Now today I'm going to be preaching
on the subject of the New Covenant. The New Covenant. You know, sometimes
in the Scriptures the word covenant and the word testament are used
interchangeably. Christ spoke of this is my blood
in the New Testament when he instituted the Lord's Supper.
New Covenant would be just as well. You know in the Bible the
It speaks of various covenants. It speaks of the everlasting
covenant of grace. That was a covenant made between
the Father and the Son and the Spirit before the world was ever
made. And you know, when we get into
talking about things of eternity and time, we can't really understand. We are so limited in our understanding. We're creatures of time, but
God is not a creature. He has no beginning, no end.
God is not limited to time. God has no past or future. He's
always present. We have a past, we have a present,
we have a future. And we have a hard time thinking
in terms of these things. But the Bible speaks of these
covenants, the everlasting, eternal covenant of grace wherein God
the Father chose a people, sinners, born in Adam, and determined
to save such sinners. But He could not save even one
of them apart from His law and justice being satisfied. Therefore,
he conditioned all of their salvation upon the Lord Jesus Christ and
determined that in the process of time he would send his Son
into the world to become incarnate. Now, the Bible speaks of the
covenant God made with Adam in the garden. Adam broke that covenant
and fell. Adam, the representative of the
whole human race, fell into sin and brought all whom he represented,
you and me, into sin, into death and destruction, condemnation.
total depravity. The Bible speaks of the covenant
God made with Noah, the covenant of the flood, that he would no
longer destroy the world by flood, and the rainbow was the seal
of the covenant. The Bible speaks of the covenant God made with
Abraham, that Abrahamic covenant. You see, God chose Abraham, and
it was through Abraham that he would bring the Messiah through,
and circumcision was the seal of that covenant. And then the
covenant made with the nation Israel, by Moses on Mount Sinai
after he brought them out of Egypt. That's the Old Covenant,
the Law of Moses. Paul has been talking about that
in these chapters of Hebrews, showing that the Old Covenant
is now abolished. that way of life, that economy,
that system of worship and religion is now gone and it has been replaced
by a new covenant, the new covenant. He says in Hebrews chapter 8
and verse 7, he says, for if that first covenant, now the
first covenant here refers to the old covenant and it wasn't
the first covenant as far as God's purpose in eternity Or
even, it was a covenant that was made after the covenant with
Adam, after the covenant with Noah, after the covenant with
Abraham. But compared to the New Covenant, it's the first,
first in time. It came before the New Covenant. So he says, for if that first
covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been
sought for the second covenant. Now the second is the New Covenant
in Christ. What is the New Covenant? The
new covenant is the fulfillment in time of the everlasting covenant
of grace. Back over in Galatians chapter
4 and verse 4, the Apostle Paul sort of describes it here. He
says in verse 4, But when the fullness of the time was come,
at God's appointed time, God sent forth his Son, made of a
woman." Now His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, made of a woman,
that's His incarnation and His birth, God and man in one person,
made under the law. He came as the representative
and substitute of a people made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons. The New Covenant is the time
of Christ. It's the time of His coming into
the world, His doing the work that the Father gave Him to do,
going to the cross of Calvary, shedding His blood as payment
for our sins, bringing in everlasting righteousness, whereupon He died,
was buried, and rose again the third day. He's ascended unto
the Father, having purged our sins, and seated at the right
hand of the Majesty on high. Now the time since Christ has
finished His work until his second coming is called the New Covenant.
And that's what Paul's talking about here in Romans chapter
8. Under the New Covenant, he said in verse 6 of chapter 8,
he said there's a more excellent ministry. It's a ministry of
the gospel. You see, the law came by Moses,
but grace and truth come by Jesus Christ. And that's what we preach.
That's why it's a more excellent ministry. It's more than just
legal terms and conditions put down upon a rebellious people
who have no heart to believe it or to obey it. But it's a
ministry of grace. It's a ministry of truth. It's
a ministry of the Spirit. It's a ministry of salvation.
And then he says it's a better covenant. It's a better covenant
because it has to do with the law of God written on the heart
as sinners see our sins. our deservedness of condemnation
based on our works, but as we, in greater, see Christ, who kept
the law. Christ, whose blood cleanses
us from all sins. It's a better covenant, and then
it's based on better promises. Not promises here on earth, but
promises in the heavenly, spiritual promises, eternal promises, which
are secured and demanded because of Christ. And that's the new
covenant. We live in the day of the new
covenant. The old covenant is over. So he says in verse 7,
if that first covenant had been faultless. Now that first covenant,
that old covenant had its faults. Not because it was in itself
weak or wrong or had faults. But it served its purpose. God gave it for a purpose. Its
main purpose. Now listen to me. The main purpose
of the law of Moses was to slay them from their sins, to show
them their sinfulness. Moreover, the law entered, Paul
wrote in Romans chapter 5, that sin might abound. That was the
main purpose of that law, to show them their sinfulness. It
was never given to be a means of attaining eternal life or
salvation. It was never given to inspire
or motivate the people of Israel to seek to establish a righteousness
of their own, or to seek salvation from God by their law-keeping,
it was given mainly to show them their sins and to drive them
to Christ for all salvation, to drive them to Christ and Him
crucified for all righteousness and eternal life. And the fault
that he talks about here is the Old Covenant's inability to bring
about salvation eternally. forgiveness of sins eternally,
justification before God eternally. The Old Covenant could not do
that. So it had its fault there. And if that Old Covenant could
have brought forgiveness of sins eternally, or justification before
God eternally, then no place would have been sought for the
second. There would have been no need
of a new covenant. If that Old Covenant could have saved even
one sinner from his sins, there would have been no need for another
covenant. In other words, Christ would
not have had to have come. If the law of Moses could justify
a sinner before God, then we would need Christ. We just keep
the law of Moses and that would be it. I heard a man say one
time, a man asked him, he said, what is your hope of salvation?
And he pulled out a copy of the Ten Commandments and he said,
this is my hope. Well, my friend, if you're keeping
the Ten Commandments, could bring you eternal life, then you don't
need Christ. You have no need of Him. You're
not a sinner. But you see, the Ten Commandments
cannot give you life. All the Ten Commandments can
do is show you how much of a sinner you are and how much of a sinner
I am. That's why we need Christ. So
the fault is not in the Ten Commandments itself. What the law could not
do, in that it was weak through the flesh, the law of God cannot
pronounce me righteous and holy because of my sins. So what do
I need? Well, I need a Savior. I need
a Redeemer. I need a righteousness and a
holiness that I cannot produce. That old covenant could not give
me one. But Christ can. And He does. And He says in verse
8 of Hebrews 8, For finding fault with them, He saith, Now, he's
going to go back and quote from the Old Testament itself, and
this is really interesting. The Old Covenant itself predicted
its own end. The Old Covenant itself had a
built-in word that showed that it was not to last forever, and
the children of Israel missed it. So for finding fault with
them, that is, finding that weakness in that covenant, its inability
to save a sinner from his sins, God predicted through the prophet
Jeremiah. Now that's who he's quoting from.
And here's what Jeremiah said. This is quoted from Jeremiah
31. I'm reading from Hebrews chapter
8 and verse 8. And he's quoting here from Jeremiah
31. And it says, 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." So he's going
to make a new covenant. He told them that back in the
old covenant. He said this old covenant is not able to save
you. It's meant to show you your sins,
point you to Christ, and it's going to have an end. When is
it going to end? When Christ comes and does his
work. When did the old covenant end? when Christ said, it's finished,
John 19, 30. He hung on that cross and he
said, it's finished. And he died, was buried, rose
again the third day, he ascended unto the Father. Now it's over.
Christ is the end of the law, the finishing of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believe it. So he says, behold,
I'm gonna make a new covenant. And there's certain things about
this new covenant that are better than the old. And I want to show
you that as we go down through these points. First of all, that
New Covenant is a covenant with a unified nation, the people
of God in the Church of Christ. One people, not many people,
not divided into nations, not divided in denominations, but
one people. Back under the Old Covenant,
that Old Covenant did not have the power to keep the children
of Israel together as one nation. The proof of that was when Solomon
died. When King Solomon, David's son,
when he died the kingdom became divided. It was divided up into
the northern kingdom made up of ten tribes and it was called
Israel and then the southern kingdom made up of the tribe
of Judah and Benjamin and it became known as Judah. And he
says here, the house of Israel and the house of Judah. And from
the time of Solomon until the time of the destruction of the
northern kingdom by the Assyrian army, that kingdom was divided. It was a divided nation. You
had kings of the northern kingdom and kings of the southern kingdom,
the tribe of Judah and the kingdom of Judah. So it was divided.
But under the new covenant, it's not going to be that way. God's
people are going to be one in Christ. It's the church of whom
Christ, of which Christ is the head. One Lord, one spirit, one
baptism, one faith, not many. In other words, you're not going
to have people in this new covenant who differ on the gospel. How
God saves sinners. You know, you have people today
that call themselves Christian and they believe, well, God saves
you and then you can lose it and you earn it back by your
works. Or they say you're saved by baptism or you're saved this
way. Listen, salvation is by God's free and sovereign grace
in Christ. It is by his blood and righteousness
alone. There's no other way. And everyone
who is part of this new covenant believes that and agrees on it.
Now, there's no division here. The house of Israel and the house
of Judah are not divided under the new covenant. They're one
people. And he's not speaking of national Israel or national
Judah here. He's talking about spiritual
Israel. We've talked about that back
in the book of Romans, chapter 9. Who are the children of the
promise? Not those who were born naturally
of Abraham, but those who believe the gospel. That's spiritual
Israel. The Bible preaches that and teaches
that, for we are all one in Christ Jesus. There's no division. We're
made one in Him. One way of salvation. And the
new covenant is going to show that. It's a spiritual covenant
for a spiritual nation, providing a spiritual, eternal salvation
through Christ. In verse 9, he tells them plainly.
Now, this new covenant, he says, it's not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day. when I took them
by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt." Now there
he's talking about the covenant with Moses. He took that nation,
literally by the hand you would say, led them out of the bondage
and slavery of Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai. And through
Moses he brought that covenant to the nation and formed them
as a nation and put them under those laws, the old covenant,
the Ten Commandments, the ceremonial laws. But he said, the new covenant
is not going to be like that. And he says, because, now look
at this, because they continued not in my covenant. And I regarded
them not, saith the Lord. In other words, they didn't keep
the covenant. They broke it. They broke the covenant. By their
disobedience, by their murmuring, by their complaining, by their
unbelief, by their idolatry, they didn't believe the gospel.
They didn't look to God, the God of the Bible. They looked
to themselves. But under the new covenant, he
says, it's not going to be like that. This new covenant is not
conditioned on the sinner. It's conditioned on Christ. The
sinner cannot break this new covenant. Once he believes in
Christ, he sees that all the conditions of the covenant have
already been met, have already been fulfilled, and he's eternally
secure in Christ. Christ's blood secures and demands
his eternal, complete forgiveness from all his sins. Christ's righteousness,
imputed, charged to his account, secures and demands his eternal
justification before God. Christ's holiness, laid to his
account, cleanses him and washes him and sanctifies him eternally. He is as certain for heaven's
glory as if he were already there because Christ is his hope. And
he will not break this covenant. He cannot break it because it's
put in his heart. And that's the next thing. Look
at verse 10 of Hebrews 8. He says, For this is the covenant,
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord." Now notice he just says house of Israel there. He
didn't say Israel and Judah because he's making the point. This is
a one nation covenant, a spiritual nation. Who is this spiritual
nation? The church. Who are they? Every
sinner. No matter who they are, what
they've done, what color their skin is, or what nation they're
from on earth, it's every sinner who comes unto the Father by
Christ. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
unknowwise cast out. So this is the covenant. And
notice how many times he says, I will, I will, I will. You see, that's the nature of
God's covenants of eternal salvation. It's I will and you shall. It's not I will if you will.
God makes his people willing in the day of his power, but
it's I will and they shall. So he said, I'll make with the
house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. Now look at this.
He says, he says, I will put my laws into their minds, into
their mind and write them in their hearts. Now this covenant
is going to differ from the old covenant because the law of God
is going to be written in the hearts of God's people. It's
going to be written in their minds. It's a spiritual inward
covenant, you see. Listen, under the old covenant,
the law of God was imposed as a burden upon the nation, but
they had no heart to believe it, no heart to keep it and obey
God. But under the new covenant, the
law of God is going to be written on their hearts. Now, how does
God write the law of God on the hearts of His people? Let me
give you these three things. Number one, he first slays us
by the law. The Apostle Paul spoke of that
in Romans 7, slain or killed by the law. What does that mean?
It means that I see that under the law, I'm a sinner. And that
sin reaches to the very heart. And that if God's law were to
judge me based upon my best efforts to keep it, I would be condemned
under death, the death sentence. And I admit to it. I come to
God as a sinner. Lord, I'm a sinner. I deserve
nothing but death. Only you can help me. Secondly,
he shows us that law fulfilled in Christ. Christ came to redeem
his people who were under law. He was made under the law as
their representative. He was made under the law as
their substitute, their sacrifice, their sin offering. He kept the
law perfectly. He went to the cross of Calvary
and satisfied justice. He paid their debt to God's law. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. He fulfilled the law completely. He satisfied its
precepts and He satisfied its justice. He is all the righteousness
I need. That's how the law of God is
written on my heart when I see that Christ fulfilled it for
me. And then thirdly, by His Spirit, He gives me a heart and
a desire to obey God. I have a sin principle still
within me that tugs at my heart to disobey God, but thank God
that's not all that I am. new nature, a new principle of
holiness and grace and love that tugs at my heart to look to Christ,
number one, and to seek to obey him, not in order to be saved,
but because he has already saved me by his grace. So it is a spiritual
covenant written on the heart. And then at the end of verse
10 he says, And I will be to them a God, and they shall be
to me a people. Now, he had said that to Israel
of old under the Old Covenant, but it was conditional. They
had to keep their part, and they couldn't do it. In fact, one
of the greatest testimonies of the Old Testament is the inability
of sinners to keep God's law. But under this new covenant,
in Christ, there's a special relationship between God and
His children. It's a relationship of love.
It's an adoption. God sent forth His Son made of
a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law, that we who are in Christ might receive the adoption of
sons. It's a special relationship between
Father and children that cannot be broken. It's in Christ. He's
the firstborn brother of every creature, every new creature
that's in Him. And he says, I'll be to them a God, and they'll
be to me a people. This is a family, a spiritual
family. God our Father in Christ. We
have fellowship with the Father and Son, and that fellowship,
that family, cannot be split up. Like Israel of old, when
they divided into the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom,
it won't be that way under the New Covenant. These people will
be together in Christ. And that's a spiritual family.
Israel, spiritual Israel, redeemed by the blood of Christ, chosen
of God. Even though we were ruined by
the fall, we were redeemed by the blood and regenerated by
the Spirit and called into the kingdom, into the family of God,
set free from our spiritual Egypt, our spiritual bondage. In verse
11, he goes on. He says, and they shall not teach
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. Now here he's talking about under
the new covenant there will be a saving knowledge of God with
all the people. Under the old covenant it wasn't
like that. There were some who knew God savingly. For example,
we know that Moses knew God savingly. Christ said that himself. He
said, Moses wrote of me. We know that others in that old
covenant down through the ages were saved eternally. In other
words, they looked beyond the elements. They looked beyond
the shadows and the pictures, and they saw Christ. They didn't
think that the blood of animals could save them eternally, but
they looked to the promised Messiah who was typified and pictured
in the blood of animals. The prophets like Jeremiah and
Isaiah, they saw it, but the vast majority of that nation,
they didn't know God. They were a rebellious people.
They went after idols, and they had no heart to love and to know
God. But he says under this new covenant,
it's not going to be like that. Everyone who has an interest
in this new covenant, who's part of this new covenant in Christ,
shall know God. They shall all be taught of God. John 6 and verse 45 says, You
know, Christ said, no man can come to me except the Father
which has sent me draw him. We know that men by nature will
not come to God, not to the true and living God. Oh, they'll come
to a God, but not to the true and living God of the Bible.
If you come to him, you've got to come to him through Christ,
the mercy seat. You've got to come to him as
a sinner seeking mercy like that publican. God, be merciful to
me, the sinner. You've got to come to him based
upon the blood of sacrifice. You see? But he says in verse
45, he says, but it is written in the Law and the Prophets,
they shall all be taught of God. Who? God's children. How are
they going to be taught? By the preaching of the Gospel,
the preaching of Christ in Him crucified. And he says, every
man therefore that hath heard, heard the Gospel of Christ, the
Gospel of God's grace, and hath learned of the Father, that's
by the power of the Spirit teaching them, come unto Him. They come
to Christ. And they'll all know him. They'll
know him as a just God and a Savior. They'll know him as the Lord
their righteousness. They'll know him as their Father,
God their Father. And then verse 12, he says, For
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. Now under that old covenant,
every time blood was shed, the blood of animals, there was a
reminder of guilt. and of sins. But under the new
covenant, the guilt and the defilement of sins will be totally removed
by the one offering of Christ. And even though God's people
will be aware of their sins, there will be therefore now no
condemnation to them who are in Christ, who walk not after
the flesh but after the Spirit. Guilt will be removed. Oh, I
know I'm a sinner, and I sin even more every day, but sins
cannot condemn me. That's what he means. God will
remember them no more. They're not on God's legal law
books anymore. When God sees my name in the
Lamb's Book of Life, there are no sins charged to my account.
Why? Because he charged them to Christ.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justified me. Who can condemn me? It's Christ
that died, yea rather is risen again and seated at the right
hand of the Father in the heavenlies making intercession for us. who
shall separate us from the love of God in Christ. You see, the
Lord hath not dealt with us after our sins. And then the last verse,
verse 13, it says, In that he saith a new covenant he hath
made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
or groweth old is ready to vanish away. God has brought in the
new covenant when he sent Christ into this world to finish the
work. Now, the old covenant is done away with. We can go back
and we can study it, but we study it not in order to bring it back
down on the backs of people again and to impose it, but as it is
fulfilled in Christ. We go back and look at the tabernacle.
What do we see there? Christ and him crucified. Go
back and look at the blood of animals, the priesthood. Go back
and look at all the types and pictures of the Old Testament,
not in order to impose them again on people, but to see them as
abolished by way of fulfillment in Christ. We're under the new
covenant in Him, and thank God for it.