Covenant Sunday: Jesus, the New Covenant and You!

Jesus, the New Covenant, and You! (Hebrews 8:1-13) Sunday Morning • 29 March 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church • Olympia, WA INTRODUCTION: - New covenant sermon in context of Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday 1. Mile markers to Jesus - 2 Cor 1:20: all of God’s promises find their “yes” in Jesus of Nazareth - World: there is no plan o (1) we’re all accidents o (2) there is no creator o (3) there is no designer o (4) there is no order o (5) there is no purpose o (6) there is no plan o (7) there is no conductor making the trains run on time, so to speak - Christian worldview: God has a plan, o (1) and human history is the story of that plan o (2) playing out on the world stage - God’s plan: o (1) laid out in covenants or binding, sacred and sworn promises God has made with His people since the Fall o (2) like acts in a play o (3) or mile markers on an interstate, ticking off the miles towards a destination ▪ that destination is the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth ▪ He is where all these covenant mile markers converge - Before I tell you what the new covenant is, o I want to tell you the story about where it came from o the story of those mile markers that get you to Him a. Mile marker #1 = covenant of preservation:1 1 Formally referred to by theologians as the Noahic Covenant (Gen 8:22-9:11). This name actually makes no sense, because God established the covenant with Noah and his sons (in effect all of humanity to come) to preserve them all from judgment despite their sins. It is more properly the “covenant of preservation.” 1 Pastor Tyler Robbins Jesus, the New Covenant, and You! (Hebrews 8:1-13) Sunday Morning • 29 March 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church • Olympia, WA - God made a covenant with the world to spare it, preserve it and even bless it until Jesus came to save it - What happened: o (1) time of rebellion and unfaithfulness; Cain’s descendants intermingled with Seth’s (Gen 6:1-2) and allegiance was lost – you’re influenced by the company you keep! o (2) God will start over: flood announcement (Gen 6:11-13) ▪ yet, God showed grace by making Noah and his family the nucleus of a new humanity (Gen 6:8; 11-13) o (3) afterwards, grace again: God knew this “new start” would end in failure ▪ yet, God promised to withhold judgment anyway (“for even though the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth;” Gen 8:21)2 ▪ God said He wouldn’t strike down every creature on the earth again with a flood; and the normal cycle of the earth would continue (Gen 8:21-22; 9:8-11) ▪ Instead, He promised to bless Noah and his family = all humanity (Gen 9:1). - What it means: o basis for redemption:3 ▪ God started over ▪ knowing it would end badly (Gen 10) ▪ and promised to withhold similar judgment indefinitely ▪ so His love and judgment would be known for all time ▪ so Jesus could come one day and save His people from their sins ▪ and we look back on this and learn about His purpose, grace, mercy and kindness b. Mile marker #2 = covenant with His people4 For an argument that this clause is concessive (“even though”), see Kenneth Mathews, Genesis 1-11:26, vol. 1A, in NAC (Nashville: B&H, 1996), 395. 3 Robert Letham, Systematic Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2019), 442-443. 4 Otherwise known as the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 12:1-3; 17:1-8). God made the covenant with Abraham, but it is for all his descendants and this covenant chose the Jewish people as His people, as the vehicle from which to bring forth the Savior. It isn’t just about Abraham; it’s the covenant that established God’s people. It should be called something like “covenant with his people.” 2 2 Pastor Tyler Robbins Jesus, the New Covenant, and You! (Hebrews 8:1-13) Sunday Morning • 29 March 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church • Olympia, WA - After promising to preserve the world, God then promised to save it through a very special people – the Jewish people o along with the first, this covenant is the fountainhead for all of God’s promises - What it says: o (1) leave … new family: God would give Abraham a new family ▪ He makes a new family for us, too – through Jesus of Nazareth o (2) new place: a very special, very particular place ▪ Jesus will give us a new creation to replace the old o (3) great nation: God makes a new people for Himself ▪ beginning first with Abraham (the Israelites) ▪ God is making a new nation of people from all over the world ▪ not characterized by shared genetics or ethnicity, ▪ but by allegiance to Jesus Christ (1 Pet 2:9-10; cp. Ex 19:5f) o (4) divine protection: God will protect His people (“bless … curse”) o (5) the vehicle for worldwide blessing ▪ Gen 12:3: “and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” ▪ fulfilled in Jesus, the penultimate Son of Abraham - What it means: o (1) Abraham is the vehicle for a new nation, o (2) that’s a new family for all who belong to it, o (3) and God promises all the family members a new and better place to live one day o (4) He’ll protect His people and preserve them o (5) and thru Abraham, every nation on earth will be blessed ▪ and Jesus is the descendant of Abraham who came to do that c. Mile marker #3 – covenant of holy living5 5 Otherwise known as the Mosaic Covenant (Ex 19:5-7), which makes no sense because the covenant was actually made with the nation of Israel to tell them how to worship Him and live in the land, while waiting for Christ. It’s more properly called “the covenant of holy living,” or something similar. 3 Pastor Tyler Robbins Jesus, the New Covenant, and You! (Hebrews 8:1-13) Sunday Morning • 29 March 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church • Olympia, WA - After choosing His people, God tells them how to live holy lives while they wait for the promises to Abraham to come true o (1) like an airplane orbiting, waiting for permission to land o (2) God’s people in a holding pattern, waiting for Jesus to come, o (3) and God tells them how to live holy lives while they’re waiting - What it says: o (1) rescued from slavery in Egypt ▪ Ex 19:4: “I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” o (2) God’s grace because of promises to Abraham o (3) if you obey … keep covenant (Ex 19:5-6) ▪ like a contract with a troubled teenage son ▪ it established rules and boundaries ▪ breaking: not kicked out of family, but disciplined within it ▪ it taught people about themselves = sinful ▪ it taught people about God = holy and righteous ▪ ceremonial laws: parables of Christ ▪ civil laws: applying principles of righteousness applied to the real world ▪ moral law: a mirror, a restraint, a vehicle for holiness o (4) goal was fidelity, not perfection ▪ law contained a procedure for forgiveness and cleansing ▪ still, God’s people failed because we’re all corrupt ▪ Deut 8:11: Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today ▪ Jer 7:25-26: I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, abut stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. • their failure is ours = we’d be no better - What it means: o (1) we’re not good people o (2) even given divine promises with evidence, we still won’t obey o (3) we need a permanent solution to our criminal nature o (4) we need a divine intervention in our lives to make this happen ▪ Jesus is the one who came to do this 4 Pastor Tyler Robbins Jesus, the New Covenant, and You! (Hebrews 8:1-13) Sunday Morning • 29 March 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church • Olympia, WA d. Mile marker #4 = covenant of the king6 - While they waited, God gave His people a king to rule over them; o a dynastic line through a boy named David o whose occupant would be His royal representative on earth - What it says: o (1) promise of enemies subdued (vv.9-10): this hasn’t happened, yet ▪ but, Jesus (the “Son of David;” Mt 1:1) will do it (Ps 2, 110) o (2) dynasty through David (v.10) o (3) forever: the dynasty never ends (vv.11-12) o (4) like father … like son: familial closeness between King and God (v.13) - What it means: o (1) no king ever managed to do this o (2) all people are fallible ▪ but, Jesus will do it e. The covenant funnel - All God’s promises in these covenants: o flow into the same path, o leading to the same man, o who offers the same solution - That man is Jesus of Nazareth - That solution is trust and allegiance in His message o (1) substitutionary active obedience o (2) substitutionary passive obedience o (3) resurrection o (4) Jn 3:36: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him o (5) full of mercy, grace, love and kindness (Eph 2:4-7) - The funnel of the covenants: Otherwise known as the Davidic Covenant (2 Chr 17:9-14; 2 Sam 7). This is a better term, but it’s still misleading. It’s actually a covenant that promised a dynasty of kings descended from David. A better descriptor would be “the covenant of the king,” or something similar. 6 5 Pastor Tyler Robbins Jesus, the New Covenant, and You! (Hebrews 8:1-13) Sunday Morning • 29 March 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church • Olympia, WA o (1) preservation: it didn’t solve problem, but God preserved us for another solution ▪ Jesus is that solution o (2) His people: the vehicle for this new and permanent solution ▪ Jesus is the descendant from Abraham who will bless people from all over the world o (3) holy living: hold the fort, love God, live holy lives, maintain relationship with God through the priests and the sacrificial system until the new solution arrives ▪ failure = but Jesus was perfect for us - (4) king: represent God, love God, and lead people to do the same o failure = but Jesus will be the perfect King Preservation People King Perfect Peace Holy Living 2. The covenant of peace - So, the New Covenant that Jesus brings: o (1) is the culmination of all God’s promises o (2) because it gives His people perfect peace - Without the new and final arrangement from God: o (1) we’re like people left hanging without an end to the movie; o (2) like a bride abandoned at the altar - Without Christ: o (1) we’re left with a broken funnel that leaks like a sieve; o (2) like a train stranded on one side of a ravine without a bridge 6 Pastor Tyler Robbins Jesus, the New Covenant, and You! (Hebrews 8:1-13) Sunday Morning • 29 March 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church • Olympia, WA - That Old Covenant of holy living, the one He made with His people at Mt. Sinai, isn’t good enough to do the job o (1) it was always meant to be a band-aid, o (2) a strip of duct tape waiting for a permanent repair - and the writer to the Hebrews tells us why the new one is better: o because it gives you peace, if you’ll take it! - Here’s what it says: 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 (Heb 8:1-2). - high priest: a priest’s job is to be a middleman between God and His people o a priest’s job is never done, o because there’s always more sins to atone for, o more confessions to hear, o more of his own sins to fight against as he tries to represent God faithfully - Jesus is the final priest; the high priest: o the one who atones for all His people’s sins past, present and future– that’s why you should join Him! o the one who always obeyed God perfectly for us, o so that He can perfectly represent us to God For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer (Heb 8:3) - appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices: enacted parables or object lessons o the cycle that never stops - this priest: what does Jesus offer? o does He offer another enacted parable; an animal sacrifice that’s really a piece of temporary spiritual duct tape? o No! He offers: ▪ permanent atonement, ▪ permanent forgiveness, 7 Pastor Tyler Robbins Jesus, the New Covenant, and You! (Hebrews 8:1-13) Sunday Morning • 29 March 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church • Olympia, WA ▪ permanent restoration, and ▪ renewal by one perfect sacrifice 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 and 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 was shown you on the mountain,” (Heb 8:4-5). - he would not be a priest: Jesus is different than the Israelite priests from the OC, because he makes their work obsolete - copy and shadow: Jesus makes them obsolete because the whole system, right down to the details of the temple in Jerusalem, were parables or object lessons to teach us about Him: o sin: I’m not a good person o penalty: God is holy and righteous, expects allegiance from people He’s created o grace: a way of forgiveness and restoration o substitutionary death: a living being (an animal) has to die because of my crimes, so I don’t have to be punished o cycle: I’ll never beat this, and will always disappoint God o promise: God will give us a permanent solution one day = Jesus! ▪ (1) the perfect man who suffers and dies in our place ▪ (2) as our substitute ▪ (3) when He Himself didn’t do anything wrong 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 (Heb 8:6). - excellent … better … better: this new arrangement between God and His people is better because of its better promises o what are those promises that are better? o it’s peace; final peace, perfect peace, complete peace - God says there is no peace for the wicked (Isa 57:21) o I’m not referring to serial killers or child molesters o “wicked” means people who haven’t pledged allegiance to Him; 8 Pastor Tyler Robbins Jesus, the New Covenant, and You! (Hebrews 8:1-13) Sunday Morning • 29 March 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church • Olympia, WA ▪ people like you and me ▪ ordinary people, ▪ “good people,” ▪ everyday people o We’re all His creations, ▪ (1) we live in His world, ▪ (2) we breathe His air, ▪ (3) we take His blessings, ▪ (4) we live lives He allows to live whether we love Him or not (because of the mile marker #1 = covenant with the world) o We owe Him our allegiance ▪ (1) because He made us, ▪ (2) and that means He has the right to govern our lives o He loves us so much He sent Jesus, ▪ (1) the One promised through all these covenants, ▪ (2) to save us from ourselves ▪ (3) and make us part of His family - He came to give peace to His people o angels on Christmas morning: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased,” (Lk 2:14) o not everyone: only with those with whom He’s pleased ▪ are you one of those people? For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second (Heb 8:7). - It speaks for itself! 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 out of the land of Egypt. 9 Pastor Tyler Robbins Jesus, the New Covenant, and You! (Hebrews 8:1-13) Sunday Morning • 29 March 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church • Olympia, WA For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord (Heb 8:8-9). - finds fault: God’s people can’t meet the terms of the mile marker #2 (covenant of holy living) at Mt. Sinai, o and it wasn’t designed to be permanent anyway o a tricycle gives way to a bike o a bike gives way to a car ▪ it doesn’t mean tricycles and bikes are useless ▪ they’re fine as far as they go ▪ but, they’re not permanent solutions to your morning commute o it’s the same with the OC and the NC: ▪ the OC with His people about holy living gives way to ▪ the new and better covenant with His people - not like: this arrangement will be somehow different; better – but how? o three ways7 a. new kind of relationship 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 (Heb 8:10) - minds … hearts: God’s law is internalized and treasured in His people’s hearts and minds o Ezekiel 36:26-27: heart of stone vs. heart of flesh o Ezekiel 11:19-20: one heart; united in loving allegiance to Him o Believers from all ages have experienced this, bit in a different way8 I am generally following F.F. Bruce here: “This new relationship would involve three things in particular: (a) the implanting of God's law in their hearts; (b) the knowledge of God as a matter of personal experience; (c) the blotting out of their sins,” (Epistle to the Hebrews, rev. ed., in NICNT [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990; Kindle ed.], KL 2170 – 2171). 8 Here I’m particularly indebted to comments on the new covenant by Philip Hughes, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, in NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962), 94. “The difference between the old and new covenants is that under the former that law is written on tablets of stone, confronting man as an external ordinance and condemning him because of his failure through sin to obey its commandments, whereas under the latter the law is written internally within the redeemed heart by the dynamic regenerating 7 10 Pastor Tyler Robbins Jesus, the New Covenant, and You! (Hebrews 8:1-13) Sunday Morning • 29 March 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church • Olympia, WA ▪ Old (holy living): presented with written laws that kept blinking “FAILURE!” over and over • (1) always looking forward to the permanent solution • (2) like a teenager who doesn’t mind the 10-speed but looks forward to a car ▪ New: presented with Christ who already obeyed all those laws for you • (1) instead of a back-of-your-mind depression and weariness about your own failure to live up to God’s laws • (2) while waiting for relief • (3) you trust in Jesus, who did it all for you • (4) and you obey God’s law with joy, • (5) looking back at the Cross where Jesus died • (6) with love, gratitude and joy • (7) because He chose you and saved you from yourself - When you repent and trust Jesus: o (1) God writes His law on your heart and mind o (2) He gives you a new heart and a new mind work of the Holy Spirit, so that through faith in Christ, the only law-keeper, and inward experience of His power man no longer hates but loves God’s law and is enabled to fulfill its precepts.” This is the best explanation I’ve yet read about what was “new” about the New Covenant; particularly because I believe in OC regeneration. This is why I chose to label it in this sermon as a “new kind of relationship” in a believer’s relationship with God. William Lane echoes Hughes and remarks, “The quality of newness intrinsic to the new covenant consists in the new manner of presenting God’s law and not in newness of content. The people of God will be inwardly established in the law and knowledge of the Lord,” (Hebrews 1–8, vol. 47A, in WBC [Dallas: Word,1991], 209). In a somewhat similar vein, Homer Kent explains, “[i]t is not implied that no one under the Mosaic covenant had the proper sort of heart, any more than one would say that no Israelite knew the experience of having Jehovah as his God. The point is that the covenant itself did not provide this experience, and many lived under its provisions and yet died in unbelief. The new covenant, however, guarantees regeneration to its participants,” (Epistle to the Hebrews [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1972; reprint, Winona Lake: BMG, 2010], 153. Kent’s explanation shades over to emphasizing the pure membership of the new covenant, rather than explaining just how this “new heart” arrangement was different in the new covenant vice the old. F.F. Bruce does a poor job of explaining this “newness” about having the law internalized: “It was not new in regard to its own substance … But while the ‘formula’ of the covenant remains the same from age to age, it is capable of being filled with fresh meaning to a point where it can be described as a new covenant. ‘I will be your God’ acquires fuller meaning with every further revelation of the character of God; ‘you shall be my people’ acquires deeper significance as the will of God for his people is more completely known,” (Hebrews, KL 2183, 2188-2190). 11 Pastor Tyler Robbins Jesus, the New Covenant, and You! (Hebrews 8:1-13) Sunday Morning • 29 March 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church • Olympia, WA o (3) and He gives you peace because instead of climbing up a hill that won’t end and with rest stops along the way o (4) Jesus has climbed the hill for you and carried you up with Him, o (5) and sets you on your way to the Promised Land ▪ He gives you a relationship b. pure membership 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, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest (Heb 8:10-11). - all know me: OC about holy living failed because so many of its people didn’t actually love God – it had mixed membership o two tiers: membership by birth, then allegiance o rotted from the inside: externalists, hypocrites, going through the motions (Josiah and discovery of law; 2 Kgs 22:8-13) - this time it’ll be different: only true believers will be part of this family o pretenders will always be there, like barnacles on a ship o but they’ll never be part of His family or be able to lay claim to any of His promises o they chose exile and spiritual terrorism, instead of allegiance o they’ll end up like the characters in Ecclesiastes; haunted by the thought that their entire lives were built on nothing permanent ▪ your job will go away ▪ your friends will forget you ▪ your family will move away ▪ your achievements will be forgotten ▪ this world will forget you even existed within three generations ▪ and you’ll have wasted your life, ▪ because you rejected the only Savior who can bring peace, shape and purpose to it 12 Pastor Tyler Robbins Jesus, the New Covenant, and You! (Hebrews 8:1-13) Sunday Morning • 29 March 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church • Olympia, WA c. perfect forgiveness For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more,” (Heb 8:12). - iniquities: permanent forgiveness, permanent atonement, permanent peace o no more spiritual treadmill: always moving and never going nowhere o no more eternal spin cycle: rinse, wash, repeat o no more band-aids: but a cure o no more duct-tape: but a permanent repair for your soul - remember: God “forgets” our sins and never brings them up again o covered, over with, forgiven, atoned for, done o not like us: we like to “remember” things we’ve forgotten o Isa 43:23-24: But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities. “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. o Micah 7:19: He casts our sins into the depths of the sea 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 (Heb 8:13). - obsolete: not bad, just superseded by something better o Jesus of Nazareth is that arrangement, that new covenant EXHORTATION - God has a plan for human history, and all those covenant roads lead to Jesus: o (1) preservation o (2) people o (3) holy living o (4) king o (5) perfect peace 13 Pastor Tyler Robbins Jesus, the New Covenant, and You! (Hebrews 8:1-13) Sunday Morning • 29 March 2020 Sleater Kinney Road Baptist Church • Olympia, WA - Rev 1:5-6: Jesus “loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” o (1) Jesus loves us o (2) freed us from our sins by his blood (i.e. death) o (3) made us a kingdom (nation – covenant with Abraham) o (4) priests to represent Him to an unbelieving world - Mt 26:28: this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins o He died to forgive you of your crimes against His law! o Will you receive it? o Have you received it? - Eph 2:12-14a: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace … o If you come to Christ, it means: ▪ (1) He blesses you (Eph 1:4) ▪ (2) He chose you (Eph 1:4) ▪ (3) In love, He predestinated you for adoption to Himself (Eph 1:5) ▪ (4) He forgives you (Eph 1:5) ▪ (5) Sealed and marked with God’s Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13) ▪ (6) He has great mercy for you (Eph 2:4) ▪ (7) He has great love for you (Eph 2:4) ▪ (8) He gave you spiritual life (Eph 2:5) ▪ (9) Your faith is a gift from God (Eph 2:8) ▪ (10) God made you who you are so you can serve Him; He has work for you to do! (Eph 2:10) ▪ (11) You’ve been reconciled to Him (Eph 2:16) - Jesus offers this gift of new covenant salvation to everyone: o Mk 1:15: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel! o If you haven’t, please accept it today and celebrate Easter Sunday as one of the family 14 Pastor Tyler Robbins