over to Hebrews 8 in our Bibles,
Hebrews chapter 8. I want to look back for a few moments
at verse 6. Hebrews 8 verse 6. But now hath
Christ, our Lord, obtained a more excellent ministry. than the
priest who labored under the law in the first tabernacle with
the sacrifices of animal blood. He hath obtained a more excellent
ministry than they, by how much also he is the mediator. He is the mediator. What is a
mediator? It's the middle person between
parties who are estranged. Our Lord is the middle person
between God and the sinner, between the sinner and God. But his intercession
and mediation can profit very little if he's only a representative,
because God is angry. Scripture says God is angry with
the wicked. God is highly offended by man
and his sins. His kingdom has been injured
by these who have sinned against him. Therefore, Christ is more
than a representative. He is a mediator who is a surety. Look back at chapter 7. In verse
22, it calls him not only the mediator, but the surety. of a better covenant. A surety
is one who undertakes to satisfy the debt of the person whom he
represents. He undertakes for sinners to
satisfy God's justice for us and to honor God's law for us
by the actual sacrifice of himself. So he is the surety of that better
covenant. And he is the mediator of that
better covenant. And that better covenant is established
upon better promises than the old covenant. The old covenant
was made only with Israel, one nation, a typical nation. The new covenant is made in Christ
with many people of many nations. The scripture says of every tribe,
kindred, nation, tongue unto heaven. And that old covenant
came by Moses. That's what the word says. Turn
to John chapter 1. The old covenant came through
Moses. Moses was the mediator of that
old covenant. In John chapter 1 verse 17, the
law was given. The word is there in our King
James translation is by, but the word, Moses didn't give the
law. The law came to Israel through
Moses. The law came through Moses. He
was the mediator who delivered the law which God gave him. But
the law came through Moses. But grace and truth, the new
covenant, came by Jesus Christ, not through him. It threw him,
yes, but not only threw him, by him. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. He's the author of that covenant.
So that first covenant came through Moses. Grace and truth, the new
covenant came by Jesus Christ. And that old covenant, why does
God, why does the writer keep calling it a better covenant?
Well, that first covenant promised physical and material blessings.
If Israel would bind God and do what they're supposed to do,
and not do what they weren't supposed to do, then God would
bless them with physical, material blessings. He would bless the
land. cause the land to bring forth plenty. But this new covenant,
which came by Jesus Christ, doesn't promise only physical, material
blessings. That's what most religious people
in our day are interested in, health and wealth and prosperity.
But this promises spiritual blessings in heavenly places. That's what
Christ gives to us. Let's turn again to John's Gospel.
and read about the promises of the new covenant in John chapter
17, our Lord's high priestly prayer in John 17. This is what
he purchased for us. John 17 verse 22, verse 21, that
they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee. that they also may be one in
us, that the world may believe thou hast sent me, and the glory
which thou hast given, thou gavest me, I have given them, that they
may be one even as we are, I in them, and thou in me, that they
may be made perfect, perfect, and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. That
old covenant promised physical, material blessings. But this
everlasting covenant in Christ promises eternal life and peace
and eternal glory. And then the laws of that old
covenant were written on stone and commanded outward obedience.
That's what they dealt with mainly. Those laws commanded outward
obedience. But the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus is not written on stones, it's written in the
heart. And it consists of inward love
and obedience, which we have by his enabling grace, by his
grace in us. Paul said, I labor more abundantly
than anybody, and yet not I, but Christ in me. So that which
God's law written on the heart requires, he supplies. But the law can't supply anything.
It can only require. It can only demand. It can't
meet any need. And then the priest of this old
covenant, why is Christ's covenant better? The priest and mediators
of that old covenant were men. And that's all they were. And
their sacrifices were powerless to save. But this everlasting
covenant of which our Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator, offers a sacrifice which is able
to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him. First
Timothy, chapter 5, tells us But there is 1 Timothy 2, verse
5, tells us there's one God, but we know that. There's one
God. The Lord our God is one God.
But there is one mediator between God and men. Now, don't change
that word. It doesn't say between God and
mankind. It says between God and men.
There's one God, there's one Mediator between God and men,
and that's the Mary, Christ Jesus. He's the only Mediator. And people
try to make the Virgin Mary a Mediator, and they pray to Mary, and they
say, Mary, Hail Mary, Mother of God. Well, Mary's not the
Mother of God. God used her as a human instrument
to bring forth His Son into the world, but she was a frail and
faulty and sinful creature like anybody else. In fact, Mary herself
said in her psalm of praise, my soul rejoices in God my Savior. Only a sinner needs a Savior.
Mary is a sinner who is saved by grace. And they talk about
the bodily assumption of Mary. No such thing ever occurred.
That's not in the Scripture. Mary died and was buried like
everybody else. Mary was married to Joseph, and
he never knew her until after Christ was born. But after Christ
was born, she gave birth to a son named Joseph, and a son named
Judah, and another son, and a girl. Brothers and sisters of our Lord
when he was in the flesh. She's not a mediator. And neither is anybody else,
but one. There's one God and there's one
Mediator. He is the Mediator of the better
covenant. He is the surety of the better
covenant. That's a definite article. He's
not a Mediator. He is the Mediator. There's only
one God and there's only one Mediator between God and man,
and that's the surety, the high priest, the man, the God-man,
Jesus Christ. And anyone who prays to anyone
else or hopes to find in anyone else any security or help, he
might as well pray to Buddha. And yet they say, Hail Mary,
Mother of God, pray for us poor sinners. She can't do it. She
can't help herself. Her soul rejoiced in God her
Savior. My soul can't rejoice in her. Pray for us poor sinners, and
then it's just such a ridiculous, ridiculous, terrible, terrible
plague and blight brought upon a human race by religious people
to gain some kind of wealth and prosperity. So the priests of
this old covenant were men, and their sacrifices were powerless
to save. But turn to 1 John chapter 4.
In 1 John 4, verses 9 and 10, here is what our Lord does. In
this was manifested the love of God toward us, because God
sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live
through him and hear in his love, not that we love But that he
loved us, and he sent his Son to be the propitiation, the mercy,
the covering, the reconciliation for our sins in the stead of
his people, substitution. Christ honored God's law on our
behalf, satisfied God's justice, and put away all our sins. And the law couldn't do that.
The law couldn't do that. Now here's one more point about
that old covenant in regard to the new one. The first covenant
was never given with any intention to serve as a savior. It never
was given to serve as a savior. The whole purpose of that Old
Testament law, with all of its types and pictures and patterns
and examples, with all of its priests and holy days and feast
days and atonement days, it was given to shut men up to Christ. Let me show you that in Galatians. To shut men up to Christ, to show them their need of Christ,
Galatians 3, verse 21. Galatians 3.21. Now, that's the
promise of God, redemption. That's the promise of God that
Abraham believed. He believed the promise of God.
Now, is the law against the promise of God? Galatians 3.21. Is the
law against the promise of God, this Mosaic law? God forbid. For if there had been a law given,
which could have given life, then righteousness would have
been by the law, if it's possible. But the scriptures has concluded
all under sin. Everybody is under the curse
and dominion and the power of sin. That the promise by faith
of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Now before
faith came, we were kept under that law. Shut up! Shut up unto the faith that should
afterward be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster,
our teacher, our instructor, to shut our mouths and show us
what we are and who God is and what sin is, what we need, to
bring us to Christ. That's what the law is given
for, to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Now then, after faith comes, I'm no longer under the schoolmaster. If that's not plain You might
as well tear it out and go home if you can't understand that.
That's just so plain. The law wasn't given to save
anybody. It was given to shut us up to
Christ. Shut us up to faith. And after
faith comes, and that's what it did. The law and instructions of God. There
were some men back in those days that properly understood the
types. Now Abel, evidently through Adam,
his father, Abel learned that you have to come to God with
a lamb, that your works aren't going to do it. And so Abel bought
the lamb by faith, and he was able to see in this picture the
Christ. That's right, he was able to
see Christ because he bought that lamb. Abraham was able to see in the
sacrifice of a lamb, the sacrifice of God's lamb, because he said,
my son, God will provide himself a lamb. Isaac, let's look at
Hebrews 11. Let's look at some of these men
in Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews 11 verse 4. Let's see
this right here. This is what I'm saying. By faith,
Hebrews 11 verse 4, Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than
James. by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying
of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh." This man
was under the law of sacrifice and under the type of sacrifice
and animal blood. But he saw beyond it. This sacrifice
brought him to Christ. Now look at Hebrews 11, verse
12. Abraham, Hebrews 11, verse 17,
by faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received the
promise offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said that
in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And Abraham accounted that God
was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from whence also
he received him in a figure. He believed God. And then Isaac,
in verse 20, by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning
things to come. He wasn't looking for life in
the law. Isaac was looking for life in
Christ. And by faith, Jacob, when he was a dying He blessed
both the sons of Joseph, you remember how he switched his
hands? Manasseh and Ephraim. He wasn't thinking about these
boys now, he was thinking about something out yonder. And when
he blessed his son Judah, old Jacob said, that old dying Jacob,
he said, Judah, Judah, the scepter shall not depart from you until
Shallow comes. The law shut him up to Christ.
Moses, Hebrews 11, look at Moses, verse 24. By faith Moses, when
he was come to years, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming
the reproach of Christ. What did Moses know about Christ?
He wrote of Him. He knew a great deal of Christ.
These believers, they never hoped to find find any salvation or
acceptance of God in these laws, they went about these things,
doing them for the purpose for which they were given, to show
Christ and their faith in him. Let's get on with our lesson
here, verse 7. Now, if that first covenant,
the covenant which God gave through Moses, had been faultless No
place would have been sought for the second if it had been
faultless. But it was totally deficient.
In fact, as long as that old covenant was in operation, it
didn't save anybody. It kept telling them they were
lost. It kept reminding them they were sinners. It never put
away a sin. Let's read that in Hebrews 10.
Turn one page. Hebrews 10. For the law of Moses,
the law of types and pictures, having a shadow of good things
to come, and not the very image of the things to come, could
never with those sacrifices which are offered year by year continue
to make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they
not have ceased to be offered? Because if the worshipers once
purged, once sin is put away, they would have no more conscience
of sin. But in those sacrifices, now
here's what I'm saying, this law is so deficient that instead
of putting away sin, it kept reminding them of their sin. Verse 3, in those sacrifices
there's a remembrance again and again and again made of sins
every year. It's still here. That's the reason
you have to keep on bringing the same sacrifices. For it's
not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away
sin. All right, verse 8, now. Finding fault with them. You
see that word them? God finding fault with them.
What does he find fault with? The people, because they contingent
not in the things he commanded, but also the law. He found fault
with that covenant because of its weakness. The law could not
saved. And God found fault not only
with the people, but with those laws. Because he said in Hebrews
10, verse 6, look at Hebrews 10, in those burnt offerings
and sacrifices for sin, the house had no pleasure. Verse 8, again
when he said, sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offerings
for sin, thou wouldest not, neither has pleasure therein which are
offered by the law. These things, God was displeased
with the people and with the law. So he says in verse 8, finding
fault with that old law and the people who were under that law,
he said, Behold, the days come. Or in another translation, in
the days to come. In the days to come, saith the
Lord, when I will make a new covenant A new covenant with
the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Let's read about it
way back in Jeremiah, chapter 23. In the days to come. I believe that's a good way to
state that. The days come or in the days
to come. In the days of the Messiah. In
the days of the coming of Christ. Jeremiah 23, listen to this.
Verse 5, Behold the days come, saith the Lord, I raise up unto
David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper,
this is Christ, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
And in his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell
safely, and this is his name, whereby he shall be called Jehovah
Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will
provide. Jehovah-Rehah, Jehovah, all the
seven names, that's the name of Christ, the Lord, our righteousness. That's that covenant. All right,
back to chapter 8 of Hebrews. He says, Behold, in the days
to come, saith the Lord, I'll make a new covenant. Why is it
called a new covenant? But it's called a new covenant
out of respect to its origin, because it's not in origin new. It goes back before the foundation
of the world. And it's not called new because of its age, for it's
an everlasting covenant. Hebrews 13 says, God brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd
of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
And he was a lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
I'll give you three reasons why the Lord caused this covenant
that he will make with Judah and Israel, with the people through
Christ, a new covenant. Number one, it's called new in
that it's newly revealed. The covenant that was made first
was revealed second. It was made before the fall.
It was revealed after the fall. And the covenant that was made
second was revealed first, given to the people before Christ came. It's called new in this newly
revealed. It's called new secondly because
it's always new. His mercy's lamentation declares
are new every moment. It's always new. Never grows
old. This covenant is always new.
That old covenant is always old. Everything about it. Like I read
a while ago that he's going to wrap it up, wrap it up like an
old vesture. It'll change. Wrap it up, fold
it up, put it away. But this covenant in Christ is
always new. And it's called new thirdly because
it gives a new heart. The old covenant couldn't change
the height. The old covenant was on stones
and it was written to a stony height. But the new covenant
gives a new heart and a new nature and a new spirit and a new heaven
and a new earth. It's new. And then it's called
new. because it will never be superseded
or replaced. It's all. It's new. It's ever
new. Behold, in the days to come,
saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house
of Judah and of Israel. Now, who's that? Well, Romans
2. Let's turn over there a minute
in Romans chapter 2. Is this a covenant he's going
to make with the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel or the
natural seed of Abraham? No. No, sir. It says in Romans 2, verse 28,
he's not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh. But he's an Israelite. He's a
Jew, which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not
of men, but of God. And in Galatians chapter 3, it
says, Galatians chapter 3, it says verse 7, Know ye not that
they which are of faith, those are the children of Abraham?
That's Israel. That's Israel. They which are
of faith are the children. In verse 9 of Galatians 3, so
then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Verse 16, now to Abraham and
his seed were the promises made. He didn't say to seeds as of
many, but as of one, to thy seed which is Christ. And verse 26,
you are the children of God by faith in Christ. As many of you
have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ, and there's
neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free, there's
neither male nor female, you're one in Christ. And if you be
Christ, you're Jews, you're Israelites, you're the tribe of Judah, you're
Abraham's seed, and you're an heir, according to Promise. That's
who this covenant was made for, spiritual Israel, Judah and Israel. God made that covenant. All right,
verse 9. Now, this covenant is not according
to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day I took them
by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. That's
not the covenant. That's not it. Because they continued not
in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. This
new covenant is not the old covenant reconditioned. It's not the old
covenant revised. It's not the old covenant restored.
Don't bring back any of it. Don't bring back the Sabbath
day. It's gone. Don't bring back the tithe. It's
gone. Don't bring back the sacrifices, the Passover, or the diets, or
those things. This covenant, the whole thing.
This new covenant is not that thing reconditioned and revised
and restored. It's gone. This is brand new
in Christ. Let me show you that in Hebrews
10. Turn over one page to verse 9. Well, let's read verse 8, or
verse 7. Let's go to Hebrews 10. Then
said I, Lo, I come, and the volume of the book is written of me,
to do thy will, O Above, when he said, Sacrifice, and offering,
and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldst not, neither
had pleasure therein which are offered by the Lord. Then said
he, Lo, this is Christ speaking, I come to do thy will, O God.
He takes away the first, that he may establish the second.
And do you know that taking away the first reaches to a whole
lot of things? It takes away the first Adam
and the second Adam, Christ. He takes away our first birth,
and we're born again. He takes away the first covenant, the new covenant.
He takes away the first tabernacle. There's a new Christ tabernacle
among us. He takes away the first mercy
sheet. Christ is our mercy sheet. He
takes away our first nature. He said, I'll take away that
old stony heart and give you a new heart. Then he takes away
our first body and gives us a new body. He takes away the first
earth and gives us a new earth. He takes away the first heaven
and gives us a new heaven. I make all things new. There's
not anything that's going to be reserved or kept or reused
of the past. It's all new in Christ. That's
right. And that covenant, he said, I take away that old covenant.
It's a brand new one, brand new. And let me show you this, and
I told you this morning, if you don't study the Old Testament,
you're going to struggle around with the New. But now this New
Covenant, Hebrews 8, let's look at it. Hebrews 8, verse 10. Now this is the covenant
I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, in the days
of Christ, saith the Lord. I'll put my law in their minds,
I'll write them in their hearts, I'll be unto them a God, and
they'll be to me a people. And she 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, and
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities,
for I remember no more." Beautiful promise. But when was it made? Back in the Old Testament. I
know this is true because this is written, turn to Jeremiah
chapter 31. Now this is hundreds of years. before our Lord came. When Jeremiah wrote this, they
were still under the old law. They were still keeping the Sabbath
day, the sacrifices, the priesthood, and all those things. And Jeremiah,
by God's Holy Spirit, wrote these words. Now listen to them. Verse
33, Jeremiah 31. But this shall be the covenant
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I'll put my law in the inward
parts. I'll write it in their hearts and I'll be their God
and they'll be my people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord. They'll all know me from the least to the greatest,
saith the Lord. And I'll forgive their iniquities.
I'll remember their sins no more." That's identical. That's the reason we believe
Paul because he preached the same thing Jeremiah preached.
That's the reason we believe Peter because he preached the
same thing Moses preached. That's when we believe James
and John, they preach what Abraham and Isaac and Jacob believed. Let's look for a moment at this
covenant before we go. Verse 10, Hebrews 8. This is
the covenant I'll make with the house of Israel. That's all believers. We are sons of Abraham by faith.
First, I'll put my laws into their minds. Write them in their
hearts. What laws are these? Not the law of sacrifice, holy
days, and so forth. One, it's the moral law. One of those old Pharisees asked
our Lord, which is the greatest law? He said there are two. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and thy neighbors thyself, and on these
two hang all the laws. Christ said, this is my commandment.
You love one another. He's going to write that on your
heart. He's going to write it on your heart so you love it,
write it on your mind so you think of it. It's the commandments
of our Lord to love one another. It's the commandments to believe.
God now commands all men everywhere to repent. That's a command.
Well, we love that. And then the law he writes on
your heart is his word. Many times you read the scriptures,
it talks about the Law of God, it's talking about the Word of
God. All the Word of God. In fact, in the 119th Psalm,
that's the Psalm of the Word, isn't it, right? It's the Psalm
all about the Word. It keeps talking about the Law, the Law,
the Law, the Law. It's the Word of God. And then
all of his commandments. Let me show you a scripture.
1 John 5, 3. First John 5.3, listen to this. First John 5.3, this is the love
of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not
grievous. They were to those old Jews with
their stony hearts, but this is not grievous. We will write them in our hearts.
And then secondly, he said, I'll be to them a God. They mean to
me a people. He is our God, not only as the
God of creation and the God of power and majesty and the God
of sovereignty and the God of providence, but he's our God
and our Father. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And do you know Christ said the
same thing about us? I want you to turn, if you will,
to John 20. Verse 17, John 20, verse 17. I'll be their God, and they'll
be my people. And Christ said in John 20, verse
17, to Mary, there at the tomb, John 20, 17. Mary, Jesus said
to her, touch me not. I'm not yet ascended to my Father,
but you go to my brethren, my brethren, and you say unto them,
I ascend to my Father. and your Father, my God and your
God. Now boy, I'll tell you, that's
awesome. He says, I'll be to them a God
and they'll be to me a people. In the same relationship I have
with my Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. For Christ said, Father, you
love them as you love me. He's my God and my Father. That's
the cover. Let me show you a couple of more
things in verse 11. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord, they'll all know me from the least to the greatest. What
does this mean? Well, listen, back under that old covenant,
if a man wanted to know God, and if he wanted to know what
God had to say, he had to go to a prophet. That's the first
thing I read in the openness service. God who at sundry times
spake to our fathers with the prophets. If they learned anything,
they had to go to the prophet. And if a man desired to offer
a sacrifice to God, he had to go to a priest. Do you remember
when King Saul offered a sacrifice? God destroyed him. Do you remember
when King Uzziah offered a sacrifice? God killed him. But you and I
are priests. We're kings and priests under
God. And we offer unto God spiritual
sacrifices, not blood, but sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving with
which God is well pleased. When I wrote this down, if a
man wanted to know God, he had to go to a prophet. If he wanted
to offer a sacrifice or have forgiveness of sins, he had to
go to a priest. Some folks would like to return that today and
put people under their power, preachers. But that's not it. Every believer is a son of God.
Every believer is a priest to offer sacrifices of praise and
prayer. Every believer is a saint. Every
believer is a student of the word. Every believer is taught
of the Spirit of God or he wouldn't know God. Every believer has
the Holy Spirit. If any man has not the Spirit,
he's none of his. And every believer comes to Christ
all the time and learns of him. Now, that's the new covenant.
People talk about going back to the law. Do you know what
the law says? You don't want nothing to do with that. I want
this new covenant. They'll all know me from the
least to the greatest. And listen, this is great. I'll
be merciful to their unrighteousness. I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness.
Thank God. Our God in Christ doth once and
for all forgive our sins, pardons them, cleanses them, he's reconciled
us in Christ. His forgiveness is not only an
act of mercy, it's an act of justice. He that spared not his
own son, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?
I know forgiveness is an act of mercy, but it's an act of
justice. Christ paid the debt, it's paid.
He said, I remember their sins no more. No more. One of the old writers, I think
it's that same John Kent that I read after this morning, but
he said this, listen to it. Come saints and sing in sweet
accord and with solemn pleasure tell of the covenant made with
our Lord in all things it's ordered well. That covenant stood ere
time began. that God with us might dwell. Eternal wisdom drew the plan,
and all things ordered well. This covenant, O believer, stands
your greatest fears to quell, because it is sealed by the bleeding
surety's hand, and in all things ordered well. It was made with
Christ for his bride before the sinner fell. It was signed and
sealed and ratified, in all things ordered well. And when mountains
and hills depart and flee, and sink this world to hell, that
covenant shall all Saints admire, because it is ordered in all
things well. It is in glory soon with Christ
our King, his sheep shall surely dwell, and of that blessed covenant
saying, in all things ordered well. And David died with those
words on his lips. Although it be not so with my
house, God made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and well. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire, though he make it not to grow. Well, it's
a great chapter, isn't it? A great chapter of comfort and
assurance, confidence, faith. The jar sent. You can think of
a lot of things to say about it.