the title of the message, the
sum of the matter, the sum of the matter. As we come to Hebrews
8, the Apostle is ready, he's now ready to sum up everything
that he's been saying from the very start, but especially in
the last three chapters. The Apostle has been laying the
foundation to lead us to this pivotal point here in this epistle. Now everything he has said culminates
in one clear, important distinction, and that is the difference between
the Law and the Gospel is life and death. It's life and it's
that much different. It's the matter of life and death.
And this is crucial because it's the heart of the gospel. It's the heart of our salvation
in Christ. As we will see here in a little
bit. We find here in this chapter
in Christ that he's far superior to anything the old covenant
and the old priesthood could offer. THEY COULD NOT OFFER WHAT
HE HAS GIVEN US, LIFE. HE'S GIVEN US LIFE. Now he says here in verse 1,
Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. The apostle brings everything
together here with a very powerful statement. He says, WE HAVE SUCH
A HIGH PRIEST, and this is the sum of it, here's the main point
of it. WE HAVE SUCH A HIGH PRIEST, ONE
WHO IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE MAJESTY ON HIGH. He's not over in Jerusalem, He's
in Heaven, seated at God's right hand. Now I know that s figuratively
speaking because Jesus Christ is God, but that s the place
of POWER, that s the place of ACCEPTANCE. It s being seated
at God s right hand. Now this word SOME can also be
translated as the PRINCIPLE THING. This is the PRINCIPLE THING that
I have been talking about Paul saying. This is the PRINCIPLE
THING. This is the point I m TRYING TO MAKE, or I AM MAKING. Here's
the PRINCIPLE THING, meaning this is also the CORE MESSAGE
of the GOSPEL. The main point here is that we
have not only a HIGH PRIEST, but we have a BETTER HIGH PRIEST.
A BETTER HIGH PRIEST. One who is PERMANENT. He LIVETH
FOREVER. We saw that last week. He LIVETH
FOREVER. Jesus Christ is alive and well.
Our High Priest is alive and well seated at God's right hand.
Secondly, He's divine and human. Aaron was human but he was never
divine. He never had a divine nature
and all those priests were just human and they had to offer up
sacrifices for their own sins as well as the sins of the people.
Christ knew no sin. CHRIST IS EVERYTHING WE NEED.
HE IS GOD AND HE IS MAN. HE IS COMPLETELY IN EVERY WAY
A MAN AND HE IS COMPLETELY IN EVERY WAY GOD. THAT'S WHO HE
IS. THIRDLY, HIS MINISTRY, HIS PRIESTHOOD
IS EFFECTIVE. ALL THOSE YEARS AND ALL THOSE
ANIMALS Could never make the comers, it says over in Hebrews,
we'll get to that later, not tonight, but later on. But he
said none of the comers were made perfect, they didn't make
any of them perfect. They were just types and shadows
of the one to come. But Christ's ministry, His priesthood,
His sacrifice, His blood, His righteousness is effective. it
got the job done. Henry used to say that several
times over the years preaching, he said it got the job done and
it did and that's the kind of high priest we have and it says
in verse 2, he's a minister of the sanctuary that is he is and
that word minister there of the sanctuary is an officiating high
priest in heaven in heaven which the Lord pitched and not man
the old testament tabernacle was a shadow of the true heavenly
sanctuary, which is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
where it's found. You see, Jesus Christ is not
just a priest, He's also the true tabernacle. That tabernacle
in the wilderness represented HIM. It was a picture of HIM. Inside was the Shekinah glory. Inside was the glory of God.
GOD WAS IN CHRIST, BUT ON THE OUTSIDE WHAT WAS IT COVERED WITH?
BADGER SKIN. THAT'S THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST.
BUT INSIDE WAS THE GLORY OF GOD. AND THE JEWS FOR THE MOST PART
COULDN'T SEE THAT. NO ONE CAN SEE THAT UNTIL GOD
GIVES YOU EYES TO SEE IT. WE SEE THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE
FACE OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST BECAUSE
THE FACE REPRESENTS THE PERSON. BUT UNLESS GOD GIVES YOU AND
ME EYES TO SEE THAT, WE WILL NEVER SEE IT. WE WILL SEE NOTHING
BUT A POOR MAN, A POOR NAZARENE, THAT'S ALL WE'LL SEE. WE'LL SEE
JUST WHAT THEY SAW, NOTHING. NOTHING. BUT IF GOD GIVES US
EYES TO SEE, WE'LL SEE GOD'S GLORY IN THAT MAN, JESUS CHRIST. THAT'S WHAT WE'LL SEE. But He is not just a priest,
He is the true tabernacle. He said, A BODY, a BODY hast
thou prepared me. Listen, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the TEMPLE in which we worship God. Turn over to Revelation
21 and I'll show you this. It's not just a statement, it's
scriptural. Over in Revelation 21, let me
get over there. In Revelation 21, it speaks of,
look in verse 9, let me show you verse 9 here. I believe it's
verse 9. And there came to me one of the
seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last
plagues, talked with me, saying, Come hither. I will show thee
the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the
Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city,
the holy city, descending out of heaven from God, having the
glory of God. And her light was like unto the
stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal."
Now you can go on down and read a description of the city. now
I want you to look in uh let me see here verse 22 and I and
I saw no temple therein in that city for the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the temple of it it's in God it's in Christ
we worship God he's the temple he's the temple in that city
We see over in Jerusalem, they had the temple over there and
had it for years over there, but then it got destroyed in
AD 70. But that's not our temple. That's
not our temple. Christ is our temple. It is in
Christ that we worship God. We worship God in Jesus Christ. He's the temple of that city.
and the place where God's glory resides is in Jesus Christ. That's where it resides. We do
not need to look for God in a building, in a man-made temple, in a temple
made with hands. We look for Him in Christ. That's
where you learn who God is. That's where you see the glory
of God is in the person of Jesus Christ. We worship and offer
up our praises in and by and through Jesus Christ. That's
what we're doing tonight. This worship service, the songs
we have sung, the scripture reading, everything we've done here tonight
is offered up unto God in Christ. It's offered up unto Him in Christ. And then we have here in verses
3 and 5, we have a BETTER SACRIFICE, we have a BETTER PRIEST, we have
a BETTER PRIEST, a HIGH PRIEST, one that's ETERNAL, one that's
EFFECTIVE, one that's SEATED AT GOD'S RIGHT HAND, and this
HIGH PRIEST whom God has appointed for us, Has a better sacrifice. We have a better sacrifice. We
don't have goats and calves and we don't have animal sacrifices. We have God himself in Christ. We have the Son of God who became
a man as our sacrifice. He's the better sacrifice. Abraham
said God will provide Himself a lamb. That's what he said to
Isaac. God provided Himself a lamb and God provided Himself as the
lamb. We cannot have a better sacrifice,
not possible. We have such a high priest seated
at God's right hand, and we have a better sacrifice. It says in
verse 3, Every priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices. Now here's the question, here's
the question. What does Jesus Christ, what
does He offer that's better? What does He offer that's better? He offers His perfect righteousness. Aaron never had that. None of
those priests had that. All of them together never had
it. And He offers His blood for our atonement, the atonement
of our sins. You see, He has a better sacrifice.
He has a sacrifice that is effectual. It put away our sins. And through
Him, through this High Priest, and if we really understand the
priesthood And this is something we really need to meditate on,
to seek the Lord about, and to be instructed in, is the priesthood
of Christ. Because I told you last week,
nothing happens without Him. Nothing happens without Him.
In the Jewish economy, the High Priest was IT. I mean, He was
IT. He's the one that went into the
veil with the blood. Nobody else went in there. He's
the one that went into that veil with the blood of atonement.
Nobody else did. He's it. Now listen, it says here, well,
in Ephesians, let me mention this. It is through Him that
God accepts us. And I mention that because it
says in Ephesians 1.6, He, God, hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. He has accepted us in the Beloved.
I can't destroy that. If I could, I would. I would. I'd destroy it every day. Every
day I'd get up out of bed and I'd destroy it. I'd destroy it
with my dreams. I would destroy it one way or
another, but I can't because God has made us accepted, not
just acceptable, accepted, He has received us in Jesus Christ,
He's received us. And then it says in verse 4 and
5, If He were on earth, if the Lord Jesus Christ were on earth
right now, He would not be a priest. First of all, He's not of the
tribe of Levi, so He couldn't be a priest if He was on earth. wouldn't be any need for him
because he's not of the tribe of Levi, he's of the tribe of
Judah. But this PRIEST, this PRIEST,
this HIGH PRIEST that God has given to us has offered up a
superior sacrifice above all the Levitical offerings. None
of them compare, none of them. The Old Testament priests, all
they were, were shadows and types. That's all they were. All they
did was point to the heavenly realities. That's all they did. That's all they did. But Christ's
sacrifice is the fulfillment of all these types. And His sacrifice
has actually saved us. Have you ever just sat down and
really sat down and thought about the Lord has saved me. Has it
ever just, I want to say stunned you that God has saved you in
spite of yourself. He saved you and you're his and
he's going to have you and you're going to be in heaven. You're
going to be in heaven. That's astounding thought to
me. And all of it is through this high priest. who has made
everything to us. We have a better high priest,
we have a better sacrifice, and now we have a better covenant.
Look in verses 6-9, 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. FOR IF THAT FIRST COVENANT
HAD BEEN FAULTLESS, THEN SHOULD NO PLACE HAVE BEEN SOUGHT FOR
THE SECOND. IF WE'RE 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, NOT ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT 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. WE HAVE A BETTER COVENANT. WE
KNOW IT AS THE COVENANT OF GRACE. THEY WERE UNDER A COVENANT OF
WORKS. DO THIS AND THOU SHALT LIVE. YOU KNOW WHEN GOD GAVE
THAT TO THEM AT FIRST, YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAID? WELL DO IT. WELL
DO IT. THEY DIDN'T DO ANY OF IT. NOT
THE FIRST THING. THEY DIDN'T DO ANY OF IT. I thank
God that we're under a covenant of grace. I cannot mess that
one up. We're under a covenant of grace.
But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry. Christ has
an excellent ministry. He's the mediator of a better
covenant. This new covenant is based on better promises. That's
why it's a better covenant. It's not do this and live. It's
believe. and live. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. It's believe and live,
it's not do and live. You see, it's based on better
promises, not on the covenant of works from that Old Testament,
but on that covenant of grace that's between the Father and
the Son. That Old Covenant was dependent on human efforts and
obedience, that's what it was dependent on. It says there,
They continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not. They
didn't do it. God said, do it and I'll bless
you. Don't do it and I'll punish you. They didn't do it. All you
have to do is read the Old Testament. They were always in trouble.
They were always going into captivity. Always. Why? One reason. One reason. Disobedience. And we're no different. You know,
God gave us them as an example Why would I want to try to keep
a covenant of works when God has given us an example that
you can't do it? You can't do it. You cannot keep that old covenant
dependent on human effort and obedience, but it couldn't bring
salvation. He says, Your fathers ate manna
in the wilderness and are dead. And he didn't mean physically.
He didn't mean physically. He meant spiritually. They're
dead. They're dead. That type never saved them. A
type in a picture has never saved anybody. It's the real, it's
Jesus Christ who saves. HERE'S WHAT THAT OLD COVENANT
DID! IT EXPOSED THE FAULT OF THEIR HUMANITY THAT IT WAS DEPRAVED! HOW CAN A DEPRAVED NATURE KEEP
A HOLY COMMANDMENT? IT CAN'T! IT CAN'T! First of all, I'm trying not to cough once
I get that going, I don't want to get stopped. IT CAN, IT CANNOT
DO THAT. A DEPRAVED NATURE CANNOT KEEP
A HOLY COMMANDMENT. YOU SEE, THE NATURE ITSELF HAS
TO BE HOLY FIRST. YOU KNOW THAT? IT STARTS WITH
THIS, TO LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART. AND NOBODY HAS DONE THAT
BUT JESUS CHRIST. HE'S THE ONLY ONE. THE KEEPING
OF THE COMMANDMENT STARTS IN THE HEART. HE SAID, If you look on a woman to lust
after, you've committed adultery already. There's a lot of people
who've not committed adultery outwardly, but they have inwardly
in their heart, and that's what God sees. There's a lot of people
who haven't committed murder, who've hated their brother without
a cause. And before God, they're guilty
of murder. The only reason they didn't murder
is because God didn't let them. That's the only reason. We and Johnny was talking the
other day, we come playing golf, and Johnny was talking about
some nice guys. And they are, they're nice. They're nice guys.
And I told him, I said, they're nice for our sakes. GOD WITHDRAW HIS HAND, YOU'LL
SEE NICE GO AWAY, I PROMISE YOU. YOUR NICE NEIGHBOR THAT DOESN'T
BELIEVE THE GOSPEL, I PROMISE YOU, WON'T BE NICE ANYMORE. IT'S GOD WHO MAKES THIS WHOLE
WORLD, IT MAKES THIS WHOLE WORLD SOMETHING WE CAN LIVE WITH, BECAUSE
GOD HAS A PEOPLE HERE, AND GOD RULES AND OVERRULES THE HEARTS
OF EVERY HUMAN BEING FOR OUR SAKES. I REALIZE THAT! I REALIZE THAT! He does these things for OUR
SAKES. And then verse 7 to 9, look,
If the first covenant had been perfect, in other words, if it
had been flawless, or if it had been perfect, if it had saved
those who were under it, If they had saved those who were under
it, you wouldn't need another one, would you? You wouldn't
need another one. If all those who were under that
Old Testament, that old economy, if they had been saved under
it, you wouldn't need another one. There would have been no
need for the second, but the problem was not with the covenant. The problem was not with the
covenant of works. The Lord Jesus Christ kept it,
didn't He? He kept the law, he kept every
bit of it. The problem's with the flesh. The problem's with
the people trying to keep it, they couldn't do it. Telling
God, yeah, we do it. No, you can't. No, you cannot. It's with the flesh. Turn over
to Romans chapter eight. I'll show you the problem. In Romans 8, let me read verse
1, I'll go to verse 3. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak
through the flesh, what could the law not do? Save a wretch
like me. THE LAW COULD NOT SAVE A WRETCH
LIKE ME, BECAUSE IT IS WEAK THROUGH THE FLESH. GOD SENDING HIS OWN
SON IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH AND FORCING CONDEMNED SIN
IN THE FLESH. GOD DID IN CHRIST WHAT WE COULD
NOT DO. He honored the Law and He saved
us by doing so. He saved us by doing so. The
fault wasn't in the covenants. It was in their inability to
keep it. It says in verse 8 there back in Hebrews, finding fault
in them, not with the law, not with the covenant, finding fault
with them. That's the problem. God promised
through Jeremiah over in Jeremiah 31, God made this promise. He
said, I'm going to make a new covenant with the house of Judah
in Israel. I'm going to make a new covenant,
one that will succeed where the old one failed. I'm going to
make a new covenant because that old covenant is not going to
save anybody, but I'm going to make a new covenant. Now that
new covenant is newly revealed after that second covenant, but
it's been as old as eternity. It's old as eternity. God made
that covenant with Christ before the world began, but the first
one revealed is that covenant of works. And now, this covenant here,
look in verse 10 and 12. Verse 10 and 12, look here. Well,
let me go back to verse 9. Then said He, Lo, I come. Where
am I at? I'm in the wrong, wait a minute,
I'll get back there. We'll get that next week probably.
In verses 10 and 12, for this is the covenant, okay I turned
two pages what I did. This is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their
hearts. See he didn't do this with that
old covenant of works. All they did was, it was the
letter. IT WAS CALLED THE LETTER OF THE LAW. TEN COMMANDMENTS
WRITTEN ON STONE. AND THEY READ IT. AND THEY SAID
THIS IS WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DO. THEY DIDN'T LOVE DOING
IT. CHRIST SAID THY LAW, I LOVE THY
LAW. DIDN'T HE SAY THAT? I LOVE THY
LAW. OVER AND OVER IN THE PSALM. I LOVE THY LAW. THEY DIDN'T LOVE
IT. THEY JUST LOOKED AT IT, READ
IT, AND SAID THIS IS WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DO. I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR
MIND. and write them in their hearts,
not on tables of stone, but on that new heart, I'll write my
laws in their heart, and I'll be to them a God, and they shall
be to me a people. 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." I could stand here all day, I
mean I could stand here for years, and instructs you out of the
book, out of the word of God, unless God reveals himself to
you, you'll never know him. You'll never know him. You'll
know about him, but you'll never love him. You'll never follow
him. Reading this book will be a chore.
Reading his word won't mean anything, it won't be any different than
reading another book. In fact, you'll read it and you'll think,
I can't understand this. It takes having the Spirit of God, a new
heart, a new nature to understand this because God has to reveal
it. But He doesn't reveal it to that
old nature, that old man. He reveals it to the new. He
said you don't put new wine into old bottles because if you do,
He said it'll burst when that wine ferments. He said it'll
burst. You put new wine into new bottles. GOD TAKES THE TRUTH AND HE PUTS
IT IN THAT NEW NATURE, THAT NEW MAN THAT'S BORN OF GOD. NOW YOU'VE
GOT SOMETHING TO PUT IT IN. YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING TO PUT IT
IN. NOW YOU CAN GROW IN GRACE AND
KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST. BUT UNTIL THEN YOU CAN'T. UNTIL
THEN YOU'LL HAVE NO INTEREST IN CHRIST. YOU REALLY HAVE NO
INTEREST IN HIM. BUT BOY, WHEN YOU START TO HAVE
AN INTEREST THAT'S OF GOD. THAT'S OF GOD. AND COMING HERE
IS NOT A CHORE. You look forward to coming here.
But let's look how transformative the New Covenant is. I just read
to you. I will put MY LAWS, plural, not
my law, not just Ten Commandments, not plural. Now I'll get to this
in a minute. I will put MY LAWS into their
mind and write them in their hearts. It's going to be in you.
HE SAID IF MY WORD ABIDES IN YOU IF MY WORD ABIDES IN YOU
THIS IS A LIVING WORD IF IT ABIDES IN YOU THE OLD COVENANT FOCUSED
ON EXTERNAL OBEDIENCE BUT THE NEW COVENANT BRINGS AN INWARD
CHANGE THERE IS A REAL INWARD CHANGE THAT HAPPENS GOD IS NOT
JUST GOING TO TELL US HIS WILL HE IS GOING TO WRITE IT ON OUR
HEARTS THAT'S WHAT HE IS GOING TO DO HE IS GOING TO WRITE IT
ON OUR HEARTS There's four things God does in the New Covenant
that the Old Covenant could not do. There's four things He does. First, there's an inward work.
I'm going to write my laws in their heart. Secondly, there's
a new relationship. I will be to them a God. I will be to them God. Then there's
experiential knowledge. They shall know ME. I WRITE MY
LAWS IN HER HEART, I OBEY THEM OF GOD, AND THEY SHALL KNOW ME!
THEY SHALL KNOW ME! And there's this new experience
of the laws of God, the precepts of the gospel, being written
in the heart. You enjoy this. You enjoy giving. you look at you look after one
another you do what we have here in the new
covenant through the lord jesus christ is a new relationship
to god a new relationship one in which god becomes our god
and we and we become his people And the New Covenant gives us
a deeper, more intimate knowledge of God and relationship to God
that could not be had under that old covenant of works. You see,
it's not just about rules, it's about a real relationship with
God. Salvation is not just trying
to miss hell and go to heaven, that's not what it's about. That's what Arminianism is about.
It's do this and do that, and they're trying to miss a place
called hell and go to a place called heaven. Salvation is about
a real union and relationship with Almighty God, our Creator. That's what it's about. It's
not about straightening up. It's not about trying to live
right. It's knowing God in Christ. That'll take care of itself.
If God saved you, I promise you, you will walk right. You'll sin
too, but your life will be marked by godliness. It'll be marked
by godliness. The Holy Spirit, you're sealed
with the Holy Spirit. He'll see to it. He'll see to
it. And when you read the Word of
God, it'll bless you and it'll convict you. Your heart will leap and your
heart will burn. He'll use the Word of God and
He'll guide and direct and teach and instruct you if you're His. Now these laws
that are written on the heart, I said I'd come to this later,
there are four laws that are written on the heart. As we look
at what God does in the New Covenant, we realize that it's not about
external laws, But about a NEW HEART and a NEW RELATIONSHIP
in Christ, and God WRITES FOUR ESSENTIAL LAWS on the HEART,
and we'll give them to you. First of all, the LAW OF SIN.
Turn over to Romans 7, we need to look at some of these, we've
got time. In Romans 7, look in verse 22, Paul says,
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. I do, every
believer does. But I see another law in my members,
which he never knew about until God saved him. He never knew
that. He didn't know covetousness was
wrong. until the law came and slayed him. But I see another
law of my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ."
That's who. That's who will deliver me. But there's the law of sin,
we understand it now. We understand that we have a
sinful nature. We don?t just do sinful things,
we ARE sin! By nature we are sin, we LEARNED
this, and we learned that there is a LAW OF SIN that works in
our members, in this FLESH, and it CAUSES US TROUBLE! It?s the
reason why we sin, because the nature of sin is still there.
You see, God has saved us from the power of sin, He?ll not have
dominion over HE SAVED US FROM THE GUILT OF SIN. THERE IS NOW NO CONDEMNATION
TO THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS, BUT WE ARE NOT YET SAVED FROM
THE PRESENCE OF SIN. THAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN WE DIE,
AND THEN ALL THE PRESENCE OF SIN IS GONE, BUT NOT YET, NOT
YET. WE ARE AWARE OF OUR SINFUL NATURE,
BUT NOT BOUND BY IT ANYMORE. AND THEN WE HAVE THE LAW OF FAITH,
AS WE WERE TOLD OVER IN Romans chapter 3 and chapter 10. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to them that believe. So there's the law of
faith. In other words, we now have the
nature to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ which the law could
never give us. The law could never give faith
and the just shall live by what? Faith, and it could never give
that. But we have that, that law is written in our hearts,
it's written in our hearts. Then we have the Law of Liberty
that James spoke of in James 2.8. The Royal Law of Love, he
calls it the Royal Law of Liberty, enables us to love God and to
love one another. That's why we love one another.
Even with all of our oddities and peculiarities and different
personalities, we love one another, don't we? WE TRULY DO! WE TRULY DO! And then we have the Law of Christ
as spoken of in Galatians 6. We are called to bear on one
another's burden, leaving out that love of Christ which is
shed abroad in the heart. It's called the Law of Christ
over in Galatians 6, 1-2. The Old Covenant can never accomplish
these things. Only in Christ do we find TRUE
LIFE, TRUE REGENERATION, TRUE BIRTH, TRUE SALVATION. Only in
Christ. Then in closing, THE OLD COVENANT
WAS A SHADOW. That's all it was. How foolish
it is to try to hang on to a shadow. When you go out the next time
and you see your shadow, try to get hold of it. Well, if you do, you're silly. You can't get a hold of his shadow.
There's no substance in it. You can't get a hold of something
that has no substance. Christ is the substance of the
shadows. Now, if we can lay hold of eternal
life, we lay hold of Christ, we've laid hold of the substance
that this book is all about. Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, we listen. In Christ
we find a better High Priest, a better place, He's in Heaven,
He ministers in Heaven. He has a better sacrifice and
it's under a better covenant. THIS, the Apostle says, is the
SUM OF THE MATTER. This is the SUM OF THE MATTER.
As we stand in Christ we can be assured that our salvation
is SECURE. I believe in the security of
the saints. BUT NOT LIKE THEY PREACH IT! NOT LIKE ARMENIANISM
PREACHES IT! THE SECURITY OF THE SAINTS IS
IN JESUS CHRIST, OUR HIGH PRIEST. I BELIEVE IN OUR SECURITY IN
CHRIST, NOT BECAUSE OF ANY EFFORT, BUT BECAUSE OF HIS PERFECT WORK,
HIS PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS, HIS PERFECT BLOOD. SO LET US REJOICE
in this truth and walk in the newness of life He s given to
us, empowered by the Holy Spirit. And I think that s what Paul
meant when he said that over in Philippians, let me read it. Philippians 3, over here in Philippians
3, I m not going to try to quote it because I won t get it all. Paul says this in verse 10, that
I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship
of His sufferings be made confirmable unto His death. But now listen,
he's saying this, that I may know Him and the power of His
resurrection life in me as I live out my life on this earth. That's what I want to know. I
WANT TO KNOW THE POWER OF CHRIST IN ME AS I LIVE OUT MY LIFE ON
THIS EARTH. And when you have time, you go
home, read 2 Corinthians chapter 3, especially 4 through 18. I'm
not going to read it now, but you go home, 2 Corinthians, what
did I say? 3, 4 through 18, read that. That has to do with this covenant.
Christ is our priest. Alright.