Better in Every Way (Hebrews 12:24) | Worship Service

Church this morning. Would you please stand as we sing Standing on the Promises medley? I'm standing. I got it. All right. Psalm 62. Surely my soul waits in silence for God. From him is my salvation. Surely he is my rock and my salvation.

My stronghold I shall not greatly be shaken. How long will you assail a man? That you may murder him, all of you, like a leaning wall, like a fence thrust down. Surely they have counsel to thrust him down from his high position.

They find pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouth, but inwardly they curse. Surely wait in silence for God, O my soul, for my hope is from him. Surely he is my rock and my salvation. My stronghold I shall not be shaken.

On God my salvation and my glory rests. The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. We're going to sing together, My Soul Will Wait, Psalm 62.

When the enemy surrounds and my heart grows faint within, when the darkness overwhelms and my fears are pressing in, I will trust in you. In the silence I will wait. I will stand upon your world, my solid rock and my salvation, my steadfast hope that won't be shaken.

My soul will wait. My soul, you're my stronghold and my salvation, my steadfast hope that won't be shaken. My soul, my soul, is blessed through your sacrifice so great.

Fellowship Dinners, Movie Night, and Building Projects

Announcements and a couple of these are a little bit more detailed than maybe most of our announcements are. But first, there is a new round of fellowship dinners starting up in this next quarter. So if you want to be part of a group of other families that meet together and fellowship and have food and get to know each other, then make sure you sign up for the fellowship dinner rotation on the welcome table out in the foyer.

And then second, September 6th, we're planning to have a movie night here. That is a Wednesday night. And we're going to be watching the new film from Living Waters, What Is It? It is their pro-life film that they produced.

Knowing that it comes from Living Waters, Ray Comfort and the gang, you know it's going to be excellent, and you know it's going to have a gospel presentation. So you're welcome to show up for that. We will have popcorn here available, and we're going to watch that film together.

And then third, I needed to give a little bit of an update on the upstairs and the progress with that because we have been intending to finish that project and get those classrooms done upstairs so we can move some of the overflow crowding that we have in Sunday school classrooms and even possibly adult Sunday school class to some of those rooms upstairs.

We got started on that this spring, and basically when it came time to put in the heating, ventilation, air conditioning unit and the units that were supposed to go up there, we realized or found out that what we had designed two decades ago now when we designed this building is no longer up to code.

So we had to redesign the HVAC for that, and it's going to be a little bit more expensive, and we're going to have to use a package unit instead of a couple of the small units, all of that to say that that engineering has been done, and we're hoping to put in a concrete pad on this side of the building to feed the air conditioning and ventilation for the upstairs.

And once we get that done, then the rest of the dominoes will kind of begin to fall relatively quickly after that. And I don't know that we're going to have it done by the end of this year, certainly not by the first of September, which we'd hoped, but all you can do is just love and pray for the regulators and the people who know far better than any of us.

There is, and of course you know that that's said with all the sarcasm I can suppress. Also in keeping with that is some expansion and improvement to a parking lot that we're going to do. So we've had our stormwater management plan redone, and we are going to have some stormwater management work done on our property here as well as an expansion of the parking lot.

So on this side behind me to the north, we're going to add another, I don't know how many feet it is, but it's quite a few feet to the north of this that will be additional parking lot. And that will be done ready to pave so that in the event that someday we get ready to pave, that one will be to grade and it will have everything necessary to do that.

And the same will be true on this side of the building from the kitchen doorway here all the way almost to the driveway that comes in on the southeast corner of the building out to very close to the road.

That's all going to become parking out there. And Lord willing, we'll have that done in the month of September. We'll be working on that in the month of September. So before the rain come, before the snow hits, we're hoping to have updated and upgraded parking lot ready for the winter.

So that's where we're at with those projects. Turn now if you will please to Hebrews chapter 8 for our scripture reading. Hebrews chapter 8. We're going to be in the book of Hebrews in chapter 8 and then again in chapter 12 when we are during the sermon time and looking at that passage.

But our scripture reading is from Hebrews 8, and we're going to read together the entire chapter. It's not very long. Hebrews 8, beginning of verse 1. Now the main point in what has been said is this.

We have such a high priest who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty and the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, not man.

For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law, who serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle.

For see, he says, that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain. But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, he says, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, but they did not continue in my covenant and I did not care for them, says the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their minds and I will write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

They shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen and everyone his brother saying, know the Lord, for all will know me from the least to the greatest of them, for I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.

When he said a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete, but whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. Will you stand with me as we pray? Bow our heads. Our Father, it is a great mercy that you have extended to us, your people, that we are able to gather here together and to worship you today.

We thank you for the many spiritual blessings that you have poured out on us in your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for the hope and promise of the new covenant, where our sins and our iniquities are remembered no more.

You've taken them out of the way through the sacrifice of your Son. We thank you for that. We thank you for opening our eyes and our hearts to that reality, drawing us to yourself, that we may be brought to Zion, the city of the living God, and be incorporated with the church of the firstborn, the royal children of God.

All of these great blessings you have lavished upon us and we thank you for it. It's by your grace we are undeserving. We deserved only your wrath and only your punishment for our sins and for our iniquities, but we thank you, O gracious God, that you have laid those upon your Son and because of his work, because of what he has done, we can come and approach your throne of grace and petition you, find grace to help in time of need.

You have brought us near through the blood of your Son and forgiven us all our iniquities, so we thank you for that and ask your blessing upon our time of worship and our time of fellowship together. Direct our hearts and our minds and our affections to you and to the truth of your word and we pray that you would be honored and glorified as we sing to you praise that you are due and may you draw near to us in the preaching of your word and in our time of fellowship around it.

You would be honored and glorified in the hearts and affections and the thoughts of your people this morning we ask in Christ's name. Amen.

Oh for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise. The glories of my God and King the triumphs of his grace my gracious master and my God assist me to proclaim to spread the pride he honored.

He's just the name. In Ephesians chapter 2 verse 13 to 22 it says. But now in Christ Jesus you who were formerly were.

Far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who made both groups one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition by abolishing in his flesh the enmity the law of commandments contained in ordinances so that in himself he might create the two into one new man making peace and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross having in himself but death the enmity.

And he came and preached the good news of peace to you who are far away and peace to those who are near. For through him we both have our access in one spirit to the father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household.

Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being joined together is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit.

We're going to end our music service this morning.

And sing forgiven lord forgive us for our pride when our faith becomes a show dressed in righteous deeds. To hide all the stains below. We have judged your sons and daughters for the sin that is our own.

May we now forgive each other and lay down our stone. Forgive forgiven. Through the blood of Christ we are for lord. Forgive us for our love of the things we wish to own. We forsake the feast above for all the crimes below.

Though you fade us sons and daughters we do not the world disown. May we find our greatest treasure is in you. Through the blood we avoid your sons and daughters for the fear we don't belong. Give us eyes to see each other through your forgive.

Through the blood of forgive. Need to turn please to hebrews chapter 12.

Let's begin with a word of prayer. Our gracious god we have sung to you those things which are true of you and your character and your redemptive plan. You spoke in true things in our worship and in our praise.

And now we pray that you would speak your truth to us in your word help us to understand what is written here the implications of it. We pray that you would grant that we may live in a manner that is worthy of this high calling with which we have been called.

As we reflect upon your many and great blessings. We pray that you would sanctify us by your truth and open our eyes and our hearts to your word. We ask this in christ's name. Amen. Hebrews chapter 12.

We're going to begin reading in verse 22 and we'll read through verse 24. But you have come to mount zion and to the city of the living god the heavenly jerusalem and to myriads of angels to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to god the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of abel.

We come now to this final items these final items on the list of blessings that have bestowed upon us in the new covenant. And we come now really to the reason and the means and the surety the certainty that these glorious blessings shall be ours.

This is the crowning jewel of this list and the author has saved i think the best. For last we've come to jesus and to the blood sprinkled which speaks better than the blood of abel. He is the mediator of the new covenant.

We have been brought to the city of the living god. Verse 22 says that's true. The heavenly jerusalem. We have been brought to the gathering of festive angels in this massive assembly which is the worship that goes on in heaven that is a blessing.

We have been brought to the church of the first born. We are therefore the royal children of god by by adoption into god's family. All of those are great blessings. And we have been brought even to god himself who is the judge of all.

And that is something that is all of those things really are are inconceivable in light of the depth of our sin and the hurdle that that presented to us enjoying any of these blessings let alone even a single one.

But now we have come to jesus who is the mediator of the new covenant and the sprinkle blood. And that tells us why it is and how it is that all of these other blessings we get to enjoy. How is it and why is it that we are incorporated into the the company of the festive angels.

And we are brought into the church of the firstborn and we are adopted into the family of god. How is it that we have been secured into this everlasting and eternal city which is ours. How is it that we have been brought and come to all of these things.

It is because we have also come to jesus who is the mediator of the new covenant. And the one we have been brought to the blood which is sprinkled and speaks better than the blood of abel. In fact this growing list or this this massive list of blessings which incorporates blessings present and blessings future all of it is secured for us by the blood of christ.

And you will notice the word in verse 24 which is returns us to a theme of hebrews that is the word better. This blood this sprinkled blood speaks better than the blood of abel. That word better is used 13 times in the book of hebrews 13 times.

It's one of the main themes in hebrews as jesus is compared with all of the features and forms of the old covenant and the old testament. And at every turn with every example with every comparison we find out that jesus is better he is superior he is more excellent.

And this is the 13th the final time that the word better is used in the book of hebrews. It has been used to describe the new covenant which is better than the old jesus sacrifice which is better than the animals.

Jesus blood which is better than the blood of bulls and goats. Jesus priesthood which is better than the ironic priesthood. The covenant which is better than the old covenant. That's how the word has been used.

And now we come to this final reference to a main theme in the book of hebrews. And you know that once we come to the last reference the last mention of a theme of a book that we're also coming close to the end of the book so there's a little bit of hope his blood speaks better than the blood of abel.

Now all of these things mentioned in verse 24 jesus being a the new covenant and the blood all of that brings us back to themes and ideas that the first 10 chapters of the book of hebrews expounded at great length.

And we took the time to go through that comparison the new covenant and the old covenant. Jesus as a mediator compared to old testament priest his blood compared to the blood of animals. And we took the time to labor through those 10 chapters.

So in our examination of verse 24 here today i don't need to recover all of that ground and rehash all of that material because it was 10 chapters that we spent looking at those things. So i'm just going to connect some of the dots between this text and some of the things that we have covered in order that we can see why it is that the author at this point mentions these three blessings.

We've come to a better mediator who has inaugurated a better covenant with a better blood. And as i said all three themes previously mentioned. So now we can just jump into that outline which that is our outline we have a better mediator who has inaugurated a better covenant and sealed it with better blood.

Better mediator better covenant better blood. Let's first look in verse 24 at the better mediator we have come to jesus who is the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of abel.

In this context jesus is not the only mediator that is mentioned. There are two other mediators that are mentioned in our context. And there is an intended comparison here though the author does not use the term mediator to speak of moses or the angels.

There is an intended comparison here with those two moses and the angels because there is a sense in which both moses and the angels served as mediators under the old covenant. If you look up at verse 18 verse 19 to the blast of the trumpet and the sound of words which was sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to him for they could not bear the command.

If even a beast touches the mountain it will be stoned. And so terrible was the sight that moses said i am full of fear and trembling. And the angels are mentioned in verse 22. And we know from other references in scripture which i gave you several weeks ago that the angels were involved in some way in mediating the old covenant when it was given at sinai.

Paul mentions this in galatians chapter 3. Why the law then it was added because of transgressions having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.

So angels were present at sinai and they in some way transferred or mediated the law as it was given to the nation of israel. And moses himself was also a mediator. He was a go-between or a stand-between between israel and god.

Remember it was israel who was not allowed to even approach the base of the mountain. But it was moses who went up on the mountain and stood there and received the law for israel. And then moses brought that law back down and delivered it to the nation of israel.

This is what a mediator do. A mediator is one who delivers something on behalf of another. That's one idea of mediation. And it is that sense which moses was a mediator. And then we know also that the angels were somehow involved in the ordaining of the law at mount sinai.

That ordaining of the law is what is described. That's the event described in verse 18 of chapter 12. There's another mess. There's another meaning to the word mediator. And that is one who is an arbitrator or an umpire or a go-between.

One who brings two factions together. One who is a reconciler mediator is one who stands between two parties and mediates something between these two parties to bring two parties together and to to execute as it were or to negotiate a settlement between two parties and an arbitrator who brings two factions together.

And this is the way in which jesus is also a mediator. He's the mediator of the new covenant because he brings us to god. He stands between the father and us. And we were at enmity with god and all of our sin all of our violation of the law all of our transgressions our iniquities and our guilt stood between us and god.

And the necessity was that that that hostility needed to be dealt with. God was rightly angry with us because we had offended his law and violated his law and we deserved his wrath. That wrath had to be satisfied that hostility had to be taken away and the enmity the division between the father and us had to be reconciled.

It had to be had to be be glossed over to be dealt with. And that is what the lord jesus does as a mediator. He is an arbitrator between yahweh and between us. And being one who is both god and man. He is the perfect mediator.

For he is able to stand between the one who is god and lay his hand as it were upon yahweh and being infinitely and fully righteous. He is able to then stand and lay or stand and lay his hand upon us man and act as our representative in terms of his sacrifice and as god's representative in terms of satisfying his wrath.

And he is able to atone for our sin on the cross and thus bring us together so that he has reconciled us to the father through his death on the cross. And he is therefore a mediator now. Moses didn't do that as a mediator.

Moses didn't remove enmity. Moses revealed our enmity. When the law came we saw sin and we knew sin. And when god said thou shalt not we said but i have i'm guilty. And then god said thou shalt not and i've done that too and i'm guilty and thou shalt not and i've done that too and i am guilty.

So far from removing the hostility or the enmity the old covenant and moses as a mediator simply revealed our hostility. It revealed our sin and the justice. And what that justice would look like if god were to pour out his wrath upon sin.

But jesus is a better mediator superior. He occupies a better priesthood which is an eternal priesthood. He has offered a better blood. He has offered a better sacrifice. He is a better priest. He provides a better intercession hebrews 7 verse 15.

If another priest arises according to the likeness of melchizedek who has become such not on the basis of the law of physical requirement but according to the power of an indestructible life. That's what makes him a better priest.

He has an indestructible life hebrews 7 24 5. Therefore he is able also to save forever those who draw near to god through him since he always lives to make intercession for them. Because he is a perfect intercessor because he stands between us the father and between us and the father he is able to reconcile these two parties.

Which i think is why the author uses the name jesus here instead of christ or even jesus christ. Jesus is the name of his humanity. Remember the angel told joseph you will name him jesus for he will save his people from their sins.

What do you name this one who is genuine true man. His his human name is jesus. The office that he occupies the office of his divinity or his messiahship is christ. But his human name is jesus. So we now come to jesus who is the perfect mediator.

The one who can stand as perfectly righteous and represent us to the father. He is a better mediator than moses. Moses brought israel to sinai and the law came through moses. Christ brings us to zion and grace and truth come to us through him.

Moses did not remove enmity but christ does. He's a better mediator. Second he has inaugurated a better covenant. Verse 24. He's the mediator of a new covenant. We have been brought to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of abel.

There's a contrast here again and i just remind you of it verses 18 through 21 sinai. That was the initiation or the inauguration of the old covenant the mosaic covenant where god gave the law to moses and instituted a priesthood and a priestly class and sacrifices and gave instructions for the tabernacle and the way in which sinners would approach god through the basis of a blood sacrifice.

All of that was inaugurated at sinai. And now we are told here that jesus has initiated or inaugurated a better covenant. It is also a new covenant. That's the word that's used here. New covenant is described elsewhere in hebrews as a better covenant.

Now oftentimes things that are new are not necessarily better. You familiar with that. You might get a new phone but it might not be as good as your previous phone. Take new coke for instance everybody it's over 35 or so remembers the debacle that was new coke.

New coke was not necessarily better than coke. Classic things that are new are not necessarily better than things that are old. But in terms of the covenant this covenant the new covenant far superior to the old covenant in every way.

It's better in every way. Hebrews 8 verse 8. For finding fault with them he says behold days are coming says the lord when i will affect a new covenant with the house of israel. Chapter 8 verse 13. When he said a new covenant he has made the first obsolete.

But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. Hebrews 9 verse 15 says. For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant so that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant those who have been called may receive the promise of an eternal inheritance.

The old covenant is obsolete. And here's something to remember. We cover this back in chapter 8 when god says that he is inaugurating and creating and bringing to us a new covenant. He is not describing the old covenant with all of its forms and features with something just added on to it like an appendix or like you hook a trailer onto something else.

He's talking about one thing. The old covenant that has been taken away and made obsolete and has been replaced by something entirely new and entirely better. It is a new covenant and a better covenant.

So we don't take the law of moses and all the stipulations of it and just simply attach christ to that like you might just throw on an extra layer of clothing or something that old covenant is entirely done away with.

And something new and far superior has come. The old covenant could not make us righteous. It could not take away sin. It could not mediate a relationship to god in the sense of bringing us near. Do you remember that with the old covenant there was the veil that stood between the ark of the covenant with the mercy seat on top of that and the outside of the temple.

And that on one day a year only one man of all of israel got to step behind that and apply the blood of the sacrifice to the mercy seat. At no point ever under the old covenant did ever people people ever feel like they could draw near to god in the way that you and i can.

But now the veil has been torn in two and the blood has been applied and forgiveness has been purchased by the blood of christ. And now we can draw near. And we can draw near freely. And we can draw near forever.

So far superior. The old covenant revealed your sin. The new covenant reveals the source of your righteousness. The old covenant made your sin known. And the new covenant provides us righteousness. The old covenant called for your damnation.

The new covenant provides a payment for your sin so that you will not be damned. The old covenant kept you at a distance. The new covenant draws you near every blessing that is listed here in verses 22 through 24.

Every last one of them has been purchased by the blood of the new covenant by the blood of the sacrifice of the new covenant the lord jesus christ. So if god has spilled his own blood the blood of his own son in order to purchase all of these blessings for you then how will he not with him also freely give you all things.

Give you all things. Give you victory over your besetting sin. The strength to say no. The strength and the grace to resist temptation deliverance from your guilt strength to obey and pursue holiness and the sanctification without which no one will see the lord.

All of that is provided in the new covenant. Second or third i should say this is sealed by a better blood. We have a better mediator and a better covenant. These things we understand. It is sealed now by a better blood.

This is an intriguing statement. We have been brought to the sprinkled blood verse 24 which speaks better than the blood of abel a sprinkled blood that describes that is the language by the way of sacrifice sprinkled blood not just blood poured out not just blood spent something like that.

But the language of sprinkled blood is the language of it's the old testament language of sacrifice a blood that has been applied. And it is the picture of the day of atonement on yom kippur which i mentioned just earlier a few minutes ago where one man the high priest would enter into the tabernacle on one day of year the day of atonement it was the highest holy day of the nation of israel.

And he would take the blood of the animal that was offered outside of the tabernacle. And he would step behind the curtain. And he would apply that to the mercy seat above the broken law which was contained in the ark of the covenant.

And he would do that not by pouring but he would sprinkle the blood on that mercy seat. So the reference here to sprinkle blood speaks of a blood that is applied. It speaks to the blood of a sacrifice that's what's being described.

He's not just describing blood in the sense of blood but a blood that was shed as a sacrifice and as an offering to atone for sin. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11. But when christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this creation and not through the blood of goats and calves.

But through his own blood he entered the holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh how much more will the blood of christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to god cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living god.

You hear the contrast there between the old tabernacle and the new tabernacle which is christ the old sacrifice the new sacrifice. The blood sprinkled then the blood sprinkled now. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 11.

Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But he having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time sat down at the right hand of god waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet.

For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. That is a glorious truth. All the old testament priests could come in and offer blood after blood after blood sacrifice after sacrifice and never even begin to approach paying for sin.

It was simply a picture of a full and final payment of sin that was to come. But he having offered one sacrifice has perfected that is made mature or brought to an end that completed the salvation for all time of those who are sanctified.

This is the language of blood applied under the old covenant. Sacrifice was not complete and a priest had not done his job until the blood was applied where the blood needed to be applied. Do you remember yom kippur.

It wasn't enough for the priest to offer the sacrifice outside of the tabernacle and then leave the blood there. It wasn't enough for him to do that and to burn incense and do everything else he had to take that blood behind the veil and apply it to the mercy seat.

That was what was required on the night of passover. It wouldn't have been enough if the children of israel had slaughtered the passover lamb and roasted its flesh and eaten it with all of the accoutrements that went with the passover meal and followed all of the destruction instructions.

If they had not applied the blood to the doorposts they would have been executed. On the night of the passover the blood had to be applied. So here's the question for you. Has his blood been applied to you.

Or do you simply observe the glories of that sacrifice from a distance. Do you admire his love and his grace that a man would die for his enemies. And do you admire the love and the grace that is poured out in the hearts of others.

Do you simply acknowledge mentally that yes a sacrifice was needed and that sacrifice was sufficient but i really don't want any part of that. Or has the blood of his sacrifice been applied to you. Another way of asking that is have you been born again.

Or are you covered by the blood of his sacrifice. If you are not covered by the blood of christ and if that blood has not been applied to your account evidenced by your repentance and your faith then you will admire the virtues of that sacrifice from afar until the day of your judgment.

It must be applied to you it must cover you. And the evidence of that will be your repentance and your faith. These two things christ and his sacrifice. Jesus is the mediator and the blood which speaks better than the blood of abel.

These two things are inseparable because one describes his person he is the mediator. The other describes his worth at work. He has sprinkled blood. He has offered a sacrifice. And to come to him and receive any of the blessings in verses 22 to 24 is to receive all of those blessings that have been purchased by and only by the blood of christ.