[0:00] But we're in Hebrews chapter 8, we're going to start in verse 6, and we're going to read down to verse 13, so we will make our way through the 8th chapter. If you are physically able and desire to do so, would you join with me as we stand together and we read the Word of God found in Hebrews chapter 8, starting in verse 6.
[0:18] The author of Hebrews says, But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.
[0:31] For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. But finding fault with them, he says, Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.
[0:50] For they did not continue in my covenant, but I did not care for them, says the Lord. And I did not care for them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel.
[1:01] After those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen and everyone his brother, saying, Know the Lord.
[1:14] For all will know me from the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. Verse 13, when he said a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete.
[1:29] But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this day. God, we thank you for the opportunity we have of gathering together.
[1:41] We thank you for your word, and we thank you for the privilege it is to read your word as a corporate body. But Lord, we pray now by the power and presence of your spirit that you would open your word up to us. That your word would be opened up to us, and we would be opened up to it.
[1:55] We pray that your word would have its way in each and every one of our lives. Lord, that it would shape us and mold us and conform us to become more like your image for your glory. And we ask it all in Jesus' name.
[2:07] Amen. You may be seated. We have been making our way through the book of Hebrews, and you understand by now that the theme of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus is better. He is better than anything that man is trusting in, and he is better than any hope that man may have before him.
[2:23] The author of the book of Hebrews spends a large amount of time speaking of the priesthood of Jesus Christ. This is something that is very foreign to us because it is something that we tend to be separate from because we do not worship according to what we would deem normally a priesthood, though we do.
[2:39] He is writing to the Hebrew people or the Jewish nation. And in the Jewish nation, the most important person in the nation would have been the high priest. It would have been the priest who stood between them and God.
[2:51] It would have been the priest who interceded on behalf of them for their sin. It is this longing that we've seen all the way back in the book of Job that an individual would stand between a holy God and sinful man.
[3:03] It is the thing that Job in all of his righteousness and all of his self-works called out for and spoke of the need to. And it is this thing that the nation of Israel enjoyed more than any other nation.
[3:15] It had a man appointed who one time a year would go into the very presence of God and would atone for the sins of the nation. And it is no wonder that that would be the day of Jubilee, that they would sound the trumpets and they would rejoice and celebrate on the 13th day of the month of Nisan, and they would rejoice in all that God, or the 15th day on the month of Nisan, and rejoice in all that God has done for them.
[3:39] And they would celebrate being made new. And they were looking forward each year to that day, and going back to that day, and going back to that day, that day of atonement in which their sins would be forgiven.
[3:51] And it was the anticipation of every year. And it is this theme that the author of the book of Hebrews is showing them, is they have one better. They have one who has went into the very presence of God, not into the manifested presence of God, but to the very presence of God.
[4:08] And he has atoned for sins once for all. And we have seen that in the last few chapters, how Jesus has a right to the priesthood according to the order of Mechizedek.
[4:19] Jesus has a position of a priesthood in the very presence of God, having taken his seat at the right hand of the throne on high. And we have seen how he is so much better in all of these things.
[4:30] But the position he holds is determined by the covenant he serves. And the author writes for us in the sixth verse, but now he has obtained a more excellent ministry. That is, Jesus in the position of being the great high priest.
[4:45] By the way, he is the only priest ever referred to in Scripture as the great high priest. He is not just a high priest. He is the great high priest. In the position he holds, he has a more excellent ministry than any other priest who has ever existed.
[5:01] He has a more excellent ministry than any other individual. He has a ministry that we must lean upon. He has a ministry that we must cling to. He has a ministry that is greater and far superior than any man has ever held, and greater and more superior than any person will ever obtain to.
[5:17] You know, Sunday night when we went in, we got there early. Thankfully, we went immediately following last Sunday's service, and we got up there, and there's a record number of people there, and we got registered. And I was so excited because Sunday night, Dr. Tony Evans was preaching.
[5:30] One of my favorite pastors of all times, I've been able to hear him in person at his church, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas. I've been able to hear him a number of times in person. I've been able to sit in small pastor groups with him, and I've been able to meet him a couple of times.
[5:43] I enjoy his preaching. I enjoy his ministry. I enjoy the way he does things. I enjoy the books he has written. I enjoy the fact that he preaches of the kingdom, and everything he does is directed towards the kingdom of God.
[5:55] But I was surprised when I was standing in this great music city center, and they opened the doors, and everyone that had access that could go in and listen to Dr. Tony Evans preach was allowed to enter the room.
[6:06] The reason I was surprised is because I saw pastors older than me literally sprinting down the aisles at a full run. One of my sons says, it looks like teenage girls running at an NSYNC concert, running down the aisle to try to get as close as they could, even though there were major screens everywhere.
[6:24] Now, no offense to Dr. Tony Evans. He preaches a great sermon. But we run to one each and every day who has a more far excellent ministry than any we would ever sit under.
[6:36] And he is there to highlight the ministry of Christ, not to highlight the ministry of Tony Evans. And if pastors and church members would run down the aisles as fast to the one who serves as our high priest and fall on our faces as much as we would to join and stand in excitement and anticipation of any mere man.
[6:55] It was A.W. Tozer who said, The same men who sat in the stands on Saturday and screamed like banshee Indians at a football game sit like wooden Indians in our pews on Sunday.
[7:07] Before you amen it, you might want to owe me it. He said, We'll get carried away over a football game, but we do not get carried away over Jesus Christ. And the reason we do not is because we fail to see how much more excellent of a ministry he has.
[7:23] The reason his ministry is far greater is because the covenant he serves is far better. He has a much more excellent ministry because of the better covenant he serves.
[7:39] A man's ministry or an individual's ministry is always determined based upon that organization or the avenue in which he serves. It is the fruit of his ministry.
[7:51] And we see here the excellent ministry which Jesus has simply as a result of the better covenant which he serves. So I want you to see this morning three simple truths.
[8:02] I don't always tell you beforehand, but I go ahead and tell you now. I only have three points. Three simple truths that we see that are revelations of this better covenant.
[8:12] The revelations we have of the better covenant which Jesus Christ serves as the great high priest of. Because God is a God of covenants.
[8:24] Our God is a covenant God. We are reminded that each time we take the Lord's Supper together, it is a reminder of the covenant of his blood. All throughout scripture, we see that God is a God of covenants.
[8:36] And Jesus serves underneath or in the covenant that God has promised all the way back in the book of Jeremiah. And it is introduced there as a new covenant. And it is still new in some sense.
[8:47] I'll show you that in just a moment. But it has application and really being lived out amongst the church today. Now I'll go ahead and tell you this. You need to know this on the front end. I want to be very clear about this.
[8:59] Because the Bible has but one great truth. Every passage you open up to, it has one truth. It has thousands of application, but every passage has one truth. And our goal and our desire is to see the truth of scripture.
[9:12] And then to take that truth and to live that truth out in application. Correct? That should be our desire. We don't ever want to make a text say something that it originally does not say. Which is a simple way of saying we don't ever want to take the text out of context.
[9:24] Because then we are all of a sudden manipulating the text. But the great truth found in Jeremiah of the new covenant. That which is quoted here by the author of the book of Hebrews.
[9:36] This new covenant pertains in particular to the nation of Israel. Okay? This is a new covenant that pertains in particular to the nation of Israel.
[9:47] And in that sense, it is a future covenant. It is that covenant that we read about when it says that all of Israel will be redeemed. When Paul starts speaking of it in Romans 9, 10, and 11.
[9:58] It is that covenant which we read about in the book of Revelations. After the rapture of the church and the tribulation. Which I believe is the chastisement and discipline of God. I want people to see all of the nation of Israel back to themselves.
[10:09] Then and there, the nation of Israel will enter into that new covenant. This is not a covenant for the church. So it is a covenant that the word is preserved in the Lord. Okay?
[10:19] So I want to be clear in this. This is something that we stand in. As Paul says, we have been grafted in. We're the wild olive branch. Right?
[10:30] We have been grafted in to the nation of Israel. We're the wild olive branch. We have two of us born good people. And this is what we're on the good of the church. We are a pack of all of the branches. We're not going to be the wild branches.
[10:41] I'm okay with that. But God is thinking that's what the wild and the grass is. So we have the enjoyment of this new covenant. But I want you to see it. Because the revelations we see in the church.
[10:53] I'll picture you as a meaning to know in the church. You see, number one. The first revelation we see of there being a new covenant is the failure of man. The failure of man.
[11:05] Look at what it says. But now he, that is Jesus, has obtained more extra ministry by his covenant. He is also the mediator. He is the one that makes sure that things go as they should.
[11:18] He is the one that ensures everything will be fulfilled. He is the mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better promises. Now all of a sudden the author of Hebrews is looking back to the past of the nation of Israel.
[11:31] And looking back to their covenants. There are a number of covenants which we could look at in the nation of Israel. There are a number of covenants which are in particular that are not changed. There is the Abrahamic covenant, right?
[11:43] It is never changed. It does not move away. There is the Davidic covenant. The Abrahamic covenant is that God would raise up a great nation. Actually a multitude of nations out of Abraham. And that the seed of Abraham would be a blessing to the nations.
[11:56] That one does not change. There is the Davidic covenant. The Davidic covenant is the fact that God promised that a seed or a child from the lineage of David was set upon the throne of Israel forever.
[12:07] That does not change. It does not change. Then there is the Mosaic covenant. The Mosaic covenant was what we refer to as the law. It is the first five books of the Old Testament or the Pentateuch.
[12:18] It is all the legalistic matters. It is that which happened at Mount Sinai when God called his people out of the nation of Israel. And he met with them at the base of Mount Sinai. The nation heard the voice of God.
[12:30] The nation responded to God. And then Moses went up on the mountain for 40 days. And he came back with the covenant, the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. Now, let me just stop right here.
[12:41] It is okay to get deep on Father's Day and it is okay to get deep on a Sunday. But let's just stop right here. Do you know the major difference between the Abrahamic covenant, the Davidic covenant, and the Mosaic covenant?
[12:52] When God made a covenant with Abraham, Abraham had no part in it. He did not say a thing. As a matter of fact, he fell asleep. And he woke up and he saw the fiery furnace passing back and forth between the animals that were cut in two.
[13:04] To us, we have no idea what that means. To Abraham, he would have known exactly what that means. Because the way it would have worked is I would have lit my torch, you would have lit your torch, you would have walked that way, I would have went this way. We would have passed each other between the animals split in two.
[13:16] And in that way, we would have entered agreement. When God let Abraham fall asleep and God went back and forth between the animals himself, what God was saying is, the promise I'm making to you, Abraham, does not depend on you.
[13:27] It depends on me. When God made a covenant with David, the Davidic covenant, it had nothing to do with David. God made an unconditional promise to David.
[13:39] And it was not dependent upon David's faithfulness. It was not dependent upon David's worthiness. And it was not dependent upon David's efforts. God said, a seed of yours will be on the throne forever. You know why?
[13:50] Both of those find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Now, when God made the Mosaic covenant at the base of Mount Sinai, I know you're going through your brains right now, you're wrecking your brains and going back to the book of Exodus.
[14:04] God said, I will be your God and you will be my people. And then he put this little word in there which means so much. He said, if, if you will obey me.
[14:18] Now, all of a sudden, the Mosaic covenant is not hinged completely and solely upon what God does. But that covenant is a response to what man does.
[14:29] Here are the rules. If you keep these rules, I will be your God and you will be my people. Now, let's see what the scripture says.
[14:42] If that covenant was perfect. He says, for if, in verse 7, the first covenant had been faultless. If it had been perfect.
[14:53] For if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for the second. It's not speaking of the covenant of Abraham. It's not speaking of the covenant of David. It's not speaking of the covenant of Adamic covenant, the one made with Adam in the book of Genesis.
[15:08] It's not speaking of those. It is very clearly speaking of the Mosaic covenant because the priesthood were only found under the Mosaic covenant. He says, stay with me, but it makes sense in just a moment, okay? This is the one he's pointing to.
[15:20] He says, if that covenant was perfect, there would have been no need for another. What he's telling the Jewish people, if what you're trusting in was sufficient, then you would not have to be looking for something to replace it.
[15:32] Now, let me bring it back down and let's bring it into the English people or the American people. Friend, if what you are trusting in today was sufficient, there would be no need to look for something better.
[15:43] But the problem is that man has always trusted in something that fails at some point. Because more times than not, that which man trusts in is dependent upon his own actions. Because look at what it says.
[15:55] Now, let's just settle this. When God says, do this, do this, do this, don't do this, don't do this, it is perfect.
[16:08] Every one of the Ten Commandments which Moses wrote, not Moses, which God wrote and inscribed on the stone tablets. Every one of the Ten Commandments are perfect. Every one of the legalistic rules and regulations that we find in the book of Leviticus are perfect.
[16:23] And God says, if you do this, you will be in my presence and I will be your God. And each one of them are perfect. But look at what verse 8 says. For finding fault with them.
[16:39] See, the fault found in the first covenant has nothing to do with the declarations of God. The fault found in the first covenant has everything to do with that word, if.
[16:50] The fault is found with man. The simple answer is this. What God declared was perfect, but man cannot keep it.
[17:04] When God gave a perfect standard and a holy and perfect law, what it revealed to us is man's failures. It is man's failures.
[17:15] I tell people half-jokingly, but I don't mean this jokingly. I mean this in all seriousness. I do not think that I would get past the fourth chapter in the book of Leviticus without being stoned. Because the standard is set so high.
[17:30] The holiness is so real. And the price for sin was stoning and death. The reality is that what I find in the law is that it is perfect, but I am not.
[17:44] And it highlights my failures. It highlights my shortcomings. It highlights my mess-ups. It highlights everything I have ever done wrong.
[17:56] And that is why, let us just be honest, that is why we do not like it. Because we would rather think that we are okay.
[18:06] But when we run to the old covenant of the law, you know why so many people are uncomfortable with the Old Testament? They tell you in the Old Testament that God is a big, mean God.
[18:19] He is a God of judgment. But in the New Testament, He is a God of love. Well, the reality is that the God of love in the New Testament is the God of love that is prevalent in the Old Testament. And we see this over and over again.
[18:29] We see this in so many ways. And I could take you through some of the most difficult portions of Scripture. And you could see how God in His mercy and His love was redeeming. The reason most people don't like the Old Testament is not because God is mean there.
[18:42] It's because when they get to the Old Testament, they find their failures there. And in finding our failures, we realize that the only thing we deserve, if we stop at the book of Malachi, the only thing we deserve is death.
[18:55] Because the Old Covenant shows us not God's mess-ups, but man's failures. And it highlights for us over and over and over again that God's standard of perfection simply cannot be met.
[19:10] How many of us are perfect? The answer to that is none. Don't raise your hand. Please don't raise your hand. The answer to that is none. None of us are perfect. None of us. Thank you, Brother Johnny. He hit me with it. He's right.
[19:21] None of us are right. None of us are there. None of us can hold that level. What does God demand in the law? Perfection. So what does it do? It highlights for us our failures.
[19:34] We see the necessity for a better covenant because man has failed. Man has failed. God has failed. It's a good thing.
[19:44] Which points us to the second thing. We have the revelation of the faithfulness of God. Number two, the faithfulness of God. Now, we've all experienced it a little bit as dads and fathers and grandfathers and we've all experienced it infinitely more in the presence of God, in the presence of our Holy Father.
[20:07] The reality is this. God set a standard that was perfect. And all that standard could do was show us that man couldn't keep it. And he set a standard so high, highlights man's failures.
[20:18] And in highlighting man's failures, God's response is not a God of judgment or is not a God of forgetting about man. It is really the whole reason the first covenant exists is to point us to the need for a second covenant.
[20:33] The whole reason the law exists is to point us to the cross. Right? It shows us in our own efforts we cannot do it. It shows us that we need a better covenant based on better promises. And what it does is it reveals to us the faithfulness of God.
[20:46] Because when man messed up, God did not move on. And that astounds me. This was the very plan of God from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation.
[20:58] This is the very planning of God. And God in his grace and mercy showed us our failures so that we would need or see our need for a better covenant. Rather than allowing man to wander around in his own efforts and allow man to wander around trusting in something that would never redeem him and save him.
[21:15] God set a standard so high that it would show man his failures. And in his failures, God was reaching out in mercy and compassion. And as the Bible says in the Old Testament, hesed. That is his loving kindness.
[21:25] And he was revealing his faithfulness to us. Because it says here, For finding fault with them, verse 8, Behold, he says, For finding fault with them, he says, That is God says, And it's in Jeremiah.
[21:39] Here's a quote from Jeremiah. Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, When I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers. Don't skip two pages, Billy Joe.
[21:51] He says, On the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, And I did not care for them, says the Lord. For this is a covenant that I will make with the house of Israel.
[22:02] Listen to this. After those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their minds, And I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, And everyone his brother, saying, Know the Lord.
[22:15] For all will know me, from the least to the greatest of them. Here we are reminded, The faithfulness of God. Because God says, Since man cannot keep my standard, Since man cannot attain to the perfection of the first covenant, Then I will do something in response to that.
[22:36] Here's a great thing, That you need to be mindful of, Anytime you are sharing Christ with an individual. This is something that we need to be mindful of, In our own lives, Our own personal walk.
[22:46] Every time we are convicted of our sin, And our failures, And we ought to be convicted of our sin and failures. But one thing that is so good and kind, And so awesome to look at, Is God's response to sin.
[22:58] The law of first mention, Which tells us that the very first time, Something is mentioned in scripture, It will say consistently that throughout scripture. The law of first mention, Is the sin found in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve sinned, right?
[23:10] Eve took of the tree, She saw the fruit of the tree, And she ate, And she gave it to Adam, And Adam took it with her. It was Adam's fault. He should have said, No, I'm not having that. But he took it anyway. So now, Man has sinned.
[23:22] How did God respond to that sin? It says, And then the Lord God went to them. You know, What has amazed me, Is that in their sin, They were hiding from a God, Who was searching them.
[23:36] So how does God respond to sin? He comes after us. And then, In his compassionate faithfulness, God sacrificed an animal, And made skins for them.
[23:47] He made clothing for them. So how does God respond to sin? He atones for that sin. By the shedding of blood. When man cannot keep the first covenant, And its holiness, How does God respond?
[24:00] In faithfulness, He says, I will do this. Notice all of the I wills, In the second covenant. What we have, Quoted from Jeremiah, Is a listing of things, That God will do.
[24:14] And unlike the first covenant, There is no if, In there. Because God says, This covenant, Will be based on my promises, Not based on man's efforts.
[24:25] This is something, That will be based on a better promise. It is based upon the promise of God, Not on the efforts of man. So we see the faithfulness of God. Now, The reason this is future tense, For the nation of Israel today, Is because Jesus says, That he was the starter, Or the originator, Or the instigator, Of the new covenant.
[24:45] When they were having, The Lord's supper there, He says, This is the blood, Of the new covenant. Right? So until, Until the nation of Israel, Turns to Jesus Christ, They are not partakers, In this new covenant.
[24:57] They are still, Working by their own efforts, They are still laboring, By their own actions, And they are still trusting, In that if statement. If they can do this, Then God will be pleased with them.
[25:07] The new covenant is based upon, Since Jesus has done this, Then God has been pleased with me. And all of a sudden, The law has went from an external thing, To an internal thing.
[25:20] Because God says, I will no longer write it on stones, I will write it in their minds, And I will write it in their hearts. That which was written on stone, Could only set a standard, Which we could never keep.
[25:30] That which is written on a heart, Puts an internal standard, Which we are compelled to keep. He is changing it. And it is based upon, The faithfulness of God. This is God doing something, In response to man's failures.
[25:43] That's why the Bible is a story, Of grace and mercy, And compassion and love. Third and finally we see, Not only is there the revelation, Of the failure of man, There's the revelation, Of the faithfulness of God.
[25:55] There is this great revelation, Of the forgiveness of sin. There is the revelation, Of the forgiveness of sin. According to the old covenant, Every time man sinned, He had to offer a sacrifice.
[26:10] The sacrificial system, Was there to atone, For a particular sin, At a particular moment, At a particular time, In history. Each sin, Had its own declared sacrifice. If I did this, Then I had to offer that.
[26:22] If I did this, Then I had to offer that. If today I did this, And offer that, And a little bit later I did that, Then I better offer that. Right? But there was never, The removal of sin. There was the atonement, For the consequences, Of this sin.
[26:37] But there was never, A removal of sin. We'll flesh that out, A little bit later, In Hebrews 9, And even as we get into, Hebrews 10. How it declares, That the blood of bulls, And goats, Could never take away sin.
[26:48] All the old covenant, Could ever do, Was highlight sin. All it ever did, Is highlight sin. Now, We're not Jewish people.
[27:01] But let's, Again, Just be real. Anything you're trusting in, To get you to heaven, Other than Jesus Christ, Will never do anything, Besides highlight, Our failures.
[27:16] And the reason I can say that, With all boldness, And unwavering commitment, Is because I trusted in my own efforts, Long enough. And then I would wake up, And I'd say, Well I messed up again.
[27:30] And I messed up again. And well, I'm going to try to get it right this time, And I messed up again. I'm going to try to get it right this time, And I messed up again. All it ever did, When it depended upon me, Was highlight, My failures.
[27:44] There was never any hope, Of removing those failures. There was no hope, Of removing that sin. But there was always, The highlighting of that sin. And we see this, In the first covenant.
[27:57] The standard which God sets, In the old testament, Is that which highlights sin, But never, Ever forgives it. There is a price, Paid for it, And it is not forgiven, Until that price is paid.
[28:11] And it is paid. And it is paid, With the blood of bulls and goats. By forgiveness, I mean wiped away, Cast aside, As scripture says, Forgotten about.
[28:21] But look at what we see, As it pertains to the new covenant. And Jesus has a far excellent ministry, Because of this better covenant. Why is this covenant better? Look at verse 12, For I will be merciful to their iniquities.
[28:35] God's response to man's failures, Was to take the initiative, And promise a new covenant. In that new covenant, He promised that he would be merciful, To their iniquities. And this next phrase, Is so astounding, So many times we read over it, And we seem to skip through it, But it is astounding.
[28:51] And I will remember their sins, No more. The promise of God, Is that under this covenant, There will be a moment in history, There will be a time, And a point, Where I enter into a covenant with you, And from that point on, Your sins are forgotten about, And forgiven, And gone.
[29:15] There will no longer be this, Perpetual day of atonement. There will no longer be this, Marching feet to go into the temple. There will no longer be this, Continuous bringing of sacrifices, Because God, Doesn't remember the sin.
[29:32] It is the forgiveness of sin, That God has promised. It is the forgiveness of sin, Once and for all. Now that is a promise, Of a covenant for the nation of Israel, That they have not yet obtained to.
[29:44] But I said it has application, For the church today, Because we are living in that covenant, The moment we accept Jesus Christ, As our Lord and Savior. The moment we enter into the covenant, Through the blood of the Lamb.
[29:55] We are once and for all, Forgiven for our sins. Once and for all cleansed. I love how Paul says it, In the book of Romans. Paul says we focus so much, On our sins with an S.
[30:08] The things we do. Jesus has come to take away, Our sin singular. That is our sin nature. Jesus hasn't come, Clean up our actions. He's come to change, Who we are on the inside.
[30:20] He did not come to help us, Change what we do. He has come to redefine, Who we are. We no longer have a sin nature, Because that sin nature, Has been forgiven. We now have the nature of Christ, And under the new covenant, We are not reminded, Of all the mess ups we have had.
[30:36] We are not reminded, Of all of our failures. We are not reminded, Of this perpetual lifestyle, That we cannot help but live, In the new covenant, Through the blood of the Lamb, And through the power of Jesus Christ. We are made new.
[30:47] The law no longer rests, On the pages of our scripture. Now the law rests, In the depths of our heart. The law no longer rests, In something that we hear externally. Now the law rests, From the inside, And it works inwardly.
[30:59] It is the prodding, Of the spirit which moves us. It is the prodding, Of the spirit which compels us. And it is the very thing, That says, Since you are forgiven, Not in order to be forgiven, Right?
[31:10] Since you are forgiven, Then live, In this way. And living a life, In light of our forgiveness, Instead of living a life, In order to be forgiven, Is a far, Different thing.
[31:26] It is a far better ministry. Verse 13 says, When he said a new covenant, He has made the first obsolete. I don't know about you, But I am so glad, That the old law, Is obsolete.
[31:42] I don't have to be stoned, And I don't have to have everyone around me, Being stoned, Because we fail in our imperfections. It is obsolete, And whatever is becoming obsolete, Is growing old, And ready to disappear.
[31:56] One day, One glorious day, That old covenant, Will disappear from the nation of Israel forever. But praise be to God, Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior, That old covenant, Has passed away today, In the church forever.
[32:09] You are no longer living your life, Compelled and moved, By how you perform. You live your life, Under a better covenant, With a far greater minister, Who has already paid it all, And you, my friend, Are forgiven in Jesus, Christ.
[32:22] The question we must ask ourselves is, What are we trusting in? Are we trusting that we can do the if? Or are we trusting that he has already done it all?
[32:33] Are we living based on the promise? Or are we living based on the condition? In Jesus Christ, We live on better promises. And it is a promise that sets us free to live for his glory.
[32:44] Let's pray. Lord, I thank you so much for all this we've done. Lord, I thank you for the better covenant, The greater promises that we have in the scripture. Lord, we pray that our lives would be dictated and determined by your word.
[32:57] We pray that our lives would be shaped and moaned by all that you've called us to do to live for you. Lord, may all of you be your name. Say it, and may it not be far. And we ask that all that Jesus is saved. Amen.
[33:08] Amen. If you're able, would you stand and turn to page 294.
[33:21] Page 294. Thank you.
[33:39] Thank you.
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[35:09] Thank you.
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[37:09] Thank you.