I have mentioned before that I used to follow sports quite closely—especially baseball and football—but no longer. In recent years, I have tried, at times, to rekindle that interest, but it has never taken root. My heart is just not in those things any longer. At times, I have tried to get into reading certain authors and have been unable to. My heart was just not into them. At times, I have thought about being more active on Twitter, but I still post about once a week or so. My heart is just not into it. At times, I have tried to watch a television show only to give up. My heart was just not into it. Let there be no mistake: our hearts drive our actions.

Israel’s Failure

By now, we are well-versed with Israel’s repeated failure to live for God. Time and time again during the divided kingdom we have seen God’s people sin against Him. But this was far from unique to this period of their history. Rebellion is a trademark of God’s people winding its way all the way back through the United Kingdom, through the period of the Judges, through the conquest, through the exodus and wilderness wandering, and back through the period of the patriarchs culminating in a husband and wife eating from a forbidden tree. This—sin—is the story of the Old Testament. But it is not its only story.

God’s Provision

One refrain of the Old Testament is “humanity cannot.” Humanity cannot do anything to be right with God. Often, they don’t even care to be right with Him and pursue their own sinful desires with reckless abandon. But even when they want to be right with God, they find they cannot be. Their sin is too great. Their hearts are too hard. Humanity cannot. But there is a second refrain that runs throughout the 39 books of the Old Testament—a sweet refrain that is just as pervasive, but only louder: “God can.” What humanity cannot do, God can do, and He will do. People cannot make themselves right with God, but God can, and will, make people right with Him. And the way He will do this is through a heart transplant. God will give His people new hearts—ones that love Him. Ones that have the capacity to drive obedience to Him. This is the promise of hope that runs throughout the Old Testament into the New. This is the promise of the gospel. Long before the days of Jeremiah, God had made a covenant with Israel—one that He had kept but Israel had broken, because their hearts would not allow them to fulfill it:

31 “Look, the days are coming” ​— ​this is the Lord’s declaration ​— ​“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt ​— ​my covenant that they broke even though I am their master” ​— ​the Lord’s declaration. (Jeremiah 31:31-32 CSB)

The fault lies entirely with God’s people, not Him at all. But after generations of failure, God was about to do something new—something much better:

33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days” ​— ​the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them” ​— ​this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin. (Jeremiah 31:33-34 CSB)

Our Need

God would change the hearts of His people, and He would do this through the work of Jesus Christ and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. What is in mind here—what Israel looked forward toward in Jeremiah’s day—is what we are blessed to experience each day—relationship with God as fully forgiven and righteous children because of Jesus. In Christ, we have been made anew. We cannot miss this—we have the capacity to glorify God and live obediently to Him because He has changed our hearts. What Israel hungered for, we feast on. And yet, we are apt to take it for granted so often. As you prep for this week’s session, let God’s words of this covenant sink deeper into your heart—one that He has changed—than ever before.

Let us serve Him faithfully as our Master. Let us obey Him loyally as our King. Let us study His teaching as our Prophet. Let us walk diligently after Him as our Example. Let us look anxiously for Him as our coming Redeemer of body as well as soul. But above all, let us prize Him as our sacrifice, and rest our whole weight on His death as an atonement for sin. Let His blood be more precious in our eyes every year we live. Whatever else we glory in about Christ, let us glory above all things in His cross.” — J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) [1]

Preschool Tip: Our preschoolers understand on some level what it is like to fight the wrong desires of their hearts. They know what it is like to know they should share but fail to. While their concrete natures may make it challenging to talk about “new hearts,” they can come to terms with their need for God to change the way they often think about things—to change their desires to be like His. Kids Tip: This session serves as a great set-up to the transition to the New Testament we will experience soon. Use this time to review how Israel failed so many times and why they did—they needed to be changed. Then peek ahead to the New Testament—how Jesus would come to bring about that change for those who have trusted in Him. [1] J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, vol. 1 (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1874), 55. https://vimeo.com/344886240