Hi, everybody. Would you turn
to Hebrews, the eighth chapter? I'm wanting us to, with the Lord's
help, to answer this question. What is the New Testament? Wouldn't that be something if
we could leave here knowing? what the New Testament is. I'm going to spend most of my
time from verse 8 through the end of the chapter, but let me
read the entire chapter. The writer to the Hebrews says,
Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. This is the main point. And this
is not what I would consider the main point, it's what the
writer of the Hebrews says is the main point. And interest
me. Here it is. We have such an high
priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty
in the heavens. We have. Who? Every believer. God's elect. Those Christ died
for. We have. Such an high priest, a priest
after the order of Melchizedek, not a Levitical priest, but a
priest after the order of Melchizedek, who is sat on the right hand
of the throne of the majesty of the heavens. He sat down because
his work was finished. There wasn't anything left for
him to do. A minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle,
which the Lord pitched, and not man. He's not a minister of that
physical tabernacle. He is the true tabernacle. He's the tabernacle. The Word
was made flesh and tabernacled among us. He's the altar. We have an altar, the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's not a physical, material
altar. He's the sacrifice. And He is the priest who presents
His own blood. What a priest! For every high
priest, verse 3, is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices,
whereupon it is of necessity that this man have someone also
to offer that God can accept. For if he were here on earth,
he should not be a priest. He's not a Levite. If you weren't
a Levite, you weren't allowed to offer sacrifices. And if he
was here on earth right now, he wouldn't be allowed to be
priest under the Levitical economy, seeing that there are priests
that offer gifts according to the law, who serve under the
example and shadow of heavenly things. That's what they are.
They're a shadow. of heavenly things. As Moses
was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle,
for see, say thee that thou make all things according to the pattern
shown to thee on the map. There wasn't even freelancing
involved. He did exactly what God told him to do, right down
to the most fine detail in the construction of this tabernacle.
But now hath he, the Lord Jesus Christ, this great high priest
that we have, 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 that first covenant is this,
this do and live. That's the first covenant. The
second covenant is, it's done. Which covenant's better? A covenant
that is conditioned upon some kind of work on my part to make
it effectual, or a covenant that's conditioned completely on what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done? Which is better? That's no greater,
isn't it? This is a better covenant, established
on better promises, the promises of grace. Verse seven, for if
the first covenant had been faultless, that's talking about the covenant
of works. That's talking about the living and equal priesthood.
That's talking about the moral law, the civil law. That's talking
about the sacrifices. That's talking about the holy
days. That's talking about the feast
days. That's talking about the 600
some laws that are written down in the Old Testament. If that
covenant had been false. And somebody says, are you saying
that there's fault in God's covenant? No, I'm not saying that God is.
Where's the fault? And I say this carefully. I say
this fearfully because I love God's law. I love the Ten Commandments. They reflect the beauty and glory
of God. I love God's law, but yet God,
the Holy Spirit inspires the writer to the Hebrews to say
it had fault. What was the fault? Well, look
in chapter 7. For there is, at verse 18, there
is verily a disannulling of the commandment, a doing away with
the commandment, going before, for the weakness and the unprofitableness
thereof. Now that is speaking of God's
holy law. And the writer of the Hebrew
speaks of the weakness and the unprofitableness of it. I wouldn't say that if the Bible
didn't say it. Because like I said, I love God's law. He wrote it.
But look what verse 19 says. For the law made nothing perfect. There's the fault. The law made
nothing perfect. You know what the law does? It's
exposed to me and you how bad we are. And it gives us no power
to be indifferent. The law made nothing perfect. Paul said in Romans 8, 1, There
is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, for what the
law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. The
problem is not with the law, it's with me and you. That's
the problem. But yet he speaks of the weakness
of the law. The law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did. Verse eight, for finding fault
within, this is God speaking. Finding fault within the old
covenant and all the rules and laws. He saith, behold the days
come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant. And that first covenant was made
in the garden. Don't eat the fruit of the tree. Now you think about that. One
rule. They had it made. They were in
paradise. They had everything that anybody
could possibly desire. One dream. Don't eat it. In the day you do, he didn't
say if you do, did he? He said in the day you do, you
shall surely die. You see, if there's one law that
I have to keep to be saved, if there's one thing I have to do
before I can be saved, you know what that means? I'll never be
saved. Law doesn't produce love, I'll
tell you that. It produces resentment. You think
hard thoughts of the Lord for being too hard on you, making
it too hard and being too exact and too holy. It produces resentment,
but law never, ever produces love. You can't do it. If I'm
involved with him, he saith, behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, but I'll make. a new covenant with the house
of Judah, with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.
Now, look what it says next, I love this. 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. Now, take
a three or four year old boy or girl, I can take them by the
hand, and I can get them to do anything I want them to do. They
might not be willing to do it. But if I were to drag them through
that door, I could do it. They can't stop me. Now God said I took them by the
hand. Didn't have their heart. I took them by the hand. And
I brought them out of Egypt. There wasn't any willingness
in it. I mean, if you look at the children
of Israel, there's never been one wicked bunch of people, ever.
Except for us. And the Lord took them by the
hand, brought them out. But what happened? Verse nine, because they continued not in
my covenant and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. Now, the fact of the matter is,
if I don't have a new heart, I won't persevere. He didn't have their heart. He
just took them by the hand and let them out. You know what it
is when you are made to do something or you just resent it. You know,
as far as that goes, I can't tell somebody what to do. You
want somebody to tell me what to do, I just kind of, tell me
what to do. I don't know why I'm like that,
but I am. I can't stand to be told what
to do. Well, they were like that. They
got yanked through Egypt. The Lord took them by the hand,
but they continued not because they didn't have a heart for
it. They didn't have the new heart that God would give in
the new birth. This was all outward. 4, verse 10. This is the covenant
that I make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. He quotes Jeremiah chapter 31. This is what the scriptures have
always taught. This is the way it was in the
Old Testament. It's the way it is today. This
is the way God always saves sinners. This is the New Testament. But 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 this is what happens when
God gives a new heart. He said a new heart will I give
you. Now what is meant by him taking
his laws? and writing them in our minds
and placing them in our hearts. What is meant by that? And notice,
laws is in the plural. I'll put my laws in their mind
and write them in their hearts. Does that mean that God writes
the Ten Commandments in our heart and we now love the Ten Commandments
and seek to obey the Ten Commandments and try our best to obey the
Ten Commandments? Turn with me to Romans chapter
two, verse 14. For when the Gentiles,
which had not the law, they don't have a copy of the Ten Commandments,
they don't have a copy of the scriptures, they don't have the
law and in the prophets, they had no revelation from God. That's
who they were, the Gentiles. People, let's put it this way,
people who did have a Bible. People who had no written revelation. For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,
these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which
show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience
also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing
or excusing one another." Now they've got the law written in
their hearts, so that means Somebody born in Asia, somebody born in
Africa, somebody born in the Middle East, they're born knowing
lying is sin. They're born knowing stealing
is sin. They're born knowing murder is
sin. When I hear people say, we need
to teach people how to live, people already know how to live.
They already know they're born with that knowledge in their
heart. And the work of God's law is written on the heart of
every person born into this world. So when the Lord says, I'm going
to take my laws and write them in their minds and put them in
their hearts, he's not talking about the Ten Commandments. We've
already got that. And as far as that goes, all
the Ten Commandments do is tell me I've broken them. That's it.
Somebody says, well, I've tried to kept them. Yeah, but you haven't
kept them. Partial obedience, well, there's no such thing.
And you haven't kept, I haven't kept one commandment one single
time. So what's he talking about when
he talks about God's laws written in the heart and placed in the
mind? Now, I think this is, this was
helpful to me. We read of in the New Testament
of six different laws that are placed in the mind and heart
of the believer in the new birth. And when you hear these, you
can see whether God's placed his laws in your heart. If he's
given you this new heart and this new mind, and if he's written
his law in your heart and in your mind. Six laws. Number one,
the law of sin. That's where I'm beginning. The
law of sin. Paul said that I see another
law warring in my members against the law of my mind and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Now, no one who has not been
born from above has any understanding of this. If you've been born
again, if you've been born of the Spirit, if you have a new
nature, one thing you see about yourself is that in and of yourself,
you are nothing but sin. Period. The law of sin. You cannot not sin. Try it. Go five seconds. You
can't do it. And understand this. You don't become a sinner when
you sin. You sin because you're already a sinner. It's your nature. It's an evil nature. It's a sinful
nature. It's called the law of sin. And you find that in yourself.
I find it in the law, Paul said. A law that when I would do good,
evil is present with me. And the only way you can see
that is if you have a holy nature. You know, people that argue against
that, well, it's because they only got one anger. It's really
that simple. If you have a new man in Christ
Jesus, you understand something about this law of sin. You know,
I like what Don McNeil always said. He said, I never had any
problems sinning to the Lord's sake. That's when things started
becoming difficult. The law of sin. And the second
law, that's Romans 723, that's where the
scripture comes from. The second law is the law of
righteousness. It's found in Romans chapter
9 verse 31. The Gentiles would follow after,
the Jews would follow after the law of righteousness and not
attain the law of righteousness. Wherefore, because they sought
it not by faith, but by their own works. The law of righteousness.
Now you have something, this is God's law written in your
heart, that you can't be satisfied with anything but perfect righteousness
before the holy law of God. Your conscience won't let you
rest in anything but absolute perfection before God's holy
law. You won't be satisfied with anything
else. The law of righteousness. Can you be satisfied with anything
else? I can't. The only thing that gives me
any comfort is knowing that the perfect merit of Jesus Christ
before God's holy law is my actual obedience. Nothing else. The
law of righteousness. And then we read in Romans chapter
3 verse 27 of the law of faith. The law of faith. You know, you
cannot not believe. You know, I talked about how
you cannot not sin. You cannot not believe. You always
have unbelief. I always have unbelief. Lord,
I believe. Help thou my unbelief. But you've got to believe. And
you can't rest anywhere but in faith in Christ. Now, let me
say this about faith in Christ. Faith in Christ is always present
tense. You're not looking to something
that happened to you yesterday. You're not looking to tomorrow
about something you're going to do. Right now, the only comfort
you have is looking to Christ only. Nothing else. Like the manna. What happens
if you try to eat yesterday's manna? It breaks and sinks. It's no good. You know, the biggest
false refuges there are, are yesterday and tomorrow. What
I did yesterday, what I plan on doing tomorrow. No faith is
always in the present. Right now, as you received Christ
Jesus the Lord. How did you receive Him? as an
empty-handed sinner, needing a Savior. As you received Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. You see, faith comes from
the new nature. Faith doesn't come from your
old nature. And there's a law in you. You must look to Christ
only. You must believe the Word of
God. Just this simple. You believe what God says. You
actually believe what God says. It's called faith, the law of
faith. And then we read in James 2 of
the law of love. And these are the laws of the
new nature. Let's call them that, the laws of the new nature. The
law of love. It is your nature to love God
as he is. You love everything he reveals
about himself in this book. You love his sovereignty. You love his omnipotence. You
love his wisdom. You love his immutability. You
love his justice. You love his grace. You love
his holiness. You love God as he is. You love the way he saves. Don't
you love the way he saved by grace? Don't you love the way
he's saved by Christ only and Christ gets all the glory? You
love that because you love him. You love his way of salvation.
You love his son. You love his spirit who reveals
himself to you. You love God's people. He that
loveth him that begat, loveth him also that's forgotten of
him. You love God's people. Anybody that loves Christ, you
love them. And you love all men. And let me tell you how you can
tell whether you love all men. If you love all men, if you love
your enemy, the person who treats you the worst, you still wish
that the Lord saved them, don't you? You would be so thankful
if they knew who you know. You would be so thankful if the
Lord would have mercy and grace upon them. You love somebody
when you desire their salvation. It's the law of love. This is written down in the heart.
I mean, this is the fruit of the Spirit, what it is. The fruit
of the Spirit is love. It's what? It's the one that
God writes His laws on our heart? Isn't that the fifth? Got two
more? The fifth is the law of liberty. That's in James 1 and
James 2, the law of liberty. You can look that up on your
time, the law of liberty. But let's think of this thing of liberty.
You know what liberty is? Liberty is when you don't owe
anything and get to do what you want to do. Isn't that liberty? If I owe anybody, I've been this
way all my life. I'm thankful I'm at a point now
where I don't owe anybody anything. But I remember that we'd always
do those credit cards and you'd You have to pay off one and get
another one with an interest rate to get your district out.
I was miserable. Old things. Old things. Can't stand it. Hate it. If you tell me that there's something
I need to do in any aspect of salvation before I can have fill
in the blank, there's no liberty there. There's no freedom there. You tell me I owe something?
You tell me it can't be mine unless I fill in the blank? No
liberty. The only thing that is liberating
to me is I have it all and I owe nothing in Christ Jesus. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and you are complete. You are full in
Him. And liberty is when you get to
do what you want to do. You know, most people's religion
is a very unhappy thing. It's people doing what they really
do not want to do. I want to follow Christ. I want
to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what I want to do. You get to do what you want to
do when the Lord puts his grace and gives you a new heart. And
the last law is found in Galatians chapter 6, verses 1 and 2. Brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a fault. You understand that, don't you?
A man be overtaken in a fault. How easily could you be overtaken
in a fault? You which are spiritual. You know, that's kind of a bold
term in our day. Well, I'm spiritual. No, you're
not. You're going to have the Holy Spirit to be spiritual.
So I said, I'm spiritual. That's you just show up. Leslie,
are we saying something like that? The only spiritual man
is the believer. He's a spiritual man. He, uh,
a lost man doesn't have a spirit in the first place. The spirit
died in the new birth that you're given when you're given Life,
you're given this spiritual nature. And Paul says, you which are
spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering
yourself, lest you also be tempted. Oh, is it that there's a reason
why we pray? Please, it's not in temptation. We realize if
we're tempted, we know what's going to happen. And you look
at that brother who's overtaken and evolved, Restore such a one
in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bury ye one another's burdens.
What that means more than anything else is that brother's sin is
a burden to him. Your sin is a burden to you.
Put up with one another. Put up with one another. Love
one another. And so fulfill the law of Christ. Now, that's God writing His laws
in the heart and in the mind. That's the new nature. The next thing He says, and this
is part of His new covenant, this is the New Testament, He
says, I will be to Him a God. You know what that means? It means you have God for you. If God be for us, Who can be
against us? God is for me. You know what that means? That means His will is always
going to be done regarding me. He's going to make me just like
Christ. And He's controlling everything
to that end. He's for me. I shall be to them a God, and
they shall be to me a people. That's my bride. That's my body. That's my temple. That's my beloved. They'll be to me a people. Verse 11. In this new covenant,
first he writes his laws in the heart, and then he becomes to
us a God, we're to him a people. And then in verse 11, look what
it says, 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, we here read something about
knowing God. If I know God, it's not because
somebody taught me. It's because He revealed Himself
to me. Now, when we talk about knowing God, if we think about
our knowledge and our experience of knowing God, I guarantee every
one of us will think, well, I don't know Him very well. And that's
true, but here's knowing God. Two thieves, both crucified to
Christ. They both went to their cross
not knowing God. Neither one of them knew God. Now, when I'm talking about knowing
God, I want to, you know, people say, do you have a personal relationship
with God? You know, as soon as I read,
I don't even like that kind of talk because all I start thinking
about is my personal relationship. And then I started thinking,
I'll just go down a rabbit hole and I'm not going to feel...
People say, won't you accept Jesus as your personal Savior?
Well, He's the Savior whether He's your personal Savior or
not. I hate that kind of language. Talking about knowing God. The Lord did say, this is eternal
life, that they might know Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. Now, in this promise, He says,
they'll all know Me. They all know me. Let's go back
to those two thieves. They didn't know God. They were
both cursing God. All of a sudden, one grew strangely
silent while the other continued to curse the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of a sudden, he said,
don't you fear God? I have no doubt He is talking
about that one hanging on a cross beside Him. Don't you know who
He is? He's God. Don't you fear God? How did He know? Because He knew
Him. Don't you fear God seeing your
in the same condemnation. And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done
nothing amiss." He'd only known Him a couple of hours. How did
he know? Because he knew who He was. He's incapable of sin. He hath done nothing amiss. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ,
you know He couldn't sin. He had done nothing amiss. And then, how did he know he
knew who he was? That's knowing God. And then,
he looked at him with his visage marred more than the sons of
men, you couldn't even recognize his face, the blood, the crown
of thorns, and he seemed so helpless, nailed to the cross. And he said,
Lord, He knew he was the Lord. How
did he know? He knew who he was. He didn't
when he went up on the cross, but he does now. He knows he's
the Lord of lords and the king of kings. He's the Lord. Lord,
remember me when you come back in your kingdom. You're not going
to stay dead. You're going to come back as
a mighty reigning king. How did he know? Because he knew
who he was. You see, that's what the knowledge
of God is. You know who he is. If you know who he is, everything
else just comes right out of that. For instance, if you believe
who he is, you can't even conceive of him failing in anything he
intends to do. Whatever he intends to do, he
does. He's the Lord. You're going to come back as
a mighty reigning king. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. He knew the only hope that he
had was if the Lord remembered him. Do you know that? If you know the Lord, you do.
All shall know me. You know the reason we hate preaching
that's contrary to Him? Because we don't. We take it
personal. We love Him. We know Him. And
we can't stand to hear that which is contrary to His attributes,
His character, His Word. We know Him. Verse 12, 4. Now here's the reason
for all this. Now He says, I'm going to rock
the law in their heart. I'm going to give them the name
of God. They'll be a community of people. They'll all know Me. They won't be dependent on men
to teach because I've taught them. I've revealed Myself to
them. They all know me, and here's why. Four. This is the New Testament. Four. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. Here's why. Here's why. He's
going to do all these things. Not because we have to do. not
because of something we did, but because of what he has determined
to do. I will be merciful. And that word merciful is actually
the word propitious. I will be propitious. Now that lid that covered the ark The
mercy seat, Paul calls it in Romans chapter 3, a propitiation. A propitiation, that's a big
word, here's what it means. A sin removing sacrifice. God removing his reason for anger. There's nothing we can do to
propitiate God. For him to do something for me, he first had
to do something for himself. And that's what he did in the
propitiatory sacrifice of Christ. I will be propitious. Now, here's what this looks like.
At publican in the temple, he's heard the prayer of the
Pharisee, God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are. He heard that and I'm sure he
was even intimidated by it. All the claims the guy made and
he knew that wasn't the case with him. He didn't know the
guy was lying. That's what the guy was doing, he was just lying.
But he heard that and his plea, God be propitious. That's the word, same word, merciful. God be propitious to me. The sinner. Lord, do something about my sin. I can't do anything about it.
Take it away. Be propitious. You know what
the Lord said about that man? He said, I say to you, that man
went down to his house. Anybody know the next word? Justified. Not forgiven, though he was.
Not shown mercy, though he was. Sinless. That man who cried,
God, be merciful to me, the sinner, because of the perpetuatory sacrifice
of Christ, he went down to his house having never sinned. That's what you are. That's what
I am, if we're justified. having never sinned. And their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. And that's not because of a faulty
memory on the most part. It's because there's nothing
there to remember. You know, when I'm in heaven, when you're
in heaven, The Lord's not going to be looking at us and saying,
I remember what they did. Now me and you, you did me wrong. I'll remember it. I'll say it.
You know, I say I won't, but I do. I do. And I wish I wasn't
like that, but I do. I think of, I think of, we remember. He doesn't. And the reason is
not because of the longevity of time that he forgot. There's
nothing there to remember. He was manifested to take away
our sins. And in Him is no sin. There's nothing there to remember. Now that's why He writes His
laws on our heart. That's why He is to us a God
and we're to Him the people. That's why we come to actually
know the Lord. Because He said, I will be propitious
to their unrighteousness. And because of my propitiation,
their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more. Now,
let's read this 13th verse. This is part of it. In that he saith, a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Obsolete is the word. Obsolete. Now that which decayeth,
what's going on when something's decaying? It's dead. Dead to the law. That which decayeth
and waxeth old is ready to vanish away, disappear. When we see the gospel, we love God's law. And we also see this old and
ready to vanish away. And we're complete in Jesus Christ. That is the New Testament. Let's pray together. Lord, we are so thankful for
the New Testament. Lord, we pray that You would
write Your law upon the heart You've given us and put it in
and write it in our minds. We pray that we might have You
as our God and that we would be Your people. We pray that
we might know You. We pray with Paul of Oldow that
I might know Him. And oh Lord, we pray that you
would indeed be propitious toward our sin and cause them to be
gone by what your son did so that you remember them no more. Bless this message for the Lord's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen.