Your Covenant with God - Part 3

When we speak of covenants, we are referring to something that is an involvement of God, a covenant that God has made with humans. God is a spirit, divine being, existing forever, great power, great knowledge. He has created humanity and placed us here and given us information in the Bible as to how we as humans should live.

Now, we can opt to live our own way, which mankind traditionally has done down through time, or we can opt to develop a different way of life. God has offered a covenant, for instance, to Adam and Eve, to his children, we saw with Cain and Abel, with humanity, including Noah, Abraham, the Israelites, the New Covenant Church, ultimately in the future. We will see, after the resurrection, a New Covenant made with the House of Israel and ultimately all humanity. This is a wonderful opportunity that God gives, and the covenants can seem complex.

There's a lot to be covered in a covenant. The Church produces a booklet called The New Covenant, and it's a fairly thick book, but it explains covenants in an overview. This book that you and I have, the Bible, explains covenants, and there's a lot of pages in here. Some of it is portioned in sections, others of it refers to other sections. You really need the entire Bible in order to understand the covenant. The Church also produces a doctrinal paper entitled The Covenants of God, and this is over 50 pages long.

So you can see, when we talk about Your Covenant with God, which is this sermon series title, we're talking about something that is broad in perspective, contains a lot of information, and also needs to be understood if we are going to be successful in our covenants. From this doctrinal study paper, The Covenants of God, it says, from Genesis to Revelation, there are numerous covenants that God establishes with mankind. In Scriptures, when a covenant is made by God, it is in the context of instituting a positive, loving relationship with the person or persons involved.

We should remember that when we think of covenants. This is something for the good of the individuals. From the God who is love, and will do any and everything for us out of His agape love mindset. As the doctrinal study paper continues, since all of these covenants were initiated by Him, they are consequently based on His perfect and holy character.

The Bible states that Jesus Christ is the end or the goal. He is the ultimate. He is what the law is about for us. It has become Christ-like. And so this God of love and this great God wants us to develop His holy character. That character is not just holy, but it is righteous in His eyes according to the family of God.

So this presents us with a fairly big challenge, doesn't it? To convert to the mind of God, to put on the mind of Christ, as Jesus said in Matthew 5.48. To become You therefore perfect, as Your Father in heaven is perfect. God is a God of what we call grace. That word, carise, in the New Testament means reciprocal favor. So God has favored us with His laws, His word, His Son, His calling, faith, repentance, baptism, the forgiveness of sin through the blood of His Son, but then His Son living in us and God living in us through their Holy Spirit to help us develop this nature.

Each one of these covenants reflects God's love and concern for mankind at different stages of human history. No covenant was exactly the same. And I'll also state that one covenant does not replace or terminate another covenant. For instance, when you see a rainbow, you see the promise of God at the flood that He will never wipe out mankind around the earth with a flood again. How long does that covenant remain? Well, if you look through prophecy, you'll find there's never another flood down through all time. When you look at the covenant God made with Abraham and He said, through your seed, capital S, all the nations will be blessed.

How long does the blessing of Jesus Christ affect or be a blessing to humanity? Does that blessing ever end out through all eternity? Is that not a blessing? Of course it is.

So, as James states, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights. That's God's part of grace. He gives His part and then we reciprocate by doing our part, which is to repent, to overcome the wiles of the devil, to develop godly character, to obey Him, to obey God in all things, and to put on that mind of Christ. What laws in the old covenant were done away with in the new covenant? You know, sometimes people want to see how little we can do, so they'll say, oh, let's see, old covenant, new covenant. We'll just tear that old covenant off and pitch it. Oh, I needs the new covenant. Maybe some psalms that sound nice and encouraging, see? But, as we saw last time, God's Word is complete, and we find that if we ponder what was done away with of the covenant, the Sinai covenant, which by the way the Bible doesn't call the old covenant, it was the covenant that God made with Israel, an everlasting covenant. We go to Matthew 5 and verse 17, and we ask that question of Jesus Christ. Jesus, what of the law in the old testament, or the old covenant, or with Sinai, what of the law has been done away with, gotten rid of?

Matthew 5 and verse 17, right as he gives the Beatitudes and then goes to very important information for us, he says, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. But that's what we as humans want to do. We want to say, well, that doesn't apply anymore. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. That word fulfill in the Greek is playu, or playoo, playoo. And it means to fill up, to totally fill up something. So it is, if we could say, the Sinai covenant was like perhaps a cup, but it wasn't full.

It had structure, it had value, it had importance, but there was something missing in the old covenant, wasn't there? It had no promise for salvation, no promise for eternal life. It didn't have the helper of the Holy Spirit, didn't have the understanding, didn't have the laws of God written in the hearts, you see?

And it didn't have any sacrifice for sin, other than a temporary bringing people back to God by the killing of animals, which couldn't take away sin. So it was a wonderful thing, and it is a wonderful thing, that really brings God to people's minds. And in the future, the whole world will be covered with the knowledge of God, the knowledge of God, see? And it'll be a wonderful time.

When we find, however, what Jesus is saying here, he did not come to destroy that covenant or that law, but to fill it up, fill it to the full, even to, we might say, magnify it, take its many pieces and broaden it, broaden it into a larger container, a bigger container, then fill that up to where now you will join the divine family with Jesus Christ sitting on his throne, reigning with him as his bride. That is big! But he continues in the next verse, for surely I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away.

Heaven and earth will pass away. You know when that is? When the new heavens and earth come, heavens and earth will pass away with a great noise. You can read that in 2 Peter chapter 3, and also Revelation chapter 20, 21. Very clearly they will pass away, and until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. So don't think that anything, not even the fleck of a Hebrew letter, has changed from the law.

When we think of the law, we often go back as far as the Mosaic law that Moses gave that had the sacrificial and some of the temple regulations. And that's as far back as we go, and we say, I don't understand here. Jesus is saying nothing has changed.

Well, we don't find in the Bible where that system terminated Jesus Christ's death, as we'll see.

But at the same time, we don't see where the law began with the Israelites in Exodus.

You see, you have to go back all the way to the beginning of humanity.

The law has always been God's law. As long as God has lived, the law is the law.

And that's what judged Adam and Eve, or they were judged by it. That's how Cain and Abel were judged. That's how humanity in Genesis 6 was judged by the law. They were so evil in all their works that God caused the flood to come. It's the same law that God will have forever.

It's God's law, and no part of that law will ever, ever change.

So we have here this fulfilling, as it were. It's an upgrade to over one covenant that was offered to people at one time. We have another covenant, a different covenant, that is offered to those who God calls at this time. Remember the New Testament? Only those who are called, Jesus said. Only those whom the Father calls at any particular time can enter into this. So let's go to Romans chapter 8 and verse 3. We'll go over now to the apostle Paul, who often talks about the law and is often misquoted, misunderstood, as Peter said, as somehow doing away with the law or whatever. You have to understand, when Paul talks about the law, he never defines what part he's talking about. He just says the law every time. If he's talking about the ceremonies or the part of the temple duties under the Sinai law that were prescribed for the temple, he just calls it the law. If he's talking about God's divine, holy, righteous law, which is the core of who God is and what word to become, he calls that the law, too. So you as the reader need to understand what in the context Paul is talking about. Here in Romans chapter 8 and verse 3, he says, for what the law could not do, that it was weak through the flesh, is God's law weak? No, of course not. That's what God lives by. That's what he judges everything by. So what is he talking about? Well, if we look here in verse 2, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. So now we're talking about the spirit law of God, the commandments of God. Love God with your heart, soul, and might. Love your neighbor as yourself, which Jesus said, all the law is based on that. This has made me free from the law of sin and death. He's talking about the penalty of the law of sin, which is death.

You see, once we are forgiven of our sins by the blood of Jesus Christ, we are no longer under the penalty of death. The soul that sins, it shall die, the Bible says. And all humans have been under that penalty, and there's nothing we by ourselves can do about it, no matter how many animals we sacrifice. But now Paul, who was previously a very zealous person, a Pharisee, a very zealous Jew, he says the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, this new covenant, has made me free from the penalty of the law of sin, which is death. See, Christ's blood frees a repentant person who says, I'm sorry, I don't want to do that anymore, and God will not remember that sin. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, it could not forgive sin, you see. That law back at that time, now we're talking about the sacrificial law, was weak. God, by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.

That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled. Notice, the law is not done away. We have a requirement under our covenant, just as they did, but they couldn't fulfill it.

They were carnal. They didn't have God's Spirit. They didn't have a helper, and they did have Satan.

Deceiving, tempting, all the time. It seems like the Israelites could never go, you know, 10 feet, as it were, coming out of Egypt. But you see, this righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. In the new covenant, we are to fulfill this law who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, if that Spirit dwells in us. And at baptism, our sins are forgiven, and then through the laying on of hands, we receive God's Holy Spirit, to then begin to help give us the law that is there. And when we enter a situation, it prods us to say, here's the right way. Walk in it. Kind of like in the millennial period, when those who are assisting Christ will do that by sort of popping up and saying, hey, go to the right, or go to the left. We have God's Spirit. We don't need that physical direction by somebody telling us how to live, like a parent. We have God's Spirit, even though Satan is very much around and doesn't like people living God's way, we have God's Spirit, and we can, as it says here, we can fulfill the law in us who walk according to the Spirit. It's a fabulous opportunity. All we really have to do is knuckle down, understand what God's rules of life are, and live them, because he's there to help us. He's given us the Holy Spirit. He's given us the understanding. Jesus said he'll never leave us or forsake us. He's right there. So in the sermon today, let's examine a core of your covenant with God under the new covenant. This covenant is a contract. Any covenant, you can call it a covenant, you can call it a testament if you want, you can call it a contract.

We sometimes refer to the Old Testament and the New Testament. Well, the word testament is essentially the same meaning as the word covenant. The Old Covenant, New Covenant, is how it's named. So when we think of a covenant, or a contract, or a testament, we're talking about something that's negotiated between two individuals, and it's committed to. And that's what you and I have committed ourselves to. The New Covenant is a contract between God and man that's different from all other contracts or covenants. It's a covenant to change your heart. Please understand, the New Covenant is a covenant to change your heart, to change your heart into something God can redeem, God can harvest. God's festivals are types of harvests. God wants to harvest humanity as his sons and daughters, as a bride of Christ, as the family of God, children of God. But God is coming, as Jesus said so many times, to harvest grain, that is real grain, not fake stuff, not the weeds. He's coming to harvest real lambs, not goats. He wants the real thing. He doesn't want some fake-looking, goldy, shiny thing. He wants the real gold that's been refined in the fire. And so that's what our lives are to be about. So God has invited us to change our hearts from selfish, sinful, to godly, loving, that agape mindset, we might say. And we have agreed with God at a real baptism, after true repentance that God gives you, an open mind and understanding to understand what sin is, and that I am a person who is of sin, and therefore I want to die. I want to put that old man to death. You see, I want it to die. I want to have a new life in Christ, Paul says in Romans chapter 6. And so we're buried to death in baptism with Him, that like He came out of the grave and went to God and is in glory very different than His human state. So we should come out of our watery grave and live in a newness of life as well. That would be very different to the person that we were before. Now, what is God's word? Where do we find it? Where do we find God's law? How can we remember it? How can we perform something spiritual being human? Well, all of those are things that God does on His side of what we call grace. And then He expects us to do things on our side. The title of the sermon is, Your Covenant with God, Part 3, The Word of God.

A deep resource for the new covenant in the Bible is the book of Hebrews. It's a very interesting book. A book of transitioning from one covenant to another. It's actually one of the Bible's greatest helps to understanding the new covenant, transitioning, in some cases, from either the concept of the Sinai covenant with Israel, with its sacrifices and all of its customs, to this new covenant. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 24. We often read this at Passover time.

1 Corinthians 11 and verse 24. Paul was taught for two or three years by Jesus Christ, and Jesus told him, He said, for when he had given thanks at that Passover, He said, Take eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

Now, you and I take this sort of for what it says, and we go about this, but imagine for a minute you are part of the Sinai covenant, and you're used to sacrificing animals, or you're responsible to sacrifice animals, and now you have a human being saying, Take eat, this is my body.

Do this in remembrance of me. You would have a tough time transitioning from going to the temple and taking your animals to thinking of an individual who was here on earth, who was crucified by the Romans and saying, Okay, that is a replacement.

But you and I understand it is such a massive replacement. That is the Son of God. That is the Creator that God the Father used to create us. And He's come and He's given everything, and in His blood is worth all the sins that could ever be committed. In the same manner, verse 25, He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

This do as often as you drink in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. So our faith and trust in Jesus Christ being the fulfillment of what those animals represented in all the other covenants, because every other covenant had some form of sacrifice. But it pointed to Jesus Christ's sacrifice as being the ultimate fulfillment. And you and I are in a covenant that has that as the propitiation for our sins. This was very shocking to the Jews. Why was that?

Well, during the New Testament period, you could look at this. During this period of time, both the Sinai covenant and the New Covenant were active. Both active.

And what happened was many who had grown up and had been participating in the Sinai covenant, which we call the Old Covenant, were now offered, called to, those who Jesus said, your blessed are you, for your eyes are open and you can see, your ears are open, for you can hear.

They're called to a New Covenant. This is very, very, very challenging.

What the Apostle Paul is going to do is try to explain to them and convince them this is a new and better covenant. This covenant is amazing. This covenant is really, really something. I know Paul says, because I've been where you've been. I used to be where you are, and I've made the transition. You know, Paul was struck down blind on the way to Damascus. He was taught two years by Jesus Christ. So many things happened to open his eyes, and now he's trying to explain to people that this is a new and better covenant. Let's go back to the end of Acts chapter 26 and let the Apostle Paul tell us in his own words about this transition that he went through.

You know, he was always accused by those Jews who hadn't come to the New Covenant, really didn't understand, hadn't been invited, but they were condemning him all the time, saying, this New Covenant you're talking about, this doesn't match the written Bible of the New Testament times. You see, you didn't have the New Testament during the New Testament times.

Those that were in canonized for hundreds of years later. But here in Acts 26 and verse 4, as Paul is being accused, notice what he says. My manner of life from my youth, since he was young, he said, my manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. Very active in that covenant.

Especially going on, verse 5, they knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sects of our religion, I lived a Pharisee.

Just let those words sink in. According to the strictest sect of the Pharisees is how he lived.

And now I stand and am judged for the hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, oh, he's quoting the Bible now, to this promise our 12 tribes earnestly serving God night and day hope to attain. So God's law is good, and His covenants are good. And they were struggling right there at the temple, still, even when Paul died, struggling and striving to attain what that particular covenant gave them. That particular covenant was a limited covenant. It was a physical blessing for the best form of obedience that they could do. But Paul's method then was to explain, and he wrote the book of Hebrews, to help them in the transition. And his method here in the book of Hebrews is to explain the upgrade, this transition to an upgrade. And the beauty of it is, not just for them, the beauty of it is if you will study the book of Hebrews and really let it sink in, it is incredible what God has done on his side of the covenant, his reciprocal side of the favors that come down from the Father of lights. And Paul refers to them over and over and over again.

When the Jews were offered the truth, it was a big challenge. We see one group being challenged by this, setting a good example as they came to hear about it. Let's go back to Acts 17 and verse 11, and look at the Bereans, sometimes a misunderstood group. But who were the Bereans? Well, they were people who lived in Berea. They weren't a religious group, they were just people in the town.

And they came to the synagogue, and Paul taught, and they said, whoa, this is different. Now, we all are at that point at some time in our life. God calls us, and we find out, oh, some of the things we've been doing are steeped in paganism. I thought they had something to do with the Bible, with Jesus. And we say, oh, now I'm being taught some things here in the Bible. We ought to keep the holy days and the seventh day Sabbath. And you scratch your head and you say, is that right?

You know, that just doesn't sound right, does it? Well, that's what the Berean said. Let's notice here in Acts 17, verse 11. As we look in verse 10, the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. So here we have the Jews in their synagogue, in their covenant. Now, in verse 11, compared to the previous group that kind of chucked Paul out of town, these were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica in that, notice, in that, they received the Word with all readiness. They were ready to receive it.

But remember, this is new to them, and they searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. See, that's a good example of people who didn't know. They weren't converted. They didn't understand. They're being taught a covenant that is so different. So they dived in the Scripture and were going to find out if what Paul was telling them was true or not. Now, the result was some of them believed. It says in verse 12, therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks. So not everybody, but many did agree. So that sets a good example for any of us when we approach the new covenant, and it's so different in the real new covenant. And when you hear, perhaps, of the covenant being a little different than people thought, which is just, oh, just say, I believe in Jesus and you're somehow saved, that has nothing really to do with any covenant that God has made.

Rather, if we believe in Jesus, faith with works, our works are our side of the covenant to obey, to transform, to develop the mind of God and Christ, to repent, to develop that fruit for the harvest. So Hebrews then explains what God and Jesus did to provide the new covenant first, describes the new covenant, and then it tells us you need to do your part. And that's a simple message. We see who it's written to. It's written to the Hebrews because they need to understand the transition, but it speaks to all of us. Look what God did. It's massive. Look what He's offering you. It is wonderful. Now get busy. Get busy. Do your part and don't fail. That's the message of Hebrews all the way through. Don't get weary. Don't chicken out. God's always with you. No matter what comes, step up and complete it and be successful. An example we could say, we could drop into Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. And my purpose isn't to describe all of the new covenant in this series, but rather to hopefully acquaint you with some aspects of it, and you will do your own digging and your own reading. It'll develop more of an interest to say, hey, what have I really signed on for here, and how am I doing at it? In Hebrews, the ninth chapter, but just begin in verse 1. Then indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared, the first part in which was the lamp stand and the table and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary. And behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden sensor in the Ark of the Covenant. Overlaid on all sides with gold, which were the golden pot that had the mana, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the Covenant. And above it were the caribbean of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat, and of these things we cannot speak now in great detail.

So if we look at that, we say, okay, we don't do that anymore, right? So that part has been, wouldn't we say, done away with? Wouldn't we say somehow that got rid of?

Jesus said, nothing has changed. Now, when we go down to verse 6, now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle performing the services. But into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the people's sins, committed in ignorance.

The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. This is just a model tabernacle, a model temple of what is in heaven. Verse 9, it was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered. Notice those words. The old covenant was in process. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered. When Paul wrote this, that was happening at the temple. The Sinai covenant was alive, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to conscience, concerned only with foods and drinks and various washings and fleshly ordinances, opposed until the time of Reformation. Nothing wrong with that covenant.

Whenever and wherever God has that covenant, it's a good covenant, and it has great blessings.

Verse 11, but Christ is 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. So you see, the two coexist.

One is greater than the other. Paul's explaining here. Verse 12, 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. This is big, brethren. You and I need to ponder this, not just on Passover, but with every prayer. When we pray in the model prayer outline, when you get to the section of forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, this is big. This is huge.

He entered once, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of heifers, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, and they do, they sanctify in that covenant to a degree where God can have a relationship with the repentant sacrificial person. Then verse 14, in the new covenant, 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? It's not just about being forgiven of sin.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say, if you have no sin, you're guaranteed eternal life.

Jesus Christ can take away our sins. That's fine. It doesn't mean we're going to be in the kingdom of God, you see. We have to cleanse our conscience from dead works and serve the living God. We have to love God who are the heart, soul, and might. Love our neighbor as ourself. We have to become servant priests with Jesus Christ. And for this reason, he is mediator of the new covenant by means of death. For the redemption of the transgression under the first covenant, that those who are called, again, the calling, it's not for everyone at this time, those who are called may receive the promise of the internal inheritance. In verse 23 now, one does not undo the other or replace the other. It says in verse 23 of Hebrews 9, Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these. They were types. They were symbolic. They were real.

We'll see, even in the millennial period, the Bible forecasts or prophesies, that there will be sacrifices during that time period. And there will be a temple in Jerusalem.

And all the things that God wanted Israel to be, the model nation, the conduit, as it were, for human society to know God, will take place. If you read the prophecies that take place in the thousand year reign of Christ, and we will assist in that. We here have a new opportunity to be involved in the heavenly temple of God, to come before His throne there, to come right into the holiest of holies. Notice here, it was necessary that these would be purified, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. We have a better covenant. We go in a heavenly new country, the Promised Land. We're part of a heavenly city, New Jerusalem.

Hebrews 11 talks about, you know, they declared that they were of a heavenly country.

We are children of God now, sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters with Christ. That's where our allegiance is. For Christ, verse 24, has not entered the holy places, made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. He is our high priest in the presence of God for us in reality. Not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with the blood of another, the Day of Atonement. He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, and so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time apart from sin and to salvation. Now, when we look at chapter 10 in verse 1, we see the law in this context. For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, what law are we talking about here? Well, there was no chapter break in the original scroll.

The law He's talking about is the sacrifice and offerings in the previous verses, the copy of the things. So the law were a shadow, as we saw a type of the temple, a type of the sacrifices, and not the very image of these things. These can never, with these same sacrifices which they offer continually, make those who approach perfect. So you haven't thrown away the laws of God, the commandments of God, the divine law. The Paul says in another place is holy, just, and good. And in verse 5, therefore when He came into the world, He said, sacrifice an offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for Me. Think about being the right hand of God the Father, thinking about being one of the two God beings down through all eternity and the time coming when you prepared a body for Me. Knowing, as we read in Isaiah chapter 53, what that would entail, His sacrifice, His suffering for us. In verse 6, in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, you have no pleasure. Then He said, Behold, I have come in the volume of the book it is written of Me to do your will, O God. And just as Jesus Christ came with a specific mission and a massive purpose for the family of God, you and I are called to do the will of God also.

To do the will of God. The will of God is defined in various places in Scripture as being to develop fruit for the harvest, to develop the mindset of God, to come to repentance, to not perish. That's the will of God. Jesus spent His life and His teachings telling us how we are to develop that mindset. In verse 10, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first that He may establish the second. So it doesn't mean He ended that. It means He takes away the first, the lesser covenant that He can now be the, as it says here, the testator of the new covenant, the high priest of the new covenant. It's His blood in the new covenant.

And He now moves forward with those who will become His bride in a covenant. And He said, in verse 10, By that we will have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. It's a fabulous opportunity that you and I have. And again, in verse 11, every high priest stands ministering daily and offering that covenant continued.

You know, I was just thinking this week how many times Satan has tried to kill that covenant.

Think about it. He made the covenant Sinai, tried many times to get Israel to fail, and eventually did. He had the temple in Jerusalem. Babylon, the great empire, came and crushed that temple, destroyed it, tried to end the covenant. It didn't end it. Later, the next generation of Babylon, Persia, sent back some Jews to rebuild that temple. So you have the second temple period under Nehemiah and Ezra. And they began to continue sacrificing. You get the next, I believe it was Greece, under the Maccabees, that came in and trashed the temple and tried to end it. That didn't work. Then you had Rome, the next generation or iteration of the Babylon, great Babylon empire, comes along and under Herod the Great rebuilds the temple or refines the temple.

Some call it the third temple, but it's really the second temple sort of remodeled on a grand scale, as I understand it. And then in AD 70, you have Rome, the armies of Rome, come and abolish that temple, tear down every stone from it. Now in the end time, what happens? Well, we see the temple again. We see sacrifices in the Holy Place. The Bible calls it the Holy Place. Sacrifices are going on, but they're cut off in the midst of the week when, once again, Babylon the Great, this time a religious leader, goes in and creates the abomination of desolation and stops all the sacrifices. Then in the millennial period, you have the temple in Jerusalem, and you have the sacrifices, and you have a thousand years. And at the end, what happens? After those days, after the thousand years, you have Satan come back in, and he gathers everybody from the four corners of the earth, and they surround the saints and again try to obliterate it. Only this time, he gets obliterated.

And then, again, after those days, you see in Revelation chapter 20, or 21, sorry, Revelation chapter 20, in verse about 13, 14, the Second Resurrection. And all of a sudden, everybody comes up, and the books are opened. Their eyes are opened. Their ears are opened. The Book of Life has their names written in it then. They have God's Holy Spirit. They have a new covenant. God said, after those days, I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Jacob. I will write their laws in their minds and on their hearts and their sins and equities. I'll remember no more. God wants to bring everybody into his family that wants to be, and everybody will have that opportunity. Satan doesn't want it. Satan does not want it.

The message resonates throughout the New Testament. In verse 35 and 36, let's just notice here in chapter 10, the other part of this message that you'll see in Hebrew is just alternating back and forth besides what God has done. Therefore, you do not cast away your confidence, which is your great reward. Satan wants to knock that out. He wants to knock out the new covenant more than he wants to knock out the old covenant. He's coming after the church all the time. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

And that encapsulates the new covenant. God's side and our side. Jesus said, he who endures to the end, perseveres to the end, will be saved. Paul is saying, come on, let's stand up. Let's put on the whole armor of God, as he says in Ephesians chapter 6. Let's stand, and having done all, let's be standing. No reason. Let's not equate all the problems that were given, or the persecutions, or the flack with the great salvation that we're being offered. It's a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful covenant, but it's something we need to take seriously. Now, it's not just Paul who says this. James says it throughout his book.

Peter says it in 1 and 2 Peter's. Jude, 1, 2, and 3 John, and Revelation. Just repeat that over and over to us through different lenses and different writers. For instance, in James chapter 1, just a few pages over in verse 25, he who looks into the perfect law of liberty.

This is the perfect law, and it's a law of liberty, not a liberty from God, not a liberty from his commandments, not a liberty from Agape. It's a law of liberty from death, and the way of death, because Jesus Christ's death enabled us to stop being slaves to sin, and now have God's Spirit to help us live for righteousness. So, we find that if we look into the perfect law, which is Genesis to Deuteronomy and everything else God says in his word, of liberty, the Greek word here is better translated freedom. The perfect law of freedom, you know how Israel was slaves in Egypt, but God came along with the death of the firstborn, a type of Christ, they were freed from slavery to a sinful nation, the leader of satanic type of Pharaoh. And so, in reality now, you and I were slaves of sin because, well, we just couldn't do anything about it on our own, but we were released from slavery through the death of Jesus Christ that we are no longer slaves to sin. Paul talks about this in Romans chapter 6. We were once slaves of sin, but now we're freed by the blood of Christ, now we're slaves of righteousness. That's our part of the bargain, as it were, of the contract.

So he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues in it, don't stop, don't get distracted, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work.

This one will be blessed in what he does.

You know, we could take the time to go into the differences of the Sinai covenant and the New Covenant, but let's just notice, for instance, sometimes we go back and read and we think, oh, well, look at this promise here. Oh, I want that. I demand or I trust that God will fulfill this. We're reading something that's a physical blessing in the Old Covenant, and we want to attach it to the New Covenant. Let's go back and just notice something about what we call the Old Covenant, Deuteronomy 7 and verse 12. In Paul's day, he said that the Sinai covenant was growing old and ready to vanish away. But you remember, the Apostle Paul was a transitioning individual from a covenant that was growing old as he stepped into the New Covenant and did vanish away for him and for all of us who follow it. Now, in Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 12, then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments and you do and keep them, that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and mercy which he swore to your fathers.

And he will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your land, your grain, your new wine, your oil, the increase of your cattle, the offspring of your flock, and the land which he swore to your fathers to give you, which was what we call the land of Israel, the land of Canaan. And you shall be blessed above all peoples.

There will not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock.

So this is pretty good. The Lord will take away from you all sickness. In other words, you will be sick, but he will take away your sickness and he will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on those who hate you. And also you shall destroy all the people whom the Lord your God delivers over to you, and your eye will not have pity on them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you. We go to chapter 11 and verse 13. And this is a wonderful covenant for the people that it is made with.

And it shall be, if you earnestly obey my commandments, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine and your oil, and I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled. Verse 22, For if you carefully keep all these commandments, which I command you to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to hold fast to him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess greater, mightier nations than yourselves. Every place on which the soul of your foot treads shall be yours, from the wilderness in Lebanon, from the river Euphrates to the western sea shall be your territory. It's kind of a snapshot of the promises of the Sinai covenant. Now, is that the covenant that you want? Do you want the physical territory? Do you want grass in your fields?

And rain. Do you want the disease component? What covenant is it that you and I seek?

Do we want those rewards? And that's it. That's it. And when you die? See, among the Jews, they didn't all even know about a resurrection. They just thought you lived and it was for, you know, man and country, and your country will do great.

There was contests among people, even in Jesus' days, to whether there was a resurrection. So some didn't even understand that.

In Hebrews chapter 7, in verse 11 and 12, Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 11, God's law has always existed, as we've covered before.

The Sinai covenant differed from previous covenants, in that the sacrifices now had to be made by the Aaronic priesthood. In previous covenants, you recall Abel and Cain, Noah, Abraham, they did their own sacrifices. But now, under the Sinai covenant, no personal sacrifices could be done. Everything had to be done by Aaron and his descendants, the Levite priesthood.

And so, here in chapter 7, beginning in verse 11 through 12, therefore if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed of necessity, there is also a change of the law. Oh, I thought Jesus said there wasn't going to be any law that was done away with. But we're talking about two covenants. There is a change in the new covenant from the old covenant as to who is the priest. Remember? You can't have a sacrifice without the priesthood, but in the new covenant we find that he now will become the high priest.

Notice in verse 14, this covenant is for us. It's not for Israel. For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning the priesthood. And yet it is far more evident if in the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest who has come, not according to the law of fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life, for he testifies you are a priest according to Melchizedek forever. Now, if we go to chapter 10 of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10, I want you to notice here, in verse 14, for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

Those who are being sanctified.

In verse 15, but the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us. See, now this begins to get very personal. This new covenant right now is a covenant for the bride of Christ. It's not a universal covenant.

It is for those who are being sanctified, verse 14, to us in verse 15, drop down to verse 19, therefore brethren, it's to the brethren, those who are brothers and sisters of Christ, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Christ.

In verse 20, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil.

This should really stir us up and make us take a special notice of how precious this opportunity is that we have. That we should not somehow get distracted from or get involved in other things. But we should open the Word of God and we should read the Word of God daily. We should immerse ourselves in it. Sometimes I'm ashamed when you stop and you think how much time we get sucked into other things. Things that are meaningless, things that are trivial, things that won't last or that never even happened. A lot of it's just fantasy. Just a lot of fantasy. And yet it is so compelling. And we say, oh, I wish I had time to read my Bible.

Oh, I should read my Bible more, you see. This is the reality of what our life is about.

It should be what we eat. Jesus said in the model prayer outline, he said, Our Father, which art in heaven, holy is your name. Your rulership come today in my life.

Your will be done today in my life. And give us the bread of life. Give us this day our daily bread. We need this. Every day is our nourishment. And then give us the forgiveness of sin through the blood of Christ. And help us to be defensive against the wiles of the devil. Don't let us succumb to Satan. He's wanting to deceive. He's wanting to distract. He's wanting to get us to fail. For yours is the rulership. Yours is the power. Yours is the glory forever.

And when we focus on that and we get involved in that, you see, then we are developing, we're striving to develop that mind which God can harvest and wants in his kingdom. In verse 21, having a high priest over the house of God. That high priest is over this house, the house of God, the body of Christ, the church of God. Verse 22, let us draw near with 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 profession of our hope without wavering for he who promises faithful. You and I really need to pull together. In chapter 13 and verse 10, the last chapter of Hebrews, we should not be mixed up with any other societal influences as we strive to be godly. In chapter 13 and verse 10, we have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are buried outside the camp. Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Now, Jesus Christ's blood sanctifies everyone, or will. And we see through the lens of the holy days, the various groups in their own time. First, the first fruits, represented through the Passover days of Unleavened Bread and the festival of first fruits, which is called Pentecost today.

Then the second harvest, the great harvest during the millennium, which is a time of bounty under the reign of Christ and the saints for a thousand years. And then the eighth day, the second resurrection, the real big, big harvest of all humanity, each one in his own order.

And the Day of Atonement speaks of Christ's sacrifice for them.

But it's the same sacrifice. For we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.

Notice those words. We have no continuing city. Don't waste your time thinking about cities, governments, nations today. That's not your city. That's not your nation. That's not your government. If your city is in heaven, if your country is in heaven, if your leader, your ruler is God the Father and Jesus Christ, and you are children of God the Father, then you desire a heavenly country, and you're waiting for that. We have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore, by him let us continually offer the sacrifice. Yes, there are sacrifices in the New Covenant. Sacrifices in the New Covenant. Sacrifice the praise to God. The fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. Do not forget to do good, to share, for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. 1 John 3, verse 16, talking about our sacrificing. 1 John 3, verse 16, By this we know love because he laid down his life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. See the yes. The sacrifices were a type in a former covenant that people were in, or in a Sinai covenant that God will determine when that ends. I don't know. There are sacrifices that require death in every covenant, including the New Covenant. Jesus Christ's death being the first, and then our death at baptism, and our continuous sacrificing of our time, our thoughts, our praises, our love, our means to help God and to help his kingdom. John 13, verse 34, we find that not only was the law not done away, it was added to in the New Covenant.

You'll find throughout the New Testament some other elements. You might call them refinements or better explanations of how we love God with our heart, soul, and mind, and love our neighbor as ourself. But there is a new commandment that Jesus gave in John 13, verse 34. It's a real it's a real kick up for our responsibility.

A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you.

Just think about that one. How much has Jesus Christ loved us from the beginning of time, before there was even anything physically here? How much has he loved us in putting up with all that humanity did before he came to earth, then when he was on earth, and then died? And how about since then? How much does he put up with me? As we struggle and strive, it's kind of like, I want to get up here, but you know how up here goes? It's kind of like a graph. It's got its dips and it's got its repentance, it's got its highs, and he puts up with us, and he'll never leave or forsake us. Love others like that. That's a new commandment. That's really to put on the mind of Christ. You and I have vowed to God to do what he said. We must keep his word.

Keep the word of God. All of the words. There's nothing done away. It's all there. And anything that's not done anymore like it used to be is done today in a new and more real way.

But it's all there. Read your Bible. Read your entire Bible. Learn it. Then do it. Perform it with God's help. Jesus said in John chapter 14 and verse 23, just right there in the same area of the Bible, Jesus said, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. What is his word?

We need to read it. His word is the entire Bible. Plus the gospel words, plus that which he spoke that the disciples and the apostles and other writers wrote out for us, which were largely oral throughout the New Testament period. They didn't get written down and canonized. They'll, in the 300s AD, these words, he says, if you keep my word, my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the father who sent me. In 1 John 2 and verse 5, whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. See, because this is love. This is love God. This is love your fellow man. This is what God is. This is what he's telling us to become. And if we do that, keep the word, then the agape mindset of God is perfected in us.

So doctrines and beliefs must be God's word, not be associated with God's word or based on God's word. They must be God's word. Okay? Doctrines and teachings must be the word of God. And then we are to do those. They cannot be edited. They cannot be revised. They are the word of God which Christ gave from the Father. In conclusion, once again, one point I would like to make, and we're coming up on a new calendar year. This book needs to be read regularly.

You know, every seven years of the Feast of Tabernacles, the first five books of the Bible were read aloud. And everybody's hearing, little kids all the way up to the adults. It was refreshed.

You and I have so many aids today. We have our own Bibles that never happened in the New Testament period. You know, to own a Bible back in Jesus' day, you had to have a payment for the scrolls or the printed on papyrus equal to an annual salary, the amount of an annual salary of a well-educated person, a whole year's salary. People just didn't have that. But you and I, we have no excuse. We have lots of Bibles. You probably have many. They're online. You can have them on your phone. They're everywhere. But do we take the time to read them? In addition, we have Bible helps, like on topics, many booklets. I produce this each year, and there are copies here. Read your Bible in 2020, you know, passage a day. And there are many of those available as well.

So, UCG Canada publishes a link to online daily reading. It'll get you through the Bible in a whole year. And if you click on the chapter heading, the word listen, you can listen to it. I enjoy listening sometimes to the Bible if I'm doing something else or driving. I'll just click listen, and away we go.

You just can't get enough of it. We have the UCG Bible Commentary. Currently, the entire Old Testament looks chapter by chapter if you want deeper understanding. UCG has its doctrinal study papers.

For instance, one, here's just an excerpt, The Covenant of God. And there are many, many study papers on various doctrinal topics. Ambassador Bible College posts its classes online. You can go and listen. Go to ABC online, and it's free. We have online Bible study questions and answers. There is a Bible study program, 12 lessons available. There is a Bible study series that Beyond Today puts out. There are teen Bible study outlines. There are family Bible study outlines. There are the sermons that are online. There are so many things that are available to us if we would take our time to spend in the Word of God and applying it in our lives and trying to live it.

Now, one thing that I'll just offer to you or make mention to you is how do you easily find all of those things? Through the years, it's been difficult for me to find those biblical resources.

I created the website studyyourbible.org.

Right there on the tools page, everything I mention and more, you can just click on and you can go right to them. I find it to be a convenient location to access some of those things.

Maybe you will as well. But in conclusion, let's go to Revelation 22 and verse 7. Right at the very end of the Bible, Jesus makes a statement.

Behold, I am coming quickly.

Blessed is he who keeps the words of the teaching of this book.

You know, if you have God's words, Jesus Christ is coming back and He's going to harvest. He's going to open the graves of the firstfruits and raise them to join Him.

Bless how supremely blessed are those who keep the words of His teaching.

Brethren, I wish you every success in achieving your own salvation, which we each need to pursue with fear and trembling. God has given a covenant to you. It's made with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Be diligent with your calling and your election in obeying the Word of God.