The Promises of a New Covenant
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The Promises of a New Covenant
The Promises of a New Covenant
We are going to start this morning jumping right into the word, so if you would open your Bibles we are going to read from Hebrews 8:6-13.
This is pretty short chapter. It’s not often that we can cover an entire chapter in just 2 messages, but we have building our theology to this point in Hebrews and it is all starting to click together. That said, there is a lot in this passage that needs to be expounded, so we are going to jump right in.
6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
Our message is the second in our series Better Things and is entitled The Promises of a New Covenant.
Old Vs New
Old Vs New
Before the book of Genesis and before the book of Matthew or the title pages the Old Testament and the New Testament respectively. Ever since we began calling those books by those names there has a risen something of a conflict in our understanding of how to approach these groups of books that make up our Bible. We go to terms Old Testament and New Testament from what we read in 2 Corinthians 3:6, 14
2 Corinthians 3:6 (KJV 1900)
6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
2 Corinthians 3:14 (KJV 1900)
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
We can fall into error in believing that old means entirely antiquated and new means that this is now the only testament to which we are to follow. If I'm going to be honest even using the word testament as the delimiter between these collection of books is a little confusing because the word testament means covenant, and commitment to a course of action between two parties.
But it's more than idea of new versus old that I think we struggle with. When we read new testament it's not saying new as in something that comes in sequence after something else: what new means here is that this is a covenant that is superior in quality to the previous covenant.
Then, to layer on some complexity to that we have to understand that God has used different modes of communicating his law, and by His law I mean the moral law. You will see why that is important to specify shortly.
We could start at the very beginning Adam did not need the written law of God in order to carry out God's law. He was in a fellowship with God and had only one rule that was don't eat from this tree. God created Adam in sinless perfection but gave him the freedom to choose whether to obey or rebel against his creator. Unfortunately we all know how that worked out.
Before the law was written God communicated his will to the patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob didn't have the 10 Commandments to reference but their fellowship with God and their knowledge of God made them unique in the world and having a covenant from God dispensed to them.
When Israel came it was a different situation. The things of God was communicated to one man who then served as a mediator to the people of Israel. One man this mediator knew God. It is knowledge of God and his intimacy with God which is what that word new means meant that it was his job to communicate God to God's people. And the law that was given to Moses on Sinai was the vehicle for which God used to deliver his law.
Remember, this was a law given to a nation that God had specifically set aside for the purpose of His glory. In the vehicle with God's moral law, was the law was also the ceremonial law and the civic law that this people had to abide by.
Up to this point in redemptive history, where Christ dies on the cross. Where He becomes the mediator of a new covenant. The Jewish people had been living under a covenant that was established with Moses. The law that was delivered by the books of the law. What we call the Pentetuch, the first 5 books of the Old Testament.
But in the new more adequate covenant: a nation is no longer in view. Not only is a nation not in view but neither is ceremony. That is where the book of Hebrews has been building two. When Christ fulfilled the sacrifice in the true temple, the subject of last weeks message, then there was no longer a need for ceremonial worship. What need is there of a picture that foreshadows a future sacrifice in the true temple of God, once that sacrifice has been made?
And so, the New Testament is divided from the Old.
The 3 Promises
The 3 Promises
Depending on how your Bible is formatted you might find that verses eight through 12 stand out. What is trying to be indicated by whoever set the type in your Bible is that these verses are a quote from the old testament. Jeremiah 31:31-34. You can mark it to read later if you want, but we're not going to read it this morning, because it is almost identical to what we have here in Hebrews chapter 8.
He Says
He Says
Before we get into those verses I do want you to notice what we read before the quotation.
Hebrews 8:8 (KJV 1900)
8 For finding fault with them, he saith ....
I put this out because the author of Hebrews doesn't say Jeremiah said. He recognizes that these are the words of God and they are only being delivered by Jeremiah. The town crier doesn't get credit for the decree. The more importantly what this is is the author of Hebrews acknowledging that scripture is divinely inspired. It is the word of God. So we continue.
The first promise of the new covenant can be found in verse 10.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Promise 1 - Law on Minds & Hearts
Promise 1 - Law on Minds & Hearts
The first promise is that God will put His laws into the minds and into the hearts of His people.
Now, this doesn't mean that upon our conversion the entirety of scripture is downloaded from heaven to our brains for instant memorization. That would give a whole new meaning to the term downloading from the cloud, wouldn’t it!
But the moral law of God does get impressed upon the believer. In the same way that it was with Adam and the same way it was with the patriarchs. And the vehicle now for delivering the law is the Holy Spirit.
In John 16:13 Jesus says
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
See it is that person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit who speaks the law of God into believers. We see this law impacting man in two places, don’t we? In verse 10 we read:
Hebrews 8:10 (KJV 1900)
10 ..... I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: .....
We would probably be tempted to use these two words interchangeably mind and heart. The Greek idea behind these words are at least subtle different.
Mind, διάνοια (dianoia) in the Greek, refers the seat of intellect. This is the part of you from which you reason and think. 1 Corinthians 1:23 says
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
And the reason that they think that the things of God are foolishness is because they do not have an intellect that has be regenerated by the work of God.
The same is true for their heart. The word heart in v10 is very much the idea of a - heart. It’s καρδία (kardia) — it’s where we get the word Cardio from. This alluded to the core of someone’s being, the seat of emotion if you will.
In Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon he defines the word:
the centre and seat of spiritual life, the soul or mind, as it is the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavors
Ezekiel 11:19 says
19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
And one of the amazing truths of the gospel God changes the heart of the believer he changes the thoughts of the believer, the passions of the believer, the desires of the believer, the appetites of the believer, the affections of the believer, the purposes of the believer, and also the endeavors of the believer. That is what it is to be a new creature.
Promise 2 - The Knowledge of God
Promise 2 - The Knowledge of God
The next promise can be found in v11 of Hebrews 8.
11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
Remember that in the previous covenants we had mediators of those covenants who had exclusive access to God. It was very few people who knew God. By knew, I mean that there were very few people who had an intimate knowledge of God, who were acquainted personally with God.
I know it's relatively cliché but when we talk about Jesus being our personal savior that is what we are talking about. We are talking about having a relationship with Jesus Christ, with God, that is a personal relationship, not just some abstract idea of who we think God might be.
In Hosea 4:6 God says through his prophet Hosea:
Hosea 4:6 (KJV 1900)
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
The greatest problem with the old covenant is that the people of that old covenant often didn't know God. We read story after story about Israel rejecting the Lord and following after false gods. But — In the new covenant there's no need for a prophet like Hosea to cry out to those under that covenant to Know the Lord. Because the promise of the new covenant is that, all who are under it will know Him.
Promise 3 - God Doesn’t Remember Their Sin
Promise 3 - God Doesn’t Remember Their Sin
We find the 3rd promise in Hebrews 8:12
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
This is a perfect demonstration of forgiveness. Warren Wiersby puts it this way, he said:
As a pastor in counseling ministry I have often heard people say, “Well, I can forgive—but I cannot forget!”
“Of course you can’t forget,” I usually reply. “The more you try to put this thing out of your mind, the more you will remember it. But that isn’t what it means to forget.” Then I go on to explain that “to forget” means “not to hold it against the person who has wronged us.” We may remember what others have done, but we treat them as though they never did it.
Anything short of that, isn’t forgiveness. It’s at best just giving lip service to the religion thing that we know we are supposed to agree with. But that is dangerous ground to be treading. In Matthew 6:15 Jesus says:
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Like I said, dangerous ground. But the promise of God is that sins will be forgiven to those under the New Covenant.
All
All
I want to conclude this morning buy looking at verse 11 one more time.
11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
Who shall know God? — All — From the least to the greatest.
These are promises to just the pastors and elders deacons in the church. There is no longer any sort of priesthood, where you need to have another, seemingly more holy person to mediate your relationship with God.
But I also don’t want you to be discouraged by what we read in v8 and think that this is a covenant between God and the houses of Israel and Judah alone having the conclusion that we as Gentiles have no part in this covenant and its promises.
I want you to see something Paul writes in Romans 11:17, but we are going start in v13 for context:
13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. 15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? 16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
Gentile believers are grafted into the true faith. The Kingdom of God is like a tree, there are roots and there are branches. But it’s a Jewish tree, not a gentile tree. By the grace of God, gentile believers are like branches plucked off of the gentile tree and added to the Jewish tree. We call that tree, the church. The church where Jew and gentile alike receive the promises of the new Covenant.
Closing
Closing
I hope this morning if you are not under the New Covenant that today is the day you enter in to it. What our Lord requires is for you to turn away from your sinful life, put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you do that I have 3 promises for you:
God will write His law on your heart and on your mind
You will get to have a relationship with God
God will no longer hold you accountable for your sin
If you want to make a decision to enter that covenant or even if you just have some questions you’d like answered, we are going to close in prayer in just a few minutes. Please come talk to me afterwards, I’d love to tell you more.
Let’s Pray