Hebrews chapter 8, let's read
verses 1 through 3. Now, the things which
we have spoken, this is the Son. We have such a high priest. He's been talking about the high
priest after the order of Melchizedek. We have such a high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens, a minister, a minister of the sanctuary, the true tabernacle
which the Lord pitched, not man. For every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is a necessity that
this man, Christ Jesus, have somewhat also to offer. Now, these things cannot be dull
of hearing. Listen to this. These are vital and I hope the
Lord will make it a blessing. When the Lord gave the law to
Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave very specific instructions, very
specific in the way men and women were to worship him. He needed
three things. He needed a person, place, and
thing. He needed a high priest, he needed
a tabernacle, and he needed a sacrifice. And God instructed, gave specific,
very meticulous instructions of who the high priest was to
be, what the tabernacle was to be made of, in it, where it was
located. and the sacrifice, that is, the
blood of a lamb and other things were to be brought. But God hasn't
changed. One of the last things He said
in the book of Malachi was, I am the Lord, I change not. So the
way to worship God has not changed. Has not changed. Paul is dealing
with this. We still need these three things. God has a change. We still need
a high priest, and not anyone will do. We still need a place
to come. We need a person. We need a place
and a thing. We need a sacrifice. Look at
verse 5. Verse 5 says, These things serve
unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was
admonished of God when he was about to make the tavern. I could
see, he said, God said, you make all things according to the pattern
shown to thee in the mount. The pattern? What's the pattern? Who's the pattern? These things
are a shadow of someone. They cast a shadow. They're not
the substance. Shadow can't do you any good,
can't do anything for anybody. It's just a shadow. Symbols and
ceremonies and pictures and types and all that can't do anything
for anybody. Only the real can. The person. The high priest, as you know,
you know this, the high priest And he said back in chapter 3,
consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Jesus
Christ. He's the only holy man. We've
been looking at this, haven't we, how that we need a holy man
to go to a holy God and represent us. Someone that God will speak
to. Someone that God approves of.
Someone that God said, I'll speak to this man and I'll speak to
you through him. Well, we have such a one. One
mediator. between God and men, the man,
Christ Jesus. And he said that the Father always
hears him. Everything he requests, God grants
it. Whoever he represents, God accepts. That's the high priest I need.
Someone whom God Almighty will absolutely at all times accept
on my behalf. Jesus Christ. A tabernacle. A
place. A place. Jesus Christ is our tabernacle. He is. He tabernacled among us
and sacrifices. He's called the Lamb of God. In summary, he says here in Hebrews
8 verse 1, he says this is the sum. This is the sum. The sum
of it all. The sum not only of Hebrews,
but of the whole Old Testament. As a matter of fact, the sum
of all God's will and wisdom and purpose and covenant and
everything is Jesus Christ. He's the sum, He's the substance,
He's all, and He's in all. He's all things we need. And
he's found in all these things and in all his people. He's the
fulfillment of all laws, types, symbols, shadows, all things
were done away with when Jesus Christ was crucified. It's all
done away with. All they did was point to him
and when he came, don't need them anymore. He took away the
first. to establish a second Himself. Himself. Faith in Him. All right. And
so, that being said, that's the sum of it all. That being said,
any and all religious ceremonies Any and all religious relics
or objects such as holy water and robes and candles and any
offices, any men, women that set themselves up as some kind
of a Go between when you and God is false. It's false. Get a little stronger than that.
It's anti-Christ because it goes against the person and the work
of Jesus Christ. If anyone sets themselves up
as anything between men and God, they are anti-Christ. Is that too hard? It's not hard
enough. It's not hard enough. Because
it's damning. That's how serious it is. We're
going to see that in a minute. One mediator. One person to pray
to. One person to go to God. One
sacrifice for sins. One. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. And His work is finished. And anybody who does anything, even
if they make faith a work, that goes against the work of Jesus
Christ. When Jesus Christ said, It is
finished. What do you mean, It is finished?
Name something. Whatever it is, it's finished.
He's the end of the law. for righteousness. To be saved, to be accepted by
God, to be considered holy by God, to be allowed into heaven,
he's it. He's it. And for anybody to do
anything is to go against his work. Why is this important? Why is it important that we study
this and we know this? Well, because as we speak there
are millions the world over, billions, who are still going
through some motions, some ceremonies, practicing some kind of form
of whatever it is that they think. He's pleasing to God and will
get them into God's favor and God's heaven. But Paul said they're
going about, and they're zealous, but they're going about to establish
their own righteousness. And there's only one way to be
righteous with God. That's through Jesus Christ.
One way. And even in our little community,
you know, and I'm not picking on the German Baptists. They're
no more ignorant than free will Baptists, Southern Baptists,
Methodists, Catholics or whatever. But in our little community here,
we see very clearly a people trying to go back to the Levitical
law, trying to go back to the Old Testament law, trying to
live, literally going back and picking verses like Leviticus
19, 27, how to wear your hair and so forth. That's the Levitical
law. And we're going to see, well
look at it, verse 4. If Christ were on the earth, he wouldn't
even be a priest. He's not from Levi, John. If
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, were going to be a priest
on the earth, they wouldn't allow him. He could not even be a priest.
He's not from Levi. What does that tell you? My, my. These are the tribe of
Judah, where Christ came from. David couldn't be a priest. David
couldn't be a priest. Solomon could not be a priest.
He wasn't. Neither one of them were. My,
my. It says in verse 6, it says,
but now he, Christ, hath obtained a more excellent ministry, far
excelling, more excellent, far excelling. See, Moses and Aaron
were Levites. They were priests, okay? Moses
too. Miriam thought she was. The Lord
set her straight. But anyway, Christ's priesthood
far excelled Moses and Aaron. My, my, God got angry with Moses
and stripped him on Mount Horeb. Stripped his clothes off and
said, you can't be a priest anymore. Got angry with him. Got angry
with Moses for striking the rock the second time. Oh, the Lord
was well pleased with our high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.
more excellent, far more excellent than their excelling Moses and
Aaron and all the high priests that have ever come and gone. They're all gone. He came, but
he's not gone. He ever liveth. They went on
later in chapter 7 and say that they're all dead. He's not. Their
priesthood ended. His doesn't. Never. Forever. Priests forever. That's the order
of Melchizedek. No beginning or ending. In fact,
he was the first high... Remember Melchizedek, the story
of Melchizedek? He came in Genesis 14 and it
says he was a priest to the Most High God. Priest? Nobody had
ever heard of a priest. What do you mean, priest? What
does it mean to be a priest? Well, there he is. Long before
the law said you need a priest, here he came. Who is that? Jesus
Christ. Well, he was a priest long before
Genesis 14. Long before Genesis 1. Forever. No beginning of days
or end of days. No father, no mother. The mediator
of a better covenant. The mediator of a better covenant
made between Him, the Father, and the Holy Spirit concerning
His people. A better covenant. Verse 7 says that first covenant,
if it had been faultless, then no place should have been sought
for a second. There wouldn't be any need for a second if the
first covenant were faultless. Now, you do understand, or I
want you to understand, that there's only one covenant. There never has been but one
covenant whereby human beings be saved. It's an everlasting covenant,
one that God made long before the world began. We're going
to see that in a minute. And all human beings that are
saved, whether Old Testament, New Testament, are all saved
by that one covenant. and by this one mediator of the
covenant, Jesus Christ. No one's ever saved by the law. The law was not given to save
anybody. You'd be surprised how many people
are ignorant of this. You'd be surprised. Go to Galatians,
the book of Galatians, and the books of Romans. The book of
Romans And the Galatians especially, those two books, go in great
detail concerning the law, the purpose of the law, the covenant,
and so on. And they clearly teach us, clearly
teach the purpose of the law. The purpose of the law. Look
at Galatians 2. This is how serious it is if a person thinks that
keeping the law, any law, Ten Commandments, anything they think
they do to be righteous, this is how serious it is. Galatians
2 verse 21, I do not frustrate the grace of God if righteousness
come by the law. then Christ is dead in vain. That's how serious it is. This
is not a theological question. This is not a matter of doctrine.
Well, you believe this, we believe that. You have your doctrine,
we have ours, we'll all be alright. No, we won't. No, this is a matter
of why Christ came. Why did Jesus Christ come? Well,
number one, He came to live according to the law. Why? To show us how? to do it for us, for His people. To do that and then charge it,
impute it, reckon it to our account that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him, by Him, through Him, by the faith of Jesus Christ. By His knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many." Knowledge of what? The law. We don't know
the law. We think we know the law. People
like these folks here in our community think they know the
law, but it's a pick and choose. It's a pick and chew. I like
this one. I like that one. I can't keep that one. I can't
live in this modern world and keep that one. So I won't do
that. Let's keep this and keep that. Galatians 2.10 says to offend
and whatnot. All right, yes, 310. Look at
this. Galatians 310. Galatians 310. As many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse it is written, cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. It's James in it that said
to offend in one point is to be guilty of it all. That's too
strict. God said that. I didn't say that. John Calvin didn't say it. John
Gill didn't say it. God did. Oh, my. My, my, serious. Chapter 3, verse
8 says this, Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, not law, faith. Preach the gospel unto Abraham. Now, Abraham was 400 years before
the law. And it says, verse 6, Abraham
believed God. God came to Abraham one day and
said, I've chosen you. I'm calling you. Your mind revealed
Himself to Abraham. He said, now, come out. And Abraham
believed. How could he not? God gave him
life. God revealed the truth to him.
He said, I'm God. Abraham said, yes. Come out. He said, okay. He believed God and it was counted
unto him for righteousness. God said, you're holy, righteous,
unblameable, unreprovable in my sight right now. He hadn't
done anything. He hadn't done anything. He hadn't
kept one law. There was no law. That's the gospel. He preached
the gospel. This is the gospel. It's not
do, do, do, do. That's law. Here's gospel done. Done. Christ did it. You broke
it. Here's the gospel. You broke
it. He fixed it. That's the good
news. Why would anybody want anything
other than that? Unless they're self-righteous. Unless they want to steal His
glory. Share the glory. Want a pat on the back. Want
a little crowning glory. That's the only reason. Sinners
sure do love this gospel. My, my. Chapter 4, Galatians
4. Look at this. No, no, no, no. Hold on. Chapter 3. This is the
verse I want you to see. Verse 16 and 17. Now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. And they saith not the
seeds as of many, but as of one, to thy seed which is Christ. You remember That story over
there when God said to Abraham, I'm going to bless you. I'm going
to bless everybody in you. Everybody that blesses you, I'll
bless. But who is he talking about?
He's talking about Jesus Christ. Abraham was in Christ. Verse 17, This I say, Galatians
3, 17, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in
Christ. Before who? Before Abraham. Before the law. The covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which
was 430 years after, cannot disavow or make the promise of no effect.
So there's one covenant. You hear so-called churches all
over the land call themselves New Covenant. Covenant church,
covenant. What covenant are you talking
about? You know, really, this new covenant
that he talks about, it's not new at all. It's old. Like that new river in West Virginia.
They call it the new river. I don't know why they call it
that, because it's the oldest river. It's the oldest river. Newly discovered. Newly revealed. New every morning. Good news. That's why it's called new. Two
covenants made by God with two men. Two covenants made by God
with two men. Now I'm going to talk about the
second one before I do the first one. Adam. The first man of the
earth. Adam. God said, this new and
live. Here it is. You keep this. You
keep yourself righteous by doing what I say. Okay? What did he
do? He failed miserably. By one man's disobedience. Homemade
sinners. That's original sin. In Adam all died. That's dead in sin. Born dead
in sin. Totally depraved. In Adam all
died. Alright? That's the first, that's
the second covenant. The second Adam came along. Who's
that? Jesus Christ. All men are either
in Adam or in the second Adam. Jesus Christ. Adam. We're born dead in Adam. made
alive in Christ, if we belong to Him, if we're one of Him.
The second Adam came along, God said, this do, and they will
live. And that was made before the
world began, because God wrote a book, it's called the Lamb's
Book of Life, when God Almighty, the Holy Spirit, and God the
Son together made a covenant to save some of this fallen race
that Christ would be the mediator, the surety of that covenant,
that God would accept all he died for, that the Holy Spirit
would come and regenerate him. This was the covenant, the agreement
made between the triune God before the world ever began, and they
wrote a book and put all the names of every one of those people
in that book, the Lamb's Book of Life. That's concealed. That's covenant. And Christ sealed
it in his own precious blood, ratified it with his own blood. This covenant here in Hebrews
spoken of that Israel couldn't keep, the covenant he's
talking about is the law. It's the law. that Israel couldn't keep, the
Levitical law, the Mosaic law. But it never was given to give
life. The Lord never did give the law
to give life, that they might keep it and God would be pleased
with them or accept them. It was given, and Paul went into
great detail about this in Romans, it was given to show sin. To show sin, number one. To show
God's holiness. It shall be perfect and accepted.
And Paul said the law is spiritual. Paul said the law is spiritual. It demands perfection. God demands
perfection, not just in word, but in motive, in thought. And our Lord came and says, magnified
the law. He said, you've heard it said
of them of old time, thou shalt not kill. I tell you, if you
covet or if you hate somebody, you've killed them. The only
reason you didn't kill them is I kept you from it. You didn't
have the opportunity. You didn't have a gun in your
hand at the time, but I kept you from it. But you hated them
and you wanted to kill them. I know, God said, I look on the
heart. I know. Don't fool, you can't fool me.
God said, I know. I examine men's hearts. And Christ magnified the law
to show us that it requires absolute perfection in thought and word
and deed. And people think they keep it
outwardly. Our Lord said of the Pharisees,
they appear to be righteous before men outwardly, but within they're
full of extortion and excess. They're like graves, He said.
Whited sepulchers. Dead on the inside. But look
real holy on the outside. God says, I see right through
them. See right through them. So this law, the covenant he's
speaking of, is the law that Israel and that we, that nobody
can keep. All right, now look at verse
9. Well, you need to see this. Verse,
I'm out of time. I'm not supposed to say that,
am I, Hannah? Isabel, we're teaching her not to say that. Shoot. I
said it. She won't listen to the tape. Well, verse 8 says, The days
come, saith the Lord, that I'll make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and the house of Judah. Who's Israel and who
is Judah? Paul told us in Romans 2, he's
not a Jew which is one outward, but inward. Circumcision is not
an outward mark, it's at the heart. Not with hands, it's by
the Spirit of God. He went on to say in Romans 11
how that all Israel will be saved. He went on to say there's a remnant
right now, like Judah. Judah was a remnant. Israel was
full of just professing Believers, they were lost. But there was
a remnant, Judah. True worshippers. True worshippers. And even now, at this present
time, there's a remnant according to the election of Gray. It's
the house of Judah. Spiritual Judah. Spiritual Israel. The church. New Jerusalem is
the church. New Jerusalem is the church,
the temple of God. Now, he said, here's the covenant,
verse 9, that I will make. Not according to the covenant
I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead
them out of Egypt." Verse 10, this is the covenant I'll make,
the house of Israel, that is spiritual Israel after those
days. I will put my laws in their mind, write them in their hearts.
I will be to them a people. They shall be a God and they
shall be to me a people. I'll not teach every man his
neighbor, every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, that they'll
all know me who taught them. who revealed it, God did. They'll all be taught of God,
Christ said. And every man that hath heard and learned of the
Father does what? Goes to the law? Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Comes to Christ. Believes Christ.
Everyone who's heard and learned of the Father Every true Jew
trusts Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone. They know He's
their High Priest, He's their Tabernacle, and He's their Sacrifice. Every single one. They all know
they need these three, and these three are one. All of them know
that, without exception. They might not be able to articulate
that perfectly, but they know it. You ask them, why will you
be in heaven? They'll say, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Verse 12, oh my,
this deserves a message all by itself. God says, I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquity.
I will be merciful. I will pass over. You see, when
I see the blood, I will pass over them. I'll spare them. Why? Because he spared not his
son. Because he killed his lamb. Because
we have a lamb, the blood. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. What unrighteousness? Name it.
Just name something. Whatever it is. All manner of
sin, I'll be merciful. to their sin. And he said, look
at this, not only that, I will remember it no more. Oh my, that's the best news a
sinner could possibly hear. full, free, complete salvation,
righteousness, holiness, justification, blotted law, the handwrite, ordinance,
all blotted out against everything, and all our past, present, and
future. We're not done sinning yet. The
worst may be yet to come. What's going to be our hope?
Same as it was when he found us in the gutter. The blood of
Jesus Christ. The covenants. The everlasting
covenant. He said, if they sin, I'm going
to deal with them. Chasing them like children. But
I will be merciful. Why? Because that's me. Because
I am merciful, God said. I delight to show mercy. And
everyone that hopes in my mercy. We'll find it. How long? It'll
endure forever. Okay, let's go home.