And so what Jeremiah the prophet
is saying to the people of Judah, who are suffering the consequences
of their sin and idolatry and unbelief, is that the only hope
of salvation is to look up, to look to God. Look unto me and
be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am the Lord
and I am God. There's none else. There's no
hope in anything of this earth. I don't care what it is. There's
no hope in what people call today the Holy Land. Your salvation
cannot be wrapped up in earthly geography and real estate. There's
no hope in an earthly Jerusalem. Now, I realize that God had a
special place for the Jews under the old covenant. And that land
was given to them for a particular purpose. I realize that even
the people of Judah, as they're going into captivity, 70 years
after their captivity, they go back to that land and they occupy
it again. They rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. They rebuild the temple. Those
things, those earthly things, those physical things, is not
the hope of salvation. The hope of salvation is in the
Lord Jesus Christ, the grace of God in Christ. And that's
the reason that God kept them together even in spite of all
of their sin and unbelief and idolatry, even against their
captivity. He kept them together because
it was always His purpose to bring the Messiah to this earth
through that nation. He was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. Now here in the last part of
this chapter here, chapter 31, beginning at verse 35, he continues
this prophecy. And again, the prophecy of the
coming of Christ and the establishment of the new covenant in Christ
and by Christ. Remember the new covenant is
the establishment, the accomplishment in time of the everlasting covenant
of grace made before time. And what he's saying is that
when Christ would come, that this would bring about a new
order on earth wherein the true people of God, the true spiritual
nation, the elect of God, would be brought to faith in Christ
and repentance of dead works in what is called the new birth
and that's what we've been studying here beginning at verses 31 through
34. He talked about how I put my
law in their inward parts. In other words, the law is not
going to be just tablets of stone and outward impositions upon
people to burden them, but he's going to bring about a change
of heart. He's going to bring about a change of mind. This
is an inward change. This is regeneration and conversion. And it's all based upon the fact
that Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate, would come and
do the work that He was sent to do. That He would put away
the sins of His people by the shedding of His blood as our
substitute and our surety. And that he would establish the
only righteousness whereupon God could be just and justify
the ungodly. So that we have things in its
proper perspective. The work of Christ on the cross
is the ground of salvation. And the work of the Holy Spirit
in us is the fruit of salvation. And so it's also the manifestation
here in these last verses of what the Bible calls in Hebrews
chapter 12 and in other places the New Jerusalem. the new Jerusalem
the heavenly city made up of citizens of the kingdom of heaven
God's elect both Jew and Gentile and just for example in this
chapter 31 the best commentary I believe that you can get on
Jeremiah 31 is Hebrews chapter 8 and Hebrews chapter 12 Hebrews
chapter 8 where it talks about the new covenant remember that's
where That's where the it was it was recorded that In the words
of Jeremiah here that this new covenant Would replace the old
covenant verse 13 of Hebrews chapter 8 listen to it It says
in that he saith a new covenant he hath made the first old now
that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away and
So when Christ comes this new covenant would replace the old
covenant It will no longer be needed. But then he says, now
look at Jeremiah 31 verse 35. The first point that he makes
concerning this new order of things, this new city, and I've
entitled the message, The New City in the New Covenant. The
new city in the new covenant. Is first of all, the surety and
the security of this city. Listen to what he says in verse
35. Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by
day. Now what's he talking about?
He's talking about creation. God set creation in order. There's
a certain order to creation. David recognized in Psalm 19,
the heavens declare the glory of God, the earth his handiwork. We can go to a number of places
where it talks about God's, obviously Genesis chapter one and chapter
two, but there's other places where it just, Romans chapter
one speaks about the wisdom and the power and the goodness of
God revealed in creation. Thus saith the Lord, which giveth
the sun for a light by day and the ordinances of the moon and
of the stars for a light by night. Did you hear what that said?
The ordinance. What is an ordinance? Well, that's
a commandment. Why does the sun shine when it
does? Why does it appear in the sky?
Why does the moon shine when it doesn't appear? Why does the
earth rotate and go around in its orbit? Why all the planets
like the others? It's because of the commandment
of God. It's not because of evolution.
It's not because of any random happenstance that multitudes
of chance events just work together and come out this way. No. It's
an ordinance. The sun is where it is and does
what it does. The moon is where it is and does
what it does. Because God said it that way. God's ordinance. And He says,
Which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar. The Lord
of hosts is His name. This is God who is all-powerful
and invincible. Cannot be defeated. His word
cannot be overturned. Man cannot be overturned. We
live in a day where people preach all the time that man's will
can overturn God's will. Not so in his word. It cannot
happen. And he says in verse 36, listen
to this. He says, if these ordinances
depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel
also shall cease from being a nation before me forever." In other
words, if God's commandment in nature, in creation, can be stopped
or overturned or reversed, then you could conclude that the seed
of Israel would stop being a nation forever. What point is he making? He's saying that the seed of
Israel, that nation, whoever he's talking about, people argue
about that now, What he's saying is, is that as long as God is
God, and he'll never stop being God, as long as God is God, the
seed of Israel will continue to be a nation. Again, whoever
he's talking about. Well, the Lord's covenant, whatever
covenant he's talking about here now, is as stable and as permanent
as the fixed orders and cycles of creation. Now, what covenant
is he talking about here? Well, he's talking about the
new covenant. He's not talking about the old covenant. He said,
I'm going to make a new covenant, not like that covenant I made
with their fathers, which they break, the one I took them out
of Egypt, and they broke that covenant. Remember that bilateral
covenant conditioned on the nation? They broke the condition. They
didn't fulfill the conditions. It's a broken covenant. It's
gone. It's old, and it waxes away.
It's gone. But he's talking about the new
covenant in Christ here. And this, this, just like the,
the creation was set in order by God and will not change until
God's appointed time. Now we know that this created
universe is going to be destroyed, but not until God says it. You
see, not until God's appointed time. And he's going to create
a new heavens and a new earth. But you see, but by God's decree,
this covenant will never change and never be destroyed. Whatever
he's talking about in it, there's a certainty there, there's an
eternality there, there's a security there that cannot be changed. Now why is that? Well, this is
not a bilateral covenant. This is not conditioned on a
sinner. It's not conditioned on a nation.
It's not even conditioned on a sinful individual. It's conditioned
on the Godhead alone. It's conditioned on Christ. And
you know the surety of this, the security of it, the permanence
of it is seen as we look and see that our salvation is the
work of the triune Godhead. It's not your work. It's not
my work. It's the work of the Godhead,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person of the Godhead holds
a particular office and does a particular work to secure and
ensure the eternal salvation and final glory of the whole
election of grace. The new covenant is the accomplishment
in time, as I said, of the everlasting covenant of grace made before
time, made between who? The persons of the Godhead, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. God the Father represents the
sovereignty of the Godhead. Salvation is revealed as originating
with God the Father. The Bible tells us that those
who are saved are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus who blessed them. The Father did. Blessed
be the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The first
part of the The book of Ephesians chapter 1, you remember beginning
there at verse 3 that I just quoted, is one long sentence. And it starts out talking about
the work of the Father. It tells us how the Father chose
us before the foundation of the world and predetermined in His
sovereign purpose and decree our adoption as His children
through Jesus Christ our Lord. And the Father is the administrator
of salvation. He oversees the process from
beginning to end. Our salvation is in the hands
of our Heavenly Father. Christ said, and none shall pluck
them out of my Father's hand. And then we see the work of God
the Son. The Son represents the fulfillment
and accomplishment of salvation. Salvation is brought to fruition
by Jesus Christ who is God in human flesh. God the Son incarnate. Everything the Father does for
our salvation, He does through Christ. He reveals Himself through
Christ. He chose us in Christ. And you
notice if you read that Ephesians 1 passage, how many times does
it say in Christ, or by Christ, or in Him, or of Him? He chose us in Christ. He redeems
us by Christ. He calls us unto Christ, the
work of the Son. What does that mean? It means
redemption. Christ paid the redemption price and the price was His blood. Even the redemption wasn't conditioned
on us. I've often told you about a preacher
that I heard years and years ago. He talked about the cost
of forgiveness. That was the title of his message.
And his whole message revolved around this. He said, the cost
of forgiveness is our repentance. And I listened to his message
and the whole time I said, not so, not so. My friend, the cost
of forgiveness is not our repentance. The cost of forgiveness is the
blood of Jesus Christ. There's the cost. And if you
ever see that cost fully paid by the blood of your Savior,
you know what will happen? There will come repentance as
the fruit. You see that? You say, well,
preacher, you're just splitting hairs. Well, that hair split
right there, it goes like this. Is God glorified in your salvation? Is Christ exalted or is the sinner? God will not share His glory.
It's redemption by the blood of Christ. It's adoption. under
the Father. It's our justification before
God based on His righteousness, not ours. That's Isaiah 51 passage. Those who follow righteousness.
You know what it is to follow righteousness? To follow Christ. That's what it is. He is my righteousness. Follow Him. Those who know righteousness,
He said. You know what it is to know Christ? The Lord our righteousness. Romans
chapter 9 said Israel. which followed after righteousness
did not attain it. Why? Because they sought it not
by faith. They didn't look to Christ for
righteousness. They sought it by the works of
the law. And that won't do. Man's works will never measure
up to righteousness. So we have his righteousness
imputed to us, charged to us, accounted to us. We have a clear
record in the sight of Almighty God because of the obedience
unto death of the Son of God incarnate. not guilty. You read that passage, Lloyd,
a while ago about those who would be held guilty. We're not held
guilty because He was made guilty for us based on our sins charged
to Him. And then Christ, the Son of God,
He's our sanctification, He's our reconciliation, and when
He comes the second time, He'll be our glorification. He fulfills
all the conditions and the requirements and the stipulations of our salvation
by working out that perfect righteousness whereby God can be both a just
God and a Savior. And it's through the Son that
we have salvation and come into full fellowship with the triune
God. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead body. You cannot know the Father except
through the Son. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by Him. You say,
well, what is all that about? Well, that's the ordinance of
salvation. He's talking about the ordinances
of creation. God said it in order. Man can't
change them. Well, what's he proving here?
He's proving that God's purpose and decrees in this salvation,
which is revealed in time in the establishment of the new
covenant, is sure and certain and secure and cannot change.
That's the whole point. And then we can talk about the
work of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit in our salvation. God
the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, represents the
application of salvation. Salvation is applied and communicated
to each one of God's elect by the Holy Spirit and The Spirit
changes us from the inside out. That's what he's been talking
about here I'm going to put my law in their inward parts. He says in verse 33 I'm gonna
write it in their hearts and I'll be their God and they'll
be my people. That's that marriage union He changes us from the
inside out. He performs a gracious act of
regeneration. A powerful, sovereign, invincible
work that draws God's people to Him in Christ. And with this
comes the gift of faith and the spiritual ability to believe
in Christ as the Lord our righteousness. To submit to Him. Rest in Him. Resting in Christ. You wouldn't
think that's an impossible thing, would you? But it is without
the Spirit of God. Through the Holy Spirit, our
salvation becomes a present reality. Knowledge, but not just intellectualism,
but an intimate knowledge. So that we can look at a holy
God, come boldly into His presence through the blood of Christ,
and cry out in love, Abba, Father. Abba, Father. That's something. And all this applicable to our
lives personally and experientially. It's by the work of the Holy
Spirit in our lives that serves as a seal. Establishing us as
the children of God. The down payment, as you would,
of glory to come. A taste of glory to come. Well,
all that's sure and certain because it's all in Christ. Our surety. That's what it means when we
talk about Christ. Our surety. Assurity in the scripture
is not like assurity in legal matters today. Because in legal
matters today, the surety says, well, I'll pay it if you can't
pay it. But there's never been a time
in the mind of almighty God, who is the great I am, that we
could have ever paid the price. Isn't that right? That's why
he chose us before the foundation of the world in Christ. And Christ was set up to be our
surety. Well, look at verse, the next verse here, verse 37. Here he begins talking about
the measuring of the city. And we've seen the security of
the city. It's all by the grace of God in Christ, by Christ,
through Christ, under the praise of the glory of his grace. Well,
what's he talking about the measuring of this city? Well, listen to
what he says, verse 37. He says, thus saith 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, saith the Lord. Now, the
point is this, heaven above cannot be measured. The heavens above,
think about the universe. If you were just to be able to
travel through space, what do you think would happen? Do you
think you'd come to a big wall and all of a sudden bang against
it? No. It's infinite. The infinitude
of space. And the Earth beneath searched
out. I know scientists think they've
gone a long way, but they just scratched the surface, really. He said, if those can be measured,
if there's boundaries to them set by men, then I will also
cast off all the seed of Israel. Well, that can't be done and
God's not going to cast off the seed of Israel. He said He will
not cast off His people. We'll see that in just a moment.
And listen to how he puts it. I will also cast off all the
seed of Israel for all that they've done. Well, what have they done?
Well, they rejected God. Now that's all of us by nature.
That's not just the people of Judah who are going into Babylon.
We all fell in Adam. We all became alienated and enemies
in our mind. We're born dead in trespasses
and sin. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. That's us too by nature. If God
were to cast us off, He'd be right to do so. He'd be just
to do so, wouldn't He? That's what we've earned. That's
what we deserve. The wages of sin is death. But
God has a seed here, the seed of Israel. What does that name
Israel mean? It means those who have prevailed
with God. You remember the story of Jacob
back in Genesis 35? Jacob the sinner, Jacob the conniver,
Jacob who didn't deserve the least of God's blessings. That's
why we're sons of Jacob. Because we don't either. We don't
deserve the least of God. But God changed His name to Israel
when He prevailed wrestling with the angel. And He prevailed not
by the power of His goodness or the power of His will. He
prevailed by the power of God. How does a sinner prevail with
God? Look to Christ. Plead Christ. Beg for mercy. That's how we
prevail with God. And God has a seed. That's an
offspring. That's His children. You see. Now listen to how he describes
this city. Talking about measurements here.
Verse 38. He says, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord, and
he says, from the tower of Hananiel unto the gate of the corner,
and the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it
upon the hill of Gerob, and shall compass about to Goath, What
do all these names mean? Where are they? Well, hold on.
And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and
of the fields unto the brook of Kidron, or Kidron, unto the
corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto
the Lord. Now, this is an amazing thing
here. I want you to see this. This
is amazing grace. What he's talking about. He says
these things that he listed here are going to be holy under the
Lord. And he says it shall not be plucked
up nor thrown down anymore forever. Now, what's he talking about? Well, as I told you, I believe
the best commentaries you can find on this is in Hebrews 8
and Hebrews 12. We'll look at Hebrews 12 in just
a moment. But you know what he's talking
about in these last few verses here is the full restoration
of the city. And he's talking about the city
of Jerusalem. What he's talking about. And how is that going
to be fulfilled? Well, and let me put it to you
this way. As man cannot measure the heavens,
God cannot cast off his spiritual people. Now, I'll tell you something.
Now, if you looked at the ancient city of Jerusalem, you can measure
the boundaries thereof. You can call in a surveyor and
have it all measured out, mapped out, everything. Well, whatever
he's talking about here is measureless. All right? And he's promised
it and he cannot lie. His honor is at stake. And what
he's saying in these terms here is that this city that's going
to be built would be so massive and so extensive that it would
go beyond what the physical city of Jerusalem ever did in geography. And what is it talking about?
Well, it's a graphic, symbolic way of describing what he told
Abraham back in Genesis chapter 12 when he said, Abraham and
you all nations will be blessed. He speaks of God's grace going
beyond the Jewish nation and out to all His elect people.
I believe He is talking about spiritual Jerusalem, the church. You can read about it in Revelation
21. It talks about the heavenly Jerusalem
coming down. The measuring rod. What did that
measuring rod tell us? It tells us that all who are
in Christ all who are washed in his blood and clothed in his
righteousness imputed, measure up and are qualified to enter
in and live eternally in this holy city. We're citizens of
the holy city. They measure up and they're qualified
not by their works or their efforts, but by the complete and perfect
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the builder of the church. He
said, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell
will not prevail against it. He redeemed his church with his
precious blood. What he's talking about here
is connected with the coming of Christ. Now many will project
this over into a later millennium. But I believe it's right connected
with the coming of Jesus Christ. And he's telling us this, that
those who seek to measure up by their works will not be allowed
by God to enter and live in this city, only those who are in Christ. Now look over at Hebrews chapter
12. He's talking about the abolishment
of the old covenant, the establishment of the new covenant in Christ. And he says, look here in verse
22 of Hebrews chapter 12. Now he's saying you haven't come
to a mountain like Sinai. And all the quaking and the fear
that was there, the legalism, But you are come unto Mount Zion,
and to the city of the living God, Hebrews 12, 22, the heavenly
Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all, and to spirits of just men made
perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the
blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Abel's blood crying out for vengeance. The blood of Christ, though,
cries out for what? Our salvation. You see that? Now look back there at Jeremiah
31. All who are found in Christ fully
measure up as we are washed in his blood and counted righteous
in and by him. And we enter this city by him.
And we're eternally secure in this city in him. And the walls
of the, listen, you think about the walls of the earthly Jerusalem
were constantly breached by enemies. But the walls of this holy Jerusalem
will never be breached because of Christ, the captain of our
salvation, the author and finisher of our faith. He mentions here
the tower of Hananiel in verse 38. That was a tower in the city
of Jerusalem. You know what Hananiel means?
It means God has favored. And it's another way of saying
this, we found grace in the eyes of God. How does God favor any
sinner? Only through Christ. God has
favored, found favor in the eyes of God. We found grace in the
eyes of God, just like old Noah. And then he mentions the hill
Gerab, verse 39. Now I tell you what, if you go
back, you know, you go back even in Jewish history and try to
find the layout of ancient Jerusalem, they really don't know. A lot
of these places they don't know and they can't pinpoint. There's
arguments and scholars over where this is or where that is. But
I can tell you what the name Gerab means. It means to scrape
or it means scabby. And what is known in history
is that it was a hill near Jerusalem. They may not know exactly where.
They think it was probably southwest of Jerusalem. But it's where
they sent lepers to. That's where leprous persons
were sent to dwell. Now, leprosy is a type of sin,
isn't it? Really, it's a great type of
sin because just like sin works from the inside out, that's the
way leprosy did. Worked from the inside out. The
outward appearance of leprosy was an indication of the inward
corruption. And that's the way it is with
sin. And what's he teaching us about this Hilgarab? Well, he's
teaching us that this new Jerusalem is for sinners who have found
favor in the eyes of God. Sinners who are in need of a
cure, a great physician. Sinners who need to be washed
clean from this disease of sin. Sinners whom Christ came to save. That's who it's for. Christ said,
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And
that would fit with the next word, goath. You know what goath
means? It means to bellow. It's like
crying out. The root word is to toil, and
some say it was named because of the difficulty of climbing
this hill, but it's one who struggled and cried out. It was a place
near Jerusalem, the site's unknown. Some even believe that later
on it came to be known as Golgotha. I don't know that for sure. It
was called the hill of death, but I'll tell you, It can certainly
refer to our Savior's bellowing and crying out as the sins of
His people were charged to Him and He suffered under the agony,
sweating great clots of blood and suffering untold agony on
that cross, crying out, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me? And then it could certainly be emblematic of His people being
brought to cry out in our agony over our sin. Lord, be merciful
to me, the sinner. Brought to faith in Christ and
repentance. Verse 40, he talks about the
whole valley of the dead bodies. Most scholars say that that's
probably the valley of Hinnom where they burned the fires,
kept the trash heap through the dead bodies. The valley of Hinnom. What he's talking about is those
who are sick unto death with sin, dead in trespasses and sin,
who come bellowing and crying for mercy in Christ, begging
for mercy. That's who's going to populate
this city. And did you notice that everything that he mentions
here in describing the measuring of this city is negative except
two things. The Tower of Hananiel, God is
favored. Who's he favored? Sinners in
his son. And then that Brook Kidron, that
was the place where the horses of the king went out for warfare.
It's a picture of Christ going to war against sin, against Satan,
against the curse of the law. That horse gate there. And he
says, they shall be holy unto the Lord. Who's going to be holy
unto the Lord? Sinners whom God has favored.
Lepers. Dead people. Spiritually dead. They are going to be holy unto
the Lord. How in the world are they going to be holy unto the
Lord? Well, the seed of Israel, the seed of Israel, the people
of God, the seed of Abraham, the children of promise, as the
New Testament tells us, that chosen generation, that royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, who show forth the praises
of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, which
in time past were not of people, but are now the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy in
Christ. That's how. The seed of Israel,
he says it here in verse 40, it shall not be plucked up nor
thrown down anymore forever. That's eternity. That's everlasting
salvation. The seed of Israel shall not
cease as a nation, for the spiritual Israel, the gospel church, will
last forever. When Israel, according to the
flesh, is no longer a nation, the children of the promise are
counted for the seed, Paul wrote in Romans chapter 9. And God
will not cast off all the seed of Israel, no, not for all that
they've done, our sins, though they've done very wickedly. Will
God cast away his people? No, he won't. And he said, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. All right.