This morning to open your Bibles
to Hebrews chapter 8 and put your bulletin there or some way
to mark it. And then we're going to begin
our message this morning from an Old Testament passage. An Old Testament prophecy. Prophecy,
of course, is a promise. When God gives his word, it is
certain. But I want us to begin in Malachi,
the last book in the Old Testament, Malachi chapter 3. Malachi chapter 3. I will send my messenger, and
he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek
shall suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant
whom you delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord
of hosts. But who may abide the day of
his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is
like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap. And he shall sit
as a refiner and purifier of silver. And he shall purify the
sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they
may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall
the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as
in the days of old, as in the former years. And I will come
near to you to judgment, and I will be a swift witness against
the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false
swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages,
the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger
from his right. And fear not me, saith the Lord
of hosts, for I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. We notice that our text begins
today with the word behold. Behold, calling our attention
in answer to the question that man had put forth the last part
of chapter 2. Where is the God of judgment? Where is He? Where is this God
of judgment? Some ask this question in unbelief. Believing as most people today
believe, it makes little difference how a person lives, what his
conduct is, makes little difference whether you do good or evil.
Where is the God of judgment? Some asked this question who
did believe, no doubt. But the answer is, he who is
the God of judgment, he will come. There's no question but
that this is the Lord Jesus Christ who is here speaking, who sends
his messenger before his face. And his messenger, we know, was
John the Baptist, who came before him. The gospel of Mark begins
quoting this verse. Let me read you Mark chapter
1, verses 1 and 2. The beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets. And here it is, this prophet.
I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy
way before thee. Behold, I will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord, whom
you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple. We've seen in
the last couple of weeks how it is that the one who is the
desire of all nations, that is the promised Messiah, that he
would suddenly come to this temple. This was the second temple, the
temple that was rebuilt after the Jews came back out of 70
years captivity in Babylon. And in comparison outwardly to
the temple that Solomon built, it was as nothing in the eyes
of the people. And yet God said, That temple
would be filled with His glory. It would have more honor, more
glory, this second temple. And we know that was true by
the coming of Jesus Christ into that temple. He came, first of
all, at six weeks of age to be presented to the Lord as the
law of the Lord commanded every firstborn, every male, to be
presented in the temple. And then we saw that he came
over his lifetime, but especially we are told that he came at 12
years of age to sit in the midst of the learned doctors and rabbis
to hear them and ask questions of them. He came to this temple,
as this verse of scripture tells us, the Lord whom you seek shall
suddenly come to his temple. He came to this temple especially
the word suddenly in reference to the time period between this
messenger, that is John the Baptist, when he appeared to the nation
of Israel and began to preach, repent for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand, suddenly, that is just a short time, this one would
come to his temple. Now he'd been coming to that
temple for 30 some years, but after he is baptized and begins
his public ministry and John begins his ministry, then suddenly
the Lord Jesus Christ comes to this temple. And what did he
find when he came to this temple? He found that those who were
the religious leaders of the nation, and remember this, of
all the nations of the world, And there were many, and there
are many. But of all of those nations,
God chose one man, Abraham, called him, and made of him the nation
of Israel. And remember, God told them through
the prophet Moses that God set His love upon them, not because
they were more, not because they were better, But God loved them
because He would love them. And to them He committed the
oracles of God, the Word of God. And they alone had the temple. They alone had the altar. They
alone had the mercy seat where God said that He would meet with
them. they alone. And yet when the
Lord Jesus Christ, after he began his public ministry, when he
came to this temple, what did he find? He found that the religious
leaders had turned it into a house of merchandise. If you want to
turn with me, I want to read from John chapter 2. And this
is immediately after his first miracle in Cana of Galilee, when
he turned the water into wine. And this is the first Passover
feast that he attended after he entered into his public ministry. But in John chapter 2 and verse
13 we read, And the Jews' Passover was at hand. And that's what
it had become. It was no longer God's Passover,
it was the Jews' Passover. By twisting and turning the scriptures,
the truth of the Passover, what it meant, how it pictured the
Lamb of God, all of that had been lost in obscurity by these
religious leaders. And so now John writes and he
says, the Passover of the Jews was at hand. And Jesus went up
to Jerusalem. Here he is. He suddenly comes
to his temple. And what does he find? And found
in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, the
changers of money, sitting. And when he had made a scourge
of small cards, he drove them all out of the temple, and the
sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money over
through the tables, and said unto them that sold doves, Take
these things hence, Make not my father's house. My father's house. Make not my
father's house. And house of merchandise. That's
what it had become. A house of merchandise. Remember
there were three parts of the temple. The outer part was the
court of the Gentiles. And they had turned that into
a market. So people that came a long distance
and had to bring a sacrifice, no, we'll make it easy for you.
We'll sell you a sacrifice here. And it's a sacrifice that's already
been approved by the priest. And so there was a way to make
money out of the offerings of God. And that's what our Lord
found in the temple when he suddenly came and he cleansed it. And if I understand the Gospels
correctly, he did this again at the end of his ministry. And
that shows us, if that's so, and I believe it is, he cleansed
the temple at the first Passover, and he also cleansed the temple
at the third Passover, the Passover in which he would be offered
up as the Passover lamb. And that shows us how that in
just a little time, Just a little time, three short years, the
temple that he had cleansed, they had brought all of that
back in. And I tell us this for this reason. Every generation, you, your generation,
me, my generation, every generation, we must earnestly contend for
the gospel, my friends. Because quickly it will be lost. It will be taken away. He suddenly
came to his temple. And in another gospel, when he
cleansed the temple, the Scripture says, He told them, My house
shall be called of all nations a house of prayer. In other words, for all nations,
they were to be a witness. Here was this nation among all
the nations. They were to be a witness to
all the nations of the world of how men might come to God,
how men might approach God. What they had done is they had
turned that house, that place, into a house of merchandise.
Now, back in our text here in Malachi, we are told He shall come, the Lord whom
you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant, whom you delight in. In every age, in every age, both
before he came and since he came, there have been those who delight
in Him. They are referred to as a remnant
according to the election of grace. They are those who hear
the gospel and believe the gospel, and they are those to whom He
is precious. God the Father testified from
heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, in
whom I am well delighted. And that's true too of everyone
who believes the gospel, who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. We confess this is my beloved
in whom I'm well pleased, in whom I delight. He came, we see
from this text, as the messenger of the covenant. In Isaiah chapter
49, we have some words that are words of the Father spoken to
Christ, and they are these, I will give thee for a covenant of the
people. In other words, Christ alone
is put there as the entirety of the covenant, because The
covenant concerns Christ. He's revealed to us in Scripture
here as the messenger of the covenant. We know that he's the
surety of the covenant. And we know also that he is the
mediator of the covenant. David, some of his last words,
he said, he hath made with me an everlasting covenant. And
Jeremiah, he prophesied of this and he called it a new covenant. We like to refer to it as a covenant
of grace. Same covenant. Covenant of grace,
everlasting covenant, and he's the messenger of this covenant.
Now what does it mean by Him being the messenger of this covenant. It means that by His coming He
has made it more fully known. He has made it more, He has revealed
it rather more by His coming. By His coming and His life and
death and resurrection and ascension and intercession for us at the
Father's right hand He has revealed, He's told out this covenant. This covenant in which God saves
sinners. Now from the scriptures, think
about this word covenant. From the scriptures. There are two ways that we may
think of this covenant. We may think of it as a contract. as a pact, a contract, or we
may think of it as a last will and testament, because we find
it both ways. As a contract, if we think of
this covenant as a contract, then we say that God, and when
we say God, we know that we are speaking of the three persons
in the Godhead. that God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit all agreed together in making
this covenant. They covenanted together to do
certain things for their own glory. That's the
ultimate end. For their own glory. You see,
God doesn't save sinners just to keep a sinner out of hell.
Yes, God saves sinners and we are kept out of hell, but that's
not His ultimate purpose. His ultimate purpose is His own
glory. And in the work of salvation,
in this covenant, God has a way in which each and every person
in the Godhead is glorified, honored, praised. God's worthy, isn't He? He's
worthy of praise and honor and glory by those who know Him. Now God the Father Simply put,
in this contract, thinking of the covenant as a contract, God
the Father chose the people in Christ and gave them to Him as
His sheep, as members of His body. God the Son, in this contract,
He agreed, covenanted to be made flesh. in the fullness of the
time to come into this world to be made flesh and to redeem
His people. Redeem His sheep by giving Himself
in their stead and in their place. And God the Holy Spirit in this
covenant, He agrees to quicken and draw each and every one who
was given by the Father to the Son Each and every one that the
Son redeemed by His blood, God the Holy Spirit has agreed to
draw, to bring into vital union with Christ. Now as a will, I said it can
be considered as a covenant or as a will. As a will, we find
that Christ is the testator. And that word simply means it's
His will. I have a will. I'm sure that
most of you men here today, you have a will. And you have the
freedom to go home this afternoon and get that will and mark through
this and write in here and change this and change that. And that
will is good, but once you die, nobody better change that will.
It's fixed. As a will, Christ as the testator,
He sealed this covenant with His blood. Therefore, all the
benefits are sure to those who are named in the will. Now, if you will, look with me
on our way to Hebrews chapter 8. I want you to stop by Matthew
chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26 and verse
28. Our Lord instituted the Lord's
table, the Lord's supper, the night in which he was betrayed
and the next day he would be crucified. He said this about
the cup, this for this is my blood of the New Testament. In other words, with his blood
that he shared, the covenant, the testament was sealed. This is my blood of the New Testament
which is shared for many for the remission of sins. Now let's
go to Hebrews chapter 8. Now, of the things which we have
spoken, this is a psalm. What he had spoken of, especially
in chapter 7, but really up to this point in this letter. Here's
the psalm. We have such an high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which
the Lord pitched and not man. That tabernacle that Moses pitched
was a picture, was a type of the true tabernacle. The true
tabernacle was the body that the Lord Jesus Christ assumed. We beheld his glory. He tabernacled
among us. In that tabernacle, that's where
God revealed himself, that's where the mercy seat was and
the Holy of Holies and God's presence was manifested there. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
true tabernacle. Which the Lord pitched, not man. Man had nothing to do with that
body the Lord Jesus Christ assumed other than it was taken from
the Virgin Mary. but we know he had no earthly
father. God the Holy Spirit produced
from her body that body that he assumed. For every high priest
is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices. Wherefore, it is
of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if
he were on earth, he should not be a priest, He would not have
been a priest. Why? Because he came from the
tribe of Judah. The priestly tribe was the tribe
of Levi. They became priests by inheritance. They were born into the tribe
of Levi. The high priest, he had a son
who became high priest. Who had a son became high priest. It was by inheritance. But remember,
Christ is our high priest, the one he's speaking of here, how
was he made a high priest? With an oath. With an oath. God said, God swore, thou art
a priest forever after the ordinance of Melchizedek. In other words,
his priesthood is unending. He's been a priest and is a priest
today. If he were on earth, he should
not be a priest saying that there are priests that offer gifts
according to the law, who serve unto the example and shadow of
heavenly things. That's all they were. Shadows,
types, pictures. Why? Because it's not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats can take away sin. See, saith he, that thou make
all things according to the pattern shown to thee in the mount. When
God gave the instructions for the tabernacle to Moses, he told
Moses, now you see, you make it exactly like I've told you.
And he was faithful in his house. Why was it important? Because
it pictured Christ and his saving work. But now hath he obtained a more
excellent ministry, but how much also he is the mediator of a
better covenant. Now this is that covenant we're
talking about. That covenant of which he's the
messenger. He's also the mediator. The mediator
of a better covenant. Notice, which was established
upon better promises. This new covenant, this everlasting
covenant, it's a better covenant. It's established upon better
promises. 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. Now here's where it was prophesied
in the prophecy of Jeremiah. 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." See, this covenant
is not like that covenant that he made with the nation of Israel.
That covenant he made with the nation of Israel, it was all
dependent upon their obedience. Now, they said they would obey.
They told Moses, you go back and you tell God, and yes, we
want you to speak for us. They did know this. They needed
a mediator. for them, but they agreed to
everything, every word that God spoke to Moses on the mountain.
They agreed. They said, yes, we'll do it.
And you know, when he came down the first time from that mountain
with those two tables, they'd already broken it. Here they are, just come out. Think about this. Just come out
of Egypt. Just seen the mighty hand of
God and all of those plagues and miracles that God wrought
there. And they tell Aaron, make us
a God. Make us a God. And here's Aaron,
the man who's going to become the high priest, not the great
high priest, but the high priest under this under this covenant. And I thought about him this
morning. I thought, you know, he just, he was just like the
rest of us. You quoted that scripture this
morning. He remembers our frame that we are but dust. And when
they came to Aaron and they said, make us a God, what did he say?
He said, bring me your earrings and I'll make you a God. And
he made them one, a golden calf, and he said, here, Israel, here's
your God. Moses, when he came down and
saw they were naked, that is, they had no defense. They were
having a big festival, big dance or something, you know, dancing
around that God, no doubt, that false God, golden calf, and they
had left themselves defenseless. And Moses threw those tablets
down on which the Ten Commandments were written by the finger of
God. And that's just another lesson, isn't it, that people,
you hear people say sometimes, well, I told God, or I made God
a promise, or I made a deal with God. I don't know which God you're
talking about, but it's not the God of the Bible. Anybody that
says they made a deal with God, that's just not true. And when
you make a deal with God, you better be sure you're going to
break it, just like they did of old. Just like Adam did in
the garden. Adam, in innocency, disobeyed
God. How much less able are sinful
men and women to obey the commandments of God. Thank God this new covenant,
it's not like that covenant where everything was dependent upon
the obedience of those people. This covenant, everything is
dependent upon the obedience of the Mediator, of Christ. 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." Now, in looking at the covenant as it is given to
us here, let's divide our thoughts into these three divisions. As I said, it may be considered
as a will. When the testator dies, then
the benefits go to those who are named in the will. Now, thinking of this, as a covenant
like a will, we have these three areas of benefits. Number one,
the benefit of the forgiveness of sins. You see that in verse
12. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more. This truth God so forgives the
sins of His people that He will never remember them. He drowns
each and every one of the sins of His people in the Red Sea
of His Son's blood so that they cannot be found. God has so dealt
with his people's unrighteousness, sins, and iniquities by his Son
bearing them on the cross that they are gone. When he says,
I will remember, I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and
their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. They're
gone. They're gone. That was pictured
in the Old Testament by the scapegoat, wasn't it? After the blood had
been sprinkled on the mercy seat, then the priest confessed the
transgressions, the iniquities, and the sins of the nation of
Israel on the head of that live goat, and it was led away, never,
never to be heard from or seen again. What a picture. Our sins are gone. There's a
passage in Isaiah that tells us, thou hast cast all my sins
behind thy back. You say, where's God's back?
Nowhere. He's everywhere. Our sins are
gone. You know, sin may be thought
of in these three ways. From the scripture, it may be
thought of as a debt. In the model prayer, one Gospel
says, forgive us our debts. Another says, forgive us our
sins. We have a debt, a sin debt, and
it's been accumulating, this debt, ever since we came into
this world. You could not begin to commute
the number of sins that we're guilty of. And yet this debt,
as a surety, here he is as a surety of this covenant, he agreed to
come and to pay the sin debt of his people. That's the reason
we call it the covenant of grace, isn't it? If you owe a debt and
you pay your debt, that's not grace, that's justice. That's
what you're supposed to do. But if someone pays your debt
for you, That's grace. Covenant of grace. He's the surety
of this covenant. He came and He paid our sin debt. So much so that God says, I will
remember them no more. And sin may also be likened to
an offense. An offense against God. We've
offended Him. And the Lord Jesus Christ as
the mediator of this covenant, He comes between and He makes,
He restores, He makes peace, He reconciles us unto God. And sin may be thought of as
a crime. And people who are guilty, who
have committed crimes are guilty. And all of us have sinned, we're
guilty. And He took our guilt. The guilt
of our sin in His own body on the tree, and He took it away. It's gone. Their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more. Number two, the second
part of this covenant. The benefit of eternal life.
First of all, the benefit of the forgiveness of sin. Second,
the benefit of eternal life. You notice in verse 11, he said,
all shall know me. All shall know me. The Lord Jesus
Christ, in his high priestly prayer, he said, this is life
eternal that they may know thee. the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. He says here, from the least
to the greatest. In other words, from the person
who's just born again, from the babe in Christ to the believer
who is the most mature. Each and every one has eternal
life and we all have eternal life in the same way and that
is, it is given to us. We don't deserve it. We don't
merit it. We don't earn it. The gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And the third
part of this covenant, the benefit of God being our God. Notice that in verse 10. 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." What does it mean
to have God to be my God? I challenge you this week, sit
down with a piece of paper and write down, one, two, three,
four, as many as you can think of, what does it mean to me? that God is my God. That's what
He's promised to be, to be my God. What does that mean? Well,
I wrote down a few things. For God to be my God, it means
that I'm loved with an everlasting love. For God to be my God, it means
that I'm redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. For God to be
my God, it means that I can want no good thing. For God to be
my God, it means that in the midst of turmoil, I have an unfailing
refuge. Underneath are the everlasting
arms. For God to be my God, it means
that I'm kept. I can't keep myself, but I'm
kept by the power of God. For God to be my God, it means
that one day I shall leave this world of sin, sickness, sorrow,
and be received into His house. Blessed are the pure in spirit. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. I want to close this message
with this question. How may I know that God is my
God? How may I know that God is my
God? And I hope there's someone here
in your conscience right now you're asking that question.
I'd like to know that. How? How is it possible that
I may know that God is my God? There's only one way, and that's
by faith in Jesus Christ. To you that believe, He is precious. By faith in Jesus Christ. I'm in union with Him, and because
He is the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, He's my God. Because he's the father of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's my father. I trust the Lord
would bless this word. Maybe you have come to know God
as your God and you want to confess that. You should confess that
in baptism. Be identified with God's people. God's gospel. We're going to
sing a hymn before