Hebrews 8:1-13
Notes
Transcript
ANNNOUNCEMENTS
Mission SD Cancelled
Zoom Hangout
_______________
Lord, here we go again!
Pray.
Think myself empty.
Read myself full.
Write myself clear.
Pray myself haught.
Be myself.
Forget myself.
Lord, let this message be a beacon for you. Let me be forgotten and invisible. Let them see and know you, only you.
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
________________________________________________________________________________
The word Gospel means “good news”. It’s pretty important to understand that. The Bible is not a book that tells us what we have to do to earn salvation, it is a book that tells us what God did to earn our salvation.
What he did was send Jesus. Jesus did for us what we could never do for ourselves and he paid for what we had done in his body on the cross.
God created human beings and intended for them to be ruling creatures. We were supposed to be under God but over everything else. We were supposed to rule over creation under the guidance and authority of God’s Word and to function as conduits for all the blessings of heaven.
That’s how it was supposed to be, but unfortunately, the Bible tells the story of how our first parents, Adam and Eve, fell into sin by choosing to rebel against God’s Word in order to become autonomous ruling creatures. Basically, they wanted to be gods unto themselves, deciding good and evil.
From that point on, humanity has been on a downward spiral moving further and further away from God and our original design and glory.
The heart of the Gospel is the Good News that Jesus has come as God in the flesh and has obeyed God perfectly and has therefore won the right to all the blessings God originally intended to give to men and women. Furthermore, through his sacrificial death on the cross, he has paid the debt that we owed to God for disobeying his commands.
There is therefore no need anymore for us to hide from God. In Jesus, we can come home and we can be restored. The climax of the Gospel is the great news that he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven where he now intercedes on our behalf.
He gives the Holy Spirit to all his people and he slowly but surely, changes our hearts, reforms our desires and teaches us how to be the children of God we were always intended to be.
For now, Jesus remains in heaven, changing the world one person at a time, but one day he will return and judge the world in righteousness. He will remove from this world all sin and all causes of sin and he will restore the cosmos to a state of peace, prosperity and flourishing and all those who have received him as their Lord and Savior will participate in his rule and enjoy his goodness forever.
_____________________________________________________
PRAY
_____________________________________________________
If you were on last week, we talked about Jesus in the order of Melchizedek. That can get kind of confusing but the general gist is this, Jesus is the Great High Priest who’s priesthood has no end and no beginning. This is both crazy and amazing all at the same time.
Justin
1 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, 2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
Jake
4 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. 5 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.” 6 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. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
Stacey
8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
8 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,
9 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.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 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.
Matt
11 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.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”
13 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.
Matt—Pray
I want you to think about something that you will be asked to talk about for a minute when we do our breakouts in just a couple minutes: What have you upgraded recently and why?
The reason I ask this question is we live in what’s called a disposable society. Most of what we buy will end up breaking eventually. Our phones, cars, homes, etc. Things are made to be replaced. I like to buy things that are sustainable-called “buy it for life” items. These items cost a little bit more but last longer. However, even these things have an expiration date.
In this passage of Hebrews that was just read, the writer is reminding his audience that there was a former “way” to God, but that way was nullified with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. In Jesus, we have a New Hope!
MAIN IDEA: Through Jesus, God has established a new covenant which provides believers new power, new knowledge of God, and new assurance of sins forgiven.
The writer has spent some time in in the last several chapters discussing the work of Christ as our high priest and now gives us a brief but powerful summary: Christ serves his people before God by offering a sacrifice for sin.
We look at the first 6 verses here and it highlights the “New Leader” in Christ and we see that in that Christ provides effective service for his people by giving an effective sacrifice for sin.
There is a contrast here that is important for the writers audience, including us, in this first verse.
1 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,
Jesus, this high priest, is seated- signifying that the work is done. The priests in the temple didn’t sit to do their work.
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
When you are working, particularly manual labor, you don’t sit down until the work is done. Yet, Jesus sits at the right hand of the throne. Jesus’ task was complete. The priests of Aaron’s line always stood in the presence of God without sitting, suggesting that their task was ongoing and incomplete.
See, Jesus was a priest who served in the true tabernacle, set up by the Lord, not by man like the Levitical priesthood. The motions that Aaron’s priest went through were the pursuance of a symbolic ministry in an earthly tabernacle. The Lord himself had established the work of Christ.
The ministry of priests in the earthly tabernacle presented pictures and symbols of the forgiveness of sin. Christ came actually to accomplish the job. He did not deal with pictures and symbols but with reality. He obtained forgiveness by offering himself in God’s presence. Believers can find hope by living in the light of the fulfillment Jesus made available.
Christ’s ministry for believers in heaven doesn’t consist of his offering his sacrifice for sin. He has already completed that. His sacrificial ministry reached completion when he offered himself on the cross. The present ministry of Christ is to pray for his people before God.
The offering of the earthly priests was expressed with a present tense which focused on the continual nature of their offering. They kept on offering sacrifices for sins. Jesus, our High Priest, offered a single sacrifice, an event expressed in a tense which suggests a single act in the past. Jesus’ single offering never needed repetition.
Second, even though the earthly ministry was only a copy of the heavenly reality, God had still designed this earthly priestly ministry in detail. Quoting Exodus 25:40, the author reminds his readers that God had provided precise instructions about the details of the tabernacle. Even the small details of the earthly tabernacle were in God’s hands. If this were true, then the heavenly sanctuary in which Jesus served with such effectiveness must be more glorious and significant.
We have to be careful that we don’t take this so literally that we make our view of the heavenly temple too materialistic.
Christ was the mediator of the new covenant. We will see a more complete explanation of this idea in 9:15–22. The mediator had the job of keeping two parties linked in fellowship. As mediator, Christ rescued the perishing and flawlessly carried out God’s will (John 17:4)
Now, we shift gears a little bit. If we have a “new leader” in Christ, then we have a “new agreement” that is established.
Christ has established this new agreement which promises inner power, personal knowledge and forgiveness of sins.
The reason for this new agreement is where the Law (Pentateuch) could reveal sin, it couldn’t remove it. It could not justify or save sinners. People, even the high priest, lacked the power themselves to obey the law.
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Therefore, God introduced a new agreement or covenant. This statement became the signal for the author of Hebrews to use Jeremiah 31 to explain the new covenant which God had begun.
Now, we have the content of this new agreement. Not to oversimplify it but the new covenant promises new moral power, personal knowledge, and forgiveness of sin.
Holman New Testament Commentary: Hebrews & James 2. The Content of the New Agreement (vv. 8–12)
God had initiated the first covenant in sovereignly leading his people from captivity in Egypt. God’s people were helpless until God took the initiative. Even though God took the initiative, the covenant did not last. God’s people failed. The covenant became invalidated. The Jews broke the conditions of the covenant.
Holman New Testament Commentary: Hebrews & James 2. The Content of the New Agreement (vv. 8–12)
The word of hope was that God had promised a new covenant. It would not do to patch up the old covenant. God established an entirely new covenant with new benefits for his people, benefits discussed in the following verse.
Three features of this new covenant that we see here
1. the covenant applied to the house of Israel.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
2. The covenant would be inward, righting the hearts and minds of his people
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,
3. The new covenant would produce intimacy, creating a relationship in which Israel’s God would become the God of his followers, and they would become his people.
His actions for believers through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus meant that God had acted even more vigorously to redeem his people.
This fellowship would spread among all those that acknowledged Him, from the least to the greatest, and would be direct and immediate. Not just one class or one tribe but all believers.
A literal translation of verse 12 has God promising, “I will be merciful to their deeds of unrighteousness.” God had always been merciful. The new covenant gave more open expression to God’s mercy.
The parallel statement that God would remember their sins no more reassured sinners that God’s forgiveness was complete. God, unlike human beings, does not say, “I will forgive, but I will not forget.” God promises to forget our sins.
The ground of forgiveness was not human repentance but Jesus’ sacrificial death. Only the death of Jesus could provide full assurance that God has wiped away sins and made believers righteous in his sight. God took the initiative to give sinners his grace and mercy. Because God really dealt with sins, the blessings of knowing him and serving him with power become possible.
The result of the new agreement:
The new covenant promised inward power, an intimate knowledge of God, and forgiveness of sin. Nothing in the past could equal the provisions of this new covenant. We who live today as believers can rejoice in God’s lavish provisions for our spiritual needs.
MAIN IDEA REVIEW: Through Jesus God has established a new covenant which provides believers new power, new knowledge of God, and new assurance of sins forgiven.
By faith in Jesus you and I become members of God’s family. We have urgent and desperate needs. Because God is now our heavenly Father, he loves us too much to leave us hanging. We are family. God will help.
You and I desperately need to know that God will accept us. Whenever we are honest about it, we must admit that we have broken God’s laws, lived selfishly, forgotten to seek God’s will, and lived as if there were no life beyond. We need to know that someone will represent us before God. We need someone who can say for us, “God, I present my life as a sacrifice for their sins. Let them enjoy your blessing.”
That’s where Jesus fits in. He is the new leader who gives us hope. Through faith in Jesus, we become children of God (John 1:12). Through following Jesus, we experience abundant life (John 10:10). Because of Jesus, we can find mercy and grace for our every need (Heb. 4:16). Thank God for Jesus!
Knowing these truths produces three responses in our lives. First, we have gratitude. We can say, “Thank you, God, for your great provisions for me.” We can live as thankful people. Second, we have encouragement. We can feel, “God has given us a good agreement. He supplies all we need.” When our load becomes heavy and our future confused, we find hope simply to keep plodding on in God’s strength. Third, we find fear and respect for God. We must say, “A God this gracious deserves our obedience.” Then we must live as if we mean it.