Well, I am very, very sorry,
my soul, turn that thing down. I'm very sorry your pastor is
sick, but I am very thankful to be here with you tonight. I know I don't need to remind
you, but remind you I must, what a gift God has given you in your
pastor. I've been around for a long time,
and Brother Todd Nybert, is one of the most gifted, most faithful
men I have ever known to fill the pulpit of any church. You
pray for him and let him know how thankful you are for him.
And I encourage you to do so regularly. Monday afternoon after
lunch, I went out to visit with our family doctor. He's been
our family doctor for 37 years, and he just retired in December.
And I hadn't seen him since he retired, and I thought I'd go
pay him a visit. He and his family had been close friends of ours
for most of those 37 years. And we'd no more than sat down
to have coffee, and he asked me a question. He said, what
is Jeremiah's covenant about? And I said, you mean the covenant
spoken of in Jeremiah chapter 31? He said, yes, that's it. And his wife came in and sat
down. And I had the privilege of watching them listen intently
as I talked to them for a little bit about that covenant of God's
marvelous free grace in Christ Jesus, by which we are saved. That covenant ordered in all
things ensure by which God rules the world. That covenant by which
every benefit of grace that God gives to sinners comes to us
in time. God only deals with sinners in
a representative by covenant. He will not deal with you in
any other way. And when I got back to the office,
I decided to look over this 31st chapter of Jeremiah again, started
reading at verse 31 to 34, very familiar text description to
you. And then I backed up and started reading chapter 31 and
read through chapter 32 and then backed up to chapter 30 and started
again with the same process. It just got bigger and bigger
and bigger. And I spent all afternoon Monday and yesterday and today
studying this portion of scripture. I got to thinking to myself,
I wonder how long it's been since I preached from this portion
of scripture. Much to my surprise, I discovered that I'd never preached
from it anywhere. I've referred to it, I've quoted
it hundreds of times preaching, but never had preached from it.
So I want you to open your Bibles to Jeremiah 31. And just hold
them open on your laps. I suggest that you get your piece
of paper because we're going to move through 40 verses of
Scripture. And we're just going to jump
from mountaintop to mountaintop. I won't say much. I just want
you to see the blessedness that's revealed to us in this marvelous,
marvelous portion of Holy Scripture. First in verses one and two,
The prophet of God speaking by God's direction tells us of a
chosen people. Now, no less than 40 times, no
less than 40 times in these 40 verses, God the Holy Ghost inspired
Jeremiah to use these words are words like them. Thus saith the
Lord. Forty times. Forty times. He means for us to understand
that the sole, singular, solitary basis of our faith is thus saith
the Lord. We believe what God has caused
to be written in his word by holy men of old who wrote this
book as they were carried along by God the Holy Spirit. We don't
believe things because of our experience. We don't believe
things because of tradition. We don't believe things because
they're logical. We believe what God has written
in his word. And when you believe what God
reveals, rather than trying to figure it out, you'll figure
it out. Did you get that? When you believe
what God reveals, rather than trying to figure it out, You'll
figure it out. I'll give you an example. I read
to our folks Sunday morning or Sunday evening one, the 105th
Psalm. And right within two or three
verses, there's a clear contradiction. Well, there's not any such thing,
but it sure looks like it. The Lord said, I will not suffer
any man to hurt you. Brother Brian just read, no weapon
formed against thee shall profit thee. He suffered no man to hurt
his people. Suffered no man to hurt them.
Two verses later, it tells us that Joseph was sold by his brethren
into slavery and they laid him in irons and he was hurt of the
irons. How can those both be true? Nothing
hurt Joseph. Nothing hurt God's Israel. Nothing
hurt God's cause. A little pain in the body doesn't
do any permanent injury. A little difficulty along the
way doesn't do any injury, but rather the pain in the body and
the pain in the soul and the pain in the experience is used
of God according to covenant mercy for his chosen people always
and only to do us good. Did you hear that, Brian? You
just read it, didn't you? That's what you just read. I've known
that man since I was 21 years old, so you can figure it out.
He was like that. And God's never done anything
except what helped you. But you don't know my pain. You
don't know what I'm going through. No, but I know your God. And
I know what he says. Here he speaks of a chosen people.
Look at verse 1. At the same time, saith the Lord,
will I be the God of all the families of Israel. He's addressing
particularly the children of Israel with regard to their time
of Babylonian captivity and the restoration from that captivity. But he's speaking of somebody
much, much more important and much bigger than just the nation
of Israel. He's talking about his church,
the family of God, the people of God, the Israel of God. And
they shall be my people. Thus saith the Lord, the people
which were left of the sword, that is those who escaped death
and came out of Egypt, those who are left of the sword found
grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause
him to rest. What a picture of God's salvation
as we experience it. We've escaped the sword of God's
fiery wrath, and he's delivered us in this wilderness, giving
us rest in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Second, in verse three,
the Lord God appears to these chosen people, his church, and
he tells us that we are loved by him with an everlasting love. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, therefore, therefore, therefore, therefore. Therefore,
everything God does for his people, this is the therefore. Because
I have loved you with everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. The singular cause of God's grace,
the singular cause of God's salvation, the whole of God's salvation,
be it redemption by the blood of Christ or election in covenant
mercy or predestination or sanctification or glorification. The sole cause
of God's salvation is his infinite everlasting love for his people.
That love with which he loved us, even as he loved his son,
because we are one with his son for everlasting. Now look at
verses four through nine. Here we have a promise of salvation. These people loved of God, these
he calls his people. The Lord God here promises to
save every object of his love. Now I repeat, I don't question
the fact that this text refers to bringing Israel out of their
Babylonian captivity back to Jerusalem. It certainly does.
But I'm just as certain that it refers to much, much more
than that. It refers here to the salvation
of God's elect, his chosen, his elect who are scattered among
the nations of the earth since the fall of our father Adam in
the garden. Look at verse four. Again, I
will build thee and thou shalt be built. Oh, Virgin of Israel. What a strange word. For the likes of us. What a strange
word. Oh, Virgin of Israel. Go back
and read Jeremiah's prophecy. Dwayne, these folks are called
adulterers, a whoring people. fornicators, idolaters, and God
says old virgin of Israel. I'm named among them. Pure, chaste,
and undefiled. All together without blame before
God Almighty from everlasting in His Son. Thou shalt again
be adorned with thy tablets and shalt go forth in the dances
of them that make merry. I'm going to call you who now
mourn to rejoice. Thou shalt yet plant vines upon
the mountains of Samaria, and the planters shall plant and
shall eat them as common things. That is, I'm going to give you
such an abundance of all that your soul needs that it'll it'll
just be looked at you as a just an everyday thing. We we rejoice in and marvel and
are astonished at God's grace. But forgiveness and mercy and
salvation and acceptance are these just everyday things just
as common as they can be in the house and family of God. We don't. For there shall be a day that
the watchman upon the mount of Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye,
let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God. I'm sure some of
you talked to one of your brothers or sisters today and said, I'll
see you at church tonight. God's watchman, God's servants
are set continually upon the walls of Zion and they call his
people to come up to the house of God. For thus saith the Lord,
we come to the house of God to feast upon the manner of heaven
to feast upon the gospel feast set before us. And here we sing
with gladness for Jacob and shout among the chief of the nations,
publish ye, praise ye. And say, O Lord, save thy people,
the amendment of Israel. O God, save your people. O God, save your people. the remnant of Israel. This is
that for which we have given our lives. The seeking out of
Christ's sheep, the calling of God's elect for the glory of
our God. Behold, behold, this is something
to look at. I will bring them from the north
country and gather them from the coast of the earth and with
them the blind and the lame. and the woman with child, and
her that prevaileth with child together. I'm gonna bring the
helpless, the blind, the lame, the woman tender with child,
and the woman in the midst of travail with child. That is those
who are utterly dependent. I'll bring them. A great company
shall return thither. They shall come with weeping
and with supplications, and I will heal them. I will cause them
to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way wherein they
shall not stumble. But pastor, that can't be talking
about me. That can't be talking about us walking in faith. That's
exactly who it's talking about. I'm going to lead them in a plain
path and they shall not stumble. Oh, we stumble and fall over
top of ourselves all the time for nothing. But this one thing
is fixed permanently. We believe that Jesus is the
Christ. We trust Jesus Christ alone and
we will not be moved from that. And watch what it says about
these who come with weeping and with supplication. The very next
line. For I am a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn. He said in Exodus 4, Ephraim
is my first, or Israel is my firstborn. In Exodus 13, he gives
us a law concerning the firstborn. He tells us that Jesus Christ
is his firstborn, and we are made to be the church of the
firstborn, being one in Christ, even Israel and Ephraim. Backsliding Israel and idolatrous
Ephraim. Reverses 10 through 14. And rejoice as we're reminded
of God's amazing grace, the superabundant grace of our God in Christ Jesus. Hear the word of the Lord, O
ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off. Hear it,
all the nations of the world. Declare it among the Gentiles,
and say, he that scattered Israel will gather them. He that scattered
Israel will gather them. I travel somewhere almost every
week, and I have for many, many years, preaching the gospel of
God's grace wherever he opens a door. And some years ago, I
was right after 9-11 flying out of Louisville. I don't remember
where I was going, but it was when I first started putting
the TSA stuff in. And I searched my bag, opened
up my briefcase. First thing I saw was a Bible.
And this fellow asked me, he said, are you a preacher? I said,
yes. He said, where are you from?
I said, Danville, Kentucky. He said, where are you going?
I said, I'm going wherever it was. Preachers got a meeting or mission
work something. And he said, do you know so and
so called name one of the preachers in Danville? I guess he could
tell by the look on my face. I didn't much care for him. I said, yeah,
I know him. And he said, you're not one of those Calvinists believes
in predestination, are you? I said, of course I am. I believe
the Bible. He said, well, why are you going to preach then?
I said, because I believe in predestination. Because I know there is a people
in this world God has scattered among the nations. He's been
scattering them among the nations ever since the fall of our father
Adam. Wherever God has scattered the peoples of the world, he's
scattered his elect among every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue.
And he says, I'm going to gather them, read on, and keep him as
a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob. and ransomed him, not everybody,
just Jacob, these whom he scattered among the nation, and ransomed
them from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore,
they shall come. Every redeemed sinner shall be
called by grace, and they shall come and sing in the height of
Zion and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord.
They're going to come to the house of God, come to the place
of God, come to the altar of God, come to the Christ of God,
throwing together to the goodness of the Lord for wheat and for
wine and for oil and for the young of the flock and of the
herd. And what's this? And their soul
shall be as a watered garden. And they shall not sorrow anymore
at all. What on earth can that mean?
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
But here God promises they shall not sorrow any more at all. We've come to God with weeping
and supplications, in repentance and faith, confessing our sin.
And having come to Him in true repentance, it is a repentance
not to be repented of. And we rejoice in Christ Jesus
while I look at all that I am by nature and all that I have
done. And I would let my wife or daughter
know it, let alone you. I acknowledge it to God and with
broken heart acknowledge it to God. But oh, what joy. God has forgiven me of all. And if I had the choice. If I had the choice. And I could
go back and change things. Take away some of the pain I've
caused and take away some of the pain I've experienced. wouldn't
change one thing. For my God who rules and overrules
all has used all of it to put me where I am now talking to
Matt Vincent about the gospel of his free grace with some experience.
There's no sorrow anymore at all. Then shall the virgin rejoice
in the dance. Here I am dancing like a young
man, both young men and old together. For I will turn their mourning
into joy and I will comfort them and make them rejoice from their
sorrow. Now watch this. And I will satiate
the soul of the priest with fatness. Oh, I will satiate the soul of
the priest with fatness. Let me tell you something about
me you might not know. I'm the richest man you'll ever
look at. Maybe there's some here just
as rich. I'll tell you who a rich man
is. A rich man is a man who wants nothing and needs nothing. He's
got everything he wants or desires. And Rick Williams, I've got everything
I want and everything I need. His name is Christ, my Savior.
I'm satisfied. I'm not looking for anything
else. Don't want anything else. Doesn't matter whether that's
in sickness or in health, in poverty or in wealth. I've learned
in all things to be content. Read on. I'll satisfy my priest,
this royal priesthood, this holy nation with fatness, and my people
shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord. Oh, what a blessed
salvation this is. And then in verses 15 through
17, our God assures us of this satisfaction forever. Thus saith
the Lord. A voice was heard in Ramah and
lamentation and bitter weeping. I just told Annie and a few of
the men who were back in the office earlier, till today, I
didn't understand what this verse meant, till today. It's talking
about, obviously, the slaughter of the infants by Pharaoh in
Egypt, obviously talking about that, but it's talking about
more than that. voice was heard and lamentation and bitter weeping
and Rael, that is Rachel, Rachel been dead for a long time, Rachel
been dead for a long time, Rael weeping for her children, refused
to be comforted for her children because they were not. What's that talking about? What's
that talking about? You've all, most of you, got
sons and daughters. I have one daughter. As soon
as I found out Shelby had conceived with child, I gave that child
to God. And I've been doing so ever since.
As soon as I heard that Faith had conceived a child, I gave
that child to God. Been doing so ever since. As
soon as I heard she'd conceived again, gave that child to God.
Been doing so ever since. And I weep for them. And I pray
for them. And I commit them to God relentlessly. Relentlessly. Seeking God's mercy
and grace for them. This is what it says. This is
what it says. Thus saith the Lord, refrain thy voice from
weeping, and thine eyes from tears, for thy work shall be
rewarded, saith the Lord, and they shall come again from the
land of the enemy. What are you really praying for? God forgive me for my selfishness. If it wasn't selfish, Rich, I'd
pray for your children just like I do mine. God forgive my selfishness, that
the Lord God sees beyond my words to the depth of my heart. What
I'm seeking is the salvation of God's elect. committing everything
to His hand and to His will and He will cause all the children
of Zion to return to Him and we commit ours to His hands and
wait on Him. How do you know that's what it's
talking about? Read Matthew chapter 2 and you'll see that this is
fulfilled, this very prophecy fulfilled in Christ our Redeemer. And there is hope in the end,
saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own
border. I've devoted my life to this
business of seeking the salvation of God's elect. Not everybody,
not everybody. No, God's elect, the building
of his kingdom, the saving of his family. Well, what does all
this have to do with us? Listen to second Corinthians
chapter four, and I'll show you. our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, which worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but the things which are not seen, for the things
which are seen are temporal, for the things which are not
seen, they're eternal. And that's all that matters.
Set your eyes on eternity. Live for eternity. Set your heart
on eternity. And the things of time won't
trouble you near as much as they do now. Look at verses 18 through
21. Here we're reminded that repentance
is God's work in his chosen. and those who are redeemed by
the blood of his son. Repentance is the work of God's
omnipotent mercy and irresistible grace in Christ performed in
us by the power of his spirit. These verses beautifully describe
the melting of a sinner's heart by God's free grace. I surely
heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus. Thou hast chastised me
and I was chastised. as a bullock unaccustomed to
the yoke. Oh, when God sets out to break
you, he'll break you. Until at last you cry, turn thou
me, and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God. You
can't work repentance up in yourself. You can't work faith up in yourself. And until God shuts you up to
that fact, you'll never seek grace from him. Surely, after
that I was turned, I repented. And after that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh, as the Lord broke Jacob's thigh. And
I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did hear the reproach
of my youth. You showed me what I am. Now
watch this. Is Ephraim my dear son? Ephraim. Ephraim. You remember what God says about
Ephraim in Hosea 417? Ephraim is joined to his idols. Leave him alone. Leave him alone. Ephraim is joined to his idols. Leave him alone. But God wouldn't
leave him alone. He said, Ephraim, is Ephraim
my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since
I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still. I spent nearly
17 years with the wrath of God violently tearing at me. God
speaking against me from every voice in heaven and every voice
in his word and every voice in my own conscience. But God remembered
me still. Now watch this. Therefore, God
speaking, God speaking. I can't hardly imagine God speaking
like this. My bowels are troubled for him. From the depths of my inmost
being, the triune Jehovah says, my bowels are troubled for my
chosen. I will surely have mercy upon
him, saith the Lord. Set thee up way marks, make thee
high heaps, set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which
thou wentest. Turn again, O virgin of Israel,
turn again to these thy cities. Now look at verse 22. here through
verse 26. Now remember, the whole thing's
talking about God's salvation in Christ, the salvation of his
covenant people, that covenant fulfilled by Christ, our surety.
And here he promises us a man, the God man, the woman seed,
our savior, the Lord Jesus, who would accomplish the work. How
long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? For the
Lord hath created a new thing in the earth. A woman shall compass
a man. While women had been bearing
children for hundreds of years already. There's no strange thing
this one is. For this is a woman who never
knew a man. And she compasses a man in her womb. This man who
is the God-man. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel. As yet, they shall use this speech
in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall
bring again their captivity. The Lord bless thee, O habitation
of justice and mountain of holiness. God calls his people a habitation
of justice, a mountain of holiness. We, you and me, Ephraimites,
Israelites, God calls us a habitation of justice, a mountain of holiness? Oh yes. In us, the Lord God reveals
his justice and his holiness and gives it to us in righteousness
and in sanctification. And there shall dwell in Judah
itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen.
God says, I'll give you pastors. And they shall go with the flocks.
For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished
every sorrowful soul. In verse 26, the Lord Jesus,
our Savior, this man who was in the virgin's womb, who came
forth from the virgin's womb, speaks. Upon this I await, and
behold, my sleep was sweet unto me. When our Savior cried, it
is finished, when he had finished all the work given him to do
as our mediator, he said, it's finished. And he laid his body
in the sleep of death in the grave of the earth for three
days. And on the third day he arose,
he said, my sleep is sweet unto me. The sweetness of his sleep
is the salvation that is ours because of his death by which
he delivered us from death, hell, and the grave. Now, verses 27
through 30, the Lord God assures us that all who are made heirs
of his salvation in Christ shall be watched over and kept by him. But all who refuse to trust the
Savior shall eat the food of their own way and perish at last
because of their sin. Verse 27. Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house
of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast. Now
that'll make you scratch your head for a minute. What's that
talking about? Wherever God sends man or beast to inhabit the earth,
there's where he plants his elect. There's where he scatters his
elect. My friend, Brother Lance Heller,
his father Cliff, chose to live, Brother Cliff lived down there
for 45 years and Lance and Robin down there now, chose to live
in probably the worst circumstances physically anywhere in this world
a man could choose to live in Papua, New Guinea. Brother Lance
wrote to me a couple of weeks ago. He said he went on one of
his shorter trips. He said, I drove for five hours
and only had to climb on the mountains for two and a half
hours to get there. And that's how he gets everywhere
he goes. Why? Why on earth would a man quit
his job, sell his property, take his wife and children, and move
to Papua New Guinea? Because wherever God plants man
and beast, that's where God has his elect. And he calls them
out by these husbandmen seeking his sheep. Read on, verse 28. And it shall come to pass that
like as I have watched over them, to pluck up and to break down
and to throw down and to destroy and to afflict. As God has, in
his wisdom and judgment, caused all the havoc in this world as
the result of the fall, so will I watch over them to build and
to plant, saith the Lord. In those days they shall say
no more. The fathers have eaten a sour
grape and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every man
shall die for his own iniquity. Every man that eateth sour grape,
his teeth shall be set on the edge. But God's people, God says,
I'll keep them. I'll keep them. Look at verses
31 through 34. Here, God declares to us this
new and everlasting covenant of grace. 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. 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 break, although I was a husband unto them, saith
the Lord. What's he talking about? What's
he talking about? What's this covenant all about?
If you'll take the time when you get home to read the eighth
chapter of the book of Hebrews, and then the 10th chapter of
the book of Hebrews, you'll see that this covenant is not talking
about the physical seed of Abraham and the regathering of a physical
nation in Jerusalem. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
It's talking about something altogether spiritual. It's talking
about the salvation of God's elect. He's not going to make
a covenant. In this gospel day, not like
that covenant I made with the children of Israel at Sinai.
You remember, uh, they told Moses, did you go speak to the Lord
and come back and tell us what it says. And Moses went up and got the
law and said, this is what God says for you to do. They said,
well, we'll handle that. We can do that. All God requires is
for us to be righteous and holy and perfect. We can do that.
And they broke his covenant. And God cast them off one after
another, generation after generation, until finally he destroyed the
nation. He said, but this covenant is not going to be like that.
This is not going to be a covenant involving your works at all.
Verse 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. What is it talking about? Can't
be talking about Ten Commandments. Romans 1 and 2 tell us Ten Commandments
written on your heart by nature. There's nowhere in the world
you can go and find a human being who's not aware there's wrong
to steal, to murder, to commit adultery. Everybody knows that.
It's written on your heart by nature. So it's not talking about
Ten Commandments. What's it talking about? It's talking about God
making sinners new creatures in Christ. giving us to be partakers
of the divine nature, being created a new creature in righteousness
and in true holiness that truly does delight in the law of God
after the inward man. That law that we walk by written
on our hearts so that we obey his commands His commands are
these, that you believe on his son, Jesus Christ. So he walked
continually, believing on his commands, delighting in everything
revealed in his word, in his law, all together about him.
And I will be their God, all of them, and they shall be my
people. They shall come to pass, Hosea
says, in that place where they were said, you're not my people,
God will say, these are my people. These are my people. I've called
them, they're mine. Read on. 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. You mean we don't need anybody
to teach us anymore? No, that's not what it's talking about.
That's not what it's talking about. Bless God you still have
pastors to lead you, guide you, and teach you. Thank God for
that. But in the Old Testament, if
a man wanted to know something from God, he had to go up to
the tabernacle to the prophet of God. And the prophet of God
would decide for him every confusing matter. And if he offered a sacrifice,
he had to go get his sacrifice and take it to the tabernacle
to the priest that God had appointed. But now every man, every woman
born of God has the mind of Christ and knows Christ Jesus and worships
God in spirit and in truth and is a priest living in the holy
place upon holy things. Read on. For I will forgive their
iniquity. I will forgive their iniquity,
their unrighteousness. He says in Hebrews 8, I'll forgive
it. I'll forgive it. What's that
mean? I'll wipe the slate clean. I'll
cast it behind my back. I'll remove it from them as far
as the east is from the west. So thoroughly will I forgive
their iniquity that I will remember their sin No more. God Almighty, in His marvelous
free grace, through the precious blood of His Son, according to
all the stipulations of the covenant, cannot remember that thing about
me, Drew, which I can't forget. He can't remember my sin. He
can't remember my sin. And if he can't remember it,
he can't charge it to me. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. How is that? Because Christ has
thoroughly purged away our sins. But why is this called a new
covenant? A new covenant. It was from everlasting. Made between the triune Jehovah
with our covenant surety, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the everlasting
covenant. Yes, but it wasn't revealed until
the Lord took the first covenant revealed, the covenant of works,
out of the way. And this one is newly revealed
and always fresh. This is the covenant of which
David's saying as a lay on his deathbed. And he said, although
my house be not so with God, yet the Lord hath made with me
an everlasting covenant ordered in all things. And sure, this
is all my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not
to grow this covenant. has completely set aside and
abrogated and done away forever the first covenant, the covenant
of law and works and ceremonies. Christ, having fulfilled all,
has put away the old covenants. And then in Hebrews 10, that
same covenant spoken of. And the apostle says now on the
basis of this covenant, because the blood of Christ has fulfilled
it all, Come, let us draw near with a heart of faith by the
blood of the covenant in the full assurance of faith. Come near! Come near to God fully
assured that God Almighty cannot turn you away as you come to
Him through the blood of the everlasting covenant. And look
at one more thing back in Jeremiah chapter 40, chapter 31, verses
35 through 40. Here the Lord God tells us of
the absolute security of his covenant, all its promises, and
all his covenant people. He tells us the city four square
shall be fully inhabited. All of God's Israel shall be
saved. Verse 35, thus saith the Lord,
which giveth the sun for light by day, and the ordinances of
the moon and of the stars for light by night, which divided
the sea when the waves thereof roar. Remember, it's the Lord
who does this. The Lord of hosts is his name.
If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then
the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before
me forever. That's not talking about those
folks over across the water, that's talking about you and
me, God's elect. He said, when the sun and the moon and the
stars and the sea are all gone, then my people will cease to
be my people. Read on. Thus saith the Lord,
if heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth
searched out beneath. I don't pay too much attention
to all the science nonsense that folks change every other day,
but I find it interesting that they keep developing better and
better, more powerful telescopes all the time, and they find a
new planet. Never saw that before. This thing's
got to go on a little further yet. It's got to go a little
further yet, and God says, when you can measure the heavens,
I'll forget my people. When you can measure infinity,
I'll forget my people. Read on what it says. Then I
also will cast off the seed of Israel for all that they have
done, saith the Lord. In other words, my mercy doesn't
depend on what they do, good or bad. My mercy depends on me.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall
be built to the Lord from the tower of Haniel under the gate
of the corner. And the measuring line shall
yet go forth over against it upon the hill of Gerib and shall
come pass to Goath and the whole valley of the dead bodies. Same
like I've read about them before. Yeah, Jericho, Ezekiel chapter
37. See this valley? Bones. Very dry. Dead a long time. Preach to him, Ezekiel! Prophesy
to the bones! And now prophesy to the wind. And watch. That whole valley
of dry bones comes to life. And God says, this is what I'm
doing with Israel. the whole valley of the dead
bodies, all the host of God's elect fallen and dead in Adam
and of the ashes of all the fields under the brook Kidron under
the corner of the horse gate toward the east shall be holy
unto the Lord. It shall not be plucked up nor
thrown down anymore. forever. Don't ever tire or become discouraged
with what God's given us to do. He's given to you and me the
word of his grace to carry to the four corners of the earth
for the saving of his elect. And you know what he's going
to do? He's going to save everyone. Everyone, everyone, not one shall
be plucked up, not one cast down. God has sworn it and he signed
his name to it. Amen.