Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews chapter 8. I'd like to look at verses 3
to 6. Before we do, let's ask our Lord's blessing. Our Father, this evening we thank
you for this time. And Lord, we realize that it
is by your grace that we're here to be able to hear the unsearchable
riches of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. I ask you, Lord,
would you bless the Word tonight? Lord, I pray, according to your
eternal purpose, would you save sinners. Lord, would you call
out of darkness, Lord, those that you are pleased to show
mercy to. Help us. Lord, bless us. Comfort us. Teach us. These things we ask for Christ's
sake. Amen. You know, I don't doubt that
trials and doubts and confusion plagued the Jewish believers
from that time that our Lord was crucified, buried, raised
from the dead, ascended into heaven. And that priesthood of
Aaron, the Aaronic priesthood, was abolished. Though they possessed the glorious
light and life of the Lord Jesus Christ in regenerating grace,
the presence of sin, the temptations of Satan and the mockeries of
unbelievers, I know that it grieved them. And within themselves,
that old man had warred against them. had trouble. Now you think about
it. The temple, that second temple,
not Solomon's temple. That one was destroyed. The first
one was destroyed. They built the second one. And
it wasn't nearly as glorious as the first one. But that second
temple that was destroyed in 70 A.D. Now here's our Lord. ascended and that temple that
was built was still standing, but God was no longer worshipped
in that temple anymore in the way that the Lord had established. The ordinance of the Levitical
priesthood, they were still going right through the motions And
God had set it aside because the Lord Jesus Christ, the fulfiller,
the substance of that Levitical priesthood had come. Sabbath
days were still being observed, and the Lord of the Sabbath had
entered into His rest. There was still a high priest
in Israel. And God's high priest was in
glory. They were going through the motions. And those believers
that were there, called out of darkness, were having to deal
with Judaizers that were trying to put them again under the bondage
of the law. It was a tough time. And the Spirit of God was pleased
to move upon The Apostle, I believe the Apostle Paul, but the writer
to the book of Hebrews, he moved upon this writer to pin down
and set forth concerning the hope, the correction and the
instruction of what had been fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, they went through 1,500
years of watching. what God had ordained. And the
Lord Jesus Christ had come into this world and had put it away.
And now they're struggling. You can enter into that. I can
too. I mean, we have struggles and trials. And here we are tonight
to be instructed, to learn. That's the reason we've come.
We want to hear what the Lord Himself has to say. So in Hebrews
chapter 8, and this scripture this evening is going to set
forth as we continue. Remember, the book of Hebrews
sets forth the Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator of a better covenant. That's what I want to deal with
tonight. This high priest, But we looked at last week in verse
1 of chapter 8, of the things which we've spoken. This is the
sum. This is the totality of it. We
have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the
throne of the majesty in the heavens. We need a priest. We need one that will mediate
for us, one that Almighty God is satisfied with, one that God
Almighty looks upon, and in His own merit, that high priest answers. God is pleased. And God counts
everything that the high priest has done as being the righteousness
for all He represents. We have such a high priest. Now, I want us to look tonight
for a few minutes at this priesthood and how it's better. We have
a high priest and he's better. That's what we'll deal with.
We have one that is better than that priesthood of Aaron. First of all, he ministers in
a better place than Aaron did. Aaron and his lineage, you know,
The priest would die and then another one would take place
and then another one. He died and another one takes place.
But Aaron and his lineage ministered according to God's instruction
right here on this earth. Now I do realize that for a few
years the Lord Jesus Christ, He came into this world and in
His humiliation, He walked this earth as a man fulfilling Obeying,
keeping God's law, establishing a righteousness before God. Now,
understand this. The righteousness by which God's
people are robed, clothed, that is a righteousness that was earned
by the man, Christ Jesus. It took the obedience of flesh
and blood to please Almighty God. And now, here's the Lord
Jesus Christ, obedient, bled, died as the Redeemer of God's
elect. Here He is, fulfilling all that
was required for righteousness before God Almighty. And now,
it's finished. Everything is done. He is set. He is a priest who ministers
in a better place. Aaron, on the earth, where is
our great High Priest? He's seated at the right hand,
the Scripture says, of the throne of the majesty in the heavens.
Sit down. Done. Finished. Secondly, the
Lord Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, He offered a better
sacrifice. gifts of thanksgiving and a sacrifice
for sin. And the high priest of the Aaronic
order, you know just exactly what he did. He took the blood
of bulls and goats and sprinkled that mercy seat, sprinkled it
on the burnt offering, sweet smelling savor. Why? Because
it was a picture of Christ. But our great high priest, he
offered a better sacrifice than Aaron. He offered himself, his
precious blood. You know the Scripture says that
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take
away sin. I got to thinking about that.
And I know it's so because God says it's so. I know it's so.
But you know why it could never take away sin? Whenever Adam fell, this whole
earth, this whole world was cursed. And everything in it. Everything
in it was cursed. Everything was tainted. And all
blood that came from this earth was ineffective in putting away
the guilt of sin and satisfying God's justice, judgment. How in the world could anyone
think that they could take impure blood, tainted blood, blood from
a bull or a goat, Blood from a mere man. How in the world
do you think that blood tainted with sin could satisfy Almighty
God? That's why He said, when the
Lord gave instruction to Moses in Egypt, He said, you kill the
animal here, set him aside without blemish, and the day I tell you
not, you put that blood on the lentil, there's a picture, there's
a type, of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that. And God said,
you get behind that door and when I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. Pure blood. Holy blood. Perfect blood. Aaron entered
into the Holy of Holies one time a year with the blood of an animal. Impure blood. A blood of type
A blood, a picture of blood that was a shadow, but it didn't get
the job done. The Lord Jesus Christ offered
a better sacrifice than Aaron he offered himself. And thirdly,
he ministers in a better tabernacle. Verse 4 and 5, for if he were
on earth, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, he should not be a priest
saying that there are priests that offer gifts according to
the law. who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things,
as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the
tabernacle for us, see, saith he, that thou make all things
according to the pattern showed thee in the mount." No doubt
the tabernacle in the wilderness was a glorious picture of our
Lord Jesus Christ. The tabernacle itself Humble
on the outside, skins of animals, wood, they could take it down,
move it. Oh, but inside, even on the inside,
though but pictures, that mercy seat, table of showbread, and
the altar of incense, and the brazen altar, though in themselves
they were beautiful objects, they were merely Pictures. There was the outside of that
temple. Humble. Tabernacle. Humble. Humble. Inside. Glorious. What
a picture of our Lord. There was no beauty in Him that
we should behold Him. He didn't look any different. He didn't walk around with halos
like people foolishly try to paint. How ridiculous. No. Men looked upon Him and didn't
see anything in Him that was any different, didn't look like
any different Jewish man. Oh, but those given eyes to see
and ears to hear and a heart to know. Peter said, Thou art
the Christ. And our Lord said, Peter, flesh
and blood didn't reveal that to you. My Father, which is in
heaven, He ministers in a better tabernacle. He ministers in His
own body. There He is. That tabernacle
in the wilderness just skins, humble-looking skins. Oh, but
He who made Himself of no reputation, the Word that was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory,
John said. The glory as the only begotten
of the Father. God has begotten one. Sure, the
Lord Jesus Christ and we in Him. The Word made flesh. The tabernacle,
His own body. Seated in the heavenlies, ministering
before God Almighty, better, better. And fourthly, he's the
great high priest of a better covenant, the Scripture says,
better promises. That's verse 6. But now, hath
he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he
is the mediator of a better covenant which was established upon better
promises. Notice how many times that word
better. It's better. It's better. Aaron and his priesthood,
there was a lot of them, but our great high priest is better.
He is but one. Aaron and all of those from him
died. The Lord Jesus Christ ever lives. Aaron and all of his sacrifices
were types, couldn't put away sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, His
sacrifice Himself, totally effectual. He hath by one sacrifice put
away sin. Perfected forever. I love this. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Them that are set apart by God.
God set apart a people. He chose a people, set them apart
in electing grace. He set them apart. He knows them. He knows who they are and calls
them out. And the Lord Jesus Christ by
one sacrifice, though in time, He came many,
many years after Moses Abraham and all of those Old Testament
saints. Do you know that they were justified
by the same blood? Almighty God saw that blood slain,
Bob, before the foundation of the world. We deal in time. God's eternal. With God Almighty, everything
is I Am. It's right now. I mean, we have
to talk in time. I have to talk in the past and
the future. God's eternal right now. So when
we talk about things that God Almighty did before the foundation
of the world, that's why we can look at that Scripture that says,
I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Everything that God's ever purposed
to do, it's done. That's done here again by faith. We know the Scripture bears out. We're glorified with Christ right
now. I can't figure it out. But I
can tell you this, that according to the Scriptures, we're seated
in the heavenlies right now. That's where Almighty God sees
us. He sees us. You say, well, that's future.
Think about where He saw you before the foundation of the
world. Think about when He told Jeremiah before, I formed you
in the belly. I knew you. He's the minister of a better
covenant. The covenant of the Levitical priesthood. That was
temporary. And listen to this. I want to
show you something. This was brought back to my mind
again. Turn to Romans 9.4. I want to
show you something that may shed light. It did for me. Romans
9.4. Men talk about keeping the law
and stuff like this. Do you know who the law was given
to? Jews. Jews. Jews. Jews. Romans 9, 4, Who are Israelites? To whom pertaineth the adoption
and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and
the service of God? and the promises who are the
fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is
over all. God bless forever. Amen. Men talk about keeping God's
law. That law was given to the Jews. That ceremonial law was temporary. It's over. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to them that believe. And men are trying to
hold on to something, first of all, that was never given to
them lest they're Jewish. And Christ is the end of it,
and it's stopped. And Paul has been dealing with
these Jews, showing them it's over. It's over. We're not here tonight to offer
sacrifices. How blasphemous that is. Just
the very thought, the thinking that a man could do something
to keep God's law. Do you realize how hideous that
is to our blessed Savior who has done it? and has ended it. It was a type. It was a picture. It was temporary. The covenant
of Almighty God in Christ is for God's elect, Jews, Gentiles. Not everyone, obviously, that
would ever be born into this world, but those that God Almighty
had everlastingly loved There's that second covenant. We're going
to deal with that, Lord willing, in the next week or so. In the next few verses, it's
talking about that second covenant. But Covenant of Aaron's priesthood,
it was conditional. This is what it was. Do and live. Do and prosper. Now, the better covenant concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he says. He says,
but now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much
also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established
upon better promises. I'm going to deal with those
better promises in a minute. But the better covenant under that
Aaronic priesthood, the Mosaic laws, Do and live the blessings of that Aaronic
priesthood. This is what it promised. Temporary
blessings. Land of Canaan. Prosperity in this life. Health. They came out of Egypt. God kept
them in that desert forty years. Shoes didn't wear out. Isn't
that amazing? The shoes didn't wear out. We have eternal life in Christ. They're shoes. God would send
them manna. We have the bread of heaven. There was a rock that followed
them, a picture of Christ. That rock was Christ out of that
water. We drink from Him who is the
water of life. He said, if any man thirsts,
let him come to Me. He is a mediator of a better
covenant. Do you see that? Men try to hang
on to something that has now been put away. It's ended. That's what these Jews were struggling
with. And the Apostle Paul and the
mercy of Almighty God teaching him and teaching us as we go
through these scriptures and continually see the glory of
our great high priest. If anybody asks you, Lord, when
we get through this book, Somebody say, what's the book of Hebrews
all about? I can tell you this. You can sum it up right here.
It's the priesthood of Christ. I mean, no doubt about it. It's
the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You think about this. In that old covenant when Israel,
when they obeyed God and when they worshiped God according
to the pattern that He had given, God blessed them. Peace, prosperity. And when they disobeyed, they
neglected his tabernacle and served other gods. What did he
do with them? Judgment. Nations would come, take them,
capture them. You see how that was? I mean,
that was that covenant. It was the covenant of that law. You do and you prosper. You do,
you live. You disobey, you're going to
suffer. Now listen, here we have a mediator of a better covenant,
better promises. We have promises that have been
given us based upon the absolute obedience of our blessed Savior. In the Old Testament, when those
Jews disobeyed God, They suffered. And here we are. And in our blessed
surety, our sin has been cast as far as the east is from the
west. He's cast behind the back of God, he said. How do you explain
that? Behind his back? He said, I will
not remember. Their iniquities. My old conscience. I get to thinking about it. There's
times that I... Listen, I could be up here. I
could be up here to study. And I don't know. There's times that I'll leave
and I get to thinking about, you know, things that I thought
about or something that happened some distraction or something
like this. And I'd be driving home and I'm
just, oh, it's just grieving me. Grieving me. I'm telling
the truth, ain't I, Glenda? I go home and I just, oh, Lord,
help me. Forgive me. And oh, to think
about that Scripture. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not impute guilt. iniquity. I will not remember
if we confess our sins faithful just to forgive them of their
sins. He forgives the sins of His people
for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ having put away their
guilt. He paid the debt of it. He paid the guilt of it. And
now we ask forgiveness for it. In the Old Testament, They didn't
do exactly as God Almighty said. One day a man named Achan went
in here and he found a wedge of gold in a Babylonian garment,
took it and hid it under his tent and covered it all up. Hebrew
children went into battle, lost the battle. And Joshua, Lord,
what happened? Oh, they started casting lots,
casting lots. They came down to Achan. Caught
him. Red-handed. What have you done? Found this little wedge of gold
in his Babylonian garment. Got Achan and his wife and his
kids. And God killed him. God killed
him. I think about in one day if Almighty
God would mark iniquity in us, Mitch, and dealt with us after
the law. I keep thinking about it. You
want to go back to the law? Let me tell you, look in the
Old Testament about how God dealt with people. You want to deal
with God according to law? I don't think so. No, sir. How many times have I stolen?
How unfaithful, unfaithful. Almighty God has set forth that
we have a mediator, one that stands between God and God's
people. One that Almighty God has accepted
and one who is made like unto his brethren and he touches both. A mediator of a better covenant. The God-man mediator who has
made peace and God Almighty is forever satisfied. He's always been satisfied. In
time, he was pleased to show us and tell us about it. Brought
it to our light and gave us a new heart, a new mind, a new spirit. Taught us through the gospel. It's such good news. Though we
see through a glass darkly, we do see better covenant, better
promises. We have a high priest who has
shed His blood, robes us in His righteousness. We're sons of
God. His Spirit lives within us. He ministers in a better place,
a better sacrifice, a better tabernacle, a better covenant
established on better promises. Old Testament, you do and you'll
prosper. Here's a promise to God's people. He has done and God satisfied. And now God Almighty looks upon
us in our blessed Lord Jesus Christ and looks upon Him in
our stead as all of our righteousness. We stand complete in Him. Oh, in that day when we see Him
as He is, then we'll know, then we'll know how much we owe and
how much he paid. In that day, we'll see him and
be like him. I need to be reminded of that.
That's good news. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake. Amen.