Grosey's Messages

Jer 31:27 "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.

Jer 31:28 And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the LORD.

Jer 31:29 In those days they shall no longer say: "'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.'

Jer 31:30 But everyone shall die for his own sin. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

Jer 31:31 "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

Jer 31:32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.

Jer 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Jer 31:34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Jer 31:35 Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD of hosts is his name:

Jer 31:36 "If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever."

Jer 31:37 Thus says the LORD: "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD."

Jer 31:38 "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

Jer 31:39 And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah.

Jer 31:40 The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the LORD. It shall not be uprooted or overthrown anymore forever."

As Don Henley and Glen Frey wrote, Now it seems to me, some fine things Have been laid upon your table But you only want the ones that you can't get

Desperado, oh, you ain't gettin' no youger Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home And freedom, oh freedom well, that's just some people talkin' Your prison is walking through this world all alone

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses? Come down from your fences, open the gate It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you You better let somebody love you, before it's too late

We stand on one of the greatest mountain peaks in the Old Testament. It is the only reference to a "New Covenant" in the Old Testament, and is no doubt the most significant of Jeremiah's sayings. The LORD God will write His law on the heart of the individual. It has been observed by many scholars that this is one of the most important passages in Jeremiah and contains "one of the deepest insights in the whole Old Testament."

The song triumphant.

SOME MAY CALL ME A PRISONER SINGER, WHAT IS A PRISONER SINGER ?

WELL IT’S SOMENONE WHO IS ALWAYS SINGING BEHIND A FEW BARS AND NEVER ABLE TO FIND THE RIGHT KEY.

The demonstration of love is the coming victory.

The refrain "Behold, the days are coming,”

Now, this passage easily divides itself into three sections. Each section begins with the words, “Behold days are coming…” (NAS) And you’ll find that in verse 27, verse 31 and verse 38. This means this is yet to come as far as Israel is concerned.

God is in the midst of destroying the cities of Judah and of Israel. It is a time of destruction. We just saw that God said He had good thoughts and good plans and it would have been hard for the people to believe that at that time! Because it looked as thought all God cared about was to destroy, because that’s what He was doing at that time.
But, He said that with the same intensity I have used to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to bring disaster…with that same intensity I will watch over them to build and to plant! Now, that’s good news to a people who are in the midst of destruction and devastation…to a people whose present vision of God is one of judgment and to a people who when they look on the horizon of their life the see no sun rising…they only see it setting…they see no shadow of hope or a future dawning upon them. But, God says, Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations,

And now how is it going to be that the old cycle of sin, judgement repentance and restoration to God can be sorted out. What is there that can stop the Jews from winding up in the same old predicament that they were getting themselves into all the time. They would drift from God into idolatry. God would punish them. They would get up and then fail again and again and again.

Well the Lord introduces a new covenant. Listen to the terms He uses:

Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

1. This New Covenant would work because Of The Permanence Of The New Covenant.

God has made the old covenant with the children of Israel, when he "took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt."

The basis of this old covenant is clearly seen in the Exodus account (24.6-8): "Moses took half the blood of the animals and put it in bowls; and the other half he threw against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant, in which the Lord's commands were written, and read it aloud to the people. They said, 'We will obey the Lord and do everything that he has commanded.' Then Moses took the blood in the bowls and threw it on the people. He said, 'This is the blood that seals the covenant which the Lord made with you when he gave all these commands'."

There were two sides to the covenant. On the one hand, God was promising to be their God, to prosper, protect and deliver them. In turn, they were to be his people, to obey him and keep his law at all times.

But it just didn’t happen. The old covenant was weak. It wasn’t weak because God made it weak. It was weak because man made it weak. The people of God would continually fall into sin, foul it up and make a mess of their lives.

Jeremiah characterises this covenant by the words - "Although I was like a husband to them, they did not keep that covenant" - more literally, "my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord". How true this was! By this covenant God was bringing the people into a close personal relationship with himself - so close that the marriage bond is a fitting symbol. Yet like an unfaithful wife they had broken their vows. Right at Mount Sinai where it was given they were breaking it. Together they came to Aaron and said, "We do not know what has happened to this man Moses, who led us out of Egypt; so make us a god to lead us" (Ex. 32.1). Countless times in the history of Israel this was the chief feature of the covenant - it was broken!

The old covenant failed. It failed because the people of God failed. And they failed continually. How could this mess be unravelled? Could they somehow get more enthusiastic and make it work? No, every time they got enthusiastic, it wasn’t long until their love for the Lord grew cold, and they failed again.

Hebrews 8:6-7. says the same thing : it speaks of “a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second." The fault was with the nation of Israel who just wouldn’t keep the covenant with God.

SO the Lord introduced a new covenant. This time it was something that would work, because it wasn’t dependant upon His people keeping up appearances. It was something bigger and better.

Jer 31: 31 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: … 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Jesus had this passage in mind when He instituted the Lord's Supper (Matthew 26:28). The "new testament" literally means new covenant and is fulfilled only in the person and work of Jesus Christ (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6ff; Hebrews 8:8-9:28; 10:16ff; Romans 11:25-26). Jesus was saying to His disciples that the new covenant predicted by Jeremiah was now being instituted. It describes His work of salvation.

The notable New Testament scholar F. F. Bruce writes, "All Israel, not a faithful remnant, but the nation as a whole, would see the salvation of God. If their temporary stumbling was foretold, so was their ultimate and permanent restoration (Isaiah 59:20f; Jeremiah 31:33; Romans 11:25, 26). The new covenant will not be complete until it embraces the people of the old covenant. Temporarily alienated for the advantage of the Gentiles, they are eternally objects of His promises, once made to the patriarchs, can never be revoked." F. B. Huey, Jr. says, "The preservation of the Jewish people to the present time is an affirmation of this promise." "Its first and peculiar application is to Israel, and to the fact that in the economy of God, the ideal of Israel will yet be realized," observed G. Campbell Morgan.

Huey writes of Jeremiah 31:35 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, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: 36 If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. 37 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.

Rom 8:38-39), Jeremiah stated there is as much chance of God's rejecting Israel as for the fixed order of nature to break down (cf. 33:20-26).82 Israel's existence as a nation, the Lord says, is as permanent as creation itself, and his promise is as sure as the greatness of his power and the faithfulness of his character (cL 32: 17-20; 33:2). The preservation of the Jewish people today is inexplicable apart from acknowledging that divine will has pre­served them. With further emphasis on the impossibility of his rejection of Israel (see Rom 9-11), God said he would do so only if the heavens above could be measured and the foundations of the earth below could be searched out, which in Jeremiah's day was impossible. W. Brueggemann notes that the clause "because of all they have done" means that "all of that evil cannot undo God's powerful choosing.

2. This New Covenant would work because Of The Provisions Of The New Covenant.

It is a covenant that is affected by God. It is strictly a work by God. Look at the “I will…I will…I will…” Compare this with the old covenant…the Ten Commandments… “thou shalt…thou shalt…thou shalt not…” But, in the new covenant God is saying, “I will…I will…I will…” In other words, these people never could keep the commandments.

Huey writes “The five "I wills" in the passage, together with references to "my cove­nant," "my law," and "my people," demonstrate clearly that as in the other major theological covenants, it would be God taking the initiative. Human history since the garden of Eden (Gen 3:8-10) has been the story of human­kind's flight from God and his pursuit of us. The God who speaks in these verses is a pursuing God, who refuses to leave his people alone to follow their own self-destructive paths. He is a God of new beginnings (v. 22; Isa 42:9; 43: 18-19; 48:6) who will never give up but will always do whatever is necessary to work out his hest in our lives (Rom 8:28).”

This new Covenant is not about what you can do for God, its about what God will do for you.

God’s dealings with us under the new covenant are not based on our worthiness.
God is saying that the nature of this new covenant is that “it is something that I will do!”

What does He do?

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

It’s the Provision of a change of heart.

I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts;

The old covenant was outward, but the new covenant is inward.

Now, we still have some “shalt nots” in our lives, but they are not the basis of our salvation. The basis of our salvation is not what we have done, but what God has done! There is going to be an inward apprehension of the law of God. “I will put My law in their inward parts (KJV)…within them (NAS)…and write it on their heart…”
No man would have to say to his brother or his neighbour, “You ought to do this, and this and this…for every man shall know…for I have put it in their hearts.”
By the way, there is a difference between those two expressions “I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it on their hearts…” These verbs have different tenses. When He said, “I will put my Law in their inward parts” He means it will be done once and for all. But when He said, “I will write it on their hearts…” it means “ I will continually write it on their hearts.
In other words, not only is there that immediate apprehension of the will of God, but there is that growing understanding of the law and the will of God.

In John Saunder's Description to John Ham of Bathurst Street's Doctrinal Position (1847) he spoke of the moral law as a rule of life and conduct to all believers. But this moral law is now written on our hearts. It’s the working of the new birth by the Holy Spirit to write it there. If you see someone claim to be a Christian and live an immoral life, then know that they have not been born again, because the moral law has not been written on their hearts. God continues to write in our hearts so that we have a growing knowledge and appreciation of His will for our lives.

From the Kwasizabantu Mission to the Zulus, “I think back of a Zulu woman who came here to Kwasizabantu. She immediately accepted Christ and repented of her sins. A few days later she went home and not very long after that she returned. She asked me, "Pastor, does God not allow drinking?" I asked her what she meant by that. She answered that since she went back home she could not successfully keep down the alchohol brew which she and her family were used to. "Every time I tried it just came up again!", she said. It was a sign to her that the Lord who had entered her heart was calling the shots. He was in residence as her King and his laws were now written into her heart.”

It’s the provision of a change of relationship

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

Psalm 90:1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

But is He your God? And are you His People?

It’s the Provision of a change of religion

34  they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD:

This is a personal knowledge that they have of God. He says that everyone shall know Him… It reaches out and embraces everybody! And He says, “They shall not teach each man his neighbour and each man his brother, saying ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me…” And this word translated “know” means “to know from experience.”

You know, under the old covenant, they would teach line upon line, precept upon precept and they’d go to the rabbi and they’d go to the law in order to find out what you ought to do and all of that. But, there’s something about when Jesus comes into your heart and the Holy Spirit takes up residence, you know Him personally. You have a personal relationship with Him. Isn’t that amazing? I know Him! Why? Because He has put that knowledge in my heart.
That is what the whole book of Jeremiah is about. Its about jettisoning phoney religion and religious stuff and coming to a real personal knowledge of God.

Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD

Jeremiah 9:23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

Verse 34, tells us that each man will "know the LORD." The word "know" means an accurate first hand personal knowledge from observation. It will not be second hand knowledge, but an intimate personal experience of the LORD. Thompson notes, it "carries its most profound connotation, the intimate personal knowledge which arises between two persons who are committed wholly to one another in a relationship that touches mind, emotions and will. In such a relationship the past is forgiven and forgotten" (J. A. Thompson, NICOT, Jeremiah, p. 581).

Having the law written on one's heart is not so much a matter of imme­diate knowledge as transformed attitudes and behavior (22: 16). The result is said to be not just the knowledge of the law hut the knowledge of the Lord, i.e., a relationship with the Lord of the covenant hy faith, the goal of all the earlier covenants.75 Van Groningen writes, "As a bride knows her groom and his desires and will, so Yahweh will be known, loved, and honored.”

This is what the Lord wants for your life! He wants you to know Him. He doesn’t just want you to know about Him, He wants you to know Him, as your Lord, your Saviour, your God, your friend.

I love to think about the beautiful words of that hymn “How sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds..

How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds In a believer's ear!
It soothes his sorrow, heals his wounds, And drives away his fear.

2. It makes the wounded spirit whole, And calms the troubled breast;
'Tis manna to the hungry soul, And to the weary, rest.

3. Dear Name, the rock on which I build, My shield and hiding place,
My never failing treasury, filled With boundless stores of grace!

5. Jesus, my Shepherd, Brother, Friend, My Prophet, Priest, and King,
My Lord, my life, my way, my end, Accept the praise I bring.

It’s the provision of a change to redemption.

for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

“For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.”
The word “forgive” means “to forgive and keep on forgiving.” “…and I will remember their sin no more”…everlasting forgiveness, everlasting forgetfulness!
Acceptance with God is, therefore, final and complete. Under the new covenant the sins of the redeemed are not only forgiven, but forgotten; not only cancelled, but “blotted out as a morning

cloud” (Isaiah 44:22); not only removed from before his face, but “cast behind his back into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). Under the Levitical priesthood, offering for sins had frequently to be made, being in itself powerless to take them away; but Christ’s sacrifice, being of absolute avail with God, would only have to be once offered in order “to perfect forever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14).

4. By Thee, my prayers acceptance gain, Although with sin defiled;

Satan accuses me in vain, And I am owned a child.

It’s the provision of security

Jer 31:35 Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD of hosts is his name:

36 "If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever." 37 Thus says the LORD: "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD."

…as long as the ordinances of God…the ordinances of nature…as long as they exist they’ll be safe… “and when those ordinances disappear then I will cast you away.” See, what God is saying is this. I’m never going to cast you away because these things will never cease to exist. Every time the sun comes up each morning God is saying, “You’re saved! You’re still saved!”
It would be easier to keep the sun from rising than it would be to take my salvation from me. It would be easier to overrule the ordinances of God…to change all the rules of nature than it would be to take away one man’s salvation.
3. This New Covenant would work because Of The Person of The New Covenant

HEBREWS 9:14-15 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

Jer 31:31 "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

This covenant is one made by the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

As Don Henley and Glen Frey wrote, Now it seems to me, some fine things Have been laid upon your table But you only want the ones that you can't get

Desperado, oh, you ain't gettin' no youger Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home And freedom, oh freedom well, that's just some people talkin' Your prison is walking through this world all alone

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses? Come down from your fences, open the gate It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you You better let somebody love you, before it's too late

The New covenant begins for you today with these words.

Jer 31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

He loves you.

It continues with a whole new covenant for you

Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant

A new nature

After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Forgiveness of sins, and a new opportunity to truly know God.

Desperado..you’ve been away too long. Why don’t you return to Him now and find the peace you want and crave and need so much. He waits to shed His love on you.

# posted by Groseys messages @ 6:02 PM