Chapter 8 says, Now of the things which
we have spoken, this is the sum. We have such a high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens, 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 of necessity
that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth,
or of the earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there
are priests that offer gifts according to the law, who serve
unto the example 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 shown to thee in the mount. 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 no place should have been sought for the
second. For finding fault with them, he said, 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, 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 into their
mind, and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them
a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not
teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord. For all shall know me, from the
least to the greatest. 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 this particular chapter right
here is a very pivotal chapter in what the writer of Hebrews
has been teaching, and as he continues on, forms the foundation
of everything else that he's going to say. Because he says,
all right, now, of all the things I've said, I'm going to clear
it up for you. I'm going to make it simple.
I'm going to condense it down to one thing. He said, of all
the things that we have spoken, this is the sum. Now, you know, when you are doing
bookkeeping or you're dealing with figures and you put figures
in the ad machine, of course, some people are fast, you know,
they can just put them in there and their finger just goes like
that. I'm like that, but, you know, somebody that does that
all the time, they have to be fast. I mean, most accountants,
you know, they just doing that stuff and they're looking over
there and doing that and all that and it's just, you know,
going in there and they're putting it in there. But it doesn't make
any difference if a man's sitting there doing like that or he's
just, you know, doing like that. The only thing that's important
is what you get to at the end. Isn't that right? I mean, and
it doesn't make any difference if it's put in there one piece
at a time or it's put in there in a hurry. And that's exactly
what the writer is saying here. He says, of all the things that
I've told you, it's not about this, it's not about that. He
said, here it is. This is the bottom line. Now
that's what we're interested in. You know, when somebody is
dealing with a salesman, You know, salesmen, they don't like
to get to the bottom line because they want to sell you on the
item before they actually tell you what the cost is going to
be, because if they just come and told you this is going to
cost you this much right up front, you'd say, oh, no, I'm not going
to buy that. But what they want to do is they want to get you
thinking about how much you want, what they've got, and then whenever
they get to the sum, the bottom line, it seems It doesn't make
that much difference, but if they told you that to start with,
it would. But this, there's no selling going on here. But we are concerned with the
bottom line. That's the thing that we are
interested in. Because if you can't afford something,
it doesn't make any difference how pleasant it might be. I mean,
somebody could bring out a Bugatti Veyron and it doesn't
take me but a few minutes to be sold on that I want one of
these cars until you get to the bottom line. And then I don't
even want to look at it anymore. But this is the sum. This is that which we are coming
to. Now the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. So if you took the first eight
chapters of the book of Hebrews, and you just put them on the
shelf for a minute, and you came over here to the eighth chapter
and you read this verse, you'd have what it is that he has said
in a nutshell. Now, of course, we know that
there are many things that are inside that nutshell. And of
course, knowing those things helps us to appreciate. But this
is what he got to. And here it is. Here's the psalm.
We have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the
throne of the majesty of the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary
and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. That's the psalm. We have a high
priest. Now, if you were a Jew, That would be a very important
thing to you in the tradition in which you grew up. And of
course, this is who this book is written to. But we as Gentiles,
having been instructed somewhat in the knowledge of what the
law that Moses was given to Moses consisted of, we understand what
the duty of the priest was, which was to offer sacrifices unto
the Lord in the behalf of the people. And so he says here,
we have a high priest who is set at the right hand of the
throne of the majesty in heaven. We don't have a high priest that's
got to get up every morning and wipe the cobwebs out of his eyes
and get him two or three cups of coffee and then go over to
the temple and put on the priestly vestments and go into the holy
place and go about making the offerings. But we have a high
priest who is seated in the heavenlies. And this high priest, he says,
is a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle. which
the Lord pitched and not man. Now some people think that the
tabernacle was that which was constructed by the children of
Israel as they traveled around Sinai before they went into the
promised land. But that was just a type. It was a foreshadow. It was an
illustration that was given to them. Because the true tabernacle
is the tabernacle that was built by the Lord. It was not built
by men. And he says here, this one who
is our high priest is a minister, that is, the ministry that he
has accomplished that he does presently accomplish as a high
priest before the throne of God is in that true tabernacle. Not
anything to do with the ways of men, the abilities of men,
but it is that which is the true tabernacle which the Lord picked. That is, you know, a tabernacle
is a tent. That's what the tent tabernacle
was. If you read about how it was all put together, there was
curtains around the thing, and they had stakes that went up
in the ground, and then they had different pieces that held
those curtains up. And so when they would move from
one encampment to the other, they would take that down and
put it up again. And so it was pitched continually. And if you've ever done any camping,
you know what it is to pitch a tent. And I like to pitch my
tent in the Holiday Inn, but some people like to camp. And
that's okay. And I like to camp, too, if somebody
will do all the work. But this tent that he's speaking
about here was not pitched. That is, it's not been erected.
There's nothing that man's ever done or could add to this that
would make it Better. Now you know when the Lord gave
Moses the exact dimensions, He gave him the exact amount of
the types of material that were to be used in the making of the
tabernacle. I mean down to the type of thread
and all of that sort of thing. The number of stitches, the number
of rings that were on each curtain. And he didn't say to them, now
just make it however you want to. Now that's kind of the way
that men view things today. Well, it's just whatever you
want to do. I mean, you just worship God however you want
to. I mean, just whatever makes you happy. Just make yourself
happy. But dear brethren, I mean, that's
okay for the flesh. But we're not interested in the
worship of the flesh. What we're hoping to be found
in is the worship of the One who pitched the true tabernacle,
the One who designed it, the One who said this is the way
it is and it doesn't have anything to do with what men have done
or can do or can improve upon. Now that's why young men have
come on down through the ages and they figure they can improve
on the worship of God. Well, we'll come up with a better
way. We'll come up with a more classy way or a more exciting
way. You know, we'll put in a coffee
shop and get people to come in, or we'll open up a tattoo parlor,
or we'll do all kinds of things, and we'll make it where people
want to do some stuff. I mean, we'll get it, but brethren,
we're not interested in tabernacles pitched by men, but the one which
is pitched by God. And it's not a smorgasbord. It's
not for us to pick and choose, but it is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Son. He's the center. He's the substance. And when
we add it all up, it must come back to Him. And if it does not,
if it is in any way designed to appeal to the flesh, Then it can't be that which the
Lord pitched and not man. Because Christ is the center
of the worship of God. And it doesn't make any difference
what the world may say. or how much the religions of
the world all want to coalesce and come together and say, well,
it doesn't really matter. We're all just going to put our
arms around one another and hug one another and we're just going
to all do good. You have your religion, we have
ours, but we're all going to the same place. Brethren, the only place I want
to be found is in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not
man. And if the center of whatever tabernacle it is that you come
into is not Christ, then it cannot be the place which is of God. And so we are not into ecumenism in the sense that we are wanting
to hug everybody's neck. Brethren, I want to hug everybody's
neck that wants to worship Christ alone, but I don't want to be
hanging around with anybody that's worshiping something else. I
mean, that's their business. Now, you see, the difference
in, say, like the Muslims, they want to kill everybody that doesn't
worship like they want to. I don't want to kill anybody.
I mean, the Lord will kill them in His own time. He'll take care
of it. He said, Vengeance is mine, I
will repay, saith the Lord. I'm not interested in fighting
with anybody or whatever. But I'm not interested in hugging
anybody's neck either that's not wanting to worship Christ
alone. He is the God. He is the One
who is the object of praise. And the lifting up of anything
else is an abomination. before Almighty God. And so a
minister of the sanctuary of the true tabernacle, which the
Lord pitched, and not men, for every high priest. Now again,
he's illustrating the case. He says, for every high priest
which is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifice. In other words,
you wouldn't have a high priest if he wasn't going to offer sacrifices. That's the whole purpose of having
a high priest, is that he can offer sacrifices. He's a go-between
between you and God. And every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices. So therefore, if Jesus Christ
is a high priest, it is necessary for him to fit that definition
It is a necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
Now if the Lord Jesus Christ didn't have anything to offer,
he couldn't very well have been a high priest, could he? But
he gave the illustration of what a high priest was, and then he
fulfilled that. Because you see, every time that
the high priest stepped on the scene, he was not really the
high priest, was he? He called himself the high priest.
The law said he was the high priest. Moses said he was the
high priest. The children of Israel said he
was the high priest. But he was not really the high
priest, was he? Because there is only one high
priest over the household of God, and that is that one whom
we worship. For every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is of necessity
that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth,
he should not be a priest." Now, that's kind of confusing if you
don't get the drift of what it is that Paul is saying. He said
this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, he couldn't have gone into the
tabernacle of Moses as a priest. Why not? Because the priests
were born of the tribe of Levi according to the law. And so
he could not even in an earthly sense be a priest. And so the
men who would promote the law, they must of necessity exclude
Christ from the priesthood. He can't be a priest under the
law, which again makes it sort of foolish if you stop and think
about it. There are some who promote the
concept in their preaching of Bible prophecy that the temple
is going to be restored and the sacrifices are going to be put
back in. The Lord Jesus Christ couldn't even go into that temple
as a priest. Now think about that. Why couldn't
He? Because He wasn't ordained of
men. He wasn't ordained of the law.
But you see, He is a priest forever. After the order of Melchizedek,
every high priest was simply an illustration of the One who
was to come, the Lord Jesus Christ. For if He were on earth, He should
not be a priest, seeing there are priests that offer gifts
according to the law. And the Lord Jesus Christ could
not lawfully offer a sacrifice according to Moses' law. He could
not do it because He was born of the tribe of Judah, not of
Levi. who serve unto the example. Now
here's what we're saying, who serve unto the example and shadow
of heavenly things. They're just illustrating. That's
all they could do. And as Moses was admonished of
God that he was about to make the tabernacle, for see, saith
he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shown
to thee in the mount. But now, Back to the psalm. But now, have he obtained a more excellent ministry? More
excellent than a type in foreshadowing? Better. If something is excellent,
that means it is the best. It means there is nothing that
gets better than excellent. You cannot do better than excellent.
I mean, if the teacher writes at the top of your paper, excellent,
then that means it's a hundred percent. You did everything right. And so he has a more excellent
ministry than the priest. And so it is because of the fact,
listen to this, by how much also he is the mediator of a better
covenant. A better covenant. Now there
are some people who are still trying to hold on to the Mosaic
covenant. And they think that the Mosaic
covenant somehow has its roots in eternity. The Mosaic covenant
has its roots in Moses. Now, the Lord gave Moses that
covenant, but you see, the promise preceded the covenant of law,
did it not? I mean, we read that a few weeks
ago. The promise over in the book
of Galatians, Paul says, that the law was 430 years after the
promise. Because, you see, the Lord spoke
to Abraham before He spoke to Moses, 430 years before. And He gave him this promise.
He says, Unto thee and thy seed, not as of many, but as of one,
even Jesus Christ. the righteous, because you see,
all of the promises of God are made to Jesus Christ. Now, the
covenant that was made with Moses, which could not in any wise overturn
the covenant of promise that was given to Abraham, the covenant
of the law said, do these things and live. If you will perform these tasks,
then you will have life. How many did it? How many did it? I mean, if the
Lord said to you, if He just wiped the slate clean today,
if He wiped your slate clean, and He said, I'm not going to
hold anything against you that you've ever done in the past,
but from this point forward, if you'll do these things, you'll
live. How many of you would make it
through the day? I mean, if you had to keep the
law of God without any mixture of error between now and sunset,
how many of you could do it? Not a one. Yet, some people will
drive up a stob in the ground and nail them a poster up there
with the Ten Commandments on it as if. Well, we keep the Ten
Commandments. I mean, we believe in the Ten
Commandments. I mean, ask anybody around here,
they will tell you they believe in the Ten Commandments. Well,
I believe in the Ten Commandments, but I believe in the Ten Commandments
for what they are. That which shows us that we cannot
keep those things, and that without a law keeper, And without a high
priest to make atonement for our sin, we are done for. And
that's exactly what he says here. That the Lord Jesus Christ hath
obtained a more excellent ministry. That is, He has an excellent
ministry. He has a ministry that's built
upon better promises than those things. Because what the law
of Moses could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. See, the law of Moses is weak. It's not powerful. Now, it's
powerful in that it has the power to condemn. See, there's the
power of the law. I mean, the power of the law
is to breathe out threatenings and slaughterings against the
people of God. Oh, it can do that. It can bring
a man into condemnation like that. I mean, when the Spirit
of God comes and opens a man's eyes to see what he is by nature,
the law, That's what Paul said. He said, I was alive without
an understanding of the law once, but when the law came, that is,
when my eyes were opened and I saw what it was, sin revived. Now did the law cause him to
sin? Of course not. The law never caused anybody
to sin, but the law reveals what sin is. He said, I hadn't known
what sin was except the law said, Thou shalt not covet. He said,
I wouldn't have known that, but he said, I see what I am by nature
because I'm a covetous person. And so it is that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the mediator of a better covenant which is established
upon better promises because a promise that's conditional
ain't any promise at all. If those to whom the promise
is given can't perform the task, is it? It's like telling somebody, now
if you'll invest in the right stocks in the stock market, you'll
become a millionaire. Okay? Can anybody say that wouldn't
be true? Of course it'd be true. I mean, ask Warren Buffett. He
could tell you it's true. But you see, a promise without
power to perform it is of no use whatsoever. And the law of
Moses made the promise that if you do these things you shall
live, but it had no power to enable those who were put under
it. It had no power to give them
the ability to do that. And so the Lord, He didn't come
to reiterate Moses' law. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
come and say, keep the Ten Commandments and you will live. But He said,
I will give eternal life to as many as the Father has given
me. He said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. You see,
that's the promise. He said, My sheep hear My voice.
I know them, and they follow Me. You see, that's what He said. For if the first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second. If the law could have saved men, what would be the
need to bring forth the salvation which we find in Christ? But
because the law could not save anybody, then it was necessary. in those whom the Lord has loved,
that he might demonstrate his salvation by the giving of the
law to show to them how far removed from righteousness that they
are by nature. And he would bring them unto
himself through that knowledge. But for if that first covenant
had been faultless, then no place should have been sought for the
second. Finding fault with them. Now, did the Lord give something
and then He said, oh, well, shoot, I thought that would do it, and
it didn't. I found an error in this thing.
I made a miscalculation. No, He never gave the law in
order to save anybody. Why? Because it was just trumpeted
to demonstrate. the preciousness of the promise
that he gave to Abraham before he gave the law. So you see,
the Lord determined to save his people long before he gave the
law. And he gave the law for the purpose of bringing men to
a place where they might recognize the glory of the redemption that
is in Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that he has made for their sin. What a glorious thing. Dear brethren,
salvation and the work of Jesus Christ is in no wise a secondary
work of God, but it is the primary work of God. It is the primary
purpose for which the world is created. Now, a lot of people
spend a lot of time trying to figure out, well, why did the
Lord create the world? And, of course, I've heard all
kinds of theories and everything from the Lord was lonely until
He was looking for somebody to worship Him or whatever. The
Lord doesn't need the world. He didn't need anything. He created
the world because He wanted to, because it pleased Him. And why
did it please Him? Because He would demonstrate
the glory of His grace in the salvation of His people. And
that's the purpose for the creation of the world. The Lord didn't
create the world and then try to figure out what to do with
it. That's how men by nature think. Well, the Lord made it
and then He says, Oh no, what am I going to do now? I've got
to do something. No, He created the world for
the purpose of demonstrating exactly what it is that we're
talking about here today, the glory of that one who was a high
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And if he's a
high priest forever, then he must have a people for whom he
is the high priest. And he has. The Scripture says
that from before the foundation of the world that he had a people
which he chose in Christ before it was ever formed. Now men get
all mad about that. Just like a lot of times men
will look at the flood and they just shake their head. I just
can't believe that God killed all those people. Brethren, that ought not to be
what amazes us about the flood. I mean, every person that died
in the flood deserved it. If God kills you today, you deserve
it. You might not like it. You might
not think so. Well, what did I do? Well, brother,
if I've got to tell you what you did, you're not looking very
close. Do you know what you did? I heard a father tell me one
time, he said, a boy needs a whipping every day. He said, because if
his daddy don't know what it's for, the boy does. Now, dear brethren, that's just
the fact, isn't it? You know that you've got by with
far more stuff than you've ever got caught with. So if that be
true, how do you think that it is that in anything man could
ever say or do that they could accuse God of any wrongdoing
if He destroyed the world? Not a thing in the world. The
amazing thing of the account of Noah was not that the Lord
destroyed the world. He should have destroyed the
world, but that He saved eight people. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Now what did Noah do? Now you know, you're always
in these movies and stuff, Boy, he's a great guy, and the Lord
just says, well, I'm going to reward old Noah and all that
kind of junk. Look, Noah was just going along minding his
own business, but by the grace of God, he found grace. And the Lord said, I'm going
to save Noah. And Noah's not going to be able to, he's not
going to tell his children later on in life, he's going to say,
well, you know, I was just a good fellow. The Lord saw me as being
more righteous than all that. The Scripture says the Lord saw
Noah righteous in the generation, but the reason that he saw him
righteous was because he found grace, not the other way around. See, most people try to turn
that around. They want to say, well, Noah,
the Lord saw Noah as righteous and then he bestowed grace. That
wouldn't be grace, would it? No, grace is unmerited favor.
And that's what the Scripture says for from the first to the
last is God's grace and mercy and saving of people that are
not worthy to be saved. If you're worthy to be saved,
then you wouldn't need salvation. No such thing as man being worthy
to be saved because, you see, the Lord saves sinners. He saves those that don't deserve
it. He saves those that know themselves
to be without any merit at all before the throne of God. He
saves those that find themselves weeping when they consider their
own wickedness and they know that they would depart from God
tomorrow if He did not keep them. You see, those are the folks
that God saves by His grace and He demonstrates His mercy in
showing them what they are by nature and giving them a desire
to come to Christ. Oh, did Noah want to go into
that ark? Yes, he did. Now could Noah put
himself in the ark or keep himself in the ark? No, he couldn't.
I've told you this before, but I don't remember what movie it's
in, but it's showing Noah and he goes in and everybody gets
in, and then him and his sons are there with these ropes, and
they're pulling on this pulley system, you know, to close the
door up to the ark. That didn't happen. The Scripture
says the Lord shut him in. Noah didn't pull no rope. You
don't find anything in the ark that tells Noah, you know, how
to build a system to close the door. What of Noah that built
the ark and he got all the animals in there and the door is sitting
down here and the water starts rising and the water comes in
the ark and they all drown anyway. No dear brethren, you see the
one who gave the exact dimensions of the ark and the one that appointed
every animal that went in there, And every person that was saved
in that ark, the same one reached down his hand and he closed that
door when the time was according to his purpose. And so Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord and he was delivered, not because
of anything he did, but because of something the Lord did. And
that is exactly what we read here. For finding fault with
them, he said, Behold, and that's speaking about the covenant.
Now, we're talking about the covenant of the law, which said,
If you do these things, you'll live. Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant. A new covenant. Now, it's really
not new. In fact, in one of the places
in the Scripture it says as much, which was not new because it
preceded the covenant of law, but it was new in the sense that
the illustration came before the reality. Like you draw plans
for a house before you actually build a house. It wouldn't make
any sense to build a house and then go back and draw the plans
with it. Not at all. Again, that's one of the more
foolish ideas about the concept of the restoration of the temple
upon the earth. Why would you go back and build
a plan when you already have that which is the building? It
wouldn't make any sense whatsoever, but it does to some folks. He said, I'll make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of 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 Egypt.
Because why? Why do you need to make a new
covenant? Because they couldn't continue. But you see, the new
covenant actually preceded the old covenant because you see,
the Lord determined all these things to come to pass as they
did. But he said, because they continued
not in my covenant. They didn't keep the law. And
I regarded them not. Now those are some powerful words.
Those are fighting words, really, to a Jew. That's why the Pharisees
hated the Lord Jesus Christ. Because, you see, he struck at
the very heart of the thing that they held on to. They said, well,
we're Abraham's children. We deserve to go in because the
promise is made to us. He said, if you were Abraham's
children, he said, you'd know who I was. He said, but you don't
know who I am. Now you see, that's one of the
blessings of that which is a promise of the new covenant. He said,
my sheep know me. He said, I know them and they
know me. They call upon me. You see, the
blessings of grace is that the Lord reveals Himself unto His
people. He shows them that He is the
Savior of sinners. They are not looking for another
one. They are satisfied with Him. And that is what He says
here. They continued not in my covenant
and I regarded them not. He didn't have regard unto Jews.
Now I know it's a common thing today for people to think that
the Lord has a chosen people in the earth and they can be
found over in Israel. I'm here to tell you the Lord
has some people in Israel. He has some people in Syria.
He has some people in Lebanon. He has some people in Iran. He
has some people in Russia. The Scripture says, Out of every
kindred, tribe, and tongue on the earth, the Lord has a people. They belong to him. And he has
no regard unto a covenant made under the law. Why? Because they could not be kept.
And so there is a new covenant. He says, I regarded them not,
saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel, the true house of Israel.
There is a house of Israel. It just doesn't have its roots
over in a piece of real estate. You see, the house of Israel
is the people of God. After those days sayeth the Lord,
I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their
hearts. And I will be to them a God and
they shall be to me a people. Now tell me what it is there
that says they're supposed to do. What did he say? He said, I will put my laws into
their minds. He didn't say they would do anything,
did he? He said, I will write them in
their hearts. He said, I will be to them a
God, and they shall be to me a people. That's kind of one-sided,
isn't it? Sounds like he's doing everything. I mean, that's what the covenant
of grace is, because brethren, without the covenant of grace
and the Lord doing everything that it takes to save His people,
they would never be saved. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord, for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest.
Now what does that mean? Does that mean we don't believe
in teaching? What are we doing right now? Of course we're teaching. It doesn't mean that. But what
it means is that the knowledge of the Lord is not passed on
in a rote fashion. I can't teach you who the Lord
is. I can teach you what Scripture says it is. I can teach you the
things about Him. But you see, the Lord, unless
He writes His law in your heart and in your mind, You can't know
the Lord. And so we don't teach men to
know the Lord. I can't teach you to know the
Lord. But they shall all know me from the least to the greatest
because, you see, the work of the Spirit of God is to teach
men to know the Lord. And it gives them love of the
truth that they might be saved. For they shall all know me from
the least to the greatest, and I will be merciful to their unrighteousness."
Well, wait, I thought we had to be holy unto the Lord. He already took care of that.
He said, I will write my law in their hearts. I will be to
them a God. He says, I will be merciful to
their unrighteousness. Now did the law, anything under
the law of Moses ever speak of mercy? Was there any mercy in
the law of Moses? No, there is no mercy at all. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. Now remember what he said about
the law? He said, well, he's going to go on to say in the
next few chapters, he says, in the offering up of the sacrifices
there is a remembrance made of sin every year. He said, but
in the work of the great high priest in this new covenant,
he said, there's no remembrance of sin anymore. He says, I will
remember them no more. Now if the Lord doesn't remember
them, what are you worrying about them for? I mean, if the Lord
doesn't remember it, you know, have you ever been in trouble
or did something you know you shouldn't have done? I know you
all never did when you were kids and whatnot, and you was hoping,
you know, after a period of time, you was hoping that maybe your
mom or your daddy had forgot about something that you did. You know, maybe things was going
along good and, you know, maybe your daddy had said, son, as
soon as we get back home or something, I'm going to tear you up. And
all the way back, you know, things got going good and you thought
everything was fine. And, you know, and you were hoping
maybe he forgot. You know, earthly fathers don't
forget, do they? Or most times they don't. Sometimes
you do. Every now and then it would work
in your favor, but usually it didn't work out that way. But
you see, the Lord, He said, I'm not going to remember it. I mean,
He didn't say, I may not remember it. He said, I won't remember
it. And so when the people of God
come before the Lord confessing their sin, and it's real sin
unto them, the Lord does not remember it. Well, David, I'm
sure from time to time, he said, Lord, don't you remember when
I came to you after I had sinned with Bathsheba, and I asked you
to forgive me, Lord, I still want you to forgive me. He said,
what are you talking about? What do you mean, David? What are
you talking about? Remember the woman taking in
adultery? And he said, Woman, where are
thy accusers? Now, an accuser is a remembrancer. Because you see, if nobody remembers
anything, you can't be accused, can you? I mean, if everybody
just forgets either conveniently or really, you can't be convicted
in a court of law over something that nobody remembers. But you see, that which the Lord
takes away is taken away forever. And if you go into a court of
law and all the witnesses have amnesia, and the prosecuting
attorney, he looks at his paper and the judge says, well, bring
up the crime. And the prosecutor looked down
there and he said, well, I don't see anything written down here.
I don't remember this man ever doing anything. Where are thine
accusers, the Lord said to the woman? And she looked up, and I know
she thought maybe the stones was going to start falling, and
she looked around, and she says, there are none. He said, neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Oh, dear
brethren, the illustration of exactly what he said right here.
He didn't say the woman hadn't done what she did, did he? He
said, I don't know anything about it. He says, I have no accusation
against you. Paul said, There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death. What a glorious high priest we
have, one who has entered in once into that holy place, and
he has obtained eternal redemption. May the Lord help us.