The Point Is… Hebrews 8:1-13

-We can only find eternal hope through Jesus.

When I was a kid, I remember the day my family came home with our very first VCR. It was going to change everything, allowing us to record our favorite shows to watch or rewatch over and over again. Ours was really special, a Betamax player! If you are old enough to remember the Betamax, you probably remember that they lost the VCR wars and were obsolete within a few years. There was nothing you could do with it at all. As time has marched on, what was life-changing a few decades ago is completely obsolete now. Even the notion of recording is gone; everything is on-demand today. Why would we hang on to something with little real use? The same thing is true of religion apart from Jesus.

I. We Have a Heavenly High Priest vv. 1-5

If you are like me, the last few chapters have been pretty heavy and can feel quite repetitive.

The author must have felt the same way, because he now really drives his point home

What is the main point of all of this discussion of Jesus as a priest after the order of Melchizedek?

We needed a different kind of priest than the Levitical priests

God has provided us with exactly that kind of priest in Jesus

What is it that is so different about Jesus?

It really boils down to a question of origin and location:

Jesus is from Heaven

He is currently in Heaven

Why does this location and origin matter?

It turns out that the earthly shadows of a heavenly substance

The priests of earth are only giving us a picture of what Christ has done

There is a heavenly pattern that is reflected on earth

Why does this matter?

Because the High Priest from heaven has been revealed

We have access to Him

As he drove his children to his wife’s funeral Barnhouse stopped at a traffic crossing. Ahead of them was a huge truck. The sun was at such an angle that it cast the truck’s shadow across the snow-covered field beside it. Dr. Barnhouse pointed to the shadow and spoke to his children: “Look at the shadow of that truck on the field, children. If you had to be run over, would you rather be run over by the truck or by its shadow?” The youngest child responded first, “The shadow. It couldn’t hurt anybody.” “That’s right,” said Barnhouse. “And remember, children, Jesus let the truck of death strike him, so that it could never destroy us. Mother lives with Jesus now—only the shadow of death passed over her.”

II. He is a Better High Priest vv. 6-12

Next, we see the superiority of Jesus:

Everything about His ministry is more excellent than the previous ministry

His covenant is a much better covenant because it offers a more complete promise

What is the problem with the Old Covenant?

There was some very good news in it:

God delivered His people from slavery in it v. 9

He identified them as His own

He gave them a Law to live by

How did it fall short?

They did not live according to that Law; they could not keep it!

He rejected them even as they rejected Him (this is not forever, but it did result in severe discipline)

They end up back in a form of slavery in the Exile

How is the New Covenant different that the old covenant?

The Law is no longer written on tablets of stone, but on the minds and hearts of the people

He is completely with His people and is their God

All of us know Him in an individual way; we are not dependent on the knowledge and experience of others

We always receive mercy from the Lord; sins are no longer remembered

Effectively, the limitations and shortcomings of the Old Covenant are removed through Christ!

There’s an old saying about ineffective things: They are as useless as a screen door on a submarine. The Law is this way, in a sense. It is very useful at its purpose, but its not any good for saving and changing the people of God.

Romans 8:1–4

[1] There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. [2] For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. [3] For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, [4] in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (ESV)

III. He Makes the Old Priesthood Obsolete v. 13

So, what do we do now:

We have a new covenant

It is completely, wildly greater than the old one

First, we have to recognize the relative value of the Old Covenant:

It is a critical part of the story of God’s relationship with His people

It reveals God’s righteous character and expectation

It prepares us for Christ

It shows us our need for a Savior

Second, we have to recognize what it cannot do:

It cannot save us from our sin

It cannot make us new

When something better comes along, we have to leave an obsolete system behind and embrace the new

I love preachers. I am a preacher. But, I think that also gives me the right to be honest about preachers. Sometimes our sermons are like unsharpened pencils: there’s just no point. We explain a lot, we illustrate a lot, but we never quite get to the point of the sermon. There has to be a main idea that we are driving at that leads God’s people to a place of decision. I think that’s sort of where we are with Hebrews. We’ve spent weeks discussing the priesthood and the superiority of Jesus over the Old Testament and its systems. But, what’s the point of the thing, really? What should we do with this? I think the answer is clear: We have to commit to Jesus!