Alright, so we're continuing our sermon series, Simply Irresistible, looking at the new way.
We're looking at the book kind of from a 10,000 foot view.
The writer of Hebrews is making these claims about Jesus that Jesus is the preeminent one.
Now that's not a term we use a lot, but that Christ is preeminent.
He is the center of everything, he is the best, nothing else can even match him.
Nothing will ever be on his level.
And the reasons why, as we're giving, he's better than the angels, right?
He is better than Moses, he is the second Adam.
He is the better way.
Though there were beliefs of different messiahs and different ways that the Israelites were
going to be united, both in the United Kingdom, divided kingdom throughout the entirety of
the Old Testament and now new, that we can see in 2023, that Jesus is the best way.
We brought up that Jesus is the priest of priests.
He is the king of kings.
He is the prophet of prophets.
He is the Lord of lords, which again, this sermon series is going to lead right into
a pretty, I really love the season of Advent, right?
We're going to end this sermon series, go right into Advent, where we're going to talk
about and sing about the king of kings, the Lord of lords.
And so today, it's kind of a, not a plateau because it's still building, but it's kind
of a checkpoint to have us understand that one of the things we can draw from the first
eight chapters is why Jesus is the best, why Jesus is preeminent, but also why we would
be foolish to worship anything else but Him.
And part of that is the promises that He makes to us, the promises that He makes in light
of who you are and who I am, in light of the things and areas that we mess up because the
promises are not brand new today, though they are, they were put in place hundreds, thousands
of years ago.
The promises made, and I think about it now, I don't know how many times, the last time
you guys thought about China or Asia, that area, the Philippines or any of that area,
but now the covenant is over there too.
We see pictures of small group leaders and pastors excited about the gospel, starting
churches bringing people in to the best way, the Jesus way, just like we're talking about
today.
But I asked a question in the beginning of the service about the different covenants
that we have made in our lives.
Now the covenant of marriage, that's the easy one, and that's the one where we actually
talk about it as a covenant because there are, it's one of the boxes I have to check
after doing a wedding.
Did I perform a religious or a civil ceremony?
Now the laws used to be that only ordained clergy can mark a religious ceremony.
Unfortunately today, any, you can get ordained on the internet in 36 hours.
I believe one of them is the Church of Bacon, which honestly is, in my mind, disrespectful,
but because that took time and effort to go through that and a calling, but there's still
a distinguish, I wonder how long it's going to be until there isn't one, but there still
is on that, that this understanding of covenant is different than a contract.
We've talked about that somewhat at Nausium.
I've always used the idea of cutting grass or washing cars, that a contract and a covenant
is different.
So for lunch and a conversation with Pastor Jim, who can define the difference between
a covenant and a contract?
Feels good.
Yeah.
I've done that, we've done this guys, at least five times the difference between a covenant
and a contract.
So I'll wait.
Okay Ron, we're in the car together, but you've got to go more than that.
Covenant should be forever, that's good, right?
It's kind of like saying Jesus as a Sunday school answer, go deeper Ron.
Nope, he's good, just sitting in the car.
A covenant is a promise, contract is a, oh Sherry you got coffee, you don't have food
yet.
Yep, you got coffee, good cup, we'll go to Starbucks, I don't care, but you don't have
food yet.
Contract is a piece of paper, a covenant is forever, yes.
Payment, I already feed you, you don't get it, but that was kind of, I'm looking at my
good friend Garrett Wierenga, and I know he doesn't like when I bring his name up, but
on the lawyer side, what would you think is the difference between covenant and contract?
Absolutely, did you guys hear that?
That a covenant is a one way, that I promise to do this, the contract, it's kind of a quid
pro quo, if you do this, I do this.
Garrett's a lawyer, awesome, you'll pay for lunch.
And so understand that there is a difference between those, we see that fleshed out through
the scriptures, because one of the things that we have to recognize and we have to understand
is that when it's given to us to step up to fulfill our side of the quote unquote covenant
or contract, throughout it, we see it with Adam and Eve, we see it with Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob, we see it with Noah, we see it with all of the prophets, we see it with everybody
in the scriptures, and as I look out today, I see it with each and every one of us.
We will never fulfill it, we will never meet the standard.
And I know that that soup, that could be seen as super discouraging, why bother, why even
be a Christian if all I'm going to do is mess things up, because there is a better way,
because there is a better understanding.
And that is why when we go through chapter eight, we have to understand that Jesus is
the better covenant.
Now understand that the covenants of the Old Testament, do they still apply?
In some ways, yes, they somewhat build on each other.
But Jesus ultimately is the better way.
Jesus is ultimately the better covenant.
He himself is the covenant.
And so understanding that, helping us walk through all of that, is this breakdown as
to why, what makes it different, what makes it better.
And so the first section is going to be Hebrews 8, 1-2.
We're going to look at Hebrews 8, and I've titled this from holes to holy.
We're going to see this kind of contrast between the two, this understanding of why Jesus is
better from what was.
The covenant of the Old Testament, or the different covenants, they were good.
And it defined the Jewish people.
It defined how they worshiped.
It defined how they lived their lives.
It's something they could always go back to.
One of the things that we try to do with our boys is when we make a plan, we stick to the
plan, that the boys are not allowed to change the plan without asking mom and dad.
The same thing with the Israelites.
Dad put the, Yahweh the father, created these covenants, and it gave definition to how the
Israelites were supposed to live, how they were supposed to treat others, how they were
supposed to worship God.
And for some of us, that might feel uncomfortable, right?
That might be like, well, why do we need all of that?
And I love you, but if you're asking that question, it's because you have pride in you
that thinks you don't have to answer to anyone.
God, why do you have to define every aspect of my life?
Because I think that's the way it's supposed to go.
Because I love all of you, and I say this first to me, that if I was able to define
everything, it would be about what Jim wants.
And I guarantee you, the salvation of the world is not in my top five.
Much like my death and non-resurrection, because I wouldn't be able to, would mean nothing.
That's why these covenants all pointed to the person of Jesus, Hebrews 8, 1 through
2.
Now, the point in what we are saying is this.
We have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty
in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not
man.
But the true tent, right, going from the journey of the tabernacle and how they set that up,
the tent of meeting, going all the way back to Moses, that they had set up this place
and wherever they encamped, they would set up the tabernacle.
That this tabernacle was seen, and again, we're going to do a whole sermon series in
two years about the differences of the tabernacle, because it's wild and it's actually really
beautiful how the specifics, right, some of you, the way you've set up your house, you
have very specific things, right.
I don't know, how many of you grew up with a room that for some reason you were never
allowed to step into?
Okay, it might not be all that Dutch.
We call it white hair grandma, but it was grandma Holland owner.
There was a room, you walked right into her house, and it was white everything.
It was white carpet, it was white leather chairs, it was like racist white, it was just
blinding white, right, when it came to, and it was always immaculate because no one ever
could go in there.
And I, being a Holland owner, right, I once asked like grandma, why?
And she's like, what?
I said, why can't we go in there?
She smacked me in the mouth just for asking.
Like you weren't even allowed to think about it.
I don't know if she ever went in there.
I mean, obviously the dust, right, you know, but I don't know if she had to wear like a
protective suit, I have no idea, right.
But we have these rules, we have these kind of things that we create.
God had set up all of these, the outer court, the inner court, all the veil, the holiest
of holies.
And that was really the thing, that God's presence was in that tent.
And the tabernacle was made of fine materials, gold and ivory, velvet and all of these things,
right.
But it was all manmade.
They followed what the Lord said, how to construct it, and then if you see kind of all the iterations
of the tabernacle or the temple, we see it under King Solomon, this gorgeous, right,
if you've ever seen pictures of what they thought it looked like, it was beautiful.
It was, it was, it was, I can't even describe, it was, it's just, it was holy, right, it
was reverent.
Now, you go into a lot of churches, especially in Europe, and you're in awe of just how beautiful
it is.
People come into the sanctuary, right, and they look at just the reverence, because this
looks, this really doesn't look like it could be anything else, if you think about it, right.
You come into the sanctuary and you go, oh yeah, it's a church.
Why?
What catches your eye first?
Why is this a church building?
You can be obvious with it, that's fine.
Thank you.
Yep, you have a cross, but you put, you take that cross down, right, and you tell Chuck
Skable it's only for a, it's just for a test.
We'll put it right back up, right, but you take the cross down and you walk into this
church, or you still, or you walk into this room, you still think it's a church?
Tall architecture, okay, that's shortest, but okay, that's fine, right, tall architecture,
okay.
Why else?
Because of us?
Oh, that's interesting.
Doesn't look like a movie theater.
That's really the only two places you see a bunch of seats facing one way, right.
Now as I describe it, it actually makes me really uncomfortable, but understand that
you come in and there's things.
No one mentioned the stained glass, right.
How many of your houses have stained glass?
Exactly.
Like, they're stained, you know, just the way that it all points to something, same
thing with the tabernacle, same thing with the temple, but that's all manmade.
Friends, there are holes to this.
How do I know?
Because the basement still leaks.
How do I know?
Because that's black for some reason.
I still don't know why.
That, that one window is black.
It's five years, it still freaks me out.
Why that, like what are they, what is building grounds hiding behind there?
I have no idea.
And I'm too afraid to ask.
Did someone say the sun?
Is that really why?
Well, but I see, like, I see Joyce, you had the sun right in your face.
Why don't we paint those?
We're not having this conversation.
Okay, so clearly there are holes, right, to this.
And one of the things that covenants point to is going from the holes to the holy.
That what was once manmade is now going to be forever created by God in the person of
Jesus Christ.
That Jesus is not only the great Hyperes, not only the great minister, but He is the
dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.
That's why when He died, the curtain torn in two, representing that through Christ we
now not only have an audience with God, but not only have a restored relationship with
God, but that in Christ we can sit with God.
He sits at the right hand of God, the Father, the Trinity, the Godhead.
Because of Christ, we can have that relationship.
And so what was built by sinful man's hands, even though it was the Levites, right, even
though it was the priesthood, even though it was all the, they were still fallible men.
Aaron wasn't perfect, the Levites weren't perfect, fallible men.
And what do fallible men do?
They build fallible things.
They have fallible relationships.
They make mistakes.
So let's jump on to the next section, starting with verse 3.
For every eyed priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices.
Thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who
offer gifts according to the law.
They serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things.
For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God saying, see that
you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.
So Jesus did not need to be shown that.
Jesus was that.
That the order of the priests were given the plans, much like Noah was given the plans
to build the ark, and they set it up according to what they were told.
And they saw that as worship.
They saw that as working, excuse me, quote unquote, for God.
They saw that as walking out their faith.
But Jesus being that, right?
Jesus being that takes the shadow of the things that were to the things that were to come,
the substance of Christ.
How many of you growing up were scared of the dark?
It's okay, it's okay.
You're safe, you're around friends.
How many of you are still afraid of the dark?
Okay, still some hands.
How many of you have overactive imaginations?
A lot more people, good.
Okay, so I'm speaking, I'm in like, how many of you when you were little, staring into
the void that maybe was your closet or a dark part of your room, knew that, I haven't even
asked the questions yet.
What's going on at Tulip Tree Gardens?
Do we need to talk about that?
Wow.
How many of you knew that you knew that you knew you saw something in the darkness?
Yeah.
The boogeyman, Michael Myers, the vacuum, whatever it was, right?
You saw something, you knew, you sold yourself that you saw Lucifer himself hanging in your
closet, that it was just your clothes, but you knew the shadows can play with that, right?
That there are these things that the Israelites did as they were kind of marching along in
the Old Testament, creating these things that obviously Satan was alive and active and created
shadows of the things because he wanted to confuse them, right?
We see, just, I think about the call of Saul.
The reason why Saul got called as king, we talked about this two years ago, or a year
and a half ago in Three Kings, is because they wanted a human ruler.
They had Yahweh.
They had Yahweh doing incredible things.
Yet they go, oh, we see the Babylonians, they have a ruler, and this group over here has
a ruler, and the Maribites, they have that.
Where's our human king?
They were trying to see something in the shadows, something that was not there yet because they
were going to get a human king.
That human king was going to be Jesus, the human king going to fulfill the Davidic covenant,
but God said, I see you, I'm going to meet you where you are, Saul, David.
We see kings high and low, good kings, bad kings, holy kings, evil kings.
The shadow of what was to come is now the substance that is Christ, that Christ was
and always will be the king of kings, the Lord of lords.
We see this depicted not only in the Old Testament, we see this depicted in the New Testament.
We see this, Jesus verbalizing, I'm going to tear down the temple.
I'm going to rebuild it in three days.
One of the final straws for the Pharisees and the Sadducees who had made the temple
pretty much like the TV show Ozarks and were doing all the money laundering for Yahweh
that they could.
It wasn't for Jesus.
They were making it a shadow of what it was.
Not only does Jesus go in to cleanse it, to try to correct it, to teach it, to rebuke
it, he's like, I'm tearing it down.
Something new, something holy, something perfect is coming.
They're thinking it's the physical.
He knows that it's the heavenly and the holy, that he was going to be the better way.
He was going to be the new temple of the Lord.
There lies the last messianic covenant look that we're going to look at.
Let's jump, and I believe this is verses six and seven, but as it is, Christ has obtained
a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is
better since it is enacted on better promises.
For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for the
second.
Keep that up there.
That last verse, that last sentence.
For if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look
for a second.
One of the things that we need to look at, the first covenant, why was it faultless?
This is going to sting, but I'm looking in the mirror first because he called all of
us to help keep it.
Much like Gerrit said, these covenants were one way.
It wasn't the Davidic contract.
We went through the covenants.
They weren't contracts.
They were covenants.
The Lord, and it wasn't like the Lord's like, no, kid, I gave you a shot and you messed
it up.
No, the plan was always this.
But what God was trying to get us to understand always is that his way is best.
And then you look, I look at the entire New Testament in a whole different light now and
go, wow.
And this goes more than just don't eat the apple.
Like a snake's talking to you, like call that out.
But since sin has entered the world, and this is something we need to hear today, there's
always going to be something, someone against you that wants to see you fail.
Even if it's my boys trying to be distracting on a Sunday morning, Joey, go sit over there.
Whatever it is that Satan is going to try to distract you from the recognition that
God is better.
And here's the thing, Satan knows it.
Satan knows his time is coming.
Satan knows he's going to lose.
That's why he's not like, oh, Mike, I want a relationship with you.
You know, oh, Roger, I want a relationship with you.
Or, oh, Bev, I want a relationship with you.
No, Satan doesn't care about you enough to have a relationship with you.
He just wants you to doubt the better way.
He just wants to put that little nugget of doubt and go, did God really say?
There's nothing new under the sun, friends.
He doesn't, he just gets more clever.
That's why Jesus said, it is on me.
Christ has obtained the ministry for himself.
He is the ministry.
Now, we should receive that and go, oh, thank you, because I felt condemned.
And under the old covenant, there was still condemnation.
There was still going to be an atoning sacrifice for the sins that were, the sins that continue
to be, and the sins that are right now.
There was always going to be a sacrifice.
Yeah, and there's a good question in there, and I've got it even from some of you.
Why didn't Christ just come?
Right?
Okay, you see, the first group, they really messed it up.
Promised land, just put Jesus there.
I'm just going to say, back off that question, friend.
Who are you to question that?
Right?
One of the things I love about the Advent season that we're going to turn to in about
a month is that the time, the place, the person, the way that it happened, the entire birth
narrative, all has been prophesied about.
It's unbelievable.
It's like, you know, I don't know, it's like Mary Simpkins, right, saying today she's going
to call the presidential election in 20, I don't know, don't get me wrong if it's the
wrong date, I don't care, but in 70 years from now, she's not only going to call the
president, she's going to call where they were from, who they were born to, the type
of economic status they had, the job that they were going to do, that she was going
to call it.
Mary, are you prepared to do that today?
Sure.
Okay.
Careful.
But yeah, I mean that's, it's amazing.
Friends, nothing can be better than that because when we long for the holes, when we long for
the shadows, ultimately we long for condemnation.
We long for the understanding that we actually like when we had a say.
So let's jump to the last set.
Hebrews 8, 8 through 12.
For he finds fault with them when he says, behold, the days are coming, declares the
Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah, not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day when I took them
by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares
the Lord.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
declares the Lord.
I will put my law into their minds, write them on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
And they shall not teach each other his neighbor and each one his brother, say, know the Lord,
for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.
Friends, yet we still long for the shadows.
We still long for the holes.
We still long for all of those things because we still want to have a say.
If you find yourself in that place today, I don't know what else to tell you.
Jesus' way not only has been designed, created, thought of with the foreknowledge of God,
the sovereignty of God, the love of God, the grace of God is for you.
Be still and receive it.
Be still and know that I am God.
And for those of you this morning that know that, that have professed that, that are living
in the better way, the way of Jesus, and some of you know where I'm going to go with this.
What about that or how are you living out that better way?
And here's just an easy thing as I close.
The better way of Jesus takes us from the I have to's to the I get to's.
Back in the Old Testament, I have to keep the law.
I have to do the sacrifices.
I have to pray the prayers.
I have to do all of these things.
There was obedience in that, and though you may not like it, it was a good thing.
And now in the grace and freedom we have in Christ, your I have to's should now be the
I get to's.
I am excited about.
And I look out and there's some rolling of the eyes and I get it.
Again going back a couple weeks, you may be tired of living out life as a believer.
Friend, keep going.
If you need to get re-engaged and re-excited, this is what I give anybody that comes through
my office, is get yourself out there and serve.
When we can get in a me, me, me understanding, right?
When it's oh, I'm not feeling it.
I don't like this anymore.
We start to nitpick either our church or the denomination or just kind of faith in general.
You're getting really selfish.
Your faith has never been about you.
It's never been based on you, but it was for you to go walk it out to bring other people
into it.
You want to see God at work in your life, evangelize.
Some of you are like, well, that's going to make me uncomfortable.
Yep.
I can't disagree with you.
But the more you do it, the more you're going to want to do it, the more God's going to
develop these eyes, these ears, this mindset, this encouragement, and yes, even for you
introverts, the voice to go do it.
And I guarantee you it's easier for, and this is just the gospel according to Jim, it's
more powerful coming from the introverts.
I've said this before.
I'll say it again.
I'll say a thousand things in a day, probably more than that.
You didn't have to laugh.
Five of them mean something.
My wife will say ten things a day, and five of them will mean something.
It's not fair, but it is where we are.
And it's a beautiful thing how the Lord says, you are a part of the body, you have purpose,
get to work.
This part is not more important than that part.
We are the body of Christ.
If you're feeling in a spiritual dry zone, get out and serve.
Find a Bible study.
Then, BSF, Monday nights, great way to do it.
We have about a handful of Munster guys that are loving it.
Get involved.
Because when you get in that dry zone, when you're thinking, my way might be better than
Jesus' way, understand that's sin, and that's not going to bear fruit.
And if it does, it's going to be fruit that is moldy and yucky.
This isn't about what was.
This has always been about Jesus.
This has always been about the way forward.
Next week, the writer of Hebrews is going to double down on it in a pretty cool way.
Let's pray.