Jesus: High Priest of a Better Covenant

Good, Better, Best

We are going to have a contest today… Hopefully we are all winners at the end!

Skippy Peanut Butter

Regular?

Chunky?

OR My personal favorite...

Anchovies?

So among those three choice, Good, Better, Best how do you rank them

So my favorite Anchovies are Good… right

Now what’s better?

And finally the best?

Choices, Choices, Choices

We all make 100’s of decisions each day.

— What do we wear?

— What’s for dinner?

— Do we go one way or another?

Book of Hebrews, Chapter 8

So, we can imagine that after the message of Chapter 7 spread among the people...

Jesus was being compared to Melchizedek.. Of course there is no comparison.

OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IS GOD WITH SKIN ON, AS SUCH HIS MESSAGE IS TIMELESSNESS.

Those devote, unmovable Jews would have remained, worshiping the law EVEN THOUGH it was weak and useless. EVEN THOUGH “a better hope is introduced.

Hebrews 8:13 ESV

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.

V18 — Their He declares that the pre-Jeremiah 31 convenant was “useless” and “weak.”

WHOA.. What is the Jeremiah convenant

Jeremiah 31:31 ESV

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

V19 — The writer acknowledges the short-comings of the “Law.”

But...

You see the law was good… until men imposed different perspectives. Adding 617 other “laws.”

Then it was all about Control… Had little to nothing to do with reconciliation to God.

It had everything to do with power…

Power over the Jews by Jews as they fought alongside of the Pharisee’s and Sadducee’s to eliminate people that could not be controlled.

That “better” hope is found in the Priesthood of Christ and is permanent.

So we have two of three identified as

“Good” — God’s original plan was for man to live in eden for eternity.

He called it “good”

Genesis 1:3–4 (ESV)

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.

After mankind’s “FALL”

God knew what he needed to do

— Created a sacrifical system so His people could atone for their sin.

— God gave the TEN SUGGESTIONS to worship him and live a healthy community.

— Don’t forget it… It was the TEN COMMANDMENTS not “Suggestions”

— We are still bound by those original commandments

— God was constantly showing and demonstrating to the Jews that HIS law is the only law it is a superior law.

— He is ONE GOD God and is to be worshipped in truth.

“A better hope is introduced”

That “better hope” is found only in Christ.

He came delivered, on the 100’s of prophecies from the Old Testament.

He is a “better hope” than any more laws, or rules.

He is Jesus, High Priest of a Better Covenant.

Hebrews 8:1–2 ESV

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.

Our priest, our prophet and of course our Savior!

Look at V2. — “a minister in the Holy places, in the true tent

The “tent” is identified as the tabernacle.

Wait a minute… Jesus opens the New Testament who is in the the “tent”

Exodus 33:7 ESV

7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.

It’s Jesus… A pre incarnate Christ who met and talked with Moses face-to-face.

Moses then accepted Christ and the two others.

Fed them and sent them on their way.

Let’s wander back to our scripture

All of the distractions and there were plenty served the people for a time, maybe for years.

But there is only 1 God, 1 Jesus and 1 Holy Spirit. And they together form the Godhead!

Hebrews 8:5 ESV

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.”

The word “shadow”

A shadow has no substance in itself. It has no independent existence.

It merely is proof of the fact that there is a reality back of it.

It is not itself solid or real.

Just so, the earthly tabernacle gave proof of the fact that there was a real one, the heavenly one where God Himself dwelt, where Messiah officiates as High Priest.

We have been saying all along what is so much better about the promise of Christ over the promises of the law.

It’s the ministry of Christ that makes it “better”

Hebrews 8:6–7 ESV

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.

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All the promises made to get to The First Covenant

Genesis 8:20–21 (ESV)

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.

God’s covenants are prominent in every period of salvation history.

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Before we put up on the next verse...

— Think about these things… what did the people do?

— Not the powerful, not the Pharisee’s or Sadducees.

— The people were cautiously waiting for what was next.

V.8

Hebrews 8:8 ESV

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,

— A new set of agreements.

— It’s is prophetic because he says the “days are coming.” But not yet here!

— There will be a NEW COVENANT

Listen to theses next verses or read along in your Bibles.

Hebrews 8:8–12 ESV

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. 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.”

Here are some highlights

— Christ is bringing a new covenant

— It won’t be anything like the previous covenant

— I will put my law in their hearts

— They will be my people and I will be their God

— From the least to the greatest will know my name

— From Vs.12 - I will be merciful toward their sins; and I will remember their sin no more!

NOW THAT IS QUITE THE LIST OF PROMISES!

Those promises could only be made by one person… Jesus

V.13

Hebrews 8:13 ESV

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.

This new covenant… The one that has been decreed since the beginning of time.

IT IS THE VERY BEST THAT GOD CAN GIVE US!!!

— So why are we living in the world that we live in?

— Why are there wars, rumors of war

— Why is there famine,

— Why homelessness,

— Why is there crime

— Why is the very fabric of society ripping apart

Why?? Because we have not done our part yet.

— To enjoy the BEST!

— We have a responsibility to the world

We have failed in our prime directive…

Matthew 28:17–20 ESV

17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

— It comes down to that… Jesus has set the conditions for his return.

— They are right there in the Bible.

— If we do our part not just for our family, our community, BUT OUR WORLD the best is yet to come

So What???

— We must live each day to its maximum potential

— Accordingly Jesus will give us rewards beyond what we can imagine

— We currently live in a “better” place. What we need are people who are restless for the Gospel and restless to win others to Christ.

— The “best” awaits us!!!

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Communion

We are going to transition Communion now. Would the servers make your way to the front.

Take a few moments if you will and pause and breathe deeply. Do your business with God. Ask forgiveness, seek reconciliation from those that you have wronged. Come to the table with a CLEAN HEART!!

1 Corinthians 11:23–25 ESV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

— Covenants, Covenants, Covenants...

— The only true covenant happens at the shedding of blood for the remission of sin.

— Your sin, my sin and the sin of the world, absolutely laid barren…

— BEFORE THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN TRULY WASH US CLEAN…JESUS CHRIST!