The Better Covenant

The Better Covenant

(Hebrews 8:7-13)

Logan Peters

Thesis: The Old Covenant was a pattern set for the coming of the superior New Covenant.

Purpose: To show the superiority of the New Covenant.

Introduction:

1) The Hebrews writer quotes from Jeremiah prophesying about the coming of the New Covenant (Heb. 8:7-13; Jer. 31:31-34).

2) The ordinances of the Tabernacle in the Old Covenant were a shadow to the blessings of the New Covenant (Heb. 9).

3) God never intended the Old Covenant to be the final covenant (Heb. 8:13).

4) Those who adhere to the Old Covenant today are following a dead covenant.

5) The Hebrews writer describes the New Covenant and how it is superior to the Old Covenant.

6) One must remember the context of the Book of Hebrews. Many of the Christians receiving this letter began backsliding and trying to revert to the Old Law.

7) Through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Hebrews writer grants insight as to how and why the New Covenant is the better Covenant.

8) The New Covenant is better because of the sacrifice made once and for all. The New Covenant is accessible to all men.

Discussion:

I. The New Covenant is Better Because of The Sacrifice of Jesus.

A. The Old Covenant required the blood of sacrificed animals. (Heb. 9:7).

1. One must remember that the Old Covenant was a shadow of things to come (Heb. 10:1).

2. Allen Webster once pointed out it is a misconception that the high priest would be the one to kill and drain the blood of the animal sacrifice. What he pointed out was that the high priest was only to offer the blood. This brings to light the possible realization of how serious sin is.

3. The high priest was the only one able to enter the holiest place and sprinkle the blood first on the east side of the mercy seat and then before the mercy seat seven times.

4. This was done in anticipation of the coming of the one true sacrifice, Jesus Christ.

B. All the blood of bulls and goats could not provide forgiveness of sin. It took the blood of the perfect Lamb of God to allow for forgiveness of sins (Heb. 9:14; 10:4).

1. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice once on the cross (Heb. 9:28).

i. Jesus Christ was beaten, scourged, mocked, spat upon, and crucified (Matt. 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 19).

ii. The blood of Jesus contains the cleansing power (1 John 1:7).

2. The pure sacrifice of Jesus was the only sacrifice able to please God (1 John 2:2).

C. The New Covenant is better because Jesus paid the price for the sin of man, my sin!

1. Because of man’s sinful nature, he deserves death. He does not deserve forgiveness, and God has every right to punish man.

2. Even though man deserves eternal death, God has offered the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:23).

i. The spotless Lamb of God, God in the flesh, came to earth and suffered for all men that they might be made justified through His blood and be saved from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:9).

ii. Paul would write that those who have been baptized were once enemies of God, but through the sacrifice of Jesus, they shall be saved by His life (Rom. 5:10-11).

D. Jesus is our High Priest and our mediator.

1. Jesus is a better High Priest because He did not have to offer a sacrifice for His sins as the high priests of the Old Covenant (Heb. 9:7; 12). He offered His blood for the sins of the world.

2. Jesus is now our great mediator (Heb. 9:15).

II. The New Covenant is Better Because It is Available to All Men.

A. God made a covenant with the children of Israel (Deut. 5:1-3).

1. This cannot be mistaken with law. All men were amenable to law, but Israel was the select chosen of God to be in His covenant.

i. Some Gentiles would become proselytes by following and adhering to the laws and doctrines of the Mosaic Law (Ex. 12:48; Num. 9:14).

ii. Other Gentiles were held to a moral law, which is why Jonah was commanded to preach to the people of Ninevah (Jonah 1:, 2; 3:1, 2).

2. This specific covenant was not made for all men but for the children of Israel. These people God led out of Egypt in Exodus are continually studied throughout the Old Testament.

B. Why is the New Covenant better? Because it is offered to all men!

1. The New Covenant was instituted after the Old, and now it has decayed and vanished away (Heb. 8:13).

2. How can one know that the New Covenant is offered to all men?

i. Jesus commands us to go to all nations to teach, baptize, and teach again (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16).

ii. The Apostles and other followers of Christ took the Gospel from Jerusalem to Judaea, then Samaria and then to the uttermost parts of the earth in the Book of Acts (Acts 1:8).

iii. The Gospel, the New Covenant, has been extended to all men.

3. The New Covenant is different because it is not a covenant one is born into, but God places a soul into a covenant through his obedience to the Word of God (Rom. 2:6-11).

C. God would have all men to be saved (1 Tim. 4:2).

1. There is no longer a select group of people who are privy to a covenant with God.

2. All who are baptized into Christ are now in the New Covenant with God with Jesus, who is the mediator (Heb. 9:15).

i. Paul would write that the wall of partition has been torn down between Jew and Gentile (Eph. 2:14).

ii. Those in the New Covenant are now one in Christ. There are no longer differences but unity (Gal. 3:27-29).

Conclusion:

1) The New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant.

2) Jesus gave Himself up as a sacrifice for all men so that each one could have his sins washed away and enter the New Covenant with God.

3) Those who are raised from that watery grave of baptism are God’s children and now have blessings beyond imagination.

4) No matter where one is from, no matter his height, weight, ethnicity, or home country, he can become a Christian and enter the New Covenant.

5) What a beautiful and glorious thought!

6) If you are not a child of God, then why not? Why not come to God today, become His child, enter that new and better Covenant, and receive the promise of eternal life?

a) Hear the Gospel (John 6:44, 45).

b) Believe (John 8:24).

c) Repent (Acts 17:30).

d) Confess (Act 8:37).

e) Be baptized (Mark 16:16).

f) Remain faithful (Rev. 2:10).

7) If you are outside of Christ, you are not in covenant with God.

8) He loves you and desires for you to become His child.

9) If you have already done those things and need to be restored, the invitation is open to you as well.