The title of my message tonight
is Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant. Our text will be
Hebrews 8 verses 1 through 6. Now while you're turning to that
passage, let me tell you the importance of this message. It
is of paramount importance that we understand and distinguish,
as the scriptures do, the separation between the old and the new covenants.
There is a clearly revealed distinction. It is not possible to understand
the work of Christ as our substitute. It is not possible to understand
the word of God and the saving operations of our God until we
understand the distinction between works and grace, between the
old covenant and the new. between the old covenant of law
and the new covenant of grace. Now, this distinction is a matter
of confusion to a lot of people. In this day, there are many who
are very much confused about it. I don't have any question
that it is a matter of confusion in some measure to many of you.
It has been to me. But can you imagine how this
matter must have been confusing to those believers in the earliest
days of Christianity, in the first century Christians, during
that transition period from the time of our Lord's resurrection
until the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and all things
related to it in 70 AD. At the time that this epistle
was written to the Hebrews, the temple was still standing. God
was no longer worshipped there, but the temple was still there,
and his name was by the professed words of the men who worshipped
there still there. The place was Ichabod. God had
departed, but men still worshipped in the temple. The ordinances
of the Levitical priesthood were still being observed. There were
priests offering sacrifices and going about their daily ministrations,
day by day, just as they had for 2,000 years. But God had
set aside both the priesthood and the sacrifices. Those things
were now as much a matter of an abomination to God as the
commandments of men and not of God, as it would be to worship
a totem pole and offer a sacrifice of a hog. They were just an abomination
to God, and yet the priesthood was still there and the sacrifices
were. The Sabbath days were still meticulously observed by the
Jews. You remember when our Lord Jesus was crucified, they came
and asked Pilate, after they asked him to murder the Son of
God, they said, take him down now, we don't want to defile
the Sabbath day. They were meticulous in their religious observances.
But the Lord of the Sabbath had already finished his work and
entered into his rest, and the Gospel Sabbath had begun. The
sun had risen, but the moon had not yet vanished from view. It
was waning. It was vanishing away. But the
moon of the Old Testament ordinances was still there. There was still
the priest in Israel, but the high priest was in heaven. He
is the high priest of God's Israel, seated in glory. The religious
but unbelieving Jews were, just as most religious people are
today, still trying to live by the carnal ordinances and commandments
of the Old Testament, trying to commend themselves to God
by religious superstition. taking the name that God had
given to things, taking the very ordinances of God himself, and
making them to be a piece of idolatry, and making the law
of God to be stepping stones by which they hope to ascend
into God's presence. But Christ, who is the end of
the law, had fulfilled it. And he had forever abolished
it. And I chose my word deliberately.
I looked at that a dozen times when I was preparing this message
today. And folks say, don't say abolished. That's what he did.
He abolished it. He didn't destroy it. He abolished
it. He said I come not to destroy the law, but to establish it.
And he established it. He established it by his obedience
and when he put a stamp, a period at the end of it, that's the
end of it. That's the end of it. But the Jews still tried
to keep it. And there were many who had infiltrated many Judaizers,
that is, Jewish people who professed to be Christians but still tried
to live by the law. That's what a Judaizer is. And
if you meet up with religious folks who try to get you under
the law, they're Judaizers. You meet up with religious folks
who try to get you to find acceptance with God by what you do? They're
Judaizers. Teaching for the ordinances of God, the commandments of men.
God gave it. Yes, but teaching it now for
you to obey it is an ordinance and commandment of man. The doctrine
of man, not the doctrine of God. Now these Judaizers, Jewish believers
who professed to believe anyway, had infiltrated many of the Gentile
churches and were turning many of the Gentiles back to the law. And therefore this epistle was
written. The book of Hebrews was written
specifically to correct this error and this matter of confusion
by showing the great superiority of the person and work of our
Lord Jesus Christ and all things related to him and the gospel
over everything in the typical ceremonies and services of the
Old Testament worship. The Holy Spirit here has irrefutably
displayed for us the superiority of Christ's priesthood over the
Aaronic priesthood. That's what was given in chapter
7. And now in chapter 8, he's going to show us how that Christ
is the mediator of an infinitely, indescribably superior covenant,
the covenant of God's free grace in him. In this eighth chapter,
we're shown the superiority of Christ's ministry as our high
priest over the ministry of the Aaronic priest in the Old Testament
in as much as he is the mediator of a better covenant. Now, this
is shown to us in seven distinct ways. Let me give them to you,
and you can jot them down, follow as we go along. In verse one,
we read, we have such a high priest who is sick. Our Lord's superiority as our
great high priest is in the fact that he is a seated priest. Turn to a couple of passages.
I know I'm going to be going over material we've looked at
several times in studying the book of Hebrews, but I want you
to see this and see it clearly. Turn back to Psalm 110 and verse
1. Hold your hands here at Hebrews,
but turn back to Psalm 110. All that is being stated concerning
our Lord taking his seat in heaven arises from what is stated here
concerning this messianic psalm and the Messiah described in
it. Psalm 110 verse 1. The Lord said unto my Lord, set
thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Now the book of Hebrews declares
this has come to pass. Jesus Christ, who is himself
the Lord Jehovah, has been made to sit down in heaven by God's
own decree, having finished his work as our mediator, our substitute
and representative. Look at Hebrews chapter one.
Hebrews, the first chapter. You'll remember the book of Hebrews
starts off declaring this. This is the whole basis of our
worship. This is the whole basis of our
acceptance with God. This is the whole basis of our
confidence before God. Hebrews chapter one, verse one.
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in time
past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last
days spoken to us by his son. Now I can't pass over repeating
what you've heard me say many times. That's the only way Bobby,
God ever speaks to anybody today. He doesn't speak and reveal himself
to men by visions and dreams or by new prophets arising with
new words of inspiration and new words of knowledge. He doesn't
speak to men except as he has spoken to us by his son and he
speaks to us continually by his son only, listen now, only through
the word of his son as his spirit makes his word known to our hearts.
So if God speaks to you, if God speaks to me, he will speak to
us by his word, which is the declaration of his son and all
that his son came here and revealed. He spoke in these last days by
his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also
he made the worlds. who being the brightness of his
glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power." Isn't that amazing? How
everything, everything as this epistle opens, is designed to
direct our hearts to Christ, look to Christ, exalt Christ,
and worship Christ. Now look at the next line. When
he, the Lord Jesus Christ, God's darling son, had by himself,
without your aid or mine, without anything being contributed from
you or me, when he had by himself purged our sins, that means they're
gone. He put them away. He sat down
on the right hand of the majesty in the heavens. Turn to chapter
10. Hebrews 10. This man, this man. Oh wait a minute, I thought we
were talking about the Son of God. That's who we're talking about. I thought
we were talking about God. That's who we're talking about.
This man. This man who is himself God in human flesh. After he
had offered one sacrifice for sins forever. Never be another
one. Never be another one. You keep
trying to offer God something to make up for your sins. You're
an idolater and you don't know God. Jesus Christ has offered
one sacrifice for sins forever. And when he did, he sat down
on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting to his enemies
be made his footstool. What's the importance of that?
The fact that he sat down declares that his work is done. When our
Lord Jesus cried, it is finished, he meant it's finished. It's
what's finished? All the law and prophets. All
the types and shadows. All things written in the Old
Testament Scriptures concerning him, and he is that of whom the
Old Testament Scriptures exclusively speak. All then that was revealed
in the prophets. All that was written in the law,
all that was given in the types and ceremonies of the law is
finished. Christ fulfilled them all. The
Lord Jesus has fulfilled all the requirements and commandments
of the law. In other words, the whole work of redemption is finished. How do you know? Yonder he sits,
there like a man, the Savior sits, the God, how bright he
shines. He's seated in the heavens. All
right, here's the second thing. Look back at Hebrews 8.1. Our
great high priest is seated upon the very throne of God. We have such a high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens. Isn't that a remarkable way of
putting things? The inspired writers are given
almost what would appear to be redundant superlatives to describe
our Lord's great glory. He is now set by God's own hand,
by His finished work, sat down on the right hand of the throne
of the majesty in the heavens. He who is himself glory, he sits
down at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens. And the
fact that he's seated upon the throne of God, the throne of
universal monarchy, the throne of grace, declares that he is
indeed able to do what we just read in chapter 7, verse 25,
that he could do. He's able to save to the uttermost
all his people, all of them that come to God by him, he's able
to absolutely save. How can you be sure? How can
you be certain that every sinner whom he came to save shall be
saved? How can you be certain that everyone who trusts him
shall be saved? How can you be certain that everyone
for whom he died shall be saved? That everyone for whom he is
a high priest shall be saved? Because he sat down on the throne. On the throne of God. And God
gave him power, what does scripture say, over all flesh. For what purpose? That he should
give eternal life to as many as the Father has given him.
And he does. He does. He rules all flesh absolutely
for the saving of his people. Everything. Everything. Oh, God
teach me to understand that in the midst of heavy trials. God
teach me to understand that in the midst of daily struggles.
God teach me to understand that when I read the newspaper or
watch the news on television. God teach me to understand in
every affair of my life, in every affair of the universe, he who
sits on the throne, our great high priest, bearing our names
on his breastplate, has power over all flesh in heaven, earth,
and hell. and He gives eternal life to
as many as the Father has given to Him. So that reduces man to
nothing. I wish I could make folks understand
that. That's exactly what we are, nothing and less than nothing.
We are less than the dust of the balance as all the nations
of the earth, less than the small dust of the balance before God
Almighty. Now how insignificant is that?
You go to Then the feed store starts to weigh out some feed
or some seed. Did you ever ask the fellow to
wipe the balances out? I see a little dust there. Go
ahead. It's insignificant. That's exactly
what the nations of this world are before God Almighty. And
that includes you and me, except as he puts us in Christ by his
grace. Our great high priest is that
one of whom it is written, for to this end Christ both died
and rose again, and revived, that he might be Lord of the
dead and the living, and he is. He's Lord. He's Lord. That means
he's boss. Always. That means he's in control. Always. That means he has absolute
dominion. Always. That means he always
has his way. He always has his will. He always does his pleasure. Either that or he's not Lord.
Now folks talk about our Lord having sovereignty in this area
or that. Whatever area he doesn't have
sovereignty in, he's not God in. Whoever it is that is a rival
to Him. Whatever power there is that
somehow is able to overthrow or resist His will. That's God
instead of Him. That's where the heart of the
matter is. Either He's God or He's not.
Either He rules or He doesn't. Either He is Lord or you're a
fool to trust Him. That's exactly right. All right,
third thing. Look at verse 2. All earthly
priests served in the earth. Theirs was an earthly carnal
ministry. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a priest
and a minister of the true sanctuary in heaven. Now the fact that
he sat down declares that his work is done. The fact that he
sat down on the throne of God declares that he's able to save
all for whom he died, whose interest he serves as God Almighty and
as God's high priest. And the fact that he sat down
in heaven declares that his work is accepted. His work is accepted. God said
okay, that's what I want, that's what I require, that's what I
demand. Shelby and I were talking the
other day about our dear friend Darryl McClung. We went to see
him and last time I heard him speak other than when he said
goodbye, the very last words he spoke, Shelby and I were sitting
in there, tears of joy came in his heart and in his eyes. And
he said, thank God for that man in glory. For that man in glory. That man
went there as the forerunner of men. And he sat down declaring,
there's some men coming after me. Men whom God has accepted
because of me. Be sure you don't miss this.
When He sat down in heaven, our Savior sat down as our forerunner,
and He sat down as our covenant head, and we sat down in Him. Turn to Ephesians 2. Ephesians
2. I'll have more to say about this
in just a little bit when we get to verses 4 and 5, but right
now just let me show you this. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
ye are saved. We're born again because he gave
us life. And we're born again because of what's revealed in
verse 6 too. And hath raised us up together. and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He went to glory, Rex, for you,
and you went to glory with Him. He sat down for you, and you
sat down with Him. He triumphed for you, and you
triumphed with Him. He is seated at the throne of
God and we are seated in Him and with Him because we're one
with Him. Do you understand that? We're
seated in the heavens. Folks ask, do you believe in
eternal security? Why, sure I do. I believe in
an eternal Savior. When God Almighty throws my head
off the throne, He'll throw me off. When he throws my head out
of heaven, he'll throw me out. When you can drown my head, then
you can drown me. Until then, I'm seated with him
in heaven. Our great high priest, the Son
of God in human flesh, now ministers for us continually in the holy
of holies, not on the earth, but rather in heaven itself,
in the holy place, not made with hands, in the very presence of
God. For Christ is entered not into
holy places made with hands, which are figures of the true,
but into heaven itself, and now to appear in the presence of
God for us." Now hold on to this thought. This is the superiority
of Christ over all the Old Testament priests. Our high priest is interceding
in heaven for us. I often write to friends who
are going through great difficulties. And it's not just a cliche. I
often speak it to them face to face, but it's a little difficult
sometimes. And this is what I tell them. I love you. And if I could, I'd
take away the pain. If I could, I'd take away the
hurt. If I could, I'd take away the
cause of it. But please understand that he
who loves you infinitely better than I can even imagine is the
one who sent the hurt and the pain and that which causes it. He's done well. He's done well. Look at Romans chapter 8. Romans
chapter 8. Our priest rules for us. And he intercedes for us. Verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Verse
34. Who is he that condemneth? Who
is he that condemneth? Who's going to bring you into
condemnation? It's Christ that died. Now who's going to undo what
he did? Yea, rather that it is risen again. Who is even at the
right hand of God. Now look at it. This is what
he's doing there. Who also maketh intercession for us. Alright,
here's the fourth thing. Look back at our text in verse
2. Christ is himself. the sanctuary and the true tabernacle. A minister of the sanctuary and
of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. In the worship of God, Christ
is everything. Christ is all. He is all. Everything. And everything is
spiritual. We worship God in the spirit. The spirit. Spiritual worship. Christ is our altar. We don't
have another. If you do, you don't have him.
Christ is our priest. Now we're made priests before
God in him so that we approach God in him and do business directly
with God without another mediator. But Christ alone is our priest.
We have no one standing between us and God except God's own son. And if you do, you don't have
him. It's just that plain. You can't have both. Christ is
our sacrifice. His blood is our only atonement,
His obedience, our only righteousness. We have nothing to offer God
for acceptance with God but Him. If you've got any other, you
don't have Him. Christ alone is our mercy seat.
He is our place of atonement, propitiation. He is our atonement
and our propitiation. Christ is our God, and we worship
Him in the Spirit. Now look back at our text, Hebrews
8 verse 3. Here's the fifth thing. Our great high
priest offers a better sacrifice in a better place than those
who served as priests on the earth in the days of Moses. Look at verse 3. For every high
priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices. Wherefore, it
is of necessity. Now you might write this in the
margin of your Bible or somewhere in your notes. It is of necessity
if he's going to be a priest. If he's going to be a priest.
It is of necessity that this man has somewhat also to offer. The Lord Jesus Christ presents
the sacrifice of his own precious blood. The priests of the Old
Testament were never allowed to come into the holy place.
They were never allowed to do business in the holy place, except
they come with a proper divinely ordained sacrifice in the way
that God prescribed they must come. You remember those sons
of Aaron off a strange fire to God? God killed them. How come? Because they were tampering
with God's sacrifice. That's exactly why. God killed
Ezra when he touched the ark. How come? Because he was tampering
with God's sacrifice. Men broke the Sabbath day and
God required they be stoned. How come? They were tampering
with God's sacrifice. And I'm telling you, anybody
who dares approach God in any way except as God has prescribed
through his son alone will be slain forever under the wrath
of God. Those sacrifices in the Old Testament
could never put away any sin. And if Christ appears before
the majesty in the heavens as our great high priest, he too
must have something to offer God. He too must have something
by which he may approach unto God, something which God himself
has ordained and God himself will accept. Turn to Hebrews
chapter 9. Hebrews 9. How does he enter
into heaven as our high priest? How does he go in? Verse 11. But Christ being come,
and high priest of good things to come, by a better and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves,"
look at it now, but by his own blood. was constantly repeated in the
Old Testament law and the giving of the law with regard to sacrifices.
The life of the flesh is in the blood. The life of the flesh
is in the blood. The life of the flesh is in the
blood. And when the scripture talks about the blood of Christ,
it's talking about the totality of his life as the God-man in
this world. He entered into heaven with his
own blood, which he sacrificed for us. having obtained eternal
redemption for us. Not all the blood of beasts on
Jewish altars slain could give the guilty conscience peace or
wash away one's stain. But Christ, the heavenly lamb,
takes all our sins away, a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood
than that. He's the lamb of God. And with
his blood as our priest, he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. Now look back at chapter
eight. The Lord Jesus is a priest with
a better sacrifice and a priest in a better tabernacle. which
is his own body. Look at verse 4. For if he were
on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing there are priests which
offer gifts according to the law. Those Levitical priests
still functioning over yonder in the temple. They're offering
gifts according to the strict standard of the law. They're
offering them. They serve unto the example and
shadow of heavenly things. That's their only function. As
Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle,
for see, saith he, that thou make all things according to
the pattern shown thee in the mount. Now in verse 2, Christ
is called the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not
man. Here we're told that the tabernacle which man pitched
was according to God's directions. This tabernacle in the wilderness
was just a temporary, typical tabernacle. Now listen carefully. God dwelt there. His glory was
seen there. You remember the pillar of fire
by day, the pillar of fire by night? Do you remember the Shekinah
glory showing in the Holy of Holies? The sacrifices were offered there.
The people worshiped there. If Christ's human nature were
only earthly, he could not even be a priest, because he was not
of the tribe of Levi. If he died and remained on earth,
his priesthood would be insignificant. It would be of no value. It might
be a good moral example, it might be a good pattern to encourage
folks to do things, but it would be of no value as far as our
souls are concerned. It was when he died, arose and
appeared in glory, that all the sacrifices and priesthood were
done away. And now, here's the true tabernacle.
Listen to me. He is that one of whom the Apostle
writes in 2 Corinthians and says, the glory of God is seen in the
face of Jesus Christ. John put it this way, the word
was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. We see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
and that's what's represented here. In him, God manifests his
glory. In Him, God is worshipped. In Him, God is known. In Him,
God accepts our sacrifices that we bring to Him of prayer and
praise and thanksgiving and accepts us in Him. Only in Him. Through
Him, God communes with His people and God accepts His people. Now
look at verse 6. But now hath He obtained a more
excellent ministry The Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest,
is the mediator of a better covenant. Do you see that? By how much
also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established
upon better promises. Now I have to be brief here.
We'll look at this, Lord willing, when we get to the latter part
of this chapter. Let me show you four things about the old
covenant and the new. They're very important. The covenant
of the Levitical priesthood, the old covenant, was just temporary
and typical. And now that old covenant is
abolished forever. That's the first thing. It was
just temporary. Secondly, it was a Jewish covenant,
just for the Jews. God Almighty never gave the law
or the commandments, or the ceremonies, or the sacrifices, or the priesthood
to anyone except Jews. No, not in the Old Testament,
not in the New. It was given just to the Jews. In Christ,
there's neither Jew nor Gentile. But Christ is all and in all. That old covenant was dim, just
a dim revelation, hidden. The truth of it, the beauty of
it, the glory of it was hidden. shadows and types and ceremonies
and rituals of the law. The picture, that veil separating
the holy of holies from the holy place, not only declared that
there was no way of access to God, but it declared also that
these wondrous mysteries to be revealed in Christ, they're hidden. There's a veil, a veil placed
over men so they cannot see things as they're now revealed to us
in the gospel. Christ is the full, clear, revelation of God
Almighty. He's the full, clear revelation
of God. When we stand before Him in Heaven's
glory, we will spend eternity getting to know Him, who is God
Almighty in human flesh. I don't have any idea how tremendous the significance
of what I just said is. I know that we enter into heaven's
glory, we immediately see and hear and understand things we
never saw, heard, or understood before. I know we shall know
even as we are known. But that does not mean we're
going to have absolute knowledge as God himself. If we did, we'd
be gods. But rather, we will continually,
forever know him. Know him. Oh, to know him. And thirdly, that old covenant,
or fourthly rather, that old covenant, it was conditional. Everything in it hinged. on the
obedience of the people. Everything. God said you do this,
I'll do that. If you don't, I won't. God said
you do this and I'll bless you. You do that and I'll curse you.
God promised them a land, land of Canaan, a typical place of
rest and peace. And while they walked before
God and worshipped God, God blessed them. And when they turned from
God and served their idols, God sent them curse and God sent
judgment. It was altogether a conditional covenant. Every promise in the
covenant was a conditional covenant. It dealt with earthly things
and earthly blessings. God said, now if you do this,
then your fields will be full when the harvest time comes.
If you don't, I'm going to send a blast of drought on you. God
said do this and I'll see to it that your crops are bountiful.
If you don't, I'm going to send a worm to eat them up. God said
do this and I'll bless you in your house and I'll bless you
when you rise up. I'll bless you when you go out in your field
and I'll bless you when you work and I'll bless the work of your
hands and I'll bless you when you come in and I'll bless you
when you lay down at night. And if you don't, everything you
do will be a curse to you and a snare. Everything was conditional. Oh, but the new covenant, the
new covenant is absolute and free, based only upon the obedience
of our substitute. Totally, totally unconditional
because Christ is himself the surrogate of this covenant. And that means everything stays
exactly the same and the blessings are eternal blessings dealing
with spiritual things. Folks who talk the nonsense being
preached in our day about Health, wealth, and prosperity. God never promised you health,
wealth, and prosperity in this world. Never promised it. No, sir. And we don't want it.
I don't want it. None of them. Not all the time.
If I did, I would never leave here. Don't want them. Don't want them.
I want health for my soul. and wealth for my soul, and prosperity
for my soul. And Lindsay, God promised me
that. God promised me that. He has blessed me with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ forever. That means
in Him, because of Him, through Him, by Him, I have eternal life,
eternal forgiveness. Eternal acceptance. Eternal glory! And an eternal inheritance with
Him in glory. Unconditionally. But what if
you fall? There's no what if about that.
I fall all the time. But what if you sin? There's
no what if about that. I don't say it lightly, Bob. I sin all
the time. But what if your faith gets weak?
No what if about that? My faith is weak all the time.
But what if your love grows cold? God, forgive me, there's no what
if about that, my love. It's not worth mentioning before
Him. Nevertheless, the foundation of God stand assure, the Lord
knoweth them that are His. You understand what I'm saying? This
is a better covenant. One more thing. Here's the last
thing. Look at this sixth verse again. This new covenant is a
covenant established upon better promises. Better promises. What kind of promises? Those
promises that Paul spoke of when he said all the promises of God
are in Christ Jesus, are in Christ Jesus rather, are yea and amen. All the covenant promises. All
the covenant promises. The Father spoke to the Son in
covenant mercy. And the Son spoke to the Father
as our covenant surety. And the Spirit and the Father
and the Son agreed upon certain things being done upon condition
of the Son's obedience. And the Father said, now ask
of me and I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance. And the
son obeyed him. And now the father has given
us heathen to him for his inheritance and continues to give him. The
father forgives our sin because he promised the son he would.
The father accepts us because he promised the son through his
blood he'd accept us. The father receives us because
he promised his son because of his obedience he'd receive us.
The father crowns us because he promised his son. Sit now upon my right hand and
I'll make your foes your footstool. And soon, soon Bobby Estes, he's
going to cause us in his son to walk and trample on the head
of the serpent himself. The God of peace will brew Satan
under your feet real soon. And he's going to crown us. as he has crowned his son for
the same reason, because of his son's covenant obedience. That's
a better covenant. And Christ is the mediator of
it. Amen.