That's a beautiful thought, isn't
it? Not for the years of time alone,
but for eternity. If you will, let's open our Bibles
again this evening to Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews chapter 8,
and I'll begin reading in verse 7. Hebrews chapter 8, beginning
in verse 7. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second. For finding fault with them, he saith, 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 their 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. Last Wednesday, we looked at
the first six verses in this chapter and we saw the psalm. If you notice back in verse one
of chapter eight, where the apostle said, this is the psalm, the
psalm of what he had been teaching and writing about, that is the
Lord Jesus Christ, as our great high priest. This is the psalm. And he gives five truths that
summarizes what he had taught concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
as our great high priest. And the last one, the last one
of the five, in that summary, in verse six, he said, our great
high priest is the mediator of a better covenant which was established
upon better promises. Now remember, he is writing to
Hebrews, that is to Jewish people, Jewish believers, whose fathers,
now remember, whose fathers, whose ancestors, the prophets
of old had prophesied of this better covenant that was established
upon better promises. And he quotes, in these verses
which we've just read, he quotes from the prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah
chapter 31. Keep your places here, but look
back with me to Jeremiah chapter 31, and let's see the prophecy
as it was given. In Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse
31. Remember, Jeremiah was the prophet
who prophesied up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the carrying
away captive of the Israelites into Babylon, and he lived on
past there for some time. But notice the prophecy here
in Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 31. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord. that 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 that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the
land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although I was in
husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my law in their inward
parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God,
and they shall be my people, and they shall teach no more.
Every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them
unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. As I was preparing
these notes for the message tonight, looking back here at this prophecy
in Jeremiah 31, I could not help but notice, if you notice in
verse 22 of this chapter, chapter 31 of Jeremiah, it is here in
verse 22 that God foretold also of something that would be done
in the earth, a new thing. A new thing. And it was, of course,
the birth of Christ. A man born of a virgin. A man born who was not the seed
of a man, but the seed of the woman. A new thing. Notice that
in verse 22. How long wilt thou go about,
O thou backsliding daughter? For the Lord hath created a new
thing in the earth, never been done before, never been done
since, a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man."
Isn't it amazing that in this chapter that told about the birth
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the seed of the woman who God had said from the very
beginning would come to bruise or crush the head of the serpent.
that it's in this same context that we find this new covenant
prophecy that Paul quotes, or the writer of Hebrews, rather,
quotes in our text tonight. And it's almost word for word,
the quotation here in Hebrews chapter 8 with that prophecy
in Hebrews, or in Jeremiah chapter 31. Now tonight, I want to divide
the message into two parts. The first part, I want to call
our attention to three things about this New Covenant. Three
things about this New Covenant and then, secondly, let's look
at the four promises of the New Covenant. Three things about
the New Covenant that we are told here in Hebrews chapter
8. The first thing is the New Covenant
is made with the house of Israel. You notice that in verse 10,
here in Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 10, and it reads the same
as it did there in Jeremiah 31. The new covenant is made with
the house of Israel. But notice in verse 8, and this
was also in that prophecy, behold the days come, Hebrews 8 and
verse 8, for finding fault with them, he saith, 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." The new covenant
is made with the house of Israel. But in both places, first of
all, God said with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah. Now when Jeremiah prophesied
the House of Israel had already been taken captive by the Assyrians,
taken away out of their land. So this new covenant tells about
the reunification of the two parts of national Israel, both
Israel, the House of Israel and the House of Judah, but more
importantly, This new covenant concerns the reunification or
the unification of all believers, not just those who were of national
Israel, not those who were just the physical descendants of Abraham,
but of all believers. This covenant is made with the
spiritual Israel. Now, in the New Testament, I
say this covenant was made with all believers, because we read
in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 26 through 29, there's neither
Jew nor Greek. Those national divisions have
been done away with. In Christ, there's neither Jew
nor Greek, for you are all one in Christ. We're all one in Christ. There's one Savior and one body. He has one body, one church,
and all who are saved are members of this one body of which He's
the head. So this covenant, when we read
it's made with the house of Israel, it's speaking about spiritual
Israel. It's not talking about the national,
natural descendants of Abraham. And if you remember when God
made promise to Abraham, he took him out and he showed him the
stars and he said his seed would be as the stars and also his
seed would be as the sand by the seashore. And that may well
remind us that there was a spiritual seed that was promised to Abraham. a spiritual seed as well as an
earthly seed. The spiritual seed, of course,
is the seed of Christ. But I want you to look at two
other places here to bring this together so that this is clear
in our minds that when we read this new covenant was made with
the house of Israel, it's speaking about you. It's speaking about
me. It's speaking about all believers,
all of God's children. Look with me, if you will, in
Ephesians chapter two. In Ephesians chapter two. And beginning in verse 11, Paul
is writing to believers, children of God, who were by nature Gentiles,
by nationality, I should say. They were Gentiles. Verse 11,
he said, wherefore remember that you being in time past Gentiles
in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision. In other words, you're called
uncircumcised. You are a Gentile. You're called
that by those who are circumcised. That is the Jews. That was the
sign, right, of the covenant that God made with Abraham, circumcision. But Paul is telling these believers
at that time you were without Christ, lost on the way to hell,
without Christ. And that's the condition of every
man and woman when we come into this world. Without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from
the covenants of promise. Didn't have a clue about the
covenants of promise that God had made. with Abraham and with
David, these Israelites, having no hope. And that's true of everyone
who's in this world without Christ, having no hope. Because Christ,
He is our hope. He is the only hope for lost
men and women. You were in this world, you were
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope. You
were without God in this world. There's only one way a person
may have God as his God, and that's through this new covenant,
and that's through Christ. But notice the next verse, But now in Christ Jesus you who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood. In other words, you have been
incorporated into the body of Christ. Just as the Jews who
believe, they are part of the body of Christ, so Gentiles who
are called, they're part of the body of Christ. And look in that
same chapter down to verse 19. Now therefore, you're no more
strangers and foreigners. That's all done away with in
Christ. You're no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God. And I want you to look
back a few pages, one other verse in Galatians, the last chapter
of Galatians, chapter six, verses 15 and 16. Verse 15, for in Christ Jesus,
neither circumcision availeth anything, or uncircumcision. Makes no difference. Has nothing
to do with your relationship to God. Not outward circumcision. Now the circumcision of the heart,
yes, but what is that? That's a new birth. That's a
new birth. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature being born
of the Spirit of God. And as many as walk according
to this rule, peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel
of God. The spiritual Israel, the Israel
of God. So this new covenant, that's
the first thing I wanted to point out to us because I feel like
Some people believe that this covenant is something that's
going to take place in the future with national Israel. No, this
covenant was ratified by the death of Jesus Christ, this new
covenant. He said, this is my blood of
the new covenant, the New Testament, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins. So this covenant, first of all,
the new covenant is made with the house of Israel. Who is the
house of Israel? God's children, spiritual Israel. Now notice the second thing that
I want to point out here in chapter eight is the fault, the fault,
F-A-U-L-T, the fault that was connected with the old covenant
was with them, with them. Notice in verse eight, for finding
fault with them. You see, The fault was not with
God's covenant. It came from God. The fault was
not with God's covenant. It could and it did serve in
revealing by types and by shadows many things that are true in
the new covenant. Many things. It could serve as
a schoolmaster to point men to Christ. The fault was in them. When they took that old covenant
and they tried to earn salvation by their observance to the old
covenant, which they couldn't do. Because the old covenant
commanded love to God with all our heart, all our soul, and
all our mind, and love our neighbor as ourself. That was, that's
summed up in those 10 commands, the 10 commandments. What are
they? Basically, like the Lord Jesus Christ said, all the law
hangs on those two commands. And man, fallen man, is not able. So the fault with the old covenant
was not with the covenant. If you think of that as the law,
remember Paul in Romans 7, he said the law is good. The law
is holy. The fault was with them. The third thing. The new covenant,
notice in verse 9, this new covenant is not according to the old covenant. Not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers. In other words, the new covenant
is entirely different. Entirely different. If sinners
were to be saved, it required a new covenant, a covenant that
is entirely different from that old covenant. A covenant as that
old covenant was based upon the obedience of fallen man cannot
save because man cannot obey, he cannot perfectly keep. As
the scripture says, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be
justified in his sight. Isn't it amazing with the word
of God so clear and so plain how many people will still tell
you that their hope and their confidence of being saved and
being received when they leave this world and going to stand
before God is that they've kept the Ten Commandments. How foolish. How foolish. Man is not able to keep those
commandments. A man can lower those commandments,
you know, he can make those commandments all just have the outward obedience,
but the commandment touches the heart. Paul said, Paul, he, he
was a Pharisee, wasn't he? He, he said, in his opinion,
he kept that law perfectly until the law came to him in power. God the Holy Spirit caused that
law to come to him in power. And he realized that the law
forbade just the very beginning of covetousness. Just to covet
something was to break the law. And to break the law in one point,
the Apostle James tells us, is to break the whole law. It's
all whole, it's one law, right? So those three things, the covenant
is made with the house of Israel, that's the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ, spiritual Israel. The fault with that old covenant,
it wasn't with the covenant, it was with the Israelites, those
who were under that covenant. And the third thing, this new
covenant is Not according to the old covenant. It's a completely
different covenant. The new covenant is one, now
remember, you know this, but remember, what's so different
about this new covenant? That old covenant required the
obedience of every individual to obey, to perfectly obey. Man can't do that. This new covenant
has a surety. as a surety, and the surety is
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he obeyed perfectly everything
that God requires in the saving of a sinner. He came into this
world and he didn't just try to keep the law, he obeyed the
law. The scripture says he honored
the law. He made the law honorable by
his perfect obedience. And that's righteousness. He
is our righteousness. When a person believes in Jesus
Christ, the righteousness of Christ, his perfect obedience
becomes that righteousness of the believer. And he's justified. She's justified. Not by works
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he has saved us,
the apostle said. For he who knew no sin was made
to be sin. He took our sins, the sins of
his people, in his own body, Peter tells us, on the tree.
And he bore the punishment for our sins. And justice is completely
satisfied. Can ask no more. And his righteousness
is imputed unto everyone that believes. He was made to be sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now, notice these four promises
of the new covenant. And they're wonderful promises,
and I see I have very little time, but notice the four promises
in the new covenant. First, I will put my laws into
their mind and write them in their hearts. The new covenant
promises an internal work, You see that old covenant, it was
written on tables of stone, wasn't it? And that showed it was external. The new covenant has to do with
the heart, with the mind. The promise was a new heart and
a new spirit will I put within. Those in this covenant are born
of the spirit of God and God's laws are put in and upon Not
only the heart, but the mind. And it should be the mind and
then the heart. And by saying that, that God's
law is put upon the mind and on the heart. First of all, knowledge. When God's law is written upon
the mind or put into the mind, we have a knowledge of God. But when it's written upon the
heart, we love God. It's both knowledge and love.
This knowledge we call saving knowledge. Saving knowledge. And it comes by the Spirit, the
new birth, the Spirit's revelation. Remember what the Lord Jesus
Christ said to Peter when Peter confessed him as the Christ,
the son of the living God. The Lord Jesus told him, blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona. You didn't learn that in school.
You didn't learn that in college. You didn't learn that in Sunday
school. You may have heard it in Sunday school, and that's
good. But no, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is
in heaven. This knowledge, this is a promise
of the new covenant. The Holy Spirit reveals this
knowledge to a person, and he reveals it to us through the
scriptures, yes, through the word of God. Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. We have an anointing,
the Apostle John tells us, an anointing so that we are taught
the things of God. A lost person, a person who is
not saved, who God has never commanded the light to shine
into his heart, He may know these things in his mind, but they
don't really mean anything to him. They don't mean enough to
him to love them and think about them and appreciate them. But
when God reveals himself to a person, it's real. It's real. He's real. And there's a love for Christ.
The second promise is, I will be to them a God, and they shall
be to me a people. You know, if that was the only
promise of these four, all of them are precious. But when God
promises to a person, I will be your God, you have everything. You can't want any more than
that. I don't care who you are. God
is your God. He takes responsibility for you. And I thought about several things
that I could mention that this means to us, but you know to
have God as your God means he will supply all of your needs?
Did you know that? Every need that you may possibly
have. If he's your God, he's going
to supply it. To have God as your God means
that he makes all things work together for good. To them that
love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. And if you have God as your God,
you have His promise that He will never leave you nor forsake
you. Never. He will never leave you
nor forsake you. To have God for your God means
you're going to spend eternity with Him. He's prepared a place
for you. And we could just go on and on.
They all shall know me from the least to the greatest." Everyone
in this covenant relationship with God. He said, this is life
eternal that they may know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. And we know that teaching has
a big part in a New Testament church. But this is a promise
that all, everyone who is in union with Christ knows him,
knows the Lord. from the least, he said, to the
greatest. And I think of that passage in
1 John, you can look it up for yourself, 1 John chapter 2, where
he speaks of the children, I write unto you little children, for
your sins are forgiven you for Christ's sake. And then he speaks
about the young men, and the fathers, and the children. But
you see, one thing that is true of everyone in this covenant,
our sins are forgiven us for Christ's sake. Now we may grow,
and we should grow. We come in, we're babes in Christ. We're little children, but we
grow. We become young men, and we become
older, maturing in the things of the Lord. But everyone in
this covenant, from the least to the greatest shall know him. And number four, the fourth promise
is, I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. The children
of this new covenant are like every other person when we come
into this world, we are unrighteous. 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 you are saved. The new
covenant believer is the subject of God's rich mercy and free
grace. And we'll be conscious of this. A true believer, a person who's
named in this covenant, is conscious. Everything that I have, everything
that I am, everything I ever hope to have or be or experience,
I owe to the grace and mercy of God. Everything. Everything. All the glory, all the praise
belongs unto Him. And he tells us he will cast
our sins behind his back into the depths of the sea, and when
they are sought for, they cannot be found. Now, Arthur Pink, in
his book on the covenants, he mentioned these four promises,
and the first promise, listen, I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts. Regeneration. Regeneration. The second promise, I will be
to them a God and they shall be to me a people. Reconciliation. Reconciliation. Third, they shall
all know me from the least to the greatest. Sanctification.
Set apart. And number four, I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness, justification, just as if we had never sinned. May the Lord bless His word to
all of us here tonight. It's a wonderful, wonderful covenant,
isn't it? The new covenant. These wonderful
promises that we have in Christ. Praise God. Let's sing a verse
or two of a hymn.