s2-328 A New Covenant For A New Year Jeremiah 31:31-34 12-27-2020

good morning nathan creek would you guys all stand with us bring it in from the uh the foyer and the fellowship paul all right hey i wish you guys had a great christmas hoping you guys had a great christmas with family with friends with some food and maybe presents here and there and all that stuff but this morning we have an awesome opportunity to worship the lord together you know what we're celebrating christmas about is something we can kind of sing about the whole year round you know and so this morning we're singing some songs that we should we should know you know they're familiar songs now this first song comes from psalm chapter 23 uh verse 3 and then also verse 6. so it's one that's worth singing about [Music] give me eyes to see where you're live [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] gives away and mercy for every moment [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] come thou found of [Music] streams of mercy never see see call for souls of loudest praise [Music] fixed upon [Music] and here i raise my everness [Music] [Music] pleasure [Music] [Applause] when a stranger [Music] of god [Music] is so [Music] with thy goodness [Music] me [Music] here's my feeling true [Music] is [Music] into my heart to seek my [Music] call for songs [Music] sung by flaming [Music] love [Music] [Music] call me on the phone a great unknown [Music] will stand [Music] i am [Music] racism [Music] now ago oh [Music] wherever you are [Music] [Applause] [Music] my faith would be made stronger in the presence wherever you go is me is oh [Music] [Music] [Music] i am [Music] bless the lord on my soul oh my soul [Music] oh [Music] [Music] your name is great and your heart is [Music] this is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] has gone still my soul [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] your home thank you so much lord for being here so faithfully lord you always show up to church on these sunday mornings when we gather in your name lord whether it's here in the sanctuary or at home lord all the folks watching online when two or more are gathered together you tell us you'll be right there in our midst i'm thankful lord that that we can just count on you to do your work and speak to us through your word by your spirit lord i pray father that this sunny sunday morning that we find you shining brightly in our hearts and our lives lord that we want more of you more of your brightness lord more of your truth more of your loving kindness and your compassion lord everything about you is worthy and good and we're thankful or just a circle around you today bless this time bless all the churches that are calling out your name on this sunday morning i pray you just guide them and direct them lord and give them your wisdom we offer this time to you and pray blessing in jesus name amen amen why don't you have a seat make yourself comfy welcome and it's good to have you here this sunday morning did you guys have a good christmas yeah sounds like i've heard a lot of good stories a lot of good stuff so that's great that's good stuff we um we've got a few activities happening coming up this week one thing is we have our new year's eve service it's going to be live and also online so if you want to join us either way here or there we'd love to have you join us it starts at 11 o'clock p.m and it's just really a celebration counting down the new year and bringing it in right and so we'll be here starting at 11 to about 12 15 bringing in the new year you say well what about your prophecy update well we do those uh every first friday of each month now um and uh the we're going to do it a little different this this month though because um the first is actually uh new year's eve so we're gonna do our prophecy update on january 8th for uh for those of you that tune into that got a lot of stuff to talk about some interesting things going on as it relates to bible prophecy we'll be doing that january 8th live online 7 p.m and then new year's eve service 11 p.m celebrating the new year with some worship and just some also some sinful roles i mean cinnamon rolls it'll be great a great way to break your new year's resolution new year's resolution in one year and out the other that's what i always say well also the young adults ministry is relaunching it's been kind of shut down for a season uh but pastor jason bunts one of our guys here just a great brother he's going to be starting that up if you're 18 19 or 20 something uh it's going to be for you guys starting january 5th it's a great group so you want to definitely check that out and be plugged into that um also don't forget um you know people ask why are you guys still doing tickets uh you know you guys should just uh in light of what you said last sunday uh why don't you just open it up a couple reasons one is um we we want to try to control um how many people are in the building and that there's that's the only way we know how to do it um otherwise we tend to pack this place out elbow to elbow uh it's it is pretty full today i have to say uh we like that i'm sure there's a few people here um i don't know exactly the number but but as it turns out uh we do want to kind of maintain that for this season um you know what's great is we've been meeting live now for five months and not one coronavirus uh outbreak or a patient even isn't that cool that's pretty cool um you know we're supposed to be super spreaders you christians and churches we're the super spreaders apparently not um now um now while i do if you listen to my last prophecy update you know that i do feel like the whole uh the the numbers aren't working out and there's some weird stuff going along with that coronavirus thing i do believe people are getting sick of course and um so we like to kind of keep this this under control about uh spacing and giving some people if they really want to have some space there's space in here there's still a few empty areas and stuff so you can you can do that we're controlling that uh for those of you that are worried we're not contract tracing or keeping lists of people's names or records or anything like that we uh we kind of don't believe in that that's something that we feel like is is not cool so don't worry about that by the way if you're at home and you're thinking that it's all sold out we have added to the number of people in the sanctuary so um don't don't be bashful try to get a ticket online you'll probably be successful next week uh whereas some of you that tried before and it was just always full in the first three minutes um that's changing a bit uh in fact i think not all four services sold out this week so that's kind of cool uh getting more room in here and getting more people in uh looking forward to the day when we can just pack it out again and and all that i'm not sure what to do uh the math on that our church seems to have grown during the coronavirus and uh we've got a lot more people than even when we started so that's kind of interesting we'll have to deal with that at some point but right now we're in denial all that to say uh we're glad you're with us online those of you that are at home as well so thanks for joining us um hey uh you know we also um have a wednesday night bible study this week it'll be uh continuing through the book of jeremiah and so uh i have a new year's sermon for you uh today as it is new year's sunday the last sunday of 2020 and so i want to do a special sermon turn with me to jeremiah chapter 31. jeremiah chapter 31 i love jeremiah 31 because it's a monumental stake in the ground in the old testament jeremiah 31 i believe every christian should know jeremiah 31 and what it's about it's it's christianity 101 maybe maybe it's a higher level 104 103 i don't know but it is something that i think every christian should know and it's something new you know that old phrase out with the old in with the new there's something nice about that uh some of you are thinking that especially in 2020 out with the old in with the new hopefully 2021 brings a new year with uh new joy and new blessings 2020 for a lot of people was really difficult and hard but as it turns out we have a text that brings something massively new and it's not just a new year it's not just a new situation it's called the new covenant the new covenant jeremiah 31 is where you read about the new covenant now somebody like okay this is just doctrinal stuff you know pastors talk about theology and doctrine this is going to be boring well it is going to be work i'll warn you we've got some work to do this morning but i hope that you you see that the the whole story of what god is doing is kind of summed up in the old covenant and the new covenant um the word covenant can be interchangeable with the word testament uh it's not just the old testament in the new testament because because we're going to learn about the new covenant the new testament in the old testament here in jeremiah 31 31. it's an important thing for us to sort of nail down to know what the new covenant is all about there have been people who've made mistakes because they don't get the old covenant in the new covenant what do you mean brett well for example when maybe you're a teenager you're a teenager and you want to get a tattoo and your mom she busts out her bible you're like mom i want to get a tattoo and you're like oh the bible forbids it um well uh i can see where mom's coming from and and man you can make the bible say anything by the way um there's all kinds of scriptures that talk about a lot of things but tell me does the bible prohibit getting tattoos let's take a look well i'll just i'll just tell you what the scripture is all your parents are writing frantically down um it's this is where this is where everybody gets the bible you're not supposed to get tattoos um it's leviticus 19. it says um in leviticus 19 verse 26 i'll start there it says you shall not eat anything with blood neither shall you use enchantments or observe times you shall not round the corners of your heads neither shalt thou mar the corners of your beard you shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead nor print any marks upon you i am the lord did you hear that you're not to put any marks upon you so grandma busts out that verse there it is you can't get a tattoo it's not just mom who makes the mistake here it's also remember our former president barack hussein obama do you remember when he said derogatorily he said he said what are we going to do follow the bible do you remember this anybody remember this so what do we do follow the bible he says are we going to take our child outside of the city and stone him to death now was he correct in saying that that's what the bible says well just like mom is correct and saying you're not supposed to put a mark on your body um and but but it also gets kind of crazy if you think about it did you hear what it said you guys with with that when it says you're not supposed to cut the corners of your beards in other words you guys that are wearing goatees right now you're pretty much satan satan has a goatee i've seen the deviled ham cannon he's a little red guy with a with a goatee so that's why you're not supposed to that's ridiculous you see what we're talking about here and when you're reading the book of leviticus especially is you're talking about the law of moses given to the jews there at mount sinai when they left egypt the law of moses is the jewish law and guess what news flesh grandma you need to know this mom barack whoever's quoting the old testament saying you got to follow what this says guess what that's the old testament law that's the old covenant the law for the jewish people and praise be to the lord you and i are no longer under the law can i tell you how happy i am that we're no longer under the law i'm happy because i would have been dead at one i would have been the child they had to take out take that kid out and stone him to death he's really bad let's put him out of our misery you know that would have been me and probably some of you and there's all kinds of stuff we'd have to forsake for example bacon can you imagine life without bacon that was the jewish situation by the way i i tried something a little different this year i took my prime rib for you know christmas eve um 20 pounder the elder board gave me uh for christmas uh and my family we got this prime rib so i took the prime rib cracked open the ribs section opened it like a car engine laced it with bacon closed it back and then wound up the strings around it and put it on the traeger oh my goodness i can't even begin to tell you how bacon makes all things even more beautiful so it's awesome but all that to say as it turns out bacon is not a kosher meat it's something the jews were forbidden to eat in the old testament so how do you reconcile that and really it's sad because there are people who use the bible clumsily and sort of like to point to scriptures that are linked to the law of the old testament and try to superimpose that on new testament times and it makes people kind of look bad by the way there's a lot of people who should die whether it's the one-year-old kid you know i'm surprised more people don't try to you know do this but once in a while you'll hear something for example the lgbtq community saying the bible says you should take a homosexual out and kill them does it say that yep and the old testament law of moses and and so should the homosexual die yep but so should the one-year-old child like me that should die because i was naughty do you understand the bible says pretty much everybody dies because of sin that's the old testament law that's the old covenant and i'm here to tell you the old covenant the new covenant the old covenant is inferior to the new how can you say that brett how can you say something that god created is inferior the only way i can say that is guess what god tells us that it's inferior but it still serves a purpose you got to be careful not to throw the old covenant the old law out the window saying well good thing we're no longer under the law forget that andy stanley a couple years ago said you know some of you guys know him he said in one of his sermons he said we need to unhitch ourselves from the old testament what a bummer man i think any pastor that unhitches himself from the old testament he should not be a pastor i'm just saying it uh you need to be a teacher of the bible from genesis through revelation the old testament is essential for us to understand the new testament and to unhinge ourselves from the old testament law i understand if you're saying we are no longer under that law but the law of the old testament the old covenant still serves a purpose and we'll show you what that is today and in jeremiah which is kind of interesting mr doom and gloom he's called the weeping prophet he's the one that's you know always saying hey you guys are going to die and your bodies will be lying in the streets and birds of the air are going to pluck your skin off your bones no wonder they punched him in the face poor jeremiah i mean he had a tough message for the people in that days because they were they were doomed they really were a doomed people but i love that once in a while in the book of jeremiah we have these little bright lights of truth that are very redemptive and quite amazing and this is one such passage and every christian i believe should be familiar with jeremiah 31 31 where we begin this discussion on the new covenant so let's take a look at the book of jeremiah jeremiah chapter 31 if you turn there with me and in jeremiah 31 31 it says this behold the days come saith the lord that i will make a new covenant with the house of israel and with the house of judah we'll see later how he's going to include the gentiles as well verse 32 not according to the covenant that i made with their fathers and the day that i took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of egypt which my covenants they break although i was a husband unto them saith the lord but this shall be the covenant that i will make with the house of israel after those days saith the lord i will put my law in their inward parts and write in it in their hearts and they will be pardon me and i will be their god and they shall be my people and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man is brother saying know the lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the lord for i will forgive their iniquity and i will remember their sin no more there are several components to this new covenant that we'll go over here in a bit but before we go into the components of this new covenant a covenant a promise an agreement like a business deal almost the lord says i've got an old deal and a new deal an old covenant and a new covenant and the old covenant well that was given to you when the children of israel left egypt and went out to the mount sinai and moses gave the law the law of moses by the way not to be confused with the law of god the law of god is the ten commandments given on the two tables of stone the law of moses is the laws given to the jews specifically about their religious practices what they could and couldn't eat where they should go and what they should do on the sabbath and how they should build a temple or a tabernacle and a sacrificial system and the priests and the levites and the day of atonement and the high priest all that was part of the old covenant law given to moses there at mount sinai and so here the lord says you guys have broken my old covenant that's jeremiah's day and they had not only were they not keeping the old covenant at all but they were flying in the face of the old covenant and worshiping other gods and worshipping you know baal and astrath and moloch and kimash and all these other gods and goddesses they had thrown the old covenant out the window and they were headed for total destruction that's what the old covenant does it reveals that you can't do it you can't keep it and the jews guess what they were the best foot forward if you think you can keep the law just ask a good jew who's trying to keep the law it's impossible that's part of the thing that's the whole deal you say well why would god create something that you couldn't do well there's a good question i'm glad you asked galatians past chapter 3 pastor paul uh who was a pharisee of pharisees what's that mean um he was he was like the jewish most jewish guy you'd ever did know he knew the old testament law better than anyone he was schooled by a guy named gamaliel that'd be like if you're a mathematician you're being tutored at your home by albert einstein like gamaliel was the best of the day the smartest guy on the planet and that was paul's teacher and that was his post i was schooled by gamalia and everybody's like wow paul knows his stuff but paul the apostle answers that question what was the purpose of the old covenant when god knew he was going to give us a new covenant and is the old covenant did we just throw it out the window and forget about it or is there value in knowing what the old covenant says because we are under this new covenant and what is the new covenant well that's what paul answers he gives us sort of the high-level answer uh starting in galatians chapter 3. let's take a look at that would you turn there or jot it down in your notes real quick galatians 3 21 and that's where paul is going to help us understand this now the words for the covenant could be uh number one law old law or covenant or testament um uh sometimes it's called the first and the some the other one's called the second like that when you read the new testament there's all kinds of language that defines the old covenant the new the old testament the new and we'll see all that in paul's writing here so here in galatians chapter 3 verse 21 it says is the law then against the promises of god god forbid for if there had been a law given which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the law but the scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of jesus christ might be given to them that believe now pause for a second what's he saying the law never brings life it brings death it condemns us no one's good enough no one is righteous not even one paul would teach us and show us so the law never saved anybody because the rules are too hard for us to to survive but the scripture's concluded all under sin he says we're all sinners that the promise of faith through jesus might be given to those who believe goes on in verse 23 but before faith came we were kept under the law shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed wherefore here's what he tells us what the law does the old testament old covenant law what does it do wherefore verse 24 the law was our school master to bring us unto christ that we might be justified by faith but after that faith has come we are no longer under a schoolmaster now pause for a second again schoolmaster uh could you picture a schoolmaster in your mind's eye some of you newer people younger people you don't know what a school master is um i do uh i went to a little school called roosh elementary school basically beaver cleaver school and i was in this little nice little happy school and then we moved to applegate oregon the thriving metropolis of applegate population four and we went to this little one house schoolhouse like really old built in 1911 little red brick building with a bell the whole thing it was really that's the school i went to we moved to this but the school master who was he well i've told you before mr alexander he was the personification of the school master he he had a red paddle hanging on the wall and it was a two by four with a handle and he routed in the red paddle his name alexander and legend has it if you ever got spanked he was permanently uh imprinted on your behind i actually saw him use the big red is what he called the paddle i saw him take a kid drag him into the back room back back and then he brought him out like it literally happened now you'd probably go to jail for this but mr a was the most serious and grave of of teachers and he was always looking around and and i've told you he had that you know teacher pointer stick but he would walk during test we'd be taking a test all of us you know frantically writing and he would walk up and down the rows of the classroom and he'd take his teacher pointer and he would walk and he'd put the the pointer up one nostril and sort of rest his head on that nostril and as he'd walk around the classroom looking at us he'd have that and we'd just be like grossed out we'd be taking take a note doing our tests and if somebody were messing around or whatever he'd take it out of his nostril and whack he'd smack the desk and everybody in the room would jump that's true story now i'm painting this picture of the schoolmaster that's what he who he really was but it's so funny as it turns out after i got to know him i was horrified the first few weeks of school at applegate but i ended up really loving mr a he was probably one of my favorite teachers i ever did have really an amazing thing that schoolmaster mr a but but all that to say that's what i picture the old testament is the the the old school master with a stick and you think ah that's scary yup the old testament the old covenant is horrifying you and i we cannot keep it we cannot do it nobody's ever been saved by the keeping of the old testament the old covenant and so what does it do it drives you and i to something better run for your lives because the old covenant it condemns us to sin it condemns us to eternal death and hell that's the old covenant but it's got a purpose the purpose is to drive you to move you to the right place without it you may not be driven to go to the right place if you and i don't realize that we are under the law and and that we would be dead if it weren't for the new covenant we wouldn't know where to go but the the old covenant says man you're a sinner and you need salvation by the way this is one of the fatal mistakes people make when they're when they're sharing the gospel of jesus christ they forget to bring this part up that you're a sinner and you're headed for death and hell and destruction all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god there is no one righteous not everyone if you fail to mention that people don't need they don't know what they need to be saved from there's people that they they say you want me to be a christian why why should i be a christian well because you get to go to church that's that's no fun uh why because you'll make friends at church i already have friends uh why because you'll be victorious and you'll live a victorious life already living victoriously like like the the reasons people give for the gospel are so wacko it's not even funny the reason the gospel is there is because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god there's no one righteous not even one and the wages of sin is death eternal and that is the schoolmaster that drives us man get me out of here i don't want to be a part of the old covenant because no one was ever saved by keeping the old but once the school master has done its job did you see what it says verse 25 but after faith is come that's the new covenant the faith we are no longer under a school master let's let's read on and finish up this in galatians 3 26 for you are all the children of god by faith in christ jesus for as many of you have been baptized into christ have put on christ there is neither jew nor greek neither bond nor free there's neither male nor female you are all one in christ jesus and if you be christ's then you are abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise the old covenant was given to the jews but they failed and they were driven also by the school master but when you become a believer in the greatest jew that ever lived jesus christ who was a jew and died on the cross for the sins of the world by faith we get to be brought in no longer at war with each other even i love how the gospel of jesus brings us all together you know racism is a problem in the world today of course but i want to tell you that racism ends where the gospel of jesus christ begins man that's something people should know well brett i've heard a pastor say uh you know that that why is sunday morning hour the most segregated hour in during the week have you heard that one that that sunday morning's the most segregated hour and and and i think they they might look at a church you know and say how many black people how many white people and they're they're all talking about that race is kind of a big issue today but can i just say something that they're that's the person who doesn't know their bible i'm going to say that the the church of jesus christ is the most diverse and amazing group of people on the planet and guess what you know they try to limit it to a building and a group of people in a building but it's not about that the building has nothing to do with it who who is the church paul says this he says there's neither jew nor greek jew or greek is a way of saying jew or gentile or we're talking about the race of jews and everybody who's not a jew he said there's he even says there's not male nor female it's not that you know god's into us losing our gender identity or gender gender dysphoria or any of that he's just saying in the church there's no longer these artificial walls between race gender bond or free rich or poor we're all one body in christ we're brothers and sisters in christ under the new covenant you see i believe if we want to solve the problems of racism you need to come and see jesus know jesus accept jesus and the work of the cross that's where we all come together and there's no difference between us we're all brothers and sisters in christ i love that um and and i i've been around the world you know i've been to church services in burkina faso africa and wagaduku where the church was packed full and i was the only white guy in the whole building i might have been the only white guy for 100 miles i don't know but it was the most amazing worship service um now did i fit in not really i didn't even know how to clap to their songs like it was so amazing they had these goombay drums and they would play the drums and sing to the lord and it was loud and it was celebratory and i was like wow this is amazing and my ears were ringing for like four days after that church service but it was awesome but for me to try to sort of duplicate that would be weird and so what i found out and what i realized is wow there's people of all different races and people all over the world that believe in jesus and they're all part of our church family and we're all we all different flavors and certain church buildings have different flavors and different styles of ministry and all that that's great but the church is about as diverse as it gets i love that racially don't make don't listen to all these these you know pastors that are trying to be relevant talking about you know white fragility and and all this stuff that's ridiculous um we need to come together around jesus christ where we're all sinners we've all messed up and we need to be saved from our sins and that's what brings us together we we are one in christ once we become part of the body of christ jew gentile greek whatever race creed gender we all come together around jesus well that's that's basically paul saying in galatians 3 here it is but here's that's sort of the entry level uh about this new covenant the old covenant the new covenant if you want to read the best commentary on the old covenant versus the new jeremiah 31 um what's the best commentary on the bible anybody the bible good you guys got that um and there's actually a specific section of the bible that is a commentary on the new covenant it's hebrews chapter 8 9 and 10. those three chapters of the book of hebrews gives you a perfect description of what's the deal with the old covenant and what's the deal with the new would you you can jot these notes down these scripture references down i'm not going to read all three chapters i'm tempted it's it's it's powerful and it helps you understand but let me just give you some of the high points some of my favorite parts of the commentary hebrews 8 through 10. in hebrews chapter 8 verse 1 the author of hebrews and by the way i think it's possibly paul himself who wrote hebrews couldn't die on that battlefield but i do believe it's possible that paul wrote hebrews some people say no but either way it's it's inspired by the holy spirit um hebrews chapter eight verse one he says now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum or the summer i'm about to sum up something he's gonna sum up the old covenant versus the new we have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in in the heavens a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the lord pitched and not man that's a key in comparing the old covenant and the new one of the things we'll see is the old covenant was man's doings new covenant is god's doings old covenant man built a tabernacle new covenant jesus is our tabernacle old covenant man had a high priest that would go in once a year on yom kippur go into the holy of holies sprinkle blood hopefully sins of the people were forgiven day of atonement that was old covenant new covenant jesus is our high priest going into the holy of holies which he is the holy of holies what's one of the first things that happened when jesus died on the cross the veil of the holy of holies the temple ripped in two what's have you ever wondered what's that all about old covenant new covenant old covenant if you wanted atonement we'll talk about that word in a second you had to wait for the yom kippur day of atonement where the high priest aaron would go into the holy of holies and then he'd come out and he'd reach out to israel and say your sins are forgiven and everybody would celebrate once a year but when jesus our high priest better than aaron he died on the cross for the sake of the world there's no longer a barrier where only the priest could be in the holy holies why because the new covenant lets us enter in by a new and living way i'll tell you about that in a second so this is the first thing he says you know we have a high priest the minister jesus who you know pitches his tent of the tabernacle field but it's not made with man's hands that's the idea let's fast forward to verse six hebrews 8 6 but now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant which was established upon better promises for if the first covenant had been faultless then should no place have been sought for a second for finding fault with them he said behold the days come saith the lord when i will make a new covenant with the house of israel and the house of judah not according to the covenant that i made with their fathers and then if you read on verses 9 through the end there is a repeat of jeremiah 31 verses 31 through 34. the author of hebrews says i'm talking about the old the the new covenant mentioned in in our text jeremiah 31 31 are you still with me here so that's what this author is saying he's saying it's all about this new covenant and he then recites the new covenant but notice he says the old covenant was was full of fault question see if we're catching on here what was the fault what was the problem with what was the biggest failure of the old covenant anybody what no one could ever be saved by it it's a covenant that was required two parties that had to keep their agreement god and the jews and they both had to keep their side of the bargain but no one not one of the jews were able to keep that their side of the bargain and so because of that it was faulty no one ever was saved by the covenant so the lord says i'm going to intervene and i'm going to show you now that you know that you can't do it by yourself keep your side of the bargain i'm going to make a new covenant and the old one was full of fault you were involved but the new covenant's going to be fault less only i am going to be involved the lord would say that's where we're going with this look at chapter 9 verse 1 of hebrews then verily the first covenant had also ordinances those are laws of divine service and a worldly sanctuary or a practical physical sanctuary for there was a tabernacle made first there was a candlestick table show bread sanctuary and he goes on and talks about the ark and what was in the ark of the covenant and in the holy of holies he describes the furniture of the tabernacle that was made with hands of man and he said that's the first covenant but then look at verse 11 as we go on of chapter 9 but christ being come as a high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us what's this jesus was our high priest and instead of a lamb dying on the altar in the holy of holies being sprinkled by the high priest jesus the high priest shed his own blood and he went into the holy of holies if you would and and did that work for us look at verse 14 how much more shall the blood of christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to god purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living god man isn't that something so we have this this um the old physical temple and the sacrificial system in the priesthood but jesus is better and he did this not bringing a lamb but he is the lamb the high priest who shed his own blood look at verse 22. this is something the jews knew verse 22 of chapter nine and almost all things are by law purged or cleansed with the blood and without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins see the jews that live in jerusalem today the ones that are religious jews or whatever i always like to ask them as i'm walking down the streets of jerusalem and i'll talk to the various jewish people i'll say how are you guys dealing with your sins and it's an interesting thing and i've noticed most of the time the jews there they kind of blush and they look down and say well we pray we pray but but i say but but that's not really what the the hebrew bible your bible says that without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins well we hope to build the temple someday again in jerusalem and we'll have sacrificial system restored i'm like yeah that's going to happen according to the bible but but what do you do now and the answer they don't have an answer they say well we just pray but without the shedding of blood there's no there's no sacrifice see and that's the thing what the jews largely missed today and by the way god still has a plan for the jews he loves the jewish people he has not forsaken them as some people try to say but there's going to come a day where romans chapter 11 verse 25 says that when the fullness of the gentiles come in all of israel is going to be saved they're going to see that jesus is their messiah that jesus is the lamb that would be slain for the sins of the world including the jews and the gentiles but right now blindness has happened to the jews they don't see jesus as the messiah that's romans 9 10 and 11. that's a commentary on the jews and the gentiles but but this this is basically what what you know we're learning here look at verse 24 for christ of chapter 9 for christ has not entered into holy places made with hands which are listen figures of the true but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of god for us what's christ doing right now he's our defense attorney standing before the throne of god as our uh he's for us aren't you glad jesus is for us and not against us he's standing there for us and he does he does that all these he says all these things happen not with a tabernacle that's physical but spiritual and these old testament covenants are figures the word could be types illustrations examples of the new testament truth of the new covenant see if you if you say well whatever i don't like the old covenant laws and rules you can't eat bats you can't eat pork you can't get a tattoo that old covenant forget that stuff brett we don't need to talk about that no you have to understand the old covenant is a illustration in a picture book that teaches us all kinds of truths about the new covenant and they're they're figurative that point to the literal that jesus would come and die on the cross for the sins of the world let me just show you a few more verses i know it's it's tedious going through all these but um look at hebrews chapter 10 verse 1 continues that discussion for the law having a shadow of good things to come that's the figures and the types and not the very image of the things can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the the comers thereof and two perfect in other words the old covenant they could come all day long with their sacrifices but they still be sinful but verse 4 for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins verse 5 wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith sacrifice an offering that would prepare us not but a body whose body a body has thou prepared me in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thus no pleasure then said i lo i come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will o god who's saying this guess what the sacrifice jesus the messiah he's saying i have come in the volume of the book it's all about me the old testament sacrifices and the lamb slain on the altar that's pointing to jesus the candlestick in the middle holy place there jesus jesus said i am the light of the world i am the vine you are the branches the table of showbread that's jesus jesus said i am the bread of life we could just go on and on the old testament old covenant points to jesus the new covenant and that's what he's saying here i come in the volume of the book it's all written about me jesus verse 8 almost done here verse 8 above when he said sacrifice an offering and burn offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not neither has pleasure therein which are offered by the law then said he lo i come to do thy will o god check this out he taketh away the first the first covenant the first testament that he may establish the second the second covenant the second testament verse 10 by the which we will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of jesus christ once for all what's this the greatest part of the new covenant in my opinion is that it's not the system that you have to just keep doing over and over and over again to make sure your sins are dealt with but jesus our lamb not the old testament lambs of the tabernacle or the temple but our lamb jesus died once for all sin why did that work for all because he was the perfect messiah he was the perfect lamb of god remember when john the baptist was there at the jordan river he said behold the lamb of god that takes away the sins of some of the world nope the whole world jesus died on the cross once for all the old covenantal system you had to every time you sinned you had to bring a lamb or a bird or a bull or however wealthy you were you were supposed to bring sort of a commensurate sacrifice based on who you were and what your sins were and man people you know by the millions animals were slaughtered as a picture of the ultimate sacrifice jesus who would die for the sins of the world the old covenant was all about you doing the right thing so that your sins would be dealt with the new covenant is all about what he did what jesus christ did on the cross the new covenant now i know it's getting late fast so i got to get onto these things let's talk just let's finish up with this the five key components to the new covenant are you guys ready here we go number one if you're jotting them down uh component number one uh on our list of things here to see in the new covenant component number one the promise of god's intervention the promise of god's intervention intervention the old covenant was all about you and me keeping laws and jews keeping laws which we couldn't do so then god says i will intervene i will step in and fix the problem the old covenant was insufficient because nobody ever was saved so i'm gonna have to step in and do it myself and praise the lord he does that and that's what it says in the very first part jeremiah 31 31 i will by the way he says i will depending on whether you're reading from hebrews or jeremiah the the new covenant he says five times or six times he says i will do this nothing about you will it's all about what the lord himself does i will make a new covenant with the house of israel and without us house of judah so the promise is that god will intervene on behalf of us we couldn't save ourselves so god steps in by the way in exodus chapter 24 verse 3 when the when the law was given do you remember what the people said after the law of moses was given it's exodus 24 3 moses came and told the people all the words of the lord that's the law old covenant and all the judgments and all the people answered with one voice and said all the words which the lord hath said we will do did they do it not even close that's you and me lord i'll be good this year i'm going to make a new year's resolution and i i will read my bible every day in 2021 and then january 2nd comes and you're like oh i forgot to read my bible what's up with that well praise the lord we're under the new covenant and we you know the bible says the spirit is oftentimes willing but the flesh becomes weak and the jews proved that century after century they said we will do everything that the law tells us to do but did they do it the answer is no so jesus is the one that we look to who did it he perfectly fulfilled in the new covenant it's not about what you do it's about what he did the new covenant is not a two-sided agreement the new covenant is a one-sided agreement god says here's what i'm going to do i'm going to make you a deal you can't refuse years ago we had a van that was donated to the church it was like a minivan it was a nice little minivan and we used it for a little while but it didn't really serve our purposes well because we needed like bigger trailers and bigger vans and stuff so so we decided hey let's let's sell it and we'll get a few extra bucks from this van that was donated to the church it was great i mean you know it had a lot of miles on it but it was still in good condition and so we put it on craigslist you know and sold it but um i remember one summer afternoon um i walked out of the church office and uh this little family was looking at the van and i realized we put it on craigslist for you know three or four thousand bucks or whatever and um and and i just kind of walked out i was started talking to this family and one of our uh maintenance guys they were there doing the deal and talking to this family and and um and the family i found out that they were actually freshly backed from being missionaries for the last 10 years in the philippines and they were this family that really they had nothing and they said oh you're the pastor i said pastor you know i'm sorry we probably shouldn't even come looked at this van because all we have is fifteen hundred dollars and uh your van is four thousand dollars or what i think it was three or four thousand bucks and and i said listen i'm gonna make you a deal you can't refuse and uh and they said well seriously if 1 500 is all we have and i said how about free and the little kids looked at their mom and dad and they started jumping down we have a minivan we have a minivan and and they all started weeping and stuff and it was really cool because they were in real need of transportation they didn't have anything and it was so cool to be able to to be more new covenant old covenant would have been the the law of saying you owe you know the three thousand dollars i'm not just letting this go forever that's old covenant new covenant is me stepping in getting to be like jesus saying take it it's free it's a free gift it's yours sign over the title deed and off you go and you did nothing to earn it to deserve it but you got it for free that's new covenant that's how you and i get to heaven well um you know it's john flavel that old preacher from old who said classic this is a good way of putting it he says if he has finished the work which he has what need is there for our auditions do people always try to add to the work of the cross well you need to be saved and go to church every sunday give to the church do this or that or the other then you can be saved nope it's only christ christ died on the cross for your sins he did the work he said it is finished so flavor says if he has finished the work what need is there of our additions and if not if he didn't finish the work to what purpose are they can we finish that which christ himself could not complete if in other words if he couldn't finish it did he finish the work and will he ever divide the glory and the praise of it with us no no christ is no half savior i love what he's saying this preacher knows what he's talking about he's saying you know christ he did the whole thing he finished the work he's not a half savior he's the savior you and i can't add anything to what jesus did on the cross that's god intervening stepping in on in you know humanity's horrible plight well that brings us to point number two not only do we see that god he has a promise of interven intervening god's promise of intervention number two the promise of internal change the new covenant brings something different than the old testament the people of the old testament didn't have a personal relationship with god there were only a tiny handful of people that did but largely there was something different old testament and new and one of the biggest things is an internal change with our relationship with the lord he says the difference is in the new covenant he says i will put my law not on tables of stone or the law of moses the scrolls of the book not that he says i will put my law in their inward parts and i will write it in their hearts you know ezekiel gives us maybe even a better understanding of that when we look at what ezekiel the prophet says he says then i will sprinkle clean water upon you this is all new covenant stuff and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and from your idols i will cleanse you a new heart also will i give you a new spirit will i put within you and i will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and i will give you a heart of flesh and i will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them what's ezekiel talking about he's talking about someday people of israel you're gonna enjoy the new covenant where i'm gonna write on your hearts and put my spirit within you and give you a new heart not of stone but of flesh where you'll your heart will be connected to the lord himself and you'll know what to do guess what you and i we live in new covenant times we have a personal relationship with god in that we know jesus christ that's one of the most beautiful things of the new covenant is it's a personal relationship with christ and and really peter talks about that at the very end of this just for speed he says there in the middle of this he says whereby you are given unto us exceeding in great precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped corruption that is in the world through lust what's this divine nature some people new agers trying to make something out of this that's not uh do we have the divine nature are we gods in ourselves that's ridiculous but what happens is when you become a christian the spirit of god fills you and his divine nature is then spoken into your life because this new covenant there's an internal change jesus talked about this with his disciples in john 14 and john 16. he said this he said it's good that i'm going to leave you or expedient the king james says this it's expedience good then i'm going to leave you and the bible why is that good that you're leaving us and jesus said because i'm going to send after me i'm going to send my comforter capital c the holy spirit and he will remind you of truth and he'll the idea is he'll speak into your lives you'll have this relationship with the holy spirit in you that's what peter's talking about here that's what ezekiel was talking about there so we have the promise of an internal change a new relationship moses talked to god face to face in the old testament but that was like one of the few guys that got to do that you and i as christians we get to talk to god face to face and have a personal relationship with him point number three uh you know characteristic of the new covenant number three the promise of a personal relationship for they all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them saith the lord you can be the poorest person in the world but you get to know the lord personally that's one of the components of the new covenant up until the new covenant there was a need to have a priest and a mediator that would mediate between you and the lord by the way i think that some of the priests of modern day churches should we have priests today that are mediators between god and men um i know that some of you were raised maybe in catholic traditions or episcopal traditions and and you think yeah we need a priest and a mediator and we need to pray to the saints or do this or that but you know what the bible makes it clear um that jesus is now the mediator under the new covenant um you know uh in in hebrews our commentary on this hebrews 9 13 through 15 listen to this for the blood of bulls and of goats the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctify it through the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of christ who through eternal spirit offered himself without spot to god purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living god and for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament of the new covenant who's the mediator of the new covenant jesus christ himself that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that we were under the first testament first covenant they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance how do we have a promise of eternal inheritance we are restored to good relationship with god through our mediator jesus christ how do we know that a priest is not the mediator between god and man well the answer first timothy chapter 2 verse 5 there is one god and one mediator between god and men and that is the man jesus christ so you can forget having mediators in the church jesus is the mediator oh it's a pastor brother should we fire you well as it turns out the church has offices but none of them are where i'm the mediator between you and god that's never supposed to be my role i get to teach the bible you know the difference between you and me uh might be that uh i'm in the hospital too just like you only i've been there longer i know where the jello is and where the restrooms are um that's the only difference uh and so i'll show you where the jello is and for me uh i love being that but i'm not a mediator and our elders and our pastors they're not mediators we will point you to the mediator jesus christ that's the goal number four component of the new covenant the promise of god's mercy and oh i should probably have talked about this the whole time and almost said nothing else because this is the greatest news of all mercy what is mercy not getting what you deserve and if you deserve to be crushed and then somebody's merciful to you they're showing you mercy you deserve to be crushed but because of mercy you're not being crushed you and i deserve to be given death and hell for all eternity but because the lord in his new covenant not with bulls and rams and sacrifices and all that stuff but the lord just says because of my promise i will forgive their iniquity that's what he says that's being merciful and guess what how much does this some of you might think well god's mercy must run out we're going to run out of god's mercy i've i've sinned too much question quiz time for you christians how long does the lord's mercy endure forever the bible says that over and over and over again his mercy endures forever over and over again um so the promise of god's mercy that's new covenant and then number five on the list last but not least the promise of god's justification we've already read that word in the commentary on the new covenant hebrews 8 9-10 where he used that word justification and the word justification is the doctrine of when god shows you mercy and forgives your sins it says i will remember your sins no more it's as it's never happened in god's economy your sins the worst things you've ever done as it turns out god says guess what i don't even remember them i can always in my mind's eye picture me standing at the gates of heaven and the lord saying what he says he's going to say brett enter in thou good and faithful servant i'll be thinking yeah but lord what about that time i did this what about the time i did that what about my doubts and my the things i said that were mean and those sermons that i gave that were kind of off course a little bit lord what about all that the lord says i don't even remember those sermons just like your congregation no i'm just kidding just mess with you guys i remember your sins no more aren't you glad that god uh has that ability i wish i had that ability to forget things i found that human nature we're opposite of god we remember the things we don't want to remember and we forget the things we do want to remember you know that song that gets in your head and it's over and over you just can't get out of here you just keep remembering friday friday remember that song that was a few years back that was brutal i just put it in your minds and now you can't get it out because you're not god but the lord remembers our sins no more he's able to say you know what brett that sin you just did it's gone i don't remember it i love that that's called justification you can remember the doctrine of justification by this little phrase just as if you'd never sinned at all that's what it is that's the new covenant the old covenant remembered and if you you know if you sinned he was like santa he takes his list checks it twice and he's gonna find out he's naughty and nice santa move letters around satan same little red suit i'm just saying no i'm just messing around but god is not the one who's keeping that list under the new covenant if you accept and believe jesus if you confess with your mouth and believe that jesus died on the cross for sins that you choose to repent from you say i repent of my sins that means to acknowledge your sin before the lord and say lord i am deserving of death because of my sin and here are the sins that i've committed lord i acknowledge that before you and i confess my faith that jesus died once for all on the cross for my sins that's the new covenant see the thing i love about the new covenant is this justification and mercy comes by just confession with the mouth and belief in the heart romans 9 10 and 11 romans chapter 9 verses 10 11 tells us that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart the lord jesus christ of god raised him up from the dead you will be saved so when people say yeah but i didn't do anything except for just believe exactly the new covenant is based on him and him alone just like that family that got the car they did nothing they just stood there and said we need a car and i said it's yours and we as a church got to give it to them that was great that's exactly what the lord says i don't demand anything of you except for this a confession of faith may the lord give us ears to hear what the spirit would say because if you're a christian the new covenant is one of the most glorious truths and i hope that not only you can know what i just shared but that you can share it and articulate the new covenant to other people as well because there's a lot of misnomers about the old covenant and the new and it'll make it make it so much easier you understand a bit of doctrine when you understand the old versus the new covenant and if you're a christian man we can walk away just rejoicing because we are under the new covenant amen amen let's pray together lord how thankful i am for the new covenant the promise that you will intervene on behalf of all humanity lord the promise that you will change us internally and write your will on the table of our hearts lord thankful for that the promise for that personal relationship that you want to give to us that you want to know us and that we can know you and the promise of your mercy and the promise of your justification lord these things are so great and i pray that this coming year as people make new year's resolutions lord we we know it's not about our resolutions it's about your covenant that you made for when we fail and when we sin we know that you died on the cross for our sins once for all and so we have salvation by your grace [Music] if you would just keep an attitude of prayer and i wonder if there might be some of you watching online or some of you that are here in the building today who have not accepted the new covenant you've not accepted the free gift the new plan maybe you're still thinking old plan i need to be better i should start going to church maybe i'll go to heaven maybe i need to do this no that's old covenant and you will fail with that one but the new covenant it's there for the taking the lord says i've done it all i did the work on the cross to die for the sins of the world and so that confession goes something like this and if you want you can do it right where you're at at your house or here in this room you can just say lord i'm a sinner i repent of my sins i acknowledge my sins before you and then just pray this lord i believe in your son jesus you can't just say it it's not a magical incantation it's got to be something that you you choose to say i'm going to believe this so you believe with your heart confess with your mouth jesus died on the cross for my sins that he rose up from the grave and then say lord thanks for saving me you might even ask lord help me to walk with you as a christian start to change those things in me right on my heart your will show me what to do and the lord will he'll do that lord for these people who are just thinking through this and confessing a faith in you lord i pray that you would just bless them with your love flood their soul lord with the knowledge of how merciful how giant your grace is and how magnificent your mercy is lord may they know how forgiving you are as a god and for a new year lord we need new life we need old things to be passed away we want all things to become new and we know lord the new covenant does that so thank you thank you for saving us may we all rejoice in what you did for us in jesus name let's all stand together and let's close with a final song [Music] your feet [Music] lord you made for me jesus save your my [Music] [Music] oh but in three days [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] lord you sing about the cross and what you've done there but we also thank you for the grace that it means for us lord that you made a way for us that we can accept and that you freely give so lord we go our way now with just joy with that on the forefront of our minds that your grace is with us and it's enough we love you father and in jesus name amen amen hey hope you had a great christmas and a happy new year we'll see you guys next time god bless you you're dismissed you

Channel: Lean-into-God

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Id: 44yg2XPy3BE

Length: 84min 17sec (5057 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 27 2020