To Hebrews chapter 8 if you will.
The Hebrew writer speaking to the people of God having firmly
established the excellency, the excellency of the Melchizedekian
priesthood or office as an oath that God the Father made with
God the Son. He has by that oath affirmed
the permanency of Christ's priesthood for the people of God everywhere
in the world. It is this reason for which he
is alluding to and explaining the importance of the Melchizedekian
priesthood to the people of God. What he wants them to understand
in that first century church of which its application applies
to us is that we have in high priest that we never ever ever
have to worry about disappearing again. That the priesthood of
Jesus Christ is a permanent priesthood with permanent promises and with
powerful blessings that flow from a permanent covenant to
the covenant people of God and they never ever ever have to
worry about changing priests ever again. See, the people of
God in the days of the Old Testament covenant had to struggle with
the high priest living and getting old and dying. Then they had
to struggle with the choice of a new high priest who would stand
as a representation of the people of God. And because the high
priest means so much to the covenant and to the gospel, their lives
were in danger if the priest that would take the previous
priest's place was a crook. And so they struggled with the
changing of the priesthood every generation, and it left them
in a very vulnerable state. All that to be said, means that
the priest is so much an integral part of the life of the people
of God that he stands as an immediate representation of the whole of
the people so that the people ostensibly are only as good as
the high priest is. And so what the writer to the
Hebrews is saying is we have a high priest, brothers and sisters,
who is of such a nature that you never ever have to worry
about when you own him, things going wrong in your life. When
you're claiming him as your mediator, you don't have to worry about
him failing to meet all your needs. This is a great high preach. And in fact, if I were to just
wax eloquent on the many times in which the writer has addressed
the subject of the high priest from the opening chapters of
Hebrews, he said, consider your apostle and high priest of your
profession. Consider him deeply. And then
he said, plainly, we have a high priest. who has been touched
with the fillings of our infirmities in every point except with sin. And he's such a high priest that
you and I can go to him anytime we need to, anytime we need to. And moreover, he is a high priest
who has already passed into the heavens. Now see, if you were
to take the time to contemplate just that very thought, a priest
in heaven, You and I can know that we are in good shape. We're
on good grounds because we have a high priest who has passed
by every potential calamity that could ever assault him and stop
his capacity to be the mediator of his people. He's in heaven
itself. Now, granted, you and I have
to think through what heaven is. I'm not going to spend time
to do that today, but you ought to. We're not talking about the
physical, spatial world of which you and I are a part of. We're
not talking about the air where the birds fly, nor are we talking
about our solar system and wherein you and I can be impacted by
the sun, the moon, the stars. and even the planets. We're not
even talking about this present galaxy or the hundreds of billions
of galaxies that exist out there. We're not saying that He has
passed into that dimension and is somewhere out in that spatial
world where we can say He's safe from any harm. No. Christ has
penetrated into the realm of the Spirit where God dwells unmolested. unabated unassaulted in absolute
blissful control over everything Christ our high priest is in
a place where only God can dwell Can you imagine? Heaven itself
the scripture says he has passed into the heavens and I think
I told you last week. He's my anchor So in heaven,
there's a long chain that comes down and gets a hold of my leg
and I'm a slave of that high priest. And so is everyone that
believes on him. So that it doesn't matter what
goes on down here on earth. Even in the spiritual dimension
down here because there are three dimensions the physical rim the
spiritual dimension where the devil operates and then heaven
itself where God is all by himself in his splendor and his beauty
with his holy angels and the Lord Jesus Christ and the Saints
of the Living God who have passed from this life to that life where
they are in a perfect state of eternal glory and union Where
I'm going one day where I'm going when they see it is this high
priest it is this high priest that he's telling us to contemplate
because everything that has to do with your eternal security
lies in this high priest. Are you guys hearing me? So he
opens up Hebrews chapter 8 this way when he says in the 8th chapter
verse 1 now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum. Now when he uses that phrase
what he simply means is The principle issues at hand. He said a lot
of things, but the principle issue, the singular point of
focus of which I want you to pay attention to because this
has everything to do with the security of your salvation is
this. We have such an high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens. That's the sum of all these eight
chapters in terms of its ultimate focal point. He wants the Hebrew
people to understand we have a high priest at the right hand
of God, seated with God. In fact, didn't you and I learn
that not only is he a priest, he's a king. The whole concept
of the Melchizedekian priesthood is the combining of the priesthood
with the kingship. So that he is a king of righteousness,
By right of conquest at Calvary and by right of inheritance by
his father, he is the king that God has set on his holy hill
of Zion. Christ is a king and Christ is
a what? Priest. Do you know what that
makes me? A king and a priest too. Because everything that
he is, I am in him. Do you know what that makes us
as people of God? It makes us a kingdom of priests
and kings. We rule and reign and we mediate
with Christ His people on the earth. This is a wonderful contemplation
of which if you and I could really grasp the Exceeding exceeding
blessings of being a child of the Living God and being able
to rule and reign with Christ You would know what your job
is down here Your job is to rule with Christ down here and your
job is to mediate with our Savior and the behalf of needy sinners
both saved and unsaved That means you can go to the throne of grace,
in that way the Hebrew writer puts it, in time of need and
obtain mercy for yourself, for your children, for people you
love and care about. And I would suggest to you that
you avail yourself to that throne as much as possible. I would
encourage you to learn how to live at least doing two things
at once. Now you know men can't do two things at once. That's
what they say. I don't believe that. I believe we can do two
things at once. I believe we can eat and watch TV at once.
I actually believe we can eat and pay attention to our watch,
even though they don't think we can. We actually are listening
to them when they talk to us. You're not listening. Yes, I
am listening. I'm just eating too. I actually think we can
do three things at once, but don't let me get started on that.
So men can multitask. You and I can live for God's
glory. accomplishing multiple things
at once, so long as we realize that Christ is our model, example,
and He's our means by which these things are done. We can enjoy
this life and the life to come so long as we are about our Father's
business. So long as you and I remember
that as the Father sent Him, so He's sending us. and that
everything I am, he was for me, hallelujah, and everything that
he is, I am in him, and that means the world's all right with
me. Now, it's not all right with God, and God's not all right
with the world, and that's why we need a king and a mediating
people to pray and to preach and to prophesy and to proclaim
his glories so that sinners might come to him. But the Hebrew writer
wants to persuade you and I of how critically important your
high priest is to the covenant blessings. So I want to spend
a little time today further developing that in the eighth chapter so
that you can get it. So that you can know what it
means to enjoy the blessings of the gospel in this life and
in the life to come. The title of our message is The
Better Things of Christ. The Better Things of Christ.
And so point number one opens up with this title, The Superlative
Nature of Christ's Ministry. The Superlative Nature of Christ's
Ministry. He is a gloriously reigning priest
who possesses and occupies the highest authority in the universe. Can you imagine this king priest
seated at the right hand of God on a divine throne, a throne
of grace ruling over everything for his father's glory and the
good of the church? Can you see that? As a child
of God, you have to know then that at the pinnacle, at the
top of this creation sits a throne. On it is the Father and the Son. And the Son is mediating for
the Father over everything. And in fact, I've taught this
for years. If you are going to be of any use to God in telling
men and women about Christ, there is a critical revelation essential
for you to comprehend. You must have a revelation of
God in his sovereignty. God must be viewed by you as
sovereign. You must not see God as the peon
God that this generation espouses and attempts to present to men
as a God that kind of wants to get into people's lives, but
he can't quite get there because they won't let him. That does
not depict a God sitting on his throne. But the Bible everywhere
shows that the prophets and prophetesses who saw God's glory, they saw
a throne. Jacob saw a throne. Daniel saw
a throne. Jeremiah saw a throne. Ezekiel
saw a throne. John saw a throne. Isaiah said,
I saw him high and lifted up and his train filled all of heaven. I saw him. And what we are describing
is the sovereignty, the absolute total rule of God. If you get
that in your system, two things will occur. You'll be all right
because he's your friend. And when you have a sovereign
God on your side, all things are well with you, but you're
going to have a lot of people who don't like you for it. And
here's what you have to learn how to do. You have to be ready
to go. So what? So what? Just because God has
not revealed to you the true God in his true glory, in his
true regal honor, that's an issue you have to work through. But
we will not represent to this generation a false depiction
of God by painting him as some mere superhuman trying to accomplish
something that he ultimately does not accomplish. God will
accomplish all his will. He will do all his pleasure.
He will accomplish the goals that he has purposed. We have
said it for years. Our God cannot lie. He cannot change and he will
not fail. That's why we view him as sovereign. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? And our high priest sits right there bearing all authority.
All authority has been given unto me in heaven and in earth,
saith the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, go into all the world
and preach the gospel. Now tell me something, child
of God, when you have sovereign power behind your agenda, how
can you fail? When you have sovereign authority
that actually dictates your agenda, how can you fail? When you have
God Almighty actually backing you as his ambassador, how can
you fail? You can't. And this is what the
Hebrew writer definitely wants the people of God to grasp as
he begins to move them over into a very essential concept relative
to the priesthood, and that is the covenant. So he says in verse
2, as we continue contemplating the superlative nature of the
ministry of the priesthood, superlative means transcendent, it means
high, it means above normal, it means perfect, it means super
perfect. He says in verse 2, not only
does he sit on his throne in the heavens at the right hand
of the majesty on high, but he is a minister of the sanctuary
and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. Do you see verse 2? He is the
minister of the sanctuary and the what kind of tabernacle?
The true tabernacle. Point number two, this is a heavenly
ministry of eternal significance. This is a heavenly ministry of
eternal significance. Obviously, when the writer to
the Hebrews begins now to use this modifier or this adjective,
true with regards to the tabernacle and speak with regards to the
ministry of Christ as a sanctuary and true tabernacle, which God
himself pitched and not men, he's beginning to now juxtapose
the earthly tabernacle with the heavenly tabernacle, the earthly
temple with the heavenly temple. the lower temple with the higher
temple. Now we're getting ready to exercise
our senses again in that which is temporary versus that which
is eternal. That which is earthly versus
that which is heavenly. That which is physical versus
that which is spiritual. That which is lower in its quality
and subject to decay and subject to change versus that which is
of the highest quality that can be that has a permanent standing. Are you guys understanding what
I'm saying? He's saying that Christ is the minister of the
true tabernacle. The term true there is a word
that denotes being exactly and precisely corresponding to that
which is real, having its basis in God who himself is the truth. So you'll note that when we go
through Old Testament sort of paradigms or models or what we
would call indicatives of the nature and character of the believer
or the church, you will hear things said in the Old Testament
that in the New Testament Christ would attach the word true to.
For instance, Christ calls himself the true vine. He says, I am
the true vine and my father is the husbandman. You know what
that means? There is another vine, but it's not true. Do you
understand that? It's a factual vine. It has real
existence, but it's not the true vine. He says, not only am I
the true vine, he says that I am the true light. This is the true
light that lighted every man that comes into the world. That
means there are other lights, but they're not the authentic
light. They are not the proto-light. They are not the source of all
light. Christ is the true light that
lights every man. He also said, I am the true bread
that came down from heaven, of which if a man eat, he shall
never hunger again. Now what that means is there
are all kinds of other sources of food. There are other breads
that we can eat. Temporal bread that we eat and
we hunger again. But he says he is the true bread
which came down from heaven. Which means he's the authentic
bread. He is the source of all bread and he is the real bread. He also not only says that he
is the true bread of life and the true light. He also says
very clearly that he is the true eternal life. He's the true life. He's the true man. He's the truth
of the living God. He's the true mediator. You know,
also, he's the true temple. He's the true temple in heaven. There is no physical temple.
God and the Lamb, according to Revelation chapter 22, are the
temple in it. Peter says, now all this corresponds
to, ladies and gentlemen, the true grace of God. What are we
talking about? We are talking about the mediatorial
nature of Christ as being superlative, as being protological. That is,
God made all things in this world to be merely a picture and a
type of the reality that's in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, therefore,
is the truth of God in everything. He's our true high priest. He
serves in the true temple and the true tabernacle. He is the
true life. He is the true way. He is the
true salvation of God's people. He is the true grace of God.
Isn't that what the Bible says? And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace, full of grace, full
of grace and truth. the true truth and the true grace.
Christ is the true grace of God. And therefore, you and I being
in Christ, we have the true grace. You know what that makes us?
True worshipers. The hour is coming when the Father
seeketh such to worship him. and to worship Him in spirit
and in truth. Now what we're talking about,
ladies and gentlemen, is the connection of all of God's people
to Jesus Christ in all these areas. What makes me true is
Him. What makes me true is Him. And as soon as I am disconnected
from Christ, guess what? I'm false. And I'm false in everything. because that which does not correspond
to the truth and reality of God is false and Christ is the truth
and the people of God are being exhorted and encouraged as our
elder said when he gave that little kind of quaint statement
if you are looking for assurance you better not look for assurance
in yourself because actually in yourself you and I are fundamentally
false we are only a facsimile of the reality We are only an
image of the substance. Christ is the substance and our
substance is in Him. You know what that means? If
I'm going to be confident and I'm going to be assured of what
I am and where I'm going and what God has promised me, only
to the degree that I stay focused on Christ will that assurance
come to me. That's why we're dealing with
our high priest right now. And I want to see if I can persuade
you a little bit more of that today as we contemplate the superlative
nature of his high priestly role in our life. He is the mediator
and the mediator is critical to the security of God, to the
blessing of God. Will you notice what verses three
through five says? For every high priest is ordained. Listen, listen to it to offer
gifts and sacrifices where for It is of necessity that this
man have somewhat also to offer. Now what is the priest now being
described as doing? Offering gifts, right? Well,
the writer will get into that as we get into chapter 9. He's
preparing us for that. He starts the subject, expands
the subject, moves to a development of the subject before developing
it and goes back to the previous subject. We will have to contemplate
the gift that Christ offered next week. For if he were on
earth, that is Jesus, here's the juxtaposition of the earthly
temple and the heavenly temple or the earthly ministry and the
heavenly ministry. If Christ were on earth, several
things, he should not be a priest. You guys got that? If Jesus was
on earth, he would not be a priest. Now remember, the Hebrew writer
is talking to the Hebrew people and the Hebrew people being stuck
on stupid, bound by the earthly paradigm, tied down to the old
covenant. Tripping off of Aaron and Levi's
order. They would have to say Christ
could not be a priest down here Because he was not of the tribe
of Levi or Aaron. We learned that last week in
chapter 7. He came out of Judah. I Am I making some sense? But since we declare Him as our
Melchizedek, since we declare Him as our High Priest, He must
be of a whole other order in order for Him to have a functional
ministry. And the Hebrew writer is saying,
yes, His ministry is heavenly. It's heavenly. It is not earthly.
Since at that present time, we are talking about the year A.D.
55 all the way up to the year A.D. 64 that these writings are
given, at that present time, the temple was still standing
so we are having an exercise in reasoning through that physical
temple that was still standing and the temple in heaven and
the people of God learning how to take their eyes off the physical
temple and get fixed on the reality of the temple in glory which
temple in glory as we're about to see preceded the temple here
down on earth For God had already had, before the world began,
drawn up a plan, a scheme, a purpose, a blueprint, a reality for which
he created the world. And everything in the unfolding
of the world is merely a picture and type of the reality of those
things that God had purposed before the world began. Now I'm
saying the truth because this is the only way that Moses could
have went up into the mount, received his instructions to
build the tabernacle, When God gave him instructions, where
did Moses get his instructions from God? Where did God get those
instructions? In his own mind, in eternity,
God had a blueprint. So all Moses was doing was building
a little match house of the reality, a little box figure of the reality.
And compared to the eternal verity of the subject we're talking
about, that physical temple in the wilderness, the tabernacle
in the wilderness, and even the temple in the days of Solomon,
and in the days of Herod, in the days of Jesus, that physical
temple has absolutely no capacity to do anything to get you and
I into heaven. Are you guys hearing me? But
there's a struggle when we think through things seen versus things
unseen, and this is where God is calling us to. What kind of
faith do the people of God have to have to be able to believe
in a high priest that they don't see? A high priest who is in
heaven. A high priest who is said to
be of such a magnanimous authority over all things, but he is not
seen. He has not been seen for 2,000 years. What kind of faith
do we have to have? True faith. We have to have the
faith of God's elect. We have to have a faith given
by God to us that allows us to see those things that cannot
be seen with the physical eye. And to walk in light of those
things. Is that true? And to derive comfort from this reality.
I have a priest in glory. Which brings us to our third
point. The connection between the high
priest and the temple When the writer of the Hebrews argues
in verse four and five, for if he was a priest on the earth,
he would not be offering, for if he were on the earth, he should
not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer
gifts according to the law, who serve unto, here it is, the type
and shadow of heavenly things. As Moses was admonished when
he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, see to it that you
make all things according to the what? Pattern shown the inner
mount. And so what I am saying is that
there was a pattern before God created anything. But verse six
through eight says, but now he, the he being Christ, have obtained
a what? A more excellent ministry. By how much also he is the mediator
of a what kind of covenant? Now, see, I talked to you about
the term better last week. I want to tie it again together
so that you can grasp it. The Hebrew writer knows what
he's doing. He said 13 times in the book of Hebrews 13 chapters,
Jesus is the son of God. He said 13 times that there is
a better covenant built upon better promises. And we concluded
last week, 13 times, we can believe that Jesus, the son of God, is
what? Better. Jesus, the son of God,
is better. That's what the Hebrew writer
is saying. The Son of God is better. And this is why today
we are talking about better things. So let me define that briefly
for you. Because, I mean, I have already stated that I like French
toast better than I do tofu. I've said that. And I've said
that I love red beans and rice with a little ham hock in it,
you know, better than I do salad. Now, I like salad. Don't get
me wrong. I eat salad virtually every day.
My wife has persuaded me that if I want to live another 50
years, I've got to eat my salad. I've got to get my color schemes
and my food. I understand that. I understand that. But for me, red beans and rice,
any kind of beans and rice, any kind of beans and cornbread is
better. That's just for me. I might be able to argue the
physiological nutrients in it as well, but see, I'm just simply
saying it's better. The word, however, that we are
contemplating literally means mighty. I'm not quite sure why
the translators would have used the word better when the Greek
word is the Greek word kraton, from which we get our term kratos,
from which we get our term might or power. And it has to do with
authoritative power, not the execution of power, but the possession
of power. Like a ruler may be called mighty,
like our God is mighty. Is He mighty? Our Savior is a
mighty Savior, is He not? The Holy Ghost is a mighty power,
is He not? But to call Him mighty does not
mean that He is, as it were, dispensing His might. It's that
He possesses might. He is intrinsically mighty. It
is consistent with his nature to be mighty. That means God
is better. That means the Lord Jesus is better. That means the
Holy Ghost is better. That means the triune God is
better. Am I making some sense now? So better is not simply
our predilection to things that we prefer over other things.
That's my issue. Better simply means superior
in quality. And Jesus, our mediator, is the
mediator of a better and superior covenant. See the word covenant
there in verse 6? A better covenant. So the people
of God have to really get a handle on covenant concept. When we
draw the implications of the whole idea of the covenant out,
we understand that in our present generation where men and women
don't take God seriously, they fail to understand covenant framework. And because of a lack of understanding
covenant framework, men and women are kind of just doing their
own thing willy-nilly and suffering the consequences. Am I making
some sense? But in this church, you guys
get taught sound doctrine with the hope that that sound doctrine
would put you in a position where you can be blessed by God through
obedience because only the obedience of faith will bless you. What
that means is my God is a covenant God by nature and he never ever
acts outside of a covenant framework. In other words, he's a God of
order. He's a God of purpose. He's a God of relationships that
are based upon stipulations wherein he blesses according to his will. Now you'll see down the line
as you guys are learning in biblical theology that the term covenant
has as a synonym for it, the gospel. But it's also the will
of God. It's also his testament. It's
also his precepts. Let me go back to the practical
application before I run through the others. If a man or woman
in this present world generation is going to be blessed of God,
you're going to have to learn how to walk in obedience to God
as your king and you being his servant. You young people listen
to me very carefully. There are three covenant models
that we've been teaching. Father, son, husband, wife, and
king, servant. Those three covenant models govern
the whole world. There will be nowhere you will
go in the world where you won't see those models exhibited in
a functional level. Am I making some sense? And where
you do see them disregarded, violated, opposed, you know what
you see? Prison. Chaos. Conflict. Human depravity. Vanity of all
sorts. It's the Babylonian system of
this world that refuses to acknowledge God as king. Refuses to acknowledge God as
father. Refuses to acknowledge the Lord
Jesus Christ as husband. Because all three of those require
covenant understanding. And on our part, it requires
obedience. Like our families, which are
a mess. They're a mess because they don't
operate in covenant. I told you a thousand times,
you're not going to take God's institution, purchase that franchise. and go out on the front of that
business, take down God's sign, put your sign up, change the
rules and regulations, the mission statement and the color schemes
and all that, and expect God to bless it. You're not going
to do it. So if we want our families right,
we better line up with God's word. He made this institution. And if we on an individual level
want God's blessing as we operate in this wicked world, in the
institutions that are there that are for our good, we better see
God as the king and sovereign over those institutions so that
we walk in integrity and in character according to the covenant so
that God will bless us in spite of the wickedness of the people
in those institutions. Am I making some sense? Including
the wickedness of the institution. of the church. See, there are
some folks who are so frustrated with the church that they don't
want to have nothing to do with the church. But I would say to
those folks who are frustrated with the church that you've got
a bigger problem to be frustrated with. And that's your ignorance
of the covenant scheme of God, of the fact that God will not
violate his covenant scheme. If he's going to save people,
he's going to save people through his church. I will build my church
and the gates of hell will not prevail. Hell will not make God
a liar. Hell will not make God a failure. Hell will not hinder the power
of God. It's simply whether or not we're
going to find a true church. with true worshipers abiding
under a true covenant with a true high priest who loves the true
and the living God who from whom all blessings flow. So I tell you my I tell you I
am in a Segway right now I don't want to stay here but my heart
aches and I am praying and asking God to give me grace to speak
into these young people's lives because the stratagems on the
part of the enemy and the devil is to utterly bring you into
captivity and destroy any capacity for you to be a blessing to anyone
else so long as you do not see God in his true glory. you are
operating according to the principles of this world. Am I making some
sense? Whosoever shall be a friend of
this world system is an enemy of God. You cannot make it without doing
it God's way. You cannot make it without a
high priest. You cannot make it without a
covenant that's able to take your weaknesses and your flaws
and deal with them adequately and then bestow the grace that's
necessary for you to live out your calling as a child of God.
You can't make it. You can't make it by erasing
the lines of demarcation that God establishes in the framework
that God has imputed into his gospel message in order for you
to kind of do whatever you want to in the world and kind of just
want God to sign off on your agenda. That's a false God. And God never operates like that.
He will not bless that kind of rebellion. He calls his people
to think. Am I making some sense, brothers
and sisters? You see, some of us have tore it up bad. And we're
here to tell you, young people, it does not work. It does not
work to try to get off the lane of the straight and narrow and
go down the side roads or the back road or your road or his
road or her road or their road. There's only one road and that
road is Christ. I am the way, the truth and the
life. No one comes unto the Father but by me. He's a straight and
a narrow way. He is the mediator of the new
covenant and only through him do we enter into the blessings.
And I can talk for hours about the blessings. And y'all know
how we like to be talked to about blessings. I can talk to you
about blessings. All that God is ready to and
already have done for us and will do for us. But we're not
ready for the blessings. We got to get washed up, cleaned
up and brought in right. So we need to stand back and
spend more time, as John Bunyan taught us yesterday, contemplating
our God. We need to stand back and do
more time contemplating our God. Mr. Bunyan said, run, sinner,
run. Did you get that? Run, sinner, run. Run from what? Hell. Run from what? Sin. Run from what? Your fallen nature. Run from
what? The curse of the law. Run from
what? The wrath of God. His holiness
against your sinfulness. Run, sinner, run. Run where? To Christ. When? Yesterday. How do I do that, preacher? By
faith. Trusting God. submitting to the
righteousness of God in Christ, bowing the knee to the one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, whose arms are
big enough and strong enough and long enough to reach you
in any pit you are in, bring you out and set you down. at his own right hand and give
you the inheritance that he promises to give to all those who will
trust him. We already learned last week
that he is a high priest who ever lives to make intercession
for us. To those that come unto him,
he is able to save to the uttermost. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that? This is what we're talking about.
Contemplating the high priest that can come get you. See, some
of you are in places, you are in places that you can't even
describe where you are. You are so lost in the state
in which you are. You don't even know how to give
a person direction to where you are. But God knows where you
are. And right where you are, call
on the Lord while he is near and he will hear you. God will
hear you. God's ears are not too heavy. God can hear the faintest voice
of the humble sinner who calls on him in earnest right where
they are in the deepest pit. There is no pit that that is
not existing where men and women are trapped that God doesn't
know. He made all things for himself, even the wicked for
the day of evil. If he made the wicked, he made
the pit that you're in. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? This is so very important that we make sure that we don't
default to religion when we come into the presence of God and
hear the Word of God, especially truth. You and I need this high
priest. And he's in heaven for us, for
us, for us. And the Hebrew writer says in
verse 7, verse 6, the latter part, he is the mediator of a
better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if
that first covenant had been thoughtless, then should no place
have been sought for the what? For finding thought with them,
he said, behold, the days come, saith the Lord. I want you to
get this. I'm going to be skipping some
points because I want to stop here shortly. But I want you
to get this. Locks us in and causes us to be fixed upon our
high priest who is the key to the covenant. Is he not? I'm
gonna make that good here in a moment. Your high priest your
mediator is the key to your your blessings The high priest is
the key to the covenant. No high priest. No covenant.
Did you guys get that? No high priest no covenant now
now what he's getting ready to do is give us an inkling of the
blessings of the covenant you need to hear this and Because
this is what God is doing for sinners. This is what God is
doing for sinners who become part of the covenant because
they trust the mediator. This is the whole reason why
the mediator is at the right hand of God right now. To bestow
upon sinners these covenant blessings. Are you ready? Here's what he
says. For finding fault with that old
system, God said, Behold, the days are coming, saith the Lord. When did he say that? In the
book of Jeremiah chapter 31 and 32. When did he say that? In
the book of Ezekiel chapter 36. When I will make a what kind
of covenant? With the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah. Now watch what he says. Not according
to the covenant that I made with their what? In the days when
I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt.
Because they continued not in my covenant. And I regarded them
not, said the Lord. Do you know what's being described
in verses seven through nine? The patience and goodness of
God against a rebel people like you and me. For even though we
were not in Egypt as it were 3,500 years ago, if we had been
there, we'd have acted just like they did. Can you imagine a sovereign
God destroying all the gods of Egypt, bringing his people out
the way he did? And by the way, I believe it.
Opening the Red Sea the way he did, by the way, I believe it.
Causing them to walk dry shod through the Red Sea. Oh, million
and a half to two million of them. Not a drop of water touched
their feet. They took their cows. They took
their asses. They took their oxen. They took
their sheep. They took their goats. They even
took their hoofs. Remember what he said? Moses
told Pharaoh, we all leaving. And we're taking everything with
us. You don't get to keep nothing that God owes. And they walked
all the way through the Red Sea. For those of you who don't know
us at Grace, we believe the Bible. We believe the testimony of God.
We believe the historical record. It is not hard at all for us
to believe that God made a wall on one side and a wall on the
other side, hundreds of feet high, several feet wide, for
a million to two million people to go through. That's not hard
at all. That's not hard. If you can get
past Genesis 1-1, you're good to go. That's not hard at all. That's
not hard at all. God brought those knuckleheads
through. He brought them through and used
all that as a type and picture of the redemption of sinners
in Christ for the Red Sea represented the atoning blood of Jesus Christ
whereby we pass from death to life by the glory of God and
the work of the Spirit bringing us all together through with
Jesus Christ. Am I making some sense? I believe
that. But then the folks got on the
other side and started acting like a fool. And therein I find
myself and you too. How good God was to them. And
then he gave them his covenant. He laid it out to him. You know
what he did? He took him into the wilderness where he could
spend exclusive time with them. Stay with me for a moment. He
took them into the wilderness, separated them from the world
because he was their king and he wanted to talk to them face
to face. Haven't we been learning that about marriage? As their
king, he wanted to talk to them face to face with undivided attention.
You know what that means? He didn't want anyone to distract
them. That's how much God cared about them. And as their husband,
he wanted his wife to know him intimately and him them. He didn't
want any rivals, any distraction. He didn't want TV. He didn't
want the job. He didn't want the work. He didn't want the
business. He didn't want your girlfriend. He didn't want your boyfriend.
He didn't want anything to hinder the conversation between you
and him. This is what he told Pharaoh, I want my people to
come out into the wilderness that they might worship me alone. See, the only way you and I get
it is if there is a one to one relationship between us and God,
because we are so hard headed. I get distracted easily. I need
the Spirit of God to set my face like a flint to lock my mind
on God so that I can hear from him. And that's what he did for
them. And then he gave them great and precious promises. And they
broke all of them. Now, God should have sent them
all to hell. In his holiness, he should have.
But you know what he did? He said, I'm going to tear up
that old contract and I'm going to make another contract. I'm
going to tear up that old contract and make another contract. Now,
it wasn't like he didn't already anticipate tearing up the first
one because he knew that they were transgressors from the womb
and he had to teach them that there would be no way that they
could enter into God's blessing by the works of the law. Are
y'all hearing me? He knew that. See, when God lays
out commandments to you, what you're supposed to do is agree
with God and then say, God, help me to keep your commandments.
Are y'all hearing me? See, the moment you simply say,
God, I'll do whatever you want me to do, then you're just like
the children of Israel in the wilderness, because they all
said it. Moses up in the mount receiving the Ten Commandments.
They're still smoking hot. Israel has not even received
the law. You know what they're doing down at the bottom of the
hill? Committing fornication and worshiping idols. God told
Moses, now these people, they have already said to you, Moses,
you talk to God. We don't want to hear from God.
But whatever God tells you to tell us, we will do it. You know
what God says? I wish there was a heart in them
to do what I said. But I'll tell you this, Moses,
as soon as you leave this mountain, they are going to depart from
me. This is our text. Now God had a right to simply
wipe them out. The wages of sin is what? You
know what God did? He says, I'm going to make another
covenant with these knuckleheads. This time, the nature and character
and quality of that covenant is going to be better. You got
that? This time, the nature and quality
of this covenant is going to be better. Remember what the
word better means? Mightier. It's going to be a
powerful covenant. How powerful? It's going to be
powerful enough to save them from their sins. See, we're getting ready to observe
the Lord's table. And for those of us who are true believers,
we are going to be telling those of you who don't know Christ
and telling the world we have experienced the power of His
grace to save us from our sins. And here's what He said in the
covenant. I want you to hear it before we wrap this up. Listen
to the God who is a covenant-keeping God who loves His people. Are
you ready? Not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by
the hand, led them out of the land of Egypt because they continued
not in my covenant. And I regarded them not, saith
the Lord, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. Are you ready? I will
put my laws into their minds. and write them in their hearts. Power! Better! Powerful! He is describing a
work that only God can do. Take an external code called
the Ten Commandments and the whole of the will of God of which
you can read about in your Bible and place it in the heart and
place it in the mind so a man or a woman can know the power
of God's truth and walk in relationship with Him. Are y'all hearing what
I'm saying? In other words, just as Israel had the Ten Commandments
and it did them no good, You can have the biggest Bible in
the church and it will do you no good until the Word of God
is written in your heart, until the Word of God is written on
your mind, until the Spirit of God burns His gospel truth in
your soul, until the Word of God becomes in us. a living and
powerful truth that transforms us, makes us born again, renews
our mind, takes out that stony heart, put in a heart of flesh
and begin to lead us in God's commandment. And the first great
and glorious truth that a born-again man and woman receives is this. The first great truth is this. Christ is all my salvation. Here's the great truth. Here's
the great truth that everything that I am Christ was for me. Here's the great truth that when
I look to Jesus Christ, you know what I find him to be? A mediator
who has borne all my sin. He has borne all my sin as my
surety. That's what chapter 7 verse 16
says. You know what a surety is? As someone who cosigns for
you on a contract just in case you default. You teenagers know
what I'm talking about. Some of you grown folk do too. Man, I need you to cosign for
me. Because you know, I want to get this house or this car
that I really am not sure I can pay for. and I need you to now
you know you got a friend when they cosign for you isn't that
right you know you got a friend but you know what Solomon said
don't do it brother don't do it chapter 6 read it for yourself
don't do it don't do it I'm gonna be talking to you guys about
money this year and I'm gonna be hollering at Solomon Solomon
tell us what to do and he's gonna tell you don't do it unless you can be the kind of
surety that has the ability to to take up the whole responsibility
and pay for everything and more that that knucklehead signer
said he would do, but couldn't even do the first part. That
is what we are talking about when we are talking about grace.
When we're talking about grace, we're talking about God doing
for us what we could not do for ourselves. When we're talking
about grace, we're talking about a mediator who became our surety
and took our place. so that he who knew no sin became
sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So that he who was holy, harmless,
and undefiled, separate from sinners, found himself the object
of God's wrath on your behalf, because you violated the contract
over and over and over and over and over again. I'm almost done
here. And I'm going to stop right here.
What I love about the truth of the gospel is that in this contract,
this new one, you know that old one you messed up. You do know
that, right? This is why we don't mind telling
the world we're sinners. I am a sinner in the core of my being. Every aspect of me is sinful.
If there's any good in me, it's God through Christ manifesting
his goodness in my life. That's part of the blessing. Are y'all hearing me? But the
beauty of this new covenant is this, not only does he write
his laws on our heart and our minds so that we begin to understand
God and love him for who he is and the truth. See, listen, I
don't have a problem telling this wicked generation that God's
holy, just, and righteous. I don't have a problem saying
that God is not obligated to love any one of us. I don't have
a problem saying that God has elect people that he has chosen
before the foundation of the world that he's going to have
for all eternity with himself. I don't have a problem with God
having already seen that wide is the road that leads to destruction
and many there be that go on it. I don't have a problem with
seeing the end from the beginning with God and a great white throne
judgment and him that sat on it from whose face the heavens
and the earth fled and everyone high and low, young and old stood
before the great white throne judgment. I don't have a problem
saying that whosoever name was not written in the Lamb's Book
of Life Was cast into the lake of fire, which is the second
death I don't have a problem saying that because I know that
whatever God does is right Don't have a problem with it. I don't
have a problem with it. In fact, I'm obligated now that God has
saved me I and kept me from my destruction. I am obligated to
tell the truth about God, knowing this, that somebody is going
to hear the truth, believe the truth, and be saved by the truth.
I know that. Now there's going to be a whole
lot of people upset, but that's their problem, not mine. Are
you hearing me? Are you hearing me? Are you hearing
me? Now let me get back to my point
again. In this glorious new covenant, not only does God promise by
His power, by His Kratos, being a better covenant, to change
your condition so He can make you compatible for fellowship
with Him, because that's what I just described. It's called
the doctrine of regeneration. Are you hearing me? Regeneration
is when God works powerfully to change your life from the
inside out. to make you compatible to him
because by nature we are enemies of God. You don't like keeping
God's commandments. You don't like God telling you
what to do. You don't like anybody telling you what to do. That's
what happened when we came out of the womb. We came out of the
womb under the foolish notion that we're God and that the only
reason God exists is to do what we want. This is the false God
of this religious age. But the true God does whatsoever
He wills in heaven and in earth and in all deep places. And just
as the Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew chapter 11, Father,
for so it seemed good in your sight, you blinded the wise and
the prudent and you revealed these things to babes. And I'm
happy with whatever you are happy with. You see what I'm saying?
The Father and the Son are always on the same page. And just to
let you know, the Holy Ghost as well. They never disagree. They always are in full compatibility
with one another. They love each other. They love
the truth that each other understands together in a unified fashion,
independently. And they work together concurrently
to fulfill their will. Now guess what? God's making
a people just like that. God's making the people that
are saying, are you ready? Thy will be done. That's the
kind of people God is making. And if you are a child of God,
he's conforming you to his image, to where you love God. Watch
this now, are you ready? Just as he is. See, I've got
to change, and you've got to change, and we've all got to
grow. We've got to mature. There are some things that have
got to drop off, other things got to be put on. Am I telling
the truth? But not so with God. God is perfect, altogether perfect,
just as He is, and I want Him that way. I need him to fix me
so I can love him for who he is and tell it like it is about
the God who he is. Otherwise, I'm not dealing in
the truth. My job is not to morph and change God's character and
nature to fit fickle man. Man must bow to the reality of
the glory of God or perish. So I say with Joshua, who is
on the Lord's side? Let me get to my second point
in the covenant. I'll wrap it up here. Not only does God change
our condition so that we can love him because he first loved
us. Is that the way it works? Do
we love him? But isn't it because he what? You better get it right. I love him because he first loved
me. I only love him because he first loved me. If it wasn't
for his first love, I wouldn't love him. And I don't love him
like I ought to love him. But he loves me like I need to
be loved. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
So it's not about my love to God, but God's love to me. And
here's what he did. He didn't only change my condition. But he changed my position. You
know what he did? He took all my sin away. Isn't
that what the covenant says? And I will remember their sins
no more. Did anybody in the house get
that? Man, that's cause for absolute rebellion. Did you get that? That's cause for absolute rebellion. If love wasn't the basis of that
statement. See, if you don't love God, that's
an opportunity to rebel. God forgiving you of all your
sin, that means you can go out and live like hell. You can do
whatever you want to do and God got your back. That's this false
God generation that I'm speaking against every day. This is why
we don't believe in unconditional love. Unconditional love is nothing
but a license to sin to go to hell. When someone loves you,
they put conditions on you. If you want my love, you got
to act this way. Am I telling the truth? listen
don't get it don't get it all messed up don't get it all messed
up now I want you to get this down God is not so in need that
he gonna just love you and leave you like you are you got to be
kidding and see we got to teach the gospel
correctly am I making some sense see right now it's going on in
your mind silent almost I'm almost done see like right now it's
going on in your mind silently about that person sitting next
to you, you're going, that's right. That's right. You know
that pastor making some sense right about now. Yeah, this unconditional
business, this person on the side of me gets on my nerves
up and down. That's right. I'm not going to
let this person just do whatever they want to do and expect to
have my love. You know, I'm starting to think
like God more every day. It's starting to kick in now,
isn't it? It's starting to kick in, isn't it starting to kick
in? I like this. Hold on, let me get my love thing
right. Let me get my love thing right. You don't just marry somebody
willy-nilly. He is an absolute clown. He's
gonna tear up everybody's stuff and your stuff and you go, I
just love him. No, you don't. You're a fool. Love is a law unto itself. Love
does not rejoice in evil. Love does not rejoice in iniquity.
Love does not embrace doing people wrong. Love works no ill towards
a neighbor. Love is a law. Am I making sense? You don't love me if you let
me live like hell. Well, that's good. Isn't that
good? You don't love me if you let
me live like hell. Now, if you love me and you know
I'm inextricably bound to hellish living, and you have the power
to change me, are you ready? You will. This is why we as parents
spend all of our energy seeking to influence our children the
way we do, because we love them. And we put parameters and restraints
and boundaries in their life. You know what that's called?
Training them up so they can go the right way. Oh yeah, we
hear y'all saying, you don't love me. Because it don't feel like love
but it is and God loved me enough to secure my eternity by not
only changing my life but positioning me where I possess an everlasting
righteousness on the merits of the death of Jesus Christ my
great high priest. Are you with me? Stay now. Stay
with me now. Stay with me. We're going to the table and
close it down. Stay with me. Do you know what the high priest
had to do? He had to take on all the sin and all the iniquity
of all of God's people. Read it for yourself. Zechariah
chapter 3 verse 10. Do you remember Joshua the high
priest? Do you remember that? Joshua chapter 3, I mean Zechariah
chapter 3 verses 1 through 10. And I saw Joshua the high priest.
standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan at his right
hand to accuse him and Satan speaking to Jehovah. He's a sinner. He's wicked. He's ungodly. Do you know this man you are
about to make the high priest of your people? He's a fornicator. and adulterer, a liar, a whoremonger,
a thief, a crook, a criminal. He's violated all your laws. And God said to him, I rebuke
you. I rebuke you. I rebuke you. I neglect and I reject all your
accusations against my high priest. I rebuke you in the name of the
Lord. Now only God can do it, not you. I rebuke you in the
name of the Lord. You may see a man standing here
who is full of sin, but that's because he is a surety and substitute
for people for whom he has chosen to bear their sin. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? You see his sin now. because he has taken on the sin
of all of his people as their substitute. But you keep standing
there, you prosecuting attorney, and watch what I do. Take his
clothes off. Take his coat off. Take his garments
off. Change his garments. Take his
hat off. Take his jacket off. Take his
vest off, which represents all my sin. Take them off and give
that brother a change of garments. Put on him a white robe. Put
on him a brand new vest. Put on him a miter of holiness. Clothe him in a change of garments
because that's the way God sees me in Christ. As perfectly righteous,
perfectly holy, perfectly just, perfectly pure, perfectly glorified. Why? Because Christ became for
me a brand placed in the fire. You remember what God said? Is
this not a brand plucked out of the fire? Why was he in there? Because of my sin. Why did he
endure the wrath of God? Because of my sin. Why was he
placed in the fire of God's wrath? Because of my sin. Why did God
bring him out? Because by himself he purged
my sin. And now he stands at the right
hand of God as a perfect high priest for me so that all that
he is, I am in him. And in order to get to me, you
got to get to him. And I got good news for you.
It's too late. It's too late. I have a high
priest who has passed into the heavens, is already seated down
at the right hand of God, and the work is finished. He is a
seated and a completed high priest. He has shed his blood. He has
washed me clean. The Father said, it is done.
And ladies and gentlemen, it is done. It's done. It's done. It's done. Now you know what God has to
do? You know what He has to do? He's got to bless me now. He's
got to pour out His blessings. And that's why you and I are
experiencing grace today. Are you hearing me? You are not
experiencing the grace of regeneration, the grace of pardon, the grace
of forgiveness, the grace of sanctification, the grace of
renewing, the grace of restoration, the grace of growth, the grace
of knowledge, the grace of gifting. You have not experienced all
these graces other than the fact that you have someone who took
your place and did everything necessary to effect a new and
better and mighty covenant by which God has secured your eternal
salvation. You ought to thank God. You ought
to thank God for His amazing grace, for His glorious grace,
for His indomitable grace, for His mighty grace. Our God is
a good God, a glorious God, an exalted God, a God of salvation
to the uttermost, to everyone that comes to Him by faith. Do
you see why now that your assurance is not found in yourself, it's
found in your high priest? And do you see now why you must
contemplate him and muse on him and study him? Because in him
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Can you
see why your blessings are in Christ? Keep your eyes on Christ,
ladies and gentlemen. Keep your eyes on Christ. Now
let's have the table.