Sermon for Sunday, January 15, 2023

Fault Lines and Restoration

Micah 7:18-20 and Hebrews 8:7-13

Micah 7:18–20 (NIV): 18 Who is a God like you,

         who pardons sin and forgives the transgression

         of the remnant of his inheritance?

         You do not stay angry forever

         but delight to show mercy.

      19 You will again have compassion on us;

         you will tread our sins underfoot

         and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

      20 You will be faithful to Jacob,

         and show love to Abraham,

         as you pledged on oath to our ancestors

         in days long ago.

Hebrews 8:7–13 (NLT): 7 If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. 8 But when God found fault with the people, he said:

    “The day is coming, says the LORD,

      when I will make a new covenant

      with the people of Israel and Judah.

    9 This covenant will not be like the one

      I made with their ancestors

    when I took them by the hand

      and led them out of the land of Egypt.

    They did not remain faithful to my covenant,

      so I turned my back on them, says the LORD.

    10 But this is the new covenant I will make

      with the people of Israel on that day, says the LORD:

    I will put my laws in their minds,

      and I will write them on their hearts.

    I will be their God,

      and they will be my people.

    11 And they will not need to teach their neighbors,

      nor will they need to teach their relatives,

      saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’

    For everyone, from the least to the greatest,

      will know me already.

    12 And I will forgive their wickedness,

      and I will never again remember their sins.”

13 When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.

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