God of the Covenants

Hebrews 8 and the New Covenant

And once again, we will continue our studies of the book of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews chapter 8, once again, let us implore the Lord for his help and assistance in understanding his word. Indeed, our gracious Heavenly Father, as we open your word once more, especially as we consider this very important passage about the New Covenant, that you would help us to understand that by your Spirit you would bless your people with your presence and understanding of your truth, that we might be better servants of yours.

We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Well, as you know, we have been working our way through the book of Hebrews, and this morning we set a new record with a 17-point sermon. And we can thank John Owen for that.

We do not have 17 points this evening, but we do want to try to make it through the 8th chapter of the book of Hebrews. So once again, it's not a long chapter, but let's read together this important text and focus on verses 7 and following.

But in reading it, I will go back and begin at verse 1. Now, the main point of 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 in 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 law, who serve a copy and 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, 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. Amen. As we mentioned this morning, verse 6 is in essence a header.

It is a summary statement of the application or the proof that is offered from this lengthy citation from Jeremiah chapter 31 that begins in verse 8. And so, the author is basically saying, well, here is my point, and I will now prove it from what the scriptures say.

And so, his point is that there is a superiority of Christ's ministry. He has obtained a more excellent ministry. More excellent than what? Well, we were just talking about the high priest that served in the tabernacle and things like this.

And so, Christ has obtained a more excellent ministry. Why then again would you go back to a less excellent ministry from a more excellent ministry? But why is it called a more excellent ministry? The ministry of the high priests, all the fanfare of the day of atonement, that certainly would strike the eyes, is far more impressive than these simple persecuted Christians meeting in a home someplace.

To the outward appearance, it would seem, the beautiful temple and all of its accoutrements, certainly that seems like a much more excellent ministry than what Christ has. But the reason it's a more excellent ministry is not its external looks to the eye, but he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

And so, before in the book of Hebrews, we saw Christ as superior to the angels, and superior to this and that, and the supremacy of Christ, and the person of Christ. But now we have shadow and fulfillment.

That which was ordained by God and that which is now fulfillment. A new covenant, a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. The promises of the new covenant are better than that of the old covenant.

Well, how can that be? Well, we hear the explanation. For if that first covenant had been faultless, without spot, without blame, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. So if God had wanted to immediately establish a perfect and final covenant, he could have done so.

If that was his purpose, if that was his intention, he could have done so. It was not, however, his purpose or intention. The argument of the writer is not to denigrate what God had done in the old covenant.

It is to recognize the true role of the old covenant, and the fact that it points forward to and finds fulfillment in the new covenant. And so, there is a fault that is found. But what is it? Well, it's going to be explained to us, I think, not so much by direct statement as by example of why the new covenant is greater.

We'll be able to see what the fault is. But notice verse 8,. And this is the introduction to this quotation from Jeremiah chapter 31. Now, I mentioned this morning, let me mention to you again very briefly, you might have some translations that will say something other than, for finding fault with them.

It might say, for finding fault, he says to them, leaving open the possibility that what is being found fault with is that preceding covenant, which would flow from verse 7. But it could also be for finding fault with them, that is, the people who did not keep that first covenant.

I don't think that it makes a huge difference in the final application. It certainly doesn't determine the understanding of what follows. But just so you're aware of that, you know that I raise those issues as uncomfortable as they might be, because I have to deal with them all the time.

And I think you need to be aware that those things are there. Now, let's listen once again. What is the promise given to the prophet Jeremiah long, long ago? Behold, days are coming, says Yahweh, says the covenant God of Israel, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and 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.

For they did not continue in my covenant. And I did not care for them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I'll 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.

Let me read that verse again, and let me emphasize them. Let me see if you see something here. I will put my laws into their minds, I will write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

I will, I will, I will, and they shall be my people. Do you see that? And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, everyone his brother, saying, Know the Lord, know Yahweh, 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. Now, this is a tremendous passage. There is so much in it that it has spawned a great deal of discussion. It is fascinating to me that some of our dear Pado-Baptist brethren are somewhat befuzzled by what this text is saying.

I don't know if that's an actual word, but I think it communicates fairly well. Some have even gone to the point of saying, well, this is still yet future even today. There will come a day when the new covenant in its fullness will be established, but it's still, it's still yet future.

We are still in a mixed covenant like the old covenant was, and the day will come. Many of them might be a little bit on the post-millennial side. The day will come when the new covenant will really kick in, but we're sort of working our direction, that direction now.

Others will say the only thing that's really new about the new covenant is the removal of the Old Testament priesthood. And they will say, well, notice the assertion that is made, and they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen and everyone his brother saying, know the Lord.

That's what the priests did, and the priests will be done away with. And that's pretty much all there is in the new covenant that's new. But I think we can see that's just not the case if we allow the text to speak for itself.

Notice what it says. It's put in the form of a prophecy. Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah. Whatever this new covenant is, it's something God does.

It's not the people deciding they want to change. It is initiated by divine power and authority. I will effect a new covenant. Not I will try. Not I will offer. Not I will make it a possibility. I will effect a new covenant.

There isn't any uncertainty here. There isn't any hesitation here. I will effect a new covenant. This is an act of power on God's part. I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah.

Not like the covenant. Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. Now, Reformed writings are filled with the discussion of continuity and discontinuity in the covenants.

Filled with discussions of continuity and discontinuity. How is the new covenant like the old covenant? How is the new covenant different from the old covenant? And how you decide those issues ends up having some rather important ramifications.

For example, our confession of faith talks about the covenant of grace and goes back to the time of Adam. God has always been dealing with his people in a covenant fashion. And yet it's interesting from Adam until Abraham there was no sign given to infants who were a part of that covenant of grace.

And yet there are those today that would say there has to be a sign given to the infants. But there is a difference in how Noah was treated. And you have the Abrahamic covenants. And you have a covenant with David.

And there's much discussion and there's much very important and good discussion of the nature of the covenants. And how they differ from one another and how they're similar to one another. Covenant theology would say that underlying all of the expressions of these covenants is this graciousness of God.

God has always had this purpose. The one thing that we are all agreed upon is that we don't believe that God started one way. And then, oh well, that's not going to work. Alright, I'm going to have to come up with something else.

And he tried something else. Well, he didn't want that. So now I'm going to come up with something else. There are actually people who teach that, you know, when Christ comes, he offers the kingdom to Israel.

They don't want it. So, alright, we're going to have to come up with plan B. And then plan B is the cross and things like this. And we're saying, no, no, no, no, no. That is clearly not what is being taught.

But the continuity and discontinuity, I don't know about you, but verse 9 sounds like discontinuity. As much as the old covenant was divine and had fulfillment and the new and all the rest of these things, there's something about the new covenant that is unlike the old covenant.

There's something that's unlike it. Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. Well, what is that? I think the very next words tell us.

For they did not continue in my covenant and I did not care for them, says the Lord. There was something about that covenant that did not, of necessity, change the people that were in it. And do we, have you not ever sort of sat back and looked at God's dealings with the people of Israel?

Even just during the days of Moses. How many times there's rebellion, how many times there's whining. I mean, these people are getting McDonald's from heaven every day. And they still whine and complain.

They've seen miracles over and over and over again. Water from the rock and the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire and the Red Sea. And most of us would go, man, if I walk through the Red Sea, that's enough for me for the rest of my life.

I figure God's given evidence of his existence and what he's doing and I'm just going to obey. Not for these folks. Not for these folks. I mean, it's only a matter of weeks after seeing these incredible, the plagues and the Red Sea and everything else.

What are they doing? They're dancing and worshipping idols. These individuals, we look at their hearts. And we can see the same thing. The light of the New Testament, we can shine it back upon these individuals.

And yes, there are people under the old covenant. The Spirit of God comes. They have faith. They truly have union with God. There is regeneration that's taken place. But then there are other people. And they bear all the covenant signs.

And they're in the old covenant. They're called covenant breakers, so they're in it. But the covenant does not cause them to continue. They don't know Yahweh. They know about him. How many times have I borrowed from my dearly departed college professor?

It's one thing to know about Christ. It's another thing to be in him and to know him personally. And the history of Israel shows us over and over again. You can see God working. But unless God takes out that heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh.

And by the way, that's an Old Testament example. If he doesn't take out that heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, you can see all the miracles in the world. And you're not changed by them. They did not continue in my covenant.

There's something about the covenant that did not cause them to do so. And then you have this strange phrase. The end of verse 9. And I did not care for them, says the Lord. Now once again, it would be so much easier for the flow of sermonizing.

And believe it or not, I actually took classes many, many years ago now. On how to make sermons flow and have the proper number of points in a poem. And transition into the altar call and stuff like that.

I can skip that part. But most folks would probably just skip over the next comment that I'm going to make. But I can't. I lack the capacity and ability. I ask for your forgiveness. But you see, some of you might be flipping back to Jeremiah chapter 31.

And you might be looking at that. And you might be going, why is there a difference here? Because you see, if you flip back to Jeremiah 31. You compare that with what's found in Hebrews 8. There's a difference at the end of verse 9.

In Jeremiah 31, the Hebrew Masoretic text. It says, even though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But Hebrews says, I did not care for them. Now it would be much more comfortable just to skip over that.

Just keep on going. I hope nobody ever mentioned that to you. But you know me. And I've got to explain to you why there's a difference. The difference is fairly straightforward. The writer of the book of Hebrews is quoting over and over again from the Old Testament.

From the Greek Septuagint. And technically the Greek Septuagint is only the first five books of the Old Testament in Greek. But we sort of use the word in a broader sense. For the translation of all of the Old Testament into Greek.

Which was done at least 200 years before the time of Christ. And we know that the book of Hebrews. Even if it was originally preached in Aramaic or Hebrew. Was certainly written in Greek. At a very high level of Greek.

It really strikes me that it looks like Luke to me. The more I've been reading it. The more I like the theory that Paul preached it in Hebrew. And Luke wrote it down in Greek. I'm starting to like that theory more and more.

But anyway. Be that as it may. You're writing to people who would have the Greek Septuagint in front of them as their Bible. That's the Bible they're using. And so the quote is taken from the Greek Septuagint.

Well the Greek Septuagint and the Hebrew text disagree at this point. And it looks to us in translation like. Wow. That's a huge difference. Though I was a husband to them. And I did not care for them.

Seems like about as opposite as you can get. The problem is that the term to be a husband was baal. Baal. The term to despise or not care for is gaal. Now if I had a white board or something here. We were in the other room.

I would write for you the difference between ba and ga. But those of you who've studied Hebrew. A couple of you have. I know that Pastor Frye has. Knows that that bet and that gimel are very similar letters to one another.

So the difference between the two. Is whether you elongate the top and the bottom or you don't. Basically. I mean as far as the way it was written in the ancient form. So there's actually a very small minor difference between the two.

That ends up having a rather major difference as far as the meaning is concerned. Now there were different streams of the text. In the days of the translation of the Greek Septuagint. And it's possible either that this was translated from one that had gaal there.

Or that came about at a later point. Hard to say one way or the other. The writer to the Hebrews does not base anything on this. He doesn't base anything on the difference in the two. Though it would seem to me.

That it would make more of a consistent point. To read it as the Greek Septuagint has it. I did not care for them says the Lord. The only change in meaning would be. They did not continue my covenant even though I showed care for them.

There was still something that was not changed in them. So I wanted to mention to you why there is a difference between the two. So what's the point? This new covenant is not like the old covenant. The old covenant even once it was established.

Did not bring about a changed heart. It didn't change the people with whom it was made. And that's exactly what the rest of the text says. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days.

Says the Lord. Let's see if what we've seen in the first two verses continues on here. I will put my laws into their minds. I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God. Do you hear the personal nature here?

They didn't keep my covenant. They didn't abide in my covenant. I did not care for them. What's different here? This is something God does. I will make the covenant with the house of Israel. I will bring this about.

And I will put my laws into their minds. Now, let me just briefly. I'm not going to expand upon this this evening. Let me just briefly make the comment. I know that there are systems of theology today that want to say that there is this utter distinction between the laws of the old covenant and the laws of the new.

But I just have to wonder. How would anyone who read Jeremiah have understood these words? I will put my laws into their minds. What laws would those be? Well, laws you've never heard of before. Don't worry about it.

I don't think so. I think that a regenerate person desires to be what? Pleasing to God. How do we know it's pleasing to God? Well, he's revealed what's pleasing to him. I will put my laws into their minds.

It's no longer just something. Remember what Owen said this morning? The old covenant written on tablets of stone. Now these laws are put into their minds. And they are written upon their hearts. The mind, the heart, the innermost part of mankind.

And notice it's God that's doing this. I will do this. I will do this. Tough words for folks who don't believe in the sovereignty of God. Tough words for folks who have a hard time with God taking the initiative and actually taking out hearts of stone and giving hearts of flesh.

But you've got to give somebody a heart of flesh before you can write on them God's laws. I will write them on their hearts. That means they will no longer be external standards that chase against the innermost man.

They instead will become the very longings of the heart of that person who's been changed. I will put my laws into their minds. No longer external, internal. I will write them on their hearts. That which they long for, that which they love.

And I will be their God and they shall be my people. I will be their God. Not I will just offer myself. Not I will just reveal myself in great power. But because of an unchanged heart, how quickly they went after other gods.

They go from seeing the Red Sea, the Pillar of Fire, the miracles, Pharaoh and his army. I think this crazy looking idol over here did that for us. How can you do that? Most of you know that Thursday night, Thursday afternoon, it was right about 5 o 'clock or so.

I know because I was there hiding. My youngest child became engaged to be married. Yes, indeed. Summer and Thad. She was showing off her ring to you all this morning. And it just would strike me as being mighty strange.

It's looking like an August wedding. It will all be inside, trust me. It would be mighty strange to me if just a couple of weeks after that wedding, all of a sudden Thad's running up to women he's never seen before and treating them like his wife.

That would be really weird. In fact, I don't think some would appreciate that very much. It would sort of indicate that he doesn't really know who his wife is, that there's no personal relationship there if that's what he was doing.

And yet that's what the people of Israel did. Oh, we're covenant to this God, but then they're always going after the idols and the constant idolatry and the wandering away. There's no intimate knowledge between this people and their God when they are so quick to go away.

Now remember the incident with Phineas when God's bringing his wrath upon the people and yet even in the midst of that while the people are trying to repent, this man comes and he brings a foreign woman into his tent.

And Phineas goes in and he skewers both of them. And it is said that this was a righteous deed on his part, so on and so forth. See, even when there were those kinds of old covenant members that didn't know God, there were those who did.

But it wasn't the old covenant itself that brought about that knowledge. It's different in the new covenant. I will be their God, every single one of them, not just some. I will be their God and they shall be my people.

It is extensive. It's no longer the unusual situation. It is now the situation. They will be my people. And that's what's brought out in verse 11. They shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen and everyone his brother, saying, Know the Lord, know Yahweh, for all will know me from the least to the greatest of them.

What can these words mean other than the knowledge of God? Intimate knowledge of God. Not just about him. Every Jewish child knew about Yahweh. Every Jewish child had grown up with the stories of the Passover.

They all were taught these things from the time they were small. Even the Jews today, who mainly are atheistic, they all know the Passover stories. They know the stories of Moses and the crossing of the Red Sea and the Exodus and all those things.

They knew about Yahweh, but there had to be this instruction and this teaching. Know Yahweh, let me tell you about, you need to know Yahweh. No, not in the New Covenant. That's not to say there's no teaching in the New Covenant.

That's not to say, well, we don't get together, we don't open the Word of God, we don't have Sunday school. This is talking about have a proper personal relationship with God. Under the Old Covenant, you had to call people to that.

Because circumcision didn't bring that about. That's why, and I think it's important, sometime I'm going to need to do this. Many of you know Brother Richard Braselis, a good Reformed Baptist scholar and pastor.

I'll be seeing him, in fact, in two weeks I'll be teaching for all three of the Reformed Baptist schools. We're getting together, I'll be teaching a class in Polemics in Owensboro, Kentucky. I'll be seeing Richard at that time.

He's written an excellent article where he argues on the basis of Colossians 2 that the New Covenant fulfillment of circumcision is not baptism. It is regeneration. It's regeneration. And that fits perfectly with this.

Think about it. They won't have to say, know the Lord, for what? For all will know me from the least to the greatest of them. So you see, what's greater, what's better about the New Covenant is its extensiveness.

The extensiveness of the knowledge of who God is. Because God initiates it. God does the saving. I will put my laws. I will write them on the hearts. I will be their God. Then the result is no failure.

For all will know me from the least to the greatest of them. But then notice, and I think this clinches it for me, because you can make arguments all you want about, well, this is just the priesthood issue and this is all in the future and it really hasn't happened now.

That requires you to forget that verse 12 is there. For I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more. If this is still future, folks, we're in trouble. If that is still yet in the future, we are in big trouble.

The connection between knowing who the Lord is, knowledge of God, and the forgiveness of sins proves that this New Covenant flows directly from the cross work of Jesus Christ. These are the ones who draw near to God through Him.

These are the ones who have Christ as their mediator, their high priest. And though the term is not used in the book of Hebrews, since we believe all of Scripture is theanoustos, it is God breathed, we can step back and say, these are the elect.

Ephesians 1. This is the same language. This is the same teaching. Who is it who experiences the mercy of God? Who is it that He will remember their sins no more? That's Romans 4. That's Romans 3. That's justification.

That's the elect. And that's why we can see, for all will know me. You see, all of the elect experience regeneration. All of the elect are saved infallibly. Christ saves perfectly all those the Father gives to Him.

John chapter 6. And look at the repetition. It's almost like bookends. You know what I mean by bookends? You know, if you have a shelf of books and you have that, I don't know, why do we start using horse heads or whatever it is?

You know, you've got a horse head, a heavy one on this end and this end to keep the books from falling over. Otherwise, you've got to take a heavy book and put it outside and it breaks the spine eventually.

You don't want to do that. So you've got these bookends to hold the shelf together. Well, when writing things, you can bookend things. You've got the beginning and then you sort of repeat it at the end.

Did you notice something? What did I emphasize in verse 10? I will, I will, I will, therefore they shall be. Then you get to verse 12. For I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.

We know who receives the mercy of God in regards to their iniquities. We know who it is that God does not remember their sins no more. Who is the blessed man of Romans 4, 7 -8? Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

And so here you have this prophecy coming from so long ago. And yet it is fulfilled perfectly in the work that the triune God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit has done in the work of Jesus Christ, the establishment of the Gospel.

Now immediately you might have a question. I want to address this very, very briefly. Then we'll look at verse 13 and we'll close. You might say, well, okay, but the church still has unbelievers in it.

So how can this be? And that becomes the big question that is often thrown back at us. Because we're saying that the new covenant is a perfect covenant in Christ Jesus. It results in true knowledge of who God is.

It involves the forgiveness of sins, the internal change, regeneration. So that would mean that if someone's in the church, that means you're saying everybody in the church is a Christian. No, everybody in the new covenant is a Christian.

But you see, as much as we would like to claim to have this capacity, Brother Fry and I cannot look into the heart of men. Being called the office of elder does not give you some kind of insight into the hearts of men.

Now we try, as best given the gifts given to us and the means given to us, we attempt to protect the membership of the local church, just as we protect the ordinances of the church. I mean, you can't just come up to us and say, hey, baptize me.

Okay, fill it up. We're going to ask you, are you a believer in Jesus Christ? Give us a testimony of what God has done in your life. We want to make sure that the person who is being baptized is truly a person who is a candidate to be baptized, has followed the biblical pattern.

And as you may know, some of you may have wondered, why is it that we put that thing in the bulletin that says, before you partake of the Lord's Supper, speak with one of the elders. There are some questions we want to ask you.

We protect the table because it's for Christians, it's for believers. If we didn't do that, then you could be in a church down the road, across the valley someplace, and you're excommunicated, you're put out, you are barred from the ordinances of the church, and you can just come bopping over here, and if we don't ask questions, we're not honoring the discipline of that other church.

So we protect the ordinances because we want to try to seek as best we can to protect the membership of the church, but we don't have a supernatural ability to do that. All of you know, some of you have been here so long, you may not remember real clearly, but all of you know that when you joined this church, we sat down with you, and we asked you some questions, and we wanted to hear your testimony, and we asked you, what makes you think that you're a believer in Jesus Christ?

We want to hear what you have to say. We try as best as God allows us to protect the membership of the church, but we can't see the heart, and you know what? People can actually lie to us. People can deceive us.

They might themselves be deceived, for all that matters. And so sometimes, unbelievers get in. But joining a church is not the same thing as being a part of the new covenant. God is the one who joins someone to the new covenant.