Book of Hebrews, Part 2

Well, good morning again, brethren, and I want to welcome everyone here. Glad to see all of you.

I was thinking that I was looking over my sermon. Actually, I had left a copy of the sermon for my wife to look at, and she said, this is the longest sermon. And I told her, well, I hope it's not too long. People tune out at 11 30.

I hope it won't be. It shouldn't be. But it is one that I hope will be of help to you, and be able, as we started last week studying in the book of Hebrews, we learned the primary focus of the book of Hebrews when you read through the entirety of it, and even as you read the first few verses of Hebrews chapter 8. It shows clearly that it's a book about the priesthood, about the high priesthood of Jesus Christ. And, of course, thankfully, he is above and before, and greater and more important than anything you see written in the Bible. Anything that the prophets wrote down, anything that any angel may have communicated, anything that came from Moses, anything that worked through Aaron or the Levitical priesthood, because all of those things are mentioned here in the first part of the book of Hebrews, Jesus is higher and above all of that, because he came to the earth to provide a perfect sacrifice, and he returned to the perfect sanctuary. He is there as our merciful high priest. He's also the mediator of the better covenant. And, of course, that covenant has better promises for us, promises of eternal life as we develop and grow in the divine family of God. What an absolute wonderful delight that God has thought this all out long before he created the angelic realm or the physical creation or man in the form that we have. He'd already figured all that out, and, of course, Tom pointed this out in the sermon that God is clearly in control of the plan.

But I want to focus on what I mentioned about Jesus being the mediator of the new covenant.

As it's turned in the book of Hebrews, it's a better covenant, and that is the focus of what I want to mention today. And, fully, even though there are several different covenants and agreements that are made, as we read in the Old Testament and even some in the New, I guess most of them we see in the Old Testament, the one here in the New Testament is a critical covenant because it involves each of us. It involves our relationship with God, and it involves a commitment that we have entered into with God. I'd like for us to look in Exodus 19 because to try to tie together the Old covenant, what we might say is the first covenant, and then we are a part now of a new or better covenant with God. But here in Exodus 19, as the Israelites reached Mount Sinai, God showed that He was extremely concerned about them.

He says here in Exodus 19, verse 5, He says, Now therefore, if you obey my voice, and if you keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all people. And indeed the whole earth is mine, and you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.

This is what God told Moses to tell the people. See, I'm making a covenant with you.

I have things I want to offer you. I love you. I am concerned about you. And yet, as we know about this covenant that is in the Old Testament, it was a limited covenant. It didn't promise eternal life. It promised to live in a blessed land, but that was all.

And so I'd like for us to go. All of us are familiar with the Ten Commandments listed there in chapter 20, but over in chapter 24, Exodus 24, you see how it was that Moses confirmed that covenant with the Israelites who were, they had been through a wilderness. Many of the older ones who had been in Egypt and had, in a sense, complained about what God was doing, they were now dead, and a new group of Israelites were ready to be led into the Promised Land, the land of promise that God had given. And here in Exodus 24, in verse 6, it says, Moses took, and it mentions in verse 5 some offerings and sacrifices that had been selected. Moses took half of the blood, in verse 6, and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar.

And then he took the book of the covenant. This starts in connection with what we read of in the Old Covenant, the covenant that was made with these children of Israel as they were entering a Promised Land. He took the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people, and they said all that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will be obedient. Now they'd said that before. Now they were saying it again, they were saying we agree. You know, we believe that God has something good for us, and of course all that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will be obedient. And Moses took some of the blood and he dashed it on the people, and he said, see the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all of these words. Even in regard to this Old Covenant, blood was used as a symbol. It was used in a, I guess, an emblematic way. There was blood involved. In this case it was blood of bulls and goats.

And what we'll read later as we study in the book of Hebrews, you know, that blood wasn't able to forgive sin. It wasn't able to cleanse the conscience. It wasn't able to purify the heart. It wasn't able to cleanse the mind, which is what the better covenant is all about.

I'd like for us to contrast what we read here about the blood of the Old Covenant with what we read in Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14, Jesus says, in verse 23, clearly this is when He was with His disciples. This was right before He would be taken and then crucified, right before His blood would be shed through even the Spirit that we had mentioned in the sermonette. Here in Mark 14 verse 23, Jesus took a cup and after giving thanks, He gave it to His disciples. He gave it to those who would be the leaders of the New Testament church.

He gave it to those He loved and He had trained and was working with. After giving thanks, He gave the cup to them and all of them drank from that cup. And He said to them in verse 24, this is my blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for men. See, a clear connection between the blood that was used in connection with the New or the Old Covenant, excuse me, and the New Covenant, the new relationship that Jesus was offering to His disciples.

He was offering to these, in a sense, very new group of people who would be leaders of a larger group, which would ultimately be the church of God. And, of course, it extends to us today as we choose. We want to be a part of that church. And, of course, as Jesus made that connection, when we were baptized, when we had come to see the enormity of our sins, and when we were baptized, we made a commitment to God. And God then extended to us the mercy and the forgiveness that we desire. And, in a sense, what we were doing, we were entering into a contract.

We were entering into an agreement. We were entering into the covenant, the better covenant, with God. And we were making a very significant and, I guess we should say, the most important commitment that we would ever make in life. We were embracing the new covenant. And so, I guess a title for this sermon would be embracing the better covenant. We see Jesus as the mediator of that covenant, and we see Him having offered His blood.

But we're also involved. Clearly, the people, as we read in the Old Testament, they said the right thing. We'll obey! But then they didn't. And they saw, you know, we're pretty weak. We're pretty powerless. We can't even go up against the enemy without God's help. And so, they clearly are an example. But all of us are embracing the new covenant, the better covenant today. Let's look in Jeremiah 31, because we read in Jeremiah how that this covenant, what this covenant was to be about.

See, I think if we're reminded that we have entered into a covenant with God, the better covenant, with a better promise of eternal life, well, then that's a very significant and in a sense that is the motivating factor in our lives. We surely want to know what the terms or the conditions of the old covenant, or excuse me, the new covenant is.

Because I agree to it. I want to be a part of it. And so, I want to... You see this pointed out in the Old as well as in the New Testament. Here in chapter 31 of Jeremiah, it says in verse 31, that the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband. I was there to help them, but they didn't rely on me. They turned from me. And so he goes ahead in verse 33, this is a covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws, 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, and no longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, know the Lord, for they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. See now, you can look back and see, well that's written in the Old Testament, that's written at a time before the Israelites, house of Israel and Judah were even into captivity. You know, this was stated at that time, a new covenant will be needed because clearly, you know, the old covenant has been broken by the people.

But it does give us the elements or the conditions of the new covenant. And so let's go back in the book of Hebrews to chapter 8 again, or maybe not again today because we haven't been there yet, but to go back and just rehearse this, because in chapter 8 of the book of Hebrews, we find this written by the author of Hebrews.

He goes over what it was that was described there in Jeremiah. It says in verse 6, Jesus has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of the better covenant, which has been enacted through better promises. And so, as this was written in the first century after the time of Christ, then the statement could be made. This is a done deal. The sacrifice has been given. The blood has been shed. And a covenant that will work needs to be entered into.

And in verse 8, oh well, let's read verse 7. The first covenant had been faultless, and there had been no need for a second. The first covenant wasn't going to achieve eternal life. The first covenant had a certain limitation to it. And yet, there are elements of that that need to be understood, and clearly need to be understood as we see them in relationship to the new covenant that we embrace and enjoy.

It says in verse 8, God found fault with the people. He found fault with them when He says, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Verse 10, this is a covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws in their minds. I will write them on their hearts.

I will be their God, and they shall be my people. They shall not teach one another, or say to each other, Know the Lord, for they will all know me. From the least of the greatest, and I will be merciful toward their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Now, clearly, what we see written in Hebrews is pretty much directly taken right out of what we read in Jeremiah. And yet, it seems to be pointed to the house of Israel, and certainly we want to be able to see that. We want to be able to recognize that as we embrace that covenant today. You see four different elements, four different conditions that are written and that are clearly a part of the new covenant. And I think we should be familiar with the terms of the new covenant, with the terms of the covenant that we have with God. The first one is clearly that the law of God is the foundation of both the old and the new covenant. See, that law existed before the first covenant was ever made. Whenever Adam and Eve took of a fruit of a tree that they were told is off limits, they were transgressing many of the commands that would later be written down by Moses. Whenever Cain killed Abel, that was transgressing the sixth commandment. You know, the law existed prior to it actually being written down in the old covenant, and it clearly exists in our lives today. So the law of God is the foundation of both the old and the new covenant. And of course, the reason for that is the law existed prior to it being extended to the Israelites as a rule of living. But what we find is in Romans 7, the law is important. The law is important as we read here in Romans 7 verse 7 because it defines Cain.

Verse 7 of Romans 7, what should we say? Should we say that the law of sin? And Paul says, well, of course not. By no means. Yes, if it had not been for the law, then I would have not known about sin.

You know, when you do away with the law, when you diminish it, when you ignore it, when you abolish it, you know, that's why so many people are missing a point here, then you can't define sin.

He says, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law did not say you shall not covet.

He said, there's no way I would have been able to figure that out on my own. But clearly, we realize, and of course, verse 12 says, the law is holy and the commandments are holy and just and good. But there's an approach toward the law that's needed.

And clearly, Jesus said he did not come to destroy that law. He actually came to fulfill it. He came to even explain more about how it is going to be fulfilled in the thought processes of human beings. And I, as I think about this, you know, it's really an outlook toward the law. Whenever you have an outlook toward the law of not wanting to respond or not wanting to obey or wanting to say it doesn't exist, that's a certain attitude. That's an attitude of arrogance. It's an attitude of human vanity to say, I can make my own rule. I don't have to be told by my creator how to live.

And yet I know all of us agree we should be told. We should be honoring God's law.

And of course, here, actually just on the next page in chapter 8 in Brevin, that transition from ignoring the law or in some way trying to explain away the law is contrasted here by an attitude that is a spiritual attitude. Here in chapter 6 it says, to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

And he goes on to say in verse 7, for the mind, the reason, for this reason, excuse me, the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile or enmity to God because it does not submit to God's law. And indeed, it cannot submit. For those who are in the flesh simply cannot please God. To hear he's talking about, again, something I know all of us are familiar with, but it's an extremely important outlook. Whenever God starts shaping our mind and our heart with his law, we no longer are hostile toward that law. We are on the opposite side of that. I love the law. I'm glad to know what God wants me to know. And I want that law to shape my mind. Actually, we see it written, you know, the description in the New Testament about the New Covenant relationship shows us that our mind needs to be transformed. It shows us that our heart needs to be softened instead of a hard heart, instead of a carnal mind. We want to be transformed to where our mind is in alignment with God, in alignment with his plan for me, in alignment with his promise of eternal life and the family of God. And so, you know, it causes us to have, and actually Romans 8 verse 7 really describes how it is we please God, how it is we have a correct fear of God, a right fear of God, a right awe of God's prerogative to tell me how to live. And then we desire to obey, and yet just simply obeying. And because we have to obey, that again is not obeying because I want to obey, not because I have to obey, but because I see the sacrifice, I see what was done for me, and how much God wants me to be pleasing to him. And I certainly want to do the will of the Father. This is a transition that has to take place. This is the first of the four elements in the New Covenant, that we come to respect the law, we come to honor that law, to love that law, and then our outlook. Now, are we sinless? No. Now, we're still running into problems at times, and yet we fight against. That's what Paul wrote about in chapter 7 here. He says, I'm struggling here. This is not just a given. It is a struggle, but I know, he says in chapter 7, verse 24, who is going to rescue me from this body of death? Who will rescue me from the struggle against sin that I have? Well, he says, I thank God that I'm rescued through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Our relationship with him is of great importance. The second part of what we read about the New Covenant, God said, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Now, it's interesting to see, and this is in connection with what we find in the fact that God was talking to the people of Israel that he had brought out of Egypt, and he was telling them, I'm going to make a covenant with you, and they agreed, but of course, they didn't have faith. They didn't have the help of the Holy Spirit. They were very limited in their ability, and of course, blame was found with them, but they were wrong. But we read in Galatians 6, verse 16, speaking of the Christians who were in a new creation. You see them spoken of those who were following the guide, the rule that Paul was writing about. He says, peace and mercy be upon them, upon the Israel of God.

This is talking of Christians who embraced the New Covenant. We'll recall the Israel of God.

And that's why when it says the day will come when God will make a covenant with the house of Israel, everyone will come to see, I want to be, and I want to have a covenant relationship with God that is called being the people of God, being the Israel of God.

And of course, in connection with this, I think we have to think about how is it that God is going to be our God and then we are going to be His people. How is it that that actually occurs? Do I just choose to do that? Do I just pick that? And see, I think a lot of people actually have done that. Maybe we did that. Maybe we agreed that we needed some help, but we didn't fully understand what help was available. We could even read some of the Bible and say, I know that there's something here about Jesus that is very important. But see, what Jesus told His disciples in John 15 verse 16 was that, you didn't choose me. I chose you. There's a great significance to that. John 644, of course, is the verse we have always read, showing that God the Father draws us to Jesus Christ. And yet, that's a very important part of understanding. God will be their God and we shall be His people. See, that's extremely important because we didn't choose God. God chose us. He offered us an invite. He offered us an invitation to the kingdom of God. He offered us the opportunity to be His people. Otherwise, it wouldn't occur. See, how did Abraham become the Father of the faithful? How did he become the individual through whom God would develop ultimately the entire nation of Israel? Well, you read in Genesis 12 that Abraham was drawn to God. He was told to, by God, I want you to leave where you are. I want you to go to a land that I'll show you. And of course, you find about Abraham that he was willing to do it. He was willing to obey. He was told he'd be given a number of promises, but they were somewhat limited. I guess in many ways they were physical, and yet other ways there were spiritual blessings that God also pointed out to Abraham. But see, Abraham didn't choose God. God chose Abraham just as we see Jesus said about his disciples. You didn't choose me. I have chosen you, and I want you to bring forth fruit.

If we look in 1 Peter chapter 2, the description that we find, again, of Christians who are entering into the New Covenant in verse 9, you were a chosen people. Did that mean they chose God? No, it means I introduced you. I drew you into a relationship with me. I called you. You're a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people.

In order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, and then one time you were not a people, evolving, gathered together by God, together to be my people. But now you are God's people, and once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. I think it's fabulous to be able to see what God says about his better covenant, and that he is the one who has chosen to give us understanding of how we benefit from this. The third element in the better covenant is that we come to know the Lord. It's not a confusing or distressing thing. It actually is about a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. That is based on our belief. We look in Acts chapter 4. Every time Tom read a verse, I wonder if he was going to be reading the same verses that I might be reading, but it's close but no cigar. Here in Acts chapter 4, it says in verse 11, he's speaking about how that this individual had been healed. In verse 11, this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, become the cornerstone on which all life is built. And he says in verse 12, there is salvation in no one else. There is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved. Not Muhammad, not anyone else that would profess to be the Messiah, no one else that claims to be the anointed one, only Jesus. And coming to truly know him is involving our belief in him, in who he is, in what he was when he was here on earth, to believe he is the Son of God, to believe he was sent from the Father, to believe he's going to bring his kingdom, to truly know Jesus Christ. John 17 verse 3 says this is eternal life. This is eternal life as Jesus was stating this to his Father. This is eternal life that you know. This is eternal life that you know the only true God. John 17 verse 3, I'm sorry, this is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and that they may know Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Coming to know that, it's not a matter of that has to be, in a sense, kind of somehow extended and coerced onto people. It's a matter of coming to truly know God the Father and his relationship with the Son.

And again, as we had revealed in the sermonette, that relationship of agreement, that relationship of the family, that relationship was there prior to the creation of anything. Their design, their desire to put together a plan that ultimately would bring others into their family. And I think we turn back to chapter 10 verse 6, verse 27. Of course, Jesus is speaking here about being the Good Shepherd and nurturing his sheep. Amazing information here in chapter 10 because he points out that I'm not only the Good Shepherd, I'm actually the door through which the sheep have to come to be in the sheepfold. But he says here in John 10 verse 27, he says, my sheep, the people of God, the people who God calls and says, I will be your God and you will be my people. Jesus says these people are my sheep and they hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. That's a wonderful explanation in a sense of what we see as a term of the new covenant. The term of the better covenant is truly coming to know Jesus Christ on an individual basis.

Of knowing as he describes himself, not only as the head of the church, but knowing him as personally and individually our head. He is our leader. You can call him many different names. There are different descriptions that are used about Jesus' role, but ultimately, he is the head of each and every one of us. And so the third element involves coming to truly know the Lord. Now that statement is proclaimed by many religious people. Truly knowing that, truly believing the relationship of the Father and the Son, knowing what it was that I didn't just pick them, they picked me. They granted me the blessing and mercy of being called. And of course, the last thing that we see mentioned about the new covenant is that I will be merciful in providing forgiveness of their sins, and I will remember them no more. To look at another one of Jesus' statements here in Matthew 26. In Matthew 26, in verse 27, this again is when Jesus was instituting the symbols that would later be used in the Passover service that we observe every year.

Here in Matthew 26, Matthew 26, verse 27, he says, he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them.

And he said, drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant.

Now in this account it says, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of your sins. There was an element in the old covenant that involved blood, but it wasn't blood that could forgive sin. It could remind people of sin, and certainly that Israelites surely must have thought they were sinners, or they surely must have known, you know, we have broken the covenant. We have not followed the law, but all they could do would be reminded of that. And when we look at Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10 shows us the magnitude of the forgiveness that God has extended to us. Hebrews 10 verse 4 said it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. That's what we read about in connection with the old covenant, but to take away sin we need the blood of Jesus. And if we drop down to verse 16 and talking about this, this of course writer is contrasting what didn't work and what was in the old covenant and what was no longer going to even be needed as far as the sacrifices and offerings, because Jesus was giving a sacrifice that was complete. But here in verse 16 he says, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says, the Lord I will put my laws in their hearts, I will write them on their minds, and he also says I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. That's what he says if we're entering into and embracing the better covenant. That's what he says. I extend forgiveness. He actually, if you back up to verse 10, he said it is by God's will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all. The sacrifices and offerings of the Old Testament were, and David even realized this, you know, this is not really what you're after, is it? When you read Psalm 51 in the last few verses, he says, I know you're not, you know, this is not achieving what you want. What you want is a transformed heart. What you want is a broken spirit and a contrite heart. That's what even David at that point realized about what God was doing. But when we read about the new covenant, and we read about this better covenant and the terms of this covenant, we see that the blood that is extended for us is able to forgive sin. And in verse 12, it says, when Christ had offered up once or for all time a single sacrifice for sin, he sat down at the right hand of God.

And since then, he's been waiting. He's waiting. He gave the perfect sacrifice. He gave the perfect offering. And he is waiting until his enemies would become his footstool. He's waiting until his enemies would be made of footstool for his feet. And of course, we read about that in Philippians, how God is going to bring that about in due time. Now, we are embracing the new covenant today. Others are going to embrace that in the kingdom of God, in the world to come. Others are going to embrace that even in time beyond that. But ultimately, that embracing of the new covenant involves appreciating the law of God, obeying that, and desiring to truly love God's rule in my life.

It involves knowing that God invited me, and I appreciate that, and knowing the Lord who is my Savior, and truly knowing that my sins are forgiven because the perfect blood is described here in verse 18. After it mentions Jesus having been the perfect sacrifice, it says in verse 18, and where there is forgiveness of thee. Forgiveness of our transgressions and our sins. Forgiveness of our not only wrong acts, but wrong thoughts, and even forgiveness of our hostility toward God.

When there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. You don't need to continue to offer over and over again like the sacrifices were. This sacrifice suffices. This is what the New Covenant is all about. This is what we embrace. This is what we embraced as we were new Christians. This is what we should continue to embrace, and I want to encourage us to truly embrace that better covenant because it offers eternal life, and we are going to be growing toward that time. And actually, it's amazing to me because I see that the New Covenant involves the transformation of our heart and our mind. That begins with the foundation of God's law.

But it extends beyond as our mind is transformed and as our heart is softened, instead of being hard, as I mentioned earlier, we actually take on the attitudes that Jesus had. And of course, we're also told, let this mind be in you, which was also in Jesus. You know, that's the kind of mind we want. And yet, I was struck by the fact that the transition that is taking place in us is really described in Matthew chapter 5 when Jesus gave the beatitudes.

He said, truly blessed are not the hostile, not the arrogant, not the pride-filled that's describing Satan's way. But he said, blessed are those who are poor in spirit.

Blessed are those who mourn.

Blessed are those who are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger in thirst after righteousness.

Blessed are those who are merciful toward others.

Blessed are those who are pure in heart.

Blessed are the peacemakers. And blessed are you who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. You could put all of those qualities within the realm of what the new covenant is about, the better covenant is about. And you could see that that transition of our mind and heart is described in the attitudes that Jesus gave when he described the attitudes that Christians will have. And that we will, he goes on to say, at the end of each of those, we will either see God or we will be filled or we will be comforted or we will be granted the privilege of being the children of God, or ultimately, as he says in two of those attitudes, theirs is the kingdom of God. And so I encourage us as we look forward to the spring holy days that we truly appreciate the forgiveness of our sins, that we appreciate the nature of our responsibility before God, that we that's our motivating and driving force in our lives, and that we can truly appreciate the hope, the hope that that gives us because it gives us the hope of eternal life. And that's why we want to embrace the better covenant.