All right, if you'll take your
Bibles and turn with me to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews chapter
8. The title of the message this
evening is, The Ministry of a New Covenant. A New Covenant. The Scripture says in verse 5, it says, "...who serve..." let's
begin in verse 4, "...for if he were on the earth, he should
not be a priest, seeing 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 see, saith he, that thou
makest make all things according to the pattern showed thee in
the mount. But now, hath he obtained a more
excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a
better covenant, which is established upon better promises. For if
that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place
have been sought for a second. 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 and with the house
of Judah. Now as we have seen at the beginning
of this chapter, the Apostle Paul sums up the matter that
it all went before. He sums all of this up by saying
this, we have such a high priest who has sat down on the right
hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. And truly, we've
seen that Christ is the summation of the whole Bible, the whole
book, the whole matter of the Word of God is this. Christ Jesus
is our great High Priest. And He who is our great High
Priest is victorious in His work. He said in the volume of the
book, lo I come, in the volume of the book it is written of
me to do thy will, O God. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of Christ once for all. By the will of
God we are redeemed. By the will of God we are justified. Because Christ, our High Priest,
has done the will of God. Christ our High Priest said,
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. The work
which he gave for him was the work of salvation. The work to
accomplish redemption for all of his people. The work of eternal life that
the Father gave to him and now the result of this victory He says, ìFather, glorify Thou
me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had before
the world was.î Therefore, our High Priest, and be this known
unto you, believer, our High Priest is set down. He's finished
the work given to Him. Our High Priest is set down on
a throne. Therefore, our High Priest is
king and ruling over all flesh, over all things, to accomplish
His will and purpose, which is to save His elect people. John 17, I just quoted part of
that to you. In John 17, in the first couple
of verses, Jesus said, He said that I have finished the work,
and He says, let me read it to you, I don't want to misquote
it. John chapter 17 and verse Verse 1, He lifted up His eyes
to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son,
that Thy Son may also glorify Thee. As Thou hast given Him
power over all flesh, listen, that He should give eternal life
to as many as Thou hast given Him. Now we have such a high
priest then as is sitting in the heavens. And we may be sure
then that none of those He represents will be lost. That is, us who believe on Jesus
Christ alone. See then the precious, wonderful
gift of faith. Faith is a gift. If you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, if you know what I've just said
in your heart, if you know Him who is our High Priest, who has
sat down on the Majesty on High, don't think little of this. Faith
is a gift of God. It is a gift. It's a wonderful
gift. How many today in our generation
profess to have faith in Jesus Christ? One study that I had read said
that there are 7.3 billion people on the earth and 2.3 billion
confess to be Christian. 2.3 billion confess to be Christian. But what the world calls Christian
is not what God calls Christian. It's not what the Word of God
calls it. Many so-called Christians profess to believe in Jesus,
plus something else. That, my friend, is not Christian. Many believe to profess in Jesus
Christ, but they profess something to go along, something that they
must do. This clearly is not according
to the Word of God. As a matter of fact, the whole
book of Galatians is concerning this. The Galatians were taught
that salvation was by faith plus circumcision. And you remember
what the Apostle said to that? He said, Behold, I, Paul, tell
you, I say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall
profit you nothing. For a man that circumcises a
debtor to the whole law, Christ has become none effect unto you,
whosoever of you." It doesn't matter who. Whosoever of you
are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace. You see,
these two things cannot be mixed together. Grace and works cannot
be mixed. Salvation is either of grace
or it is of works. It is not a combination. And
yet the mass of so-called Christianity believe it is a mixture. that
God has done something for man, and man then must reply or do
something to make that work effectual. That is not faith in Christ. That is not biblical faith. This then excludes all who would
believe in Christ plus some work of the law, some obedience of
the flesh. Baptismal regeneration. Anybody
that believes in Christ plus baptism is lost. I want you to
understand that. Anybody that believes in Christ
plus the Lord's Supper, Christ plus your free will is lost. Whosoever you be, Paul said,
know this, if you add one thing, you're a debtor to the whole
law. Add one thing, and you've made Christ of none effect. The Word of God is clear. You
that do believe in Christ alone, you should recognize what a great
gift faith is. Faith in Christ is a gift of
God. Ephesians 2, 8, "...for by grace
you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves."
Faith is not of yourself. You believe in Christ, this is
a miracle of grace that you believe in Christ at all, that you believe
on Christ alone. You remember in John 6, verse
28, they said, well, what do we do to do the works of God?
And Jesus said, this is the work of God, that you believe on Him
whom He has sent. What is the work of God? It is
that you believe. That's the work of God. That's
not the work of man. Jesus said, No man can come unto
me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him. As it is written, they shall
all be taught of God. We're going to see in a minute,
that's part of this new covenant that the Lord Jesus is going
to administer. In the Scripture it says, Thy
people shall be made willing in the day of thy power. Are
you willing? to come to Christ. You who believe,
are you willing? That sounds silly, doesn't it?
It sounds like that is a rhetorical question. Are you willing? Well, of course I am. I've got
no place else to go. I come to Christ. I come alone to Christ with nothing. In my hands I bring simply to
thy cross I cling. I come with nothing. So the will is involved in faith,
but the will is not the cause of faith. No. Therefore, you who believe on
Christ alone, you are true Christians, true followers of the Lamb. And
faith, my friends, is the evidence that you are His. Let me ask you, what are you
believing in? Who are you trusting in? Is it
Christ alone or is it Christ plus something else? If it's
Christ plus something else, it's not faith. If it's Christ alone,
that's faith. That's faith. That's the evidence
of salvation is faith. I know you look around and you
try to find other evidence. That's the flesh. That's the
flesh looking for something to boast in, looking for something
to brag about. Don't listen to it. You know
what? The evidence of true faith is
and faith is the evidence of salvation. What's the evidence
of true faith it? continues That's it. Jesus said he that endureth to
the end the same shall be saved You want to know if your faith
is true? endure to the end That's the whole letter of this book
of Hebrews. Paul is encouraging his saints to endure in the faith. He said in chapter 3, I believe
it is, chapter 3 and verse 6, he said, But Christ is a Son
over His own house, whose house we are, listen, if we hold fast
the confidence. and the rejoicing of the whole
firm to the end. Verse 14, for we are made partakers
of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast,
how long? To the end. You see, faith, true
faith, always endures, always endures. And it's these exhortations true
believers are not offended. I'm not offended by these things.
Well, some men say, how dare you tell me I need to endure?
Of course I'll endure. Not believers. Boy, we're troubled. We're troubled on every side.
Troubled without, troubled within. So these exhortations are things
we grab a hold of, we hold on to. True believers take these
things to heart. We cling tightly by faith. We
cling even closer when we're made to go under difficulties
and troubles and trials. They don't separate us from God.
They cause us to grow closer to God. And our hope, our confidence
is not even in our clinging, is it? It's not in our clinging. It's not in our holding on to
Him, but rather on this. that He as our High Priest is
seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ever living to make intercession
for me. Now that's my hope. That's my confidence. And if
you are a true believer in Christ, that is your confidence, your
hope. Trials and troubles, And even
our sins and failings will never separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus. How can this be? I'm convicted
every day of my sin, aren't you? Every day of my life I am convicted
of how cold and indifferent my heart is. I am convicted of my
lack of faith in Christ constantly. How can these things be? How
can God, who is of purer eyes than to behold evil, still bear
with me? How can He ever be just and still
receive me? because Jesus Christ is our High
Priest. And you listen, He is going to
receive you daily because He is not only our priest but our
minister. In verse 2 it says, "...a minister
of the sanctuary, of the true tabernacle." Now what does the
ministry of our intercession Our mediatorial work of our Lord
Jesus Christ between us and God. What does that involve? He is
a minister in the sanctuary. What does that involve in His
work as a minister? It involves this thing called
the New Covenant. The New Covenant. when my wife's mother had passed
away, my brother-in-law became an executor of her will. And everything, everything that
dealt with her estate had to go through the executor. He had
to mediate that covenant, that will, that testament. He had
to mediate it. You listen. Whatever this new
covenant involves, Jesus Christ is the mediator of that covenant. He is the one that accomplished
the covenant, and He is the one that gives out all the blessings
contained in the covenant. Now look in verse 7 of your text. It says, Now, verse 6, he says,
But now hath he obtained, Christ obtained, a more excellent ministry
than those earthly priests, a more excellent ministry than Moses,
by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant established
upon better promises. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second. finding fault with them he saith
behold the days cometh sayeth the Lord and I will make a new
covenant the Apostle says announces the first covenant the law of
Moses this what he's talking about was a failure the first
covenant was a failure He said, if it wasn't a failure,
then there should no need be sought for another covenant. But where was the failure? He tells you in verse 8. It says,
for finding fault with them. The covenant was no fault in
the first covenant. There was no fault in the law.
The law is good. The law is just. The fault lied
with us, with man. You see, Paul in Romans 7, he
says that the law is holy and just and good. Yet the law was
never meant to save anyone. That first covenant never was
meant to save. It was only meant to expose sin. The law then is spiritual and
we are carnal, sold under sin. The fault of the first covenant
is that we were all fallen in Adam. And when he died, we died. We were all born in sin. And as a result of that, we were
all unable and unwilling to obey the first covenant. We were all
unable and unwilling. The carnal mind is enmity against
God for it is not subject. It indeed can be to the law of
God. It can't. It's not willing and
it's not able. So where's the fault? God's covenant
is good, it's righteous, it's holy. Where's the fault? The
fault is in us because we could not and we would not obey the
law of God. Yet behold, God, our God, in
love and grace hath for sinners made a new covenant. A new covenant. I like this. He calls it a better
covenant. Now when we say New Covenant,
I want you to know this. It is not in regard to time. This New Covenant is much older
than the first. This New Covenant is much older.
In Galatians 3 and verse 16, Paul tells us that Abraham received
the promises of this covenant. 430 years before the law was given. This new covenant is as old as
eternity, for it was made before time by God in the trinity of
His persons. In this eternal covenant of grace,
God the Father, in free, unmerited favor, chose a people to save. Romans 9 and verse 11, it said,
"...for the children," talking about those two children in the
womb of their mother, those twins, those children not yet being
born, neither having done good or evil, "...that the purpose
of God according to election might stand." Not of works. You see, election is not of works. but of Him, but of God. Election is of God, who is the
cause of election, but of God that calleth. What is the result
of this election? The calling of God. the bringing
forth of his saints. For it is written, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. And we know Jacob is a type.
Jacob is a picture of all the chosen people of God. In Isaiah
43 it says, But now saith the Lord thy Creator, O Jacob. He that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not. For I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name. Listen. Why is Jacob redeemed why is
Jacob loved why is Jacob called thou art That's why because God chosen
These elect, they belong to the Father, and in love He chose
them, He purposed to save them, purposed to redeem them, and
calls them by one means, by one person, even His Son. This is no new covenant. Not
in regards to time. He said in Proverbs chapter 8,
he said this, "...the Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way."
When was the beginning of God's way? Can you find the beginning
of God's way? God's way being eternal is speaking
of eternity. In the beginning, the Lord possessed
me in the beginning of His way. This is Christ speaking in prophecy
before the works of old. Listen, I was set up from everlasting. Set up to do what? to be the
Christ, to be the Redeemer, to be the mediator of a new covenant,
an eternal covenant. Behold, Jesus is the sum and
substance of that covenant. Upon Him was set all the responsibility
to fulfill the salvation of God's elect. Thus we read the words of Jesus,
All mine are thine, and thine are mine. You see, all that the
Father gave to Christ, He gave in a covenant promise to His
Son. I want you to know that this
new covenant has nothing to do with you, other than it's for
you. This covenant was made between
God and His Son. Between God and His Son. Therefore Christ says with great
surety, All that the Father hath given Me shall come to Me. All
that the Father hath given Me I should lose nothing but raise
it up again at the last day. Therefore we see by His one offering
He has obtained redemption for His elect. By His righteousness
He obtained the righteousness of God for us. But now that our
Savior, God's chosen and Redeemer of Israel has accomplished the
covenant, what is He doing? Now I tell you that this covenant
was made in eternity. This covenant was accomplished
by the person and work of Christ. So what then is our Savior doing?
Listen, He is mediating this covenant. He is the mediator of this better
covenant. He is now seated on the throne
of God. And stop then to behold Him.
Behold this covenant that He has made. How much better is
this covenant than the old one? The covenant is better because
the blessings and benefits are not based on merit. You see, all the law was based
on your merit. Do this and live. Don't do this
and die. Now that's a covenant of works.
But this covenant is better. It says it's not of merit, but
of free grace, unmerited favor. Not by our sacrificing a righteousness,
but the merit and sacrifice of Christ is the basis of this covenant. Spurgeon said to consider this
about this new covenant of grace and salvation, that as far as
Christ was concerned, this covenant was a covenant of works. As far
as Christ was concerned, it was a covenant of works. Why? Because
He had to work. You see, in order to make it
to where you and I do not have to work, He had to work. This covenant was as much a covenant
of works as the other. For Christ to make this new and
better covenant effectual, He must first obey and honor the
first. In Isaiah 42, it gives that prophecy
of His servant. He said, I am pleased for His
righteousness, for He shall magnify the law and make it Honorable
So after Christ honored and magnified the law in the flesh for our
righteousness He honored and magnified the justice of God
by his death Jesus said ought not Christ to have suffered and
entered into his glory wine so that he should ratify the covenant
So he should finish the work of the covenant And behold He is now in heaven
sitting on His throne because He had kept the covenant. And
now as the minister of God, the surety of the covenant, He is
now freely bestowing all of the blessing of that covenant to
His people. I'll give you an illustration,
and then I'm going to give you five things about this covenant.
wonderful things that you know you have already. These things
you know. And so these things are not new
for you. These things are new as they're fresh. When the Spirit
of God makes them fresh upon you, you'll know them. The illustration
is this. You remember Joseph. Joseph was
chosen of God, rejected of his brothers, sent into prison, captivity,
exalted to the throne for the purpose of what? Storing up grain
for Jacob. I see somebody smile. You see
the picture. You see the picture. Christ was chosen of God, rejected
of His brethren. sent to prison and crucified
for his people to do what? To store up all the merit and
blessings of God for his people according to the covenant of
mercy ordained by God from eternity. And now what is he doing? He
is casting handfuls on purpose. Handfuls of grace on purpose.
He is giving you what He earned. Giving it to you freely. Let's read what He does. Come
on. Verse 8. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant
which I made with their fathers, praise God, in the day that 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. For this is the covenant I will
make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
Here's the first thing. Listen. I will put my laws into
their mind. See if this doesn't resonate.
By nature, we were darkness. By nature, we were foolish, and
our hearts were darkened, we were depraved, And we were deceived to think
that we could somehow keep the Law. Why is it that men think
they can keep the Law? Because the Law of God has not
been revealed to their minds. They have no idea of the holiness
of God or the Law of God. They have no idea what it means.
Neither did we. But one day, God opened our minds. He put that Law in our minds. And what does the Law do? What
was the purpose of the Law? It is to expose sin. Now you don't think that's a
blessing? That's a blessing of the New
Covenant, is to expose sin. Expose depravity and guilt. This is the Mediator. It's what
He's done for us, isn't it? Is that not what He's done for
you? Has He not exposed your guilt and sin? Well, this is
all part of the covenant. You're going to put that law
in your minds. And what does this do? It causes
us to forsake all hopes of self-righteousness. It causes us to abandon our old
religion. It causes us to forsake everything,
knowing that there is nothing we can do to satisfy God. But in grace, to everyone he
writes this in their minds, he also sends a man to preach Christ. I know this to be true. If a
man's got something to hang on to or someplace to go, he'll
never come to Christ. But when God puts that law in
your mind, there ain't no place else to go. And all who come to Christ see
this. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. Now that's in
my mind. That's in my mind. You see, the
law He put to expose me, I also see the law in Christ fulfilled. It's fulfilled in Christ. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. So
then, but we are not lawless, are we? We who do believe, we
still have law. We're not antinomians by no means. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. But Christ is very clear about
our law. He said, A new commandment give
I to you. What is that? Love one another. Is that not the law that we have
now? It's not a law for salvation, it's a law because of salvation.
Love one another as I have loved you. The second law is faith. The law of faith. Paul says,
are we justified by the law of works? No, but by the law of
faith. The just shall live how? By faith. So we are under law, we have
the law of love and the law of faith. And these laws are written in
our minds, aren't they? Constantly. Second of all, he
says this. Look at your text again. He says,
I will write my laws in their mind and I will write them in
their hearts. The law of faith in Christ and
love for the saints is not to us academic. It's not academic. It's far more than that. It's
far more than some mental agreement. But faith in Christ is written
on our hearts. Let me ask you, believer, can
you do anything else but believe on Christ? I'll ask you a different way.
Do you want to do anything else but believe on Christ? Is there
any place else you want to go? Not to us. Why? It's graven on
our hearts by the finger of God. It's written on there. And we
love Him. Believers in Christ are not playing
or pretending. and oh how it pains us when we
do. We're not pretending to surrender
all to Christ, but in our hearts we determine to completely be
sold out for Christ. This is the work of the new birth
and regeneration, the new creation of the Holy Spirit on the hearts
of His people. And in the heart of the new man,
Christ is the pearl of great price. He is the treasure of
our hearts, the object of our faith, and the salvation of our
souls. Natural men do not even think They think when we say things
like fear God, we're talking about some slavish fear. That's
not how we serve God, not a true believer. We serve Him because
we want to. We serve Him as a son, not as
a slave. We serve Him as a Son out of
a heart of reverence and love. Therefore He, according to the
covenant of grace, administers to us, His people, a new heart
and devotion to Christ alone. What did God that He would do
that to the lost even now? that He would take His hand of
mercy and reach down and save a lost sinner. Is that not what He did for you?
That's what He did for me. See, no man desires to go to
hell, but they desire to keep their sin. But us who believe on Christ, We despise our sin and cleave
to Christ. Matter of fact, that's part of
the New Covenant. If you read that in Ezekiel chapter 36, he
tells you at the end of that covenant, he said, you shall
loathe yourself. I sound like a modern religion?
Modern religion said you should love yourself. God said, no,
my people will loathe themselves. And we do. But we love Him. We love Him. Now look at this
next one. He says, I will be to them a
God. I will be your God. What does this mean? Well, it
means that all that God is, He is to you. That's pretty big. He is our great and exceeding
great reward. He is our Father. He is our Shepherd.
He is our Protector. He is our Friend. He is our Rock.
He is our Fortress. He is our Shield. He is our Savior. He is our Sovereign. Do you need comfort? The God of all comfort says,
I am your God. Do you need peace? The God of
all peace said that Christ had made peace by the blood of His
cross. Joy? Deliverance? See that God has willed to be
all of these things to us in this covenant of grace. And seeing
God as our God, who then can harm us or separate us from Him? Jesus said, ìNo man is able to
pluck them out of My hand.î For the Father which gave them Me
is greater than all. I and My Father are one. And notice this, fourthly, they
shall be to Me a people. See, the whole of humanity belongs
to God, but they're not all His people. Though we are all fallen,
All were the same lump of fallen race, yet God elected and loved
Jacob and hated Esau. Jesus said to His disciples,
You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you. And because you were chosen,
you were redeemed. Because you were redeemed, you were called.
Because you were called, you were kept. Because you're kept,
you will receive all the blessings Christ stored up for you. All
the blessings in heavenly places are yours. Why? You're His people.
You're His people. Therefore, all who are named
in this covenant of grace shall be taught of God. Look at this. He said, "...and they shall not
teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for they shall all know Me, from the least of
them to the greatest." Why? Because we are all taught of
God. I told you faith is no simple act of the will. Faith is a work
of God. Jesus said, "...No man can come
unto Me except the Father which hath sent Me. Draw him as it
is written, they shall all be..." What? Of God, how'd you come
to Christ? How you come to Christ? How do
you come to Christ? You were taught of God That's
why you came because this is part of the grace of covenant.
It's a covenant You know, you couldn't miss it There was no chance of you missing
this it was written in a covenant And God said, I will teach you,
and no man is going to have to... When I preach Christ, you have
to... When you know Him, when I tell you of Him, you know Him.
And when people say things about Him that aren't true, you know
that's not true. Why? Because you know Him. You
know Him. This is part of the covenant
of God's grace. I tell you, I preach the Gospel
to you, but it's God that teaches you. It's God that gives you
understanding and it's God that gives you peace. And lastly,
he says this, I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and
their sins and iniquities, will I remember no more. This is to the sinner, saved
by grace, the greatest sound to our ears. It is the very heart
of the covenant. Mercy. and forgiveness. Believer, you are God's peculiar
treasure. You are the apple of His eye,
the love of His heart, and because you are seen in union with His
Son, God says, I will not remember your sins anymore. You and I cannot forget them. God will never remember them.
Why? It's in the covenant. And Christ is ministering this
covenant daily. That's why John says, confess
your sins. He is faithful and just to forgive
you your sins. Why? It's in the covenant. Christ merited mercy. And now He gives mercy as the
mediator of the covenant. You know you're still here today
because of this covenant? You still believe because He
daily ministers to you faith, daily gives you faith, daily
keeps your soul Daily he manifests his grace
to you. How? Through his word. Answers
your prayers. Speaks to your heart. These are all handfuls on purpose. Handfuls on purpose. Daily that's
what the Lord's ministering. Covenant graces. Why? He's the minister of the new
covenant. And He doesn't do it like you
would, like I would, begrudgingly. He does it freely. Why? He's already took away your sin. What should hinder Him from giving
you all spiritual blessings that He stored up? He stored them
up for you. Why would He not give them to
you? He will. Pray God give you grace and comfort
in this. Minister of the new covenant. Let's stand and be
dismissed in prayer.