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Mills River SDA Church

A Study in Hebrews

Cory Reeves

A Study in Hebrews 1: God Still Speaks

A Study in Hebrews Chapter 2: Aid to the Tempted

A Study in Hebrews, Chapter 3: Partakers of Christ

A Study in Hebrews, Part 4: The Promise of Rest

A Study in Hebrews 5: A Call to Grow Up

A Study in Hebrews 6: The Anchor of Hope

A Study in Hebrews 8: A Better Covenant

A Study in Hebrews 7: The Perfect Priest


I know, and you know, God doesn't just do okay, He does perfect, right? We know that. So how can it be a better covenant? Why did we need a new covenant at all? This is what we're going to look at as we dive into our eighth on Hebrew… our eighth sermon on Hebrews.

Hebrews 8 is what we're looking at. And we're going to jump from this right into our evangelism series looking at the sanctuary, which you can tell Grant's a teacher, right? By the way, he led us even through Scripture. But as Grant alluded to, we're going to jump from this straight into the sanctuary message. And what better chapter of Hebrews to end on before we jump in is Hebrews chapter 8.

It kind of gives us a jump start into the message of the sanctuary. So going right in, Exodus 19, verse 8. All that the Lord has spoken we will do." So what makes a promise strong? The 1 who gives it or the 1 who receives it? So Israel here is promising to obey and keep God's covenant.

However, by the time we reach Exodus 32, they've already built a calf to worship to, right? So they went from all that you say, God, we will do, to bowing down to a calf not too far later. They had already fallen short of the covenant. So does that make the covenant wrong? Did God give a bad covenant?

You see, Israel failed under the Old Covenant because they relied on their promises, their strength instead of God's. The question is an important 1. What makes a promise strong? The 1 who gives it or the 1 who receives it. And as you see today, that Hebrews 8 shows a greater covenant based on God's promises, God's power, not ours.

So going right into Hebrews, if you'll open your Bibles to Hebrews, I gave you some of the texts in your study guides, but I'm not going to give you all of them, because you need to open those Bibles. Hebrews 8, we're going to start with verse 1, and I'm going to go quickly through this, I'm sorry, but we do need to get to communion. And I wanted to get through Hebrews 8. So here we go. Hebrews 8, starting with verse 1.

Now this is the main point of the things we are saying. We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. A minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected and not manned." I want to pause. This is so clear. Jesus we've discussed throughout this whole series is our high priest.

Amen, church? And we see here that the sanctuary in the Old Testament was a model of the real sanctuary in heaven. Amen? Okay. Verse 3, for every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices.

Therefore it is not necessary that this 1 also having have something to offer For if he were on earth He would not be a priest since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law Remember We've discussed this a little bit before, but Jesus didn't meet the earthly requirements of a priest. He was of a different priesthood, the priesthood of who? Mekazidek. Remember, we just spoke on that a couple weeks ago. Verse 5, who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle.

For he said, see that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. In other words, he's pausing and saying, it's important to know this sanctuary, this wasn't Moses's idea, this sanctuary model came from somewhere important. It came directly from God. And there's something important about what this means to us, friends. This should teach us the importance of what we have been given.

Verse 6, "...but now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, in as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. So here is our question right away. Why is this a better covenant? What does the sanctuary have to do with the covenant? But before we get there, I think it is important to understand that the Hebrews and the language around the sanctuary would have been second nature to them.

They lived their lives around the process of sanctuary. So what is shocking to them about what he just said is that that's not the real sanctuary, friends. There's a real 1 in heaven. Can you imagine that mind-blowing information they just received? So Exodus 25, verse 8 and 9 tells us clearly that God gave Moses the blueprint.

And we read it, and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. The next verse, according to all that I show you, that is the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all of its furnishings, just so you shall make it." So what's the purpose of the sanctuary? God wants to dwell with us. That wasn't a promise just for Israel, right? The sanctuary is the model that puts us back in atonement with God.

It puts you back in atonement for God. It's the plan of salvation, friends. The plan of salvation. What is the goal of the plan of salvation? Redemption?

Restoration? I like that word. Reunification. It's not just some pearly gate, heaven in the clouds dream that we get something pretty and something valuable in the end. It's that we are reunited with God.

Isn't that a blessing? That is something that when you spend time here, friends, you're gonna get more and more excited about that reunion. The earthly sanctuary is just a model of the true, a shadow of God's plan. And while we can't fully unpack this today, I hope that you will join our series starting next Monday. So many people think the sanctuary message was just for Israel.

It's done away with at the cross. However, sanctuary language is throughout the entire Bible. Revelation, in John's vision, he sees the true sanctuary. Revelation 11, verse 19, Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail." Heaven, clearly, friends, has a sanctuary.

John's seeing the ark of the covenant in heaven, not here on earth. So as we look at a better covenant from Hebrews 8, the first 2 points I want to draw out are A, our high priest Jesus is doing a work in the heavenly sanctuary for you right now. Amen? 2 is the true tabernacle was never here on earth. We had a tabernacle but the true tabernacle was never here on earth but in heaven and it is God's plan to dwell with us again.

So going on, Hebrews, back to Hebrews 8, verse 7 and 9 this time. For if that first covenant had been faultless, this is what we mentioned earlier, there is nothing wrong with God's covenant, verse 7, for if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Verse 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 did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord." You see, the problem with the covenant wasn't the covenant. It was Israel.

As the text said, they disregarded the covenant, right? Exodus 19, verse 8, which we already read, Israel said, how much? All that the Lord hath said we will do." Did they keep that pledge? No. They fell short, right?

But God was gracious. He extended mercy to them, grace to Israel. You read through it in the Bible and it almost gets frustrating because it's Israel coming back to God and falling away, coming back to God and falling away, and you're like, come on. But when we read a story like that and you get to jump year to year or a hundred years or 10 years, I wonder how frustrated people would be if we wrote down our life story, right? Come on, why do you keep falling away?

Why do you quit on these things? Was God's promise to his people ever broken? No. It was never broken, right? Israel left God's covenant.

Israel agreed to keep God's orders, His law. Is there anything wrong with the law? Psalms 19, verse 7, the law of God is perfect. So the simple answer is no. God gave them the law.

It was just what we needed. There was nothing wrong with God's covenant. Israel just couldn't keep their promises in the end, right? There's a book called The Faith I Live By, page 78. It says it simply.

The terms of the old covenant were obey and live. If a man do, he shall even live in them. But cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to them. The new covenant was established on better promises, the promise of forgiveness of sins and of the grace of God to renew the heart and to and bring it into harmony with the principles of God's law. In other words, Israel could not on their own power by their own promise keep God's law, right?

So the problem was in our promise, not God's. So we serve a God who came up with a new promise. A better promise. Amen? I'm glad I have a better promise.

Aren't you? 0.3, the old covenant was not faulty, but we just couldn't keep it, right? We failed. So God had a plan. I want to unwrap that just for a second.

Did God know this in advance? He would have known that, right? Then why put it in place? I believe from our scripture today that we needed to see that our power could not accomplish this without God in our lives. You see, we need Jesus.

We are designed for a relationship with Jesus. We here today can not, right? We cannot live up to the old covenant. Can anyone here raise their hand and say, you know what, I can live up to the old covenant? I am blessed by the new covenant.

Let's continue. Hebrews 8, starting with verse 10. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law in their mind and write them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people none of them shall teach his neighbor and none his brother saying no the Lord for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their and their lawless deeds I will remember no more verse 13 in that he says a new covenant he has made the first obsolete Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

God's new covenant is amazing. He will put his law. I love that. He. Who?

Is it you? He will put his law on our minds and hearts. His people's sins will not be remembered. God's new covenant is a promise to help us through His power, not our own. Yes, we have failed the old covenant, but guess what?

Jesus did not fail, friends. And the new covenant has put him, put his law on our hearts, right? His character on our hearts. And I love how the end of this chapter goes. Growing old is ready to vanish away.

Isn't that the blessing we're all looking for, the blessed hope? How many people want to quit growing old in this room? I hope there's a whole handful of you. At least Growing old will vanish away. You know, soon Jesus is going to come and there will be no more growing old.

Amen? Our last point today is the glory of the new covenant. Isn't Jesus so good? It is about his promise, not ours. His goodness, not ours.

Friends, Jesus cannot fail the promise. Man failed the promise. God said, well, that wasn't good enough, so I'm gonna give a promise that you cannot fail if you accept me. I believe, and I can't wait to ask him, if if The switch between the old and the new was just to teach us reliance on Him, on His power. Isn't the message of the old to new covenants powerful?

I want to make sure you invite friends to hear the sanctuary message. Excuse me. Invite your neighbors, friends. So as we close, you see Jesus is our appointed high priest. This work doesn't take away from the cross.

I believe it puts more power into the cross It makes it a pinnacle of his work. It gives it a purpose and Jesus has a promise for you His promise is that He will forgive you your sins when you ask. He will put His law, His character on your mind and heart. He will put you at at-one-ment with God, reuniting with Him forever. There is no greater covenant.

Amen? There is only 1 way for this covenant to fail though. If you reject Him. And friends, I ask you, will you accept Jesus? Him onto your hearts?

This covenant promise. And if you're willing to do that, will you kneel with me now in prayer or as far as you can in prayer? Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we serve an amazing God that foresaw all. And Father, you gave us this new covenant to show us that in the old covenant, we cannot do things in our power, but Father, we can do them in Your power. All that You've accomplished, Father, for us.

All that You are doing right now for us. And Father, I know hearts are reaching out to you, asking for help with things going on in their lives. Father, lift their burdens. Carry them through whatever they're going through. Father, we need and are thankful for your grace.

Be with us now. Grow in our hearts and in our minds. In Jesus name, Amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's Word through free sermon audio and much more. If you would like to know more about AudioVerse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, visit www.audioverse.org.

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Series

A Study in Hebrews

A Study in Hebrews 8: A Better Covenant

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

A Study in Hebrews 1: God Still Speaks

39m

A Study in Hebrews Chapter 2: Aid to the Tempted

35m

A Study in Hebrews, Chapter 3: Partakers of Christ

29m

A Study in Hebrews, Part 4: The Promise of Rest

40m

A Study in Hebrews 5: A Call to Grow Up

35m

A Study in Hebrews 6: The Anchor of Hope

43m

A Study in Hebrews 8: A Better Covenant

18m

A Study in Hebrews 7: The Perfect Priest

44m

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