The New Covenant

[0:00] So we're going to be going through the entirety of the chapter of Hebrews 8. I had to pump the brakes a little bit because I was excited. I wanted to go Hebrews 8 and 9.

[0:13] But I'd say with the heat and the fact that we have communion as well, probably better that we just keep it to one chapter today. So the last time we studied in Hebrews a couple weeks ago, we finished chapter 7 and saw where changes are necessary, specifically changes to the law.

[0:31] Remember this writer, the writing to Hebrews, the writing to Jewish folks who had been following and obeying the Old Testament, the law, their entire lives. And so the whole book of Hebrews is setting up and establishing the supremacy of Jesus in all areas and all matters.

[0:48] And in chapter 7 there, we saw where they said there needs to be changes. There needs a new priesthood is necessary because the priesthood of the Old Covenant could not accomplish God's salvation.

[1:02] We saw where a new guarantor is necessary because all that God's people depended on in the Old Covenant were temporary. That a new intercessor is necessary because the priest who interceded on behalf of the people died and had to keep being replaced.

[1:20] A new high priest is necessary because the high priest of the Old Covenant had to repeatedly atone for the sins of the people. So over and over again, we are introduced to in the law the temporary nature that existed there.

[1:35] When you read through the book of Leviticus and you're reading in the Old Testament, you're seeing the sacrificial system, you're seeing everything that the Jews did for hundreds of years, you understand, you come to the understanding that it was only temporary.

[1:50] In fact, the word that was used, that it was a shadow of things that existed. It was a shadow. It was something that was showing us that something greater was yet to come.

[2:03] And so the author of Hebrews makes the case that Jesus fulfills those changes that are necessary. He gives us the new priesthood. He's the new guarantor. He's the new intercessor. He's the new high priest.

[2:14] Now, as we come to chapter 8, he shows that Jesus not only meets the requirements for all the changes necessary, but that he implements an entirely new covenant.

[2:27] And so, as I said, I wanted to go chapters 8 and 9 because they really, all that information that are in those two chapters are necessary. They build on each other, but we'll have to take our time through it.

[2:40] So I'd like to read verses 1 through 3 here. And as we kick off here in chapter 8, we see the whole reason for Jesus as a priest after the order of Melchizedek is to serve in the heavenly tabernacle.

[2:55] Hebrews 8, verses 1 through 3. Now, the point in what we are saying is this. Pause for a second. Really what he's saying is that the main point, the big issue, the reason why we've made this argument for seven chapters in Hebrews up until this point, he's saying that the main point, we are saying this, is we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.

[3:32] For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Thus, it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.

[3:48] Father, thank you for your word. Help us to understand. Amen. So we see here, verses 1 through 3, the fact that Jesus has a ministry actively in heaven, in the heavenly tabernacle.

[4:05] And it's interesting, we're told here where he's at, where his position is. He's seated at the right hand of God. And the fact that he is seated is indicative of his completed work.

[4:19] While he's on the cross, Jesus uttered the words, it is finished. For the first time in hundreds of years, the work done to atone for sin was complete and finished and did not need to be repeated.

[4:36] He was able to accomplish on the cross what no priest of the Old Testament was ever able to accomplish. And that's forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God.

[4:48] And the idea of sitting at the right hand, it may have reminded some Jewish readers of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council of 70 elders. See, they were allowed considerable power and acted as a kind of supreme court.

[5:04] They were the ones who oversaw the injustice and the mistrial of Jesus. When the members sat in judgment, a scribe sat on either side of the presiding judge in the Sanhedrin.

[5:17] And the scribe on the left was responsible for writing condemnations, while the one on the right was responsible for writing acquittals. And Jesus said that he came into the world not to condemn the world, but to save it, John 3, 17.

[5:35] So as high priest, he now sits in the place not only of honor and power at the right hand of God the Father, but of mercy. He sits there making intercession.

[5:48] He's writing acquittals, if you will, for those who call on him. And not only does sitting on the right hand indicate the completed priestly work, it's also where he's anticipating the preparation for his kingly work on earth.

[6:06] Psalm 110, verse 1 says, The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. And then as you read through Scripture, you get to the book of Revelation, chapters 19 and 20.

[6:20] You got the return of Jesus to establish his kingdom here on earth in Jerusalem. That time will be coming, but it's not yet. So not only is he seated at the right hand, but he's serving in the true tabernacle set up by God.

[6:38] He's in the true tent, verse 2. That word tent could also be translated tabernacle. Now the word true is not used here as the opposite of false.

[6:50] The Israelite tabernacle was not in any sense false. It was exactly what God told them to make and do. But what it was, was it was temporary and inadequate.

[7:04] True is used as opposed to the shadowy or the unreal. The comparisons between the temporary and the permanent. So remember we mentioned a few weeks ago about the idea of a shadow.

[7:17] Well, a shadow is cast from something that already exists, right? Like if you've got, if I had a flashlight here and I've shown a flashlight at my mug, there'd be a shadow appearing right here.

[7:30] The reason why there's a shadow is because this thing already exists and the shadow is just a, it indicates that something's there. And so the tabernacle and the sacrificial system and all the priesthood, all that is a shadow of something that already exists.

[7:46] And we're told here in Hebrews 8 that that thing that exists, that the tabernacle exists in heaven, was set up by God. And that's where Jesus serves as high priest.

[8:03] Let's read verses 4 and 5. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. We know that.

[8:14] The priesthood comes from the tribe of Levi, and he was not descended from the tribe of Levi. Verse 5, They serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things.

[8:25] For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.

[8:38] Isn't that cool? Just think about that. When Moses was meeting with God, God showed him the tabernacle that he was to erect and make among the people of Israel.

[8:53] Moses saw the heavenly tabernacle, and he made the earthly one as what he saw, like what he saw.

[9:05] And the earthly priesthood serves according to the law, which is, as I mentioned before, a shadow of the heavenly priesthood. So Jesus' heavenly high priesthood depended on the offering of a perfect earthly sacrifice followed by his ascension to be seated before God in heaven.

[9:25] If you remember the priesthood, they offered sacrifice after sacrifice, hundreds, thousands a day for the purpose of covering and atoning sin. But it had to be repeated all the time.

[9:38] The day of atonement happened every year where the sins of the people was covered by the blood of the lamb. But Jesus has a heavenly priesthood, one that is eternal in scope, and is also eternal in its application.

[9:53] And that his blood shed on the cross is eternal and is once for all. The earthly ministry of Jesus served as a shadow and a copy of his real priestly ministry in heaven.

[10:09] The work of the Levitical priests only served as a preview of the atoning of Christ. But even though the earthly ministry was a copy of the heavenly reality and even though it was a shadow, God still designed the earthly priest, the priestly ministry in detail.

[10:29] I'm not going to take you there, but Exodus 25, chapters 25 through 30, you read through that very specific instructions given by God, including Exodus 25, verse 40, which is quoted in verse 5, when God said, see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.

[10:49] The author of Hebrews continues his point by showing that Jesus has a more excellent priestly ministry because the covenant he mediates for is a better covenant.

[11:02] Verses 6 and 7. But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better since it is enacted on better promises.

[11:17] for if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. Jesus' ministry is superior to the ministry of the Levitical priesthood because he is the minister of a greater and better covenant that replaces the one that they had been following for hundreds of years.

[11:41] And the old covenant was faulty because it was not final. It came up short because it couldn't provide a priest who would make an ultimate and full atonement for the sins of God's people. Excuse me.

[11:58] I'm trying to decide if I want to go on a tangent and I won't. Under the old covenant there remained an unrelenting need for constant sacrifices and that just showed that it was incomplete.

[12:10] It was unable to fulfill what needed to be done in its fullness. Now let's get to verses 8 through 12. You get now the new covenant explained.

[12:21] So the author of Hebrews through this whole time in his letter is setting up the supremacy of Jesus and over the last couple chapters he's talked about the supremacy of the priesthood by the order of Melchizedek which is what Jesus is a priest under and from and how his priesthood is superior now we see it because it takes place in a heavenly tabernacle and it's for the cause of a better covenant.

[12:49] Now that the reader or the author has introduced that to us he's going to go on and talk about that better covenant which the people of Israel the Jewish people would be very familiar with because it was in their prophet Jeremiah which was read for us this morning Jeremiah 31 verses 31 through 33 the new covenant the new covenant so let's go ahead and read verses 8 and 9 in Hebrews 8 for he finds fault with them when he says so talking about God finds fault with them when he says behold the days are coming declares the Lord when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah 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 for they did not continue in my covenant and so I showed no concern for them declares the Lord so as you as we're introduced here the tone you get of the new covenant is that there's this it's going to be a covenant of grace he says

[14:02] I will establish a new covenant with the people and I actually kind of jumped ahead of myself let's continue reading verses 10 through 12 for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days declares the Lord I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people and they shall not teach each one his neighbor and each one his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest for I will be merciful toward their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more so as I mentioned the tone of this covenant the new covenant is that of grace God makes sure he makes sure or assurance of statements when he says I will and they shall there's no ifs or buts in his new covenant but the the the old covenant was based on the ifs and buts it had an if in it and that's why it suffered shipwreck that's why it failed that's why it was incomplete in the old covenant if it was if you will be obedient then you shall be blessed and hence there came a failure on man's part and the whole covenant ended in disaster when you put when the responsibility is put on man to fulfill anything will fail a hundred percent of the time and that's what happened with God and his covenant with his people if you do this

[15:39] I will bless you and then you read through the whole and you're reading in the old testament and where do you see Israel and Judah in judgment being oppressed not being blessed why because they couldn't keep the covenant so that's why the new covenant is not dependent on us it can't be dependent on us Lord says he will write his law on the hearts of his people I love this God will give his people a new nature they'll change their disposition they'll love they'll love to do what they once hated and they will hate the sins that they once loved you want to talk about spiritual maturity wonder where you're at in your relationship with God where you are in your walk with him do you love do you still love the sin that you have in your life that's a that's like that's a spiritual temperature question the sin that you have in your life do you still love it or do you hate it

[16:48] God says he's going to give us he's going to write his law on our hearts and our minds and we're going to be his people Ezekiel 36 verses 26 and 27 say and I'll give you a new heart and a new spirit I'll put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules 2 Corinthians 5 17 says therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old has passed away behold the new has come Spurgeon in his commentary on this section he says when God writes the law in a man's heart he takes the law more to himself than he applies it to anybody else his cry is his cry is not see how my neighbors sin but his cry is see how I sin his clamor is not against his brother's fault but against his own fault no longer does he look out for specks in other men's eyes but he's most concerned about the beam that he is quite sure is in his own eye and he prays to the Lord to remove it when God writes his law on our hearts as his people our concern becomes less about other people and their sin but it becomes more about our sin and asking the Lord to change our heart in relation to that you see in verse 11 that God's people will not need to be taught because they won't have to say know the Lord because they'll all know me the new covenant is personal not just because

[18:42] God's word is written on our hearts but because his very spirit is within us every believer has a resident helper we have a teacher a friend with us at all times Jesus tells us in John 14 26 the helper the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring to you remembrance all that I have said to you the most important aspect of the covenant for God's people is that their sins will be forgiven none of the old covenant sins were only covered they were not forgiven and what the old covenant could not provide as a permanent fix is taken care of in the new covenant UNPASS asi