Better Promises, Better Covenant

Would you take your Bibles now and let's turn to Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews chapter 8. I'm going to read this entire chapter. Our text for today is verses 7 through 13, but you follow as I read this chapter. now the point in what we are saying is this we have such a high priest one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven a minister in the holy places in the true tent that the lord set up not man for every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer now if he were on earth he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.

They serve a copy, a shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, See that you make everything according to the pattern that it was shown you on the mountain. But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old, as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them up out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant and so I showed no concern for them declares the Lord for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days declares the Lord I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people and they shall not teach each one his neighbor and each one his brother saying no the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest for I will be merciful toward their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.

In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete and what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Let's pray. Father, as we do always in our worship service now, we ask that you would open the text of scripture to us. It is your living word. It can speak to us. It can speak to each one of us in the way that you have appointed.

And so we pray, make us listeners. Help us to heed your word and to change our thinking the way we do things. Our words in accordance with what we learn today. Help us now, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. let's imagine something right now you're excited because you're headed to Columbus to sign a contract with the Columbus Clippers you've made it to the AAA, the highest point in the minor league system and it's a typical minor league contract your contract says that Columbus will pay you $700 a week for playing for them However, even when you sign the contract, it doesn't mean you're going to get the $700 because you have to make it through spring training and get added to the team before you get the promised $700 a week.

Now, again, imagine a few years later you're going to Cleveland to sign a major league contract. And as soon as the Inc. is on that contract, you are guaranteed a minimum salary of $507,500. and you will get that amount whether or not you play. And you'll get that amount even if for some reason they cut you from the team. You're guaranteed that amount of money.

Now I don't know about you, but a major league contract seems better to me than a minor league contract. And I don't see how I would possibly be tempted to go back and play under the minor league contract. All right? I don't know that I would be tempted. now remember in our text in the book that we're studying our pastor writes to people tempted to go back to living under the old covenant okay they're tempted to go back and live under that old covenant and here in Hebrews he seeks to convince you that the new covenant that Jesus introduces that Jesus mediates far surpasses the old covenant under which they used to live.

Now covenant is like a contract. It's an agreement that governs the relationship between the parties. So when you sign with the Clippers, they promise to pay you $700 a week if you make the team. And you got to play for them to get your $700. When you sign with Cleveland, they promise to pay you $570,000 a year, even if you sit on the bench. Even if you sit on the bench the entire season.

You're going to get that money. That governs your relationship to the team. Now God relates to humanity by means of covenant, like the covenant he made at Sinai with Israel. That covenant had many stipulations, laws, requirements, blessings, and curses, and that's what governed the relationship between God and his people. For example, let me give you one example.

You read this in Deuteronomy chapter 28. Here's part of the covenant that governs their relationship. But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today Then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you Cursed shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the field.

Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flocks. Cursed shall you be when you come in and cursed shall you be when you go out. So here's the covenant that governs their relationship. If you don't obey me, then I will make it so you don't have food, children, crops.

I'll curse you in every way you can think of. On the other hand, God also said this, and if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field.

Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go up so you see this covenant promised curses for disobedience and blessings for obedience to the commands of God now of course those covenant requirements covered not just those things that covered it covered the sacrifices that you offered and how to do it and and who could do it it's it it covered the high priest and how he was supposed to operate and how he was supposed to do things.

And if you didn't do it that way, there would be curses. If you did do it the way God said, there would be blessings. And so now he makes the case for a new covenant. It's called new because it replaces the old one. It's the covenant that Jesus mediates. We just read.

It's a covenant that's founded on better promises, which we just read. And this better covenant now governs the relationship between God and his people. Now remember, let's get the big picture. He is persuading you, seeking to persuade you that Jesus is your greatest and your only hope. And that you must not abandon your hope in Jesus. And he's saying here, don't abandon your hope in Jesus because he mediates a better covenant that's enacted on better promises.

So here's what he's saying. you're tempted to abandon Jesus. The cost is getting very high to follow him or the pressure is on or you're just drifting away and he's saying to you don't abandon Jesus because he brings with him a better covenant. A better covenant on better promises. Well let's look at what he has to say this morning. Let's try to understand this difference between that old covenant and this new covenant.

What's the difference? Why is this one better than that one? All right. So the first thing he tells you to do is to recognize that the old covenant was faulty. That's what he says here. For if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

Now the old covenant he mentions here, he calls the first covenant. Now there were covenants that preceded the ones he's talking about. For example, the covenant that God made with Noah. I was reminded of that covenant the other day as Beck and I were returning home from Michigan. And I looked off to the east and I could see this gigantic rainbow, just this huge, really long rainbow.

And it reminded me, aha, there's the covenant sign from God that he'll never destroy the earth with a flood again. So there was a covenant made with Noah long before a covenant made with Moses. We call the covenant made with Israel at Sinai, the Sinaitic covenant or the Mosaic covenant. That's the covenant he's talking about. And we know that because in verse 9 he says, this covenant was made when they came out of Egypt.

That's obviously the covenant God made with Israel at Sinai through Moses. So he's talking here, this first covenant he's talking about is the Mosaic or the Sinaitic covenant. Now what do we know about that? That old covenant was faulty because it was inadequate. It was inadequate. If the old covenant was adequate for us, we'd have no occasion to look for another.

If it was everything it needed to be, we wouldn't look for another one. If it could do the job of meeting our greatest need, there would be no need for another one. But it didn't meet our greatest need, right? It wasn't adequate for that job. Now, when I graduated from seminary, we went to Iowa. My wife suggested to me that my education wasn't complete until I experienced harvest.

And so I did go to Iowa, expecting to be snapped up in a few months by a church, which didn't happen for another four years. That's another story. But while I was there, I farmed with a friend of mine by the name of Mike. Now Mike and I worked 1,200 acres at the time. Now, when Mike was only, if Mike was only farming a few acres, the A10, the John Deere A10 would have been adequate.

The A10 was what we called a two-popper. It was just this, you know, you'd start this thing up, right? And it would go . It was only a two-cylinder job. It was not much, but it was a big thing in its day. But the more the acreage grew and the more Mike's boss wanted more money, right, the A-10 was not going to do it.

There was more acreage, there was a lot heavier machinery. A-10 was not going to get the job done. We had to go to a 40 I spent all my time in that 40 John Deere 40 okay You know what the A did The A ran the auger that put the grain up into the bins That's all we used that old tractor for. We hooked the power PTO onto the auger and it was just good enough for taking the grain up.

That's what we used the A-10 for. That's all it was good for by that time. Same thing is true of this covenant. It was inadequate. It couldn't accomplish our greatest need. Now remember that our writer has already said to us in chapter 7 verse 11.

Remember what he said? He said this. Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? So see what he said? If it could perfect us, we would need another covenant. no one changed no one experienced transformation of heart or forgiveness through that old covenant even after living for centuries under that old covenant here listen to another thing that God said in this covenant again from Deuteronomy 28 the listen to what it says the Lord will establish you as a people holy, H-O-L-Y, holy to himself as he has sworn to you if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways.

And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord and they shall be afraid of you. But that never happened under that covenant. They never gained the reputation of a people holy to the Lord as a people who lived under Yahuwah's name and everyone knew it. They never accomplished that. Why? Because they didn't obey.

They did not obey. It never happened. It proved inadequate to accomplish that purpose. Now that doesn't mean that something was wrong with God's law or with his covenant. It doesn't mean that it was wrong. In fact, what does he go on to say?

For he finds fault with what? With them. The problem wasn't in the covenant itself. The problem was in the people. That's where the problem was. So the old covenant was faulty because of its rebellious covenant partners, the people of Israel.

There's God in this covenant, Israel in this covenant, and the problem was them. they were rebellious God found fault with his covenant partners and so he had to institute he he promised that I'm gonna I'm gonna institute a new covenant verse 8 for he finds fault with them when he says and then tells them what they did wrong and what he was going to do in a new covenant now at this point our our writer our pastor friend begins quoting, you know, loosely quoting Jeremiah 31, which you heard this morning. He brings it up and says, here's why I'm telling you what I'm telling you, because this is what God said in the Old Testament. Already in the Old Testament, he was saying that.

The very fact that God promised a new covenant says that there was something wrong with you. The spiritual state of Israel, their constant, consistent, ongoing disobedience to the covenant commands proves the necessity of a new one, a new covenant. So he's not making up an idea of a new covenant here. He's not saying, so here's the idea that I've come up with.

He's saying even in the Old Testament, it was recognized that a new one was necessary. Now, what you have to see is just how bad these covenant partners were, just how bad and rebellious that Israel was. notice what he said behold the days are coming declares the Lord when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel with the house of Judah not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them up out of the land of Egypt for they did not continue in my covenant and so I showed no concern for them declares the Lord Now here's how bad the rebellion was. God took Israel by the hand and led them away from the horrific, dangerous, cruel Egypt, land of Egypt, like a big protective papa.

Right? he was like this big protective daddy and he took them by the hand and he led them out and and and it even gets greater when you think about how he did it he just sent 10 plagues he had them backed up right against the red sea and he split it and they walked across on dry ground he was like this big protective father who leads them by the hand but guess what the covenant he made with them came after he marvel marvelously graciously liberated his people from the Egyptians he graciously did that and how did they repay that grace and mercy what does it say they did not continue in the covenant they did not obey the covenant stipulations. Now he's talking about century after century after century of disobedience to the covenantal terms. Sometimes.

You know what when people say to you yeah the God of the Old Testament is this mean old thing. Just look. You know how long he put up with their disobedience? century after century after century he forbeared that constantly calling them to repentance and they would not listen his gracious work of deliverance was not enough to move them to obedience consider this the blessings and the cursings of that covenant did not move them to obedience You know what let me challenge you particularly in Deuteronomy 28 and 29 You go back and you look at the blessings and the cursings When you read the blessings that God promised for obedience I not kidding you you read those and it looks like, it almost looks like you'd expect the new earth to look like.

I mean, he just, the blessings that he promises them are literally stunning. when you read them. It's like, wow, I would have loved to live in that. It's stunning what he promised to them. Unbelievable prosperity. It's like paradise when you read the promise of the blessings. And when you read the curses for disobedience, such as the utter defeat and humiliation they would experience before other nations, the unfruitful wombs, you won't have children.

Not only that, but if you do have children, and he describes that I will bring nations against you that will lay seeds to your cities that will be so horrible that you will even eat your own children. That's how bad it's going to be. Right? He talks about drought and famine and bloodshed. I mean, it looks like hell on earth when you read the curses. you would think that was such unbelievably wonderful promises and incredibly dire threats that these people would obey but they did not they did not and so what happened our text says God showed no concern for them that is to say he brought down those horrific curses on their heads You want to read about that?

You read the book of Jeremiah. You read the book of Lamentations. You will see the absolute horror of what God did because of their nearly thousand years of disobedience. in 722 BC the northern nation of Israel wiped off the map 586 BC the kingdom of Judah ceases to exist as a nation when Nebuchadnezzar comes in no nation they're gone all the curses and when he was writing this they were suffering under the heel of the Roman Empire.

The curses were on them. All of that rebellion reflected the inadequacies and the limitations of the old covenant. That is to say, it could only command obedience, but it could not empower obedience. Let me say that again. It could command obedience, but it did not empower obedience. Even with all those dire threats and unbelievably wonderful blessings, not even that could move the hearts of these people to obedience.

They knew what the covenant said, but they could not obey it, and they would not obey it. Now here's the last thing. That old covenant was faulty because it's temporary. He says that in verse 13. And speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete and what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away the fact that God spoke of a new covenant proves that the old covenant would be obsolete planned obsolescence if you will God intended it to be only for only temporary all the way back in Jeremiah's day the old testament announced that the Sinaitic covenant the framework that governed God's relationship with his people was destined to be discarded.

So for all those reasons, that old covenant is faulty. It's not as good as the new covenant because the new covenant comes with better promises. And he says, recognize that the new covenant is better. It's better. now a quick word about those who receive this new covenant very quickly says he promises this to the houses of Israel and Judah there's much there's a whole lot we could go into this could take four sermons about how that's meant for us today it wasn't just meant for Jewish people it's meant for you sitting here today and I could go into all kinds of things about how because of Jesus fulfilling everything that Israel is supposed to do and by faith we're connected to Jesus and we are now the people of God not Jewish people but anybody who believes in Christ we could do that all out all I'm going to say is this simply this on the night that Jesus instituted the Lord's table, what did he say?

This cup is the new covenant in my blood. And he was saying that as he instituted the table for all of the disciples of Jesus that would come later. And so this new covenant, this new covenant is the covenant that governs the relationship that you here have with God. We are under the new covenant. It is our covenant. Now remember what our pastor writer implies earlier, that what replaces the old will somehow perfect the people of God.

He implies that in chapter 7 verse 11. The old one could not perfect the people of God. So he implies the new one can. And then he's also just said that it's enacted on better promises So what are those promises that makes this new covenant better? Let's look at four that he lists here. Four promises that helps us recognize that the new covenant is better.

The new covenant promises you... to obey God. The new covenant promises you power to obey God. Last part of verse 10, I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. I'll put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. In the old covenant, God inscribed his law on tablets of stone. They were external to the people of God.

But even though the Israelites knew the law, it did not give them any inclination to obey that law. None. Here's the law. Obey. But no inclination to obey it. Right?

The prophet Jeremiah, who brought the promise of a new covenant, also declared that the Lord would punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh. All who dwell in the desert, who cut the corners of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised. and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart. See, that's the problem. The law was there, but the heart was not.

The heart did not want to obey. They could obey the law, kind of, but they didn't want to obey the law. Many years ago, Beck and I were visiting Lydia and Lee Parker at their house. and it was a number of months after Henry was born. Okay? So we're all sitting there having a nice conversation. Henry is sitting like right in the middle of us.

He's sitting up. He's able to sit up and crawl at this point. I've told you this story before, I think. Maybe. Not all of you. But Henry suddenly gets it in his head.

He crawls over to the light socket and he's about ready to, you know, like all little kids are. experiment. And his dad walks over, picks him up, and says, no, Henry, and puts him down with his back to the socket. Henry sits there for a little bit, and he turns around and crawls right back to that light socket. His dad picks him up again and says, Henry, no, sets him down, back to the socket.

Henry turns around and he goes right back his dad picks him up spanks him brings the full force of the law on his bottom and sets him down with his back to the socket you know what Henry did? this is what he did, I'll never forget it he went like this he didn't go to the socket but his heart wanted to go to the socket you see the law kept him from going there but he still wanted to go there right see the law could tell you something it could control your behavior but it never changes your heart never changes your heart but the new covenant on the other hand brings with it the power to obey because God now writes the law on your heart. So now there's an external commandment. Jesus says, for example, love your enemies.

Written on my heart is that same commandment. There's a resonance that happens there. Now I want to do the will of God. I want to do that. You see that? He inscribes the law on your heart.

In the new covenant, God has remedied that fatal flaw of an uncircumcised heart an unregenerated heart He's now given us new hearts with the law written on it so that we want to obey whatever Jesus commands we want to obey that we now delight to do the will of God we want to do it and we delight when we do obey this new covenant actually empowers our obedience That what different We're under this covenant that now everybody who's under this covenant is empowered now to obey. Who wants now to obey whatever God says. Notice what else.

The new covenant promises you an unbreakable bond between you and God. He says to them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. All right? Now, God promised Abraham that he would be God to him and to his offspring. This becomes a kind of shorthand way of talking about what comes in the covenants.

I'll be your God, and you'll be my people. Look over at Genesis 17. Genesis chapter 17 verse 7 again this is the renewal of the covenant with Abraham third time the covenants brought up and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you until your offspring after you.

All right. So he says, I'm going to be your God and your offspring will be my people. All right. Now that's repeated several times in the Old Testament. But let's just look at one other time found in Leviticus 26. Leviticus 26. verse 3 if you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them then I will give you your rains and their season and the land shall yield its increase and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit and so on and then he promises all these things look at verse 12 and I will walk among you and will be your God and you shall be my people.

At this point in the Mosaic covenant, God says, alright, I'll be your God and you'll be my people. What? If you obey. If you obey. But now under the new covenant, right, I'll be your God and you'll be my people because of what Jesus did. Not because of our obedience, but because of his.

Now God is our God and we are his people, not on the basis of how we've obeyed, but on the basis of how Jesus obeyed and the sacrifice that he made. And so God now says under this new covenant, I'm going to be your God and you'll be my people. It's unbreakable. It's not going to ever break off. All right? Third thing, verse 11, the new covenant promises you personal knowledge of God.

Now that doesn't mean, and he says, you won't need someone to teach you about God. He's not saying, so there aren't going to be any teachers. I mean, that's silly because we have a teacher right now telling us that this is the case. It doesn't mean that. But it means remember how it was under the old covenant. What did it take to become part of the covenant people of God?

Circumcision. Became part of the people of God. That means every person in Israel was, if we want to use the word, saved. Right? No! No!

Most were not. Some were. some knew God and most did not you see be being part of the covenant people in the old covenant did not mean that you would know God that you would know him personally right you had you in fact what you had were the priests who mediated the knowledge of God to you Here the difference The priests would mediate the knowledge of God because they were the ones who taught the law They were the ones who could represent you in God's presence. They were the ones who mediated.

You don't need a mediator now. You can have experiential knowledge of God. Remember what Jeremiah said. Thus says the Lord, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in his might. let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me. It's not talking about knows about, but knows me.

And so under the new covenant, everybody under the new covenant, from the greatest to the least, everybody under the new covenant knows God. Doesn't need someone to go after him and tell him all these things so that you know about God. You actually know God from the least to the greatest. So it's not most know, but some don't know. All of those, all of you who are in the new covenant know God.

Every one of you. And then the last thing, promise. The new covenant promises you complete forgiveness. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. The word merciful is interesting. It's not the normal word for mercy.

The normal word for mercy has the idea of compassion or pity. If I have mercy on you, I'm acting towards you because of my compassion. okay that's not the word he used this is the word that's part of a word group from which we get propitiation that is to say God's wrath has been turned aside so he'll be merciful right and a sacrifice has been made his wrath has been appeased and turned away because of a sacrifice that deals with your sin. And that is so effective that I will remember your sins no more.

Now listen to me carefully. God does not have spiritual amnesia. God does know every sin that you have committed, that you are committing, and that you will commit. He knows it all. He's omniscient. He can't forget.

But He's not talking about forgetting. he's talking about not remembering and there is a difference. There is a difference. Okay? Forgetting is like yeah, you know, I had history in high school but I just can't remember when the war of 1812 started. Right? That's something that you passively forget.

You forget. That's not what he's talking about. He's saying God chooses to not remember. That is to say, God makes a promise that I will not bring your sins up to use against you, ever. He goes on record with a promise. I will not recall your sins.

I will not unearth the bones of your sins and beat you over the head with them. I promise never to bring them up to use against you, ever. That's the promise. God promises to not remember. Isn't that interesting? Under the old covenant, God was always bringing it back up.

Because the sacrifices back then could only assuage, on the day of atonement, God wrath was assuaged for one more year He wasn going to wipe them out Right And yet had to be propitiated again and again and again. Now, God says, I choose not to remember. I'll never bring them up to use against you. So under this new covenant, He chooses to never bring up your sins again.

All of you here this morning are operating with some kind of covenant in mind. Every one of you is. An agreement that governs your relationship with God. Some of you here may believe that you've covenanted with God this way. God, I will obey your commands and you will bless me. That's how you're living before God. eventually and you're going to say and you'll bless me with eternal life because when I get to heaven you'll see yes you're obedient and I will bless you with eternal life the problem is you'll never meet the requirements you'll never meet the requirements ever no one who lives under that kind of a who who lives under that kind of a covenant is going to say, yeah, I've kept it all.

I've met all the requirements. You can't say it. You know it. You can't obey God and he will curse you to eternal punishment if that's the covenant you want to live under. Now God's actually not a part of that covenant. You think he is and you think that's governing your relationship, but you will find out on the last day that that covenant which you think you've struck with God, it's not going to get you anywhere.

Actually, God offers life and change and blessing and joy and all that we associate with salvation. He gives it all under the new covenant. The covenant where He promises to change you. Isn't that amazing? Not only to turn away His judgment from you, but to change you so that you know the joy of living for God. That's the covenant He offers you.

And it's only yours through Jesus. Now as I'm looking at you, I'm saying this. If you have entrusted yourself to Jesus, then this covenant, these covenant promises are yours. Every one of them. You can't get a better covenant than this. Father, thank you for your word.

Thank you for the promises of this new covenant. This covenant that you offer to everyone in Jesus. Thank you. Thank you, Father. I pray if there's any outside of that covenant here today, Father, I ask you to bring conviction so heavily upon their heart that they will cry out for your mercy. They will cry out and ask, God, do not judge me for Jesus' sake.

And then they will know the joy of this covenant that governs their relationship with God. God help, I pray, bring this home to us. help us to rejoice in this new covenant. Help us to see the great promises of this new covenant more than our sin, more than our failures. And we will thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.