Alright, let's open our Bibles
again to Hebrews chapter 8. I couldn't decide on a title, whether
to title this message God's Covenant or A Better Covenant, so I titled
it God's Covenant, A Better Covenant. This is God's Covenant and it
is far better. Now for 2,000 years, from Moses
to Christ, Israel had been under that law of Moses. They were
under the covenant of the law. The covenant of the law said
do. Do and live. Obey and live. Obey every commandment of the
law and you'll live. But disobey in one point and you'll die.
That was the covenant of the law. And verse 7 tells us that
covenant had to be replaced. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
That first covenant had to be replaced. Because that covenant
of the law, God never gave that, meaning that men could be saved
by their obedience to it. The law could never save any
sinner. Because the mediators of that
covenant, the priests of that covenant, were sinful men. Their sacrifices couldn't help
anybody. And the only sacrifices that they offered, these sinful
men offered animal sacrifices to the Holy God, which could
never take away sin. The covenant of the law couldn't
say because it was unprofitable to say. The only thing the covenant
of the law was profitable for was to be a picture of Christ,
to point us to Christ. The only purpose in God giving
the law was this one purpose, to shut us up to Christ. And
by shut us up to Christ, this is what I mean. The law was given
to show us that's impossible. I can't keep that. So I'm shut
up to one hope, that Christ will keep it for me, that Christ will
pay for all my sin against God's holy law. Hold your finger there,
look back at Galatians chapter three. See, if men could have
been saved by keeping the law, there wouldn't have been a need
for another covenant, would there? Paul tells us that in Galatians
chapter three, verse 21. Is the law then against the promises
of God? God forbid. For if there had
been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have come by the law. But the scripture hath concluded,
all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe. See, it was always given, the
law was always given to shut us up to Christ. See verse 23? But before Christ came, We were
kept under the law. The law just kept showing us
we couldn't keep it. Shut up unto faith, which should
afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Not justified by our works of
the law, but justified by faith in Christ who did keep the law
for us. That was the whole purpose of
the law. And in his time, God abolished that old covenant of
the law. by bringing in a new covenant,
a better covenant, the covenant of grace. When Christ came, he
kept all of that covenant of the law and he abolished it all. When he fulfilled it all, he
abolished it all. And God revealed, he finally
revealed, here's the person. Now we've been given types and
pictures of it all throughout the Old Testament, but now he's
come. And God revealed plainly that
salvation has always been and it will always be in Christ. It'll be received through faith
in Christ, not by our works of the law. So I want to give you
five ways that this covenant of grace is better. God's covenant
of grace is far better. And I hope we leave here thankful.
You know, I've been thinking this this coming week is the
week of Thanksgiving. Let's get a real good start.
leaving here this morning being thankful for God's covenant of
grace to his people, because it's far better than the covenant
of the law. Number one, the covenant of grace
is better because it's based upon better promises. Verse six,
Hebrews eight, but now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry
by how much also he's the mediator of a better covenant, which was
established upon better promises. Now, both of these covenants,
they're both should, Both of these covenants make promises.
The covenant of the law and the covenant of grace make promises
that are sure to be kept. The law promises life to everybody
who can keep it. To anybody who can keep it. That's
a promise God will keep. But you know what? That's not
a good promise to make to you and me. Because we can't obey
the law. Our sin nature makes it so that
This covenant of the law doesn't do me any good because it doesn't
do any good for God to promise me in the law, I'll give you
life if you can keep it. Because my sin nature can't. It won't. All I can do is sin. So promising
me life if I obey the law is not a good promise to me. And
the law promises death to everybody who can't keep it. God promises
his wrath will be on everybody who does not keep his law fully.
You see, God will never accept the best we can do. Never. He will only accept absolute
perfection. And His wrath will be on everybody
who does not have that absolute perfection. That's not a good
promise to somebody who can't keep the law, is it? But the
covenant of grace, it has promises too. And their promises are far
better. The covenant of grace promises
life to everybody who believes on Christ. The covenant of grace
promises life through faith, not through our works. It's through
the work of Christ, not through our works. Now that's good news.
That's a good promise to somebody that doesn't have any good works.
The covenant of grace promises that Christ will pay the sin
debt of his people. That's a mighty good promise.
If you're spiritually and morally bankrupt and don't have anything
to pay, that's a good promise that Christ will pay the sin
debt of his people. The covenant of grace promises
the forgiveness of sin through the sacrifice of Christ. Now
that's a mighty good promise to a sinner. To all they can
do is sin and they need to be forgiven. And this covenant,
the promise of it is that it's sure because of the mediator
The Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator of this covenant of
grace between God and men, and all of its promises are in Him. All of its promises are dependent
upon Him. Now, a mediator is somebody that
goes between two warring parties. They can talk to both, they can
satisfy both, and they can bring both of those warring parties
together. That's the job of a mediator. Well, the mediator of the covenant
of the law was the high priest. But that high priest could never
bring the people to God. That covenant of the law always
said, stay out, stay out, stay out, come not at all times. But
Christ, the mediator of this covenant of grace, oh, this is
a better covenant, bringing better promises to his people, because
he can bring his people. He does bring his people to God
by his sacrifice. And God promises that everyone
who comes to God by him will be accepted. Now that's a better
promise, isn't it? I want that covenant of grace,
not the covenant of law. Number two, the covenant of grace
is better because God's ratified it and men can't make it void. Look here at verse eight. 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
I made with their fathers, And 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." Now,
the covenant of the law was made between God and men, wasn't it?
But there's a problem with that covenant, a very serious problem
with that covenant. Now, the problem wasn't with
God. God's holy. God is always following, so the
problem's not with Him. And there's no problem with the
law that God gave, was there? The law is just and holy and
good. You read the law, it'll never
tell you to do something bad. It'll never tell you to do something
harmful. So the problem's not with the law. The problem with
this covenant is man. Man is sinful. Man cannot keep
the law and he won't even try to obey it. Now, men say they'll
try to obey the law, but they won't try for long. They won't
try for long. You remember that God made this
covenant with Israel. God brought Israel out of Egypt, and he told
Moses, Moses, I'm going to give you a covenant. I'm going to
give you a law. I'm going to give you something that the people
will do to be accepted of me. And you know what the people
said? They said, Moses, that's good.
You go up there and get that law from God, and whatever he
tells you to do, we'll do. That's what they said. They said
whatever God tells us to do, we'll do it. Moses didn't even
come down from the mountain. before Israel was dancing around
naked around an idol that they made, worshiping it, saying,
this is the God that brought you out of Egypt. They voided
it, didn't they? They just made it void by their
sin. And Moses came and gave him the
law anyway. God gave it to him. And what did they do with it?
They continually broke it. Just continually. Even after
God brought them into the promised land. God promised him he's going
to do it. He did it, didn't he? He brought
them into the land flowing with milk and honey. He defeated every
enemy before them and blessed them so greatly, just gave them
everything. And what did Israel do? They
continually broke God's promise. Continually, they went after
idols. After God blessed them and gave
them everything, they continually tried to worship something other
than Almighty God that gave them everything. See, men shot the
covenant of the law full of holes. And I'm not just talking bad
about Israel. You and I do the same thing today. Exactly the
same. We think, give me a law, I'll
keep it. Are you kidding me? No, we don't. No. Man cannot keep the law. So the only thing that's sure
for you and me under the covenant of the law is death. That's the only thing that's
sure for us. So God said, I want to make a new covenant. I want
to make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house
of Judah. Now it's a new covenant, but
it's not called a new covenant because God first made the covenant
of the law and he saw, well, that failed. So I better make
a new, I better make a new covenant, a new plan. Now that's not it
at all. The covenant of grace, scripture
calls it the eternal covenant, the everlasting covenant. It
was really the first covenant, wasn't it? It was the first covenant.
It was just the second covenant revealed. It's newly revealed. The covenant of the law was revealed
first for God's purpose. To shut us up to Christ, to show
us we can't keep the law, make us dependent upon His grace,
not our obedience to the law. The covenant of grace is called
the new covenant because it makes all things new. For everybody
that's in it, it makes all things new. It gives us a new record. Salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ, not the law. It gives us a new record in this
way too. Everybody who's in this covenant, they got a new record.
You know, if you get arrested, you got a record. Everybody who's
in this covenant, their record says not guilty. It's a new covenant. They've got no sin. This covenant
is new because it gives everybody that's in it a new heart and
a new nature and a new birth. It's a new covenant. It gives
new mercies. Every day they're brand new.
And it's a new covenant because there's never going to be a need
for another covenant to come after this one. Because this
covenant is going to get the job done. It's going to save
God's people. It's going to save the house
of Israel and the house of Judah. And this new covenant is far
better than that old covenant of the law. That old covenant
of the law They didn't do you any good if you're Philistine,
did they? If you're a Malachi, I knew you good. That covenant
was made with that little old nation Israel, just that little
old speck of land over there in the Middle East. But the new
covenant is made with spiritual Israel, made with the people
from every nation, every tribe, and every tongue under heaven.
If you're a sinner, you can fit in this covenant of grace, no
matter where you're from. And this covenant of grace has been
ratified. It's been ratified by God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. You know, a
covenant is a contract. It's an agreement made between
the Godhead. You do this, I'll do this. It
was ratified by God. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. Every one of them did what they
promised they'd do. So this covenant has already
been ratified. It's not waiting on you to do
something, because none of it's dependent upon you. It's all
dependent upon God, and He's already ratified it. So men can't
make it null and void by our sin and our rebellion and our
disobedience, because all the conditions of it were met by
God. Now, God's covenant with His
people is not a covenant like, you do this, then I'll do this. This covenant is, the old timers
call it a unilateral contract. I know that's a great big word
nobody understands, It just means it's a one-way contract. It's
a promise. God said, I promise I will do
this for my people. The covenant of grace is so much
better because it all depends upon God, who cannot lie, doing
what he promised for his people. That's the covenant that David
found such peace in when he was on his deathbed. He said, my
house, be not so with God. This body, this clay body is
full of sin. It's not so with God. It's dead
and it's dying. I mean, just look at me. I'm
dying. I'm dying because there's sin. I'm a sinner. But God, oh
but God, hath made with me an everlasting covenant. It's ordered
in all things and it's sure. It's sure despite all David's
sin, despite every mistake he made, it's sure. God ratified
it. And David said, that's all my
salvation and that's all my desire. That's all I want. That's the
only thing I want. See, this is a sure salvation
because God's elect have this salvation. Sure. Because of the
covenant of grace, the promise of God, and it's far better.
It sure I want to drive this point home to our hearts. It's
sure it's unchangeable. It's already ratified. by God. I look at Jeremiah 31. I'm going
to show you how sure this is. I want you to take this picture
that Jeremiah paints for us. So every time you see a sunrise,
a sunset, every time you see the moon come up, every time
you see the waves of the ocean, I want you to remember God's
promise. This is how sure it is. Jeremiah 31 verse 31. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant
I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the
hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But
this shall be the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws in their inward
parts and I will write it in their hearts and will be their
God and they shall be my people, and they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord, for they shall all know me, for the least of them
and to the greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. See, the writers
of the Hebrews didn't just come up with this covenant, this promise
like it was brand new. He was quoting Jeremiah way back
there. He was quoting from Jeremiah.
That's the covenant. It's sure God's ratified it.
Now look at verse 35, here's how sure this is because God's
ratified it. Man can't disannul it by their
sin. Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by
day and the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light
by night, which divided the sea when the waves thereof roar.
The Lord of hosts is his name. If those ordinances depart from
me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease
from being a nation before me forever. Thus saith the Lord,
if heaven can be measured and the foundations of the earth
searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of
Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord. This is
what the Lord is saying. If you stop the sun from coming
up in the morning and you stop the moon from coming up at night,
maybe you can start to begin to make God's covenant of grace
for us. I just can't do it. Can't do it. Next time, you're
in the thick of it. I mean, thick of it. In the trial, oh, it hurts. Oh,
it's just a soul. And can't sleep at night. Get
up at night. I'll look the moon. It'll be
there. It'll be there. God's mercies
will show. And if you could stop the waves
of the sea, you could stop the tides from going in and out.
We were down at the beach and I told Holly and Janet, I said,
imagine, just imagine, look at these waves. It was kind of a
cloudy, a little bit stormy. Remember, there might have been
a storm out there in the ocean somewhere. I said, imagine if a man walked
out here on this beach and just said, peace, be still. Suddenly
the water was still. Just that ocean was like glass
and the tide quit going in and out. What would you do? That's
God. What manner of man is this? That's
what the disciples said, isn't it? Nobody can stop the waves
of the sea. Nobody can stop those tides.
If you can do that, you just go down there to the ocean, you
stop those tides from coming in and out. Maybe then you'll
be able to start to get ready to commence to make God's covenant
of grace known and void. But you can't do it. You can't
do it. God's already ratified it. See,
there is sure, absolute death for us under the covenant of
the law. We've broken it. We've made it null and void by
our sin. But there is sure life in the covenant of grace, because
God the Father promised it. Christ the Son purchased it,
and the Spirit's going to apply it. And we can't make it null
and void by our sin. Now you decide which one's better. And let me give you a hint. There's
just one obvious answer. It's the covenant of grace. All
right, thirdly, the covenant of grace is better because of
where it's written. Verse 10, back in our text, Hebrews
8. 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, and I'm going
to write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to me a people. That covenant of the law was
written on tables of stone. The rest of it was written on
parchment. You know, the law contains a whole lot more than
the Ten Commandments. Those Ten Commandments were written
on tables of stone, but there's rolls and rolls and rolls of
parchment containing the rest of the law of God. And that law
was inflexible. It was inflexible as that stone,
and it was as lifeless as that parchment. But the people were
constantly reminded about that law. Every Sabbath day, they'd
come to the synagogue, to the temple, wherever it was they'd
come, and the law would be read to them. They're reminded of
it constantly. But they still couldn't keep it. They had the
law read to them, and they saw the ceremonies every day, every
month, every year, they saw those ceremonies being repeated. And
they still didn't love them. Still didn't love them. The law
and the ceremonies were just a burden to them. God gave them
a Sabbath a day of rest. And it was a burden to them.
God gave them that great day of atonement. And it was a burden
to them to go through all those sins. They got to stand around
and watch that high priest all day, go in and out. It was a
burden to them. The Passover. Oh, God gave them
the great picture of the Passover. When your children ask you, what
do you mean by this service? Oh, this is God's Passover. This
is how God brought us out of the land of Egypt and delivered
us with a mighty hand. It's through the blood of the
the sacrifice of this lamb, which pictures the one to come. And
it was just a sacrifice. All the ceremony was just a burden
to him. I mean, I've got to get rid of
all the yeast in the house. I've got to eat hard bread instead of soft bread.
Can't have soft white Heiner's bread. I've got to have this
stuff. Just a burden to him. Just a burden. Then God revealed
a new covenant. This covenant is written down
too. But it's written down in a much better place. It's not
written on tables of stone, lifeless paper. God writes this new covenant
of grace on the minds and the hearts of his people. He puts
it in their minds. He just puts it. They don't learn
it themselves. God puts it there. That's what
he says in it. I'm going to put my laws in their mind. He puts
them in their mind by giving them a new mind. And now they
understand how God saves sinners. They understand, they see Christ,
they understand how God can save sinners and still be just, still
be God by saving us in Christ the sinner substitute, Christ
the sacrifice. And they love it. They don't
just understand. There's things I understand that
I hate. God's people understand the gospel and they love it because
God writes it on their heart. God gives them a new heart and
they love God's law. That's not just all His commandments,
although they do love those things, but they love the way that God
does everything. They love the way that God saves
sinners. They love it. They love the way
that God governs His creation. They love the fact That God's
governing this thing. This thing is up to chance and
random atoms bouncing around each other, random thoughts and
actions of men. God governs this. This is happening
according to His will and nobody can stop it. God's people love
that. They love salvation by grace, not by our obedience to
the law. They love that salvation is what
Christ has done for His people, not their doing. They love God
getting all the glory. They love it. They don't want
any for themselves. They're all saying to Him be
the glory and the praise and the honor forever and ever. And
none of this is a burden to them. They love to worship God in spirit
and in truth. Worship to them is not just going
through all the form and ceremony. We come to a building that looks
like a church building, and we sit down in the right places,
and we sing the right number of songs, and read the right
number of scriptures, say a prayer, and everybody go home and eat.
No. It's heart worship. And I love
it. I need it. I need to hear Christ
again. I need to worship Him again.
It does my heart good. And notice this, this goes back
to that unilateral covenant, the one way covenant, the one
way promise of God. God does not say, I'm going to
save my people. I'm going to make them savable
if they do this, that or the other and do it right. If they
do their part, then I'll save them. God doesn't say that. God
says, I will save them. End of story. I'm not going to
give them a choice in the matter. I just am going to save them.
I'm going to take them and I'm going to put a new nature in
that will love my son and believe my son. I'm going to give them
a new mind. I'm going to teach them. Teach
them what? Teach them Christ so that they
know me. Our Lord said every man that
the father teaches know it and comes comes to Christ because
they know I'm going to teach them. I'm not giving him a choice
in the matter. I will be their God. And they
will be my people. Now that's more than being Christians
because we live in Christ's kingdom. It's a whole lot more than being
American because we live in the United States of America. This
has to do, I will be their God and they will be my people. It
has to do with the relationship with God. It needs to be one
with the Father. And I'll show you that, look
at John chapter 20. This is on the third day and our Lord has
arisen. Mary comes to the tomb to anoint
his body, but she didn't see him. He wasn't there. The tomb
was empty. John 20 verse 11, Mary stood
without at the sepulcher weeping. And as she wept, she stooped
down and looked into the sepulcher and see if two angels in white
sitting, the one at the head, the other at the feet where the
body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, woman,
why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have
laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back
and saw Jesus standing, and knew not it was Jesus. She knew not
it was the Lord. The Lord blinded her eyes, made
tears run out of her eyes. For whatever reason, she didn't
know that was the Lord. And he saith unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing
him to be the gardener, saith unto him, If thou have borne
Him hands, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I'll take
Him away." And Jesus saith unto her, Mary. That's all He said. Do you think
of the power, the compassion, the voice of the Savior that
echoes eternity. And He said unto her, Mary. And
she turned herself And she saw, she heard. And she saith, Rabboni,
which is to say, Master. And Jesus saith unto her, Touch
me not, for I am not yet ascended to my father. But go to my brethren,
and say unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father, to
my God and your God. Now the Savior is telling Mary
here, you don't, and she fell down, and what the writer says,
she's just trying to grasp onto him, hang onto him. So he doesn't
go away again. Here she's been looking for him
and she couldn't find him. She didn't want him to go away again.
And she's just hanging on to him for all she's worth. And
he says, you don't have to hang on to me. I'm not ascending back
to my father yet. But you go to my brethren and
tell them that I will. I am going to ascend to my father
and your father. My God and your God. See what he's saying there? My
father is your father. My God is your God. God's elect
have the same relationship with the Father that God the Son has. We're loved and accepted in the
exact same way. In Christ, He's your Father. He's your God. He's made it so
in this covenant of grace. The covenant of the law never
could do that. Because the covenant of the law can't give a new heart,
can't give a new birth, can't birth you into His family. But
the covenant of grace does. And the covenant of grace makes
every believer a king and a priest. Look back in our text, Hebrews
8 verse 11. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord, for all shall know him, from the least to the greatest. Now this isn't saying we don't
need somebody to teach us. It's not saying that God's church
doesn't need pastors and teachers. We know better than that. It's
please God by the foolishness of preaching. to save them that
believe. The commandment to God's preachers
is feed my sheep. Feed them by preaching them Christ.
We need pastors and teachers for the maturing, the edifying,
the feeding of God's sheep. So this is what the Holy Spirit
is saying. Every believer is a priest. And a priest can come
into God's presence. And you can come a whole lot
better than that Old Testament priest. You can come anytime
you want. Under that covenant of the law,
the high priest can only come into God's presence at specific
appointed times when he's offering a sacrifice. But God's people
are all priests who can come to the throne of grace boldly. You can come there confidently,
knowing you're accepted in Christ at all times, anytime you want,
to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Isn't
that better? Under the covenant of the law,
if you want to hear from God, you have to go to the prophet.
If you want a sacrifice offered for your sin, you've got to go
to the priest. If you want to hear from God, you've got to
go to the prophet, don't you? But now, God speaks to the hearts
of all of his people. And again, this isn't saying
we don't need pastors and teachers. How does God speak to the hearts
of his people? When his word is preached. By his word being
preached. And when a believer hears it,
they say, That's it. That's it. That's the gospel.
That's the that's the Savior. And their heart is thrilled.
They say, I know that's the gospel because my spirits bear witness
with that one who's preaching. My spirit bears witness with
his. They're both speaking about Christ. That's him. I know that's
him. And I can't be fooled by hearing
about this other Jesus. Now, that's a whole lot better
than the covenant of law. I want this covenant of grace.
It's far better. And then fourthly, covenant of
grace is far better because it's merciful. Verse 12, for I will
be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. Now, both of these covenants,
covenant of the law, the covenant of grace, they're both cut and
dry with no gray area. They're cut and dry. The law
knows nothing of mercy. The law only knows justice. Either life, justice in life,
it gives you life and justice because you obey the law, or
it gives you damnation and justice because you disobeyed it. The
law only reveals the strict, holy justice of God. That's all
the law reveals. So when God damns a sinner, he's
always going to be just in doing it. It's a violation of his law.
It's exactly what the sinner earned. And God will give them
exactly what they are. Exactly. And justice. And there'll
be no hope of mercy in the covenant of the law because the law knows
nothing of mercy. Just strict, absolute justice. It's one way or the other. But the covenant of grace reveals
God's mercy to sinners. Mercy. And this is the amazing
thing. It's still cut and dried. God
is still just under the covenant of grace. God is still just.
when He shows mercy to sinners. God shows mercy to sinners by
punishing their sin in His own darling Son, by making His beloved
Son to be sin for them and sacrificing Him for their sin so that He
can show mercy to sinners. So when God saves sinners, He's
right to do it. He's right. Justice is satisfied
As a matter of fact, God's justice demands mercy to his people because
Christ already died for their sins. The law has been satisfied
in the death of Christ. See, God's mercy is cut and dry,
dude. It demands life for God's people
because of the sacrifice of Christ. I was listening to an old message
yesterday, and my dad preached it in, what, you said 2019? 1995. And he made this statement. I just now remembered it. It'd
be good on this point. He asked a question. What did the death
of Christ accomplish? What did it do? Did the death
of Christ do as much for Peter as it did for Hitler? Did it? If it did, the death of Christ
is worthless, isn't it? It's worthless. What did the
sacrifice of Christ accomplish? Well, let's let God tell us.
I mean, that's the way you know. What did God say? The sacrifice
of Christ is so complete. This is what it accomplished.
It put away the sin of his people so fully, so completely. God says, I don't remember their
sin. I don't see it. That's what God says. And I look
at myself, that's all I see. And at you, Brandon, that's all
I see is sin. You think of this. God says, I look at you, I don't
see any sin. That's how completely the sacrifice of Christ put his
sin, the sin of his people away. So there's no reason for God
not to show mercy to his people because Christ took their sin
away. Aren't you thankful the covenant
of grace reveals God's mercy to sinners? And then here's the
last thing. The covenant of grace is far
better because it'll never be replaced. Verse 13. And that
he sayeth a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now
that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. See, the covenant of the law
had to be replaced because it was so faulty because of our
sin, it couldn't save anybody. But the covenant of grace is
eternal and it'll never be replaced. No reason it should be replaced
because it will always save to the uttermost everybody that
comes to God by the Lord Jesus Christ. The covenant of law had
to be replaced because it was administered by sinful men. Nothing
they did could ever take away sin because everything they do
is full of sin. But the covenant of grace is eternal and no reason
it should be replaced because Christ is the mediator of it
and there's no sin in him. He brought grace and truth in
it. The covenant of the law had to be replaced because that covenant
just gave us animal sacrifices, which could never take away human
sin. But the covenant of grace is eternal. It'll never be replaced,
and there's no reason it should, because the blood of God's Son,
Jesus Christ, cleanses us from all sin. By one offering, He
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. There's no reason
it should be replaced. The covenant of the law had to
be replaced because it couldn't make anybody perfect. But the
bringing in of a better hope came. We have a good hope through
what? Grace. Grace. This covenant of
grace. And there'll never be any need
to replace God's grace because God's grace will never fail to
make any of its objects perfect. The law was in full effect. And Christ came. And suddenly,
all the luster was off the law. Suddenly, that law started to
decay and it had to vanish away because Christ, the fulfillment
of it came. Because Christ came bringing
in the covenant of grace. Aren't you thankful? Aren't you
thankful for the covenant of God's grace? Let's bow and pray.
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this portion
of your word that so clearly reveals your covenant of grace,
all in the hands of Christ, our mediator. Father, we're thankful. Father, I pray that you would
cause your word to go forth in power this morning, to reach
the hearts of your people. We know your word will not return
unto you void. It will always accomplish the
purpose or until you send it. Father, we beg your purpose this
morning be a purpose of grace and mercy and life to your people. Send your word out in power to
show your people the glory of Christ our Savior and draw us
ever closer to him. It's in his precious name we
pray and give thanks.