Hebrews chapter 8, verses 1 through 12.
Now the point in what we are saying is this.
! We have such a high priest,
Thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
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.
They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.
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.
Because 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.
For if that first covenant had been faultless,
there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
For he 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.
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.
I assume you are all familiar
with General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Military leader, United States President.
In World War II, he achieved
probably one of the coolest job titles of all time,
supreme allied commander in Europe.
So I want to imagine a story about Eisenhower.
It's totally made up, okay?
There's no historical veracity to it.
Let's imagine a story about Eisenhower.
During World War II, let's say he's home in the States
for some reason, and he's walking along the street,
and he comes along this house with the front yard,
and in the front yard,
there's an eight-year-old boy named Johnny
and a bunch of his friends.
And Johnny and his friends are playing army.
They have cap guns.
They have radio flyer wagons
that sometimes they're pretending are tanks,
and sometimes they're pretending are airplanes.
Some of them are wearing pots on their heads
that they stole from their mom's kitchen as helmets.
And so Eisenhower walks by, and he says,
what are you guys doing?
And Johnny says, we're playing army.
We're fighting a war, and I'm the general.
And Eisenhower chuckles, and he says,
I'm a general too.
And Johnny says, you got any cap guns?
No.
You got a wagon or something to be a tank?
Eisenhower says, no.
Where's your helmet?
I don't have it with me.
Johnny says, you don't seem like a general to me.
Now, if you were watching that unfold,
how many of you would say,
Johnny's got a point?
I guess Eisenhower isn't a general at all.
Of course not.
Because you would know,
the problem is not that Eisenhower
isn't really a general.
It's not that he isn't qualified,
or doesn't have all the necessary rank and status.
The problem, in terms of Johnny's comprehension,
is that Eisenhower is so much more of a real general
than Johnny even realizes
about this guy who's just walked past his front yard.
Eisenhower is the real thing
to which Johnny and his friends
and his cap guns are all pointing towards.
Things that they're copies of.
Let's ask this question.
Let's say it's two weeks before Operation Overlord,
the invasion of Normandy,
two weeks before D-Day.
Who do you think should be in command of that operation?
General Johnny?
Or Supreme Commander Eisenhower?
When the stakes are high,
you need the real thing.
When the stakes are high,
you need the real thing,
not a copy.
And when it comes to our sin,
the stakes are high.
When the problem is as serious
as the evil in our own hearts and lives,
we need a real answer.
And so our text this morning,
Hebrews chapter 8,
is going to be of little interest
to people who don't feel the weight
of their own sin.
For those who don't understand
just how messed up they are
and how totally unacceptable
they are before God,
Hebrews 8 is going to be
kind of boring and irrelevant.
But,
if you wince
when you take an honest look at yourself,
and if you have deep regret
for the ways that you have hurt others
and you continue to hurt others,
and if you cringe at the thoughts
that go through your mind every day,
and if you've done things
that you'd give anything
if you could just undo them,
and if on top of all that
you've realized that
all of those ugly things
are not just flukes and accidents,
but are expressions of something
that's really wrong
and bad about you,
if that's you,
then Hebrews 8 is for you.
Because the message of Hebrews 8
is take your real sin
to a real high priest
who gives better promises.
Take your real sin
to a real high priest
who gives better promises.
And so we're going to
ask the questions,
what does it mean
that Jesus is a real high priest?
And we're going to ask the question,
what are those better promises?
But before we do,
let's review what we've already learned
about Jesus as a high priest
in Hebrews.
Remember that a priest
is someone who goes
between us and God,
who represents us before God,
who mediates between us and God.
And as we see someone
who offers a sacrifice
for us to God.
So as we think about priests
going between us and God,
we've seen that Jesus
in chapter 4
is a sympathetic high priest.
He understands our weakness
because he's experienced it,
but without sin.
In chapters 5 through 7,
we've seen a variety of things
about Jesus as our high priest.
We saw that he's
a legitimate high priest.
He's not a priest
in the line of Levi,
but he is a legitimate high priest
because he was a different
priestly order
that is also designated by God,
the order of Melchizedek.
And the author of Hebrews
showed us this was part
of God's plan
based on the Old Testament Scriptures.
We've seen that Jesus
is a perfect
and a sinless high priest.
He doesn't need to offer
a sacrifice for his own sins,
but instead he can offer himself
as a perfect sacrifice
for ours.
And we've seen that
he's an eternal high priest.
He has an indestructible life
and he always lives
to intercede for us.
And then now,
as we come to chapter 8,
we see that Jesus
is the real high priest.
The realest,
the most real,
the high priest
of whom every other priest
who came before
is just a copy and a shadow.
So how is Jesus
the real high priest?
What's real about him?
We see it in verses 1-5.
Let's look at verses 1-2 first.
Now the point of what
we are saying is this.
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.
So Jesus is the real high priest
because where he is.
He's at the right hand
of the throne of God,
not on earth,
in heaven.
And there's also
the contrast between
the kind of
tabernacle
that he's in.
It says that he's a minister
in the holy places
in the true tent.
When you hear the word tent,
you should think tabernacle.
He's in
the true tabernacle.
So if that's
the true tabernacle,
maybe you think to yourself,
what does that say
about the old tabernacle?
A tabernacle
that the Lord
set up,
not man.
No other priest
can claim these things.
If a priest's role
is to represent us
before God,
to intercede
before God
on our behalf
to offer sacrifices
for us
to God,
then the location
of that priest
is going to make
a difference.
If you have one priest
who is on earth
in an earthly tabernacle,
in an earthly tent,
created by man,
then you have another priest
that's in heaven
right next to God,
speaking directly
into God's ears,
in God's presence,
in the real
holy place.
Which one's going to be
a better priest for you?
This is a tabernacle.
It says that the Lord
set up not man.
Remember in Exodus
when they built
the tabernacle,
God gifted
a man named Bezalel
with the gifts
and the abilities
to help craft,
along with his fellow
craftsmen,
all of the
structures
and utensils
for the tabernacle.
So that's a pretty
nice setup.
A man directly
gifted by God
to build
these things,
and he's given
the plans
from Moses
who got them
directly from God.
God.
And now the author
of Hebrews
is saying,
that's not
the true tabernacle.
There's a different one
that's better
in heaven.
Many of you guys
have probably
participated
in a science fair
at some point
in your education.
Right?
A bunch of students
get together,
they each work
on these projects
for a while,
they present them,
maybe they win
an award
for the best science project.
Imagine a tabernacle
fair,
and Bezalel
shows up,
he's got his tabernacle,
he knows
he's been gifted
by God,
he knows
he's got the plans
exactly
as God gave them
to Moses,
and he thinks
he's got
this tabernacle
fair locked in.
He goes up
to register,
he says,
I'm here to
display my tabernacle,
secretary says,
okay,
you're going to be
at table number
three,
right next to
table number
four,
where the Lord
God is presenting.
Bezalel says,
what?
He says,
yeah,
the Lord is
presenting
at the tabernacle
fair,
he's brought
his heavenly
tabernacle
with a true
holy place.
And Bezalel
says,
and I have
to be at the
table right
next to him?
that's what
the author
of Hebrews
is saying.
Jesus is
our high
priest in
a tabernacle
that's in
heaven,
created by
the Lord,
not man.
He's the
real high
priest.
Now look at
verses three
through four.
For every
high priest
is appointed
to offer
gifts and
sacrifices,
thus it is
necessary for
this priest
also to have
something to
offer.
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.
Jesus did not
fit into the
earthly Levitical
priesthood of
the Old
Testament.
Remember what
happened with
Eisenhower?
Now imagine
Jesus walking
up to the
Levitical
priests at
their tabernacle
and he says,
I'm a priest.
And I'd say,
well, do you
have our special
priestly garments?
Jesus says,
no.
Do you have
a bull or
a goat or
a dove to
offer as a
priest?
Jesus says,
no, I don't
have that.
Well, are you
even a priest
at all?
Not here on
earth.
Not of this
kind of
priesthood.
Not of this
tabernacle.
verse 5.
These priests
who are on
earth, they
serve a copy
and a shadow
of the heavenly
things.
When Moses was
about to erect
the tent, he
was instructed
by God, see
that you make
everything according
to the pattern
that was shown
you on the
mountain.
These earthly
priests in
their earthly
tent carrying
out their
priestly duties
and their
sacrifices, they
are copies and
shadows of the
ultimate realities
of the heavenly
things.
they are
shadows of
the things
that actually
happen in the
presence of
God.
And God
showed Moses
a very clear
pattern of how
he wanted this
tabernacle and
all its utensils
created and it
was important that
Moses got them
right because they
point to something
that's much more
real and much more
important than
themselves.
They were never
meant to be
ultimate.
So Jesus is the
real high priest.
He's the realist.
And when Hebrews
talks about this
and when I say
he's the true or
the real high priest
it doesn't mean
that everything
that came before
was fake.
Because the
comparison here is
not real versus
fake.
God established
that old
priesthood.
It served a
purpose.
The difference
that the author of
Hebrews is showing
us here is the
difference between
the real thing
and the
representation of
that thing.
The difference
between what is
eternal and what
is only ever meant
to be temporary.
the difference
between the
foreshadowing of
something and
its ultimate
fulfillment.
Of course in the
simplest sense as
the author of
Hebrews says
it's the difference
between a real
thing and a
shadow.
So is a shadow
fake?
No there's
nothing fake
or counterfeit
or deceptive
about a shadow.
it's just not
the real thing.
That's all.
When you see a
friend after a
long time apart
you don't try to
hug their shadow.
And if you're
walking along
outside and you
hear a plane
overhead and a
shadow passes
over you you
don't look at the
ground and start
running and chasing
the shadow and
studying the
shadow.
When a shadow
passes overhead
you look up.
And that's
what the purpose
of all those
detailed,
complicated,
Old Testament
instructions were
for the tabernacle
and the sacrificial
system.
It was to create
a shadow that
would cause us
to look up so
that at the
right time when
Jesus came we
would look up and
we would see him
and recognize him
for who he is.
As the real high
priest in heaven
sitting at the
right hand of the
throne of
majesty.
So when you have
real sin that
condemns you before
God where do you
want your high
priest to be?
In some tent on
earth or at the
right hand of God
interceding for you?
When you have real
sin and you need a
high priest to go
between you and
God what do you
want?
Do you want a
shadow or do you
want the real
thing?
Now you might be
saying to yourself
okay I get it
Jesus is the real
high priest.
He's better than
what came before.
He's the real
thing.
They were copies
and shadows but
I have not been
trying to go back
to that Old
Testament system.
I haven't been
asking some Old
Testament priest to
represent me or
sacrifice for me.
I'm good with that.
Why is it important
for us to see here
in Hebrews that
Jesus is the real
high priest?
Two reasons that
I'll give at least.
One is we need to
know that Jesus as
our high priest has
the full approval of
God the Father.
We need to know that
Jesus as our high
priest is part of
God's plan for all
of time because
there's only one
true God, right?
There's only one God
who created the
world.
There's only one God
who flooded the
earth.
There's only one God
who made covenants
with his people.
There's only one God
who made promises to
Abraham.
There's only one God
who brought his
people out of Egypt
with great power.
There's only one God
who brought them
through the Red Sea.
There's only one God
who has literally
spoken and given
his words in detail
to his people.
There's only one God
who's done any of
that.
And so if Jesus
just comes to us
in a historical
vacuum, totally
disconnected from all
that, there's no
reason for us to
expect that he's
actually connecting
us, representing us
to the one true God.
We need to have
confidence that Jesus
is part of God's
plan for all of time.
He's a continuation
and fulfillment of
what God has been
doing all along.
But not only is he
better than the
Old Testament priests,
we need to know that
Jesus is a better
and real high priest
compared to any
alternatives that we
may try to find for
ourselves.
So we may not be
asking an Old
Testament Levite to
represent us before
God, but what kind
of priest do we
have?
What do we think
will stand before
God for us?
Who do we hope
will mediate between
us and God and
offer sacrifices for
us so that God
will forgive us and
overlook our sin?
Well, here's a few
possibilities.
We might be
trusting in the high
priest of our own
good intentions.
What's going to
represent me before
God?
It's my own good
intentions.
God sees my heart.
He knows it's in the
right place.
He knows that I try
to do good as much
as I can.
He knows that I try
not to do bad stuff
as much as I can.
A lot of times,
even when I do do
bad things, it's not
because I really want
to or I intend to do.
It's just, you know,
circumstances and all
kinds of stuff kind of
worked against me.
And so God knows.
He understands.
So when I stand
before God with my
sin, I'm going to
count on my good
intentions to
represent me before
God so that my
sins may be forgiven.
That's one option.
Maybe we have a high
priest of cultural
excuses.
Well, it's just the
world we live in right
now.
Everyone is doing it.
Everyone is saying
it's okay.
You know, maybe there
were some things that
maybe were wrong or at
least seemed wrong in
the past, but now kind
of in the situation we
live in, it is what it
is.
And so as I stand
before God with my
sin, he's going to
take into account the
culture that I live in.
God's going to see
that.
Or maybe the high
priest of religious
intensity.
I'm going to go to
church as much as I
can.
I'm going to be
involved as much as I
can.
I'm going to serve
every Sunday.
I'm going to do
everything midweek that
I can.
I'm going to read my
Bible every day.
I'm going to pray with
great feeling and
emotion.
I'm going to give and
serve as much as I
can.
And my religious
intensity will
represent me before
God.
He will see that I am
sincerely,
trying to honor him,
that I sincerely
believe in him.
And that will cause
him to overlook my
sin.
Or maybe it's the
high priest of
intense guilt and
self-punishment.
I'm going to make
sure that I feel so
bad about my sin.
No one is going to
feel worse about my
sin than me.
Maybe not even God.
I'm just going to
sit in my guilt and
I'm going to punish
myself.
I'm going to punish
myself mentally or
emotionally or socially
or physically.
But I'm going to
punish myself so that
God doesn't have to.
When I stand before
God with my sin, he's
going to see how much
I've already taken it
out of myself.
And therefore, he will
overlook my sin.
That's my high priest.
Or maybe you say,
my high priest is just
that I'm not as bad
as other people.
What stands between me
and a holy God?
It's all the other bad
people who are worse
than me.
So when God looks at
me, yes, he's going to
see some sin.
But he's going to see a
lot more sin in other
places and in other
people.
And so he's going to
grade on a curve and
I'm going to end up
okay.
Okay.
What stands before
God for you?
None of these are real
high priests.
And in fact, they're
actually worse than the
Levitical high priests
of the Old Testament
because at least those
priests were copies and
shadows pointing towards
something true and
something better.
But these high priests
that we come up with
are totally false.
They do not minister in
heavenly places.
They don't sit at the
right hand of the
throne.
They can't offer any
sacrifice for you.
And they leave you
condemned in your sin.
So the author of
Hebrews is telling us
verses 1 through 5,
Jesus is the real
high priest.
So take your real sin
to a real high priest.
A high priest who gives
better promises.
What are the better
promises?
Verses 6 through 12.
Let's start in verses
6 and 7.
As it is, Christ has
obtained a ministry, i.e.
a priesthood, that is as
much more excellent than
the old as the covenant
he mediates is better
since it is enacted on
better promises.
For if that first covenant
had been faultless, there
would have been no
occasion to look for a
second.
Jesus has a better
priestly ministry not
only because he serves
true heavenly realities in
the very presence of God
but also because his
covenant is better and
his covenant is better
because it's legislated,
it's enacted on better
promises.
And Hebrews tells us there
was a problem with the
old covenant.
It had a fault.
What was wrong with the
old covenant?
The old covenant came
from God himself.
Did God give his people
something faulty?
Something broken?
And now he's saying I
gotta do a redo, try again?
There's a fault in the
covenant?
What's up with that?
Did God mess up in his
first covenant?
Let's look at verse 7
again in the first part of
verse 8.
For if that first covenant
had been faultless, there
would have been no
occasion to look for a
second.
For he finds fault with
them when he says.
You would expect him to
say, if the first covenant
had been faultless, there
would have been no
occasion to look for a
second.
For he finds fault with it,
with the covenant.
But that's not exactly what
it says.
It says he finds fault with
them, not it.
See, the real fault in the
old covenant is not the
covenant itself per se.
It's with God's covenant
people.
Look at verses 8 and 9.
He 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, so I
showed no concern for
them, declares the Lord.
The people did not
continue in the covenant.
They broke the agreement.
They violated it in every
way and they received
the promised judgments
of the covenant.
That's some of the promises
of the old covenant, by
the way.
If you do this
judgment,
that's some of the promises
of the old covenant.
But this new covenant, which
Jesus is the high priest, has
better promises that address
this fault.
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.
What are the better promises of
the new covenant of which Jesus
is the high priest?
There are at least three that are
listed here.
God's law internalized in our
hearts, a personal relationship
with God for every member of
God's people, and total
forgiveness of our sins.
What was the law written on in
the old covenant?
Tablets of stone.
External.
Hearts were not changed.
In the new covenant, God writes
his law on hearts.
He changes something within us.
Something that was hard and cold
and dead previously is now
changed by God and the law is
not something external to us to
which we constantly try to live
but it's something that's
internal, that's empowered by
God himself.
And we aren't just a group of
God's people where some people
kind of receive special
dispensations of the Holy Spirit
at special times to accomplish
special tasks and some of us
you know are specially chosen by
God or have a special
relationship with him.
All of us know God from the
least to the greatest.
Everyone has a personal
relationship with God.
They know him
personally.
And of course a total
forgiveness of our sins.
I'll be merciful towards their
iniquities and I will remember
their sins no more.
If we were the fault in the old
covenant and our sin and our
violations and our covenant
breaking, the new covenant has to
have something to account for that.
Something to account for our sin
and God says I will be merciful and I
will remember those sins no more.
forgiveness and total
forgetfulness.
So what's new about the new
covenant?
Here it is.
This is by the way the longest
quotation of the Old Testament
in the New Testament.
Three promises available to us
because Jesus is our real high
priest and because he mediates a
new covenant for us.
The old covenant, the little
biblical priest could not offer
these promises to God's people.
And neither can any of the false
high priests that we may hope in
today.
The high priest of our good
intentions can't give us any of
these promises.
The high priest of cultural excuses
cannot give us any of these
promises.
The high priest of our own
religious intensity cannot give us
any of these promises.
The high priest of intense guilt and
self-punishment does not offer any
of these promises.
The high priest of being a little
bit better than most other people
offers no promises.
So take your real sin to a real high
priest who gives better promises.
We have such a high priest.
The main point of what we're saying
is we have such a high priest.
That's why the good news is called
the good news.
We have such a high priest.
So where are you this morning?
Are you aware of your sin?
It's Mother's Day.
Moms, were you a bad mom this week?
I don't just mean in a joking way.
Did you let your kids down?
Did you treat them in a way that you
shouldn't have?
Dads, were you a lousy dad this week?
Did you choose selfishness?
Did you choose anger?
kids, were you disobedient?
For all of us, did we give in to greed?
Did we give in to envy?
Did we hurt others with our words?
Did we live in shame of our high
priest Jesus?
Take your real sin
to a real high priest
who offers
better promises?
Only Jesus sits at the right hand of God.
Always ready to intercede for you.
Only Jesus offers a sacrifice
that is acceptable in heaven
in the very presence of God.
Only Jesus offers hope
of real obedience
in our hearts and lives.
Only Jesus gives you direct access
to know God directly.
Only Jesus
can take your real sin
and declare it totally forgiven
and totally forgotten
and show mercy to you.
We have
such a high priest.
That's good news.
And we're going to learn
a lot more
about the specifics
of what this is
in the coming weeks
as we look at the next few chapters.
But the main point
of what we're saying
is we have such a high priest.
A real one.
So let's take our sin
to Him.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you.
We are not
capable or worthy
in and of ourselves
to stand before you.
this week,
this morning,
last night,
all of us
fell short.
All of us sinned.
And so we know
that
we need a high priest.
We need Jesus.
just as much today
as any other day.
And we thank you
that He is there for us.
Thank you that
He always will be there for us.
Help us to believe it.
Amen.
Thank you.