All right, this morning, Hebrews
chapter 8, and we'll read the entire chapter for our consideration. And in it, you will see our subject,
which is the excellent and the blessing of the new covenant,
the bringing in of a better covenant. Here we go. Hebrews chapter 8
and verse 1 through 13. Now of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum. We have an high priest who is
set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heaven, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which
the Lord pitched and not man. For every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is not necessity
that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on the
earth, He should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests
that offer gifts according to the law, who serve under the
example and copy and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was
admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle
For see, saith he, that thou make all things according to
the pattern showed thee in the mouth. 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, for finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Jacob, or Judah, 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. because they continued not in
my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind,
write them in their hearts, And I will be to them a God, and
they shall be to me a people. 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. For I
will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. In that he saith a new covenant
he hath made the first old, now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. Now we noticed as we read that
the apostle has discovered a place where he might stop and sum up
all that he had said before and prepare them for all that is
coming after. Some render it a summary. He makes here a summation of
the matter. The matter which he had been
discussing, by the way, since chapter 4 and verse 14, which
we have a great high priest and his name is Jesus. Now the discussion has run long
from chapter 4, 14 to this place. And lest his readers grow weary
or lose their concentration or their train of thought, the apostle
would stop and sharpen their focus at that glorious truth
of the high priesthood and the person of him in the Lord Jesus
Christ. I find in reading John Owen commentary
on the book of Hebrews that he really, really bears down here
on this word some as we have it in the King James version
of the scripture. That because it is such an expressive
word when we look at it. This Greek word that is here
is twice this time and one more in our New Testament. For example, it is not the same
word that Stephen used in the book of Acts in chapter 7 and
verse 16 when he describes Abraham buying a plot of land for a sum,
S-U-M, of money. Instead, the word here in Hebrews
8 and verse 1 is found the other time in Acts chapter 22 and verse
28, where the captain tells Paul, with a great sum, I obtained
this freedom. That is, with a great amount
or a certain amount of money, I obtained this freedom and am
a free man. So it's used here in Hebrews
8 and verse 1. It means the main point. It means
the principal thing of all. Literally, the head of the whole
business. So he says to them, now the head
of the whole business is this. The main thing to say is that
we have an high priest. And his name is Jesus. And like
in chapter 4 and verse 14, seeing that we do have a great high
priest, Jesus, the son of God, that is passed into the heavenly. Jesus is our great high priest. Where is he? So dignified is
he that he is at the right hand of God in the heavenlies or in
heaven. Furthermore, in Hebrews chapter
8, verses 1 and 2, he is set on the right hand of the majesty
on high, and he is a minister of the holy things of the holy
tabernacle which the Lord pitched or made, and not man. This is not a handmade tabernacle
in which our Lord served. In fact, it is not even a tabernacle
that is upon the earth. Hence the main point of all of
this is Jesus is our great high priest. He is a high priest,
a high priest not of the old covenant, but of the new, nor
does he serve in an earthly sanctuary, but in the heavenly one, even
at the right hand of God. Nor does he offer a beast as
a sacrifice, as Aaron did, but our Lord offered up himself without
spot unto God. Already in the epistle, in the
earlier part, the apostle has compared in several things and
in several ways the excellency of the priesthood of Aaron over
that of Aaron, the priesthood of Christ, over that of Aaron
and his sons and successor. For example, here are a few points
that have already been made. They were sinners, but Christ
is not. They sinned and were sinful,
but Christ was not. He was impeccable, even in the
flesh, and was without sin. They offered many sacrifices
day after day, month after month, and year after year that could
not take away sin, while Christ offered one sacrifice for sin
forever that saves everlastingly. They served in a handmade earthly
tabernacle, He in the heavenly tabernacle. They were not made
priests with an oath, but Christ was installed in the office of
a high priest with an oath. Their service ended by death,
and that was the end of their priesthood. But Christ ever lived
to make intercession. They had a commandment to receive
tithes from the people, and Abraham, the father of their nation, paid
or gave tithes unto him who was an imminent type of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that would be Melchizedek. But all of the excellency of
Christ's priesthood can be summed up by the one account, and this
the apostle is about to do here in chapter 8 of the great Hebrew
epistle. I thought John Brown put it as
well as it could be put, better than I could ever word it. I'm
quoting the Puritan John Brown, quote, the superiority of our
Lord's priesthood above that of Aaron is evident from the
excellency of the covenant with which that priesthood is connected,
unquote. At the same time, It confirms
the excellency of the new covenant over the old in that it has the
very Son of God as the high priest of the covenant. And Aaron's
priesthood was connected to the old covenant or the old economy. And that economy had men with
infirmity as its high priest. They were sinful men. They were
dying men. They ministered of old, the old
covenant. But the new covenant has him
as its priest, the very son of God who became incarnate. So there is a reciprocal or a
back and forth or a double exodus in the new covenant and in its
priest. For if the covenant of old be
perfect, it must have a perfect priest. And if the covenant is
to be perfectly administered and perfectly and absolutely
save sinners, then it must have a perfectly absolute priest over
it. Thus, in being a priest of the
new covenant, Christ has a great relationship to that covenant. Let's notice just in Hebrews
that we find chapter 7 and verse 22, He is its mediator. Here in chapter 8 and verse 6,
His is the blood of the new covenant. And in Hebrews 13 and verse 20,
His blood is the blood of the everlasting covenant. In Hebrews
9, 16 and 17, he is the testator of the new covenant. That is,
his death gives strength or firmness unto this covenant that was eternally
made and is executed and manifested in Jesus Christ. So that as the
testator of the covenant, Hebrews 9, 16 and 17, His death gives
strength or firmness, and the bequeath passes upon the heirs
by and through the death of the one bequeathing or willing. Now, as for chapter 8 that we're
studying this morning, it has two main sections. It has verse
1 through 5, and then it has verse 6 until the end. And in
verse 1 through 5, we see the excellency of the priesthood
of Christ. And that excellency stands by
three examples that we have here. showing his excellency. A, first
of all, in verse 1, his great exaltation. Where did he go when
he finished his sacrifice? When he died, was buried in the
grave and raised again. He went to be at the right hand
of God. And then B, look in the second
verse, the place of his ministry or the exercise of his priesthood. It is the true tabernacle erected
without hands. That is to say, it is not handmade. And then see, if you look in
the third verse, in the sacrifice that he offered, by which he
entered into the heavenly sanctuary. Now, in coming to verse 6, where
the author makes the transition from the excellency of the priesthood
of Christ over that of the Levitical priesthood, to the excellency
of the new covenant or testament over the old, made when God delivered
Israel, and he made covenant with them at Mount Sinai. You have that in Exodus chapter
19. Now again we are reminded here
in verse 6 of our chapter of the excellency both of the new
covenant and of the high priest of that covenant that he is from
a different tribe altogether than was Aaron. It is a covenant
or a testament is more comprehensive than the word whereby it is translated
into our English. That is, this word in the original
is comprehensive, referring to an arrangement or a system or
a constitution or an order or an economy that has been set
up and established by God. So if we might, let's reread
verse 6 again of our chapter. 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 principle. Now we see two very great truths
here that leap out at us, and that is number one, that Christ
has obtained and he exercises a more excellent ministry than
the Levite. They, too, had a ministry. They,
too, were given that ministry by God back in verse 5, and they
served in that ministry under the copy. That is, they offered
sacrifices, they burned incense, and such like. But Christ has
gotten, Christ has obtained a more excellent ministry than they. The second thing His more excellent
ministry consists in Him being the mediator of the new covenant. It is called a more excellent. It is called a better covenant
with better promises attached to it than that of the old. Now, as to the two covenants,
let's not miss how they are distinguished here in this chapter of Hebrew. If you look in verse 7, the distinction
is the first and the second, while in verse further down you'll
find the old and the new. And he opens the matter of the
covenant of which Christ is the mediator there in verse 6. calling it a better covenant. But we ask the question, better
than what? And better in what way? And the answer is, better than
the one under which the Levites served, offering their animal
sacrifices in an earthly tabernacle made or fashioned by hand. Now we make this note, then move
along. Something may be good, but something
else better. Something may be good, but something
else more better and more excellent. So this is not to say that the
old covenant was bad or that it was worth living. The word
here that is translated better or stronger or nobler. So that this covenant is better,
it is stronger, it is nobler. It is the word in 1 Corinthians
7 and verse 9. It is better to marry than to
burn. It is the word In Philippians
1 and verse 23, to be with Christ is far better. And that is the
word that is used here. In chapter 1 and verse 4, Jesus
has a better existence than the angel. And in relationship to
the covenant of which Christ is the mediator, It offers, or
we could use the word provides, a better hope, chapter 7, verse
19. It is a better covenant, chapter
7, 22 and 8 and verse 6. It has a better, literally a
stronger or noble promises, chapter 8 and verse 6. It has better
sacrifices, chapter 9 and verse 23. It has a better and an enduring
substance, chapter 10 and verse 34. It leads us to a better country
than the land of Canaan, chapter 11 and verse 16. And it is or has a better resurrection,
chapter 11 and verse 35. So sound reason, then, would
tell us. If the new covenant were not
better and not stronger and not nobler, what reason then that
it supersede the first covenant that God established? Now, this
argument must be made for the sake of the first century Jew. To make them or to lead them
or to help them or to exhort them to embrace the new covenant
in Messiah or Jesus Christ since it is, number one, it has come
in the place of the old. They must embrace it, or the
old is done away, it is no more. And secondly, it is better in
every way in that it excels the old covenant in every point. It stands upon better promises. James Haldane wrote one, Salvation
from Sin. Spiritual and eternal life is
to be found as the substance of this great covenant. Again,
the apostle argues his point. to the first century Jew that
God's people are under a new and a better covenant, which
come into its fullness with the coming of the death of Messiah,
his coming and his dying, offering himself as a great sacrifice. And note the apostles' reasoning,
as in verse 7, that if the first had been faultless, then no place
should have ever been found for the second. There would have
been no occasion, there would have been no reason for another
to come in its place if the first one had been faultless. Now the words, if it were or
had been faultless, had been blameless. are as saying it was
not blameless, it was not faultless in a certain matter or in. For Hebrews 7 and verse 19 is
clear. The law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did. The law made nothing
perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did. Chapter
7, verse 11. If perfection were by the Levitical
priesthood, what need would there be that another priest should
arise? Romans 8 and 3. The law could
not do something in that it was weak through the flesh, but God
did it in the sending of his Son. The covenant, therefore,
ministered through the Levitical priests could not make the worshipers
perfect. Hebrews 10 and verse 1. Their
sacrifices could not take away sin. Hebrews 10 and verse 4. It could not remove their guilt
and purge their conscience. In short, it could not justify
a sinner what Aaron and the Levites did in all of their offerings
and in all of their shedding of blood in the tabernacle. It could not, for it was not
designed or intended to perfect or consummate the salvation of
sinners. So it could not bring the elect
of old to a justified standing before God. And we repeat, it
was never intended to do that. So why then fault the old economy
for not doing what it was never designed or intended to do? And the Jews were wrong in seeking
from the law what it never intended to provide Why then was it given
is a question that pops up in the mind of the Jew. And Paul answers that question,
and we were on it just a few weeks ago. In Galatians chapter
4 and verse... No, I'm sorry. It's Galatians
3 and verse 21, down through chapter 4 and verse 4, it was
a schoolmaster a pedagogue, a trainer, to bring them unto Christ. Now, in verse 8 of chapter 8
of Hebrews, it continues the idea of the law not being blameless. For if it had been, there would
have been no reason for the introduction, or as it is, the bringing in,
chapter 7 and verse 19, of another. The question in verse 8 is who
or what is meant by them? Is it the priest? Is it the nation? Is it the ordinancy? In the immediate
context, in verse 7, it was the first or old covenant that was
not faultless. And so finding fault and so forth,
some expositors are comfortable with this arrangement of the
words. Finding fault, he saith unto
them. That is, the Lord, finding fault,
saith unto them. That is, saith unto the Jew in
their scripture again and again. One of my Greek-English interlinears
renders the words this way. For finding fault, he says to
them, unquote. John Owen, John Brown, James
Haldane, in their Hebrew commentary wrote, when the Lord promised
to make a new covenant, he was not faulting Israel because the
promise of a new covenant was virtually finding fault with
the old, unquote. For one thing, it declared the
insufficiency of the old covenant. And I think there's a similar
expression down in verse 13 of Hebrews chapter 8, that when
God said he would make a new covenant, the first is automatically
old. To say new makes the first one
to be old. And that is very clear. But let's
go back to verse 8, where the apostle confirms from the prophet
Jeremiah that a new covenant was to be made with Jerusalem
and Israel and Judah. And the passage cited there,
and we won't turn to read it, is from Jeremiah chapter 31,
verse 31 through 34, where the prophet declares the days will
come. That is, a time will arrive,
a certain period will be reached, a time appointed by God will
reach its culmination and come. There will come a fullness of
time. As the Lord said to the woman
of Samaria in John chapter 4, the time is coming and now is. For we do agree, do we not, that
there is a set and a fixed time. Acts chapter 1 verse 7. speaks
of the time and the season which the Father hath put in His own
power. He sets the time for all of His
mighty works toward His purpose in regard unto His people, such
as the example Galatians chapter 4 and verse 4, when the fullness
of time was filled up. When the time came, when the
time had arrived, God sent forth his son made of a woman and made
under the law. Even so, a time would come when
God would make a new covenant with the house of Israel. And
the point to be made, there was a clear testimony in their scripture
that a new covenant was to be brought in and the scriptures
they relied on for guidance and professed to be infallible told
them or taught them from this. And from a prophet they held
to be a prophet of God and that would be Jeremiah. Now it is
true that some interpreters have held the new covenant to be upon
the return from or out of the Babylonian captivity. However,
the author of Hebrews takes Jeremiah's prophecy to refer to the covenant
brought in with Christ or by Messiah. Before we open the text
any further, let us note some things about this new covenant,
this new and better one, such as in verse 9, it would be different
from the covenant made with Israel at Sinai. Secondly, in verse
10, it would be much more spiritual as God would write his law in
their heart and in their mind, not just upon tables of stone. And thirdly, in verse 10, the
last part, God will be a God to the new covenant in a higher
sense than of the old. And fourth, in verse 11, greater
light, greater revelation will be directly communicated unto
the people of God under the new covenant as opposed to the ignorance
of those under the old. Number five in verse 12, there
would be what John Brown called, quote, full, free, irreversible
pardon of sin, unquote, by and through the covenant. Therefore,
the new covenant will differ from the covenant made with the
ancient patriarchs, fathers at Sinai. And there can be no mistaking,
I think, what is meant by the old covenant, for it follows
the deliverance out of the land of Egypt. Ezekiel 19 and rather
Exodus 19 and verses 10 through verse 25 if you'd like to read
the record. Now back in Hebrews 8 verse 9
and the last part explains why the new covenant would not be
the same as the old. because they did not adhere to
my covenant. That is Jeremiah 31, 32. My covenant
they broke. They broke my covenant. They did not keep it. This in
spite of the vow of the people in Exodus 24 and verse 3. All that the Lord has said we
will do and be obedient. And again in Exodus 24 and verse
7, all that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient, you'll
find it again in Deuteronomy 5 and verse 27. Now as recorded
in Exodus chapter 32, after only 40 days, after they stood before
the fear and the thundering of Sinai, 40 days later, They built a golden cave to dance
about and to worship. And their history was what one
called a constant course of rebellion, unquote. for they added sin to
sin. Now, the immediate reason why
God made a new covenant is not because they broke the old one,
but because it was insufficient to bring them to perform this. This is why the covenant is not
like the old. While their rebellion is why
God regarded them not, Deuteronomy 9 and verse 12, they quickly
turned aside out of the way, and they made them an image,
a molten image. Wherefore God swore unto them
in his wrath they would not enter into his rest. Psalm 95 verse
11 quoted in Hebrews 3 and verse 11. Now the general nature of
the new covenant is set forth in verse 10 11 and 12 of Hebrews
chapter 8. I will put or I will give or
cause my law to be in their minds and write them upon their hearts,
I will be their God, they shall be my people. And he, that is
God, will put his law, his word, his doctrine, his truth in their
inward part, that they might have wisdom in the inward part,
truth in the inward part. Psalm 51 and verse 6. Truth in their inward part, Jeremiah
31 and verse 33. The meaning is to quote a good
commentator of old. I will bring them a revelation
of my will. I will give them understanding
of my revelation so that they shall both believe and live under
its influence. This will be the work of the
new covenant. As said the prophet Jeremiah
chapter 32 and verse 40, I will put my fear in their heart that
they shall not depart from me. In Isaiah 54 and verse 13 quoted
by the Lord in John 6 and verse 45, they shall be taught of God,
every man that has heard and has learned from the Father comes
unto me. God will take out the old stony
heart, give them a heart of flesh. For you see nothing short of
effectual grace will secure the obedience of the covenant children
of God to the things of God. Those under the first covenant
were, but in many cases, only natural children of Abraham born
by fleshly birth into the commonwealth of Israel who had the law upon
stones, of rocks of stone, and were taught orally by their instructor. under the new covenant they are
brought by the sovereign operation of God in regeneration, given
new hearts, raised up out of spiritual death into newness
of life and a better covenant. The Old Covenant bestowed many
external and many temporary blessings upon them, while the New Covenant
provides all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies and in Christ
Jesus. And of course, the crowning accomplishment
of the New Covenant is full, free, irrevocable forgiveness
of sin. I, says God, will be merciful
to their iniquity. Look at two parts. I will be
merciful to their unrighteousness. Number two, their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. The full new covenant, full pardon,
everlasting justification will flow unto us from that fountain
of mercy springing up out of the person and the work of Christ,
to cover and to pardon fully and forever the unrighteousness
of the elect. And if we remember under the
old covenant, Every drop of sacrificial blood shed brought the remembrance
to them of their sin. But the new covenant fully provides
for the forgiveness of sin in full, which by and through the
sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, He cast their sin behind His
back and out of his remembrance and into the depths of the sea
of his forgetfulness, never to be remembered against them anymore. And the main distinction then
between the two covenants is their ability or inability to
remove sin. The old covenant could not, though
it had the types and the shadows, roll them forward for a year,
then another sacrifice. The new covenant is ratified
and stands in the blood of the very Son of God, and therefore
is effectual and cannot miscarry. I close by asking you to consider
a question. Which covenant do you prefer
to be under? Which covenant would you rather
be under? That stern pedagogue who chastened for every transgression
or that merciful one sent from God who provides full forgiveness? Had you rather be under a legal
covenant or a covenant of grace? And which priest would you rather
have representing you before Almighty God, a Levitical priest
or the Lord Jesus Christ, our high priest forever and forever? And which would you rather enter
into the covenant by, a natural birth or a spiritual birth, being
born of the flesh are being born of the Spirit of God. Yes, my
brother and sister, we have a better, a more enduring, a lasting, a
more excellent covenant. And it was brought in in its
fullness, in part, in all, in its fullness, in the Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. We have a new covenant and a
great high priest of that everlasting covenant.