Covenants, Calendars and Clarity, Part 3

Well, happy samples once again, brethren! As always, it's a delight to have you with us.

Today I'm going to continue a series that I have had on covenants, calendars, and clarity.

I'm going to review some of the things we covered a couple weeks ago in Part Two.

First of all, Hebrew, we learned, is not a sacred language. It's simply one of the many Semitic languages that existed in the time of Moses. The calendar that they used, that they were instructed to use in order to be able to determine the Holy Days, was a lunar solar calendar, and it was not a sacred calendar or a holy calendar.

It was commonly known as a Canaanite calendar, and that is verified by archaeology and other writings. It was the same calendar they would be using in the Promised Land, one that Moses was familiar with because of his time in the land of Midian. God simply instructed Moses on when a new year would begin on that calendar and how to calculate his festivals, his holy days, using that particular calendar.

We mentioned that most of what we know about the Hebrew calendar doesn't come from the Bible. Very little about the details of that calendar are in Scripture. Most of what we know about it comes from Hebrew tradition or secular history. There are some real issues with the calendar, with how to deal with a lunar calendar that is 11 days short of a solar year each and every year, and how to solve these issues are not mentioned in Scripture.

We saw that in the process of history, in the process of time, first Israel and then later Judah in 586 BC went into captivity. They were 500 miles away from Jerusalem, so because of that and because the land, they were taken from the land, the temple was destroyed, all of the leadership was deported, they now had some new problems, and some of those new problems included how do you observe the new moons when you're not in Jerusalem to physically observe a new moon. Another question, when Jews become scattered all over the earth, which they eventually were, how will they know when a new month begins? How can they keep the holy days together at the same time, no matter where they are on earth?

These are important questions because God is not the author of confusion, and they wanted to have unity among their believers. To solve the problem of how to determine the beginning of the month, the Jewish priest, when they were in Babylon, learned astronomical and mathematical skills from the Babylonians. From the Babylonians, the Jews learned to add an extra month every two or three years in rabbinical times. This intercalary month was inserted seven times every 19 years, again, to keep the lunar year in sync with the solar year.

Very important if you're going to keep the holy days in the right season, very important if you're going to actually know when it's the right time to plant your crop so that you get the benefit of harvesting and planting your crops at the right time. We saw that by the time of Jesus Christ, the authority to proclaim the holy days was given to a religious council. It was given to the Sanhedrin.

Jesus observed the holy days as they were declared by the Sanhedrin, and he never questioned their authority to do so. If you look throughout the Gospels, he never questioned their authority to be able to determine when the holy days were and to proclaim them. Fast-forwarding a little bit in history about the time of 358 AD, the Sanhedrin is about to be abolished by persecution through the Roman Empire.

The last binding decision of the great Sanhedrin was adopting the present Hebrew calendar that we observed to calculate the holy days. It was publicly revealed. It had been used privately for centuries, including back into the time of Christ. But because they knew that their time as a council was very short and they didn't want to have confusion, Hillel was second publicly revealed what they had been using for many years to achieve what days should be observed as part of God's holy days, including four very reasonable rules for postponement that again had been used for centuries.

And some of these rules of postponement are absolutely necessary to perform what God has written in his Word. And sure enough, shortly after that time, the Sanhedrin was dissolved and has never been reinstituted to this day. Near the conclusion of our sermon last time, we took a look at Colossians chapter 2 and verse 16. We saw that the Apostle Paul said that the only authority that has the right to tell us how and when to observe the new moons, or what to eat and drink for that matter, is the body of Christ the Church. We should not let any individual or any person make their own individual decisions on this subject and tell others that this is what you should do.

Again, God is not the author of confusion. God doesn't desire that some people keep the feast here and other people keep the same feast on these days and other people keep the same feast on these days.

He wants unity. And then in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 8, we went there and we saw an example where Paul told the Gentile believers in 1 Corinthians. He said, therefore let us keep the feast, which was referring to the days of unleavened bread.

And we saw how it would be impossible, literally impossible and impractical, for someone to travel 1200 miles from Corinth to Jerusalem to see when the new moon was, travel 1200 miles all the way back to Corinth in just 14 days to say this was the day that the new moon was declared in Jerusalem.

So they obviously had some form of calculation, even by the time of Paul. Well, today I would like to continue this series by talking about the difference, the vast difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. And I think this is an important subject because over the years I have noticed that many people attracted to the church want to live under the Old Covenant.

And not only that, many people who come into the church or are attracted to the church want to pull the church of God back from the New Covenant into the Old Covenant. And the reasoning is this, it's in the Bible. Here's a command that God gave Israel in the Bible. We should be doing this, should we? Is that really true? That's what I would like to talk about today. What is the difference between the New Covenant and the Old Covenant? And how can we know what commands God gave in the Old Testament are applicable for us today? We're kind of unique in a church in that we deeply honor and respect the Old Testament. We read it constantly. We use it to prove our doctrines. We use it in our church services. We use it in our sermons. We use it in our literature. About six months ago, you may recall, we had a guest one day and he sat right here in the front. He sat right there and he was, and his title was, he was a theological investigator. And he was from a Protestant organization. He wanted to come and check out the United Church of God. But before he came here, what you may not know, is he asked me to have breakfast with him. So I sat down, have breakfast with him, and he pulled out a number of our booklets and he's got them highlighted and he's got things circled. And he wants to quiz me and question me. And the same old questions I've heard a thousand times, certainly prepared for the discussion. Do you believe that keeping the holy days provides you salvation? Do you believe in works or faith? Do you know all of these things that I've heard hundreds and hundreds of times, but he, there's one thing that he said that I'll never forget. He said, I've been looking at your literature. I want to compliment the United Church of God. He said, unlike a lot of the other churches that I investigate, you people really value the Old Testament. You people use the Old Testament. And that's true. We do because it's holy scripture. But because we value the Old Testament, because we use the Old Testament, because we go there to discover principles and discover spiritual applications, does not mean that we think everything that was written in the Old Testament is applicable for those under the New Covenant. So we'll get to more of that a little later. So let me begin by contrasting some of the differences between the Old Covenant that was outlined through the law of Moses and the New Covenant, the covenant that we live under today. Let's go to Genesis chapter 15. If you'll turn there with me. God is ready to establish a covenant with Abram, and to prepare for it, he tells him to take a number of animals and cut them in two. And it's type of a sacrifice, it's type of the commitment being made in this covenant. And he says, cut the animals in two and place them so that the two halves face each other. And then after Abram does that, he falls into a deep sleep. Has a vision, has a deep dream and a vision, and here it is. Here's what happens.

Beginning in verse 13. And he said to Abram, know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs and will serve them and they will afflict them for hundred years. Well, his descendants obviously are those who have his, if I can use a modern term, his DNA, his physical relatives, his descendants. And God is saying they're going to go to a land that we know of, turned out to be Egypt, and they're going to be there for 400 years. Verse 14, and also the nation whom they serve I will judge afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now, as for you, you will go to your fathers in peace, you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here. That is the land of Palestine. For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. And it came to pass when the sun went down it was dark that behold there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch passing between those pieces. And again, those pieces were the animals that he had been told to cut into and have those pieces facing each other. And the symbolism is here something like, whoever breaks this covenant may this happen to them, may they be hacked into two pieces. That's kind of the symbolism that is going on here. Verse 18, on the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying to your descendants I have given this land. Now, God is so specific here he's going to tell him exactly what land that is so there's no confusion. From the river of Egypt, that's the Nile, to the great river Euphrates, the Kenites, the Kenizites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rifim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Gargashites, and the Jebusites. So just so there's no confusion, here's the piece of geography that I'm giving to your descendants and here are the names of the peoples who presently live in those lands. So my friends, the promise was a physical land for the descendants of Abraham. God even spells out in detail what the land would be.

So that's the promise. It is built on the promise of physical land for the descendants of Abraham.

Now, let's see if Jesus said the new covenant would be a little different than just the physical descendants of Israel. Let's go to Luke chapter 24 and verse 42 and see what Jesus Christ Himself said.

If I recall correctly, I believe this is after His resurrection where He meets once again the disciples. Luke chapter 24 and verse 42. So they gave Him a piece of boiled fish and some honeycomb and He took it and He ate in their presence. Then He said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets concerning Me, concerning the Son of Man, concerning the anointed one, concerning Jesus Christ Himself. Verse 45. And He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. And He said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.

And He certainly had done that. Verse 47, I want you to notice this. And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations beginning in Jerusalem.

And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you. He's talking about the day of Pentecost when they would receive the Holy Spirit. Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. So I want you to notice here, brethren, that the New Covenant is not about physical DNA. It's not about someone who is physically blood related to Abraham. It's for everyone on earth whom the Father chooses to call. I want you to notice what the message is here that Jesus said. The message is about repentance and remission of sins through Christ, not about making many Jews out of Gentiles, not about teaching them Hebrew customs, not about teaching them the language of Hebrew. On the day of Pentecost, everyone heard the gospel in their own language so that they could go back throughout the Roman Empire and preach the gospel to people in their own language. The miracle of speaking and hearing wasn't so that everyone learned Hebrew when they could all go back and teach Hebrew to people throughout the Roman Empire. That is not what happened. So again, I want to emphasize that the New Covenant is for all nations, everyone whom the Father chooses to call in this lifetime. And of course, we know that those whom He chooses not to call now will have an opportunity at a later time. The second thing I would like to mention about the difference between the two covenants, if you will turn to Exodus chapter 19 and verse 5. Exodus chapter 19 and verse 5. The mediator of the Old Covenant was Moses. He was between the people and God. It was primarily a national relationship with God rather than the opportunity for each and every Israel like to have a personal, deep relationship with God. Indeed, some did. If you did, some prophets did. Moses did. If you did. But it was primarily a national contract, not a personal relationship. There was someone between the people and God. That someone was Moses himself. The form of worship they had was the continual offering of animals and food offerings as a constant reminder of their sins, that they fell short, that they were continually breaking that covenant. Now, let's go to Exodus chapter 19 and verse 5. It says, now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, when you shall be a special treasure to me above all people, for the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. I want you to notice what he just told Moses. These are the words which you shall speak. I'm not going to tell them, Moses. This is what you need to tell them. Again, there is an intermediary. There's something in between the people's relationship with God and God. And that something is the man named Moses, who is the mediator of the old covenant, which you shall speak to the children of Israel. So Moses came and called for the elders of the people and laid before them all these words, which the Lord commanded him. Then all the people answered together and said, all that the Lord has spoken we will do. So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.

And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you and believe you forever. So Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.

The only time that the people ever heard the direct words of God is when he thundered out his commandments from Mount Sinai. But I want you to understand that there's something between God and the people. The people say something to Moses, Moses takes it to God. God tells something to Moses, Moses takes it to the people. So there's a mediator, there is something in between there as part of that covenant. Verse 9, the Lord said to Moses, I'm going to come to you in a dense cloud.

This is from a different translation. That's all the new international version.

So that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.

Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said. So it was Moses alone who had a direct connection and contact with God. And what happened when Moses died? Well, the Levitical priesthood took over that role. If you wanted to have a sacrifice to God, you had to go to a priest.

That was a man between you and God. And you had to make an offer. Sometimes he even kept part of your offering. Sometimes he later could eat part of your offering. There was a mediator between you and God. The people were constantly required to offer sacrifices to temporarily appease God for their sins. Those sacrifices couldn't forgive sin. All they did was appease it temporarily so that they could maintain their covenant relationship with God. People were even barred from going into the Holy of Holies. I believe we understand that in the original tabernacle and later in the temple there was a sacred area called the Holy of Holies. And only the high priest was allowed to go in there once a year on the Day of Atonement and go to the very area that symbolically represented God's direct presence. Normally, everyone was barred from entering the Holy of Holies. There was a curtain there. There was a barrier. You could not cross that curtain. You were isolated from God.

Now, how does that differ from the New Covenant? Well, turn to the book of Hebrews with me. We're actually going to read snippets from three different chapters of the book of Hebrews, so please bear with me. But I think it's very important to emphasize the difference between the relationship that people had with their God under the Old Covenant with the relationship that you and I can have. And this is so important as we begin already to think about the Passover this year, which isn't that many weeks away. So this ties in real well with beginning to think about our role in God's plan, God's individual calling of us, and how our relationship can be with God. We'll begin Hebrews chapter eight, and we're going to pick it up here in verse three.

Hebrews chapter eight, beginning in verse three.

For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, it is necessary that this one, speaking of Jesus himself, also have something to offer. After all, he's a high priest.

For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law, who serve the copy of the shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, See, did you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain? So he said, Jesus Christ can't fulfill that role. There are priests that are already doing those sacrifices each and every day according to the pattern that Moses was originally given. But that pattern was from something in heaven. And that something in heaven is what Jesus Christ, his high priest, fulfills. Let's pick it up here in verse six. But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry inasmuch as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. So unlike what we call the old covenant today, Jesus Christ is the mediator of a better covenant. The promises are better, as we'll see in a few minutes. They are spiritual. They're not temporary. They're not physical. They're eternal. They're glorious. They're family oriented, a whole different set of promises. Verse seven, for if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second because finding fault with them, they could not live up to the requirements of that covenant. They were incapable of doing it.

Finding fault with them, he says, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to leave them out of the land of Egypt because they did not continue in my covenant and I disregarded them.

God says they didn't keep the covenant, so I let them go into exile. I had their cities destroyed.

I allowed the temple to be destroyed. They were gone. I disregarded them completely.

So I disregarded them, says the Lord, for this is the covenant, speaking of this better covenant, this new covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, after a period of time, we know in context that it means after Jesus Christ returns, speaking specifically at the house of Israel and Judah, after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. So it's going to be spiritual. It's going to be a value system. It's going to be something that's locked in your heart and mind that you want to do because you choose to do it because you are excited about it because it is part of you, not simply because you are commanded to do it. There's a whole different mindset and perception that comes from someone wanting to do something willingly, joyfully, voluntarily, in contrast to someone who only does something because they are commanded, told to do it. I want you to notice the mediator is now Jesus Christ. He became our advocate and our personal high priest and makes it possible for us to go directly to the Father because as a mediator, he is not in between us and the Father. He is actually sitting at the right-hand side of the Father and he's saying, I'm your advocate. I'm here for you. I'm here to lobby for you.

I'm your biggest supporter. Talk to your Father. Pray to him. Tell him what's on your mind. Tell him what's in your heart. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11. There's one more chapter, chapter 9 and verse 11. But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands. That is not of this creation. See, it's spiritual.

It's not a physical tabernacle that he brings. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood. He entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Not just a temporary for a hundred years, not just until the next time that you sin, eternal redemption.

For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, if that had any benefit, all of those animal sacrifices to appease God for a short time until you sinned again and you had to do it all over again.

If that had any benefit, he says, verse 14, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? So you see, when we're under the new covenant, we don't have to live a life of shame for the stupid things we've done in the past. We don't have to live through guilt. Someone paid the price, and that someone is Jesus Christ. We don't have to perpetually go back and make animal sacrifices. We say, Father, I slipped up again, I repent, forgive me, and God says, I forgive you, I love you, keep moving forward, keep growing, keep heading towards the light and away from the darkness. Continuing verse 15, and for this reason, he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance. What kind of inheritance did you get under the old covenant?

As long as your lifetime lasts. Did you ever notice there's no discussion about the afterlife in the old covenant? There's no discussion about a resurrection, being spirit, being a spirit, nothing there. It's all physical promises. In your lifetime, here's what I'll give you.

You'll be blessed. All these good things will happen, and then you die.

That's what the covenant was built on. So he says, in contrast, this is for those who are called, that they may receive the promise of eternal inheritance, not just for a hundred-year lifetime in a piece of land between the Nile and the Euphrates. Our inheritance is not physical land or material blessings. It's eternal. It's spiritual, and that makes all the difference in the world.

Let's go back one more chapter, Hebrews 10, and take a look at a few verses here.

Hebrews 10 and verse 5.

Therefore, when he came into the world, he said, sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me.

Unlike animal sacrifices, which did nothing, Jesus Christ emptied himself of his divinity, and he came to earth as a man, as a human being, so that he could live a perfect life.

He could fulfill the entire law, and because he was creator, his one life sacrifice was of greater worth than all humans, all beings, all creatures that have ever been created, and he could eliminate all sin. And he was, he came to this earth in a body, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, you had no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come, and the volume of the book it is written of me. And you look throughout the Old Testament, you find in the book of Psalms and the prophets, you have many references to a Savior, many references to the anointed one, many references to a Messiah. To do your will, O God, previously saying, sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings and offerings for sin, you did not desire, nor had pleasure in them, which were offered according to the law. God said that that wasn't, it was just a temporary thing to point to something else. It didn't even give me pleasure to see all of those animals sacrificed, and all of that blood running down that sacrificial altar for millennia. He says, really, it brought me no pleasure. That's what it wasn't about. Verse 9, then he said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first that he may establish the second. He takes away what we call the Old Covenant, so that Jesus Christ as mediator can establish the Second Covenant, the Better Covenant, the New Covenant. Verse 10, by that, we will have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, and every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, again speaking of Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. And he's still there to this day, brother, advocating for you and for me from that time waiting till his enemies were made his foot stool, and that'll occur when he returns to earth the second time. Verse 14, for by this one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. They're not being perfected for a year, for 10 years, until they slip up and sin again. They are being perfected forever, those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us. Of course it does, because the Holy Spirit comes from God, it comes from the Father, from Jesus Christ, and it resides in us through the laying on of hands. And the presence of Jesus Christ of God himself are in us through the presence of his Holy Spirit. So of course the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us. For after he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts and into their minds. I will write them, and he adds, their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.

Do you remember how, realize how powerful that is? He doesn't just say, their sins and their lawless deeds I will forgive. He says, no, I'm going beyond that. I'm going to choose, because I'm God and I can do anything I want, I am going to choose not to even remember that they ever sinned. How's that for having a relationship with God? How's that for feeling forgiven, for feeling blessed, for having gratitude for all that God has given us? Verse 18.

Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil that is His flesh. His flesh was ripped. It was torn when those catenine tails which had pieces of bone and metal tied into the ends of them, when He was scourged, it pulled out chunks of His flesh. When He had nails ripped through His body, it tore out holes in His body. It was torn, just like the veil that separated the ark of the covenant, anciently from the people, had a curtain, had a veil. That veil was ripped so that people now had access to go directly to the Father, directly through the Holy Apollis, and talk to their God.

No longer in need for a mediator like Moses, no longer in need for Levitical priesthood. You have a great high priest, and he's sitting there right there on the right-hand side of your dad, and he's there for you. He's always been there for you and for me. Verse 21, And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised it is faithful. We have a 100% guarantee from God that all of his promises in the new covenant, his promises for us, are absolutely sure. Let's talk about another difference.

The promises offered to Israel were primarily physical. I already touched upon them. They included land, having prosperity, having good physical health. They included national security, and becoming God's treasure nations. But very few people were ever offered the Holy Spirit. Very few people had the opportunity to have a relationship with God. Let's go to Deuteronomy 28, and verse 1, and I will just go through a few of the blessings that they were promised as part of this covenant. Deuteronomy 28, verse 1. Now, it shall come to pass if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. Boy, that's a pretty high bar, isn't it? Diligently obey the voice of the earth, and observe carefully all of his commandments. Again, we're in Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 1. That's a pretty high bar, too. Which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth, and all of these blessings will come upon you, and it lists blessing after blessing after blessing. All physical. Just drop down to verse 9. The Lord will establish you as a holy people to himself, just as he has sworn to you if you keep the commandments of the Lord and walk in his ways. Let's drop down to verse 13.

Then the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall be above only and not be beneath. If you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them, so you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day to the right or to the left to go after other gods and serve them. But it shall come to pass if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all his commandments and his statutes which I command you today, that all of these curses will come upon you and overtake you.

For the sake of time, I can't go into the next few verses, but there are some pretty horrendous curses. So the covenant was based on blessings or curses. The bar was high. You had to diligently keep the commandments of God. It was a pretty challenging covenant, especially for people who were primarily carnal. But again, I want you to notice that these promises are all physical.

They're not spiritual. The promises are so physical that by the time of Jesus Christ, the Sadducees who controlled the temple worship and were a significant Jewish influence, the Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection. And when you ask the Sadducee, why don't you believe in the resurrection, they would say correctly, because we only believe in the Pentateuch, the books written by Moses. And nowhere in the Pentateuch is there a hint that there's a resurrection from the dead. That's what the Sadducees would have told you. Because the promises were all physical. Now let's go to Romans chapter 3 and verse 19. Romans chapter 3 and verse 19, and contrast that with what Paul tells us regarding those of us who have the blessing of being under the new covenant. Paul writes, now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. And that's what God's law does. It reminds us that we're sinners. It says, guilty, have you coveted? You're guilty. Have you had lust? You're guilty. Have you ever stolen anything? You're guilty. Have you not worshiped God in the way that you should? You're guilty. Have you ever used his name in vain? You're guilty.

It reminds us of how far short we fall from the perfection of God. And that's a good thing.

But what he wants to emphasize here is keeping that law doesn't provide salvation.

Doesn't make us just in God's sight. Verse 20, therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. It tells us how carnal, how weak, how the base we are. And it should remind us of our absolute need for a savior.

Verse 21, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. In other words, it was spoken of ahead of time through the birth of Jesus Christ.

Verse 22, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe, not just to the physical descendants of Abraham, but to all whom the Father calls and accept that calling and say, I believe. And of course, we understand that to say, I believe isn't just shallow words that come out of your mouth. Belief means that you act upon it. It means that you're committed towards it. It means that you want to be a new creature in Christ. It means you want to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord. It means you want to have a change to light. You want to walk towards the light of God and away from the darkness of this world. That's all of those things encompass the understanding of what it means to believe, not just some shallow words that flow out of someone's mouth. I believe in Jesus. That doesn't mean anything to God.

It says, for there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And of course, His grace is the favor that He gives us that gives us a pardon for our sins because someone else is paying the price. That's what God's grace is. He looks down upon us in favor and He says, I'm going to call you at this age and I'm going to offer you my spirit and I'm going to offer you a new way of life. And why am I doing that? Not because you're special, not because you're superior, not because you're smarter than anyone else, because I'm the daddy. Because I get to make the rules that I chose you. That's why. Not because you're anybody special. Verse 25, when God set forth as a propitiation or a total atonement by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness because of His forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. It's not about our righteousness. Our righteousness could not get us a cup of coffee in McDonald's for 25 cents on senior day. It is His righteousness within us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that makes us righteous. And when we do something stupid, when we sin, we say, Father, forgive me. I repent. I have fallen short. And He says, learn the lesson and go forward. Your righteousness continues because my spirit dwells in you. It's His righteousness that saves us, not our own righteousness. What Paul is telling us here is that those who have a spiritual relationship with the Father are saved by the righteousness of Christ in them and continue to be saved when they sin and repent of their transgressions. The righteousness doesn't keep, doesn't come from keeping God's commandments. Should we keep God's commandments? Absolutely. And like I emphasize to people every time I get, every chance I get, when you are truly converted, you love God's commandments. And keeping God's commandments is a byproduct of your faith and your growth. They won't save you, but they should be there. And this should be obvious for everyone to see. Righteousness doesn't come by having good works. Should we have good works? Absolutely. We were created for good works. And people should see our good works, again, as a byproduct of being converted, of loving God's way of life, of developing the fruit of the spirit in our hearts and minds. We definitely should have good works. But those works can't save us.

It comes by His grace and by our faith in Him as our Savior. So again, I want to emphasize the New Covenant promises are spiritual. They're not temporary, not for a lifetime. They're not physical, limited to a piece of geography between a couple of rivers. John chapter 3 and verse 12.

Turn with me if you would go there, please. John chapter 3 and verse 12.

John chapter 3 verse 12.

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe?

If I tell you heavenly things, Jesus says, no one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, that is the Son of Man who is in heaven. Verse 14, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Just to give you a recap of what happened in Numbers 21, the people of Israel were going through another one of their typical pity party. God sent us to the desert to die. And so snakes came out, poisonous snakes, and began to bite them, and they were dropping like flies. And God has a discussion with Moses who wanted to intervene on behalf of the people. And God says, take a snake, portrait of a snake or a serpent, and put it on a pole and lift it up. And everyone who looks up in faith at that snake or that serpent, even though they're bitten, they will not die. And that's exactly what happened. What Jesus Christ is saying here is that he would be lifted up. He became sin for us. He took on the serpent's sins that all of us have committed since Adam and Eve were created. Sofishness and carnality and all of the things. He became sin for us, and he was crucified on a cross or a stake and lifted up as sin so that you and I, in faith, could look to him and believe in his life and accept that calling and understand what salvation is. So Jesus Christ says, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That's exactly what the Romans did. When they crucified you, they lifted you up. Why? Because they wanted to send a warning message to everybody in the village in the community. You were crucified high, usually on a hill, certainly on top of a tall stake or whatever. It was a hundred yards away. They wanted people walking by to say, oh look, somebody's being crucified over there. Oh, that's really too bad. That's tough.

Boy, you sure don't want to mess with the Romans. That's exactly what they wanted.

Verse 15, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He who believes in him, of course, we understand that, as I said, belief means a lot more than just a couple of words that flow out of our mouth.

He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have been done in God. Well, brethren, in conclusion today, along with the promise of eternal life, more specifically in the book of Revelation, Jesus said something else that I want us to be aware of. No need to turn there. I'm running out of time. It says in Revelation chapter 5 and verse 9, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, we've been redeemed. You've redeemed us to God by your blood and have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on earth. And the point is we'll not simply have eternal life plucking on a harp somewhere forever.

We'll have fulfilling, rich, rewarding work to do as spirit beings with eternal life in the family and in the kingdom of God. So next time, what I would like to do is take what we gathered so far today and answer a few questions. These questions are this. Are the old covenant laws valid for us today? How can we tell the difference between when something is stated in the Old Testament and we realize it's been done away, or we realize that it's no longer applicable to us, or we realize that it's something that we absolutely should do today just as the commandment states? How can we know the difference? That's what we'll cover next time in the series of the sermon on covenants, calendars, and clarity. Have a wonderful Sabbath.