A New Covenant (Walk Thru the Bible Week 34)

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Welcome to Walk Through the Bible, Susan Michael's 12-month journey through the most exciting

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book on the planet.

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It will transform your life one page at a time.

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Be sure to subscribe for future episodes that will ignite your faith and bring your Bible

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to life.

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Now, let's join our host, Susan Michael.

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Well, hey there and welcome back.

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This is Walk Through the Bible.

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We are into week number 34.

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This week we are reading in the Daily Bible the dates of August 20 through the 26th or

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what will be found on the pages of 1067 through 1091.

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You are doing such a great job in reading through your Bible with me in a year.

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And I want to repeat what I just said in the last couple of weeks.

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I understand there's a lot of history here and there's a lot of prophetic books that

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we have to work through and they're all kind of saying the same thing and it's the same

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very sad story about the sins of God's people and how that he has to bring judgment on to

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them.

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And I know it gets a little tiring almost.

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So I encourage you to stick with us each week.

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I bring out some little gems that are just really special and highlights in the midst

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of this story and things are going to get better.

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We have a couple of more weeks to go though before we're going to see that story change

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much.

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Okay, so let's get started.

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Let's review quickly.

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Last week we were in the Book of Ezekiel and we covered the first part of the Book of Ezekiel

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1 through 24 where we heard about his calling and then this amazing vision where he was

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taken to Jerusalem and he saw the temple and he saw the glory of the Lord lifting and leaving

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the temple.

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Now we're going to read this week then in the story of Ezekiel about a traumatic thing

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that happens in his life and it's somewhat of a turning point in the Book of Ezekiel

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and in the story of Ezekiel.

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Now let's see what's going on with our kings and the storyline here in Judah.

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So we have King Zedekiah and he once again, like the other evil kings, in their prideful

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deception, rebels against Babylon.

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And so Babylon comes in again just like they did under Jehoiakim.

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This time it's 587 and they began the siege of Jerusalem.

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Now we'll come back to our story later and I want to move now to the Book of Ezekiel

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and continue the story of Ezekiel.

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So what is this thing that happens in Ezekiel 24 that is kind of a turning point?

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And that is that God tells Ezekiel right down this date in verse number one, Ezekiel 24

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one and two, God says, make note of this date because the siege of Jerusalem has begun.

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Now there is no way that Ezekiel could have known that.

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There's no way that anyone could have run, traveled from Jerusalem back to Babylon and

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gotten word to Ezekiel on the very date that it was happening.

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It's impossible.

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It could only have been done by divine revelation.

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But God reveals to him that the siege is beginning.

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And then God shows him a, or it's called a parable of the cooking pot.

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And this is what he tells Ezekiel to do with this pot that's full of like soup and meat

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and vegetables and on.

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He tells him to remove everything out of the pot and then he says this, then set the empty

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pot on the coals till it becomes hot and it's copper glows so that its impurities may be

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melted and its deposit burned away.

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It has frustrated all efforts.

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Its heavy deposit has not been removed, not even by fire.

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Now your impurity is lewdness because I tried to cleanse you, but you would not be cleansed

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from your impurity, you will not be clean again until my wrath against you has subsided.

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So I want to stop here.

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Here is a cooking pot and he says even the fire has not been able to remove the impurities

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out of this pot.

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So empty it, set it on the hot fire and just let it heat up completely.

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He is going to burn the impurities out and then he says that your impurity is lewdness

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and I'm going to get rid of it.

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Then continuing verse 14, I the Lord have spoken, the time has come for me to act.

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I will not hold back, I will not have pity, nor will I relent.

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You will be judged according to your conduct and your actions declares the sovereign Lord.

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So God does not relish punishment.

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He has done everything that he could to avoid this moment.

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What did he do?

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Well, he gave him plenty of time.

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The kingdom of Judah lasted 335 years and he continued to raise up profits to go to

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them and to tell them where they were sinning and to draw them back to him and invite them

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to come and to repent to him, profit after profit.

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And then he raises up Josiah, a righteous king, and he reveals to Josiah a book of the

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ancient law of Moses.

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And so Josiah gathers all the people.

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He reads the whole book of Moses to them so that they would understand what's required

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of them and that because they're not doing it, what God has promised that he will do

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and that is to punish their sin.

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All of this God has done.

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He revealed his word, he raised up the profits, he gave them lots of time.

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He would them and would them and would them to return back to him and they wouldn't.

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And so he says here through Ezekiel, it's over.

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The end has come.

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I must purify my people.

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And then this is the moment he turns to Ezekiel and he tells them, I'm going to take from

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you something that you love and that's very precious to you.

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Your wife is going to die.

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Now we do not know in this story if Ezekiel's wife was ill, if she was dying, if this was

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expected in any way in the prophet's life, we don't know.

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All we know is that he says that he came home that night and she died.

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And God told him, do not mourn.

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You know, leave on your hat and your jacket.

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It's like, don't go into mourning.

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And this is the way God was over the loss of his wife, Jerusalem, the people of Israel.

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And he's not going to mourn because he warned them and he warned them and he did everything

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he could to avoid it.

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And yet they persisted.

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So he wasn't going to mourn their downfall.

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And he tells Ezekiel to prophetically act this out before the people and not to mourn

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over the death of his wife.

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So the death of his wife coincides with the end, with the siege of Jerusalem and the end

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of Jerusalem.

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And that's why then the Book of Ezekiel and the Ministry of Ezekiel kind of enters into

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a new stage after this.

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And it's going to be a stage then of dealing with the exiles and looking forward into the

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future.

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And for today that will end our story with Ezekiel, with the death of his wife.

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And so then let's look at Jeremiah.

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What was Jeremiah doing during the siege of Jerusalem?

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And so he is preaching to King Zedekiah.

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And very interesting here in Jeremiah 22, God gives Zedekiah the chance to repent.

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What a forgiving God.

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And he sends Jeremiah to Zedekiah.

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And he gives him the choice to do right so that the kingdom of David would continue.

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Or says if you do not obey, this palace will become a ruin.

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So Zedekiah gets angry.

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And what does he do?

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He places Jeremiah under house arrest.

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And so Zedekiah fails the test.

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He does not listen to the word of the Lord.

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He does not repent.

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He doesn't do anything to change.

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And so this seals the deal for Zedekiah and that judgment is now going to fall.

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And then while Jeremiah is in under house arrest, God tells him to buy a piece of property

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that his relative has that he is the first one with the right to buy it.

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And once again, this is a prophetic act.

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And it is to say that once again, one day, we are going to be back living in the land,

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buying and selling properties, and life is going to return to some sort of normal in

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the future.

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And then we, Jeremiah sees a spiritual renewal under the Messiah.

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And in Jeremiah 23, verses four through six, it says that God is going to place shepherds

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over his people.

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And they're going to gather them back to the land.

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And then he's going to raise up a righteous branch of David.

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So let's read this starting here in verse four, I believe.

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And it says, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a

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righteous branch, a king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.

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In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety.

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This is the name by which he will be called the Lord, our righteous Savior.

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Beautiful.

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And then looking at Jeremiah 33, verses 15 through 17, he mentions this branch of David

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again.

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He says, in those days, and at that time, I will make a righteous branch sprout from

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David's line, he will do what is just and right in the land.

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In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.

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This is the name by which it will be called the Lord, our righteous Savior.

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For this is what the Lord says, David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne

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of Israel.

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Now verses 23 through 26, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

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Have you not noticed that these people are saying, the Lord has rejected the two kingdoms

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he chose?

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So they despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation.

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This is what the Lord says, if I have not made my covenant with day and night and established

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the laws of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David

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my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham,

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Isaac and Jacob.

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For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.

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Let's take a second look at what he just said because it's interesting he uses like

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a double negative here so I want to change the wording around and put it in the positive

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here.

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So this is what the Lord says that because or just as I have made a covenant with day

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and night and I have established the laws of heaven and earth, I also will never reject

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the descendants of Jacob and David my servant.

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So just as sure as God's laws of day and night, do you still see day and night outside?

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Yes.

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And just as sure as his laws of heaven and earth, do we still have a heaven and an earth?

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Yes.

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Then he has not rejected his covenant with his people and he will have a son of David

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to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

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And there we go again.

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It all goes back to Abraham.

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God promised Abraham a land and a people with a mission and that mission is that through

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that people God was going to bless all the families of the earth.

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And the apostle Paul said that was the first preaching of the gospel.

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It was speaking about through Christ that God would bring this plan of redemption to

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all the families of the earth through what he was doing there.

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And so because of his promises then to David that he would always have a son to sit on

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the throne.

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It's an everlasting throne.

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That's a part of the everlasting lineage of the nation that God promised Abraham.

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God is faithful to his word and we can count on this that his promises to the Jewish people

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are still at play.

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He has not forsaken them then at the time of Ezekiel and he has not forsaken them now

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because his promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David still remain and are still yea

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and amen.

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Now this takes us then to Jeremiah 31 where he talks about something called a new covenant.

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I want to take a few minutes to talk about this.

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This is so important because most of the teaching in the church about the new covenant kind

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of takes it out of its original context and what Jeremiah was really saying that this

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covenant was about.

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So I want us to look at what Jeremiah says about the covenant.

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We're going to talk about first of all who was the covenant with because I have actually

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heard a pastor say that the old covenant was God's covenant with the nation of Israel

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and that was done and over with and done.

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That's finished.

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And the new covenant was cut with the world and that's the covenant that still remains.

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Well that is not what the Bible says.

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So we've just established right before this in Jeremiah that God's promises to the Jewish

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people is to not say that God has forsaken his people or rejected them.

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It's not true.

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And then here we talk about this new covenant.

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So who is number one?

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Who is this new covenant cut with?

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And it says in verse 31, the days are coming to clear the Lord when I will make a new covenant

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with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.

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Now is there's no ambiguity there?

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Are you confused?

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Who is the new covenant with?

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Is it with the world?

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No.

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It is with Israel and the people of Judah, just like the Mosaic covenant had been with

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the people of Israel.

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So what's this about?

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Well this new covenant is actually a renewal, you could say, of the old covenant.

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It is a new covenant, but it is in a way a renewed old covenant.

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It's very, very similar.

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So let's look at this.

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So why do we need another covenant?

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Because the weakness of the old covenant was found in the human flesh.

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We tend to sin.

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We tend to reject God and we are the weak point in the old covenant.

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So the new covenant corrects that and it corrects it by bringing in the power of the Holy Spirit.

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So let's read about this starting in verse 32.

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It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand

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to lead them out of Egypt.

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Because they broke my covenant.

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Though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord.

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This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel.

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After that time, declares the Lord, I will put my law in their minds and write it on

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their hearts.

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I will be their God and they will be my people.

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No longer will they teach their neighbor or say to one another, know the Lord because

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they're all going to know me.

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From the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.

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For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

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The new covenant provides for the forgiveness of the sins of the people.

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And then instead of giving them the law written on tablets of stone that they have to read

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and try to obey, through the power of the Holy Spirit, it's going to write the law on

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their hearts.

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So that they are going to obey because it's going to come out of their hearts as they

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are led by the Holy Spirit.

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This is what the new covenant is correcting in the Old Covenant.

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The Old Covenant didn't allow for forgiveness of sins, but it did have a sacrificial system

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that allowed for the covering of sins and for the price of sin to be paid.

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But here, through the new covenant, the sins are going to be forgiven and the law will

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be written on their hearts.

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So how is this new covenant going to happen?

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Well, Jeremiah doesn't really tell us this, but this is what he says about it.

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He says, this is what the Lord says.

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He who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night,

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who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar, the Lord Almighty is His name.

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Only if these decrees vanish from my sight declares the Lord, will Israel ever cease

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being a nation before me.

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This is what the Lord says.

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Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be

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searched out, will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all that they have done,

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declares the Lord.

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This new covenant is not a rejection of the people of Israel and of the Old Covenant.

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It is a better covenant to bring the people into a better relationship with Him by forgiving

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their sins and providing the Holy Spirit in their hearts.

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So it is to bring them into right relationship with Him through the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Verse 38, The days are coming, declares the Lord, when this city will be rebuilt for me.

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Verse 40, And all the terraces out to the key-drawn valley on the east will be holy

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to me, the city will never again be uprooted or demolished.

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So a part of this vision of the new covenant and of His people being brought into right

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relationship with Him is the reality that at the center of all of this is a restored

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city of Jerusalem.

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This is where the throne of David is.

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This is where the Messiah will sit to rule the earth.

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This is the heart of it.

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And so the restoration of the people of Israel in our day and the rebuilding of the city

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of Jerusalem is so exciting because we see God preparing for the next stage of history.

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Now there's a lot for us to learn from this chapter in Jeremiah about the new covenant

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When Jesus was doing the Passover Seder with His disciples and He held up the cup, He said,

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This is the cup of the New Testament.

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My blood is the blood of the New Covenant.

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And so He was letting them know that Jeremiah doesn't say how God's going to do this covenant,

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but Jesus was letting them know it's through my shed blood on behalf of the sins of the

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world that's how this new covenant is going to be cut.

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And He did it and then after He had shed His blood He had cut the covenant.

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He instructed His Jewish disciples to remain in Jerusalem until the outpouring of the Holy

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Spirit which would take place on the festival of Shavuot which we know as Pentecost.

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In Shavuot it was an agricultural harvest celebration but it was also celebration of

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the giving of the law on Mount Sinai.

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So here at that celebration God pours out His Holy Spirit and He writes His law in the

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hearts of His followers.

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That my friends is the new covenant cut on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people.

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But you and I through Jesus are now able to tap into this better covenant with the power

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of the Holy Spirit in it and to be part of His family and His followers.

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It has been extended to the world.

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I agree.

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And it's through the blood of Jesus.

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I agree.

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But let's always remember that Jeremiah's description of the new covenant was originally

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to the Jewish people and He said God was going to cut a covenant with the people of Israel

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and of Judah.

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Okay.

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So where do we go from here?

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Well that's the end of our storyline for this week.

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This week we will see the end of the siege of Jerusalem and unfortunately we're going

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to see it all come to an end for the city of Jerusalem.

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But until then we have magnificent prophecies to read through here in Jeremiah and also

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in Ezekiel.

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So take your time, walk your way through it and I'll see you back here next week and

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until then God bless.