Hebrews chapter 8. Let's begin reading here in verse
7. This is where we come to in our study in this book of Hebrews. Let's read the remainder of this
chapter. Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 7. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second. For finding fault with him, he said, Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant 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,
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. I will put my laws into their mind, and write them
in their hearts. And I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to me a people. 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. For
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. In that he saith a new covenant,
he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away." I want us to divide these verses
up into three headings. First, I want to look at the
faultiness of the first covenant. We see that in verse 7 and 8. If that first covenant had been
faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
For finding fault with them, then he goes on to say, I'll
make a new covenant. So the first thing I want to look at is the
faultiness of this first covenant. Then the second thing in verses
10 and 12, we want to look at the nature of the second covenant. see the nature of it, what the
Lord Himself has promised to do. I'll give them a new heart
and put a new spirit within them. And then lastly, I want to look
at the nature or the second covenant. Who's the second covenant made
with? I think that's very important. He says you're the house of Israel. So first of all then, let's look
at the faultiness of the first covenant. When God led the children
of Israel out of Egypt and they came into Mount Sinai, God used
Moses and through Moses He made a covenant with the children
of Israel. We read about that covenant in different places
in Exodus and Deuteronomy. I want you to turn over to chapter
9. Look here in chapter 9. It is
easy to see when we talk about the covenant, the first covenant,
it is very easy to see. how the ceremonial law was faulty
because it was nothing but figures. It was nothing but shadows. Look
what he says in chapter 9 and look in verse 1. Then verily
the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly
sanctuary. And look what he says in verse
9 and 10 of chapter 9. Which was a figure for the time
then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that
could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
to the conscience, which stood only in meats and drinks and
divers, warshams, and carnal ordinances imposed on them unto
the time of reformation of all things." You and I have studied
about these ceremonies. I think the last Wednesday we
looked at this, we looked at the weakness of the ceremonial
law. The weakness of it was it was
just earthly things. The priests were poor sinners
who died. The offerings that they offered
was the blood of bulls and goats. And where they went in to worship
was just made out of goat skins until they built the big temple.
The whole problem with the ceremonial law and the fault that it had
was it could not save anybody. It could not justify anybody,
Larry, sanctify anybody. The blood of bulls and goats
can never take away sin. It's impossible. So we know that. We've studied on that. There's
another aspect, though, of this covenant that goes along with
the ceremonial law, and that's the moral law. Because the moral
law, the Ten Commandment law, was given to the children of
Israel the same time the ceremonial law was, the same occasion out
in the wilderness. Now hold Chapter 7, and I want
us to look at that. together just a minute over in
Deuteronomy chapter 4. Deuteronomy chapter 4 and look
here in verse 5. Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse
5. Here is where Moses is rehearsing
right before he dies how the Lord led him out of Egypt and
brought him through the wilderness. And look here what he said, just
a bit lengthy reading, but let's look here at the given of this
moral law. It was part of the covenant.
And it shows the faultiness of this covenant. Chapter 4 and
verse 4. Verse 5, Behold, I have taught
you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded
me, that ye should do so in the land where you go to possess
it. Keep therefore and do them, for this is your wisdom and your
understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear
all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a
wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great
whom God, who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord your God
is in all things that you call upon him for? And what nation
is there so great that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as
all this law which I set before you this day? Only take heed
to yourself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest you forget the
things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your
heart all the days of your life. But teach them your sons and
your sons' sons, especially the day that you stood before the
Lord your God in Horeb." Now that's Mount Horeb, the same
as Mount Sinai. Sometimes they call it Horeb,
and sometimes Mount Sinai. When the Lord said unto me, Gather
me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that
they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live
upon the earth, that they may teach their children. And you
came and stood under the mountain, Mount Sinai, and the mountain
burned with fire unto the midst of heaven. with darkness, clouds,
and a thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out
of the midst of the fire, and you heard the voice of words,
but you saw no similitude, only you heard the voice of words. And He declared unto you His
covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments,
and He wrote them upon two tables of stones." So that's the covenant. that Paul was talking about in
Hebrews chapter 8. It's not only the ceremonial
law, but it's the same commandment law. It was part of the covenant.
Now look over in chapter 5 and look down in verse 4. He's going
to tell here, he rehearses now about the actual giving of those
commandments. in chapter 5, Deuteronomy chapter
4. And the LORD talked with you
face to face in the mount out of the mist of the fire. I stood
between the LORD and you at that time to show you the word of
the LORD. For you were afraid by reason of the fire, and you
went not up into the mountain, saying, I am the LORD thy God,
which brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house
of bondage. Now we just read that in Hebrews
8, didn't we? The Lord made a covenant with
them when He brought them out of the land of bondage. And then
beginning in verse 7 through verse 21, he gives these commandments. Verse 7, Thou shalt have no other
God before me. Verse 8, Thou shalt not make
unto thee any graven image or likeness of anything. Verse 9,
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them, for the
Lord your God is a jealous God. Verse 11, Thou shalt not take
the name of the Lord your God in vain. Verse 12, keep the Sabbath
day to sanctify it. And then verse 16, honor your
father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you.
Verse 17, you shall not kill. Neither shall you commit adultery,
neither shall you steal, neither shall you bear false witness,
neither shall you desire your neighbor's wife, neither shall
you covet your neighbor's house, his field, his maidservants,
men's servants, his ox, his ass, or anything that your neighbor
has. These words the Lord spake unto
all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the cloud
and of the thick darkness with a great voice, and he added no
more. and he wrote them in two tables
of stone, and delivered them unto me. And then he goes down
to verse 27 and he tells how they quaked and how afraid they
were at the giving of this law. And look in verse 27, ìGo thou
near,î they said to Moses, they were so afraid, ìGo thou near,
and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and speak thou
unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, and
we will hear it and do it.î Now that's a pretty bold and presumptuous
thing. What God commands, you just tell us whatever God commands
and we'll do it. We'd better be careful, hadn't
we? Better be careful. There's a big difference in saying,
I'll do it and then doing it. saying and doing. And look what
He said in verse 28, And the Lord heard the voice of your
words when He spake unto me. And the Lord said unto me, I
have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have
spoken unto thee. They have well said all that
they have spoken. And that He meant. You know,
it is a good thing they are afraid and tremble. Look in verse 29,
Oh, that there were such an unheart in them that they would fear
Me, and keep all my commandments always that it might be well
with them and with their children forever." Now, here's the whole
problem. We saw the problem with the ceremonial
covenant, that aspect of the covenant. It was just tops and
figures and shadows. But what was the matter with
this law? Well, there was nothing wrong with the law. He said two things about finding
fault. He found fault in the one aspect
of the covenant. That was the ceremonial law.
He found fault in that. It can never take away sin. It
can never save it. Then in verse 8, he said this, finding fault
with them. The second aspect of this covenant,
the moral law, the problem was not in the moral law. It was
in them. The law is holy, isn't it? It's good, and it's just. But here's the problem. The law
is spiritual, but I'm carnal faulty. I'm sold under sin. I'm a sinner, and I can't keep
the law. And what was their problem? Well,
He told them right here, didn't He? Oh, that there were such
a heart in them. That's man's problem. That's
where the fault lies. God had to send his own son.
Why? Because the law being weak after the flesh. It commanded
and commandments was good and just. The flesh was the whole
problem with it. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither indeed can it be. This is why you and I must be
saved by a representative man and by substitute. The Lord Jesus
Christ is our representative and He kept the law. He fulfilled
the law. The ceremonial law as well as
the moral law. Lo, I come not to destroy the
law or the prophets, but to fulfill. And He fulfilled. He fulfilled
all the ceremonial law. Don't we love to see Christ in
the Old Testament? We love to see Him in the priesthood
of Aaron. We love to see Him in the sacrifices.
We love to see Him in the scapegoat. We love to see Him as the temple.
Everything in the law pointed to Christ. And when He came,
He fulfilled it all. And the moral law, He obeyed
it. He obeyed it. There wasn't a
heart in any of these Jews to obey God's law. Even Moses said,
I exceedingly fear and quake. Because no man's heart, natural
heart, can keep the law of God. But Jesus had a heart in Him,
didn't He? He had a heart in Him to keep,
to fulfill all the moral law of God. He made this statement,
Paul quoted it in Hebrews chapter 10, and he quoted it out of Psalms
chapter 40. He said, "...Lo, I come to do
Thy will. Yea, Your law is in my heart."
It's in my heart. Why was it in his heart? To keep
it. He loved it. He kept it. He honored
it. I want you to look over in Isaiah
chapter 42. This is a precious verse here
and it's speaking about the Lord Jesus. And it's speaking about
Him, His whole attitude towards this moral law. Look in Isaiah
chapter 42 and we know this is speaking of the Lord Jesus because
in verse 1 He is talking about My servant whom I uphold, My
elect, in whom My soul delighteth. I have put My Spirit upon him.
He shall show forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry nor lift up His voice. causes his voice to be heard
in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking
flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth." So that is speaking of Christ. And look here at what
is said about Him in verse 21. The Lord is well pleased for
His righteousness sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. How did He magnify the law? By
loving it. by keeping it. When they came
to the Lord Jesus one day and they said, Which is the great
commandment in the law? And He said, There are just two
headings, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind,
soul, and strength, and love your neighbors as yourself. You
know the Lord Jesus did that. And by doing that, He honored
the law. As our representative, He did
that. You know, God can't give people laws and then say, well,
I'm going to save you even though you've broken them. That's unjust,
ain't it? That's why He's got to save us
by representative man. Somebody has to keep those laws. If we can't do it, somebody's
got to do it in our place. And that's the way Christ saves
us, by obeying the law, the moral law, and He fulfilled all the
ceremonial law in the days of His flesh. He was the priest,
the sacrifice, and all of those things. So the first covenant
was faulty, wasn't it? That's what I'm trying to get
at. It was faulty. The ceremonial law was faulty. And the moral
law, though it wasn't faulty in itself, it was good and just
and holy. But the people, we were faulty. That was the whole problem. We
were faulty. So if anybody wants to know why there's a second
covenant, The first covenant was faulty. He made it with the
children of Israel and it was faulty. Look back over at our
text quickly again. Let's look at the nature of the
second covenant. It meets all our needs. It meets every need, every aspect
of every need that we have. He says here in verse 10, ìFor
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord.î And look at the promise, the
precious promises. He gives several promises thatís
contained in this new covenant that God Himself is going to
do. And look what He says. The first one is this, ìThis
is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel. I will put
my laws into their mind. write them in their hearts. Now
there's three things about this. You'll find this in Ezekiel chapter
36 and you'll find it in Jeremiah chapter 31. The first thing he
talked about was giving us, according to this new covenant, I will
put in you a new heart. Remember that? Ezekiel 36. And
I will put a new spirit in you. Now what is it we need? We need
a heart, don't we? Who was that in that one of the
Lord's play Was it the ten men that needed a heart in the Wizard
of Oz? One of the ten men. You need
a heart. We need a heart, don't we? That's what he said. Oh, that there were in them a
heart. So the new covenant says, I'm
going to give you a new heart and I'm going to put a new spirit
within you. And then in Jeremiah chapter 31, he goes on to say
this, I'll put my spirit within you. So see these covenant promises? First of all, a new heart and
a new spirit. And then He's going to put His
Spirit in that new heart and new spirit. Why doesn't He just
come and give us His Holy Spirit without giving us a new heart?
That would be like putting wine, new wine in old wineskins, wouldn't
it? It busts, wouldn't it? And it
all spills. So He gives a new heart and a new spirit. Then
He puts His Spirit in that new heart and a new spirit. He does
that. And then He does this in our
text here in verse 10. I will put My laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts." My laws. What is that? What are these laws that He puts
in our hearts and in our minds? Well, to be sure, it's the moral
law. He'd never save us without putting
love in our hearts, would He? What does the law demand? Love
is the fulfillment of the law, isn't it? To love God, to love
your neighbor, that fulfills the law. So for sure, this is
the moral law that He puts within our hearts. We love God. We love
Christ. We love one another. That's a
law. But you know, that's not the only law the Scripture talks
about. Some people, when you talk about
the moral law, they think, well, that's the only law there is
here. What about this? What about the law of faith?
He puts that in our hearts. Listen to Romans 3.27. Where
has boasting been? It is excluded by what law works
nay, but by the law of faith, faith in Christ, faith that justifies
us. Faith that we walk by and live
by. That's in our heart. The law of faith is in our heart.
What about the law of Christ? Listen to Galatians chapter 6
verse 2, "...bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law
of Christ." That's the law of His house, isn't it? To bear
one another's burdens. He bore our burdens when He was
here. And now He tells us to bear one another's burden, just
like Him. That's the law of His house. Why do you do that? Why
do you always think about other people? To help other people,
to pray for other people. You find out somebody's down,
what do you do? You contact them, don't you? You call them, you
talk with them. What are you doing? You've got this law in
your heart, this law of Christ. You're like your Master. What
about the perfect law of liberty? And what would that be? The perfect
law of liberty. Listen to James, "...whosoever
looketh unto the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein,
he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, he shall
be blessed in his deeds." That's the gospel, isn't it? The perfect
law of liberty must be the gospel. You shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free. Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer therein? He that is dead is freed
from sin. What does the gospel do? It frees
us from sin's guilt. It frees us from sin's dominion.
And it sets us at liberty to serve God in the gospel of His
Son. So there's the law that He puts
within our heart. And there's another one in Romans
8, verse 2. The law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
The law of the Spirit of life. Whatever that means, I've often
wondered, what does that mean, Larry? The law of the Spirit
of life. I guess it's a law like this.
Wherever the Spirit is, you've got life. There's life. He can't
be there without life. And then here is something else
in the last portion of verse 10. I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to me a people. Now this is the nature of this
covenant. Not just in name. You know, many of the Jews were
just children of God in name. And it is certainly not just
a national adoption, but we are children of God by new birth. by birth. All of us have dads,
don't we? You've got to have a dad. You
can't not have a dad. You've got to have a father.
And we think on those terms and we understand on those terms,
but you know, we've got a Heavenly Father. We're born of God just
as sure as we're born of our earthly dad. The Bible says He
has begotten us. with the Word of Truth. He that
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. What manner of love the Father
has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of
God. Isn't that amazing? And that's
real. We have His nature within us. That's why we say, Father, Father,
I will be their God. I will be to them a God. and
they shall be to me a people, my children." Another place He
calls them sons and daughters. And this is why He says here
in verse 11, "...they shall not teach every man his neighbor,
and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord? Well, they shall
all know Me." That's another promise. They shall all know
Me. They've been taught of God. It's written in the prophets,
they shall all be taught of God. Every man that has heard and
learned of the Father, he comes unto me. They are taught of God,
they are born of God, and they know the Son of God. They know the Lord of glory.
It does not matter if you are just newborns. If a person comes
in here tonight and they did not know the Lord, they were
dead in sin, and they left tonight, and the Lord Jesus had revealed
Himself to them, they know the Lord. And that person that's
been on the road to heaven for 50 years or 75 years, they know
the Lord from the least to the greatest. That's a common theme
among God's people. Every child of God knows the
Lord. This is life eternal that they
might know Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you
have sent. And we know how we know Him, don't we? He revealed
to us. Peter, who do you say I am? Well,
you're the Christ, the Son, the living God. My Father has revealed
this to you. We know Him, don't we? We know
Him. And we still tell people, you've
got to know the Lord. But you know it's got to be the
Lord that introduces Himself to us. And it's not something
about being educated. We can't educate people into
it. We can't say, oh, know the Lord, oh, know the Lord, and
teach them and educate them. You've got to meet the Lord for
yourself. It's almost like Wayne sent me
some photographs. up in Anchorage. And man, some
of the most beautiful photographs up in that place. He sent me
one. I remember it just looked like a big meadow. Just flowers
filled this valley. And a beautiful lake there. And
you look up and the whole mountain top was snow-capped. And you
look at that picture and you say, man, how beautiful that
is. And I can tell you and describe that to you, but you know I've
never seen that. And there'd be a difference in seeing it
as opposed to just seeing a picture of him. Or you hear about somebody,
a famous person, and you meet him, you meet this person, and
you look at him right in the eye, and he shakes hands with
you, and you hear his voice, and you become acquainted with
him, and friends with him, as opposed to just hearing what
kind of guy he is. And that's what Paul is saying
here. It's not just saying, know the
Lord, know the Lord. Boy, you need to know the Lord.
It's really knowing Him. And this is what the covenant
says, They shall all know Me. I'm God and Jesus Christ, my
Son. This is life eternal. And here
in verse 12, we have these two precious promises. Look at this.
This is the covenant. This is the nature of the promise.
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more." Here's something you
and I experience every day of our Christian life. I will be
merciful to their unrighteousness. You know, we may have been saved
for 50 or 60 years, but we've still got this remnant of sin
in us, don't we? We struggle with sin. We say
with Paul, O wretched man that I am, we feel it, don't we? And
here's the covenant promises. I will be merciful to that remnant
of sin that remains in them. I won't condemn them for it.
I won't charge them with it. I will be merciful. And every
day, that's our hope, isn't it? Every day, that's why we need
to just keep on yearning about this because we know that's what
we need. the Lord to be merciful to us.
And then secondly, he said, and their sins and iniquities. This
word iniquity means lawless deeds. We need to take our sins and
just magnify them, don't we? We don't need to lessen our sins
or try to sweep them under the rug. Just magnify them, look
at them as they are. Then come here to this covenant
promise and said their sins and lawless deeds I will remember
no more. And that's just another way of
saying I will forgive all their sins. I'll cast them behind my
back. I'll cast them in the depths
of the sea. I'll blot them out as a thick cloud. They're all
forgiven. I can't remember them anymore.
I've often said there was a time in my life that I couldn't remember
my sins, but God could. And now I can't forget them and
He can't remember them. And somebody will say, Oh, if
I'm saved, why do I just keep remembering these awful, shameful
sins? Well, it don't mean you're not
saved because you can't forget them. What it means to be saved
is He can't remember. That's wonderful, isn't it? I will remember them no more,
no more, no more. And I love to thank Satan if
he's got access to the Lord Jesus Christ today. He comes up and
charges us with sin. And the Lord starts shaking his
head. I can't remember that. I can't remember that. And that's
what will happen on the Day of Judgment, too, won't it? If there's
any charge to be brought, the Lord will say, I can't remember
any of that. I can't remember that. because it's all forgiven. That's a covenant promise. Thirdly
and lastly, right quickly, who's the second covenant made with?
He says here in verse 7 and verse 10, with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah. He says that in two places, in
verse 8. Find and fall with them. Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord. I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Verse 10,
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
in those days, saith the Lord. When God saves a natural Jew,
he's born a Jew and he lives a Jew, he's dead in sins, and
God saves him. And when God saves a dead dog
Gentile, He makes them one in Christ. Makes them one in Christ. Both are called children of Abraham. Listen to Galatians 3, 7. They
which be of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. They which be of faith. It doesn't
matter if they're Jew naturally or if they're Gentile. They which
be of faith, both of them are called children of Abraham. There
is neither Jew nor Greek, bond or free, male or female. You
are all one in Christ. Now that's so important, isn't
it? There's not two churches. Any more than there's two Gospels.
Any more than there's two bodies of Christ. There's just one. Look over here in Ephesians.
Back over to your left right quickly in Ephesians chapter
2. This is very familiar, but look at this. Look what he says in verse 11,
chapter 2 and verse 11. portion of this is some of my
favorite reading. Verse 11, Ephesians 2, Wherefore
remember that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who
are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, that at that time you were without
Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promises, having no hope and without God
in the world. in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes
were aforeoff are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is
our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the
middle wall of petition between us, Jew and Gentile, having abolished
in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances, for to make in Himself of two one new man so
make him peace. He calls the church a lot of
things and here he calls her one new man. And that he might
reconcile both Jew and Gentile unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to
you Gentiles, which were aforeof, and those Jews which were nigh.
For through him we both, Jew and Gentile, have access by one
Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints,
and of the household of God." Let's keep on reading. "...in
whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy
temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together for
habitation of God through the Spirit." And look in chapter
3. Cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ for you Gentiles, if
you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is
given me to you, how that by revelation he may know unto me
the mystery as I wrote afore him few words, whereby when you
read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which
in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is
now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit."
What is that mystery? That the Gentiles should be fellow
heirs with who? Believing Jews and of the same
body as believing Jews. and partakers of the promise
in Christ by the gospel. So the house of Israel is the
same as the Israel of God. It is made up of all God's elect
who believe in sinners whether they are Jews or Gentiles. I love that old song. We sang
it sometime, Elect from Every Nation. elect from every nation? Jew and Gentile elect from every
nation, yet one over all the earth. Her charter of salvation,
one Lord, one faith, one birth. Who says that? Every believer
says that. One holy name she blesses, partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses with every grace endued, one in Jesus
Christ. If you're in Christ tonight,
if you're a believer, you're a child of Abraham. You're in
the house of Israel and the house of Judah. And another place is
called the tabernacle of David that was fallen down. We'll look
at that in just a second. Jerusalem, which is above, is
free, listen, which is the mother of us. He was right into Gentiles. We don't go over there to Jerusalem
to worship. We are in this heavenly Jerusalem.
You are coming to Mount Zion unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem. Now look at this place over in
Acts chapter 15. Look in Acts chapter 15. Here
is that great sovereign grace conference. And Peter had stood
up and said that those Gentiles and we Jews are saved just alike.
No difference, we're all saved by grace. And when he finished,
James stood up. And here's what James said. And
after, verse 13, And after they had held their peace, James answered,
saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me. Simon Peter hath declared
how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them
a people for His name. And to this agree the words of
the prophet, which it is written, After this I will return, and
will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down. I will build again the ruins
thereof, and I will set it up, that the residue of men might
seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name
is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things, Known
unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world. So who makes up the tabernacle
of David, the house of David? All the elect of God. And here
he says Gentiles do. We're in the house of David.
Did you know that? We're in the house of David. What happens
is when he talks here in the eighth chapter of Hebrews about
God making a covenant with the house of Israel, Well, if you're
a believer, you're in that house. You're in that house. Joe was
in a Bible study one time. They were studying about who
was a Jew. And one guy was saying something
about he heard people say all the time that believers were
Jews. And he said something about the
Bible don't teach you that. And Joe nudged the person behind
him and showed him Romans chapter 2. They had that guy to read
chapter 2, but I don't think he understood what he was even
talking about, did he? He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly,
naturally. Neither is that circumcision,
which is of the flesh. But he's a Jew, which is one
inwardly, and whose praise is not of men, but of God. And circumcision
is of the heart, not in the flesh. The covenant is with every believer,
isn't it? It's every elect believer in
this world. And that's why he says here he's
made a new covenant. And if you're a Jew or a Gentile,
you're one in Christ. You're just one in Him. And then
he says here in the last verse, we'll finish this chapter in
verse 13, he says, And that he saith a new covenant, he hath
made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old, is ready to vanish away. And some say that it's ready
to vanish away because he was speaking there of Jerusalem ready to fall. And
it did in A.D. 70. The temple stood until A.D. 70. And Titus, the Roman general,
came in and burned the temple and carried so many captives
away and slaughtered them. And there is when that covenant
God put His stamp on it and said, it's gone. It's gone. Paul said, it's ready. And God
said, that's it. AD 70, that's it. And you know
what? It's not been restored since,
has it? We can look back over now almost 2,000 years of history. And why hasn't it been reinstituted? It's not been because they don't
want to. God says, no, it's gone. And why not? It's replaced with
something better, something that's saving, something that's real,
substance. And Wayne just got finished with
the 11th chapter of Romans and I hope he's right in what he
said about that. I hope God is regathering these
Jews over there to open their hearts and to let them see the
truth of what you and I have studied on tonight, that that
old covenant It's gone. It's waxed old. Christ has come
and fulfilled it all and bore the punishment of the broken
law and that's the way He saves us. I hope I live to see that.
If God turns back to that nation, I hope I live to see that. I'd
love to see that. I'd love to see that.