The New Covenant (Hebrews 8- Jeff Kliewer)

Let's sing a few songs together.

Everyone needs compassion, love that's never failing.

Let mercy fall on me.

Everyone needs forgiveness, kindness of a

Savior, the hope of nations.

Savior, He can move the mountains.

My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save forever.

Author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave.

Jesus conquered the grave. He took me as a child.

All my fears and failures. He gave my life to follow

Him. Now I surrender.

Oh, I surrender all, Lord. Savior, He can move the mountains.

My God is one author of salvation.

He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave.

Shine your light and let the whole world see. We're singing for the glory of the risen

King. Jesus, shine your light and let the whole world see.

We're singing for the glory of the risen King. Savior, He can move the mountains.

My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save forever.

Author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave.

Jesus conquered the grave. Savior, He can move the mountains.

My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save forever.

So that when he came into trouble, he had the assurance that Jesus, God, was always with him.

There are many times that we in our lives do the same thing. But sometimes we don't have that daily walk with Him.

And we only run to Him when we're in an emergency. I challenge you to improve something in your spiritual walk.

And that could be better prayer life. That could be reading the Bible, listening to it on audio. Something every day to continue your heart of worship throughout the week.

Are you the one that only runs to Him during emergencies? Or are you daily running to Him?

So that when those trials do come, you have the confidence that He's in control.

Psalm 27, starting in verse 1, says, The Lord is the light of my salvation, so why should

I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should

I tremble? When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.

Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked,

I will remain confident. And notice this in verse 4. The one thing I ask of the

Lord, the thing I seek most, is to live in the house of the Lord all of my days.

Delighting in the Lord's perfections and meditating in His temple. It's not that He was seeking peace in His land or all around the world.

It was to dwell in the house of the Lord. There's nothing to fear.

You hear me when I call. You are my morning song.

Though darkness fills the night, it cannot hide the light.

Whom shall I fear? You crush the enemy.

Underneath, I fight for my sword and shield.

When the walls linger still, whom shall

I fear? I know who goes before me.

I know who stands behind. The God of angel armies is always by my side.

The one who reigns forever, He is a friend of mine.

The God of angel armies is always by my side.

My strength is in Your name. For You alone can save.

You will deliver me. Yours is the victory.

Whom shall I fear? Whom shall

I fear? I know who goes before me.

I know who stands behind. The God of angel armies is always by my side.

The one who reigns forever, He is a friend of mine.

The God of angel armies is always by my side.

You hold the whole world in His fold.

You are faithful. And nothing for nothing.

You hold the whole world before me.

I know who stands behind. The God of angel armies is always by my side.

The one who reigns forever, He is a friend of mine.

The God of angel armies is always by my side.

I know who goes before me. I know who stands behind.

The God of angel armies is always by my side.

And even if we're going through struggles, You know what they are, Lord. We come before You, standing before Your throne with bowed hearts.

Praising and worshiping You because You are sovereign. There is strength within the sorrow.

There is beauty in our tears. And You meet us in the morning with a love that casts out fear.

You are working in our waiting. You're sanctifying us.

When beyond our understanding, You're teaching us to trust.

Your plans are still to prosper. You have not lost.

You're with us in the fire and the flood. You're faithful forever.

Perfect in love. You are sovereign over us.

You are wisdom unimaginable. Understand Your way.

Reigning high above is great.

Lifter of promises on mighty lines.

Your plans are still to prosper. You have not lost.

You're with us in the fire and the flood. You are sovereign over us.

You are sovereign over us.

Be seated. Let's pray.

God, we thank You for these hymns and songs, spiritual songs that we sing one to another, and ultimately to You.

We ask that the words of these songs would reverberate in our heads and remain in our minds and hearts.

that we would always remember that you're mighty to save, that you are the God over angel armies, and that you are sovereign over us.

Lord, let the words of these songs become a part of us and help us in our time of need.

We pray also, Lord, as we now open your word, that you would transform us from the inside out through the power of your scripture.

You would apply it to our hearts and help us to trust in your promises. In Jesus' name, amen.

Many great changes that have come into the world have come by the power of the new birth in individuals.

Individuals who are touched by the fire of God, the flame of God, and that change ultimately makes a difference in all of society.

One of the most famous Christians of all time is a guy named John Newton.

You would know him as the author of Amazing Grace, right? Amazing Grace, How Sweet the

Sound, That Saved a Wretch Like Me. Well, John Newton was a slave trader, and upon that slave trading ship, he was reading the scriptures and came under conviction for his sin.

Ultimately, the fire of God touched him and gave him the new birth, and he left that field and went back to England and became a pastor.

He began preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, his heart burning to share the truth of Jesus and resisting slavery in society.

Well, there was a young man named William at the time who, at age 21, became the youngest ever member of the

British Parliament. William was like a party boy. He loved leisure, he loved to have fun, he was always the life of the party, and that's probably how he became such a great orator that enabled him to become a 21 -year -old parliamentarian.

He would go down to the French Riviera like three months of the year. Sounds like politicians, right? Just work a couple months and then go spend three months in the

French Riviera. But in any case, William, one time on one of his trips, made a mistake.

He invited an evangelical friend, and they ended up talking about the gospel that whole trip, and he became convinced of the truth.

But it took some time for that to marinate, and eventually he did come to saving faith. Well, he was a member of Parliament at the time, so what should he do?

He decided to go see John Newton, this warm evangelical who was kind of like a country preacher, you know, just maybe like low church, very passionate, but not trained like the theologians of the day in the

Anglican Church. So he decided to go see John Newton. When he got to his door, he kept walking.

He was afraid to knock. He circled the block, came around, did the same thing, must have done that a dozen times before he finally got up the courage to go knock on Newton's door.

To his surprise, Newton encouraged him to remain evangelical and stay in the

Parliament and fight for justice. And over time, the

Lord birthed in his warm evangelical heart a desire to abolish slavery.

This young man was named William Wilberforce. Some of you have heard of Wilberforce.

And in 1803, the slave trade was abolished, and then about two decades later, slavery itself was abolished throughout the

British Worldwide Empire. William Wilberforce was first of all touched by that evangelical flame.

He spent his days no longer as a party boy, he became a student of God's Word. He memorized

Psalm 119. If any of you are familiar with Psalm 119, you know that's no small task. So if I've encouraged you to memorize either

Hebrews 11 or Hebrews 12, at least it's not Psalm 119. That's like a hundred and seventy -six verses.

Well, he would quote it on the way to Parliament every day as he walked from his house to Parliament. He was an evangelical first, seeking to preach the gospel.

He said that if society is transformed without the gospel, it's of no value. It was always gospel first for Wilberforce.

Then the flame touched another William, a cobbler, a shoemaker in the area.

This William became a preacher as well, like John Newton. Not well -trained, he just preached the gospel with all the passion and fire and fury of a man who had been touched by a flame from God, from heaven.

As he began to study the scriptures, though, he realized that there were half a world away heathens who had never heard of Jesus and his sacrifice and his resurrection.

So he went to some other ministers and said, we should use means to convert the heathen. To which they replied, sit down, you young enthusiast.

When it's God's time to convert the heathen, he'll do it, but you need to be quiet and get back in your lane.

But he wouldn't be quiet. That fire in him burned, and he kept saying these things until finally they formed a mission society, and he,

William Carey, became the father of modern missions. He sailed to India, where he translated the

Bible into Hindi, and many became saved. It actually took decades before he saw his first convert, but he kept working, translating scripture.

While there, he noticed that the Hindu people had a practice called suti. When a wife lost her husband and she became a widow, she would throw herself on the flames, on the pyres, to die with her husband, because women were devalued in that Hindu society, and she was essentially forced to do that.

William Carey, with the fire that had touched his heart, now preached against such things, and the result was the abolition of suti in India.

Outward societal change that began with an inward transformation in William Carey's heart.

And then there was George Mueller, about that time, who recognized the plight of hundreds of orphans that ran the streets of Bristol with no parents, and so he founded an orphanage by prayer and fasting and studying of God's Word, and it turned out that they ended up housing 1 ,600 orphans in Bristol.

Changes in society, but that began with the new birth, a new covenant change in the heart that preceded any outward change.

This morning, we are going to talk about the new covenant. The new covenant.

The new covenant is all about an inward change of heart. It is when the

Holy Spirit of God does something in a human heart that transforms a person from the inside out.

It's not outward rules that people need to obey in order to please God. It is a change wrought by God in the very heart and soul of a

Christian, beginning with conversion, and then that fire that continues to burn in the heart.

These things are promised in the new covenant. So turn with me, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 8, where we learn of the new covenant.

Now we need to recognize that this teaching on the new covenant flows out of what has been taught already, and the big idea in Hebrews is that Jesus is better.

He is a better king. He is a better priest. He is a better sacrifice. He's better than angels.

He's better than Moses. He's better than Aaron and the Levitical priesthood. Jesus is better, and he mediates today, we will see, a better covenant.

So this is the next movement in the text, but consider the the big picture of the book of Hebrews.

Here you have a book written in the 60s AD. So the temple is still standing in Jerusalem when this book is written.

That's very important. Make note of that. The temple is still standing in Jerusalem. The Jewish people are still going up three times a year for festivals.

The Levites are attending the temple daily. The high priest, once a year, is going into the most holy place.

They're offering sacrifices, and yet there are some among the Jewish people who have left that Judaism and come out to Christianity, and they no longer offer sacrifices in the temple.

They no longer go up to the festivals, many of them. They are choosing to worship

Christ, and yet persecution is breaking out against Christians in Rome, whereas the

Jews are a protected religion. So many Christians are feeling pressure to go back. In fact, the

Old Testament, or I should say the Old Covenant, with the temple is somewhat appealing to these

Christians. Why? Because outwardly it has a lot to offer. This temple that was built is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Herod had made these grand improvements, and it was really a marvelous thing to behold. And they had the festivals, and everybody would get excited about going to Jerusalem for a festival.

And here are the Christians noticing the Jewish people, and some of them are tempted to go back where it's safer, a state religion that they can practice without persecution.

And yet they've believed that Christ is the Messiah, and so they're caught between two opinions.

And the book of Hebrews is written to encourage them to hold on to the faith, to recognize that Jesus is, in fact, better.

So do not depart now. Let's read it. Hebrews chapter 8.

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. For every high 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 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 you on the mountain.

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 to look for a second.

But 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 that 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 laws into their minds and write them on their hearts, and I will be their

God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, know the

Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.

In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

So the first thing that needs to be said is that this passage is prophetic. It's a prophecy.

Look at verse 13. It says the old is obsolete, growing old, ready to vanish away.

But according to verse 5, there still are priests that serve at the altar. This was written in the 60s

AD. In the year 70 AD, Titus, the emperor of Rome, will send his army against Jerusalem, and they will raise it, raise it to the ground.

Every stone will be thrown down from the temple. Not one stone left upon another.

So this author who's writing prophetically saying, hold on, doesn't know this, but it's so obsolete, it's so old, it is so ready to vanish away that within a couple of years, the temple itself will be destroyed.

Amazing. So the author here is writing to new covenant believers and explaining to them what that is.

Let's take it part by part with the view to the inward change that the

New Covenant offers. The inside -out change that touched William Carey and William Wilberforce and John Newton and George Mueller.

These people were touched by something. There was some kind of fire that changed them from the inside out, that motivated them for the rest of their lives, that made them leave family and everything that they have to go to a land that they do not know and preach the gospel and change society in their wake.

Something got into them. Something deep, something that goes beyond rules.

A heart change, a fire in the heart that only God can give. Let's look at the first four verses as a summary of what was said in chapter 7.

So the first four verses are essentially summing up the argument that we've been making.

Namely, Christ is better. Yes, you have the

Old Testament, you have the temple, you have the Levites who offer sacrifices, but Christ is better.

He's a better king, he's a better priest, he's a better sacrifice. Verse 1 says, he is one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven.

When you hear that language of throne or majesty, that's kingly language. And of course it calls to mind, you should know this by now,

Psalm 110 verse 1, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

He extends his scepter, rule in the midst of your enemies. The Messiah will be a king and this king is seated at the right hand of the

Father. So in verse 1, he is a better king, he's seated at the right hand of God on the heavenly throne.

Verse 2, he is a better priest. We're summing up the argument of chapter 7.

He's a minister in the holy places, a better temple. We'll see this in verse 5.

It's a better temple than what the Jews serve in Jerusalem. It's in the true tent that the

Lord set up, not man. Bezalel was that skilled architect that the

Lord used to craft the things for the tabernacle, the showbread and the articles that were in the temple.

And then this skilled Syrian that came down to help Solomon build the temple.

These were men and they built a temple, but Jesus is in a better temple.

He's a better priest. And finally, he's a better sacrifice. Look at verse 3, every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices.

Thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. They have the blood of bulls and goats.

Jesus has his own body. His sinless life, having walked this earth and never sinned, unstained by the world, unsullied, perfectly clean, representing humanity as the new

Adam. He then lays down his own life as the sacrifice. He offers himself, his own body strung up on the cross, bleeding and dying as the

Lamb of God, a better sacrifice. And so the first four verses sum this up. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all.

In other words, he's not a Levite. He comes from a better priesthood.

Levites come from Abraham, right? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Change his name to Israel. Twelve tribes that come from Israel.

The Levites come through Abraham. But in Genesis 14,

Abraham himself is submitted to a higher priesthood, that of Melchizedek. Remember that?

The lesser blesses the greater. I mean, the lesser tithes to the greater and the greater blesses the lesser.

We don't have time to go through chapter 7 again. The point is, the Levites are a lesser priesthood than Melchizedek.

Jesus comes from this higher order of priests. He wouldn't be a priest.

He was not even a Levite if he were here. There are priests who offer gifts according to the law.

So now, move into verse 5. This is extremely interesting. All of those

Levites who offer sacrifices at the temple, they serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.

For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.

Remember that? From Exodus 20 to 24, where Moses goes up on Sinai and he gets the

Ten Commandments, Exodus 20, and then he gives all the other laws to the people of Israel. Exodus 24, he sprinkles blood on the people to indicate by that animal blood that they're in covenant with God.

And then in chapter 25, he gets all the articles of the tabernacle, the showbread, and the labor, and all of these things that are gonna be in the temple.

Point being, at the end of Exodus 25, God tells him, make sure,

Moses, that you make it exactly the way I told you. Why does it have to be so exact?

Why does it have to look exactly like this? Well, we're told in verse 5 why that was.

They serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things.

God had a prototype in heaven, and what he was making on earth through these people was a type or shadow of that.

This represented what heaven itself looks like. So they had to be precise because they were replicating something in heaven.

They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. Isn't that interesting?

It's only a shadow. When I was a child, a very young child,

I went to Epcot with my family. And at one point, in the mass of people moving about,

I lost sight of my family, and as I turned around, I couldn't see them. And so I did what every little kid does in that situation.

I stood there and screamed at the top of my lungs, Mommy! Daddy! Well, my dad was like two feet away.

I just somehow missed him. And he turned, and when I saw him,

I clung to his leg, and then he scooped me up and held me. Now, if I had turned and saw his shadow on the ground and recognized that it was my dad's shadow, would

I have turned and dove on that shadow and hugged it and held on to the shadow and clambered for it?

That would be a foolish thing to do. Who dives after a shadow? No. I see the shadow, and that means, as I see my shadow right here, that means that there's a reality that's casting that shadow.

So look at this language in verse 5. They serve a copy and shadow. The Old Testament is filled with shadows.

The tabernacle, where God would dwell with men, is only a shadow of John 1 14.

And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.

The priesthood, offering all these sacrifices, only a shadow cast by the reality of heaven.

The King of heaven, who comes as a priest and sacrifices himself for us.

Those things were only ever meant to be shadows. They could never be the reality.

All the prophets who ever preached were pointing to the true and greatest prophet. All the kings who reigned were pointing to the true

King of heaven. They're shadows, they're types, but they point to the reality, and that reality is

Christ. And so he's so much better, so much better than anything else, any other shadow that's ever cast in this earth.

That's what verse 5 tells us. That's why Moses had to be so particular in the things he built.

Now verses 6 through 8. 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 to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says, now look at that verse 8, does it say he finds fault with it?

When he says, what's your Bible say? It says he finds fault with them.

In other words, the old covenant law, what God gave on Mount Sinai through Moses, has no fault.

It's a good and pure law. There's nothing wrong with it. The Ten Commandments are good, but there's fault with them.

There's something wrong with those who are trying to keep it. What's wrong with us?

You guys are looking at each other saying, well there's a lot. My husband, I mean, I can give you a list of the things wrong with him.

Or you look in your own heart and you say, oh there's a lot wrong with me, if you only knew. We have a fallen sin nature.

There's something wrong with us. So in verse 8, he finds fault with them when he says, the problem was not the law.

But it did have a fault in that it could not accomplish righteousness. The first temple that was built was ultimately destroyed by the

Babylonians. Why? Because God found fault with the people not keeping the covenant, he sent the

Babylonians to discipline his people for 70 years of exile in Babylon. And then he brought them back into the promised land.

And by the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah, they rebuilt the temple in all its glory in the days of Herod.

And second try, second miss. There's a song on Christian radio right now that says something about how we're given a second chance.

And I don't remember which song it was. But whenever I hear it, I think, oh

God, I thank you that you don't give me a second chance. Because the same thing that resulted in me failing the first chance is the reason why

I would fail on a second chance. And on a third chance. And on a fourth chance. No matter how many chances

God gives me, I will fail. Because the problem is not the law and the thing he's commanding me to do, the problem is me.

He found fault with them. They can't keep it. You see, the law is only outward.

It's good, it shows the righteousness of God, but like a mirror it reflects to us how far short we all fall.

You see the righteous standard and then when you fall short of it, thou shalt not covet. How many of you in your heart have coveted something that belonged to another?

Maybe that's why you watch some of those shows about the new house and how they build it and maybe that's just because you want that house.

Maybe not, maybe it's just entertaining, I don't know. But the point is all of us fall short of the glory of God.

We don't keep the law and it shows us our fault. It can't change us from the inside out.

Spurgeon told this story when he was preaching about this. He said there was a man killed on Holbein Hill this week and I've heard that there was little or no external appearance of injury upon his body.

He got injured, but he looked like he was fine. He had been crushed between an omnibus and a cart and all the wounds were internal, but he died just as surely as if he had been beaten black and blue or cut in a thousand gashes.

So a man may die of internal sin. It does not appear outwardly for certain reasons, but he will die of it just the same if it be within.

Many a man has died from internal bleeding and yet there was no wound whatever to be seen by the eye.

You, my dear hearer, may go to hell as well dressed in the garnishings of morality as in the rags of immorality.

Unless the very center of your soul and the core of your being be made obedient to the living God, he will not accept you for he looks not only on your outward actions, but to your heart's secret loyalty or the treachery toward himself.

Some of the most moral upstanding citizens that you could ever see may be dark on the inside, and in fact all of us are.

The fault is with us. None of us are pure of heart that we would be blessed by our own merits.

Hebrews 8, 8 to 12 provides a solution, and this is something that is fitting with a better king, a better priest, a better sacrifice.

Here you have a better covenant, a new covenant. Let's look at it.

Verses 8 to 12. It's quoting from Jeremiah, and that's fitting because Jeremiah was the last prophet to the first temple

Judaism. After all those years and attempt to obey

God and obey the law, they kept failing until finally God sent a last prophet, Jeremiah, and for 50 years he preached to the people, and nobody wanted to listen.

Nobody listened to the prophet, and so he sent them into exile, but not before he gave this promise.

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.

If you want to circle or underline something, there's the thing to underline for chapter 8. Hebrews 8, it's about the new covenant, a new covenant.

It's with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, but it also will graft in the

Gentiles. Most of us sitting in this room are not Jewish by descent, and yet we also are part of this covenant.

We who believe in Jesus. Verse 9 and following, It's not like the covenant that 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. What was the problem with the old covenant? Was it good or bad? It was good, it was faultless, but nobody could keep it.

They broke all ten of the commandments, as do each of us, at least at the level of the heart.

But in verse 10, for this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the

Lord. I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts.

I will be their God and they shall be my people. Do you see the intimacy of that?

This is a relationship and it's a transforming relationship where grace, the grace of God, is now going to penetrate to the depths of the human soul, to the very affections of the heart, the thoughts that you think.

He'll write his law in their minds and write them on their hearts. Verse 11,

They shall not teach each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

The problem with ethnic Israel under the old covenant is that some were true Israel. God by his

Spirit had given them the new heart, but most of the nation were only Israel ethnically.

They hadn't been changed on the inside, they were just going through the motions on the outside. In the church, every person who has believed in Jesus knows the

Lord. We've been given this knowledge from on high. The Spirit has actually called us inwardly.

There's been an outward announcement that someone has told you that Jesus is the Christ, the

Son of the Living God. You've been told about how he died on the cross and rose from the dead, but God has so drawn your heart that you believe that message, the inward call of God, and you know him.

You talk to him, you pray to him. He's your

God, and when you hear his words, you love these words, and you submit to these words, because this is his voice given in Scripture.

He's written this on your heart. From the least to the greatest, from the cobbler to the parliamentarian, each of us has that same access to the

Father through the Son. We all know him. And then in verse 12, for I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.

This is perhaps the greatest thing about the new covenant. The forgiveness of sin is granted at that moment of transformation.

Under the old covenant, how did it work? Laws. Leviticus 26,

Deuteronomy 28. If you keep those laws, you will be blessed. If you don't live up to it, you'll be cursed.

It's based on your performance. If you keep the law, you'll be rewarded. But here in this covenant, something happens in your heart.

A transformation. And at that very moment, at the outset, your sins are completely forgiven.

Absolutely washed away from his memory. Now that doesn't mean in the sense that God doesn't know, because he's always omniscient, but he will never remember those sins against you.

He considers them washed, forgiven, cleansed, and gone. I like the analogy of the

East and the West. I think it's Psalm 103, is it? He removes our sin from us as far as the

East is from the West. I might have that reference wrong, but the Bible says it. And what's interesting about the

East and the West is that they never meet. North and South, they meet at the North and South poles.

But East and West are directions that go on forever. Around and around the globe you go. East and West never meet.

They're directions. The Bible says that he removes your sin from you as far as the

East is from the West. Forgiveness of sin completely granted when you come to Christ, at the moment of conversion.

Well, wouldn't you think that would result in a pretty wicked people? I mean, if you tell me

I'm forgiven, that's a license to sin. I'm already forgiven at the outset.

I might as well do whatever the flesh desires. Serve myself. And that's a criticism raised by many against genuine

Christianity. Of course, Romans 6, Paul says, may it never be. And how is it not so?

The answer is the new covenant. In conversion, when your sins are washed away, he puts in you a new heart and a new mind.

He writes his law on your heart and on your mind. As you're converted to Christ, now he changes your desires and he gives you a spirit that you would desire to walk with him.

And so the entirety of the Christian life is worship. This is true of no other religion.

Every other religion is a process of working like a hamster on a wheel to please

God. Whereas Christianity is a life of worship. Forgiven on the front end.

You're forgiven at the outset. Your sins completely washed away. You are now restored and given a heart of love that you would love the

God who forgave you. Gratitude. We are the ones who look to Christ on that cross and we recognize the cost that he paid.

And him alone bearing our burden on his shoulders and satisfying it in full.

And we are left completely under grace, forgiven. And the response of that Christian heart is to say, now what

Lord? I will do whatever you say. You're my God. That's the new covenant.

He then changes the heart from the inside out to worship him in spirit and in truth.

The letter killeth, but the spirit gives life. That's what's in view here in the new covenant.

Our iniquities will be remembered no more. Finally in verse 13, in speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete.

And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

And it did. The temple fell a couple years later. Why? Because the work of Christ is finished.

There's no need for the shadow when you have the reality. There's no need for animal sacrifices when you have the

Lamb of God. The King is on his throne. And there's a new covenant that goes with this.

So in closing, an application of this. What do we make of this new covenant? Take these words from Jeremiah written way ahead of time about the time in which you live and recognize you live in the greatest time of history.

Well, there's coming the millennium in the eternal state, but you live on this side of the cross.

And you are promised a new covenant that he will change you. Believe that.

There might be times when you have wicked thoughts that bounce around in your head. Know this.

They have no power over you. The blood of Christ has forgiven those things. And so the devil will eventually leave you alone when you recognize

Christ already paid your price. There's nothing to fear. He can't condemn a sinner who says, yeah,

I'm the sinner. But Christ dies for the ungodly. And the devil says, you're so ungodly, you'll never make it.

And you say, well, Christ dies for the ungodly. That's his perfect love. And you're afraid to do what

God's called you to do? Until you remember that his perfect love will cast out all fear.

This is the promise of the new covenant to be remade. Consider it over against every other system in the world.

So first temple Judaism, failed. Second temple Judaism, try number two, failed.

If there were a third try, it would fail again. I think of a religion like Islam.

Islam makes five outward demands called the five pillars. You say the

Shahada, that there's no God, according to them, but the name I won't even mention from the pulpit.

And they say Muhammad is their prophet. You have to give 2 .5

% of your income. You have to pray five times a day. You have to take a journey from Mecca to Medina once in your life.

Do these sort of things and God will accept you. And many Muslims following that system assume they're good people because they keep those outward regulations.

And yet their founder advanced this religion by the sword. And he took a bride who was eight years old among his many wives.

The wickedness of that man's heart and yet claiming this outward religion that then sweeps over the world.

Hinduism offering outward appeasement to a million gods.

I asked where were those million gods when the widows were being thrown on the fire? They were awfully quiet.

They did nothing to change the heart of men and women. Until the Christian gospel came.

Hearts touched by fire and changed society. I think of the communist systems that have sought to bring equality to all.

And all they brought was equal misery to all. Many outward systems that the world proposes, none of them can change the heart of man.

But we have a gospel that penetrates to the depth of the human heart. And changes us from the inside out.

And changed individuals will change society in time. And so our charge is to go out preaching

Christ and Him crucified. With power and passion to recognize that we reign with Him.

Touched by fire. Touched by a baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes us from the inside out.

And motivates us not to earn from God but to worship the God who has served us first.

His love went before ours. He laid down his life and now he calls us to love.

I've been approached in the last two months by five different people in this congregation.

Few of them I see in the room right now. All with the heart to fight against abortion.

And we're working on things to do that. Somebody right now is building a blog that will be released at some point.

Which is not just a blog but an entire website to help bring people to a knowledge of truth on this issue.

Others may go down and be trained in Charlotte with a ministry called Love Life. Others have gone to the to that Child Sacrifice Center in Cherry Hill and pleaded with women not to kill their babies.

And offered to help. Adopt if necessary. Do whatever it is that we could do to show love and rescue those who are being brought to the slaughter.

Where does that desire come from? And why does it occur in five different peoples at once?

Because the Spirit touches one and touches another. And touches and motivates and stirs from the inside out.

And when they go they will go preaching the gospel first. Because only the gospel can change the heart.

And then offering love and assistance in any way possible. You see the new covenant makes all of these things happen.

The new covenant sends us out first of all to preach Christ. And secondly to do good works in his name.

Preaching the gospel transforms individuals and society. Because that is God's new covenant promise for all of us.

Let's pray. God we thank you for Hebrews chapter 8. And we ask in Jesus name that you would touch every last one of us with your holy fire.

I picture the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Confused by the crucifixion.

Not aware of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But Jesus you approached those disciples on the road.

And you showed them how all of Scripture points to you. Those were the types and shadows.

You are the reality. And afterwards they confessed. Did not our hearts burn while he talked to us on the way?

I asked Spirit of God that you would make our hearts to burn this morning. According to your new covenant promise.

Write your law on our hearts. Change the way we think. Open our eyes to behold the glory of Jesus Christ.

And send us out preaching in his name. I pray that you would stir us up to love and good deeds.

Fan into flame the gift that is in us. Baptize us afresh in your

Holy Spirit and fire. I pray that every one of us goes from this place with the new covenant promise in our minds.

And the gospel on our lips. That we would preach that Jesus is King. The Lord.

We would preach that he is the priest who laid down his life for sinners like us. Pray that you would now empower your people according to the promise.

In Jesus name. Amen. Let's stand and worship. Holds our days within his hands.

What comes apart from his command. And what will keep us to the end.

The love of Christ in which we stand. Oh sing hallelujah.

Our hope springs eternal. Oh sing hallelujah.

Now and ever we confess. Christ our hope in life and death.

What truth can calm the troubled soul?

God is good. God is good. There is his grace and goodness known.

In our great Redeemer's blood. To hold our faith when fears arise.

Who stands above the stormy tide. Who sends the waves that bring us nigh.

Unto the shore the rock of Christ. Oh sing hallelujah.

Our hope springs eternal. Oh sing hallelujah.

Now and ever we confess. Christ our hope in life and death.

Unto the grave what shall we sing? Christ he lives.

Christ he lives. And what reward will heaven bring?

Everlasting life in him. Christ to meet the

Lord. And sin and death have been restored.

And we will feast in endless joy. When Christ is ours forevermore.

Oh sing hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal.

Oh sing hallelujah. Now and ever we confess.

Christ our hope in life and death. Oh sing hallelujah.

Our hope springs eternal. Oh sing hallelujah.

Christ our hope in life and death. Peace who brought again from the dead our

Lord Jesus. The great shepherd of the sheep. By the blood of the eternal covenant.

Equip you with everything good that you may do his will. Working in us that which is pleasing in his sight.