It might first appear. We'll read together chapter eight down through chapter nine and verse eleven. 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, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, therefore it is necessary that this one also has 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. who served 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. But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry inasmuch as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. 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, 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. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put My laws in their mind, and I will 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, Know 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 lawless deeds I will remember no more." 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. Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared, the first part in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary. Behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priest always went into the first part of the tabernacle performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance, the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time, in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience, concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. But Christ came as a high priest of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. We remember that the context of the book of Hebrews has to do with possibly Roman Christians, but Roman Christians who had been raised and steeped in the Old Covenant, what for them was the only covenant that they knew, we call it the Old Covenant, but they were Jewish believers of Jewish heritage who knew the Torah very well, who've been raised in the priestly worship of the tabernacle or of the temple during the time of Jesus. They were used to synagogue worship where Moses was read week by week. They were Jews through and through, all the way through, no matter where you slice them, they were of the blood of the people of Abraham. And they have, as I've painted in past pictures and introductions, come to hear about the Lord Jesus. They've heard of the one who is the fulfillment of the messianic office, the son of David, the one who came as Savior. And they have believed the gospel. And they have begun to disconnect themselves from, as difficult as it was, the Jewish heritage which they had had, particularly in the sacrificial system, and now were meeting partially because of their own choice, partially because of the persecution and the difficulty of continuing in that. They had now moved into house churches, but because of the difficulties, because of the increased pressure, were now feeling temptation to move back into Judaism and said, we'll just worship the symbols and remember Christ in them. And this is an argument, Hebrews, is an extended argument why they ought not to do that. And he begins in the beginning, chapter 1, of how Jesus is better than the angels, and he opens that up. We spent the first week looking at that. We saw then in chapter two, moving into chapter three, how Jesus was better than Moses because he not only was faithful in his house, it was his house that he built. He was God. He was the one who created the house. Therefore, he's superior to Moses. We saw in chapter four the imagery of the Sabbath, of moving into a place of rest. There yet remains a Sabbath for the people of God, the future bringing about of the kingdom and the rest from our works. And now he is arguing, as we've seen over the past couple of weeks, from Melchizedek, from the high priest. And now he has moved from the angels, Moses, into the tabernacle worship, into the temple worship, particularly associated with Melchizedek. Now, we saw at the end of chapter 5 that he says, I've got more I want to say about Melchizedek. There's a lot more to say. It's hard to teach. And we saw that chapter 6 is why it is it's difficult to teach for them. And then he comes back in chapter 7, what we saw last week of saying, OK, I've given this footnote, I've given this parenthetical statement. I'm going to press on, I'm not going to treat you like children. And we saw chapter 7, how it is from the argument of Melchizedek. We saw three things. We saw his argument from Genesis 14, the opening up of Abraham paying tithes to Melchizedek. We saw his argument from Psalm 110 in verse 4, I have sworn and I will not relent, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. We saw him break open that argument. We saw him break open the argument from the gospel itself of Christ's one sacrifice on the cross because of his resurrection from the dead. He is arguing Christ is better. Don't go back. The priesthood is better. And now this week in chapter 8 and chapter 9, he's continuing that extended argument. They got it in one shot, in one reading. We get the joy of breaking it down week by week. And so that's the context. That's what we come into. Chapter 8 and chapter 9 are not isolated texts. They come into the flow of the argument. We have to keep that argument in mind as we look at these verses. Now, chapter 8 and verse 1, he introduces this section by saying and giving us a preacher's tool of rhetoric. It is a little tool that says, OK, now I'm making my main point. He's telling us this is the main thing he's saying. Notice in chapter 8, verse 1, this is the main point of the things we are saying. Don't you love it when a preacher does that? Finally, he said all of this different stuff. What is your point? Okay, I'm going to tell you my point. Here it is. So that's what he does here. And the main point he says in verse 1, it has to do with Jesus as High Priest. Chapter 8 verse 1, this is the main point of the things we are saying. We have such a High Priest and the rest of this section is a description of that High Priest. But the main point is Jesus as High Priest. Now what I want to attempt to do is in chapter 8 verse 1 through chapter 9 verse 11, break down three arguments that he's using in this section of why Jesus is better, not only than the priesthood of Melchizedek, he has a better place that he's serving in. You'll see that under heading number one, Jesus serves a better tabernacle or a better temple. OK, so you see better than the angels, better than Moses, a better Sabbath, a better than a high priest, Levi. Now it's a better tabernacle. Are you starting to see a theme there? I think it's pretty clear. A better tabernacle. Chapter eight, verses one through five, he repeats the argument and expands it in the beginning of chapter nine. Jesus, Roman numeral number two, Jesus mediates a better covenant, better tabernacle, better covenant. And then what we won't get into, chapter nine, verse 12, Lord willing, next week will be Jesus offers a better sacrifice. So you following his argument? It all has to do with Jesus being better than all of this stuff that he's referring to. Okay, well let's look at that then. Jesus serves a better tabernacle beginning in chapter 8 verses 1 through 5. Now when he refers to the tabernacle here, it's a word for tent. Now, it might be somewhat surprising that he uses the word tabernacle instead of temple, because you know the difference. At the beginning, when Moses establishes the place that God is to be especially worshipped, it is a tent. It is a literal tent that they can roll up the cloth. They can roll up the tent poles and they can move around. And it was particularly during their wilderness wanderings that they were able to move this. It was a movable building. It's not until the time of Solomon and then later during the day of Herod that you have a building of an edifice that is more permanent. They lay a foundation, they build buildings on it. You're not just going to pack that thing up and move it somewhere else. It's been said that some of the stones that were laid for that temple were just huge, 10 feet or more large, moving those things, building this temple. You didn't just pack that up, throw it on your back and move to another place. So it's somewhat surprising at this point that he's arguing from a tabernacle and not a temple because at that point a temple is standing in Jerusalem. Why does he do that? I think he's going back to the origins of God's worship found in the Torah because nowhere in the Torah is there a legitimacy for a temple that is allowed later under Solomon. Remember David wanted to build him a house? And God said, when did I ever require that of you? I've always dwelt in a tent with my people, but now I'm going to allow your son to do that, to build me a house. But before that, and our writer is arguing that in the law, there's a tabernacle. It is the tabernacle that was made after a particular pattern, he'll come back to in a minute, that particularly God gave to him. And the temples were of a different pattern. They're not exactly the same as the tabernacle, even in their dimensions. So he refers to not the temple, though he means the whole sacrificial system that now exists in the temple in the day that the readers or the hearers are hearing this book. This becomes a theme that he picks up. And this word tabernacle is used 10 times in this is the first time here in chapter eight, verse two, but he uses it nine more times throughout the book. This is one of his main arguments. And so he has this has to do with the high priest serving in a tabernacle or in a place where God is especially worship. Now, you'll notice he says in verse one there that there's this imagery, this mixture of an imagery. He is using tabernacle imagery, that which is of the tabernacle of worship of sacrifice. But he does something that hasn't been done, and that is mixes the imagery of the throne in the midst of it. And so probably what he's referring to is like the Ark was there in the Holy of Holies, which we'll come back to later. was the seat of God. It was like the throne of the invisible God with Cherubim going over it. He is mixing this imagery. He says, chapter 8, verse 1, we have such a high priest, speaking of Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heaven. So here's the high priest doing something that a high priest had never done before. And he goes into the place of majesty and he sits down. There were no chairs in the Holy of Holies for the high priest, because the priest goes in, he does his business, and he comes back out. This high priest has gone in, and he now shares the rule and reign of God in that he is in the holy place, and he is seated at the right hand Here, sit here at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool. Sit here at my right hand. And so there is the picture of a high priest offered sacrifice, entered into the holiest place in heaven, and now is seated, something that no high priest, and that itself is an argument of how this high priest is greater than the previous high priests. So that's what he's arguing here. Well, what kind of place is this that he's seated in? We begin to read in verse two. He is a minister of the holies or minister of the sanctuary or of the sacred things and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected and not man. Now the word here minister is not the typical word for house servant. It's not the typical word for slave. It's a very particular and rarer New Testament word which means one appointed to public service. In Britain, they talk about the Minister of Education, the Minister of Finance. That's this particular term that has the idea not of a servant, not of a house servant, not of a slave, but one who is appointed in an official place. That's the word that's used here. He is one appointed to the particular place of the sanctuary. And notice the terminology he uses here in verse two of the true tabernacle. And then he describes it as that which the Lord erected and not man. So here's our first contrast. We have the tabernacle that is on the earth, erected by Moses, erected by the hands of the priests. And he says, but this Jesus, this high priest is serving in a tabernacle that is greater because it is something that is the true tabernacle which the Lord erected. OK, so now picture God setting up a tent. That's the imagery here. Picture God somewhere in heaven erecting a tent. That's the image. And it is that place which is the true tabernacle which he says then that the Lord erected that this high priest has gone into. Now when he says true tabernacle, he's not saying that the old tabernacle is false. Okay, so you've got the true tabernacle, you've got the false tabernacle, because remember, God was the one who said build that for him. So it's not true in the contrast of false, but what he means by true is original. and notice how he argues this going down through the verse. Verse 3, every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices therefore it is necessary that this one also have something to offer. Let's jump down to verse 5. They 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. So the author is arguing that on the mountain, Moses not only is told the pattern of the tabernacle, he is shown the pattern. It seems to me he was shown in a vision of the true tabernacle, of which he is to make a copy of that on the earth. So in a vision, it seems. He was not merely told, make things according to the pattern, but according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. And so this is his argument, that this tabernacle is better. It is true. Why? Because the one that they are tempted to go back to, which now is the temple, that is just another form of the tabernacle, all of those are not the true. See, they're struggling with, do we go back to true worship and to true religion? He's saying that's not the true. What you're seeing is not the true. That is a reflection, a copy of the individual which is, or the true, which is in heaven. And that's the one that Jesus has passed into. That's the imagery being used here. And then he goes on to say about this sacrifice, verse three, every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Now follow his argument. Therefore, it is necessary that this one also has something to offer. What is his argument? Look at the shadow and the type on the earth. Look what Moses did. Look what God told Moses to do. And what did the high priest, what did the priest do? They offered sacrifice. He argues backwards. If this is a copy of that, what you see here is a reflection of this. Therefore, if priests offer sacrifice here, then the priest that serves there must also offer a sacrifice. Do you see his argument? What you see here, it is necessary. There's a very strong term. He says, verse three, therefore, it is necessary that this one also has something to offer. How do we know Jesus offered something in that tabernacle? You see it because of its copy on the earth. OK, so that's his argument at this point. He says, verse 4, if he, speaking of Jesus, were on earth, he would not be a priest. We've talked about that before, how he was not of the tribe of Judah. And here's the staggering thing. Jesus, the incarnate God, in following the law, was never allowed to enter into the temple. It would have been unlawful and sin for Jesus, as a man of the tribe of Judah, to walk up and say, excuse me, I'm God, and go into the temple. Is that a staggering thought? But it was not lawful for him. He would have broken the law, the law which Galatians tell us he was born under. God was not welcome in that earthly tabernacle. Well, does that mean he's something less? No, absolutely not. It argues the opposite. because he doesn't allow, he isn't allowed to go into the copy, but he alone is allowed to go into the original. Again, showing his superiority, his greatness. Here on earth, he says, verse 4, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law. Jesus could not do that. Verse 5, who served the copy and shadow of the heavenly things as Moses was divinely instructed. So here's his argument. All of that is a copy of something greater. Jesus is a greater high priest, he offers greater sacrifices because, the big argument is, he serves in a better, greater, original, true tabernacle in heaven. Now, he repeats this argument and expands it. If you'll jump over to chapter 9, verses 1 through 11, he makes this same argument. In chapter 9, verse 1, then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. We'll come to that in a few minutes. A tabernacle was prepared, the first part in which was the lampstand, etc. What he does here is he describes that first tabernacle. He spends some time in saying, OK, in that first room, what did you have? You had the lampstand that had the seven parts of it. It was designed in a very specific way. The priest would go in and have oil and put oil in that and it would keep light and would give light to that first chamber that all the priests who were ordained to do so could go into. They had the table. They had the showbread where fresh loaves of bread were put there day after day. You have there the incense altar where it's burning before the veil. So you come through the first veil. There's the first room with the lampstand with the showbread. Actually, I think it was this way as you walk in. So you have the table of showbread on the right, you have the lampstand on the left, you have the incense altar before the second veil, and that is called the holy place. And so he basically spends a few minutes or a few lines here describing that. Behind the second large veil then was the holiest of all or the holy of holies. And he says in summary here that the priests were allowed to go into that first one day after day, but that second chamber, which he actually attributes the incense altar to that chamber, not because it was something that goes in that chamber, it was clearly on the outside, but because apparently that incense being burnt goes in And goes in because they couldn't go into that. But once a year, how do you keep incense for the inner circle or the inner square? How do you do that? We had to have access to it. That's why it's on the outside. But he says here it was for the inner chamber, the holiest place. There, what do you find there? You have the ark covered on all sides by gold. What do you have there? You have the pot of manna. You have the tablets of the covenant. You have Aaron's rod that budded. You have the cherubim that are there overshadowing it. He's spending a few moments reminding us of what that first tabernacle and what for them the temple was like. That's what he's doing. He said, that's all good. And that's what God gave. But then notice what he goes on to say. Verse 6, Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priest always went into the first part of the tabernacle performing the services, but into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself for the people's sins committed in ignorance. Now what does all that have to do with this argument? He says the Holy Spirit was teaching us something about giving us that whole system. It was not unnecessary, but the Holy Spirit intended for us to draw a certain application from that. And he tells us what it is in verse 8. The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was standing. You're supposed to come away from that system and saying the access to God that is one way and permanent is not yet made. Why? The priest keeps coming out. He offers sacrifice year after year, the outside day after day. There's something that's missing. The fact that there has to be a perpetual offering, a perpetual sacrifice tells us things aren't quite right yet. They're not perfected yet. We have to keep doing this. When it's perfected, can't you stop doing that? That's what He says the Holy Spirit here is indicating. Verse 9, it was symbolic. What does He say about the tabernacle, the whole system? It's symbolic. Could it ever take away sins? He says later in the book, absolutely not. It was symbolic. What was it symbolic of? Well, it's a good thing He told us. We don't have to guess. We don't have to get out our fantastical charts. We don't have to come up with all kinds of allegorical interpretations. He tells us what it stands for. I'm so thankful for that. It was symbolic for the present time, in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience, concerned only with food and drinks, various washings, fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation." Now he's speaking of something utterly new. There's a good word for us, reformation. What he means is an utter undoing and renewal of something. We'll get back to what that is at a later time. But notice in verse 11, all of that was symbolic of a time because all of that could not really and perfectly remove sin from the conscience. It was symbolic up until the time of Reformation. You have the symbol until you have the coming of the real, he is arguing here. Verse 11, in contrast to that whole system, he says, but Christ came as high priest of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. So there, in a pretty short compass, is his argument. We have a greater high priest because he serves a greater tabernacle. He serves a greater tabernacle because the old tabernacle, the way that he describes it, it was ordained by God, but it was symbolic until the time of Reformation. But now we have a higher high priest, a better high priest who serves in a tabernacle. So what does that do for Jewish believers who are feeling the pressure? You got to let the old go because you got something better. And to leave what is better for the symbol is to actually deny that the reality has come. To go back to the symbol, to go back to the high priest, because the time of reformation has come, Jesus has come. To do that, you are actually, because it is symbolic, what you will do is deny that the real has come. You will have denied Christ. You will have denied the true tabernacle. You will actually go back to the things that were only temporary. And for that reason, he's saying and he's arguing, don't go back. Okay, so that's what he is doing here. While the old covenant tabernacle, our author tells us, was divinely inspired, There is one sense in which the whole history of humanity is filled with this sense of reality that there is something else. Not only under the tabernacle, I would argue, as I think Lewis does, that wherever there is blood sacrifice, wherever there are altars built, wherever there are priests that are interceding between the people and the gods, there is a remaining evidence that something is wrong. Now, this system was ordained by God in a way that no other system was or has been. But I think Lewis rightly argues the fact that there is death, the fact that there are altars, the fact that there are priests are remaining evidences that people know that something is wrong between them and what is higher. Often they don't know who that God is through their wisdom, through their trickery, through their superstitions. They don't know who God is, but they know that there's something that they have offended that must be sacrificed to. And somebody's got to die for their sin. That's what we see in all the sacrificial systems. That's what we see most preeminently in the old covenant system. But even the old covenant system was a symbol. It was the best symbol there was. It was a divinely ordained symbol, but it was still temporary, symbolic, until the time of Reformation. The Old Covenant system was God's ordained system and closest to the original, but it wasn't the original itself. With the revealing of the true in Jesus Christ, the copy is no longer necessary, he argues. That is why great buildings are not, under the New Covenant, necessary. Though perhaps reflective of good aesthetics, they're not necessary under the New Covenant. Worship became proper in a house in Judea. Well, you can't worship without the temple. Yes, we can. Why? Because those are symbolic of Jesus who goes into a greater tabernacle for us, even if we meet in a house. That was what made worship proper in catacombs, in ancient Rome, under the ground, in caves. To go from the temple to catacombs was an incredibly humbling thing. How could they do it? Because we have access to Jesus, who is a better high priest, who has access to a better tabernacle. We are not going to leave that to go back to the symbols of Athena and of Jerusalem and of the other temples. That's what makes worship appropriate in the basement of an old hospital in Tennessee. Because why? Because we come to the true tabernacle through Jesus Christ. That's why it's appropriate in China to meet in a dilapidated building and still worship God. To meet in a jail cell in Russia is still appropriate. Why? Because we have the true tabernacle in Jesus Christ and a better sacrifice. And so he says in chapter 12, verse 22, listen to this imagery. Chapter 12, verse 22, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. But we want Mount Zion in Jerusalem. We want the physical Jerusalem. We want the physical temple. He says, why? You've got something so much better that in your heart by the Spirit you carry in with you in a house, in a catacomb, in a basement. And that is his argument. Don't go back. Why? Because you have a high priest that serves a better tabernacle. You don't need the old. And so that's his first argument. Let's move quickly to his second argument, which we've already referred to. Jesus mediates a better covenant. And this strikes at the very heart of everything these folks would know. These are brothers and sisters. Jesus mediates a better covenant. For this, we go back to chapter eight, verse six. He now has obtained a more excellent ministry inasmuch as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. Jesus better than the angels, Jesus better than Moses, Jesus better than the earthly Sabbath Jesus better than the Levitical priesthood Jesus better because he serves a better tabernacle and now Jesus is mediator of a better covenant Do you see the argument building like an avalanche? Okay Jesus mediating a better covenant. He says in verse 6 He's obtained a more excellent ministry because he has a better covenant. Well, let's talk about the idea of a covenant What is a covenant? A covenant is, in the words of John Murray, an oath-bound promise. You can think of a marriage covenant, as we see Tony and Mandy here this week, a marriage covenant, a promise to another party. They're a mutual conditional promise. And with the Lord, it is speaking of a promise that he has made, an oath bound commitment, which he says now God is working in a better covenant. Not the same covenant in another form, a better covenant than the previous covenant is what he's arguing here. What makes this covenant better? It was established on better promises. There were lots of promises attached to the old covenant. He says this new covenant is better because it's based on, established by, firmly set on better promises. You don't want to go back to the old covenant. Why? because the new covenant has better promises. What are those better promises? I'm glad you asked because he tells us. What he does then, verse 7, tells us in contrast to the two covenants, and let me say here that in the writer of Hebrews vocabulary and language, he only sees two covenants. Paul in the book of Ephesians sees under the old covenant multiple covenants. OK, for some of you, that's going to be really significant. For others of you, that doesn't make any sense. Paul sees you were foreigners, strangers, aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, to the covenants, plural, of promise, singular, speaking of Jesus. He looks back to the Old Testament, the Old Testament history and says there were covenants of the promise Jesus. The writer of the Hebrews does not see it that way. It doesn't contradict. He's viewing it in a different way. He sees two covenants. One, the covenant established in the law in Moses and the other, the new covenant through the mediator, Jesus. OK, so I make that theological observation at this point, which for some of you will be significant. For others, it may not. But here's what he says. Verse seven. If the first had been faultless, speaking of the first covenant, If the first had been faultless, he doesn't say it's one in the series of many. He sees it as the first covenant. That's why I say that. If the first had been faultless, there was no place that would have been sought for a second. And so he argues here. There was something at fault with the first covenant. Was it God at fault? Absolutely not. Was it his promise at fault? No. What is the fault in the old covenant? He's going to tell us. I'm glad you asked. He says there's a fault in the first covenant. If there hadn't been something wrong with the old covenant, he says there would be no place to have been sought for a second. OK, so he doesn't see a series of covenants in David and in others, though I think Paul does see that. Hebrews, the writer, sees the first and then there's the second. What's the second? It's the new covenant. OK, but be careful when we talk about covenant theology, what we mean by that. If the first had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for the second, because finding fault with them, with who? With those who were in the covenant. Here's what he says, verse 8, and then what he does is quotes Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 31 through 34. He's going to argue again, Hebrews, the writer is an exegete. He loves to take scripture Use it and then break it open. Here's what he says. Verse 8, because finding fault with them, that is the people he says. Starting here all the way through verse 12 is Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34. Let's pick through it together and see what he has to say. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord. And remember, this is in Jeremiah. This is as Jeremiah is preaching for almost five decades to the southern kingdom of Judah. He says Babylon is coming. They're coming down from the north. They're coming, they're going to overthrow us, they're going to overthrow our city, we're going to go into exile, they're going to destroy our temple. And in the middle of Jeremiah, chapter 31, he makes this prophecy of a new covenant. It's the only explicit place in the Old Testament where the term new covenant is used. In the midst of Israel's coming despair and destruction, he prophesies, the Lord prophesies through Jeremiah, of a new covenant, and this is that text. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant. Why? That assumes there's something wrong or faulty with the old. A new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers. OK, so he's saying there's something different. These aren't the same covenant. These are different in some way. This covenant. that I make, he says, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers. When did he make that? What covenant is he talking about? Not that I made with their fathers. Which fathers? In the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt. That's the what? OK, the Exodus. And they gave it to them when? On Mount Sinai. OK, so that's that. He's speaking to the law of Moses, the covenant given to the people after the Exodus. What was the difference? It's not according to that covenant. Why? He says, because they did not continue. There was a fault in the covenant because they did not continue. It wasn't actually a fault in the covenant, but they defaulted on the covenant. God made promises. They did not keep those promises in response to the Lord. They said, all that the Lord has said we will do. They did not continue. And what was the Lord's response? I disregarded them, says the Lord. I disregarded them. This Greek word means to neglect, to be unconcerned about, to the point of allowing someone to suffer or to overlook. And here's what I think He's essentially saying. I promise you, and remember particularly in Deuteronomy, I lay before you the path of life and death. If you do this, and if you do this, and if you glorify me, and if you honor me, and if you obey me, then I will bless you. I will give you peace from your enemies. I will give you abundant crops. You're going to have a bunch of babies. All of this stuff is going to happen. But if you turn from me, And what he basically says is, I'm going to back off and all of the horrors of a fallen world are going to fall upon you, your enemies, wild beasts, there are going to be famines, there are going to be all those problems. And then he says, but if you will turn to me, then I will bless you. If you turn away from me, I will withdraw myself. And that's what I think he means here by disregarding them. When they did not continue, he then did not cover them with his blessing, but kept his promise and said, I told you, if you went your own way, he backs off. And the devastation of their life was evidence that God had disregarded them. And that's what he says was wrong with that covenant. It was conditioned on their obedience is what he's saying here. And because they disobeyed, he disregarded them. Now, in verse 10, he's going to tell us the difference between that covenant and the new covenant, which is a better covenant, and what the difference is between them. Notice what he says, verse 10. This is the covenant that I will make, new covenant in the future, with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws, where? In their mind. I will write them on their, where? Heart. Where had the law been written previously? On stones. External. Why did they not keep it? It was an external law that was not necessarily in their hearts. What's the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant? The New Covenant, he says, I'm going to do a work in the mind and the heart of my people. I'm going to write my law there. So not that it's an external constraint that pushes them down and that they rebel against, but now that they desire to obey Me. They will continue with Me. Why? Because My Spirit has done a work in them. It has changed their minds about My Word. It has changed their hearts about who I am. And they will, He says, continue with Me. That's what makes this a better covenant, because He says it's based on better promises. Notice over in Psalm 40 in verse 8. What does this mean to have the law written on your heart? Psalm 40 in verse 8 tells us that. The psalmist says in Psalm 40 in verse 8, I delight... It's interesting, he actually quotes this text in chapter 9. We'll come back to it. It's a perfect description of Christ. But what is it to have the law within your heart? Verse 8, I delight to do your will, O my God, and your law is within my heart. Most of you have been around long enough to know that's Hebrew parallelism. It is a progressive parallelism that describes the one thing in two different ways. I delight to do your will, O God. Why is that? Your law is within my heart. They obviously did not delight to do the will and the word of God. Under the new covenant, that's going to be very different. Why? Because rather than taking my finger and writing it, remember, it was the finger of God that wrote on the stones. You remember that? It wasn't it wasn't Moses up there with a chisel writing. He says, you bring me the tablets. And he wrote it with his own finger on tablets of stone. There are three places that I remember that God is said to write. One is at Mount Sinai. Two is here. And the other is when Jesus writes something on the ground that there's no there's no record what that actually was. He says, this is the covenant and this is a promise of the covenant. I will write my laws in their mind, will write them on their hearts. And notice where he says, I will be their God. They shall be my people. That's a mutual inheritance. What do we get? We get God. What does God get? Us. Under the new covenant. But people who love him, desire to do his will, who desire to do his word, And who do not, he says, depart from the Lord so that he ultimately disregards them. That's the promise of the new covenant. And Jesus is mediator of that covenant, not conditioned on the Lord's or the people's obedience, conditioned on the Lord's promise. He goes on to say, this mutual inheritance, verse 11, none of them shall teach his neighbor, none his brother, saying, Know the Lord. Now he's not talking about knowing the Lord as far as growing in the Lord, growing in the grace and the knowledge of Christ. But he's talking about being in an actual knowing relationship with God. In the new covenant, people don't have to go, man, you really need to get to know God because you don't. He says that's not necessary. Under the old covenant, there were tons of people who didn't know God. He says under the new covenant, those who are genuinely under the new covenant don't have to be evangelized. They don't have to be converted. They are converted. He says no longer or he will not take to say to his neighbor, know the Lord from the least of them to the greatest, whether it be age, whether it be stature, whether it be socioeconomic levels. from the least to the greatest, they shall all know Me." Everybody that I work a work of grace in their mind and their heart, He says, they will know Me. And then here comes the best part. Verse 12. Notice how one-sided this is? I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. And then He comes to verse 12. I will be merciful. Why? Because there are a bunch of sinless people. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. His people will have unrighteousness, which needs mercy. He says, I will be merciful to it. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins. You mean they have sins? People under the new covenant have sins? You betcha. What does God do with those sins? Their sins and their lawless deeds? I will remember no more. And he says, that's how the two covenants are different. A new covenant I will make in the house of Israel, in the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers that they broke because they did not continue in it and therefore I disregarded them. But this is the covenant that I will make with them. I will write my law on their mind and on their hearts so that they will not depart from me. They will love me. They will know me from the least of them to the greatest. Will they have sin? You betcha. But I will forgive their sins, their lawless deeds I will remember no more. And he says, Which one do you want? Which covenant do you want? Do you want to go back to Moses? Do you want to go back to the old covenant? Do you want to go back to the old sacrificial system? Do you want to go back to the old high priest? Do you want to go back to promises that were conditioned on your obedience? Or do you want the promises of the new covenant and of the mediator of the new covenant? And he says in verse 13, in that, he says, a new covenant. He has made the first obsolete. Obsolete. The new one comes along. And the old one's not supported anymore. It's not produced anymore. Like a car that is made obsolete, it stops being made and supported at some point. There might be a transitional period for a time that it's supported. We'll see that in the next part of the verse. But it's finished and it's done. It doesn't become a collector's item. Obsolete. This word obsolete. In the active voice in the Greek means declared as no longer in use. This verse tells us and who is it that declares this? Is it just the writer? The writer says, I've decided that the Old Covenant is obsolete. You know, we've taken a vote and we've decided the Old Covenant. No, it's clearly a declaration of the Lord. This first has been because who is it that makes these covenants? God does. Who can alone make them obsolete? God does. And he says here, the tabernacle, the sacrificial system, the high priesthood under Levi, under Aaron, all of that took place is by God, outmoded, made obsolete because something better is here. For those of you who were here during the Sunday school, I suggest this has to be addressed in regards to a discussion of the temple in Ezekiel. If it is suggested that in some future age the temple and all of the sacrificial system will be erected as it was under the Old Covenant, that this verse has to be seriously dealt with. It is to say that God will take something that has been made obsolete and resurrected and something that is not what the new covenant is. And he himself ordains that the whole system be re-resurrected. And Jesus comes and sits in the midst of that system. This is one reason I do not believe that. And notice what he says in verse 13, what is becoming obsolete? And growing old is ready to vanish away. When did that happen? I would suggest by way of historical note that that happened in 70 AD. When the armies of Titus, under the marching orders of Caesar, siege Jerusalem and dismantle the kingdom, dismantle the tabernacle, and fulfill the prophecy which Jesus spoke, I tell you truly, when his disciples said, look at all the beautiful stones of this temple, of this building, Jesus said, I tell you the truth, the day is coming when not one stone will be left on another. And that God himself in 70 AD, after a transitional period, in 70 AD puts his historical stamp of approval on the fact that the old covenant system is made obsolete, And he says in his time, which is before 70 AD, I believe, it is now growing old and ready to vanish away. He says, you better get out now. Because the time is coming. Transitional will give you support for a little while. It's like when you have an obsolete computer, an obsolete car, obsolete software. There's there's a transitional time. The day's going to come. The date's going to come. You're going to come and ask for help. And there is no more help to be found. And for that reason, he says, don't go back. This Greek word translated vanish away, obsolete. It's only used here in the New Testament. It's used in First Kings chapter nine, verses six through nine to speak of the destruction of Jerusalem. That was in that time future. It's used throughout the prophets in the Greek version of the Old Testament to speak of the utter destruction of nations. I suggest what he is Highlighting here is that a whole old covenant system that he made with Israel is obsolete. Fulfilling the words of Jesus, where he said, I tell you the truth, the kingdom of God will be taken from this nation and given to a nation that will bear its fruit. What is that nation? According to Peter, he says, even to Gentiles, you are a holy nation. You are a holy priesthood. First to the Jew, but also to the Greek of every kindred, tribe and tongue that come to the Lord Jesus, who serves a better tabernacle. And as he then argues, which we won't get into now, chapter nine, verse twelve, which I think is the highlight of this chapter. What is this better covenant, this better priest who is in a better tabernacle do? He gives a better sacrifice. Lord willing, we'll look at that next week. If you are a part of the New Covenant, connected particularly to inclusion in God's people, our brother who will be testifying of his embracing of Jesus Christ and entering into the New Covenant through baptism, celebrated week by week by his people in the Lord's Supper, This is the covenant of my blood which is shed for you. Why do we do baptism? Why do we assemble as a local church? Why is it we keep the Lord's Supper? It's because we are members of the new covenant. Because the old has become obsolete. If you are a part of the new covenant, you, my brother, my sister, are greatly blessed. You are greatly blessed. by God's grace. Why? Because you know the Lord. Why? Because your unrighteousness and your sin and your lawless deeds, God is merciful toward, and He doesn't remember them anymore. You know Him, and He is your God You are one of His people. What is the evidence of that? Because the law of God is written on your mind and on your heart. A delight to do your will, O God. Your law is upon my heart. So, serving Jesus under the New Covenant, gathering together with His people, celebrating baptism, taking together of the Lord's Supper, hearing His Word preached, sitting with anticipation and hungry spiritual bellies saying, Pastor, don't give us a bunch of stories. Don't give us a bunch of ideas. Give us the Word of God, because we want His will. We delight to do His will. Tell us how to please God. We want that more than anything. That is the evidence of being in the New Covenant. Not baptism. Not membership of a church. but a delight to do God's will, which includes these other things. It's a desire to walk in the Word of God, to walk according to His commandments, not to merit salvation, but because I am forgiven. It's based on better promises. And I know I will not ultimately depart from Him. Why? Because His Spirit has given me a new heart and a new mind. And He has taken out the heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh. Now, God, when I sin, I am broken. And when I sin, I come in repentance. And I seek Your grace, and I seek Your people, and I want Your Word, and I desire Your Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. I pray, not my will, but Yours be done. And when I sin, I am broken. But I come to the cross and say, remember no more. Remember no more. Forgiven my iniquity, my sin, my lawless deeds, I will remember no more. And I worship in the new covenant. My brother, my sister, I want you to ponder the magnitude of what we claim. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of everything that was done under the Old Covenant. and through which the old covenant becomes obsolete because it is a new and better covenant. Jesus is in one sense the fulfillment of the blood of chickens and goats and bulls and animals and in some cultures of human beings. Because they knew they were wrong with something or someone up there. And they sacrificed and they killed their children to appease the gods. At least they knew blood had to be shed to appease somebody higher than us. And Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of all of those longings. Though they are misdirected, though they are sinfully enacted, they had a longing to say, we are wrong. Someone, something up there is right. Christ is the global and the universal fulfillment of all of that. And amazingly, you heard the gospel. And multitudes of people have never heard the gospel. And people have sacrificed their children trying to appease their gods. And you've heard the gospel and believed. Everything else is a shadowing copy in the human attempt to appease the gods. And you've heard the Gospel that says there's one God. And He's revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. And He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. You've heard that message and you have believed it if you're a part of the New Covenant. Two things that this could do. One is puff up our pride. I am chosen among all of the multitudes of the earth. Aren't I special? All those pagan people out there, all those false believers out there, that is absolutely ludicrous. The other thing and the right thing to respond to Being a member of the New Covenant, my brother Aaron, I would especially exhort you today to remember this is humility. Humility, being baptized, taking of the Lord's Supper, being a part of a church, being a follower of Christ, taking up his word with the desire to follow after him. What does that make of us? It makes everything of Christ. For us, humble, to say not we are chosen, I am the chosen, but with almost utter disbelief, me chosen, of the billions of humanity that have perished in their sins. Do I really have the audacity to believe that the gospel is the power of God to salvation? and that I've heard and that God has done a work of the spirit and written his law in my heart, my mind, and he has promised to forgive me that I will not face judgment and I have something greater than all of the old covenant. If this is true of you, my brother, my sister, then we are blessed beyond all measure, no matter what our circumstances, no matter what our trials, no matter what our struggles, and they are real and they are often hard. We are blessed beyond measure. My brother, my sister, fellow member of the New Covenant, whether you're a member of this church or not, if there's the evidence of being a member of the New Covenant in your life, glory in the cross. Glory in the new and better covenant. Glory in Jesus Christ. Glory in God's mercy towards you. Let that glory temper and flavor and spin everything that you face. All shall be well. Because it is well with my soul. Fellow member of the covenant, believe deeply. Witness confidently. Live boldly. Walk in righteousness for Christ's name. If you are not a follower of Christ, a member of the new covenant. I invite you to the desire of the nations. That which the nations and the pagans in their darkness have never heard, yet they long for. I invite you in the revelation of Christ and of the Gospel to believe on Him. Follow Him. Cry out to Him for a new mind, for a new heart. Become a member of the New Covenant by grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Amen. Let's pray, please. Father, we sometimes in reading the Scripture wonder what it would be like to see the glory of God in Solomon's temple that so filled it that the priests could not remain inside. To see that magnificent building erected, which was the desire of the nations. And even those like the Queen of Sheba came to see the luxury and the throne of Solomon, to hear of his wisdom, And Lord, here in a basement in Madison, Tennessee, we serve in a better temple, a better tabernacle with greater sacrifices. We have as our teacher through the Word and Spirit, one who is wiser than Solomon. And Lord, it's often to our sad admittance that we are lethargic and dull and cold when they say to us, let us go to the house of God. Forgive us, O Lord, for that too frequent sense that we have of dullness. Stir us, O Lord, to greater love for the one who is greater above all, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in His name we pray. Amen.