Okay, good morning, everyone.
Turn with me to Hebrews chapter eight, if you would, please.
Hebrews chapter eight. Phenonyms for the word better
are superior, finer, of higher quality, greater, in a different
class. You've heard that expression,
just in a different class, better. more acceptable, head and shoulders
above, more valuable, more suitable, more excellent. The definition
of the word better is of a more excellent or effective type. Look at verse six, but now hath
he who Christ obtained a more excellent, that word in the original
Greek means surpassing, Christ obtained a more surpassing ministry. How? By how much also he is the
mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better
promises. Better, I like better. This new covenant is more excellent
surpassing the old for one reason only, it's because who our mediator
is. It all comes back to the Lord
Jesus. It is none other than God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ's ministry, that word
simply means service or function, in this case, his priesthood,
surpasses the old because Christ himself is our great high priest. His covenant's better because
it's established upon better promises. They're better because
Christ, who is God, made them. Now, I can make you a promise
and I'll do my best to fulfill it, but I'm just a man. And I
could very well let you down, but not him. He's a great high
priest. He's God and man, and he can't
fail. His covenant's better because
it's established on better promises. The promises of the old covenant
were faulty. Nothing faulty in God, faulty
in us. They were faulty because their
fulfillment was dependent upon the weakness and the corruption
of human sinful flesh. That's why. Nothing eternal,
nothing good, nothing excellent can come from the efforts of
our personal obedience to that old covenant. These Hebrews that
the writer is writing to here thought that they could still
do something to merit acceptance with God. And from the beginning
of this letter, it's made clear, can't do it. No sin could be
remitted, no salvation given, no righteousness wrought. But
the old covenant did serve a purpose. The Ten Commandments serve to
arrest and convict and incarcerate and forever condemn us while
at the same time continually reminding us of our sin until
Christ came and accomplished what that covenant could not
do. And that's exactly what He did. And that is what we again
see in these verses before us. It's the argument that the writer
of Hebrews has been making since the beginning of this letter.
Look at verse 7, for if that first covenant had been thoughtless,
then should no place have been sought for the second. The first
covenant was a typical covenant. The people with whom it was made
were typical of the true Israel of God. The Israel of God was
the descendants of Abraham, but the true Israel of God are those
that are found in the Lord Jesus Christ. The blessings promised
in that old covenant were but shadows of good things to come.
The sacrifices of that old covenant were pictures of Christ's sacrifice
for others. The mediators, the priests of
that old covenant, were types of Christ who's our great high
priest. It all is typical. It was all
pointing to our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. That old
covenant was inferior to the new. It had a weakness in that
it was only typical, and the priests were only sinful men,
and the blood that was shed was but animal blood. If that old
covenant could have redeemed a sinner, there would have been
no reason at all for a Christ to come. Turn over a couple pages
or chapters to Hebrews chapter 10 with me. Look at verse 1.
For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not
the very image of the things, can never, can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually make
the comers there unto perfect. Can't do it. For then would they
not have ceased to be offered if they could have? If those
Old Testament sacrifices could have made a sinner perfect, there
wouldn't have been any need to do it again the next year. 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's not
possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Look down at verse nine. Then
said he, who? Well, I give you three guesses
and the first two don't count. Christ, our great high priest,
our great mediator. He said, lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. He taketh away the first. The
first what? The old covenant. that he may
establish the second." You see, our Lord had to come in this
new covenant in order to take away that first inferior, deficient,
weak covenant that depended on man's obedience and upon man's
faithfulness. Now, we ought to be happy about
that since we cannot provide the obedience, the faith, and
the righteousness that God requires. Now, back here in Hebrews 8,
verse 8, It says, for finding fault with them, with who? With
both the covenant and with the people who continue not in that
covenant. Finding fault with them, he,
God saith, behold, the days come, saith the Lord. Now look at this,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah. This covenant is called a new
covenant, not because of its origin or age, since it was made
in Christ before the foundation of the world. It's not new in
that sense. The covenant is called a new
covenant because it's newly revealed. Hebrews 13, 20 says, now 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 before time ever was, Christ entered
into this covenant with God for his people. And according to
Revelation chapter 13, Christ was the Lamb, capital L, from
the foundation of the world. So the new covenant is new because
God reveals it to us now after the first covenant. That which
is revealed second was actually the first. It's called new because
it's always new, new every morning. Every sin that I commit today
and every sin that I commit tomorrow and the day after, every day,
new, every day, every day. Christ has already paid for.
Now, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid,
you know better than that. It'll never be old. It'll never
give place to another. It's new because it gives us
a new heart. It's new because it makes us
a new creation. It's new because we have a new
nature. It's new because we have a new
spirit, a new man within. Look at verse nine. Not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when
I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,
because they continued not in my covenant and I regarded them
not, saith the Lord. The reason the old covenant was
faulty is because men and women, you and I, are faulty. Before
us, beginning here in verse 10, we're given five specific promises,
better promises, which were accomplished by Christ and established for
His elect people. If you are in Christ, if you're
trusting in the Lord Jesus to put your sin away and giving
you the perfect righteousness that God requires, then these
promises are for you. and what precious promises they
are. And this is the believer's inheritance,
not conditioned on our obedience or our faith, but on the obedience
and the faithfulness of Christ. Isn't that what this book's about? Not what we do for God, what
he did for God for us. It's accomplished by the death
of Christ, the testator of the covenant. Now a testator is the
one who made the will or the covenant. My mom and dad and
me being the only child, they made out a will. It was very
simple. They didn't have a lot and I
was the only one that got it. But they were the testator and
I was the recipient. It was my inheritance. So we
see here in verse 10 that it's the Lord Jesus who makes these
precious and better promises. Look at it. For this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. Now he's not talking about the
nation of Israel as a whole there. He's talking about the house
of Israel. Those who owed Israel pictured. I'll make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord. I'll put my laws into their mind
and write them in their hearts. You know, we read by those verses
very often and don't give them much thought, but I want us to
think about them a little bit this morning. So here we see
the first promise that Christ makes is that he will put his
law in the minds of his people and he'll write them on and in
their hearts. What are these laws that are
now written on our minds and on our hearts, those that trust
Christ? Well, the moral law of God is
implied because they're summed up basically in two commandments,
and that's, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart
and thy neighbor as thyself. Those are the two greatest commandments,
and on them hang the whole law, our Lord said. If you can do
those two things, then you yourself have kept the law, but that's
the problem. We can't even do that. We can't love the Lord
with all our heart, no matter how much we try. Our heart's
wicked, desperately wicked, deceitful above all things, and only God
can know it. God's got to give us a new heart.
And all the commandments of our Lord with respect to repentance
and faith and godliness, they're written upon our hearts. What
an amazing reality that is. We're forgiven, we're made to
believe, and we have become perfectly righteous and godly in this new
covenant of grace. The whole Word of God, which
His people love and cherish, they're not written on tables
of stone, but on the hearts and minds of the children of God.
Now, His commandments are not grievous, but they're precious.
Boy, if you put on me a bunch of do's and don'ts, that's grievous,
way down. But Christ having done them all
for me, well, that's precious. In Christ, every single believer
can rightly say, with my mind, I serve the law of God, because
Christ's perfect obedience to the law of God and God's approval
of his work is stamped upon my heart. When God now looks at
my heart, it's stamped, beloved of God, found in Christ. The
second promise that we have here is also found at the end of verse
10, and it says, and I will be to them a God. and they shall
be to me a people." Again, how many times have I read that and
never really considered the preciousness of that? This is not referring
to God as the God of all creation. He's that regardless. God is
God no matter, nobody believes it. He's the one that spoke the
heavens into existence, the earth into existence, and everything
in both. So that's not referring to God
as the God of all creation or the God of nature and providence. It speaks of God as He is the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Big difference. Our Lord
said in John 17, 21, that they all may be one as thou father
art in me and I in thee, that they also, who's they? All God's
people, all God's children, all God's elect, all those who believe,
whosoever will. If you believe, you're a whosoever
will and you're elect of God. God is everyone's God as their
creator. They may deny Him. They may say,
I don't believe in God. They may claim to be an atheist,
but God is still their God, whether they know it or not. As their
creator, He's God. Everybody's God is their sustainer. God's grace and mercy, His sun
shines on the just and the unjust. The rain falls on the wicked
and the righteous. God is everybody's God as His
sovereign purpose is executed in all the days of their lives
in the divine providence. Whatever happens to anybody in
this world, it was God who purposed and ordained it. You can't change
that whether you believe it or not. Doesn't matter if you believe
it. God said it, I believe it, that settles it. No. God said
it, that settles it. Doesn't matter if you believe
it or not. Doesn't change it. They shall be my people." Not
in the sense that all mankind are his people, but those who
believe are his people as the sons and daughters of God, whom
God loved in a special way and chosen Christ. And you know something,
that statement right there, chosen and loved in a special way, should
be the most precious thing that a sinner ever heard. And yet
men and women get upset and they say, well, that ain't. That ain't
fair. That's where many have trouble,
isn't it? They declare God to be unfair in his choosing. The Lord Jesus said, is it not
lawful for me to do what I will with my own? God asked a very
simple question to those who say such things. Nay, God not
unfair. Nay, but old man, who art thou
to reply against me? and Christ were adopted into
God's family and Christ were children of promise. What could
possibly be better than a promise like that? To think that God
is my caring and my loving father. The thought that the sovereign
maker of the world is personally committed to you and he's fixed
your heart upon him. I started to say that he's fixed
his heart upon you, but really he's fixed your heart upon him.
We love him, why? Because he first loved us. To
think that God is my father. Oh, that's more excellent, superior,
and pardon my English, more better. That's more better than anything. Verse 11. "'And 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.'" Now, is that talking about all the
world? No, it's talking about all God's people. That's who
this letter's written to, believers. It's here that we have the third
precious promise. The Lord promises that all His
people will know Him, not know about Him, not know things about
Him. not memorize scripture and know some scripture. That's not
what that means. We won't have to be told to know
him, not in the sense that it's something to be strived for or
accomplished by any human endeavor. Every man and his brother shall
know the Lord from the least to the greatest. Every man and
woman that God has set his affection upon and called and chosen in
his mercy and grace. We will know God by the power
and authority of the mighty Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And if
you go back to Hebrews 1.1, and I believe it has shed some light
on it. You know, God spoke to his people through the prophets
and the priests. If a man wanted to know what
the Lord had to say, he inquired of the prophet. That's the way
God did it in days past, in the Old Testament times. If a sinner
wanted to offer a sacrifice, he went to the priest. Some would
put these restrictions on us today if they could. Well, brother,
you still got to do this and you got to do that. Every believer
is a son. Every believer is a student of
the word. Every believer is a priest to
offer sacrifices of prayer and praise. And it's only because
of who our great high priest is, and that's the Lord Jesus.
Every believer has the Spirit of God dwelling in them. Every
believer knows the Lord, prays to the Lord, and walks with the
Lord. The Lord said, you are kings and priests unto God in
Christ. God sees to it. If the perfect
work and righteousness that God requires from me has been provided
by Christ for me, and there's nothing that I can do to lose
the perfect righteousness that Christ gave me when he put away
my sin, isn't that right? People say, oh, don't preach
that. You'll cause people to live in rebellion. They don't
need any help. We already live in rebellion.
That's the beautiful thing about the gospel. That's who Christ
died for. But it doesn't mean that we'll
continue to live in disobedience and rebellion either. Shall we
continue in sin that grace may abound? Again, God forbid. We
know God, we love God because He first loved us. We're made
willing in the day of His power to serve Him willingly with gratitude,
worship, and praise. I look out and see many of you
that are here all the time and nobody twisted your arm and made
you come this morning. You came because you wanted to.
You came because God made you willing in the day of His power
to believe this gospel that we preach. Well, what a blessing
it is to have a place you can come and hear the truth. We don't
want to disappoint our heavenly father. I never wanted to disappoint
my earthly father. I sure don't want to disappoint
my heavenly father. And that's what it is to know
God. Only Christ can do that for us. How excellent, how superior,
surpassing, how valuable is this new covenant with these better
promises. In verse 12, we find the fourth
promise. Look at it. He says, for I will
be merciful to their unrighteousness. and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. God will be merciful to our unrighteousness. You know what that means? That
means that God forgives our sin. Unrighteousness is sin. What
God is saying here is I'll forgive their sin, all of it, all of
it. God will freely pardon those
who believe and trust in his beloved son for all their righteousness. He has mercy on our unrighteousness,
and he puts away our sin, and he gives us Christ's righteousness.
He'll freely pardon. That's how he does it. We're
made to know that Christ is God. We're made to know that God became
a man. We're made to know that as a
man, he perfectly kept the law. The Lord Jesus Christ fully satisfied
the holy justice of God. And we're made to know that when
he died, we died with him. And when he rose, we rose with
him. And when he ascended, we ascended
with him and he has made us. We need to pay attention to the
language of scripture. He has made us. That's exactly
what he did. He has made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus. There's no hope for heaven's
glory, Adel, apart from Christ. You're not gonna get there any
other way. That in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding,
there it is again, excellent, better, superior, superseding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward us. Those who he isn't
able to believe. That's who that us is. Who is
the us? Those that he is merciful and
gracious to. That he's unable to believe.
And it's through Christ Jesus. There you have it again. No other
way. Pay attention to those words in the scripture. In, by, through. Here we have the precious promise
of forgiveness. It means something when it's
God who gives it. Doesn't it? You better believe
it does because all our sin is against Him. God promises this
because he's the only one who can justly forgive. After all,
all our sins against him and him only, Psalm 51, four. God is just to forgive our sins
because, and only for one reason, and that's the redeeming accomplishment
of Christ himself. How good do you have to be to
be accepted? Perfect. How are you gonna provide perfection?
God is just to forgive our sins. fully and freely forgiven because
God has been merciful to our unrighteousness. Merciful to
unrighteousness. That's this sinner's only hope.
And then in the last portion of verse 12, we had the fifth
promise. God will remember the sins and
iniquity of His covenant people no more. You ever really thought
about that? Those two words, no more? You know what it means? No more. What peace is found in those
words no more? This is a declaration from God
that the sins of His people, according to His strict requirements,
according to His holy and strict justice, according to His unbending,
unflexible law and justice, our sins have been put away. God
doesn't remember them because they don't exist. The Word of
God says that our sins are gone, they're put away, they're cast
behind God's back, they're buried in the bottom of the sea, they're
separated from us as far as the east is from the west. That's
the best we can do to explain them. They're gone. The language
used here declares to us that God has made such a satisfaction
for sin that with God our sins no longer exist and they'll never
ever be laid to our charge. No more. God will never bring
them to our attention. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. You're
going to lay anything to my charge and you're going to have to deal
with God over it. Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that
died. If you're gonna try to condemn me because of my sin,
then you got to take that up with the Lord Jesus. He was condemned
in my place. He paid my debt, which was the
wages of sin. He did for me what I couldn't
do for God, but he did it, and my sins are remembered no more. No more. What significance is
found in those two little words, no more. God remembers our sins,
plural, and our iniquities, plural, meaning all of them, and he remembers
them no more. I remember, I do. But God doesn't. And to believe that is to be
free, is to be free from sin. You know that. To believe that
God remembers my sin no more is to be free from sin's punishment,
free from sin's power, and very soon, free from sin's very presence. What better, better promises,
indeed. And setting forth these promises,
our Lord does so in light of the fact that the old covenant
wherein resided the lesser faulty promises is No more. No more. Look at verse 13. In
that he saith, a new covenant he hath made the first old, now
that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. Now these words relate to the
dissolution of that old covenant as a explanation of what God
means when he speaks of the new. Some have used this passage to
say that because the language speaks such as if the old covenant
has not passed away, it's just been made old. They try to say
that there must need to be a continuation of the old covenant until this
day. That's not so. They try to incorporate the practices
of the old and the new covenants together. You can't mix works
and grace. It's like oil and water, they
won't mix. That's not the meaning of that
verse. We've got to remember the theme of this book, the book
of Hebrews, and this book called the Bible. The writer here is
declaring that the Jewish believers, the Hebrew believers, must leave
behind all the elements of the old covenant because now they've
received Christ. To return to those beggarly elements,
as they're called, would be to claim that Christ and His work
as a mediator and a surety of a better, more excellent covenant
doesn't mean a thing. If you're going to try to trust
in your own righteousness by keeping the law, you're basically
saying that Christ came for no reason. For the believer, the
old covenant is done. I don't know how else to say
it. It's done. I love how verse 13 reads in
the amplified version. It reads this way. When God speaks
of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete, out of use,
outdated. You don't need it. Throw it away. My, my. Boy, that's a hard lesson
to learn, isn't it? We fill every nook, cranny, attic,
closet space with stuff. Oh, I'm going to get rid of that.
I may need that someday. And then you find it 10 years
later and you think, oh, I haven't used that in 10 years. I might
as well throw that away. And then you go, no, I may need
it. The old covenant's retired. It's decommissioned. It's gone. And the new covenant, it isn't
It's superior, it's finer, it's of higher quality, it's greater,
it's in a different class, it's head and shoulders above. More
suitable, more excellent because and only because of Christ who
is our substitute, our surety, and our mediator of this new
and better covenant with better promises. May God enable us to
trust in Christ's finished work. That's the only place that we'll
ever be free from the power of sin, the wages of sin, the presence
of sin, is to be found in Him who is perfect. His perfect work
is finished, accomplished, perfect, and there's nothing for us to
do But rest. So rest. Rest. Sit down with
him in heavenly places. Why is he sat down? Because his
work's finished. So is ours. So is ours.