Well, I want to look particularly
at the second half of Hebrews chapter 8 this week. I've called
it the everlasting covenant confirmed. Most so-called Christianity,
in the day in which we live, but it's always been the case,
but in the day in which we live, most so-called Christianity tries
to mix the old with the new. So, they have their cathedrals,
trying to mimic the Old Testament temple. They have their priests
mimicking the Old Testament priests, the Levitical priests. They dress
up in their robes mimicking the robes that were ordained for
Aaron and his followers to wear. They have icons with which they
decorate their buildings, which is meant to try and produce some
sort of feeling in the soul, prompted by artworks and icons,
they have imagery, they do today what we call christening, you
know, sprinkling water on babies. It's the Jewish old covenant
of circumcision, the eighth day, the child being circumcised,
a rite of passage into those people. And yet it's exactly
that kind of principle. It's a rite of passage of the
baby into that situation. There are even those And I've
heard it amongst our friends, and it grieves me when I hear
it, where they call the room in which they meet for their
service, they call it the Sanctuary. Oh, don't go into the Sanctuary!
It's a room! Do you know when it's a Sanctuary? I'll tell you when it's a Sanctuary.
This room is a Sanctuary now because the Gospel is being preached. in this room and Christ is being
lifted up. But all the rest of the time
it's just a lounge, it's just a room where we sit to relax.
No, all of these things, they're trying to mix the old with the
new and produce some composite kind of religion. And Jesus said
you mustn't do this, it's like putting new wine into old bottles. It's like trying to repair a
tear in old cloth with some new cloth. He says it won't work.
The one will make the tear worse. So don't do that. No, there is
nothing new. We see it all around us today.
But these first century Hebrew Christians, maybe they'd heard
the gospel from Peter at Pentecost and so on. These first century
Hebrew Christians were clinging to Jewish religion. and its practices,
and they were trying to mingle the rites of the Old Testament
law, the Mosaic law, the Mosaic pattern of worship, they were
trying to mingle it in to that which was the newly revealed
gospel religion of the Lord Jesus Christ and his followers. Hebrews
was written to make clear the end of the old and the confirmation
of the new. Hebrews was written to show how,
in the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of his grace, Everything
that the Old Testament said is fulfilled. Jesus said, not one
jot or tittle of it shall pass away till all be fulfilled. It has all been fulfilled, therefore
we are not under it. We learn great lessons from it.
There is great teaching about the purposes and the way in which
God saves his people from their sins in it, but it's not stuff
that we practice anymore. It makes clear the end of the
old and the confirmation of the new. But when I say new, of course
we have to realize that when the scripture talks about the
new covenant, it is in actual fact the eternal covenant, the
everlasting covenant, the covenant that was made between the persons
of the Godhead in eternity before time began. The scriptures make
it clear. Read the article in the bulletin. It's eternal. Paul, because I
believe Paul wrote this, Paul desired the salvation of his
kinsfolk, the Israelites, the Jews. He desired the salvation.
In Romans 10, he said that my heart's desire for Israel is
that they should be saved. They have a zeal for God. I bear
them record. They're zealous. They're religiously
zealous. They have a zeal for God. but
it isn't in accordance with knowledge. You can be zealous for something,
but you can be ignorant about the subject. It isn't according
to knowledge. He wants to show them that the
gospel of grace in Christ has fulfilled everything of that
Old Testament regime, that God speaks. This is what the book
has said. The book of Hebrews has said right at the start,
God speaks, God manifests himself, the hidden God that no man by
physical senses can discern apart from to know that there must
be a God, because when we look around, we see the evidence in
all creation. But this God speaks. He speaks
thoughts, ideas, to his people. He manifests himself. And how
does he manifest himself? By the prophets in the Old Testament,
by those that he raised up for that purpose, but supremely,
in these last days, by his Son. He speaks by his Son, who is
God himself. God manifested. No man has seen
God at any time. The only begotten Son who is
in the bosom of the Father. has declared him. And they've
shown that the Hebrews, the Jewish Christians who revered angels
and Moses and the Levitical priests and the temple and all of those
things, the sacrifices, that the Son of God is better than
the angels. The Son of God is better than
Moses. The Son of God is better than
the Levitical priests. The Son of God was made man to
accomplish that which the old covenant, with its pictures,
its animal sacrifices, could never do. for he with his own
precious blood tore that veil in two and entered into the Holy
of Holies, making a way for all of his people. All Old Testament
religion typified. It pointed to Christ's accomplishment
of eternal salvation. It pointed to the reconciliation
that is made. in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The old pattern is finishing,
is what this passage is saying. To these Hebrew Christians it's
saying that, don't go back to it, the old pattern is finishing,
and it will soon be abruptly ended. We'll see that when we
get to verse 13. And so what Paul is saying to
these Hebrew Christians is, don't cling to the sinking ship. You
know, that's true. If you're on a ship that's going
down and you want to save yourself, you know what you have to do?
You have to get away from that sinking ship. When people were
going down with the Titanic, the ones that survived, who did
survive, they didn't stay on the ship. They went down with
the ship. They jumped off the ship and swam as far away from
it as they can. as they could. Don't cling to
the sinking ship, is what this is saying to these Hebrew Christians.
Stop thinking that you're going to make your religion better
by clinging to that sinking ship, for it's soon to pass away. Look at the end of verse 13.
It's ready to vanish away, is what he's saying, and we'll see
how that comes about later on. What is it then about this new
covenant? Well, in verse six, it says,
but now hath he obtained a more, he's speaking about Christ again.
He's obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he
is the mediator of a better covenant, a new covenant, a better covenant,
better than the Mosaic one, better than the Levitical one, better
than the one that the Jews were following in their temple worship.
He's obtained a more excellent ministry. He's the mediator of
a better covenant, which was established on better promises. Now why was that? Why is it better?
Well, the old covenant, the Levitical covenant, the covenant given
to Moses, that covenant given at Sinai, that thing where they
had to do everything according to the pattern shown thee in
the mount, that pattern, that covenant was flawed. Now look
at it. in chapter 7 and verse 11, Hebrews
7 verse 11. If therefore perfection were
by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received
the law, What further need was there of another priest should
arise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order
of Aaron? You see, he's saying there had to be a new priesthood
according to the order of Melchizedek because the old one was flawed,
it wasn't perfect, it was limited. And verse 18 of the same chapter,
seven, for there is verily a disannulling, there is verily a disannulling
of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness
thereof. It doesn't achieve, it doesn't
achieve the objective of the salvation of a multitude from
their sins. Chapter 8 and verse 7, for if
that first covenant had been faultless, but it wasn't, then
should no place have been sought for a second. It said, you see,
what was wrong? Why was that old covenant faulty,
what was wrong with it? It said, obey perfectly and live. It said, cursed is everyone who
continues not in all things written in the book of the law to do
them. And that was its flaw, because as Romans 8 verse 3 tells
us, the law was weak through the flesh. Why was it weak through
the flesh? because human flesh doesn't have
the ability to keep it. That's why it was weak through
the flesh. And he says, cursed is everyone who continues not.
He says, by the deeds of the law, Romans 3.20, by the deeds,
by trying to be right with God, by trying to achieve the righteousness
that God requires. By the deeds of the law, no flesh
shall be justified. We need holiness without which
no man shall see God. But by the deeds of the law,
we shall not attain to that righteousness. But God's better promises, end
of verse six, established upon better promises, God's better
promises are conditioned, listen, God's better promises are conditioned
not on fleshly obedience, the obedience of weak sinful flesh,
they're conditioned on the accomplishment of Christ's substitutionary death. Those better promises depend
on Christ accomplishing this covenant through his shed blood
at Calvary. Exactly as it was prophesied
in Jeremiah. Turn back to Jeremiah chapter
31, because this is what Paul quotes here in these verses,
eight down to verse 12. This is what he quotes, Jeremiah
31. You Hebrews who are harping back
all the time to your Old Testament religion, and your Old Testament
prophets and priests and temple and animal sacrifices and all
the rest of it. You who are longing back for
those things and trying to mingle them in with your gospel observance,
your gospel obedience, your gospel religion, listen, you Hebrews. In those scriptures that are
your Old Testament scriptures, look what it says. In 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
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. That's the
covenant of Moses. That's the covenant of Sinai.
That's the do this and live, disobey this and die covenant. Which, my covenant, they break.
They couldn't keep it, although I was an husband to them, saith
the Lord. But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my law in their inward
parts, and write it in their hearts. And I 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, from the least of them
unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. for I will forgive
their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. Now that's
the covenant that Paul is quoting here. Those verses, you Hebrews,
you Jewish believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who are wanting
to go back to your Old Testament religion, Your Old Testament
religion says it's coming to an end and there's a new covenant
in which God will do exactly what Paul quotes here. And that's
underlined in Ezekiel, which is why we read that right at
the start. And again and again throughout the scripture and
explicitly throughout the New Testament. If the Old was weak,
if the Old Covenant was weak, if that Old Testament religion
was weak, what was its purpose? What was the purpose of the law
being given to Israel before they went into the Promised Land?
Number one, it was to restrain Israel from the excesses of sinful
depravity. Because there was a law that
was given that constrained their behavior, It was a theocracy. They were ruled under the law
of God. Their judges implemented the
law of God, albeit with failures and with faults. Nevertheless,
the purpose of that law given to Israel, unlike any other nation
which just made up what they wanted as they went along, it
was to restrain Israel from excesses of sinful depravity. And that
had a purpose. That had a purpose. That restraint,
keeping Israel within certain bounds ordained by God, had a
purpose to protect the line of descent from Abraham to Christ. Its purpose, again, was to protect
the line of descent. You know, God had promised to
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when they fell into sin,
that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head, would
bruise Satan's head. And he must come from that line
of descent from Abraham down to Christ. That's why there's
so much about the genealogies. in the New Testament, the genealogy
of Christ, showing that exactly as was said, he is the son of
David. He is the descendant of Abraham. And that law was to protect the
line of descent. And also, as we've seen recently,
it was to provide a blueprint, a pattern, a picture, a type,
of Christ's redemption. It wasn't Christ's redemption,
but it pictured Christ's redemption in the animal sacrifices, in
the priesthood, in the holiness of God. It anticipated his coming. So Paul quotes it verbatim. You compare Jeremiah 31 and those
verses we read, 31 to 34, with verses 8 to 12 of Hebrews 8.
It's almost identical. What he's saying is, look, you
Hebrew Christians, harping back to that Old Testament law, it
explicitly points to the new and the everlasting covenant.
This new covenant in the days in which we live, look in verse
eight, for finding fault with them, finding fault with who?
Finding fault with their ancestors, that's in Jeremiah. Finding fault
with them, he says, behold the day, you haven't kept my covenant,
is what he's saying. 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. Ever since Christ accomplished
his mission, the restraint of the framework of the old covenant
is ended. Let me say that again. Ever since
Christ fulfilled... The law, he fulfilled the purposes
of God, exactly. Ever since Christ accomplished
his mission, the restraint and framework of that old covenant
is ended for God's people. You see, look, he's making a
new covenant, verse nine. 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, as leading
them symbolically, in picture, out of the world and on to the
promised land of the kingdom of God. But that was flawed because
they didn't keep it. They continued not in my covenant,
and I regarded them not. The Hebrews' ancestors hadn't
continued in it anyway. They disbelieved God, as we saw
in earlier chapters. They didn't enter into the promised
land because of unbelief. They could not enter in because
of unbelief. God regarded them not. None of
them attained to heaven by it. They were lost. They fell in
the wilderness. Only those who by faith looked
to its fulfillment in Christ attained to its objective. And
so you find that there are people like Simeon in the temple when
Jesus was born. And what's he doing? He's looking
forward to Christ. And although he's living under
the Old Testament regime, he knows that the new covenant is
coming, and that Christ is going to establish it, and that in
him he would attain to eternal life. So what is it about the
new covenant that accomplishes God's eternal purposes for his
triumphant kingdom? It says at the end of verse six,
it is a better covenant, established on better promises. A better
covenant, established on better promises. So let's look at the
elements of it to see how living as we do in these days of New
Testament enlightenment and looking forward looking to that which
is the objective of life, which is the eternity of God. It's
to be accepted in the kingdom of God. It's to have a place,
an inheritance in the saints. Come ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. What is it about this new covenant? Well, verse 10,
this is the covenant 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. I will put my laws in
their mind and write them in their hearts. The house of the
Israel of God. It doesn't mean the Israelites.
It doesn't mean the nation of Israel in these days. Nothing
could be further from the truth. When the scripture talks about
the house of Israel, it's talking about the Israel of God. The
Israel of God? Galatians 6 verse 16. The Israel
of God. The people of God. The set apart
people of God. the elect of God called out in
time, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
These are the true seed of Abraham. You know from Galatians that
if you believe what Abraham believed, you are a child. You say, I'm
not a Jew, I'm not descended from Abraham. Not physically,
but spiritually, you're a child of Abraham. You are circumcised
not in the flesh according to the right given to Abraham, You
are circumcised in the heart by Holy Spirit sanctification. Holy Spirit making holy. God makes his people willing,
it says. Psalm 110, verse three. He makes
his people willing in the day of his power. Rather than being
pressed men, they willingly volunteer. You know, there's the joke in
the army. I'm looking for 10 volunteers,
so we'll have you, you, you, and you. No, these are, they
oppress men. This is volunteers. God says
that my people will be willing in the day of his power. They
love God's law. They love God's law, not just
the Ten Commandments, but the whole counsel of God, all that
God has revealed. In the New Testament, we call
them gospel precepts. They love God's law. In Psalm
119 and verse 97, it says this, and this is the testimony of
all who are the true people of God. Oh, how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day. I love your law, it's my meditation
all the day. Look at 1 John, chapter 3. I've got a rather noisy aeroplane
going over at the moment by the sound of it. 1 John, chapter
3. Hold on, we'll get to it eventually. 1 John, chapter 3 and verse 23.
What is this commandment? You know, I'll write my law in
their hearts. This is his commandment that we should believe on the
name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave
us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments
dwelleth in him, and he in him, and hereby we know that he abideth
in us by the spirit which he's given us. The Jews asked Jesus
in John chapter 6, what must we do that we do the will of
God? How do we obey the commandments
of God? And Jesus replied, this is the
will of God. This is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he has sent. That's how we fulfil it.
This is how we love the law of God. We trust in Christ. This
is how we keep the Sabbath law. We trust in Christ. We trust
in him. It is my meditation all the day. And his people find his gospel
precepts, his gospel law, not grievous. Just turn over a page
in 1 John to chapter 5. And verse three, for this is
the love of God, that we keep his commandments, that we believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. and his commandments are not
grievous. They're not grievous. Jesus said
himself in Matthew chapter 11 in verse 30, he said, take my
yoke upon you and learn of me for my yoke is easy and my burden
is light. Being yoked to the Lord Jesus
Christ is not a burdensome, grievous thing. It's not an oppressive
law that keeps us under. It's an easy thing in the Lord
Jesus Christ because his people are made willing in the day of
his power. And it all springs from the new
birth. It all springs from that quickening
of the Holy Spirit, which he comes and, as Jesus said to Nicodemus,
You must be born again. A man must be born again. Why
must you be born again? Because you must be born again
to enter into eternal life. You must be born of the Spirit
of God. You must be given a new nature.
And so Paul tells us that the natural man, without that new
nature, cannot see the things of the Spirit of God. They're
foolishness to him, neither can he know them. Why? Because they're
spiritually discerned. Where do you get that spiritual
discernment? You get that spiritual discernment
by the new birth, by the coming of the Holy Spirit and creating
a new man, a new man that according to Romans 7, verse 22, the new
man delights in the law of God after the inner man, delights
in the law of God. And in verse 25 of Romans 7 says,
with the mind I serve the law of God. Yes, the law is righteous
and good, but how do we fulfill it? We believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Okay, he puts his law in the
hearts and in the minds of his people. Then he says, end of
verse 10, I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people. God and his people. in union,
and it's a union which is pictured in marriage. Marriage is given
to us as a picture of the union between Christ and his church. This is why, in a day when marriage
is treated so lightly, it is so important to re-emphasise
it. Ephesians 5 and verse 30. Turn
there if you will. Ephesians chapter 5. This is
the passage where Paul is told wives to submit to their husbands
and husbands to love their wives even as Christ loved the church
and gave himself for it. Then in verse 30 he says, for
we are members of his body. We, the living stones in the
church of God, are members of his body of which he is the head. We are members of his body. of
his flesh and of his bones. We're in union with our God. God and his people in union. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church, Christ and his people.
I will be to them their God, and they shall be to me my people.
Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular love his wife.
You see, this union between God and his people is pictured in
marriage. There will be a marriage supper
of the Lamb. This betrothal of Christ to his
people from eternity will reach full consummation in the bliss
of sinless eternity. Turn to Revelation chapter 21.
Revelation chapter 21. And verse two, I, John, saw the
holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. That's the church
of Christ. made ready for this marriage
supper of the Lamb. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. There was such a gulf between
us, but the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell
with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall
be with them and be their God. Is that not echoing exactly what
we've been reading in that new covenant from Jeremiah and then
quoted in Hebrews 8? And God shall wipe away all the
tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the
former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new, and he said unto me, Write,
for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me,
it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that
overcometh shall inherit all things. Here it is. I will be
his God, and he shall be my son. That's all accomplished in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The story is often told, and
I'm sure there was a case when it was actually like this, but
there was a girl employed as a housemaid to a rich man. And
she had to serve that house and do the housework and do the cooking
and serve the needs of that rich man. She had to do it out of
duty for her wages. But as time went on, The man
and the girl fell in love and they married and she still did
the housework and she still did the cooking and all of those
things. But it was out of a different relationship. It was a marriage
relationship. They communed and they supported
one another because of love. What is it that constrains the
attitudes and behavior of the true children of God? 2 Corinthians
5 verse 14. the love of Christ constraineth
us. Now look, back in Hebrews, back
in Hebrews chapter eight and verse 11, they shall not teach
every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, know
the Lord. You have a duty to know the Lord. No, no, because
they shall all know me from the least to the greatest. They shall
know him as he said to his disciples, I call you no longer servants,
I call you my friends. He tells his friends his secrets. God in Christ has revealed to
his brothers. There's one that sticketh closer
than a brother, it says. This is our Lord Jesus Christ
to his people. We know him as a friend. We know
him as a close brother. We know him as a marriage partner. We don't know about him. We know him. Did you ever hear
someone talking And they didn't know that you knew, they're talking
about somebody, and they don't know that you know the person
that they're talking about. But you know that person that
they're talking about very, very well. And you sense in what this
person's saying about the one you know very well, that although
they claim to know that person, they don't know him at all. Well,
this is what it's like knowing God. They all know him, from
the least to the greatest. In this new everlasting covenant,
in this, let's put it this way, this deal between the triune
God and his elect, you rely on no mediator except God in Christ
himself. You rely on no priest to intercede
for you. I need to get right with God,
so therefore, go and get the priest. I think we've got jets
flying over us at the moment, so I hope it's not interfering
too much. But we rely on no priest other than our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom all, all his people are made. We don't have priests,
they're all imposters. But look at this, in 1 Peter
chapter two and verse nine, look what he says to the believers,
to his people, to his scattered saints. He calls them strangers,
scattered. Is that not what we're like in
these days? But look what he says, you are a chosen generation. a royal priesthood. You don't
need a man or a woman who's a priest to intercede with God for you.
You are a royal priesthood. We have one great high priest
who is Christ. You're a holy nation, a peculiar
people, a set-apart people, that you should show forth the praises
of him who's called you out of darkness into his marvellous
light. We all know him. Look at John
chapter 17 in that great high priestly prayer. And verse three,
he's been given power over all flesh to give eternal life to
as many as the Father has given to the Son. And verse three,
this is life eternal. What is life eternal? Is this
not what we aspire to? This is life eternal. that they
might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent. For it's in Jesus Christ that
we know the true God, and it's in Jesus Christ that we have
fellowship and communion with him. We shall all know him. And then he says in verse 12,
I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities,
I'll remember no more. Mercy is when we don't get what
we do deserve. How? Are we not sinners? How
can God be merciful to us? Is God unjust in that there's
sin that is not being punished? No. Christ, his people's substitute,
got what his people deserved when he was made their sin. And
when he suffered the penalty for that sin to the full, until
he cried, it is finished. So God is perfectly just in being
merciful to his beloved people. And he'll remember their sin
no more. He'll remember it no more. He
is the lamb, says Revelation 13, verse eight, slain from the
foundation of the world. He has taken his people's sin. When the covenant was struck
in eternity, And we find it so difficult to understand this
because we cannot think outside of time. But when the persons
of the one God, the triune God, struck hands as it were in eternity
in the covenant of grace to save a people for their own glory,
He was the lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.
It was done then in the justice of God. Its debt, the sin debt
of his people, was paid to the justice of God. It was buried
in the sea. Psalm 103 verse 12 says this,
as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed
our transgression from us. In Romans chapter eight and verse
33, Again, I often quote it, but it says there, the conclusion
that Paul comes to about the gospel accomplishments of Christ
in the purposes of grace from the foundation of the world,
he says, who then shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
Shall Satan, the accuser of the brethren, bring any charge against
God's elect? God's justified them. Who's going
to bring a condemnation upon the people of God? Christ has
died. Yea, rather he's risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession
for us, who shall separate us from the love of God. It says
in Jeremiah chapter 50 and verse 20, that on that day, on that
day of judgment, on that day of final reckoning, the sins
and the iniquities of Israel and Judah, meaning the people
of God for whom Christ died, the sins and iniquities of Israel
and Judah shall be sought for, they'll look for them. and they
shall not be found. They shall not be found. Many
people purporting to preach the gospel of grace would deny that,
but it's there in the scripture. They say, oh, we must all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ, so you better be fearful and
you better watch out. I'm not talking about us being
blasé. I'm not talking about us being careless. I'm not talking
about us saying, let us sin that grace may abound. But know this,
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the sins of his people shall be looked
for and they shall not be found. What is it that we expect when
we come to that entrance into eternity? We expect this because
he's promised it from the lips of our judge and our saviour.
He says, come ye blessed of my father. inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. I remember my own
sins in this flesh as long as I'm in it, but God, not with
amnesia, not with some mental deficiency, God in strict divine
justice does not remember my sins. How blessed! Is that not
what David said, Psalm 32? He said this, blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven. He committed many transgressions,
but he says, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose
sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. So then, God's true people live
in this new covenant. Verse 13, 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. This was written just before
AD 70. In AD 70, I got it wrong last
week, I was corrected by the family historian, it was Vespasian
who was the emperor in A.D. 70, and Vespasian's son was Titus,
who later became emperor. But at the time of A.D. 70, Titus
was the general who was over the Jerusalem area, and it was
he and his troops that destroyed Jerusalem. And apparently, you
can go to Rome today, to the Colosseum there in Rome, you
can wander around that old ruin, and apparently, there are bits
of ancient Jerusalem in that Colosseum in Rome. It was prophesied
by Daniel. It was prophesied by Jesus in
Matthew 24. Not one stone will lay upon another.
God has ended the old. We mustn't try to mix the old
and the new. There is no comfort, there is
no peace with God in trying to make a blend, none whatsoever.
Our peace with God is only in Christ Jesus, our God. David
the King, who was revered by the Jews, rested not in the Mosaic
Covenant, although he observed it, it was in force at his time,
but in the New Covenant. It was he who wrote Psalm 110
about the Lord saying to my Lord, sit at my right hand. and you're
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And his final
words, 2 Samuel 23 verse five, he said this, God has made with
me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, for this
is all my salvation and all my desire. Read that article. To
rest in this new covenant is to have true liberty. It's to
have true liberty. Ephesians chapter five, And verse
one says, no, sorry, Galatians, isn't it? Galatians chapter five.
Galatians chapter five says, stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ has made us free. and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. Stand fast, and don't let religious
zealots enslave you, for we are free in our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the covenant, the eternal covenant, the everlasting covenant
of his grace.