Isaac, I want you to sing that
at my funeral. Isaac can be a busy man that
day. I think that's the second song I've told him I want to
sing at my funeral. He can be a busy fella. That was outstanding. Thank you. Todd, I'm kind of
jealous. I'd like to preach after that.
Well, Todd Nyberg needs no introduction here. He's a pastor at Todd's
Road. Grace Church in Lexington, Kentucky. We're just so happy
to have him here with us this weekend. Todd, you can bring
the message. I suppose I have a lot of favorite
scriptures. It is finished. There's nothing
better than that. Would you turn to Hebrews chapter
eight? I'm so happy to be with you. I trust the Lord will bless
our time together. It's always a blessing. If I
was going to give this message a title, I would entitle it,
What is the New Testament? What is the New Testament? And I'm going to read this entire
chapter. And the fact that the writer
of the Hebrews says everything that I've said up to this point,
this is the sum, gives us some idea of the importance of this
chapter. Now of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum. We have such an 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, where there is a necessity that
this man have someone also to offer. For if he were here on
earth. He should not be a priest. Seeing
that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law, meaning
he was not a Levite, he was from the tribe of Judah and he would
not have been allowed to be a priest. Who serve under 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 showed 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 should no place have been sought for the
second. For finding fault with him, 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 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, here's the reason, because 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, obsolete. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away, to disappear, to be no more. Now if I were to select a chapter
from the Bible that I believe gives the most comprehensive
meaning of what the New Testament really is, I think I would go
to this passage of scripture. I'm going to deal mainly with
verses 10 through 13, but let me read this passage again briefly
and make a few comments till I get to verse 10. Now, of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum. This is the main point. This
is the purpose behind everything I've said. We have such a high
priest. He's talking about a priest after
the order of Melchizedek. We have such a high priest. Who's the we? Every believer. all of the elect, all of those
for whom Christ died. We have such an high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens. Why was he set? Finished. We just heard. It's finished. There's nothing
left to do. Would to God that that would
come into my heart in power, there's nothing for me to do. It's done. A minister of the sanctuary and
the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man. For every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices. Wherefore, it's a necessity that
this man have somewhat also to offer, for if he were on earth,
he shouldn't be a priest. Seeing that there are priests
that offer gifts according to the law, they were to offer the blood
of goats and calves. This priest didn't offer goats
and calves. Who serve under 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 showed to thee
in the mount. There was no freelancing in the
construction of the tabernacle. It was done exactly as God said
it was to be done. But now, hath he obtained a more excellent
ministry? By how much also he is the mediator
of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
Now this is talking about the New Testament. It's better. It's a better covenant. You know
why? Because Christ did everything and it's finished. There's nothing
for me or you to do. Is that better? Established upon better promises. Now, a promise that will take
place if I do my part won't do me any good. This is better. It's completely dependent upon
Christ doing everything. And my dear friends, that's better.
That's more excellent. Verse 7, for if the first covenant
had been thoughtless, that's talking about the covenant of
works. That's talking about the Ten
Commandments. That's talking about the ceremonial law. That's talking
about the civil law. That's talking about the covenant
made with Adam in the garden. In the day you eat thereof, you
shall surely die. That's the covenant of works.
If that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place
have been sought for the second for finding fault with him. What's
the fault? I can't say. The law made nothing
perfect. but the bringing in of a better
hope did. 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 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. the imagery. He takes us by the
hand and leads us out. You know, I can, if someone is
three or four years old, I can take them by the hand and I can
lead them anywhere I want to. But it doesn't do anything for
their heart. Under the first covenant, I took them by the
hand and I led them out of Egypt. But their heart wasn't there.
Their heart wasn't there. And here's what proves this. They continued not in my covenant. You know, the only way you'll
persevere is if God gives you a new heart. One that was not
there before. A new heart. That is what will
cause someone to continue. A new heart. You know, law. Let
me say this about law. Law. What's law? Salvation is in some way, to
some measure, to some degree, dependent upon what I do. That's
law. I don't care what it is. That's
law. Law never produces love. It only produces Resentment. It makes me mad that the Lord. Expects this out of me, and he's
too strict, and he's too. This is just resentment. Never produces love. Law has
never produced love. They continue not in my covenant.
And I regarded them not, sayeth the Lord. Now here's the new
testimony. For this, and this is a quotation
from Jeremiah chapter 31, this has always been God's way of
saving sinners. No different message. For this
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord. And he begins with this, I will. That's a good place to begin.
God tell him what he'll do. I will. I can say I will, it
means nothing. He says, I will, it's done. Don't you want God to do something
for you? Where he says, I will do this. Lord, do it for me. I will. Do you know there's never been
anyone in the history of the universe that asked the Lord
to do something for them like this? Lord, you said you do this,
do this for me, that he turned down. Now don't look at this
and say, I'm afraid I'm left out. I will. I will make with the house of
Israel after those days sayeth the Lord, I will put my laws
into their mind and write them in their hearts." Now, he had
him by the hand and he pulled him out of Egypt. That didn't
really do anything for him. He says, this is what I'm going
to do. This is the promise of the New Testament. I will write
my laws in their minds. I'll place them in their heart.
Now, what does he mean? Notice, plural. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts. What is he talking about
when he says I'll put my laws in their mind and write them
in their hearts? Is he talking about the Ten Commandments? I love the Ten Commandments.
But you know, everybody in the world has the Ten Commandments
written in their hearts at birth. Let me show you this in Scripture,
turn to Romans chapter 2. Verse 14, for when the Gentiles,
people without a Bible, people without any revelation from God,
When the Gentiles, which have not the law, they'd never seen
a copy of the law. They'd never seen the scriptures.
They never read the scripture, never heard the scriptures. Due
by nature, the things contained in the law, these having not
the law or a law unto themselves would show the work of the law
written in their hearts. You know, everybody knows it's
wrong to kill, don't they? Everybody knows it seemed a lie.
all those Ten Commandments, you're born knowing those things. I don't care what continent,
everybody that's born into this world has the work of God's holy
law written in their hearts. And that's what I hear preachers
say, or people say, we need to be taught to live. You already
know how to live. You're born that way. You know the difference
between right and wrong. You know what God's law says.
Now, the natural man, he has the work of the law already written
in his heart. So when the Lord is talking about,
I'll put my laws in their mind and write them in their hearts.
He's not talking about the commandments. Look, let's go on reading verse
15. Which show the work of the law written in their hearts,
their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts, the
meanwhile, accusing or else excusing. And that's all the law does.
It'll either make you feel guilty and accuse you, or you'll try
to find some excuse as to why you broke the commandment. That's
all God's law does with a natural man. And we already have that
law written in our hearts. You were born that way. I was
born that way. So what does he mean when he
says, I will put my laws into their mind and write them in
their hearts? Now, like I said, this is a whole
lot different than being held by the hand and pulled through. In the New Testament, I read
of six laws. Six laws. And these are the laws
that God writes in the new heart that he gives. And when you have
these laws in your heart, it's your nature. It's your nature. Now, what are
they? The first one I want to mention is what Paul calls in
Romans chapter 7, the law of sin. The law of sin. Paul said in Romans chapter 7,
but I see another law warring against the law of my mind and
bringing me into captivity. to the law of sin which is in
my members. Now you have to be born of God
to understand anything about this law of sin. And when you're born of God and
you have a new nature and a new heart, one thing you see about
yourself is in and of yourself all you do and all you are, present
hence, is sin. The law of sin. And I know somebody says, well,
if that's the way you are, how could you be saved? It's only
a saved person that understands that. The law of See, you find out when you have
the law seen that in and of yourself, you cannot not see. You hate seeing. I'm not making
that as an excuse. I would never sin again. I love
the way John said these things right on to you that you're seeing
not in that. Yeah. But I find in a law that when
I would do good, evil is present. with me, the law of sin. And then there's the law of righteousness. You can read about this in Romans
chapter 9, verses 30 and 31, the law of righteousness. The Gentiles, which are the Jews
which follow the law of righteousness, had been tamed to it because
they sought it not by faith. Now here's what this means, the
law of righteousness. The law of righteousness is this. You
can't be satisfied. You can't rest. You can't find
any satisfaction in anything but perfect righteousness before
God's holy law. If you don't have perfect righteousness
before God's holy law, you can't rest. That Scripture is found in Romans
9.31, the law of righteousness. And then, there's the law of
faith. Romans 3.27, we read of the law
of faith. You know what that means? That
means you cannot, do not look to Christ only. Always. Now, I'm not saying Don't also
have unbelief. Your pride continually is, I
believe. Help thou mine unbelief. But this law of faith, you've
got a law that you can't look anywhere but Christ alone at
any time. You can't. You look to Christ
only. And I'm talking about right now.
I'm not talking about yesterday. I'm not talking about what you
intend to do tomorrow. I'm talking about right now in your experience. All you can look to and find
comfort and rest is Christ only, not Christ and. Christ only,
He's all you got. You don't have anything else.
You don't have any experience that you could bring into God's
presence. You don't have any, well, here's my change lot. No,
Christ only. That's the law of faith. You've got nowhere else to look
but to Christ only. And then we read in James chapter
two, twice of the law of love. The law of love. This is your
nature. The law of sin. If you have a
new nature, you see sin for what it is in you. You have the law
of righteousness. It's your nature to have no satisfaction
in anything but the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He's the only
one you can look to. You have the law of faith. You
cannot not believe. And you have the law of love.
It's your nature to love God as He is. You love His absolute
sovereignty. That's who He is. You love every
attribute of God. You love His immutability. You
love His independence, how He has no needs. You love His righteousness
and justice. You love His mercy and grace. You love everything about Him
and you wouldn't change Him if you could. You love God as is
revealed in His Word. Now, when you think of your love
to God, you probably think, well, I need to love God so much more.
I wouldn't disagree with that, me too. But that's not the point.
Do you love the God of the Bible? Do you love the way he saves?
Do you love being saved by Christ only? Do you love God's glory
and salvation? There's a love and you love everybody
that loves Christ. He that loveth him that begat,
loveth him also that's begotten of him. You love those who love
Christ. And you love all men. Now, what
do I mean by that? Does that mean you have this
affection for all men? Well, I reckon we ought to, but
what it means to love somebody is that even if it's your greatest
enemy, you genuinely desire them to have what you have. You genuine
desire him to know the Lord and to be saved by his grace. You
do that, you love people. It's the law of love. And I love this fifth law. We read of the law of liberty.
The law of liberty. You can read about that in James
1 and James 2 as well. The law of liberty. Now what
is liberty? I have liberty. Remember the
scripture says the Lord is that spirit and where the spirit of
the Lord is, there's liberty. Liberty is not owing anything. There's nothing I need to bring
to the table. It's finished. I do not owe anything. All that God requires of me,
I have in its fullness in the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't owe
anything. If you tell me that there's something
I still need to do, I don't have any liberty. I'm miserable. I'm
scared. I think what's going to happen
to me? What is liberty? Liberty is getting to do what
you want to do. Not what you have to do, but what you want
to do. When you're on vacation, you're
doing what you want to do. Well, this is a much greater
liberty than that. You want to follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's your desire, the law of
liberty. And then there's the law of Christ.
You're familiar with that scripture in Galatians chapter six, verses
one and two. Brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a fault. Can you understand how somebody
can be overtaken in a fault? in a trespass, in a sin. Ye which are spiritual, restore
such a one. In the spirit of meekness, considering
yourself, lest you also be tempted, bear one another's burdens. Your brother's sin is a burden
to him. is a burden to you. Put up with
one another for Christ's sake. Bear ye one another's burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ. That's his law. Now, God says, I'll put my laws
in their hearts. I'll write them in their minds.
This is God's work. And this is what happens in the
New Testament. Let's go and read back to Hebrews
chapter eight. This is the covenant that I'll
make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord,
I'll 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, when God gives this new heart, these laws of the new
nature, He says, I'll be to them a God. You know what that means? God's for you. God, the God of
glory, the infinite God is for you. Who can be against you? If God's for you, who can be
against you? They'll be to me a people. Thou
shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from
their sins. Now this is what God does for
His people, His bride, His body, His church, His temple, His sheep,
His people. He makes their sins not to be. What greater blessing could there
be than that? I'll be to them a God. And they'll
be to me the people, the people of God. Verse 11. 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's what's going on in
the New Testament. God's the one doing the teaching, and all
he teaches, know him. I'm not gonna have to teach you,
know the Lord. That's what you need to do, you
need to know the Lord. You know, as far as that goes, when somebody
says something like that, you need to know the Lord. You think,
yeah, I do. Give me some help. What do you know about that? OK. Here's when people know the
Lord when he makes himself known. That's when you know the Lord.
Now, we have a beautiful example in the New Testament of what
it means to know the Lord. When the Lord went to the cross,
there were two thieves that went with him. And both of them did
not know the Lord. They were cursing him. They had
no understanding of who he was. I mean none. These men did not
know the Lord. Suddenly something happened.
And the one who had been cursing grew silent. And he hears his
But he continued to curse the Lord. And all of a sudden he
blurted out, don't you fear God? You see, he knows who the Lord
is now. He knows he's God. Isn't he talking
about God the Father? Well, yeah. He's also talking
about God the Son. Don't you fear God? How does
he know? Because he knows Him now. Revelation. He went up to the cross not knowing
Him, and God revealed Himself to him, and now he knows who
He is. Don't you fear God? You're in the same condemnation.
And we indeed justly, because we receive the due reward of
our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. He never sinned. How in the world
do you know that? You've only known him about an
hour because he knew who he was. If you know who he is, you'll
know this man ever sinned. He's done nothing of this. You
know the Lord? If you do, you know he's incapable
of sin. Don't you know that? Now he goes on to say, Lord,
he sees this man that was unrecognizable, his visage marred more than the
sons of men, the blood, the crown of thorns, seemingly so helpless,
nailed to a cross. And he says, Lord. You think he's the Lord? Yes,
I do. I know who he is. He's the Lord. He knew he was the absolute Lord
of the universe. How do you know? Because he knew
who he is. All shall know me. That's the promise. You know
me, you know me. Lord. Remember me. When you come into your kingdom,
now listen to this, he said, I know you're not going to stay
on that cross. I know that you're going to come
back as a mighty reigning king. How did he know something like
that? Because he knew the Lord is he knew him. Now, when We
think of knowing the Lord. Quit thinking about your personal
subjective. You know, people talk, but you
have a personal relationship with the Lord and all that kind
of stuff. Just forget that. Do you know him? Do you know who
he is? That's the point. Do you know who he is? If you know, you'll believe.
Without question. If you know him, you will believe. If you don't believe, there's
one reason. You don't know him. Everybody who knows him believes
on without exception. All shall know me. Every one
of them. Isn't that what salvation is? This is life eternal, the Lord
said. John chapter 17, verse three. That they might know thee
the only true God. And Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent. Now in the New Testament, God
is a heart and he writes his laws on that heart. He puts them
in the mind. He says, I'll be to them a God. And they'll be to me a people.
And they should not teach every man his neighbor and every man
his brother saying, no, the Lord for all shall know me. From the
least to the greatest. And here's why. Here's why. Because. For. For I will. Don't miss it. Don't you love
the I wills in here? I will. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. Now that word merciful is the
word propitious. Propitious, propitiation. Somebody
says, that's a big word. What's it mean? It's found in
the New Testament in a different form six different times. I asked Siri what propitiation
means. And he says, well, it's when
somebody does something to win the favor of somebody else. Well,
in the world, that's what it is. But that's not what the Bible
means about propitiation. There's nothing you do to gain
God's favor. Propitiation is God's work. He's the one who does the propitiation. He provided his son to make a
way for him to do something for me. For him to do something for
me or you, he first had to do something for himself. And that's
what Christ's perpetuatory sacrifice is. Do you remember in Luke chapter 18, when the
publican in the temple cried out, stood far off, beating his
breast, said, God, be merciful to me, thee, sinner. Same word, be perpetuous. be propitious to me, the sinner."
What he's saying is, do something about my sin. I can't do anything
about it. I can't make it go away. Do something
about my sin. Now, that's exactly what the
Lord did on Calvary's tree. He did something about my sin. He put it away. And you know
what the Lord said with regard to that man? He said, God be
propitious to me, the sinner. The Lord said, I tell you. What
authority? This is not some soul winner
telling you. This is not some preacher telling you. He said,
I tell you. That man went down to his house. Better than forgiven. Better, better than shown mercy.
Better than pardoned. He went down to his house justified. You know what it means if you're
justified? It means you never sinned. Without guilt before a holy God. That's the perpetuatory sacrifice
of Christ. God says in the New Testament,
I will be That's the promise of the gospel.
I will be propitious. You know what happened as a result
of that? Verse 12, for I will be propitious to their unrighteousness
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. That is not a faulty memory on
God's part. The reason he doesn't remember
the iniquities and sins of his people is because there is nothing
to remember. If you're justified, God's not going to look at you
in heaven and say, well, I remember what they did. No, you didn't
do it. You didn't do it. You see, Christ's
righteousness is not just a cover-up. He makes it so where I am without
sin. Their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. And do you know in heaven, I
don't understand this, but I know it's so, in heaven, I won't remember
neither. I do now. David said, my sin
is ever before me. And I understand that. But in
heaven? Nope. I'll know the only reason
I'm there is because of the scars on his hands and feet. I'll know
that. But I won't even remember what it's like to be a sinner.
And God says there's sins. and their iniquities will I remember
no more. End at verse 13. Now that is
the reason that he gives a new heart and writes his laws on
the heart and in the mind. This is his reason that These
people know the Lord. This is the reason He's a God
to them, and they're a people to Him. This is the reason, because
He said, I will be perpetuous to their unrighteousness, their
sins, and their iniquities. I will remember no more. In that He saith anew, covenant, testament, He hath made the first old. Now that word old is obsolete.
Obsolete. Now that which decayeth. What
a description of the old covenant. It decays. Decays. And waxes old, is ready to disappear. When you see the New Testament, you're like the disciples who
at one time on the man of transfiguration saw Moses and Elijah and Christ. And then when the bright cloud
overshadowed them and they hit the dirt, scared to death and
the Lord touched And they looked up, they saw no man save Jesus. Oh, may God give us grace to
see the New Testament. Wasn't that uplifting? I love
preaching. It makes me dependent. on Christ
alone. This leaves me no other hope.
I love Todd. Thank you. That was outstanding.