Take our Bibles and turn to the
book of Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews chapter 8. I'd like to look this evening
at verses 7 through 9. And before we look at these scriptures,
let's ask our Lord's blessing. Our Father, it is indeed wonderful
to be able to be in Your presence in the wonder of the hearing
of the gospel of Your grace. We ask You to bless the Word
this evening. Help us. Help us to hear. Help us to remember. Help us
to be thankful. Help us to pray. Bless the scriptures, we ask,
to the salvation of your people. Lord, would you bless Katie Baptist
Church. Thank you for maintaining the
campus to here. Thank you for allowing us the
privilege all these many years to be in this place. For Christ's sake, amen. I was thinking coming over here,
today is July the 20th. It was eight years ago to the
day that I first came here. First time I preached as pastor,
July 20th, 2003. And by the grace of God, we're
still here. I pray truly that the Lord might be pleased to
bless His Word. that we might hear tonight. The Apostle has been speaking
to these Jews about a better covenant which was established
upon better promises. That's what he talked about in
verse 6. That's where we left off last
time. And the covenant or the testament,
the promise, God's promise, God's covenant, that covenant that
they were most familiar with, you know, was the Levitical priesthood. And that covenant of necessity
was changed. Look at Hebrews 7.12, for the
priesthood, being changed, there is made of necessity a change
also of the law. Now that covenant, there was
a reason for that. Why? Why did God change from
the covenant of the Levitical priesthood to a new covenant. Why? That's what we're going
to look at tonight. Verse 7 of Hebrews 8 says this,
and here's the reason. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second. Not that that first covenant
made and given to Moses had any impurity in it. When it talks
about faultless, it's not that that first covenant was impure
in itself. It was ordained of God. That
was God's law. What that first covenant did
was it established in type and picture. and shadows. God's demand for righteousness
and justice and its purpose was to point helpless sinners to
Christ. That's what its purpose was.
It set forth in a shadow. It was a picture. It was a type. Verse 7 says that if that first
covenant had been faultless, the reason it speaks of having
a fault was that it could not put away sin. It was a shadow. It could not provide eternal
salvation. I can take a pistol out in the
bright sunshine, go out there on the sidewalk, and I can hold
a pistol up kind of close to the ground where I get a good
impression, a shadow of that pistol. I can look at that shadow
and I say, that's a shadow of a pistol. But you know that shadow
won't do anything to protect me. That shadow. I can look at a dog and I can
look at the shadow of that dog. And that shadow looks, that's
a dog. I can say, but you know that
shadow can't bite me. That shadow has no power to do
anything. It's a shadow. It's not possible
that the shadow Not possible that the blood of bulls and goats
should take away sin. That first covenant, it was a
covenant, it was a pledge, it was a promise of types. And it pointed to its fulfillment,
the Lord Jesus Christ. But it was weak. The Scripture
says, if it had been faultless, for if the first covenant had
been without fault, without, if it would have had ability,
the priest of the first covenant. Those men were sinful men. They were types. They were pictures. But they were shadows. They were shadows and types of
the priest himself. They couldn't take away sin.
They pointed to. Those animals were just pictures.
They could not put away sins. The blessings, the shadows of
good things to come, the promises of prosperity in this world.
Canaan, the promised land. Canaan was a picture of heaven.
It was a picture of rest, of our eternal rest. There was no
rest in Canaan. It was a type. If this covenant,
the covenant of law, if it could have put away sin, then there
would have been no reason for the Lord Jesus Christ to come.
Look at Hebrews 10. We'll read that. Hebrews chapter
10. Lord willing, we'll get there.
Hebrews chapter 10, verses 1 to 3. For the law having a shadow
image of good things to come, and not the very image of the
thing, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they
not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once
purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those
sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. It was just types. There it was. Beautiful types.
I mean, we looked at the book of Leviticus a few years ago.
And look at all of those beautiful types. And our hearts are made
to rejoice when we see that high priest and he had that breastplate
on and those stones on his shoulders and the stones, those twelve
stones on the breastplate and that golden mitre the holiness
to the Lord across His forehead. And you see in that girdle and
the ephod, all of the beautiful, beautiful pictures. And you think,
but you know what you see that's so beautiful? You see Christ.
You see the people of God being born on His shoulders. The government,
the upholdingness shall be on His shoulders. He's the one that's
upholding. That's what you rejoice in. You
don't rejoice In the shadows, in the types, you rejoice in
the One that the shadows and types point to. It couldn't put
away sins. Well, back in Hebrews 8, verse
8, For finding fault with them, He saith, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house
of Israel, with the house of Judah. Finding fault with them. I thought that was interesting.
He just spoke of that first covenant, verse 7. If it had been faultless,
well, there was another problem too. Not only could the blood
of bulls and goats not take away sin, but fault was also found
because of the weakness of anybody to keep it. Nobody could keep
that law. Nobody could walk in perfect
obedience. Men falling in Adam. They're
unable, they're impotent to obey Almighty God. So therefore the
Scripture speaks of a new covenant, a new testament made with the
house of Israel and Judah. I looked that up and the closest
thing that I could come to the understanding of the house of
Israel and the house of Judah was speaking of the elect Jews
and Gentiles. I know this, it deals with all
God's people. I'm convinced of that. But here's
a new covenant. He found finding fault with them. Not only the system itself, the
old covenant, but the people themselves. There was fault in
the system in that it couldn't put away sin, but the people
themselves couldn't keep it either. So there was a hopelessness as
far as that system of the law, that old system. So the Lord
says, the days are going to come. I'm going to make a new covenant.
A new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah. Not new
in origin. You know this. It's not a covenant
that has started. That old covenant right there
started in time. That had a beginning and it had
an ending. But this new covenant This was
an everlasting, turn over to Hebrews 13, verse 20. Now the God of peace, Hebrews
13, 20. The God of peace that brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep through
the blood of the everlasting covenant. Make you perfect. in every good work to do His
will working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight
through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Here is the new covenant. Not new in age or origin. It's an everlasting covenant. Our blessed Savior, He is the
fulfiller of that new covenant. Remember when we eat the Lord's
Supper and we drink the wine, a picture of the blood of Christ.
The Lord says this is the New Testament in my blood, the new
covenant in my blood. This is what He's saying. Here's
the fulfillment. Here's the payment of it right
here. Here's the surety of it. Almighty God before the foundation
of the world established This covenant right here, He sent
that first covenant in pictures, types, setting forth what God
demanded and what man couldn't do. It was a shadow, a shadow
that could not put away sin. And God ended it because of its
inability. It served its purpose to show
man their need of one that could, of the Fulfiller. And I'm going
to make, He said, a new covenant with them. But when He says,
I'm going to make with them, you know that the new covenant
has been established by Almighty God. When He says He's going
to make it new with them, it's going to be newly revealed to
you. It's everlasting with God. It's
newly revealed to me. I haven't always known this.
I haven't always had a knowledge of salvation by the grace of
God. I came up hearing salvation by works. But when it pleased
God, Paul said, who separated me from my mother's womb, reveal
Christ in me. So it's newly revealed. It's
never old. Does this message ever grow old
with you? Isn't this amazing how I've said before, we can
take these Scriptures, we're going verse by verse by verse,
get Proverbs, verse by verse by verse, John, verse by verse,
Romans, Acts, all of them, and the message never changes. It's always Christ and Him crucified. It's always the setting forth
of the glory of God in the redemption of God's people. They are the
recipients of it. We proclaim that time after time
after time. Why? That's the gospel. The gospel
of God's grace. Sinners ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, and regenerated by the Spirit of God. The fiber
of that message permeates everything we preach. Christ and Him crucified. This is a new covenant. It's
new because it's newly revealed. It's new. It'll never be old.
And it's new because it'll never give place to another. The old
covenant did. The old covenant set forth pictures
and types, put away the Lord Jesus Christ, came into this
world, fulfilled God's law, died under God's judgment, Put away
the guilt of His people. Establish the righteousness for
them. God Almighty robes them in the
righteousness of Christ all that believe. That's new. That will never be replaced.
Fresh every day. This new covenant, this is a
covenant of grace. Not works. It's the announcement
of God's fulfillment of His own demand for righteousness by the
Lord Jesus Christ. This covenant is not a shadow.
There's no shadow in this. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. That old covenant, that priest
would come in. There he is in all the beauty
of that outfit that he wore. There's those animals. Look at
that. There's that altar. There's that
showbread. There's that golden labor. There's that brazen altar. There's the incense. And you
sit and you say, shadow, shadow, shadow. Look, turn over to 1
John. 1 John. 1 John 1. 1 John chapter 1, verses 1 to 3. Listen to what John says. That
which was from the beginning. which we've heard, which we've
seen with our eyes, which we've looked upon, our hands have handled
of the Word of life. For the life was manifested,
and we've seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us.
And truly, our fellowship is with the Father. and with His
Son, Jesus Christ. John says, that which was with
the Father, the Word Himself made flesh. John said, we heard
Him. Our hands handled Him. Life itself,
that's no shadow. A shadow cannot save the Fulfiller,
the life He saves. back in Hebrews chapter 8 verse
9. That new covenant, not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand and led
them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in
my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. Now, in
the first covenant, covenant of types, shadows, pictures,
those that set forth and directed us to the fulfillment of those
types. Those types that couldn't put
away sin, that system that evidenced our inability to not keep it. The Lord said, I'm going to make
a covenant not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt. They continued not in my covenant. And I regarded them not, saith
the Lord. They continued not in my covenant. Now you think about this. Here
was a covenant according to law. And here was the rules. Do and live. Obey and live. Disobey, perish. They continued not in my covenant. I want you to turn with me to
Exodus 19. And I want you to listen. Listen
to what the children of Israel said. Here's what they agreed
to. Exodus 19, 7. Exodus 19, 7. And Moses came and called for
the elders of the people and laid before their faces all these
words which the Lord commanded them. And all the people answered
together and said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words
of the people unto the Lord. Now, you know, that's a pretty
bold statement. Everything that the Lord has
spoken, we will do it. Boy, I tell you, they promised
what they could not do to the One that was their only hope. We're not going to disobey God. They continued not in My covenant,
and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. Now, that Scripture
right there is a quote from Jeremiah 31, 32. Paul the Apostle wrote
that under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. I want to
read. I'll just turn there. Jeremiah
31, 32. If you want to turn there, that's fine. I'll
just read it to you. I'll read 31 and 32. Jeremiah
31, verse 31 and 32. Now listen to this. Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Just exactly
what was said in Hebrews. Not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. Now that's what Jeremiah 31,
32 says. Although I was a husband. The margin says incorrectly.
I tried to look up. I look at these marginal writings
in my Bible here and I try to check them. I mean, they're marginal
readings, but they're not the Scriptures themselves. But this
appears to be just exactly where the Lord said, although I was
a husband unto them, saith the Lord, the marginal reading says,
should I have continued? to be a husband to them. Back
in Hebrews, the ending says, They continued not in My covenant,
and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. That last part of Hebrews
8, verse 9, under the inspiration of God's Spirit, is God's account. of his dealings and attitude
toward all that will not bow to his will and his purpose and
his sovereignty." In Jeremiah it says, should I have continued
to be a husband to them? Unfaithful, disrespectful, disobedient. Hebrews says, I regarded them
not, though he as the husband to the Jews only did them good. They were unfaithful, an adulterous
wife, and their just due, what they deserved, was His neglect. I regarded them not, saith the
Lord. His non-regard, His righteous
judgment, they were not faithful. Someone would ask, would God
do that? You deal with God Almighty in
a covenant of your will and your works and your obedience and
your so-called faithfulness. Would God do that? God Almighty
said, I regarded them not. I've said before, men speak of
their free will, their works, their obedience to the law. I'm
just saying what Paul says. Know ye not what the law saith?
Do you realize the exactness and the perfection and the holiness
of God's demand for obedience. One infraction. One infraction
by one man's sin. I've read some where He would
say, by the sin of one man or by man's one sin. The whole world
was plunged into sin and death. God Almighty is a just God. Hebrews 3.17 says, But with whom
was he grieved forty years? The whole time that they were
in the wilderness, was it not with them that had sinned, whose
carcasses fell in the wilderness, and to whom swear he that they
should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
Is Almighty God just? Yes, He is just. He said, I'm going to make a
new covenant with them. I'm going to reveal a new covenant to them.
A covenant that has been everlastingly established in righteousness. A covenant that has been established
by God Himself for a people that God chose before the foundation
of the world, those that Almighty God promised for the sake of
His Son that He would not impute their sins to them. What was the difference between
Joshua and Caleb and all of the others over the age of 20 that
came out of Egypt? Do you think Joshua and Caleb
was in themselves perfect before God Almighty? Do you think that
Noah was any different? The Scripture sets forth that
God looked and saw that every imagination of the thought of
man was evil continually. Every imagination. Every one
of them. found grace in the eyes of the
Lord. Joshua, Caleb, do you want to deal with Almighty God according
to His law? Do you want to deal with God
Almighty according to your free will? Do you think that we, any
of us, have the ability to be able to walk before God Almighty,
before His holy demands for righteousness and justice. I don't want to deal with God
according to law. Lord, we are what we are by grace. There's
One that did fulfill that law. The Lord Jesus Christ, the fulfillment
of all of those shadows and types. There's the setting forth of
God's satisfaction and grace for helpless sinners. Oh, we see distinguishing grace
in that. You think of those that didn't
die in the wilderness. God Almighty, just, just, just. But He said, I'm a Savior. I'm
going to make a new covenant with them. A new covenant. The Holy Spirit is surely going
to take this message of this new covenant and the preaching
of this new covenant. Almighty God is going to bless.
This is the gospel. Here's the message. Here's the
good news. Man is a fallen creature. God
is holy and just and good and demands, demands obedience. Demands righteousness. demands
holiness before Himself. He will not under any circumstances
clear the guilty. He's not going to clear the guilty.
God's going to deal with the man in Himself or He's going
to deal with him in a substitute. There's a new covenant. There's
that new covenant of grace. And God Almighty is going to
take that message and He's going to bless it to the calling out
of all that He's everlastingly loved. Same message that has
been sent forth through these holy Scriptures. This is God's
Word. This is God's message. God chooses
to show mercy. Show me your glory. I'll have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. To all that He's everlastingly
loved. that this is the Scripture that
I love, that we set forth to preach and teach. What's your
standing before God Almighty? Old covenant? Old covenant? No, the Lord's already said this.
He said, I let them out. They continued not in My covenant.
And you continue not in His covenant. And this is what God says He'll
do. I'll regard you not. I will not regard you. What's your standing? What's
the message of that new covenant? What's the message? Here it is.
God's going to have mercy. Now, when we talk about mercy,
remember this, just the very word mercy means that in yourself,
you're guilty. Remember that in yourself, you're
guilty. But your guilt. Here's the wonder
of this new covenant revealed to you new. Your guilt. He made His own. And those sins
that He made His own made sin. Not pretend. Not just like it
was a shadow. He was made sin. And Almighty
God dealt with His people and their guilt in Him. Put it away. In time, He calls
them out of darkness and reveals to them, I saved you. I saved you. And then called
you. I saved you. Lord, You're saying that You
saved me before You called me? Yes. God said. I saved you in
the Lamb that was slain from before the foundation of the
world. God Almighty saw the satisfaction of that which Christ came into
this world and actually fulfilled. And here we declare tonight we
are saved, and here's the Scripture, Titus 3, 5, not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. But according to His mercy, He
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost."
This is good news. A believer does not stand before
God Almighty accepted in himself, accepted in his ability, accepted
in his works, accepted in his effort, There's none. He doesn't
have any. All of His righteousnesses are
His filthy rags. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. All Him. The shadow did nothing
for us. Christ alone. God's servant. obeyed Almighty God. And in the
day of God's power, God calls His people, His children, His
sheep out of darkness. And they hear that message because
He's given them an ear to hear. They see that Christ is altogether
lovely with eyes that now see. And they believe with a new heart.
They come by faith and realize that their faith didn't save
them. Faith was the means by which God revealed to them what
He had done. No works on our part. The Scripture
speaks of good works, but you know this. That's the evidences.
We're not saved by our works. We evidence that God saved us
by grace. Oh, may the Lord establish this
blessed truth afresh in our heart and cause us by His sweet Spirit
to be thankful. This is what I want. I want God Almighty. This is
what I truly desire. And I realize I struggle with
this, but this is what I have a heart that truly desires this.
I want God's will to be done. I do. I want to be submissive. I want
to walk in obedience. I realize this, that in myself
I struggle. We walk in the Spirit. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those being Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh after
the honoring of self, but we walk after God's Spirit, led
by God's Spirit, taught by God's Spirit, struggling in this world,
sinners, saved by the grace of God. Oh, the blessedness of that
New Testament, that new message, that new promise, made new to
me. May God bless these words to our hearts for Christ's sake.
Amen.