Bibles and turn with me to the
book of Hebrews chapter 8, continuing on in this blessed book. I'd like to look at verses 10
to 12 tonight. And before we begin, let's ask
our Lord's blessing. Our Father is so good. to be
able to call upon you and just the thought and the realization
that we can enter into the throne of grace by the blood of Christ
with boldness and assuredness based totally on our great high
priest who intercedes for us. How we ask you this night, Lord,
would you bless the Word to our hearts We pray that You would
bless it to our understanding and comfort us. For Christ's
sake, we ask these things. Amen. We've been going through this
book, and the one thing that the Apostle has continually set
forth, continually, continually, Christ is better. Better. He is better than the angels,
better than Moses, better than Abraham, better than Aaron. He is better. And every time
we consider the glory of Him, as Scripture says, being better,
how thankful we are. This is our great High Priest. And right now, right now, I know
that He resides within His people, Christ in you, the hope of glory. I know He's in our presence where
two or three are gathered together. In my name, I'm in the midst
of you. I know that He's seated in the
heavenlies. seated in the heavenlies, finished,
ever living to make intercession, never a time when He is not there
as our great High Priest, interceding upon His own merit in our stead. And the Father, for His sake,
accepts us. Accept it. That's what the Scripture
says. Accept it in the Beloved. Almighty God gave a covenant,
the Old Covenant. That's what the Scripture refers
to it as, an Old Covenant. And what that Old Covenant was,
It was a covenant that preached Christ. No doubt about that. All these pictures and types
and shadows, but that old covenant was given before Christ was revealed. Old covenant. Old covenant is
Christ in type and picture and shadows. New covenant is Christ
revealed. Old covenant put away. That's
what we've been considering. Now concerning that old covenant,
Jeremiah 31 says, the Lord says, the days come when I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not new in origin. We looked at that. I'm just kind
of going back, getting us up to where we're going to start
tonight. Not new in origin. This is an everlasting covenant
established in righteousness established in the tri-unity
of the Godhead. It's not new in origin, but it's
newly revealed. It's newly taught. We didn't
always know this, not in power, not by faith. When we're regenerated,
that's when it's new to us, when it's newly revealed. This new
covenant was the absolute revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and
all that those types, pictures and shadows set forth, that candlestick,
showbread, golden laver. We'll look at that starting in
chapter 9. But all of those things, all of that furniture in that
tabernacle, Paul set forth. That was Christ. That was God
setting forth His glory. Well, the Scripture we're going
to start with tonight, we're going to start in verse 10. And
it's going to be, I've entitled this, Covenant Promises. Brother
Gary, I didn't know what he was going to pick out. He picked
out that first song, Standing on the Promises. I've entitled
this message, Covenant Promises. standing on the promises of God.
Five promises that Almighty God has given in Christ. And these five promises, five
covenant promises from verses 10 to verses 12, and we stand
on that. We rest in that. These covenant
promises are for us right now. We're not looking at history.
We're looking at right now what Almighty God has done for us,
His people, in the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the merit and the substance, the foundation of all of those
promises, totally to His merit. totally
to His obedience, imputed to us. Now, let's look at it. Verse 10 starts off and says,
For this is the covenant, this is the contract, this is the
promise. Now, you think about what God
Almighty is saying. This is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel After those days, after those
days of the Old Testament types and shadows, after those days
when the incarnation now has taken place and the Lord Jesus
Christ is actually set forth, born of a virgin, made under
the law, made of a woman, after those days, after the Old Testament
types, after those days, saith the Lord,
Now here's the promise. Now listen to this. I will put
my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts. That's
the first one. That's the first one right there. When we stop and realize that
every ounce of the Old Covenant the New Covenant, there was,
in essence, one object. One object. We talk about the
Old Covenant, New Covenant. There was one object, there was
one person that was being set forth. That is the Lord Jesus
Christ. In that Old Covenant, we saw pictures We saw shadows. And that law, God's law, God's
Word, was written on tables of stone. It was, do and live. Obey and live. That old covenant set forth that
the object of those shadows, the substance of those shadows
in time hadn't been brought forth yet. And there it was. It was a man, a high priest. There was a golden labor. There
was an animal and that animal was slain. And they had all of
those pictures, types, and shadows. And the Lord said, I'm going
to make a promise to you. This is what I'm going to do.
This is the first thing I'm going to do. I'm going to write my
laws, my words. I'm going to write my truth. And I'm going to put it in your
mind. I'm going to write it in your heart. There's not going
to be any more external observances No more that outward observance
of the glorious substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ. No
more animal sacrifices that sets forth in type the death of the
Savior. No more on stone. I'm going to
write it in your heart. I'm going to write it and you're
going to love it. The Lord gave His Word to Moses
on that stone. God says, I'm going to put it
in your heart. I'm going to put it in that new mind. Now, here
we are. We're coming tonight. The recipients
of that blessed promise right there. Almighty God, by His Holy
Spirit, has taught His people something. They're not looking
at a picture anymore. They see Him now by faith. And
they know Him. That new mind that is written
on, that new mind was given in regenerating grace. There was
a brand new man put there. You know why it takes a new heart
to see by faith the Lord Jesus Christ? Because the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness
to him. This Word that's written on our
heart, we've got a heart that loves it. We love it. We love that Word. David said
in Psalm 119, 103, How sweet are thy words unto my taste. My palate is what that Word is. Yea, sweeter than honey to my
mouth. God said this is the promise
I'm going to make. I'm going to take away the first
and establish the second. Take away the old covenant, the
pictures and type. There's not going to be any more
outward observances and that animal sacrifice and the blood
and that bulls and goats and stuff like that. No more. I'm
going to write this on your heart. You're going to see the Savior.
You're going to know Him. You're going to love Him. That's
the first thing. God's people have a heart. that
sees Him and loves Him and blesses Him. Here's the second promise. It's in that tenth verse, the
last part. And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me
a people. What a promise! It says, I will
be to them a God. The literal is, I will be their
God. The literal is, they shall be
My people. You know, I told you this last Sunday.
I was talking to somebody the other day and I invited them
to come. I told you that. And this was
their statement to me. I believe in God, but I've just
never really been that much, you know, into a lot of religion. I believe in God. that devils
believe in God, believe that there's a God. Yeah, but let
me ask you this. Do you realize there's a big
difference between believing that there's a God, demons believe
that, and that He's your God, that He's your friend, that He's
your Savior, that He's your Father, that He loves you, that He cares
for you? Big difference. Here's the promise. I'm going to put My laws, My
words in their mind and their heart. And I'm going to be their
God. And they're going to be My people.
This is a bond. This is life eternal. That they
may know Thee. Know Thee. Know Thee as being
their God. Know Thee as being their Counselor
and their Protector and their Redeemer and their Guide. To realize tonight that He cares. Casting all your care upon Him,
He cares for you. He cares about what's being said
tonight. He cares concerning you. He cares concerning His people. He cares. He orders and ordains
all these things. There is a spiritual bond that
is absolutely possessed by God's people and their God. Almighty God spoke all these
things into existence. Demons know that. But to know
that he did it, for His Son's sake, for my benefit. Demons know that He orders all
things, but that He orders all things
for my good and the honor of His Son. That He works all things
after the counsel of His own will. That He has predestinated
me to be conformed to the image of His Son. There's a big difference
in knowing that there's a God and knowing that there's a God
that cares for me, orders things for me. God Almighty. Listen to this. 1 John. Let me
read this to you. 1 John 3. 1 John 3. The first one, Behold, what manner
of love On these days, we're going to enter into this and
understand it. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not. It doesn't understand us. It
doesn't understand why we have joy in this. It doesn't understand
why we're comforted. The world knoweth us not, because
it knew Him not. It didn't know anything about
God's purpose. It didn't know anything about
God's will, God's choice. It didn't know anything about
that. It didn't know God. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. Oh, we see
a little bit. But we don't see anything compared
to what we shall see. But we know that when He shall
appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." What a promise! Here's the promise
right here. I'm going to write my Word in
your heart. I'm not going to be on stone.
I'm not going to be pictures, types. This is not cold and indifferent
to God's people. This is real. This is alive. There's a promise. Here's a promise. I'm going to be your God. You're
going to be my people. Here's the third thing. Verse
11, third promise. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor. every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the
greatest." Hebrews 1.1 says this, God, who
at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by His Son. whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he made the worlds." In the Old Testament,
if you wanted to know what God had to say, you'd go to the prophet. God, who at sundry times, divers
man, has spoken to His people by the prophets. If you wanted
to offer a sacrifice, you had to go to the priest. You brought
your sacrifice to the priest. The priest took it. Now what the Scripture reveals,
the Lord says that there is going to come a time and it is now. Scripture reveals that now that
God's people by the Lord Jesus Christ, by the Spirit of God
that indwells them. when the Spirit of God descended
on the day of Pentecost, they were endued with power. The Spirit
of God actually was sent. The Lord Jesus Christ says, I
go to my Father, but I'm not going to leave you comfortless.
The Father will send the Comforter. He's going to teach you all things. Here's the promise. They shall
not teach every man his neighbor, every man his brother. Say, Know
the Lord, for they all know me from the least to the greatest.
How? By the Spirit of God." You're hearing something being taught
right here. It's the Word of God. Anybody that's got two ears,
Bob, can hear. But it takes a new ear to hear
it. It takes new eyes to see it. It takes a new heart to believe
it. It takes God Almighty to teach. And God Almighty says, I'm going
to teach you personally. You won't go to a prophet. You
won't go to be taught. Even if that other man told you,
as I'm telling you something tonight, I still can't teach
you. Who do men say that I am? Jeremiah, Elijah, this prophet. Who do you say I am? Who do you
say? You're the Christ. Flesh and
blood didn't teach you that. But my Father, which is in heaven,
what a promise. Tonight, here we are. We can
come together tonight and hear the Word of God and God's Spirit
actually teaches. Taught. Taught. The Spirit of
God will bring back to your memory all the things that I've taught
you. What a promise. God Himself teaches,
I'm going to give you a new heart. I'm going to set forth My truth
to you by My Spirit. Here's the fourth promise. First
part of verse 12, For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. Oh, I'll tell you, unrighteousness. That refers to our transgressions. And I know we have them. 1 John
1.8. We say we have no sin. We deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. Boy, under that old covenant,
under two or three witnesses. They'll take you out and stone
you. Cora raised up himself. Cora
and his band of followers. They said to Moses, they said,
you take too much on yourself. Moses said, well, get your censors. and show up here tomorrow, and
we're going to let God settle this." And buddy, He did. Scripture says that God opened
up the earth and sent all of those rebels to hell alive. Can
you imagine that earth opening up and hearing all of those people
screaming as God put them in hell right now? Under two or
three witnesses, they died, the Scripture says, without mercy. The Scripture says, in covenant
mercy, because of the glorious Lord Jesus Christ who has paid
the debt of our rebellion against God. We know. We know that we do sin. But 1 John 1.9 says if we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us. Why? The debt has been paid. God forgives in mercy and God
forgives justly. He is faithful and just to forgive
sin. So I know this, thanks be unto
God, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the propitiation, the satisfaction
for our sins. Having been made sin, having
paid our debt mercifully and justly, God forgives us when
we sin. That part says right there, Walk around in a body of death. That's what Paul said. Who shall
separate me from the body of this death? And we all know it.
And God Almighty says, I'm going to forgive you for Christ's sake. But listen to this last part.
The last part. Here's what the first part says.
I just read, For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. But listen to this last promise.
And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. This is what we dealt with last
Sunday. Almighty God looks upon His people, wonder of all wonders,
and has justified them. Now, let me remind you what that
is. Justified. The law looks at God's
people in Christ, and this is what the law says. I don't see any evidence here
of any infraction. Justify. No guilt. No guilt. No infraction. No sin. No sin. that which is born of God sinneth
not." God Almighty, wonder of all wonders, are you telling
me that God Himself looks upon His people in Christ,
and in Christ, He who made himself as their substitute, God himself
made sin and he bore all of their sin. That's right. That he made them to be his iniquities. That's right. Psalm 40, mine
iniquities have taken hold upon me. mine and Nick's, but he's
the holy, spotless Lamb of God, right. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest to take away
our sin. God Almighty made flesh, bore
our guilt, made it His own. And God Almighty now looks upon
us in Christ and says, Justify. In Him is no sin. In Him is no sin. That which
is born of God sinneth not. It sinneth not. There is a promise
right there. Because we know that we do in
this body, we have unrighteousness. If we say we don't, we're deceived
and make God a liar. God said, I'm going to forgive
you for Christ's sake. But oh, the blessedness. When
this body of death, my friend, when we're separated from the
body of this death, you know what's left? holiness in Him. Holiness predestinated before the foundation
of the world that they should be holy and without blame before
Him. Without blame. Without blame. How far has this guilt been put
away Micah 7, 19, He will turn again, He will have compassion
upon us, He will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all their
sins into the depth of the sea. I don't understand all that,
but I can tell you this, based upon what I'm reading right there,
God Almighty has promised one thing He's not going to remember. Are you telling me that there's
something that God can forget? He says, I will not remember. Isaiah 38, 17 says they're cast
behind His back. Psalm 103, 12 says our transgressions
are removed as far as the east is from the west. Oh, I know this, the great accuser
of the brethren. He'll bring them up. I know my conscience is going
to bring them up. But if God Almighty says that
I'm not going to remember Him. Now you think about that. God
Almighty says, I will remember no more. He looks upon us and
sees His Son. In Him, no sin. What five precious covenant promises. This is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
I will put my laws into their mind. I will write them in their
hearts. I will be to them a God, they shall be to me a people.
They shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his
brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the
least to the greatest. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness
and their sins and their iniquities. Will I remember no more?" Tonight, these promises in Christ. is for every believer, everyone
that Almighty God has everlastingly loved and has either called out
of darkness or shall call out of darkness. That's their promises. These are divine covenant promises
in Christ. And we hear these covenant promises
and we say, Thank You, Lord. Thank You for Your blessing.
Thank You for Your mercy. that, Lord, that You would forgive
me for Christ's sake and that You would not remember my iniquity
anymore. Thanks be unto God for His immeasurable
mercy and compassion for Christ's sake. Amen.