I want you to open your Bibles,
first of all, to the book of Hebrews again, but I'm going
to start in chapter 1. Chapter 1. This is a very, very important
book to have an understanding of, the book of Hebrews. You
need to have an understanding of all the books of the Bible. But this one is especially significant
for, in the book of Hebrews, we find the writer, who I assume
was the apostle Paul, He sets forth in a very distinct way
that our Lord Jesus Christ is superior to all others and to
every priest in the Old Testament, every prophet in the Old Testament.
He sets forth the the sufficiency of, the supremacy of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And here's kind of a key word,
and a good many of you probably are aware of this. A key word
in the book of Hebrews is the word better. Better. And I just want to point out
a few of them as I introduce this message to you. First of
all, here in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 4, speaking of our
Lord Jesus, being made so much better, that is, superior, better than the angels, as he
hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Go over to chapter 7. Let's look
at verse 19. Chapter 7, verse 19. So, Christ is better than the
angels, And He gives us a better hope. 719, for the law made nothing
perfect. That is the Old Testament, the
covenant that God made with Israel. It brought nothing to perfection. You need to remember that. It
brought nothing to completion. In other words, all of the All
of the sacrifices, all of the rites, all of the ceremonies
under the Old Testament law made nobody perfect. They had no ability
to do that and God didn't give them for that reason. Made nothing
perfect, brought nothing to perfection. But the bringing in of a better
hope did. Then he says, by the which we
draw nigh unto God. What does the Bible mean when
it uses the word hope in the New Testament? It means a blessed
anticipation or expectation of future blessings, future glories. And we know they're certain because
the Word of God is absolutely true. The law of God didn't make
anything perfect, didn't bring to completion anybody's well-being. Couldn't save anybody. But the
bringing in of a better hope in Christ Jesus. My hope, we
just sang. My hope is built on nothing less. Not built on the obedience to
the law of God. My hope is not built upon my
faithfulness, my expectation of heaven, my expectation of
future glory. It's not based upon anything
I have done, am doing, or will do. I have a better hope because
my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's the better hope. And really,
it's the only hope. It's the only hope. It's the
only expectation of future blessings that anybody can ever have. That
is, if our salvation, if we understand, if we have an awareness, as the
Spirit of God has instructed us, that all of the necessities
of salvation They've all been fully accomplished and brought
to perfection in, through, and by Christ Jesus our Lord. In
Him we have a better hope. A better hope. Look at verse
22. For by so much was Jesus made
a surety of a better testament, that is, a better covenant. And
I'm going to talk to you in a little bit about the Old Covenant and
the New Covenant. I think there's some confusion
among some of the saints of God, a little lack of understanding
perhaps, but our Lord Jesus, He's made the surety. And you
know what a surety is. We talked about a surety in our
studies in Genesis when Judah became surety for Benjamin. And
he told his dad, listen, I'll take care of him and you hold
me accountable, look to me. Look to me for the safety of
and the return of Benjamin to you. I'll be surety to him. Our
Lord Jesus is our surety. He's the surety of the everlasting
covenant of grace. God will do everything He has
promised to do for His people because of that one who is the
very surety of the everlasting covenant, our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, chapter 8. and verse 6. But now he, that is our Lord
Jesus, he hath obtained a more excellent ministry by how much
also he is the mediator of a better covenant, but it's not finished,
which was established upon better promises. And I'm going to come
back to that in just a little bit, but look over at chapter
11 and verse 16. 11 verse 16, but now they, the saints
of God who they've passed over, to a better country. They desired
a better country that is a heavenly country. Wherefore, God is not
ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them
a city." We seek a better country. We desire a better country. Hey,
I'm thankful to live here in this country, aren't you? I'm
very grateful. I've been to a few other countries,
Tell you what they're they're nothing like this country, and
I know there's a violence and an ungodliness about this country
But I'm I feel like I'm blessed to be here because this is where
the gospel is being preached mainly although being preached
in other countries as well, but but the preachers of note are
preachers that God has blessed recently, especially under the
ministry of Brother Barnard and Brother Mahan. This is where
people hear the gospel in this country. I'm thankful for the
liberties we have, for the privileges we have. But we seek a better
country. We seek a country where there
is no vileness, where there is no iniquity. where there is no
wickedness. We seek a better country where
everybody sings the same song, the song of redemption. We seek
a better country where everyone worships the same God, the God
of glory. We seek a better country where
our Lord Jesus Christ is the King, and He reigns upon His
throne of majesty and sovereignty. a better country. Look down at verse 35. Women received their dead raised
to life again and others were tortured not accepting deliverance
that they might obtain a better resurrection. Better resurrection
than who? Than the wicked. They're going
to be raised too. Right? All the wicked are going
to be raised someday, along with the righteous. I seek a better
resurrection than they're going to have. because theirs will
be a resurrection to stand body and soul before the Lord Jesus
Christ, to be judged according to the strictest of standards,
righteousness, and then to hear Him say, depart from Me. I never
knew you. I seek a better resurrection,
don't you? I seek to be raised. raised again
in newness of life, in spiritual resurrection, and this body raised
again to sin no more, and then body and soul, I'll forever be
with my Lord Jesus Christ. That's a better resurrection. And then chapter 12 and verse
24. We're coming, verse 23, to a
general assembly, the church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven, to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just
men made perfect, having been made perfect by the righteousness
of Christ, verse 24, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than
that of Abel. Abel shed his blood and his blood
spoke out to God. Spoke out to God for vengeance.
But the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, it spoke out to God.
It had something to say to God. I have satisfied justice. I put
away the sins of all the people that you gave me in the covenant
of grace. So here's the theme of the book
of Hebrews. better, and you'll go a long
ways toward understanding the book of Hebrews if you have that
awareness kept in the front of your mind as you study the book. Now, go back to chapter 8, and
I cannot stress to you enough how important and vital the book
of Hebrews is in the written revelation of God. Because in
the book of Hebrews, much like Galatians and the book of Colossians,
the book of Hebrews deals with the difference between the old
covenant of works and the new covenant of grace. Now you'll
notice that lots of times the word covenant and testament are
used interchangeably because they are the same original word. We want to understand this. The
old covenant set forth in the law of God, that's when God entered
into a covenant, a legal binding contract with the Jews that based
upon their obedience to him, he would therefore bless them.
But if they were disobedient to the laws and rules and statutes
that he gave to them, then they would not obtain the promises
or the blessings. That's the old covenant, the
covenant of works. Oftentimes, the word Testament
is used, and when we think of the word Testament, think of
the Old Testament. You see, the old covenant of
works, and this will be brought out in this chapter that Bill
read to us. The old covenant of works is
dilapidated. It's done with. It has been dissolved. It's of no use. It didn't save anybody. It didn't
redeem anybody. It didn't make anybody perfect.
It was full of pictures, full of types, full of emblems, all
pointing to our Lord Jesus Christ. God didn't give the old covenant
to Israel, which consisted of, and it was kind of an amplification,
really, of what the Lord said to Adam, which was basically,
this do and live, disobey and die. That covenant made with
Israel on Mount Sinai, it's just an enlargement of that. That
law condemns. That covenant condemns. And the
Old Covenant is set forth in the Old Testament. Now while
the Old Covenant has been disannulled, it's been done away with, the
Old Testament has not been. So you need to understand the
difference. The Old Testament actually sets forth in type and
picture and emblem the new covenant of grace. It is in the Old Testament. It's found there. And then it's
brought to reality with the appearance of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ and His substitutionary sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary. Look at verse 13 of chapter 8.
For in that he saith a new covenant, He hath made the first old. And the word old means obsolete. So no use anymore. Now that which
decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. And it would
vanish away, at least in reality, Certainly when our Lord Jesus
died, it vanished away, but all the relics of it would vanish
away in 70 A.D. when God just tore Jerusalem
all to pieces. It wasn't left standing one stone
upon another in the temple of God. So we see in the book of
Hebrews the superiority of the new covenant over the old covenant
and the superiority of our Lord Jesus over everybody and everything
and every angel set forth in the Old Testament. Here he shows
that this new covenant of grace is vastly superior. Notice in
verse 6 through 8, 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. Now watch this. For
if that first covenant, the covenant of works, you with me? The covenant of works. If that
had been faultless, if that had been a perfect covenant, And
then there would be no necessity for the second, that is the new
covenant. If that old covenant, if it really
did the job of saving people, there would be no need for a
new covenant. You see, the old covenant was
faulty. It was faulty in this regard. It demanded perfection from everybody
under the covenant, and it demanded something that was an impossibility. It's faulty. It was faulty. Nothing good, nothing eternal
could ever come from the fleshly efforts of the Jews in the Old
Testament to obey the covenant. No sin could be put away. You
say, but Jim, they offered thousands and thousands, yay, probably
millions of animals died at the brazen altar in the Old Testament,
and the Jews killed them in accordance with the Word and the will of
God. That's very true. But no salvation was secured
by those sacrifices. For you see, if salvation had
been secured, if sin had been put away, there'd be no need
for this new covenant. But the old didn't do the job.
It was never designed to do the job. So we might ask this question,
why did God give the law to Moses and to the children of Israel?
Well, not for salvation. Understand this, and notwithstanding
what some of the reference Bibles say, Which is, and if you have a Scofield
reference Bible, and many people have had and do have a Scofield
reference Bible, it actually teaches people are saved in the
Old Testament by obedience. But saved in the New Testament
by grace. Is that right? If that's right, I have seriously
missed something in reading the Word of God. That's not right.
The Lord never designed the salvation of our souls, the removal of
our sin, the imputation of righteousness. He never designed it by any other
way except, and the only way, is the death of the Son of God. That law couldn't redeem anybody. It couldn't save anybody. It
couldn't put any sins away? No! Mr. Scofield was wrong. Salvation was not by obedience
in the Old Testament, but by grace in the New Testament. It's
always been by grace. There never has been a time that
any sinner has been saved except by the free and sovereign grace
of God through the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now that's a steadfast rule there. You see, in this book, and indeed
in this eighth chapter, God shows, the Spirit of God shows that
the Old Testament laws, the outward legal aspects of the old covenant,
of the old Jewish religion, were fulfilled and abolished. You say, well, how are they fulfilled
and abolished? Well, let me tell you. First
of all, the outward legal aspects of the Old Testament Jewish religion,
they were fulfilled and done away with when Christ came. See, He is the end of the law
for righteousness. He's the goal of the law. And
this is what people fail to see. There are many people who are
well-meaning and speak of grace, but they still think that in
some way the children of God remain under the law of the Old
Testament. The law of the Old Testament,
the apostle says in 2 Corinthians, was a dispensation of condemnation
and death. Couldn't save anybody. It was full of pictures, it was
full of types, full of shadows, but not full of realities. You
see, all of the shadows in the Old Covenant, all the sacrifices,
all the ceremonies, all of those things were just shadows, just
pictures of reality. Christ is reality. Don't miss
this. And if you understand that our
Lord Jesus Christ is the reality set forth in the Old Testament,
you won't go wrong. You'll understand why we keep
saying we're not under the law. We're under grace. What was the purpose of God giving
the law? Think about it. What was the
purpose of God giving the law? Let's let God answer. What about that? That be alright? Look at Romans 3. The Word of
God doesn't give an uncertain answer to this. What was the
purpose of the law of God? Romans 3. Verse 19, now we know
that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law, that every mouth may be stopped,
silenced, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law, by obedience to the law, There shall no flesh
be justified in God's sight. Now you may appear to be justified
by the way you live and the things that you do in front of the sight
of others. But it doesn't matter how people
perceive you to be. The only thing that matters is
how you stand in the sight of God. and outward reformation,
outward duties to laws will not justify you before God." What
does it mean to be justified? To be made right. To be made
right with God. The law cannot justify you. Now look at this very powerful
statement. You want to know why the law
was given? So I think it's the believer's
rule of life. Well, you're wrong. You're absolutely
wrong. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. That's why God gave the law.
That's why Paul says in Romans chapter 7, I had not known sin
except for the law. And then when he really heard
what the law said, he said, I died. It killed me. That's why Paul says in the book
of Galatians, the law is our schoolmaster to drive us to Christ. The law backs you in a corner
and says, you've got to be perfect or you're going to perish. You've
got to be absolutely upright before God or you've got no hope. I don't want the best you can
do. I demand absolute perfection to every one of the laws of God.
You don't have it. Therefore, I'm going to damn
you. That's what the law of God says. It just backs you in a
corner. There's no way out. And then
you say, oh Lord, save me. The law's done its job then.
That's what it does. It's not made to sanctify you. It's made to show you your guilt. And when it does that, it's done with you. You read in 1 Timothy 1, Paul
says the law of God is not made for a righteous man, but for
the unrighteous. Are you righteous? If you're
a believer, in the eyes of God, you're justified, you're righteous.
It's not made for you. It has done its job. It has shut
your mouth and backed you in a corner and you saw no way out
except Jesus Christ and His bloody sacrifice on the cross that God's
justice demanded on account of your sin. And you saw the Savior. You said, thank God there's a
Savior for a wretch like me. The law of God says, done my
job. Deal with somebody else. I tell you, the outward legal
aspects of God's law were satisfied and fulfilled by the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for sin. Turn the page over to Hebrews
chapter 10. I can't hardly go on without
making mention of this. Hebrews chapter 10, for the law You say, people say, well, is
he talking about the moral law or the Levitical law? Do you
understand what I mean when I say that? The moral law would be
the Ten Commandments. The Levitical law had to do with
the ceremonies and sacrifices. I don't find God makes a difference.
I don't find that He makes a distinction. It's just the law of God. It's
all one. So it says the law having a shadow
of good things to come, but not the very image of the things.
The law, like I've said, the law made nobody perfect. It didn't
put anybody's sins away. All those animals that died,
he's going to tell you, it didn't put sin away. Not the very image
of the things can never, with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually, make the comers thereto perfect. You're
not perfect in the sight of God. You're not made complete and
whole. Verse 2, For then, if they did
make you whole, if they did make you perfect, if they did make
you complete, if they did make you righteous before the eyes
of God, for then would they not have ceased to be offered? He
asks us a question. Would they not cease to be offered?
And the answer is yes, they would cease to be offered if they had
done the job. Because that the worshipers once
purged should have no more conscience of sin. But in those same sacrifices,
there is a remembrance, there is a constant reminder again
made of sins every year. And that which he has a view
to is the day of atonement. When the high priest entered
into the holy place with the blood of an animal, if that had done the job, wouldn't have been offered again
the next year. They did it this year, next year, the next year,
the next year. There was no end to it. And he
says this in verse four, for it is not possible. that the blood of bulls and of
goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh, when
Crocs cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice an offering
thou wouldst not, but a body thou hast prepared me. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book that is written
of me, in the volume of God's book of predestination. in the
volume of God's book, the Old Testament. I come to do Thy will, O God.
Above, when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings
and offering for sin, Thy wood is not, neither hath pleasure
therein which are offered by the law. Then said He, Lo, I
come to do Thy will, O God. What that first covenant could
not do, it was faulty. because it made demands upon
people who had no possibility of obeying the law. It was faulty. That covenant was faulty and
the people were faulty. Thank God Christ was not faulty. He was faultless. He said, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. He taketh away the first. What?
The first covenant. You see, when our Lord Jesus
died, that brought to an end the first covenant, that covenant
of works. The types and shadows and ceremonies
have been fulfilled. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. Verse 10, by which will we're
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. He settled it when he died upon
the cross of Calvary. I'm saying the old covenant was
fulfilled for the people of God by the obedience of our Lord
Jesus Christ. See, let's put it this way. He
came and He did what nobody else could ever do. He obeyed the
covenant of works. He lived up to it. That's impossible
for the rest of us. It took an absolutely perfect
man to save us. Somebody who would, as far as
the law of God was concerned, he'd dot every I and cross every
T. And he did. And we know Pilate
spoke for everybody. He said, I find no fault in this
man. You're right, Pilate. That's
one thing you said right. No fault in Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Therefore, He's worthy. He's
worthy and fit to be the sacrifice for our sins. To be the sin offering
to God. You see, our salvation, it is
conditioned upon the obedience of somebody to God's law. But it's not you. And it's not
me. His obedience to God's law by
Christ. And then he did something about
our disobedience. He died under the curse of the
law. The law of God cursed us. He
said, I'll take the curse. He was made a curse for us. I
can't comprehend that. But the law he wrote cursed him. And he died under the curse of
the law. In that old covenant, everything
you see was typical. Typical. Therefore, he says back
over here in chapter 8, verse 8, for finding fault with them.
For finding fault with them, he said, Behold, the days come,
said the Lord, when I will make, and let me give you a good definition
of the word make right here. It means I will conclude or consummate. The days will come, saith the
Lord in the Old Testament. He said this. The days will come. This is in Jeremiah 31. The days
will come, saith the Lord, when I will make, I will consummate,
I will conclude with a new covenant. I'll do away with that old covenant. I'm bringing in a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. the
true Israel and Judah of God. And he says in verse 9, not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when
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. I loathed them. When it says,
I regarded them not, it means God loathed them. He neglected
them. He just wrote them off. And he says in verse 10, for
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel,
the true Israel after those days, saith the Lord. And then he goes
into some great promises that God gives. And I'm going to kind
of skip over some of my notes here, and I want to give you
this. Notice these promises of God. And let me tell you a little
story. David's brother, Danny, passed
away a few weeks ago. We were at the cemetery, and
I was waiting to have the final prayer. I looked out across the
road there from the Ashland Cemetery, and there was a church building.
And I use the word church in a very liberal way. It was a
religious establishment. It certainly wasn't a called
out assembly of God. But it had a sign. That building
had a sign out front. It said this, God gives no guarantees,
only opportunities. God gives no guarantees, only
opportunities. That is one of the more ridiculous
things I've ever seen on the church side. They have just said
God doesn't make any promises. No promises? You can't count
on the promises of God. He just gives you opportunities
if you do thus and so. This is something totally dependent
upon man. I tell you, God makes these promises. I'll give them to you quick.
Verse 10. I will put my laws in their minds.
I will. Don't you love the I wills? Evidently,
the folks who go to that religious place, they have no idea the
I wills of God. The I shalls of God. Do they
mean nothing? Are these just meaningless words
that God used to fill up this book? When He says I will, do
you think He means it? I know He means it. This is the
Word of His promise. This is the Word of Him who cannot
lie. He didn't say, I'm going to give
an opportunity for these people. He says, I will put My laws in
their mind and write them in their hearts. What law? That's
a big question here. You know what most people say? Ten Commandments. Because those commandments are
written on the consciences of everybody. Romans chapter 2 says
that. What laws? Gospel laws. Gospel laws? Yeah. He's going to write those laws
in our hearts and in our minds. Gospel laws. Repentance toward
God. Repentance of dead works. Repentance
of idolatry. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, Lord, I will. I do believe
Him. Laws written in our hearts. And
we desire obedience to it. Secondly, He says, I will be
to them a God and they shall be to Me a people. He says, I will be theirs and
they will be Mine. I love that. And you may say,
I won't, but He says, I will. And if He says, I will, His I
will trumped your I won't. In fact, He will make you willing
in the day of His power. Psalm 110 verse 3. and you'll be glad he's your
God, you'll be thankful he's your God, you'll worship him
as your God, and you'll be grateful that you're one of his people.
Then he says in verse 11, and they shall not teach every man
his neighbor, nor every man his brother, say, know the Lord.
Well, they shall all know me from the least to the greatest.
There's no possibility that any of God's elect will not know
him. will not know Him through His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Then verse 12, what another great
I will. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. That's
what God said. Well, Jim, I just believe that
at the judgment, the Lord is going to raise up all the sins
that I've committed and you've committed and all of His people
have committed. We're going to be so embarrassed
in that day. We're going to miss out on rewards
and all that kind of hogwash. God said their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more. I'm just going to take
God's Word for that. I'm not going to worry about
what these rewards folks say. That's preachers in churches
who rule over people by threats and the promise of rewards. I'll
tell you what, God rules over us with the law of love. We've
been brought to love Him. We don't browbeat people. We
don't beg people. Tell you what, if the Lord ever
creates love in your heart for the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll
seek to follow Him. And when somebody shows you something
in the Word of God, you will follow. And He says in verse 13, in that he saith a new covenant
he hath made the first old. Obsolete. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. It was ready to be, here's a
good word to remember, decommissioned. My daddy was in the Navy. Something about the Navy I love. I love studying about ships.
I have those specials on TV, you know, warships, things like
that. I always find those enjoyable
to read. And, of course, I'm from Virginia,
in Norfolk, Virginia. A lot of ships been built there. But, you know, after a ship has
served its purpose, kind of getting antiquated, It was commissioned one day many
years ago, but then they decommissioned it. You know what that means? Taken out of service. That's
what this is saying about the old covenant. It's taken out
of service. It's decommissioned. It's old. It's obsolete. What in the world
would you want to hold on to an obsolete covenant for when
there's a new covenant full of grace, full of mercy, dependent
upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His obedience unto death? I'm
so thankful the old covenant has been decommissioned. And
it has no grasp on the people of God whatsoever. It has no
hold. Not made for us. Not made for
us. Oh, we're thankful to God for
our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all the promises of the new covenant
are yea, and in Him, amen. If you ever see that, it'll give
you some freedom. And that's really what the book
of Galatians and the book of Colossians and Hebrews is what
it's about. and the apostle in Hebrews, he's
warning the Jews, you profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
don't you go back now. Don't you go back to that legal
system. That's what Paul said to the
Galatians. He says, you've fallen from the doctrine of grace. Why
in the world do you want to go back to those beggarly elements? They couldn't help our forefathers.
That's what Peter said in Acts chapter 15 when they had the
first Sovereign Grace Bible Conference in Jerusalem. Because the Judaizers
were trying to put the Jews who had believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ, trying to put them back under the law. Well, you've got
to keep the law. and they used one particular
law, circumcision, but that stood for all of them. You've got to
teach them law. You've got to stress obedience. Obedience. Obedience. Boy, the
apostle Paul, he had a fit with them. He got angry with them. And so this thing would be settled
in Jerusalem by all the apostolic group. That's when Simon Peter stood
up and he said, here's what we believe. We believe that by the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved just like these
Gentiles. Don't put people under law. Churches love to do that. Lots
of them do. I've been in some of them. Put
a big covenant up on the wall. You ever seen it? Put a covenant
up on the wall. Now, if you join our church,
you're going to have to sign a paper saying, you'll obey that
covenant. I don't want to sign anything like
that because I'm by nature disobedient. I love this covenant of grace.
Because you see, everything about my salvation, my redemption,
my sanctification, my holiness, my righteousness, everything
is fully conditioned upon the obedience and death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You say, well, you're just giving
people a license to sin. If that's what you think, you
have no understanding of the gospel. Bless your heart. I pray the Lord will teach you.
For those who've been washed in the blood of Christ and robed
in His righteousness, we seek to honor Him and glorify Him
in all that we say and do. Well, get your songbooks out.