1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,860 ["The Terry III Council emergency meeting"] 2 00:00:04,860 --> 00:00:34,580 Good job. 3 00:00:34,580 --> 00:00:38,580 Alright it's now time for children's church. 4 00:00:38,580 --> 00:00:44,080 If anybody's wanting to go, I think we got a few that are excited. 5 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,980 Got some best friends there, praise the Lord, amen. 6 00:00:47,980 --> 00:00:51,380 It's also been good to see a good choir these last few weeks. 7 00:00:51,380 --> 00:00:54,580 Y'all been really filling it up up there, but I think there's probably some openings 8 00:00:54,580 --> 00:00:56,220 if you want to sing in it. 9 00:00:56,220 --> 00:00:58,900 Jennings could probably squeeze you in. 10 00:00:58,900 --> 00:01:04,140 Alright we're going to be in Hebrews today, Hebrews chapter 8. 11 00:01:04,140 --> 00:01:09,860 We're going to start in verse 6 and finish the chapter. 12 00:01:09,860 --> 00:01:23,780 Hebrews chapter 8 verse 6. 13 00:01:23,780 --> 00:01:28,420 We looked at the first half of the chapter a few weeks ago, a couple of weeks ago I guess 14 00:01:28,420 --> 00:01:30,340 it was. 15 00:01:30,340 --> 00:01:37,300 And the author of Hebrews was telling us that the things that we see in this world that 16 00:01:37,300 --> 00:01:43,060 we saw in the Old Testament, the tabernacle, the temple, the sacrificial system, these 17 00:01:43,060 --> 00:01:47,060 were shadows, they were patterns of what was to come. 18 00:01:47,060 --> 00:01:53,320 They were patterns of something that's more perfect and that more perfect thing is revealed 19 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:55,340 to us in Jesus Christ. 20 00:01:55,340 --> 00:01:58,140 And so we saw those patterns in the Old Testament. 21 00:01:58,140 --> 00:02:02,860 And the author of Hebrews is telling his audience the things that we see, the things that you 22 00:02:02,860 --> 00:02:08,180 have read, the things that you knew that were pointing you forward to Jesus Christ. 23 00:02:08,180 --> 00:02:12,100 It was a pattern, a shadow of something greater that was to come. 24 00:02:12,100 --> 00:02:17,300 And that's what we see often in the Old Testament is these things are pointing us forward to 25 00:02:17,300 --> 00:02:18,580 Jesus Christ. 26 00:02:18,580 --> 00:02:25,100 And so with that in mind, the author is going to continue on here in Hebrews chapter 8 verse 27 00:02:25,100 --> 00:02:26,100 6 this morning. 28 00:02:26,100 --> 00:02:30,780 We'll read through the text then we'll pray. 29 00:02:30,780 --> 00:02:35,620 But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry. 30 00:02:35,620 --> 00:02:41,220 And to that degree, he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been legally 31 00:02:41,220 --> 00:02:44,180 enacted on better promises. 32 00:02:44,180 --> 00:02:49,540 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second 33 00:02:49,540 --> 00:02:50,600 one. 34 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:57,500 But finding fault with his people, he says, look, the days are coming, says the Lord, 35 00:02:57,500 --> 00:03:03,260 when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not 36 00:03:03,260 --> 00:03:08,180 like the covenant that I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by their hands to lead 37 00:03:08,180 --> 00:03:10,220 them out of the land of Egypt. 38 00:03:10,220 --> 00:03:16,180 I disregarded them, says the Lord, because they did not continue in my covenant. 39 00:03:16,180 --> 00:03:20,020 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, 40 00:03:20,020 --> 00:03:21,300 says the Lord. 41 00:03:21,300 --> 00:03:26,140 I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. 42 00:03:26,140 --> 00:03:30,060 I will be their God and they will be my people. 43 00:03:30,060 --> 00:03:35,780 And each person will not teach his fellow citizen and each his brother, saying, know 44 00:03:35,780 --> 00:03:41,820 the Lord, because they will all know me from the least to the greatest of them. 45 00:03:41,820 --> 00:03:48,420 For I will be merciful to their wrongdoing and I will never again remember their sins. 46 00:03:48,420 --> 00:03:54,220 By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is old and what is old and 47 00:03:54,220 --> 00:03:56,900 aging is about to disappear. 48 00:03:56,900 --> 00:03:57,900 Let's pray. 49 00:03:57,900 --> 00:04:03,140 Father God, we come to you today with a lot to consider, a lot to think about, a lot to 50 00:04:03,140 --> 00:04:05,900 learn today from your word. 51 00:04:05,900 --> 00:04:10,380 And so I pray, dear Lord, that your Holy Spirit would be among us this morning. 52 00:04:10,380 --> 00:04:14,580 I pray that your Holy Spirit would be on me, dear Lord, that you free my mind from the 53 00:04:14,580 --> 00:04:17,940 distractions and the worries of this world. 54 00:04:17,940 --> 00:04:21,700 I pray that you would be with each one in these pews, dear Lord, that you would help 55 00:04:21,700 --> 00:04:26,780 us not to be distracted today, that you would help us to be able to keep our minds focused 56 00:04:26,780 --> 00:04:27,780 today. 57 00:04:27,780 --> 00:04:31,500 I pray that your Holy Spirit would move through the words that come from my mouth, God, that 58 00:04:31,500 --> 00:04:32,940 they would be from you. 59 00:04:32,940 --> 00:04:37,580 I pray that our hearts and our ears would hear these words, dear Lord. 60 00:04:37,580 --> 00:04:41,620 I pray that Jesus is lifted up above all else, dear Lord. 61 00:04:41,620 --> 00:04:46,380 I pray that we see the glory of this covenant that we have, this new covenant that you've 62 00:04:46,380 --> 00:04:51,660 established through Jesus Christ, through His blood, through His death and resurrection. 63 00:04:51,660 --> 00:04:54,980 So God, I pray that you would hide me behind the cross as I preach and teach today. 64 00:04:54,980 --> 00:05:00,580 Take away any pride or any fear that I have this morning and let us all hear from you 65 00:05:00,580 --> 00:05:02,020 today. 66 00:05:02,020 --> 00:05:07,300 And I ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. 67 00:05:07,300 --> 00:05:12,620 The things of the Old Testament were a pattern of what was to come, but now those things 68 00:05:12,620 --> 00:05:15,340 have been revealed to us in Jesus Christ. 69 00:05:15,340 --> 00:05:20,260 And we see beautiful language that we've seen here in the book of Hebrews, that Jesus is 70 00:05:20,260 --> 00:05:23,380 our intercessor, that He intercedes for us. 71 00:05:23,380 --> 00:05:27,980 And here we see that Jesus is our mediator. 72 00:05:27,980 --> 00:05:30,820 That is, He's the one between us and God. 73 00:05:30,820 --> 00:05:33,140 He's the one that bridges the gap. 74 00:05:33,140 --> 00:05:37,620 Our relationship with God is torn because of sin. 75 00:05:37,620 --> 00:05:42,660 And even though God had established the Old Testament system, it was never going to be 76 00:05:42,660 --> 00:05:48,580 sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins because we could never live up to what God 77 00:05:48,580 --> 00:05:50,620 called us to. 78 00:05:50,620 --> 00:05:52,780 And so we needed a mediator. 79 00:05:52,780 --> 00:05:59,760 We needed one who could intercede on our behalf, and God provided the mediator. 80 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:02,060 God provided His very own Son. 81 00:06:02,060 --> 00:06:06,900 The perfect Son of God came to this world and He gave His life on a cross, and He was 82 00:06:06,900 --> 00:06:12,900 crucified and resurrected for the forgiveness of our sins so that He could be the mediator 83 00:06:12,900 --> 00:06:15,860 between God and man. 84 00:06:15,860 --> 00:06:21,580 And because Jesus is our mediator, because of His death and resurrection, there is a 85 00:06:21,580 --> 00:06:24,340 new covenant that has been established. 86 00:06:24,340 --> 00:06:29,380 It is a better covenant, and it has been established on better promises. 87 00:06:29,380 --> 00:06:33,780 Now don't forget, the whole book of Hebrews, the author is trying to get his audience to 88 00:06:33,780 --> 00:06:38,980 not go back to the old ways, but to realize that a better way has come. 89 00:06:38,980 --> 00:06:43,340 And he does that by quoting tons of Old Testament passages. 90 00:06:43,340 --> 00:06:46,700 We look at most of them, some in detail, some not. 91 00:06:46,700 --> 00:06:52,940 But in this particular passage today, we see that the author of Hebrews quotes from Jeremiah 92 00:06:52,940 --> 00:06:56,340 chapter 31 verses 31 through 34. 93 00:06:56,340 --> 00:07:02,400 This is the longest Old Testament quotation in the New Testament, and this is an important 94 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:04,780 Old Testament quotation. 95 00:07:04,780 --> 00:07:11,700 Because it is in this prophecy of Jeremiah that Jeremiah is telling God's people that 96 00:07:11,700 --> 00:07:15,460 there is going to come a new covenant. 97 00:07:15,460 --> 00:07:19,420 Now we see God made several covenants in the Old Testament. 98 00:07:19,420 --> 00:07:23,620 A covenant, a good way to think about a covenant, a simple way, is it's a promise. 99 00:07:23,620 --> 00:07:26,980 It's a promise that God made to His people. 100 00:07:26,980 --> 00:07:30,660 And God always keeps His promises. 101 00:07:30,660 --> 00:07:34,460 God's promises never fail. 102 00:07:34,460 --> 00:07:38,900 We see a good example of that at the end of the book of Joshua. 103 00:07:38,900 --> 00:07:42,180 Before Joshua dies, he's leaving his people with a few words. 104 00:07:42,180 --> 00:07:46,500 And he says, look, okay, God's people, God made you promises. 105 00:07:46,500 --> 00:07:48,620 He told you He was going to bring you into the land. 106 00:07:48,620 --> 00:07:50,300 He made you promises of what He was going to do. 107 00:07:50,300 --> 00:07:52,820 He said He was going to bless you if you were obedient to Him. 108 00:07:52,820 --> 00:07:57,420 And Joshua says at the end of the book, he says, and all of God's promises have been 109 00:07:57,420 --> 00:07:58,420 fulfilled. 110 00:07:58,420 --> 00:08:00,740 Everything He promised you has been fulfilled. 111 00:08:00,740 --> 00:08:03,820 All the land that God said He was going to give you, He's given to you. 112 00:08:03,820 --> 00:08:08,060 Not one of God's promises has failed, Joshua told his people. 113 00:08:08,060 --> 00:08:12,700 And so we see that in the Old Testament, that God made promises to His people and God kept 114 00:08:12,700 --> 00:08:13,700 those promises. 115 00:08:13,700 --> 00:08:15,740 And we see quite a few covenants in the Old Testament. 116 00:08:15,740 --> 00:08:19,820 We won't talk about all of them in great detail today, but we'll talk about them just as a 117 00:08:19,820 --> 00:08:20,820 refresher. 118 00:08:20,820 --> 00:08:27,060 Now, there is some, there's not universal agreement as to how many covenants there are 119 00:08:27,060 --> 00:08:28,060 in the Old Testament. 120 00:08:28,060 --> 00:08:32,820 There are generally five that are agreed upon that almost everyone agrees these are covenants 121 00:08:32,820 --> 00:08:33,820 of God. 122 00:08:33,820 --> 00:08:36,700 There are some others that people say, well, I think this might have been a covenant of 123 00:08:36,700 --> 00:08:37,700 God. 124 00:08:37,700 --> 00:08:38,700 We won't talk about those today. 125 00:08:38,700 --> 00:08:43,380 We'll talk about the five that are almost, almost 100% agreed upon that these are all 126 00:08:43,380 --> 00:08:45,820 certainly covenants of God. 127 00:08:45,820 --> 00:08:49,700 One of those, the first of those we see in the scripture is the Noahic covenant. 128 00:08:49,700 --> 00:08:53,460 Now in the Old Testament, God flooded the whole earth. 129 00:08:53,460 --> 00:08:59,700 But after the water went down, He made a covenant and He said, look, I'll never flood the earth 130 00:08:59,700 --> 00:09:00,700 again. 131 00:09:00,700 --> 00:09:05,060 And as a sign that I'm going to keep this, that I'm never going to do this again, I'm 132 00:09:05,060 --> 00:09:06,900 going to put a rainbow in the sky. 133 00:09:06,900 --> 00:09:09,640 So we still see rainbows today from time to time. 134 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:12,900 That's a reminder of God saying, hey, I'm a God who keeps my word. 135 00:09:12,900 --> 00:09:14,380 I'm a God who keeps my promises. 136 00:09:14,380 --> 00:09:16,380 I'm a God who keeps my covenant. 137 00:09:16,380 --> 00:09:18,500 That's the first covenant we see in scripture. 138 00:09:18,500 --> 00:09:20,260 Then we see the Abrahamic covenant. 139 00:09:20,260 --> 00:09:24,100 God told Abraham, He said, look, I'm going to bless you. 140 00:09:24,100 --> 00:09:26,340 I'm going to make you into a great nation. 141 00:09:26,340 --> 00:09:31,340 You're going to have descendants that are as numerous as the stars and all nations are 142 00:09:31,340 --> 00:09:33,580 going to be blessed through you. 143 00:09:33,580 --> 00:09:38,460 And I'm going to establish your people in this particular spot of land that I've promised 144 00:09:38,460 --> 00:09:39,660 to you. 145 00:09:39,660 --> 00:09:41,940 That's the Abrahamic covenant. 146 00:09:41,940 --> 00:09:46,620 Then as we continue on through scripture, we see the Mosaic covenant. 147 00:09:46,620 --> 00:09:52,180 That's the most important for us today in context of this passage. 148 00:09:52,180 --> 00:09:58,380 The Mosaic covenant was God giving His people instruction, giving them commands, saying, 149 00:09:58,380 --> 00:10:00,860 look, I'm going to bless you. 150 00:10:00,860 --> 00:10:02,500 I'm going to watch over you. 151 00:10:02,500 --> 00:10:04,160 Here are my instructions. 152 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:05,420 Here are my commands. 153 00:10:05,420 --> 00:10:08,820 This is where we see all those patterns and symbols we talked about a couple of weeks 154 00:10:08,820 --> 00:10:15,580 ago about the tabernacle and the priesthood and the sacrifices and all of these things. 155 00:10:15,580 --> 00:10:19,740 All of the commands that God gave to His people, what we see there in those early books of 156 00:10:19,740 --> 00:10:24,820 the Bible, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, it covers all of these things. 157 00:10:24,820 --> 00:10:28,620 These are all part of the Mosaic covenant that God told His people. 158 00:10:28,620 --> 00:10:34,900 He said, look, I'm going to bless you if you are obedient to my covenant. 159 00:10:34,900 --> 00:10:35,900 I'm going to bless you. 160 00:10:35,900 --> 00:10:36,900 I'm going to give you this land. 161 00:10:36,900 --> 00:10:37,900 It's yours. 162 00:10:37,900 --> 00:10:38,900 You can be here. 163 00:10:38,900 --> 00:10:39,900 You can live here. 164 00:10:39,900 --> 00:10:42,260 I'll take care of everything you need. 165 00:10:42,260 --> 00:10:44,180 But there's conditions. 166 00:10:44,180 --> 00:10:45,180 There's conditions. 167 00:10:45,180 --> 00:10:49,940 He also said, but if you are not obedient to me, he said, I'm going to remove you from 168 00:10:49,940 --> 00:10:50,940 the land. 169 00:10:50,940 --> 00:10:53,060 You're going to be gone from it forever. 170 00:10:53,060 --> 00:10:55,180 You'll never find peace. 171 00:10:55,180 --> 00:10:57,980 You'll be at odds against the nations, he says. 172 00:10:57,980 --> 00:11:01,740 You'll never find a restful spot for the soles of your feet. 173 00:11:01,740 --> 00:11:04,740 In Deuteronomy 28, he gives all these commands. 174 00:11:04,740 --> 00:11:05,820 I'll destroy you. 175 00:11:05,820 --> 00:11:07,580 You'll be nothing. 176 00:11:07,580 --> 00:11:10,980 And so God gave these conditions in the Mosaic covenant. 177 00:11:10,980 --> 00:11:15,940 So long as God's people were obedient to the covenant and follow what God said, there was 178 00:11:15,940 --> 00:11:16,940 going to be blessing. 179 00:11:16,940 --> 00:11:23,060 But God said, if you go after other gods, then curses are going to be on you. 180 00:11:23,060 --> 00:11:27,900 Now the Mosaic covenant was very important for the people, in particular, the acts of 181 00:11:27,900 --> 00:11:33,460 God that led them up to that point where He was going to give them these commands. 182 00:11:33,460 --> 00:11:36,960 They were enslaved and God brought them out of that enslavement. 183 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,800 He delivered them into the promised land. 184 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:44,620 This was a wonderful act that we see referenced often in the scriptures. 185 00:11:44,620 --> 00:11:45,620 Why? 186 00:11:45,620 --> 00:11:46,820 Because it's very powerful. 187 00:11:46,820 --> 00:11:49,880 What did God do there that was so powerful that most of us remember? 188 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:51,500 He parted the Red Sea. 189 00:11:51,500 --> 00:11:52,960 This was a really big act. 190 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:56,140 This was a really memorable thing for God's people. 191 00:11:56,140 --> 00:12:02,280 They celebrated the Passover when God delivered them from Israel, when God passed over and 192 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:04,180 spared His people. 193 00:12:04,180 --> 00:12:06,140 God's people celebrated that Passover. 194 00:12:06,140 --> 00:12:10,620 They celebrated that deliverance up until the time of Jesus and even Jesus with His 195 00:12:10,620 --> 00:12:12,500 disciples celebrated that. 196 00:12:12,500 --> 00:12:16,980 So they remembered those events and those commands and that God had delivered them through 197 00:12:16,980 --> 00:12:22,300 the Red Sea and that God had given them instruction and that God had given them the land. 198 00:12:22,300 --> 00:12:28,260 This is a super important covenant that we see and as we'll see in more detail here later 199 00:12:28,260 --> 00:12:29,260 on. 200 00:12:29,260 --> 00:12:31,620 We also see after that the Davidic covenant. 201 00:12:31,620 --> 00:12:34,660 That's when God said, look, David, you're going to have a descendant who's going to 202 00:12:34,660 --> 00:12:36,340 be a king forever. 203 00:12:36,340 --> 00:12:41,360 Now keep in mind these covenants that we see, they're pointing us to something bigger than 204 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:42,860 that point in time. 205 00:12:42,860 --> 00:12:46,340 When God told Abraham that all nations are going to be blessed through him, that's going 206 00:12:46,340 --> 00:12:48,040 to come through Jesus Christ. 207 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:53,500 When Jesus Christ comes onto the scene and not just God's people, Israel would be saved, 208 00:12:53,500 --> 00:12:58,120 but all those who would come to faith in Jesus Christ would be saved. 209 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:04,040 Even what we see in the Mosaic covenant is pointing us forward to Jesus who is to come. 210 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:09,240 And the Davidic covenant is pointing us forward to a king who is to come. 211 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:12,660 But then we get to the book of Jeremiah. 212 00:13:12,660 --> 00:13:19,860 Now often in the prophets we see language, especially Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, strong 213 00:13:19,860 --> 00:13:22,340 language because God's people, guess what? 214 00:13:22,340 --> 00:13:24,100 They did not keep up their end of the covenant. 215 00:13:24,100 --> 00:13:25,460 They'd do good for a little while. 216 00:13:25,460 --> 00:13:26,780 Some of them would do good. 217 00:13:26,780 --> 00:13:32,320 But generally speaking, they were disobedient people who went after other gods. 218 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:36,020 So God allowed their enemies to come in and they were scattered from the land. 219 00:13:36,020 --> 00:13:37,020 They were dispersed. 220 00:13:37,020 --> 00:13:39,380 And that's what some of these prophetic books tell us. 221 00:13:39,380 --> 00:13:42,640 Hey, you're going to be scattered from this land. 222 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:45,900 You're going to be driven out from this land. 223 00:13:45,900 --> 00:13:51,220 And so we see the prophets speaking in this language, but even in this language there's 224 00:13:51,220 --> 00:13:53,820 some promises of restoration. 225 00:13:53,820 --> 00:13:59,320 But even in the language that promises restoration, it's also pointing us forward to not just 226 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:01,660 when God's people would come back to the land. 227 00:14:01,660 --> 00:14:03,700 God said, I'm going to take you from the land. 228 00:14:03,700 --> 00:14:06,060 You're going to be spread out, but I'm going to bring you back. 229 00:14:06,060 --> 00:14:10,260 We see that time and time again in the prophecies in the Old Testament that God was going to 230 00:14:10,260 --> 00:14:11,820 bring his people back to the land. 231 00:14:11,820 --> 00:14:12,820 And he did. 232 00:14:12,820 --> 00:14:14,540 We see that in Ezra and Nehemiah. 233 00:14:14,540 --> 00:14:16,460 We see that God did bring them back. 234 00:14:16,460 --> 00:14:22,180 They did rebuild the temple as the prophets had said, and God restored that faithful remnant 235 00:14:22,180 --> 00:14:23,440 of his people. 236 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:26,660 So God was true to what he said for his people. 237 00:14:26,660 --> 00:14:31,580 But even though God had fulfilled those promises that he would restore them back to their land, 238 00:14:31,580 --> 00:14:36,380 there were still promises that were pointing us forward to something even greater, something 239 00:14:36,380 --> 00:14:38,580 that would come in Jesus Christ. 240 00:14:38,580 --> 00:14:44,380 Now we see this type of language in the passage we just read from Jeremiah 31, but even before 241 00:14:44,380 --> 00:14:46,060 that we see this language. 242 00:14:46,060 --> 00:14:53,220 Jeremiah chapter 16 verse 14 says this, however, take note, the days are coming, the Lord's 243 00:14:53,220 --> 00:14:59,500 declaration when it will no longer be said as the Lord lives who brought the Israelites 244 00:14:59,500 --> 00:15:00,780 from the land of Egypt. 245 00:15:00,780 --> 00:15:02,420 Okay, we just talked about this. 246 00:15:02,420 --> 00:15:07,580 This was an important point in Israel's history. 247 00:15:07,580 --> 00:15:09,620 Okay, that's something they remember. 248 00:15:09,620 --> 00:15:13,180 Hey, God is the God who delivered us from Egypt. 249 00:15:13,180 --> 00:15:14,660 God is the God who spared us. 250 00:15:14,660 --> 00:15:16,700 We celebrate that deliverance. 251 00:15:16,700 --> 00:15:19,180 God is the one who parted the Red Sea. 252 00:15:19,180 --> 00:15:23,840 And so this was an extremely important event to God's people Israel. 253 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:27,060 And that was the most important event to them. 254 00:15:27,060 --> 00:15:32,140 But Jeremiah says, look, there's a day coming when there's going to be something bigger 255 00:15:32,140 --> 00:15:33,980 that's going to come. 256 00:15:33,980 --> 00:15:39,940 Continuing on in verse 15, but rather as the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from 257 00:15:39,940 --> 00:15:43,740 the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them. 258 00:15:43,740 --> 00:15:45,780 Now God certainly did that. 259 00:15:45,780 --> 00:15:50,460 The people were overtaken, the northern tribes by the Assyrians, the southern tribes by the 260 00:15:50,460 --> 00:15:53,540 Babylonians, and God's people were scattered all throughout. 261 00:15:53,540 --> 00:15:58,580 When we read Ezra and Nehemiah, we read about Zerubbabel, we read about God's people began 262 00:15:58,580 --> 00:16:00,020 to be gathered back in. 263 00:16:00,020 --> 00:16:03,340 Okay, so there was going to be a gathering back in of God's people. 264 00:16:03,340 --> 00:16:08,100 There was going to be something greater that was going to come after God had restored his 265 00:16:08,100 --> 00:16:09,100 people. 266 00:16:09,100 --> 00:16:12,780 There was something greater that was coming and that something greater that was coming 267 00:16:12,780 --> 00:16:16,680 ultimately was going to be Jesus Christ. 268 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:20,540 It's pointing us forward to something greater than what was in the past. 269 00:16:20,540 --> 00:16:24,300 That's the same thing the author of Hebrews is doing for us in this passage. 270 00:16:24,300 --> 00:16:31,180 He's trying to get his people past living in the Mosaic covenant in the law in the Old 271 00:16:31,180 --> 00:16:36,660 Testament sacrificial system and help them to realize that the things that these prophets 272 00:16:36,660 --> 00:16:41,340 had talked about in the Old Testament talked about, they were pointing to something better 273 00:16:41,340 --> 00:16:44,780 to come in Jesus Christ. 274 00:16:44,780 --> 00:16:51,260 Moving on in Jeremiah chapter 16 verse 16, for I will return them to their land that 275 00:16:51,260 --> 00:16:52,860 I gave to their ancestors. 276 00:16:52,860 --> 00:16:59,100 Now listen to verse 16, I am about to send, excuse me, I'm about to send for many fishermen. 277 00:16:59,100 --> 00:17:03,140 This is the Lord's declaration and they will fish for them. 278 00:17:03,140 --> 00:17:05,980 Now that's interesting language that we see here. 279 00:17:05,980 --> 00:17:10,620 It's interesting and somewhat familiar to us because you may remember in the New Testament 280 00:17:10,620 --> 00:17:13,680 when Jesus went to the disciples, what did he tell them? 281 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:18,060 He said, I'm going to make you fishers of men. 282 00:17:18,060 --> 00:17:21,180 Same language that we see here in the book of Jeremiah. 283 00:17:21,180 --> 00:17:26,700 Jeremiah says, look, the old way, the things of Egypt, the things of Moses, there's something 284 00:17:26,700 --> 00:17:28,180 greater that's coming. 285 00:17:28,180 --> 00:17:32,680 And God says, I'm going to establish people who are going to go out and bring people into 286 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:34,380 my kingdom. 287 00:17:34,380 --> 00:17:36,020 And Jesus uses the same language. 288 00:17:36,020 --> 00:17:41,640 Perhaps Jesus was alluding to this very passage where God says through Jeremiah, look, I'm 289 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:43,220 going to send out fishermen. 290 00:17:43,220 --> 00:17:45,020 Well, they weren't fishing for fish. 291 00:17:45,020 --> 00:17:48,580 They were fishing for the people of God. 292 00:17:48,580 --> 00:17:52,780 And so we see this language in these Old Testament prophecies. 293 00:17:52,780 --> 00:17:53,980 And what are they doing? 294 00:17:53,980 --> 00:17:58,220 They are pointing us forward to who Jesus is. 295 00:17:58,220 --> 00:18:02,380 And the author of Hebrews takes the time to quote a lot of this passage. 296 00:18:02,380 --> 00:18:05,380 Now I'd encourage you to read Jeremiah 21 and read the rest of it. 297 00:18:05,380 --> 00:18:07,500 He only quotes a few scriptures here. 298 00:18:07,500 --> 00:18:09,560 Nonetheless, these are good scriptures. 299 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:11,240 And why does he choose these? 300 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:15,980 He chooses these passage for the very reason we've been talking about, because he's trying 301 00:18:15,980 --> 00:18:17,380 to make the point. 302 00:18:17,380 --> 00:18:19,540 Look, God delivered you from Egypt. 303 00:18:19,540 --> 00:18:20,700 That was a big thing. 304 00:18:20,700 --> 00:18:23,940 But now God's going to establish a new covenant. 305 00:18:23,940 --> 00:18:27,580 Let's go back to Hebrews chapter eight, verse eight. 306 00:18:27,580 --> 00:18:32,860 But finding fault with his people, he says, look, the days are coming, says the Lord, 307 00:18:32,860 --> 00:18:38,020 when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 308 00:18:38,020 --> 00:18:43,340 Now the first covenant was insufficient, but it wasn't the fault of the covenant. 309 00:18:43,340 --> 00:18:45,640 It's not like there was something wrong with God's covenant. 310 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,120 It's not like there was anything wrong with God's side of the deal. 311 00:18:49,120 --> 00:18:50,120 What does it say? 312 00:18:50,120 --> 00:18:53,780 It says he found fault with his people or found fault with them, some of your translations 313 00:18:53,780 --> 00:18:54,780 will say. 314 00:18:54,780 --> 00:18:57,560 So the problem with the first covenant was not God. 315 00:18:57,560 --> 00:18:59,100 It's not like, well, there was a fault. 316 00:18:59,100 --> 00:19:02,620 Well, God come up with this plan and God said, I think I thought this was going to work. 317 00:19:02,620 --> 00:19:04,740 But on second thought, I don't think this is going to work. 318 00:19:04,740 --> 00:19:06,380 I think that, you know, I messed up. 319 00:19:06,380 --> 00:19:07,860 I didn't come up with a good plan. 320 00:19:07,860 --> 00:19:09,260 That's not it at all. 321 00:19:09,260 --> 00:19:15,440 God's plan was perfect, but we failed because we could not live up to God's requirements. 322 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:18,380 We could not live up to what the law called us to. 323 00:19:18,380 --> 00:19:20,100 And we still can't to this day. 324 00:19:20,100 --> 00:19:21,100 Praise the Lord. 325 00:19:21,100 --> 00:19:22,780 That's what the author of Hebrews is saying. 326 00:19:22,780 --> 00:19:24,680 Don't try to live by the letter of the law. 327 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:27,620 You will never be good enough to earn God's grace. 328 00:19:27,620 --> 00:19:32,740 You will never be good enough that God would look at you and say, you're so good, I'm going 329 00:19:32,740 --> 00:19:34,740 to forgive your sins or you're so good. 330 00:19:34,740 --> 00:19:35,740 You don't sin. 331 00:19:35,740 --> 00:19:37,380 That's not the way it works. 332 00:19:37,380 --> 00:19:42,560 All of our righteous acts are like filthy rags before the Lord, Isaiah 66 tells us. 333 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:49,140 And so we are a pitiful and wretched and evil, sinful people. 334 00:19:49,140 --> 00:19:54,620 We don't like to use those terms to describe ourselves, but that's who we are. 335 00:19:54,620 --> 00:19:58,900 And so God had established the system in which there could be sacrifice for God's people. 336 00:19:58,900 --> 00:20:03,820 He'd established a law that if only the people would have lived by the law, that everything 337 00:20:03,820 --> 00:20:05,720 would have been fine. 338 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:10,580 But we can't live by the law because that sin is ever before us. 339 00:20:10,580 --> 00:20:15,100 That temptation is ever before us and we give in to that sin. 340 00:20:15,100 --> 00:20:21,460 So God found fault, not with his end of the deal, but the fault was with us. 341 00:20:21,460 --> 00:20:25,220 We're incapable of doing what we need to do. 342 00:20:25,220 --> 00:20:29,740 And that's why it's so beautiful that God sent Jesus Christ as one and only son to be 343 00:20:29,740 --> 00:20:35,700 our intercessor, to be our mediator, the mediator between us and God so that our sins are gone. 344 00:20:35,700 --> 00:20:38,620 And our sins may be forgiven. 345 00:20:38,620 --> 00:20:43,940 Continuing on, he says, but finding fault with his people, he says, look, the days are coming 346 00:20:43,940 --> 00:20:47,860 when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not 347 00:20:47,860 --> 00:20:53,080 like the covenant that I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hands to leave 348 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:55,260 them out of the land of Egypt. 349 00:20:55,260 --> 00:21:00,340 I disregarded them, says the Lord, because they did not continue in my covenant. 350 00:21:00,340 --> 00:21:03,980 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, 351 00:21:03,980 --> 00:21:04,980 says the Lord. 352 00:21:04,980 --> 00:21:10,100 I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. 353 00:21:10,100 --> 00:21:15,700 I will be their God and they will be my people. 354 00:21:15,700 --> 00:21:19,700 So God says, look, I worked with you in a different way in the Old Testament, but now 355 00:21:19,700 --> 00:21:20,900 there's a new way. 356 00:21:20,900 --> 00:21:21,900 There's a better way. 357 00:21:21,900 --> 00:21:24,140 There's a new covenant that's coming. 358 00:21:24,140 --> 00:21:29,240 And so all the way back in the book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament, he's pointing us forward 359 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:30,240 to Jesus Christ. 360 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:34,060 And he says, look, I'm going to establish this new covenant. 361 00:21:34,060 --> 00:21:38,380 And the old covenant, it was crazy because only the high priest could go in the holy 362 00:21:38,380 --> 00:21:41,740 of holies and make atonement for the sins of the people. 363 00:21:41,740 --> 00:21:45,620 And God would come down and dwell there on the ark of the covenant. 364 00:21:45,620 --> 00:21:49,500 And yeah, God had some interaction with Moses and maybe some others that we see throughout 365 00:21:49,500 --> 00:21:51,180 the Old Testament. 366 00:21:51,180 --> 00:21:55,020 But God was kind of disconnected in a way from his people. 367 00:21:55,020 --> 00:21:57,440 But there's something beautiful that's about to happen. 368 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:02,360 When the new covenant comes around, it's not going to be like the old covenant. 369 00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:06,820 It's going to be much more beautiful because now, instead of there being stone tablets 370 00:22:06,820 --> 00:22:11,060 on which the law is written, on which someone has to share with them, and on which they 371 00:22:11,060 --> 00:22:15,780 have to look and read and see the word of God, what does God say is going to happen 372 00:22:15,780 --> 00:22:16,780 in the new covenant? 373 00:22:16,780 --> 00:22:20,700 I'm going to write my word in their heart. 374 00:22:20,700 --> 00:22:24,940 And so in the old covenant, everything that took place was something that was external. 375 00:22:24,940 --> 00:22:29,940 But when the new covenant comes, what's going to take place is going to be internal. 376 00:22:29,940 --> 00:22:32,380 And that's what we see with Jesus Christ. 377 00:22:32,380 --> 00:22:38,020 When Jesus Christ comes onto the scene, when Jesus Christ is crucified and resurrected, 378 00:22:38,020 --> 00:22:43,340 we see in the book of Acts, we see that the Holy Spirit is poured down among the people 379 00:22:43,340 --> 00:22:44,660 of God. 380 00:22:44,660 --> 00:22:49,780 And now the Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of all of those who have put their faith and 381 00:22:49,780 --> 00:22:51,500 trust in Jesus Christ. 382 00:22:51,500 --> 00:22:53,460 And now we speak to God. 383 00:22:53,460 --> 00:22:55,140 We go directly to God. 384 00:22:55,140 --> 00:22:56,420 We pray to God. 385 00:22:56,420 --> 00:23:01,360 We have the Holy Spirit that convicts us and that leads us and that guides us. 386 00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:03,420 It's a very personal experience. 387 00:23:03,420 --> 00:23:06,460 We don't have to have someone else explain things to us. 388 00:23:06,460 --> 00:23:11,760 We don't have to have someone else to offer an animal sacrifice for us because Jesus has 389 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:17,440 done everything that needs to be done because He gave Himself as a sacrifice. 390 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:23,300 And God has sent the Holy Spirit among us so that He may dwell in us. 391 00:23:23,300 --> 00:23:28,060 It's a beautiful thing that God is with us, that God dwells with us, that we can speak 392 00:23:28,060 --> 00:23:32,100 with God, that we can call on God, that God would forgive our sins. 393 00:23:32,100 --> 00:23:33,780 And that was all made possible. 394 00:23:33,780 --> 00:23:35,340 And it's only possible. 395 00:23:35,340 --> 00:23:39,180 It's only possible today through Jesus Christ. 396 00:23:39,180 --> 00:23:40,980 Is Jesus Christ your intercessor today? 397 00:23:40,980 --> 00:23:43,260 Is He your mediator today? 398 00:23:43,260 --> 00:23:47,380 Because there's no one to stand before God on your behalf if you've not put your faith 399 00:23:47,380 --> 00:23:50,540 and trust in Jesus Christ. 400 00:23:50,540 --> 00:23:52,540 Now we see beautiful language. 401 00:23:52,540 --> 00:23:57,940 When we see the covenants in the Old Testament, there's something that we may miss in our 402 00:23:57,940 --> 00:23:59,540 translations. 403 00:23:59,540 --> 00:24:04,600 We see it here at the beginning of Jeremiah 31 where he talked about he's going to make 404 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:05,600 a new covenant. 405 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:10,340 We see that language a lot in our Bibles that God is going to make a covenant. 406 00:24:10,340 --> 00:24:16,780 But the actual Hebrew language there, the word is korath berith. 407 00:24:16,780 --> 00:24:20,900 And that word in the Hebrew means to cut a covenant. 408 00:24:20,900 --> 00:24:26,260 Now most of the time when we see covenants in the Old Testament, at least in relation 409 00:24:26,260 --> 00:24:32,340 to how we're talking about them today, we see those words that God is going to cut a 410 00:24:32,340 --> 00:24:33,340 covenant. 411 00:24:33,340 --> 00:24:35,980 What does it mean that God is going to cut a covenant? 412 00:24:35,980 --> 00:24:40,860 Well there's some significance there that I think we kind of lose if we're not careful 413 00:24:40,860 --> 00:24:43,060 when we read the text. 414 00:24:43,060 --> 00:24:47,720 So here's a good example of what it means when it says that God is going to cut a covenant 415 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:49,380 with His people. 416 00:24:49,380 --> 00:24:55,860 You may remember back in the book of Genesis when God made the covenant with Abraham. 417 00:24:55,860 --> 00:25:01,980 And so to establish this covenant, God did something that sounds kind of crazy. 418 00:25:01,980 --> 00:25:06,380 He tells Abraham to gather up some animals and to split these animals in half and to 419 00:25:06,380 --> 00:25:07,780 separate them. 420 00:25:07,780 --> 00:25:10,100 Now what in the world does this have to do with anything? 421 00:25:10,100 --> 00:25:12,460 Well let's read the scripture here. 422 00:25:12,460 --> 00:25:16,580 Genesis chapter 15 verses 7 through 12. 423 00:25:16,580 --> 00:25:21,360 He also said to him, I am Yahweh who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this 424 00:25:21,360 --> 00:25:23,220 land to possess. 425 00:25:23,220 --> 00:25:27,800 But he said, Lord God, how can I know that I will possess it? 426 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:32,900 He said to him, bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old 427 00:25:32,900 --> 00:25:37,860 ram, a turtle dove, and a pigeon, a young pigeon. 428 00:25:37,860 --> 00:25:42,820 So he brought all these to him, split them down the middle, and laid the pieces opposite 429 00:25:42,820 --> 00:25:44,220 each other. 430 00:25:44,220 --> 00:25:46,700 But he did not cut up the birds. 431 00:25:46,700 --> 00:25:51,700 Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abraham drove them away. 432 00:25:51,700 --> 00:25:57,580 As the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell on Abraham, and suddenly great terror and 433 00:25:57,580 --> 00:25:59,940 darkness descended on him. 434 00:25:59,940 --> 00:26:04,180 Skip down a couple verses just for time's sake to verse 17. 435 00:26:04,180 --> 00:26:07,340 When the sun had set, it was dark. 436 00:26:07,340 --> 00:26:15,220 A smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the divided animals. 437 00:26:15,220 --> 00:26:22,700 On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, I give this land to you, 438 00:26:22,700 --> 00:26:23,700 to your offspring. 439 00:26:23,700 --> 00:26:27,620 Now, what in the world is going on with this? 440 00:26:27,620 --> 00:26:32,540 What in the world is the purpose of this whole ceremony that's taking place, that Abraham 441 00:26:32,540 --> 00:26:36,620 is supposed to split these animals and spread them apart? 442 00:26:36,620 --> 00:26:39,260 Well, Abraham does what God says. 443 00:26:39,260 --> 00:26:46,100 And then we see this smoke and this flaming pot that pass through in between these animals. 444 00:26:46,100 --> 00:26:48,260 What in the world does that symbolize? 445 00:26:48,260 --> 00:26:55,980 Well, what that symbolizes in the Old Testament is it symbolizes making a covenant, cutting 446 00:26:55,980 --> 00:27:02,240 a covenant, quite literally cutting those animals to say, this is our bond. 447 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:03,780 This is our handshake. 448 00:27:03,780 --> 00:27:05,140 This is my promise. 449 00:27:05,140 --> 00:27:11,820 This is my word to say that what I have committed to and told you will be done, will be done. 450 00:27:11,820 --> 00:27:14,060 Now, today, we don't really do that. 451 00:27:14,060 --> 00:27:17,820 Wouldn't it be something if you went to buy a car today and you were making the deal and 452 00:27:17,820 --> 00:27:19,700 they said, okay, we'll come up with a deal. 453 00:27:19,700 --> 00:27:22,740 Let's split these animals and walk through it and we'll agree that the deal is done. 454 00:27:22,740 --> 00:27:27,060 Well, praise the Lord, today we just have to sign 100 papers and not do that. 455 00:27:27,060 --> 00:27:30,060 Or today we give a handshake, which even that's kind of going by the wayside. 456 00:27:30,060 --> 00:27:34,680 You used to, you could tell somebody something and shake their hand and that was good enough. 457 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:39,180 But there's something often that is done to say, okay, this agreement that we have made, 458 00:27:39,180 --> 00:27:42,620 we will both do our part and stand by what we have said. 459 00:27:42,620 --> 00:27:46,900 We're both entering into this promise, into this covenant, into this agreement. 460 00:27:46,900 --> 00:27:53,060 And so God had made this promise with Abraham and the custom was that those entering into 461 00:27:53,060 --> 00:27:57,700 an agreement would pass between these animals. 462 00:27:57,700 --> 00:28:03,980 We see this explained to us in the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 34 verse 18. 463 00:28:03,980 --> 00:28:09,260 As for those who disobeyed my covenant, not keeping the terms of the covenant they made 464 00:28:09,260 --> 00:28:15,100 before me, I will treat them like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its 465 00:28:15,100 --> 00:28:16,460 pieces. 466 00:28:16,460 --> 00:28:20,300 The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priest and all the people 467 00:28:20,300 --> 00:28:25,700 of the land who pass between the pieces of the calf will be handed over to their enemies, 468 00:28:25,700 --> 00:28:28,080 to those who want to take their life. 469 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:33,820 Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the 470 00:28:33,820 --> 00:28:34,820 land. 471 00:28:34,820 --> 00:28:37,420 Okay, so we have some explanation here. 472 00:28:37,420 --> 00:28:42,300 The splitting of animals would occur when people were going to make a deal, going to 473 00:28:42,300 --> 00:28:45,300 enter into a covenant, going to enter into a promise. 474 00:28:45,300 --> 00:28:51,500 And both parties would pass between these split animals saying, hey, look, I'm telling 475 00:28:51,500 --> 00:28:57,140 you that if I go back on my covenant, if I go back on keeping my end of the deal, may 476 00:28:57,140 --> 00:29:00,220 it be to me as it was to these animals. 477 00:29:00,220 --> 00:29:02,840 This is a pretty gnarly thing we see here. 478 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:08,220 But nonetheless, when we read this, then we begin to understand when we see that language, 479 00:29:08,220 --> 00:29:13,740 when God says, I'm going to cut a covenant with you, that God literally, when he spoke 480 00:29:13,740 --> 00:29:17,060 to Abraham, he literally cut a covenant with Abraham. 481 00:29:17,060 --> 00:29:23,380 But notice this in Genesis, Abraham never passed between the animals. 482 00:29:23,380 --> 00:29:25,100 Why is that? 483 00:29:25,100 --> 00:29:27,580 Because God made the covenant. 484 00:29:27,580 --> 00:29:32,900 We see in the book of Hebrews that it says, God swore by himself because there was no 485 00:29:32,900 --> 00:29:36,060 one greater for him to swear by. 486 00:29:36,060 --> 00:29:40,020 So God says, it is beyond your power. 487 00:29:40,020 --> 00:29:45,420 It is not dependent on you for me to do what I'm promising you I'm going to do. 488 00:29:45,420 --> 00:29:49,020 And in the case of the Abrahamic covenant, it was unconditional. 489 00:29:49,020 --> 00:29:50,580 There were no conditions there. 490 00:29:50,580 --> 00:29:55,740 God says, I'm choosing your descendants to be my people and I will bring them to the 491 00:29:55,740 --> 00:29:59,260 land and I will bless all nations through them. 492 00:29:59,260 --> 00:30:02,640 That was not dependent on anything that Abraham was going to do. 493 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:07,620 And so to seal the deal, to say, I'm going to keep my word, God swore by himself. 494 00:30:07,620 --> 00:30:12,100 And those symbolic things that we see, the smoke and the torch, certainly those are representative 495 00:30:12,100 --> 00:30:14,620 of God and who God is. 496 00:30:14,620 --> 00:30:17,260 And it was God who cut the covenant. 497 00:30:17,260 --> 00:30:19,300 It was God who made the promise. 498 00:30:19,300 --> 00:30:22,860 And God does not go back on his promises. 499 00:30:22,860 --> 00:30:28,780 And so we see this language of God's covenants all throughout the Old Testament, some unconditional, 500 00:30:28,780 --> 00:30:30,900 some conditional like that of the Mosaic covenant. 501 00:30:30,900 --> 00:30:32,360 There were conditions. 502 00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:34,780 You do right, I'll bless you, you can stay in the land. 503 00:30:34,780 --> 00:30:38,060 You do wrong, I'm going to curse you, you'll be gone from the land. 504 00:30:38,060 --> 00:30:43,500 There were conditions there and God's people could not meet those conditions. 505 00:30:43,500 --> 00:30:50,060 And so even though we see several covenants in the Old Testament, Jeremiah says, but there's 506 00:30:50,060 --> 00:30:52,580 coming a new covenant. 507 00:30:52,580 --> 00:30:54,500 There's coming a better covenant. 508 00:30:54,500 --> 00:30:56,940 There's coming a more personal covenant. 509 00:30:56,940 --> 00:31:01,620 There's coming a covenant that God is going to cut with his people that is going to be 510 00:31:01,620 --> 00:31:05,440 stronger and better than any covenant that is going to come before. 511 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:10,420 And there will be no covenant that will come after because the covenant that will be established 512 00:31:10,420 --> 00:31:12,260 will be the better covenant. 513 00:31:12,260 --> 00:31:14,780 And that is the book of Hebrews. 514 00:31:14,780 --> 00:31:20,540 That's what the author of Hebrews has told us repeatedly, that Jesus is better in every 515 00:31:20,540 --> 00:31:21,540 way. 516 00:31:21,540 --> 00:31:27,260 And so by the time we get to the New Testament, we see Jesus and right before he goes to the 517 00:31:27,260 --> 00:31:33,100 cross, he's eating this Passover meal with his apostles for the last time. 518 00:31:33,100 --> 00:31:37,580 And listen to what he says, Luke chapter 22, verses 19 and 20. 519 00:31:37,580 --> 00:31:43,420 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them and said, this is my body 520 00:31:43,420 --> 00:31:45,540 which is given for you. 521 00:31:45,540 --> 00:31:48,060 Do this in remembrance of me. 522 00:31:48,060 --> 00:31:52,860 Now before they had the Passover, they did it in remembrance of what God did in Egypt, 523 00:31:52,860 --> 00:31:55,820 of what God did through Moses. 524 00:31:55,820 --> 00:31:58,860 But the Old Testament has passed. 525 00:31:58,860 --> 00:32:01,900 The author of Hebrews says, there's something new that's coming. 526 00:32:01,900 --> 00:32:05,660 Jesus says, there's something new that is here. 527 00:32:05,660 --> 00:32:09,020 There's something new that is here and it is me. 528 00:32:09,020 --> 00:32:15,320 So Jesus says, do this, not in remembrance of the old covenant, but Jesus says, do this 529 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:16,980 in remembrance of me. 530 00:32:16,980 --> 00:32:21,900 So when we come and eat the Lord's Supper, we come and we do it for what purpose? 531 00:32:21,900 --> 00:32:27,380 To remember who Jesus is, to remember that we are sinners, to remember that we cannot 532 00:32:27,380 --> 00:32:32,660 live up to God's commands, but to remember that Jesus was perfect and that he was beaten 533 00:32:32,660 --> 00:32:39,860 and that he was mocked and that he died by being nailed to a cross because he loves you. 534 00:32:39,860 --> 00:32:41,620 Now that's good news. 535 00:32:41,620 --> 00:32:43,780 That's the gospel message. 536 00:32:43,780 --> 00:32:49,920 And Jesus said, so from now on, when you eat the bread, when you drink the wine, you do 537 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:52,940 it in remembrance of me. 538 00:32:52,940 --> 00:32:59,220 Continuing on in verse 20, in the same way, he also took the cup after supper and said, 539 00:32:59,220 --> 00:33:04,180 this cup is the new covenant established by my blood. 540 00:33:04,180 --> 00:33:06,060 It is shed for you. 541 00:33:06,060 --> 00:33:10,580 Now if there's any question as to who the new covenant was going to come through, if 542 00:33:10,580 --> 00:33:15,140 there's any question as to when the new covenant was going to be established, Jesus answers 543 00:33:15,140 --> 00:33:16,460 the question there. 544 00:33:16,460 --> 00:33:19,060 He says, this is my blood. 545 00:33:19,060 --> 00:33:22,460 This establishes the new covenant. 546 00:33:22,460 --> 00:33:28,360 And it wouldn't be long after that that Jesus would be nailed to the cross and he would 547 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:31,660 shed his blood for you and I. 548 00:33:31,660 --> 00:33:36,980 And what a beautiful covenant God has made with us through Jesus Christ today. 549 00:33:36,980 --> 00:33:39,620 And it's a covenant that we could never live up to. 550 00:33:39,620 --> 00:33:43,460 It's a covenant that he did everything for us. 551 00:33:43,460 --> 00:33:46,940 God doesn't say, I'm going to send Jesus, but there's still some things that you've 552 00:33:46,940 --> 00:33:48,380 got to do. 553 00:33:48,380 --> 00:33:53,220 What God says was, I'm going to send Jesus because he can do the things that you cannot 554 00:33:53,220 --> 00:33:54,220 do. 555 00:33:54,220 --> 00:33:57,060 I'm going to send Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice. 556 00:33:57,060 --> 00:34:00,900 I'm going to send Jesus to be the one who will be obedient to me. 557 00:34:00,900 --> 00:34:06,580 I'm going to send Jesus and I'm going to establish the covenant. 558 00:34:06,580 --> 00:34:10,620 Praise God that he has done so today through Jesus Christ. 559 00:34:10,620 --> 00:34:15,180 That the words that we see in the book of Jeremiah, that the prophecies we see in the 560 00:34:15,180 --> 00:34:19,780 Old Testament that were pointing us to a better Messiah, they have come and it has 561 00:34:19,780 --> 00:34:28,260 been established through the crucifixion and through the resurrection of Jesus Christ today. 562 00:34:28,260 --> 00:34:32,420 But we have to make the choice whether we're going to enter into that covenant. 563 00:34:32,420 --> 00:34:39,300 The covenant was quite literally cut for us through Jesus Christ as they began to mock 564 00:34:39,300 --> 00:34:43,460 him and as they began to beat him and his body was no doubt torn and tattered and as 565 00:34:43,460 --> 00:34:50,020 he was nailed to the cross, God cut a covenant for us through Jesus Christ. 566 00:34:50,020 --> 00:34:53,940 There's nothing we can do to earn God's love and to earn God's grace today. 567 00:34:53,940 --> 00:34:56,380 You cannot be good enough. 568 00:34:56,380 --> 00:34:58,540 Now we want to strive to live by the word of God. 569 00:34:58,540 --> 00:35:03,100 We want to strive to follow the commands of God and the examples of Jesus Christ, but 570 00:35:03,100 --> 00:35:06,700 we will fail. 571 00:35:06,700 --> 00:35:13,460 But we praise God today that in the new covenant that our salvation is not dependent on how 572 00:35:13,460 --> 00:35:15,460 good we are. 573 00:35:15,460 --> 00:35:18,300 It's not dependent on us. 574 00:35:18,300 --> 00:35:22,660 It is dependent on Jesus Christ. 575 00:35:22,660 --> 00:35:24,700 There's nothing you can do. 576 00:35:24,700 --> 00:35:32,380 Jesus has paid it all, but you have to enter into that covenant relationship by coming 577 00:35:32,380 --> 00:35:35,420 to faith in Jesus Christ. 578 00:35:35,420 --> 00:35:37,700 That's what we're called to do. 579 00:35:37,700 --> 00:35:38,700 That's it. 580 00:35:38,700 --> 00:35:41,660 Jesus has done everything for us. 581 00:35:41,660 --> 00:35:43,900 The old covenant is passing away. 582 00:35:43,900 --> 00:35:50,700 We see that at the end of this passage in Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 8 verse 12, for I 583 00:35:50,700 --> 00:35:56,220 will be merciful to their wrongdoing and I will never again remember their sins. 584 00:35:56,220 --> 00:36:03,260 By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is old and what is old is aging 585 00:36:03,260 --> 00:36:06,100 and about to disappear. 586 00:36:06,100 --> 00:36:12,180 The author of Hebrews is telling his audience here, look, the old way will soon be gone. 587 00:36:12,180 --> 00:36:14,700 It's disappearing before our very eyes. 588 00:36:14,700 --> 00:36:19,620 This was written sometime after Jesus was crucified, but eventually not long after these 589 00:36:19,620 --> 00:36:25,700 words were written, everything that the Jewish people who wanted to continue to follow the 590 00:36:25,700 --> 00:36:30,700 ways of the law and the ways of Moses, everything they knew would be shattered because the very 591 00:36:30,700 --> 00:36:36,680 temple that they wanted to offer their sacrifices in would soon be torn down, be impossible 592 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:38,140 for them to do the old way. 593 00:36:38,140 --> 00:36:44,260 The author of Hebrews says, look, the old way is disappearing, but praise God that there 594 00:36:44,260 --> 00:36:48,540 is a new way that has come, that there is a new covenant that has come, that there is 595 00:36:48,540 --> 00:36:52,860 a new covenant that has been established today. 596 00:36:52,860 --> 00:36:54,740 Do you know who Jesus Christ is? 597 00:36:54,740 --> 00:36:58,740 Do you know him as your Lord and Savior? 598 00:36:58,740 --> 00:37:03,020 Do you know that there is no forgiveness of your sins apart from Jesus Christ? 599 00:37:03,020 --> 00:37:06,620 Do you know that there's something better than what the world has to offer, that there's 600 00:37:06,620 --> 00:37:10,780 something better than our sin, that there's something better than our struggle, that there's 601 00:37:10,780 --> 00:37:14,820 something better than our pain and better than our worry and that comes through Jesus 602 00:37:14,820 --> 00:37:21,860 Christ who gives us peace, who promises us deliverance for all of eternity? 603 00:37:21,860 --> 00:37:25,300 In the old covenant, the promise was, I'll give you the land and I'll bless you in the 604 00:37:25,300 --> 00:37:30,580 land, but in the new covenant, we are promised an eternity with Jesus Christ and a new heaven 605 00:37:30,580 --> 00:37:31,980 and a new earth. 606 00:37:31,980 --> 00:37:37,380 And that has been established by Jesus when he gave his life on a cross so that our sins 607 00:37:37,380 --> 00:37:40,300 could be forgiven. 608 00:37:40,300 --> 00:37:42,180 Have you made Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior? 609 00:37:42,180 --> 00:37:43,900 Have you asked him to forgive you of your sins? 610 00:37:43,900 --> 00:37:45,860 Have you repented today? 611 00:37:45,860 --> 00:37:48,540 Have you entered into that covenant relationship with God? 612 00:37:48,540 --> 00:37:51,380 Now, I'm not asking you, do you go to church a lot? 613 00:37:51,380 --> 00:37:52,380 I'm not asking you that. 614 00:37:52,380 --> 00:37:55,580 I'm asking you, do you know who Jesus is? 615 00:37:55,580 --> 00:37:58,580 We don't want to be those who play Christian. 616 00:37:58,580 --> 00:38:03,060 We don't want to be those who go to church and do some good things every once in a while 617 00:38:03,060 --> 00:38:05,300 and assume that'll be enough. 618 00:38:05,300 --> 00:38:06,740 We don't want to be fake Christians. 619 00:38:06,740 --> 00:38:10,620 We want to be those who genuinely know who Jesus is. 620 00:38:10,620 --> 00:38:12,500 We genuinely want to trust him. 621 00:38:12,500 --> 00:38:13,800 We want to live with him. 622 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:16,860 And I'm asking you this morning, do you really know him? 623 00:38:16,860 --> 00:38:18,580 Have you really put your faith in him? 624 00:38:18,580 --> 00:38:21,140 Is he really the Lord of your life? 625 00:38:21,140 --> 00:38:26,180 I pray today that if you have not put your faith in Jesus Christ that you would. 626 00:38:26,180 --> 00:38:28,260 Here at a moment, we're going to have a time of invitation. 627 00:38:28,260 --> 00:38:29,260 What does that mean? 628 00:38:29,260 --> 00:38:31,500 It means we invite you today. 629 00:38:31,500 --> 00:38:35,420 That if you've repented, if you've put your faith in Jesus Christ, if you've turned to 630 00:38:35,420 --> 00:38:36,420 him, we invite you. 631 00:38:36,420 --> 00:38:38,940 I invite you to come forward as we sing. 632 00:38:38,940 --> 00:38:39,940 We want to baptize you. 633 00:38:39,940 --> 00:38:41,660 We want to rejoice with you. 634 00:38:41,660 --> 00:38:43,820 We want to celebrate this day. 635 00:38:43,820 --> 00:38:47,820 We want to celebrate every time someone enters into the new covenant that Jesus established. 636 00:38:47,820 --> 00:38:50,740 We want to celebrate that. 637 00:38:50,740 --> 00:38:54,380 So today I ask you, do you know who Jesus is? 638 00:38:54,380 --> 00:38:57,420 If you don't, I pray today for you leave that you would. 639 00:38:57,420 --> 00:38:58,420 Let's pray. 640 00:38:58,420 --> 00:39:00,100 God, we come to you. 641 00:39:00,100 --> 00:39:02,700 We thank you for your good word. 642 00:39:02,700 --> 00:39:05,380 And we thank you for taking care of us, dear Lord. 643 00:39:05,380 --> 00:39:07,740 We are so pitiful, God. 644 00:39:07,740 --> 00:39:11,380 We are so pitiful at trying to live by your word. 645 00:39:11,380 --> 00:39:15,660 We do good some days and other days, God, we just blow it. 646 00:39:15,660 --> 00:39:17,040 Dear Lord, we see your commands. 647 00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:19,620 We know your commands. 648 00:39:19,620 --> 00:39:22,780 And some days, dear Lord, we just give in to the temptations. 649 00:39:22,780 --> 00:39:25,980 I pray that you forgive us, God. 650 00:39:25,980 --> 00:39:30,220 I pray that you'd be with any today that may be trying to earn your grace through their 651 00:39:30,220 --> 00:39:31,220 life. 652 00:39:31,220 --> 00:39:35,040 They may be trying to earn their salvation through their works, God. 653 00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:38,140 We see time and again in the Old Testament that we are incapable. 654 00:39:38,140 --> 00:39:42,540 God, you give us your command, you give us your way, and your way was perfect. 655 00:39:42,540 --> 00:39:48,620 And time and time again, dear Lord, we see Israel fail to live up to what your word commands. 656 00:39:48,620 --> 00:39:52,140 And dear Lord, if we had been back in those times, we'd have been no better because we're 657 00:39:52,140 --> 00:39:54,220 no better today. 658 00:39:54,220 --> 00:39:56,220 So God, we thank you for sending us a better way. 659 00:39:56,220 --> 00:40:00,340 We thank you for cutting a better covenant for us through Jesus Christ. 660 00:40:00,340 --> 00:40:04,900 We thank you for providing one that could do the things that we are incapable of. 661 00:40:04,900 --> 00:40:10,420 But God, I pray today that if there are some that do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior 662 00:40:10,420 --> 00:40:15,100 and Lord, I pray today that they would. 663 00:40:15,100 --> 00:40:20,220 Even right now where they stand, dear Lord, I pray that you'd bless them. 664 00:40:20,220 --> 00:40:22,540 I pray that you'd convict them. 665 00:40:22,540 --> 00:40:25,980 I pray that if they don't know Jesus, that they would come to you and that they would 666 00:40:25,980 --> 00:40:28,860 repent of their sins, dear Lord. 667 00:40:28,860 --> 00:40:33,300 That they would put their faith in Jesus today to make him the King of their life. 668 00:40:33,300 --> 00:40:36,260 I pray that they would ask you to forgive them of their sins, dear Lord. 669 00:40:36,260 --> 00:40:42,100 And your word says, as we saw today, that for those who enter into the new covenant, 670 00:40:42,100 --> 00:40:44,340 you'll remember their sins no more, dear Lord. 671 00:40:44,340 --> 00:40:48,220 God, I pray that if there are any that do not know Jesus today, they would pray that 672 00:40:48,220 --> 00:40:49,220 he'd be their Lord. 673 00:40:49,220 --> 00:40:53,260 God, I pray that they would feel that peace that comes through the Holy Spirit to know 674 00:40:53,260 --> 00:40:59,860 God that when we call on you, when we trust in you, that you are in us, dear Lord, that 675 00:40:59,860 --> 00:41:00,860 you work in us. 676 00:41:00,860 --> 00:41:03,980 God, I thank you for each one who's here. 677 00:41:03,980 --> 00:41:04,980 I pray that you'd bless them. 678 00:41:04,980 --> 00:41:08,220 I pray for those who are yours today, God. 679 00:41:08,220 --> 00:41:12,260 I pray that if there's any struggle going on, any pain going on, any hardship going 680 00:41:12,260 --> 00:41:16,300 on, that you would help them and heal them and give them peace today by being in your 681 00:41:16,300 --> 00:41:18,860 house. 682 00:41:18,860 --> 00:41:20,740 I pray that you bless the reading of your word. 683 00:41:20,740 --> 00:41:23,460 And I ask these things in Jesus' name. 684 00:41:23,460 --> 00:41:24,460 Amen. 685 00:41:24,460 --> 00:41:25,460 Amen. 686 00:41:25,460 --> 00:41:30,060 As we stand and sing, if God has spoken to you in some way today, now's your chance to 687 00:41:30,060 --> 00:41:31,060 respond. 688 00:42:00,060 --> 00:42:02,060 Amen. 689 00:42:30,060 --> 00:42:32,060 Amen. 690 00:42:32,060 --> 00:42:39,060 Thank y'all for coming this morning. 691 00:42:39,060 --> 00:42:43,260 I hope everybody has been blessed by being in the house of God, and I hope to see you 692 00:42:43,260 --> 00:42:44,260 all next week. 693 00:42:44,260 --> 00:42:45,260 Brother Sidney, would you close us with a prayer, please? 694 00:42:45,260 --> 00:43:00,260 Lord, you give me something for the meaning of death.