WEBVTT 00:00:15.500 --> 00:00:20.359 There are few experiences in life that are more 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:25.359 painful than the death of a marriage. I'm not 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:28.620 talking about two people who casually dated for 00:00:28.620 --> 00:00:31.320 a few months and then decided to go their separate 00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:34.100 ways. I'm talking about two people who stood 00:00:34.100 --> 00:00:38.560 together on a wedding day. The room was full 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:41.799 of people that they loved. Pictures were taken. 00:00:43.060 --> 00:00:46.719 Tears were in the eyes of their parents, and 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:49.640 they stood before all of those witnesses, making 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:52.560 promises like, for better or for worse, for richer 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:55.539 or for poorer, in sickness and in health, forsaking 00:00:55.539 --> 00:00:57.960 all others. I will be faithful to you and you 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:02.100 alone for as long as we both shall live. And 00:01:02.100 --> 00:01:05.519 on that day, they meant those words. They built 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:08.980 a home together. They bought furniture together. 00:01:09.400 --> 00:01:12.879 developed traditions that belonged only to them, 00:01:13.060 --> 00:01:15.560 celebrated birthdays and anniversaries, took 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:19.140 vacations, held each other in hospital rooms 00:01:19.140 --> 00:01:22.340 through grief, maybe even raised children together, 00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:25.599 accumulated pictures and inside jokes that only 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:28.900 they knew, no one else would completely understand, 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:34.280 and then something happened. Maybe it happened 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:39.430 suddenly through an unfaithful act. of betrayal. 00:01:41.069 --> 00:01:43.489 Maybe it happened slowly throughout the years 00:01:43.489 --> 00:01:47.629 of unfaithfulness and dishonesty and broken promises. 00:01:48.329 --> 00:01:51.450 But eventually one person looked across the room 00:01:51.450 --> 00:01:54.709 at the other person and decided that the vows 00:01:54.709 --> 00:01:58.069 and the covenant and the marriage was shattered 00:01:58.069 --> 00:02:01.310 and over. And I want you to think about the emotion 00:02:01.310 --> 00:02:03.549 of that. Maybe some of you have experienced that 00:02:03.549 --> 00:02:07.489 very thing and the emotion that comes with that. 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:11.259 The person that was supposed to be faithful became 00:02:11.259 --> 00:02:15.080 unfaithful. The person who promised to stay walked 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:18.479 away. The person that promised that you could 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:23.659 trust them became untrustworthy. And the pain 00:02:23.659 --> 00:02:26.879 was so deep precisely because the relationship 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:30.240 was so significant. You do know that a stranger 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:32.680 cannot betray you like a spouse can betray you. 00:02:34.139 --> 00:02:38.000 Betrayal only hurts because the covenant love 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.159 that was supposed to be there. And then imagine 00:02:41.159 --> 00:02:43.120 something even more faithful than that, imagining 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:48.280 one spouse who had done everything right, completely 00:02:48.280 --> 00:02:52.340 faithful, kept every promise, loved, provided, 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:56.659 protected, forgave, pursued reconciliation every 00:02:56.659 --> 00:03:01.039 single time, but the other spouse just kept walking. 00:03:01.419 --> 00:03:06.300 away again and again, unfaithful, broken promises, 00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:12.199 returning, never to leave. How many times can 00:03:12.199 --> 00:03:15.039 a covenant be broken before there's no hope left? 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:18.879 How many promises can be shattered before the 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:21.599 relationship is beyond repair? How much betrayal 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:27.479 can love endure? And church, that is the emotional 00:03:27.479 --> 00:03:31.979 weight we need to feel in order for the text 00:03:31.979 --> 00:03:34.719 that we're looking at today to carry the weight 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:38.500 it needs to have. Worshipped other gods, trusted 00:03:38.500 --> 00:03:42.479 other nations, ignored his word, oppressed the 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:46.039 vulnerable, and broke their covenant. And eventually 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:48.439 we know the consequences came for all of that. 00:03:48.659 --> 00:03:51.719 The kingdom collapsed, split in two, the temple 00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:55.360 was destroyed, the people were carried out into 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:58.159 exile, and from a human perspective the marriage 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:03.659 was over. In fact, the prophet Jeremiah doesn't 00:04:03.659 --> 00:04:06.319 pull back on this language at all. He says in 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:10.240 Jeremiah 320, surely as a treacherous wife leaves 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:13.379 her husband, so you have been treacherous to 00:04:13.379 --> 00:04:19.899 me, O house of Israel declares the Lord. This 00:04:19.899 --> 00:04:21.699 is how God wants us to feel about the weight 00:04:21.699 --> 00:04:26.060 of Israel's sin. This was not simply a nation 00:04:26.060 --> 00:04:30.610 breaking rules. was a people breaking their covenant. 00:04:30.730 --> 00:04:36.750 It was covenant betrayal. But then this same 00:04:36.750 --> 00:04:44.410 prophet, in the midst of the same book, records 00:04:44.410 --> 00:04:50.949 something completely unimaginable. You would 00:04:50.949 --> 00:04:54.699 think that God would say, I'm done. with having 00:04:54.699 --> 00:04:57.439 a people for myself. I'm done with these humans. 00:04:57.560 --> 00:05:00.879 I'm done with their unfaithfulness. But then 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:04.339 we read these words. Behold the days are coming, 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.500 declares the Lord, when I will establish a new 00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:18.199 covenant. You feel the shock of that? After all 00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:20.339 the betrayal, God was not finished with having 00:05:20.339 --> 00:05:25.709 a people for himself? And he wasn't just gonna 00:05:25.709 --> 00:05:29.230 restate the old vows and tell them, hey, let's 00:05:29.230 --> 00:05:33.129 try this again. Let me give you another shot. 00:05:33.569 --> 00:05:37.790 Because the deepest problem that Israel had was 00:05:37.790 --> 00:05:40.170 not, it wasn't that they didn't know what the 00:05:40.170 --> 00:05:44.029 law required. They had the law, they knew the 00:05:44.029 --> 00:05:45.829 commandments, they had the prophets, they knew 00:05:45.829 --> 00:05:48.410 the vows. The problem was something was wrong 00:05:48.410 --> 00:05:53.430 with their heart. So God promised something. 00:05:54.659 --> 00:05:57.180 astonishing this time he wasn't simply gonna 00:05:57.180 --> 00:06:00.560 put rules in front of them or put his law in 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:02.939 front of them he was going to put everything 00:06:02.939 --> 00:06:06.600 within them he would be their God and they would 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:13.720 be his people they would truly know the the contrast 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:16.399 and the weight that we have to feel before we 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:20.540 ever come to Hebrews chapter 8 7 through 13 The 00:06:20.540 --> 00:06:23.279 new covenant is not God giving sinful people 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:27.740 a second chance to keep their promises. The new 00:06:27.740 --> 00:06:31.579 covenant is God acting in Christ to accomplish 00:06:31.579 --> 00:06:34.279 for His people what they would never be able 00:06:34.279 --> 00:06:37.420 to accomplish for themselves. Through Christ, 00:06:37.639 --> 00:06:41.620 God is creating a marriage that will never come 00:06:41.620 --> 00:06:45.720 to an end. A covenant in which the bridegroom 00:06:45.980 --> 00:06:49.939 will never stop loving the bride and by grace, 00:06:50.279 --> 00:06:53.360 the bride will be given everything she needs 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:59.379 to become a faithful spouse to her husband. And 00:06:59.379 --> 00:07:03.720 they will love Jesus, the bridegroom in return. 00:07:04.980 --> 00:07:08.980 Turn with me to Hebrews chapter eight. I want 00:07:08.980 --> 00:07:12.860 you to keep this imagery of a broken covenant. 00:07:13.100 --> 00:07:15.439 and a broken marriage in mind as we work through 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:17.699 this whole thing because the contrast is there 00:07:17.699 --> 00:07:20.360 and we'll come back to it at the end as well. 00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:23.439 But it's an important imagery for us to feel 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:26.920 the weight of the new covenant. Hebrews chapter 00:07:26.920 --> 00:07:40.120 8 verses 7 through 13. For if the first covenant 00:07:40.120 --> 00:07:44.970 had been faultless, There would have been no 00:07:44.970 --> 00:07:50.129 occasion to look for a second one. For he finds 00:07:50.129 --> 00:07:52.569 fault with them when he says, behold the days 00:07:52.569 --> 00:07:55.769 are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish 00:07:55.769 --> 00:07:58.069 a new covenant with the house of Israel and with 00:07:58.069 --> 00:08:01.129 the house of Judah. Not like the covenant that 00:08:01.129 --> 00:08:03.870 I made with their fathers on the day when I took 00:08:03.870 --> 00:08:05.689 them by the hand to bring them out of the land 00:08:05.689 --> 00:08:08.970 of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant. 00:08:10.339 --> 00:08:13.060 And so I showed no concern for them, declares 00:08:13.060 --> 00:08:16.579 the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will 00:08:16.579 --> 00:08:19.079 make with the house of Israel after those days 00:08:19.079 --> 00:08:22.360 declares the Lord I will put my laws in their 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:25.319 minds. I will write them on their hearts I will 00:08:25.319 --> 00:08:28.560 be their God and they shall be my people For 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:31.240 they shall not teach each one of his neighbor 00:08:31.240 --> 00:08:33.820 and each one of his brothers saying know the 00:08:33.820 --> 00:08:36.820 Lord For they shall all know me from the least 00:08:36.820 --> 00:08:39.600 of them to the greatest For I will be merciful 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:41.919 toward their iniquities and I will remember their 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:45.480 sins no more And in speaking of a new covenant, 00:08:45.659 --> 00:08:49.200 he makes the first one obsolete. And what is 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:52.919 becoming obsolete is growing old and is ready 00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:56.639 to vanish away. The writer begins in verse seven 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:00.080 with a statement that might sound surprising 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:04.059 at first. For if the first covenant had been 00:09:04.059 --> 00:09:07.519 faultless, there would be no occasion to look 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:10.639 for a second. That's very strong language about 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:14.350 the old covenant. The writer says the first covenant 00:09:14.350 --> 00:09:19.649 was faulty. And it was faulty in accomplishing 00:09:19.649 --> 00:09:22.289 everything that God intended to accomplish for 00:09:22.289 --> 00:09:26.590 His people. And that is why there is need for 00:09:26.590 --> 00:09:29.769 another one. Because the first one is faulty. 00:09:31.149 --> 00:09:33.250 There would have been no promise to Jeremiah 00:09:33.250 --> 00:09:35.649 of a new covenant if the first one could accomplish. 00:09:36.460 --> 00:09:38.820 everything God wanted to accomplish for his people. 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:41.779 There would never be a reason to talk about something 00:09:41.779 --> 00:09:45.519 better if the first one did the job. Now we need 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:48.480 to be very careful here. The writer is not saying 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:53.139 that the Old Covenant was sinful. There's a difference 00:09:53.139 --> 00:10:01.539 between faulty and sinful. The writer is not 00:10:01.539 --> 00:10:06.940 telling us that the law itself was wrong. God 00:10:06.940 --> 00:10:12.440 did not make a mistake at Mount Sinai. He didn't 00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:15.480 try one plan and then go, oh gosh, that plan 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:18.840 was terrible. Let me try a different plan. Paul 00:10:18.840 --> 00:10:20.539 makes this clear in Romans chapter seven verse 00:10:20.539 --> 00:10:26.700 12 when he says the law is holy. And the commandment 00:10:26.700 --> 00:10:32.799 is holy and righteous. The law came from God, 00:10:32.899 --> 00:10:35.850 did it not? The law revealed the character of 00:10:35.850 --> 00:10:38.610 God. It showed the holiness of God. It defined 00:10:38.610 --> 00:10:41.149 righteousness. It exposed sin. It restrained 00:10:41.149 --> 00:10:44.009 evil. It ordered the worship and the life of 00:10:44.009 --> 00:10:46.929 Israel. The law accomplished exactly what God 00:10:46.929 --> 00:10:49.629 intended for it to accomplish. But there were 00:10:49.629 --> 00:10:53.649 things that the Old Covenant could not do. It 00:10:53.649 --> 00:10:56.129 could never bring God's people into perfect access 00:10:56.129 --> 00:10:59.970 with God. It could not provide permanent priesthood. 00:11:00.519 --> 00:11:04.259 It couldn't offer a final sacrifice for sin or 00:11:04.259 --> 00:11:07.659 cleanse the conscious once and for all. It could 00:11:07.659 --> 00:11:10.039 not produce a covenant people who would remain 00:11:10.039 --> 00:11:12.580 faithful to God. This is the tension between 00:11:12.580 --> 00:11:17.039 verse 7 and verse 8. So verse 7 is wrapped up 00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:20.899 in all of that is what I just said. It is a faulty 00:11:20.899 --> 00:11:23.399 covenant because it cannot accomplish everything 00:11:23.399 --> 00:11:26.059 that God intends to accomplish in His people. 00:11:26.350 --> 00:11:29.470 Then we get to verse 8, and verse 8 says, for 00:11:29.470 --> 00:11:32.509 he finds fault with them. So we have a faulty 00:11:32.509 --> 00:11:37.129 covenant, and then it says that God finds fault 00:11:37.129 --> 00:11:40.610 with them. For those of you that are textual 00:11:40.610 --> 00:11:43.450 scholars, I am very aware that there's a textual 00:11:43.450 --> 00:11:46.909 variant here. We're not dealing with that this 00:11:46.909 --> 00:11:49.429 morning. Those of you that care about that, care 00:11:49.429 --> 00:11:51.210 about it. Those that don't, forget what I just 00:11:51.210 --> 00:12:00.269 said. The writer is now taking us to the sinful 00:12:00.269 --> 00:12:04.210 people. Faulty covenant that can't accomplish 00:12:04.210 --> 00:12:06.629 everything that God intends for his people. Then 00:12:06.629 --> 00:12:09.049 he turns to the people and says the people are 00:12:09.049 --> 00:12:17.330 sinful. And he characterizes Israel's problem 00:12:17.330 --> 00:12:24.330 in verse 9. They did not keep my covenant. So 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:29.360 the guilt is with the people and in one sentence 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:33.399 he summarizes up basically all of old covenant 00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:36.940 Israel. This is everything wrapped up in one 00:12:36.940 --> 00:12:40.570 verse. They did not Continue. We see this pattern 00:12:40.570 --> 00:12:42.710 from the very beginning when God takes Israel 00:12:42.710 --> 00:12:45.909 out of slavery in Egypt. He divides the Red Sea, 00:12:46.289 --> 00:12:49.029 destroys Pharaoh's army, He leads the people 00:12:49.029 --> 00:12:51.370 through the wilderness, He brings them to Mount 00:12:51.370 --> 00:12:53.809 Sinai, and He enters into covenant with them. 00:12:54.090 --> 00:13:11.450 Exodus 24 verse 7 says, What a promise. All the 00:13:11.450 --> 00:13:14.870 Lord has spoken, we're gonna do it. But before 00:13:14.870 --> 00:13:17.429 Moses had ever come down from Mount Sinai with 00:13:17.429 --> 00:13:19.889 the stone tablets, what were they doing? Worshipping 00:13:19.889 --> 00:13:24.309 the golden calf. How quickly that promise fell 00:13:24.309 --> 00:13:29.850 apart. They knew the covenant, they heard the 00:13:29.850 --> 00:13:32.970 words, and yet they still broke it. And that 00:13:32.970 --> 00:13:35.610 pattern continues all throughout the Old Testament. 00:13:35.769 --> 00:13:41.070 God speaks, Israel promises. Israel breaks the 00:13:41.070 --> 00:13:45.669 promise. God disciplines them. Israel cries out. 00:13:46.809 --> 00:13:49.190 Israel fails in the promise after God delivers 00:13:49.190 --> 00:13:52.029 them again. And then the cycle just repeats over 00:13:52.029 --> 00:13:55.769 and over and over again. It happened at the edge 00:13:55.769 --> 00:13:57.789 of the promised land. It happened during the 00:13:57.789 --> 00:14:00.149 period of judges. It happened under the kings. 00:14:00.350 --> 00:14:02.769 It happened under the prophets. They refused 00:14:02.769 --> 00:14:06.629 to listen. And because of that, eventually, They 00:14:06.629 --> 00:14:09.049 fell to Assyria, Judah was carried out to Babylon, 00:14:09.230 --> 00:14:11.110 Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple was burned, 00:14:11.389 --> 00:14:14.870 the people were carried out into exile, all because, 00:14:15.769 --> 00:14:19.409 verse 9, they did not continue in my covenant. 00:14:20.970 --> 00:14:27.649 Something was broken in the people. And that 00:14:27.649 --> 00:14:31.570 old covenant was faulty because it couldn't fix 00:14:31.570 --> 00:14:36.080 it. Everybody clear on that? We're not saying 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:39.019 the Old Covenant was sinful. We're saying the 00:14:39.019 --> 00:14:42.779 Old Covenant did not have what it needed to have 00:14:42.779 --> 00:14:54.179 to fix the problem that Israel had. The law could 00:14:54.179 --> 00:14:56.120 say love the Lord your God with all your heart, 00:14:56.220 --> 00:14:58.759 with all your soul, with all your might, but 00:14:58.759 --> 00:15:01.879 while it could command love, it didn't create 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:07.539 love. That's why Paul says in Galatians 3, for 00:15:07.539 --> 00:15:10.399 if the law that had been given could give life, 00:15:10.600 --> 00:15:13.460 the righteousness would indeed be by the law. 00:15:14.759 --> 00:15:17.460 The law could command life, it could describe 00:15:17.460 --> 00:15:22.559 life, but it couldn't produce life. It couldn't 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:27.100 give life. Paul says again in Romans 3, for by 00:15:27.100 --> 00:15:30.799 works of the law, no human being will be justified 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:33.539 in his sight, since through the law only comes 00:15:33.539 --> 00:15:37.730 the knowledge of sin. The law can show you where 00:15:37.730 --> 00:15:40.250 you're sinful. It can show you where you're failing 00:15:40.250 --> 00:15:42.690 It can show you why you're messing up, but it 00:15:42.690 --> 00:15:46.389 has no power to get inside of you and make a 00:15:46.389 --> 00:15:51.149 change That's why it's faulty The law is like 00:15:51.149 --> 00:15:55.350 a medical scan Okay, you go to the doctor and 00:15:55.350 --> 00:15:56.889 you get a medical scan and the doctor brings 00:15:56.889 --> 00:15:58.730 that medical scan out and shows it to you and 00:15:58.730 --> 00:16:00.950 says look right here There's what this scan revealed. 00:16:01.009 --> 00:16:09.879 You've got this tumor in your elbow And the doctor 00:16:09.879 --> 00:16:13.480 goes, you see it, it's clear. We know 100 % by 00:16:13.480 --> 00:16:16.259 this scan, you got a tumor in your elbow. So 00:16:16.259 --> 00:16:17.659 here's what we're gonna do. You see it? They're 00:16:17.659 --> 00:16:19.460 like, yep, yep, we see it. I see the tumor as 00:16:19.460 --> 00:16:21.240 well. You're looking at it. And the doctor goes, 00:16:21.340 --> 00:16:22.720 so here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna do 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:24.860 that scan every day for the next three years. 00:16:25.879 --> 00:16:28.039 And we're just gonna hope that that scan makes 00:16:28.039 --> 00:16:31.580 the tumor go away. You would look at that doctor 00:16:31.580 --> 00:16:34.379 and say, I'm gonna have to go get a second opinion. 00:16:35.659 --> 00:16:38.679 Because that tumor, is not gonna go away by you 00:16:38.679 --> 00:16:44.000 just keep doing an MRI. When you take the law 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:48.980 and you hold it up and you say, here is the scan 00:16:48.980 --> 00:16:53.740 that reveals your sinfulness. But if you think 00:16:53.740 --> 00:16:57.179 that scan, if you think that law is gonna deal 00:16:57.179 --> 00:17:01.279 with the actual problem in your heart, you need 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:05.039 to go reach a second opinion. It's never gonna 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:08.930 do it. The Old Covenant could reveal with perfect 00:17:08.930 --> 00:17:12.049 clarity what was wrong in the human heart, but 00:17:12.049 --> 00:17:16.410 it could not fix what was broken. Why? Romans 00:17:16.410 --> 00:17:20.589 8. What the law weakened by the flesh could not 00:17:20.589 --> 00:17:30.970 do. The problem was the sinful hearts, the rebellious 00:17:30.970 --> 00:17:34.319 hearts, the idolatrous hearts. hearts that can 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:37.400 hear the voice of God and still turn away and 00:17:37.400 --> 00:17:39.900 walk away. And that is the tragedy of Israel's 00:17:39.900 --> 00:17:42.759 history. Not a lack of light or a lack of privilege 00:17:42.759 --> 00:17:45.940 or a lack of commands. The problem was the heart. 00:17:48.019 --> 00:17:49.900 And that is what the Old Covenant demonstrated 00:17:49.900 --> 00:17:56.920 across all of Israel's history. Church, we have 00:17:56.920 --> 00:17:59.759 to understand the depth of the problem before 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:05.559 we can possibly appreciate the solution. Because 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:09.400 if our problem was simply ignorance, then we 00:18:09.400 --> 00:18:11.960 just need better information, right? If that 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:13.519 was all of our problem, if the problem was just 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:14.940 ignorance, it would just give me more information. 00:18:16.059 --> 00:18:19.039 If the problem was simple confusion, then just 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:23.140 give me clear instructions. But if the problem 00:18:23.140 --> 00:18:26.599 goes deeper than that, if the problem goes deeper 00:18:26.599 --> 00:18:31.140 than just the lack of effort, if something is 00:18:31.140 --> 00:18:35.440 actually broken in our hearts, then the Old Covenant 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:42.000 cannot be the answer. The Old Covenant can bring 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:44.339 the clarity, but it cannot bring the solution. 00:18:45.339 --> 00:18:49.079 As Martin Luther wrote, the law says, do this, 00:18:49.700 --> 00:18:56.400 and it is never done. So there's the problem 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:01.759 with the faulty Old Covenant and the guilt and 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:05.799 the problem of those human beings. And now we 00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:09.460 turn to that better covenant in verses 10, beginning 00:19:09.460 --> 00:19:11.940 in verse 10. Having shown what the old covenant 00:19:11.940 --> 00:19:15.119 could not do, the writer turns to verse 10 to 00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:17.900 make what makes the new covenant so much better. 00:19:18.680 --> 00:19:23.019 And here he begins quoting Jeremiah 31, okay? 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:25.960 So this quote right here in your text is Jeremiah 00:19:25.960 --> 00:19:30.759 31, 31 through 34. and the contrast between the 00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:34.099 old covenant and new covenant could not be greater. 00:19:34.380 --> 00:19:36.180 I just want you to listen to the language of 00:19:36.180 --> 00:19:39.180 verses 10 through 12. I will put my law in their 00:19:39.180 --> 00:19:41.220 minds, I will write it on their hearts, I will 00:19:41.220 --> 00:19:43.500 be their God, I will be merciful toward their 00:19:43.500 --> 00:19:45.799 iniquities, I will remember their sin no more. 00:19:45.859 --> 00:19:48.220 Do you already start seeing the difference? Right 00:19:48.220 --> 00:19:49.799 off the bat, you begin seeing the difference? 00:19:51.209 --> 00:19:53.950 Old covenant demonstrated the sinfulness of the 00:19:53.950 --> 00:19:56.089 people confronted them with the holy commands 00:19:56.089 --> 00:19:59.710 of God The new covenant announces that God himself 00:19:59.710 --> 00:20:03.289 what God himself promises to do for the people 00:20:03.289 --> 00:20:07.450 The hope of the new covenant is not ultimately 00:20:07.450 --> 00:20:13.769 found in a better promise from us to God That 00:20:13.769 --> 00:20:16.990 is not the new covenant the new covenant is not 00:20:16.990 --> 00:20:21.299 human beings just saying, okay, we're gonna rededicate 00:20:21.299 --> 00:20:23.660 ourselves to following you. That's not the new 00:20:23.660 --> 00:20:27.539 covenant. It's not our promise to God. The new 00:20:27.539 --> 00:20:31.359 covenant is God's promise to us. You see the 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:40.079 difference? It's God's promise to us. It's founded 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:45.779 on better promises from God to humans. And that's 00:20:45.779 --> 00:20:48.200 exactly what Hebrews 8 .6 has already told us. 00:20:48.380 --> 00:20:51.240 The new covenant is enacted on better promises. 00:20:51.579 --> 00:20:53.240 But before we look at those promises, and there's 00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:54.980 three of them in this text, before we look at 00:20:54.980 --> 00:20:58.339 them, I want you to see these promises are not 00:20:58.339 --> 00:21:01.819 just floating out there, kind of by themselves, 00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:05.359 untethered to anything. The writer of Hebrews 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:08.839 has spent all of this time talking about the 00:21:08.839 --> 00:21:12.420 priesthood of Christ. So I need you to understand 00:21:12.420 --> 00:21:16.140 something. He has not spent chapter after chapter 00:21:16.140 --> 00:21:19.599 after chapter talking about the priesthood of 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:24.599 Christ simply to change subjects in chapter 8. 00:21:25.900 --> 00:21:30.519 He's not changing subjects. It is the same topic. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:35.740 Why? Because priesthood and covenant are inseparable 00:21:35.740 --> 00:21:39.579 from one another. You cannot take them apart. 00:21:39.829 --> 00:21:42.890 If we look back to Hebrews 7 -11, it says now, 00:21:43.289 --> 00:21:47.730 if perfection had been attained through the Levitical 00:21:47.730 --> 00:21:52.369 priesthood, and then he says this, for under 00:21:52.369 --> 00:21:56.130 it, the Levitical priesthood, the people received 00:21:56.130 --> 00:22:01.490 the law. Okay, so if perfection of people could 00:22:01.490 --> 00:22:04.230 be found in the little Levitical priesthood under 00:22:04.230 --> 00:22:07.210 which they receive the law Then what further 00:22:07.210 --> 00:22:09.869 need would there be for another priest from a 00:22:09.869 --> 00:22:15.029 different order Melchizedek? Notice the connection 00:22:15.029 --> 00:22:19.049 the writer is making under the law Levitical 00:22:19.049 --> 00:22:23.549 priesthood old covenant and priesthood the priesthood 00:22:23.549 --> 00:22:26.640 the Levitical priesthood was was put within the 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:31.019 very structure of the Old Covenant. The priests 00:22:31.019 --> 00:22:33.440 administered the sacrifices. They maintained 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:36.319 the sanctuary. They carried out the ceremonies. 00:22:36.359 --> 00:22:39.220 They represented the people before God. And the 00:22:39.220 --> 00:22:43.799 entire covenantal system was dependent upon the 00:22:43.799 --> 00:22:47.680 Levitical priesthood. So here's what you can't 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:51.539 do. You cannot just remove the Levitical priesthood. 00:22:51.769 --> 00:22:54.650 and then take Jesus and put him into the old 00:22:54.650 --> 00:22:58.569 system and it worked. Why? Because the Levitical 00:22:58.569 --> 00:23:02.190 priesthood and the old covenant are inseparable 00:23:02.190 --> 00:23:05.930 from one another. So what God does is then God 00:23:05.930 --> 00:23:09.950 steps in and says, I'm creating a new order of 00:23:09.950 --> 00:23:15.390 priest that is not Levitical. So guess what you 00:23:15.390 --> 00:23:18.650 got to do when you change priest. What do you 00:23:18.650 --> 00:23:23.700 have to change? The covenant. If you change the 00:23:23.700 --> 00:23:26.619 priest, then the covenant has to change as well. 00:23:26.740 --> 00:23:29.920 They're inseparable. You can't keep the old covenant 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:35.279 and just create it, drop a new priest in. When 00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:38.400 you establish a new priesthood, you also establish 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:41.259 a new covenant. That is what the very next verse 00:23:41.259 --> 00:23:44.220 says in verse 12 of chapter 7. For when there 00:23:44.220 --> 00:23:47.019 is a change of priesthood, there is necessarily 00:23:47.019 --> 00:23:52.940 a change in the law as well. Did you know that 00:23:52.940 --> 00:23:55.599 Jesus was not even qualified to be an Old Testament 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:58.279 priest? Did you know that? He couldn't even be 00:23:58.279 --> 00:24:04.819 one. Jesus was unqualified. So even if you take 00:24:04.819 --> 00:24:07.279 Aaron and all those faulty priests out and say, 00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:09.059 let's get rid of all these faulty priests and 00:24:09.059 --> 00:24:12.700 let's bring in the perfect priest and you drop 00:24:12.700 --> 00:24:14.299 him into that system, he wouldn't even be allowed 00:24:14.299 --> 00:24:16.660 to be a priest. Was it from the right tribe? 00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:19.500 He was from the tribe of Judah not the tribe 00:24:19.500 --> 00:24:21.480 of Levi. He couldn't even be an old covenant 00:24:21.480 --> 00:24:24.740 priest So we got to get rid of this idea that 00:24:24.740 --> 00:24:27.400 somehow Jesus is coming just to make that old 00:24:27.400 --> 00:24:30.980 covenant or that old law possible for us wrong 00:24:30.980 --> 00:24:35.480 He's establishing something completely different 00:24:35.480 --> 00:24:42.799 Completely new by establishing a new priest a 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:46.940 priest who doesn't just help us understand the 00:24:46.940 --> 00:24:51.480 new covenant, but one who mediates the new covenant 00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:55.279 himself. He doesn't just deliver its terms. He 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:59.519 secures the blessing in himself. The new covenant 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:04.700 is better because the mediator is better. And 00:25:04.700 --> 00:25:07.779 this better priest does not merely give us a 00:25:07.779 --> 00:25:11.920 set of demands. He delivers new promises. Please 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:15.619 catch this. Because I because I think Christians 00:25:15.619 --> 00:25:18.900 get this wrong sometimes this is how I think 00:25:18.900 --> 00:25:21.940 Christians how we think about it. We have the 00:25:21.940 --> 00:25:25.460 law we have the rules they couldn't follow the 00:25:25.460 --> 00:25:29.940 rules Jesus comes just gives us new rules and 00:25:29.940 --> 00:25:32.960 puts his spirit in it to make it possible for 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:35.150 us to follow the rules, but then we all know 00:25:35.150 --> 00:25:37.309 we don't follow those rules anyway, so then we 00:25:37.309 --> 00:25:39.430 feel like major failures all the time, and we're 00:25:39.430 --> 00:25:40.930 looking at God saying, well, God must not love 00:25:40.930 --> 00:25:42.410 me, and that's not a proof of me, must not think 00:25:42.410 --> 00:25:44.430 much of me, because I can't follow these new 00:25:44.430 --> 00:25:46.869 rules. Just like Israel couldn't follow the old 00:25:46.869 --> 00:25:48.450 rules, I can't follow the new rules. And that's 00:25:48.450 --> 00:25:50.609 how we look at the Old and New Covenant. That's 00:25:50.609 --> 00:25:56.349 garbage. All of that is garbage. Jesus doesn't 00:25:56.349 --> 00:25:58.970 come and give us a new set of rules and go, let's 00:25:58.970 --> 00:26:02.809 see if you can do it. The new covenant is not 00:26:02.809 --> 00:26:06.809 based on rules at all. It is based on the promises 00:26:06.809 --> 00:26:10.849 of God that Jesus secured by His life, death, 00:26:11.190 --> 00:26:15.170 burial, resurrection, and ascension. Do you see 00:26:15.170 --> 00:26:18.630 the difference? It is not God waiting for us 00:26:18.630 --> 00:26:21.509 to do something. It is God doing all the stuff 00:26:21.509 --> 00:26:29.359 for us. He secures. everything we need with better 00:26:29.359 --> 00:26:31.039 promises. So what are those promises? Let's look 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:33.400 at all three of them here. Verse 10, first part 00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:45.160 of verse 10. Now I want to say something about 00:26:45.160 --> 00:26:47.759 this before I even get into what I have written 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:53.359 here. What God does not do is take the Mosaic 00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:56.730 Law and write the Mosaic Law in your heart. and 00:26:56.730 --> 00:27:00.650 then say you gotta follow the Mosaic Law. You 00:27:00.650 --> 00:27:02.769 remember when we did the series Upside Down Kingdom? 00:27:03.829 --> 00:27:08.589 You remember that? We talked about the new law 00:27:08.589 --> 00:27:12.210 of God. Paul describes that new law as the law 00:27:12.210 --> 00:27:20.670 of what? Love. We talked about how Jesus sometimes 00:27:20.670 --> 00:27:25.170 says things, let me say it this way, the way 00:27:25.170 --> 00:27:28.140 we said it. He gives us a completely different 00:27:28.140 --> 00:27:36.640 kind of law. Okay? The fulfillment of the Mosaic 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:39.180 law has happened, and now what Jesus does is 00:27:39.180 --> 00:27:41.920 Jesus comes and gives us a completely different 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:45.339 kind of system to live under. And some people 00:27:45.339 --> 00:27:47.920 make the mistake of saying, well, what God is 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:51.099 doing when He says law here is that God is giving 00:27:51.099 --> 00:27:54.890 us the Mosaic law written on our hearts. And 00:27:54.890 --> 00:27:57.470 we've talked about the problem with that, because 00:27:57.470 --> 00:27:59.569 every one of you in this room is violating that 00:27:59.569 --> 00:28:02.029 law right now. Number one, by the clothes you 00:28:02.029 --> 00:28:04.789 wear. Number two, by the haircuts you have. Number 00:28:04.789 --> 00:28:10.289 three, probably by your diet. Did God come along 00:28:10.289 --> 00:28:13.769 and write the dietary laws on the hearts of human 00:28:13.769 --> 00:28:17.109 beings in the New Covenant? Well, that wouldn't 00:28:17.109 --> 00:28:19.069 make any sense, because what did he say to Peter? 00:28:19.250 --> 00:28:23.029 Peter, don't call unclean things that I'm calling 00:28:23.029 --> 00:28:28.720 clean. Did he come along and write the ritual 00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:30.640 laws about what kind of clothes you're supposed 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:32.819 to wear, and they can't be two different fabrics, 00:28:32.859 --> 00:28:35.180 they gotta be all one fabric, and you can't cut 00:28:35.180 --> 00:28:38.220 the hair on your temples, and did he write that 00:28:38.220 --> 00:28:43.420 on the hearts of new covenant members? No. The 00:28:43.420 --> 00:28:45.680 law that we're talking about here is the law 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:48.720 of Christ. It is the law that Jesus brings that 00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:56.160 goes far beyond that old covenant law. Just want 00:28:56.160 --> 00:28:58.500 to clarify that because there's so much confusion 00:28:58.500 --> 00:29:00.240 that people have when they start talking about 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:02.980 that They're saying God wrote the Mosaic law 00:29:02.980 --> 00:29:09.519 my heart really Because I've never met anybody 00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:18.400 following it So let's talk about The main point 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:23.119 of verse 10 he's going to do something inside 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:27.500 his people Under the old covenant, the law was 00:29:27.500 --> 00:29:30.299 written on tablets of stone. It stood before 00:29:30.299 --> 00:29:33.619 the people, holy and righteous. It told them 00:29:33.619 --> 00:29:39.680 what God required. Now God says, I will put in 00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:45.619 them. I will put in their hearts. God promises 00:29:45.619 --> 00:29:49.279 to do an internal work in his covenant people. 00:29:49.480 --> 00:29:52.460 That was not promised in the old covenant. That's 00:29:52.460 --> 00:29:55.740 a promise in the new covenant. Now, does this 00:29:55.740 --> 00:29:57.700 mean that nobody in the Old Testament loved God? 00:29:58.000 --> 00:29:59.819 It's not what this means, but I want to make 00:29:59.819 --> 00:30:03.140 a clear distinction here. In the Old Covenant, 00:30:03.180 --> 00:30:07.180 there were a bunch of people who loved God. David 00:30:07.180 --> 00:30:11.619 loved God. Moses desired to see the presence 00:30:11.619 --> 00:30:16.000 of God because he loved God. Abraham loved God. 00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:19.400 The Psalms are written by people who loved God. 00:30:19.519 --> 00:30:21.619 We can look in the Old Testament and see a bunch 00:30:21.619 --> 00:30:23.799 of people that love God. But here's what I need 00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:25.559 you to see. If you're taking notes, write this 00:30:25.559 --> 00:30:31.180 down. The Old Covenant did not secure that love. 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:36.119 Please understand that. It was not the Old Covenant 00:30:36.119 --> 00:30:39.579 that secured David's love for God. It was God's 00:30:39.579 --> 00:30:42.640 grace that God gave it to him. Because Abraham 00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:46.019 had it before the law was even given. So it wasn't 00:30:46.019 --> 00:30:50.440 the law... that moved in people's hearts to make 00:30:50.440 --> 00:30:54.880 them love God. It was always, Brother James has 00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:56.900 said this since I came here when I was 12 years 00:30:56.900 --> 00:30:58.599 old, people in the Old Testament were saved the 00:30:58.599 --> 00:31:00.319 same way people in the New Testament were, by 00:31:00.319 --> 00:31:03.500 grace through faith. But the old covenant law 00:31:03.500 --> 00:31:05.279 doesn't give them the grace and didn't give them 00:31:05.279 --> 00:31:10.160 the faith. It was apart from that. Now God promises, 00:31:10.859 --> 00:31:15.119 I'm gonna do by grace through faith in every 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:19.670 single person in the covenant. Every person in 00:31:19.670 --> 00:31:23.210 this covenant, I am going to do something inside 00:31:23.210 --> 00:31:29.609 of them. Causing them to love me. Causing them 00:31:29.609 --> 00:31:33.190 to have faith in me. I'm going to do something 00:31:33.190 --> 00:31:41.150 to them. This promise appears through a bunch 00:31:41.150 --> 00:31:42.910 of the Old Testament prophets. Here's Ezekiel 00:31:42.910 --> 00:31:46.410 36, 26, and 27. I will give you a new heart. 00:31:48.789 --> 00:31:53.170 a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove 00:31:53.170 --> 00:31:56.269 the heart of stone from your flesh and give you 00:31:56.269 --> 00:31:59.150 a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within 00:31:59.150 --> 00:32:02.630 you. Again, notice the words, I will, I will, 00:32:02.990 --> 00:32:09.309 I will, I will. The new covenant's not God lowering 00:32:09.309 --> 00:32:11.730 his standards. See, people get real nervous when 00:32:11.730 --> 00:32:15.390 I say God didn't write the Mosaic Law on new 00:32:15.390 --> 00:32:17.839 covenant members' hearts. They get nervous because, 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:20.200 well, then the new covenant Christians are just 00:32:20.200 --> 00:32:21.759 gonna do whatever they want to. They're just 00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:22.960 gonna go out and sin and it's not gonna matter. 00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:24.799 You've gotta lay those laws on them to keep them 00:32:24.799 --> 00:32:27.740 under control. When somebody says that, I go, 00:32:27.880 --> 00:32:31.539 you don't understand the new covenant. You're 00:32:31.539 --> 00:32:33.799 missing the plot. You're missing what this is 00:32:33.799 --> 00:32:37.220 all about. You're thinking that way that I described 00:32:37.220 --> 00:32:41.259 a while ago. Here Ezekiel says, I'm gonna give 00:32:41.259 --> 00:32:43.400 you a new heart so you wanna do what I ask you 00:32:43.400 --> 00:32:47.049 to do. I'm gonna give you a new spirit that doesn't 00:32:47.049 --> 00:32:49.829 rebel against me, but loves me. Remember, we 00:32:49.829 --> 00:32:53.549 talked about this. Is the problem of a Christian, 00:32:53.710 --> 00:32:55.869 if you were in the new covenant, is the problem 00:32:55.869 --> 00:32:59.829 your heart? No. Stop saying, well, you know that, 00:32:59.910 --> 00:33:03.569 my heart's wrong. No, it's not. You've been given 00:33:03.569 --> 00:33:06.849 a new heart. Your heart is right. Your heart 00:33:06.849 --> 00:33:10.240 wants... God, it wants the good things of God. 00:33:10.440 --> 00:33:12.839 You have a new spirit within you, a spiritually 00:33:12.839 --> 00:33:15.700 alive spirit that wants the things of God. The 00:33:15.700 --> 00:33:17.720 problem is the flesh, which includes the mind. 00:33:20.539 --> 00:33:25.740 It is not your heart. You've been given a new 00:33:25.740 --> 00:33:31.259 one of those. And God is not lowering his standard 00:33:31.259 --> 00:33:34.799 in the new covenant. It's not like God went well, 00:33:34.940 --> 00:33:36.619 you know, I really wanted those people to follow 00:33:36.619 --> 00:33:38.059 my will but it doesn't look like they can do 00:33:38.059 --> 00:33:40.859 it So I'll just my will is not that not that 00:33:40.859 --> 00:33:44.000 important. Maybe maybe holiness should be optional. 00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:46.740 Maybe we should just go with religious activity 00:33:46.740 --> 00:33:49.819 Maybe we should stop caring about obedience because 00:33:49.819 --> 00:33:52.960 these people can't do it That's not the new covenant 00:33:53.450 --> 00:33:56.329 The new covenant still has righteousness and 00:33:56.329 --> 00:33:59.230 holiness and new creation living, but what God 00:33:59.230 --> 00:34:01.390 does is he doesn't wait for us just to try to 00:34:01.390 --> 00:34:03.930 figure it out. He comes and says, I'm gonna do 00:34:03.930 --> 00:34:06.109 this in them so that they obey me and follow 00:34:06.109 --> 00:34:09.349 me and walk with me. See the difference, church? 00:34:10.010 --> 00:34:13.090 Not if you see the difference. If you got a blank 00:34:13.090 --> 00:34:14.389 stare at me, then I'm thinking you're not getting 00:34:14.389 --> 00:34:25.340 it. God acts within his people by his spirit 00:34:25.340 --> 00:34:29.760 to increasingly move in us so that we obey God. 00:34:30.179 --> 00:34:33.760 Augustine famously said this, give what you command. 00:34:34.360 --> 00:34:36.619 In other words, if you give me the ability to 00:34:36.619 --> 00:34:38.380 follow your command, then command whatever you 00:34:38.380 --> 00:34:46.400 will. It's a beautiful quote. You command me 00:34:46.400 --> 00:34:49.440 anything Lord you you you tell me to follow you 00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:51.940 and do anything and go anywhere and be Anything 00:34:51.940 --> 00:34:54.559 and as long as you give me the power to do it 00:34:54.559 --> 00:34:57.800 then command whatever you want But don't just 00:34:57.800 --> 00:35:00.500 command me and leave me to myself And that's 00:35:00.500 --> 00:35:04.840 not what the new covenant does at all Yes, the 00:35:04.840 --> 00:35:07.599 Christian will struggle with sin yes, we still 00:35:07.599 --> 00:35:10.719 have a flesh, but we no longer make peace with 00:35:10.719 --> 00:35:14.019 sin The Christian still fails, but there's now 00:35:14.019 --> 00:35:19.960 a desire for God that is not produced outside 00:35:19.960 --> 00:35:23.800 of himself. So the new covenant creates a transformed 00:35:23.800 --> 00:35:26.800 people. We good with that one? Let's go to the 00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:30.059 second promise. God promises a people who truly 00:35:30.059 --> 00:35:33.780 know Him. Verse 10 continues, and into verse 00:35:33.780 --> 00:35:35.460 11, and I will be their God, they will be my 00:35:35.460 --> 00:35:39.099 people. Verse 11, and they shall not teach one 00:35:39.159 --> 00:35:41.659 His neighbor and each one, his brother saying, 00:35:41.820 --> 00:35:43.880 know the Lord for they will all know me from 00:35:43.880 --> 00:35:46.380 the least to the greatest. This is a very intimate 00:35:46.380 --> 00:35:51.179 promise here. God is not simply improving our 00:35:51.179 --> 00:35:54.099 behavior. That's not what he's, he's not simply 00:35:54.099 --> 00:35:57.820 promising to improve our behavior. He's promising 00:35:57.820 --> 00:36:06.199 himself. I will be their God and they shall be 00:36:06.199 --> 00:36:09.530 my people. That is the language. of covenant. 00:36:11.670 --> 00:36:15.250 The tragedy of Israel was a covenantal betrayal. 00:36:16.829 --> 00:36:19.730 God had loved them and they repeatedly gave their 00:36:19.730 --> 00:36:23.130 hearts to other gods. But now God is promising 00:36:23.130 --> 00:36:27.809 a covenant people who will know Him. A covenant 00:36:27.809 --> 00:36:31.030 people who will know Him. Not merely know about 00:36:31.030 --> 00:36:36.719 Him. Not merely know his will, not merely know 00:36:36.719 --> 00:36:40.199 the stories of the past, not merely be a part 00:36:40.199 --> 00:36:44.139 of religious ceremonies, but will know God intimately. 00:36:44.460 --> 00:36:47.280 And notice the extent of this. They shall all 00:36:47.280 --> 00:36:51.559 know me from the least to the greatest. Now, 00:36:52.679 --> 00:36:54.840 to appreciate that promise, we need to understand 00:36:54.840 --> 00:36:58.219 something about the Old Testament. In the Old 00:36:58.219 --> 00:37:03.719 Testament, over and over and over again, There 00:37:03.719 --> 00:37:06.800 was a constant responsibility of God's people 00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:11.679 to teach other covenant members to know the Lord. 00:37:13.139 --> 00:37:15.880 Okay, so priests, the Levitical priests, were 00:37:15.880 --> 00:37:18.980 supposed to teach the people, the covenant people, 00:37:19.239 --> 00:37:21.659 to know the Lord. Parents were supposed to teach 00:37:21.659 --> 00:37:24.579 their children who were covenant people to know 00:37:24.579 --> 00:37:26.960 the Lord. The prophets came over and over and 00:37:26.960 --> 00:37:30.159 over and called Israel back to knowing the Lord. 00:37:30.539 --> 00:37:33.880 Hosea says, let us know, let us press on to know 00:37:33.880 --> 00:37:37.059 the Lord. Isn't it weird that you can be in the 00:37:37.059 --> 00:37:42.179 old covenant with God and not know him? But that 00:37:42.179 --> 00:37:46.280 was the condition of Israel. You could be a covenant 00:37:46.280 --> 00:37:50.519 member of the old covenant and not know God. 00:37:52.269 --> 00:37:55.429 You could be born an Israelite and not know God. 00:37:55.510 --> 00:37:57.949 You could be circumcised, participate in the 00:37:57.949 --> 00:38:00.610 festivals, bring sacrifices to the temple, possess 00:38:00.610 --> 00:38:03.670 the scriptures, be a physical descendant of Abraham 00:38:03.670 --> 00:38:07.989 and not know God in the Old Covenant. And here's 00:38:07.989 --> 00:38:10.409 what God is saying in this promise. There will 00:38:10.409 --> 00:38:14.750 be no such people in the New Covenant. Every 00:38:14.750 --> 00:38:20.489 person in the New Covenant will know me. To be 00:38:20.489 --> 00:38:23.429 in the Covenant, is to know God. And to know 00:38:23.429 --> 00:38:26.389 God is to be in the new covenant. In the old 00:38:26.389 --> 00:38:28.730 covenant, you could be in the covenant and not 00:38:28.730 --> 00:38:30.750 know God. No such thing in the new covenant. 00:38:31.269 --> 00:38:34.570 Every person in the new covenant knows God. It 00:38:34.570 --> 00:38:38.429 is part and parcel to being in the covenant that 00:38:38.429 --> 00:38:44.489 you know Him. What a remarkable difference. They 00:38:44.489 --> 00:38:46.869 shall all know me from the least to the greatest. 00:38:48.260 --> 00:38:51.780 God is creating a covenant people characterized 00:38:51.780 --> 00:38:56.820 by the fact that they know him. Now I want to 00:38:56.820 --> 00:39:00.440 say something here because it says in verse 11 00:39:00.440 --> 00:39:02.900 that this covenant is going to be made with the 00:39:02.900 --> 00:39:05.579 house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 00:39:05.960 --> 00:39:08.500 You see that in the text? The house of Israel 00:39:08.500 --> 00:39:11.880 and the house of Judah. Some have therefore concluded 00:39:11.880 --> 00:39:15.360 that these promises belong exclusively to ethnic 00:39:15.360 --> 00:39:18.880 Israel. and that Gentiles can just kind of maybe 00:39:18.880 --> 00:39:21.900 get some blessings out of it. But that's not 00:39:21.900 --> 00:39:25.000 how the New Testament explains the fulfillment 00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:28.760 of God's promises. The New Covenant, listen carefully, 00:39:29.099 --> 00:39:32.300 the New Covenant is not an abandonment of Israel's 00:39:32.300 --> 00:39:36.300 promises. It is a fulfillment of those promises. 00:39:38.070 --> 00:39:41.670 Everyone who belongs to the Messiah shares in 00:39:41.670 --> 00:39:44.969 the promises secured by the Messiah. That's why 00:39:44.969 --> 00:39:48.030 Paul says in Galatians 3, know then that it is 00:39:48.030 --> 00:39:50.570 those of faith who are sons of Abraham. That's 00:39:50.570 --> 00:39:52.750 why he says in Galatians 3, there is neither 00:39:52.750 --> 00:39:55.429 Jew nor Greek, for you are all one in Christ. 00:39:55.449 --> 00:39:57.309 And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's 00:39:57.309 --> 00:40:00.750 offspring according to promise. The new covenant, 00:40:01.179 --> 00:40:04.840 are a people of God that are gathered around 00:40:04.840 --> 00:40:08.699 Jesus from every tribe and nation and tongue. 00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:11.260 It doesn't matter what you look like, where you 00:40:11.260 --> 00:40:14.280 came from, what your genealogy is. If you have 00:40:14.280 --> 00:40:17.239 given yourself to Christ, if you are in Christ, 00:40:17.460 --> 00:40:20.579 then you get all the promises that Christ secured. 00:40:21.719 --> 00:40:24.420 Believing Jews are not excluded. Gentiles are 00:40:24.420 --> 00:40:27.239 not second -class citizens. Everybody's one in 00:40:27.239 --> 00:40:31.389 Jesus Christ. He is creating one covenant people 00:40:31.389 --> 00:40:33.769 from every nation. That's why Paul says in Ephesians 00:40:33.769 --> 00:40:37.150 2 Christ broke down the wall of hostility Creating 00:40:37.150 --> 00:40:39.909 one new man. It's why he says in Galatians 6 00:40:39.909 --> 00:40:42.750 16 of the new people of God They are the Israel 00:40:42.750 --> 00:40:46.670 of God The point is not that God is abandoning 00:40:46.670 --> 00:40:49.170 Israel and starting over somewhere else The point 00:40:49.170 --> 00:40:52.130 is that God's promises to Israel reach their 00:40:52.130 --> 00:40:54.849 fulfillment in Israel's Messiah. Does that not 00:40:54.849 --> 00:41:01.219 just make sense? God makes promises then sends 00:41:01.219 --> 00:41:03.739 the Messiah to get those promises and everybody 00:41:03.739 --> 00:41:07.440 who has the Messiah has the promises. So this 00:41:07.440 --> 00:41:12.920 new covenant is not just for ethnic people from 00:41:12.920 --> 00:41:17.780 Israel and Judah. It's for anybody who comes 00:41:17.780 --> 00:41:23.559 to Christ. It is union with Abraham's promised 00:41:23.559 --> 00:41:27.880 seed, Jesus. This means church that this promise 00:41:27.880 --> 00:41:31.239 is ours. I will be their God and they will be 00:41:31.239 --> 00:41:33.739 my people. Think of that wonder for a second 00:41:33.739 --> 00:41:41.900 church. God looks at you and says, that one's 00:41:41.900 --> 00:41:48.519 mine. That one is mine. And we look at God and 00:41:48.519 --> 00:41:57.530 say, you. What a wonder. If it wasn't for the 00:41:57.530 --> 00:42:00.469 new covenant, that would not be able to happen. 00:42:03.590 --> 00:42:05.730 It's not about just getting forgiven so we can 00:42:05.730 --> 00:42:11.210 go up to heaven one day. The goal of the covenant 00:42:11.210 --> 00:42:14.030 is knowing God himself. J .I. Packer in his book 00:42:14.030 --> 00:42:17.130 Knowing God says, what were we made for? To know 00:42:17.130 --> 00:42:20.070 God. What aim should we set ourselves in life? 00:42:20.250 --> 00:42:22.969 To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus 00:42:22.969 --> 00:42:27.199 gives? the knowledge of God. Promise three, God's 00:42:27.199 --> 00:42:30.599 promise to have a completely forgiven people. 00:42:31.599 --> 00:42:33.519 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities 00:42:33.519 --> 00:42:35.820 and I'll remember their sins no more. Do you 00:42:35.820 --> 00:42:38.579 see that word four? Four, I will be merciful. 00:42:39.019 --> 00:42:42.480 That little word means a lot. The promise of 00:42:42.480 --> 00:42:45.039 forgiveness is not simply one of the other blessings 00:42:45.039 --> 00:42:47.780 added randomly to the end of the list. It is 00:42:47.780 --> 00:42:50.679 the foundation beneath the other promises. John 00:42:50.679 --> 00:42:53.539 Piper said, the death of Jesus for our sins is 00:42:53.539 --> 00:42:55.960 the foundation of the new covenant. It's the 00:42:55.960 --> 00:43:00.099 basis of the other promises. How can a holy God 00:43:00.099 --> 00:43:02.880 take sinful people and say, I'll be their God? 00:43:04.340 --> 00:43:07.639 How can covenant breakers be brought into a relationship 00:43:07.840 --> 00:43:10.420 with the God they've betrayed. How can guilty 00:43:10.420 --> 00:43:12.559 people come into the presence of God instead 00:43:12.559 --> 00:43:18.360 of running away? Mercy. And notice how complete 00:43:18.360 --> 00:43:22.199 this mercy is. I will remember their sins no 00:43:22.199 --> 00:43:27.340 more. God is promising that the sins of his new 00:43:27.340 --> 00:43:30.480 covenant people will never again be brought up 00:43:30.480 --> 00:43:33.219 to put them under condemnation. Romans 8 .1. 00:43:35.150 --> 00:43:37.690 Their guilt has been dealt with their debt has 00:43:37.690 --> 00:43:40.230 been paid their condemnation has been removed 00:43:40.230 --> 00:43:44.550 in the blood of Jesus on The night Jesus was 00:43:44.550 --> 00:43:47.409 crucified Jesus took the cup and said this is 00:43:47.409 --> 00:43:50.309 the cup poured out for you It is the new covenant 00:43:50.309 --> 00:43:55.280 in my blood the promises of Hebrew eight are 00:43:55.280 --> 00:43:58.420 all purchased by the blood of Christ. Our transformation, 00:43:58.860 --> 00:44:01.239 our knowledge of God, our place among the people 00:44:01.239 --> 00:44:04.340 of God, our forgiveness of sin, all of it by 00:44:04.340 --> 00:44:10.519 the blood of Jesus. This is why Jesus is not 00:44:10.519 --> 00:44:15.739 merely a messenger of the New Covenant. He is 00:44:15.739 --> 00:44:19.820 the one who guarantees, who inaugurates, who 00:44:19.820 --> 00:44:22.780 secures, and who ministers it. It's all based 00:44:22.780 --> 00:44:26.170 on Him. This is why the new covenant is better 00:44:26.170 --> 00:44:32.309 not simply built on better intentions It is established 00:44:32.309 --> 00:44:39.929 on better promises in Jesus Again and again, 00:44:39.949 --> 00:44:44.969 here's the pattern Old Testament if you obey 00:44:44.969 --> 00:44:51.230 me you're blessed if you don't obey me covenant 00:44:51.230 --> 00:44:56.659 curses The old covenant was just one big if. 00:44:57.699 --> 00:45:01.159 IF, I even wrote it bigger in my notes. IF, one 00:45:01.159 --> 00:45:06.480 big if. It's not the new covenant. The new covenant 00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:08.920 language is completely different. The new covenant 00:45:08.920 --> 00:45:14.059 language is God saying, I will, I will, I will. 00:45:14.159 --> 00:45:19.599 He doesn't leave it to an if. You hear me church? 00:45:19.719 --> 00:45:23.730 He doesn't leave it to an if. He doesn't leave 00:45:23.730 --> 00:45:30.409 it up to you. He does it in you. The hope of 00:45:30.409 --> 00:45:34.590 the old covenant rested upon the people's covenant 00:45:34.590 --> 00:45:38.210 faithfulness. The hope of the new covenant rests 00:45:38.210 --> 00:45:44.070 on God's covenant faithfulness. It's not rest 00:45:44.070 --> 00:45:49.610 upon our ability to obey God's Word, but God's 00:45:49.610 --> 00:45:53.480 determination to keep His Word. Last thing in 00:45:53.480 --> 00:45:57.019 verse 13. Just want to point this out He says 00:45:57.019 --> 00:45:58.880 in speaking of a new covenant he makes the first 00:45:58.880 --> 00:46:01.380 one obsolete and what is becoming obsolete is 00:46:01.380 --> 00:46:05.900 growing old and Is ready to vanish away now you 00:46:05.900 --> 00:46:07.480 may hear that and say well that seems like a 00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:10.619 little weird language to me because it says What 00:46:10.619 --> 00:46:15.440 is obsolete is growing old and ready to put away? 00:46:17.219 --> 00:46:22.000 When did it become obsolete church Jesus Jesus 00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:26.980 made, once Jesus died, rose again, sent to the 00:46:26.980 --> 00:46:29.260 right hand of the Father, old covenant obsolete. 00:46:29.820 --> 00:46:33.760 Then why is Paul saying it is growing old and 00:46:33.760 --> 00:46:37.739 ready to vanish away, if spiritually it's already 00:46:37.739 --> 00:46:39.260 done? And here's what I want to point out, listen 00:46:39.260 --> 00:46:44.019 carefully. Spiritually speaking, old covenant 00:46:44.019 --> 00:46:48.420 done when Jesus did his work. You with me there? 00:46:49.099 --> 00:46:53.039 Old covenant done. When this book was written, 00:46:54.380 --> 00:46:57.760 was the temple still standing? Yes. Were the 00:46:57.760 --> 00:47:00.079 Levitical priests still offering sacrifices? 00:47:00.380 --> 00:47:03.019 Yes. Were they still mediating on behalf of the 00:47:03.019 --> 00:47:06.440 people? Yes. Everything about that old system, 00:47:06.719 --> 00:47:10.099 the old mechanism still existed even though Jesus 00:47:10.099 --> 00:47:15.260 had come. Remember what Jesus told the disciples 00:47:15.260 --> 00:47:16.900 on the Mount of Olives as he's looking down over 00:47:16.900 --> 00:47:21.519 the temple? in Matthew chapter 24, he says, know 00:47:21.519 --> 00:47:23.980 this, there will not be one stone left upon another. 00:47:24.860 --> 00:47:30.920 This temple is coming down. When the writer of 00:47:30.920 --> 00:47:33.219 Hebrews says it is ready to vanish away, most 00:47:33.219 --> 00:47:35.539 theologians believe what he's referring to is 00:47:35.539 --> 00:47:38.940 this whole structure, this whole mechanism is 00:47:38.940 --> 00:47:43.280 coming down. Spiritually, it's pointless. They 00:47:43.280 --> 00:47:45.880 can keep doing their stuff, but that's idolatry. 00:47:47.050 --> 00:47:50.710 Once Jesus came, offering one sacrifice, idolatry. 00:47:50.909 --> 00:47:53.469 Going to a priest, idolatry. Going in the temple, 00:47:53.710 --> 00:47:58.670 idolatry. All of it is a rejection of Jesus and 00:47:58.670 --> 00:48:02.130 his covenant. And Jesus says, part of my judgment 00:48:02.130 --> 00:48:05.809 for their idolatry and rejection of me is this 00:48:05.809 --> 00:48:09.030 structure, this mechanism is coming down. So 00:48:09.030 --> 00:48:14.039 it has not yet vanished away, but in AD 70, it 00:48:14.039 --> 00:48:15.920 was about to be gone, but it hadn't been gone 00:48:15.920 --> 00:48:19.460 yet when the writer wrote this book. You don't 00:48:19.460 --> 00:48:21.239 think that the people who had read this book 00:48:21.239 --> 00:48:23.659 when that temple fell, that they didn't go, oh 00:48:23.659 --> 00:48:27.760 it's vanished now. It's vanished now because 00:48:27.760 --> 00:48:31.280 any visible sign of it has been crumbled to the 00:48:31.280 --> 00:48:41.599 ground. The Old Covenant was typical, shadowy, 00:48:41.900 --> 00:48:43.639 removable, and the new covenant is substantial, 00:48:43.920 --> 00:48:47.159 permanent, as containing the body which is Christ, 00:48:47.260 --> 00:48:55.360 John Owen. The temple can be gone? His true temple 00:48:55.360 --> 00:48:58.199 exists, doesn't it? His new covenant temple exists? 00:49:01.280 --> 00:49:06.039 Earthly altar could be gone? Jesus isn't. Covenant's 00:49:06.039 --> 00:49:08.440 still there. It doesn't depend upon the blood 00:49:08.440 --> 00:49:13.159 of animals. Levitical priests can be gone. It 00:49:13.159 --> 00:49:15.400 doesn't affect the new covenant whatsoever, because 00:49:15.400 --> 00:49:18.400 that depends upon Jesus. Jesus is seated at the 00:49:18.400 --> 00:49:22.039 right hand of the Father. Church, this is why 00:49:22.039 --> 00:49:25.920 there is nowhere else to go but Jesus. There 00:49:25.920 --> 00:49:29.280 is nowhere else to go. You go anywhere else, 00:49:31.179 --> 00:49:37.769 there is no salvation. There's no better priest, 00:49:37.889 --> 00:49:40.050 no better sacrifice, no better covenant, no better 00:49:40.050 --> 00:49:44.849 promises. It was all pointing to Jesus. And if 00:49:44.849 --> 00:49:48.630 you have Jesus, you have all the new and better 00:49:48.630 --> 00:49:51.289 things. Let's return now at the end to this broken 00:49:51.289 --> 00:49:55.489 marriage. The bride was unfaithful. She broke 00:49:55.489 --> 00:49:58.849 her vows. She gave her heart to others. And from 00:49:58.849 --> 00:50:01.530 every human perspective, the marriage was beyond 00:50:01.530 --> 00:50:05.150 repair between God and human beings. But God 00:50:05.150 --> 00:50:08.059 did not give up. on having a people for himself. 00:50:08.659 --> 00:50:12.239 In the New Covenant, the bridegroom does what 00:50:12.239 --> 00:50:16.019 his unfaithful bride could never do. He pays 00:50:16.019 --> 00:50:18.820 for her betrayal with his own blood, he forgives 00:50:18.820 --> 00:50:21.559 her completely, he gives her a new heart, and 00:50:21.559 --> 00:50:24.900 he brings her home, and he creates a bride that 00:50:24.900 --> 00:50:28.739 knows him, belongs to him, and loves him. The 00:50:28.739 --> 00:50:33.800 New Covenant is the story of a faithful bridegroom 00:50:34.059 --> 00:50:38.039 who gave himself to save an unfaithful bride 00:50:38.039 --> 00:50:44.719 and by his grace makes her faithful forever. 00:50:46.539 --> 00:50:50.380 That is why it is a better covenant.