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Bro. Otis Fisher
Open your Bibles to Hebrews the 8th chapter. A word about Jesus to begin.
You do not place your confidence in a mere man when you place your confidence in Jesus.
He's a man, alright. He can sympathize with you and is able to meet your need.
He is a royal priest. He is a righteous priest. He is a peace -promoting priest.
He is a personal priest. He is for you personally.
He didn't inherit the office, that is, from Aaron as all earthly priests did.
Now here in chapter 8, 8th chapter of Hebrews, we're told that he ministers in a superior sanctuary by a much better covenant which is built upon better promises.
First verse. Now of all of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum.
We have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in his heavens.
In John 10, 17 we read, My father loves me because I lay down my life.
In John 8, 29 we read, I do always those things that please him.
The heavenly father accepted the son into the holy of holies and is delighted to have him sit at his right hand.
But Jesus inherited that and he was asked to sit down. This throne would be a place of dread and horror for the unregenerated man.
The very sight of God on the throne would terrify such a person. But Jesus the Christ sits on that throne to confess all who believe and to present them faultless to the heavenly father.
Thank God Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brethren. Now Jesus is able to do something that no earthly priest could do.
Now I'm not talking about heaven and earth. But the earthly priest was not able to do this that Jesus does.
I want you to think about what is it Jesus does that the earthly priest could not.
Joy? Well, that's true.
But I'm talking about a physical earthly thing for that matter that he can do that the earthly priest could not.
David? All right.
There's something else. Greg? Well, this is probably something that you've never thought of.
But it's a great point. Jesus sits down. The earthly priest never had any chairs in the auditorium.
Why is that? Their work is never done.
They're running all of the time. Jesus sits.
He's finished. Think about it. Second verse.
A minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man.
Now, Bezeril was the master craftsman that built all of the furniture, everything for the earthly sanctuary.
Golden lampstand, the different altars.
In contrast, the Lord Jesus ministers in a tabernacle that he himself has made.
The true tabernacle, the tabernacle made of God whose holy of holies is in the heavens of which the earthly tabernacle was only a feeble pattern.
The earthly tabernacle had an outer court with the altar, a holy place, and the holy of holies.
These parts have been understood to be typically those that have come to God in the outer court from which he passes by the altar, by the blood of Jesus Christ into the holy place.
God said, this is where I meet with man, the holy place. And from the holy place, the high priest passed beyond the veil into the holy of holies.
I have Greg come get these, will you, and see that everybody gets one.
This is a little different view. I passed one out last week. Now, to begin with, the picture shows steps going up to the altar outside.
There were no steps. It was on a mound, all right, but there were no steps.
The two benches by the laver were not there. There was no place for the earthly priest to sit down.
Now, the most holy place, typical of heaven itself, there are high priests having rimped the veil so that all of the church may follow, dwells and intercedes for us.
There he presents his offering, the blood of his atonement. Now, I want to try to make the difference in your mind.
Jesus, as we from our viewpoint look, did everything for us.
He is interceding for us. He is a personal interceder. He personally cares for you.
But, the real goodness of Jesus is not toward us, it is toward the
Heavenly Father. He pleases the Heavenly Father with everything he did, everything he is doing, everything he ever shall do.
It is to please the Heavenly Father. We look at him as pleasing me.
Try to get me out of the way. Think of Jesus in his role.
He is pleasing the Heavenly Father as he forgives you. Turn everything, turn
Jesus toward the Heavenly Father in everything. We benefit, but it is really for the
Heavenly Father. Do you get that? Am I coming across correctly?
Can you understand what I am saying? In the third verse,
So Jesus had to have something to offer. He had to make a sacrifice. What was that sacrifice,
Joey? Of himself.
He was the sacrifice. And it is to please the Heavenly Father. It benefits us, but it is to please him.
He brings a reason why it must be that Jesus the Christ should have a body, which he calls the tabernacle, which the
Lord built and not man. That is, the
Lord built this body, not man. Man was not involved in it.
The Virgin gave birth. That he might have that to offer, or otherwise he could not have been a high priest.
If he had not had a sacrifice to offer, he could not have been a high priest. And he is a high priest, not of the line of Aaron, but a separate line.
Who did Jesus descend from, Russell? Earthly.
What tribe? Judah. He comes through the line of Judah. Well, that is not the priestly line.
It is like Melchizedek that we talked about last week. Melchizedek came on stage and disappeared.
We do not know where he came from or anything about him. Jesus was a priest after the order of Melchizedek, meaning he is not after the earthly.
For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there were priests that offered gifts according to the law, not be a priest.
He could not honor it, officiate as a priest, according to the Jewish law, because he did not belong to the tribe which a lone priest could be taken.
He therefore, having offered himself a sacrifice, ascended for the further discharge of his priestly office to heaven, of which the
Holy of Holies is a type of heaven. Five.
Who serve unto the example and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle?
For see, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shown to thee in the mount.
Moses had a pattern to go by. He saw the real tabernacle.
Man has not seen that. Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle?
See that you make it like the pattern. I've always marveled at Moses being able to see every detail, every little thing.
Here Paul proves what he said in the beginning. The presence of the antitype seated at the right hand of the majesty demands the absence of the type.
Now what does that mean, Greg? All right. The presence of the antitype seated at the right hand of the majesty on high demands the absence of the type.
All right. That is, the type has been set aside since the substance appeared.
All of this on earth was a type. It was not the substance. Jesus is the substance.
Now for him to appear in his role must mean that the antitype,
Moses and all of his, is gone. You see that? I care less how much people, the
Jew today, offer sacrifices. That's not it.
It's Jesus only. The whole service under the liturgical system was nothing more than a type designed to foreshadow the person and work of Christ.
Jesus Christ. And in the fullness of time, the antitype did come in substance.
Jesus did come when the time was right. Christ born of a woman to redeem them that were under the law.
When Jesus literally passed his spirit back to the Heavenly Father, Judaism was definitely set aside.
Can you get that? No more do we have to offer sacrifice. No more.
All the sacrifices were done away with. The veil in the temple was rimmed from top to bottom.
True, the priests continued to serve in the tabernacle until it was destroyed in 70 A .D., but they were just marking time.
They thought they were doing what they should, but they were not. Verse 5 teaches that there was something far beyond the material tabernacle, which
God showed to Moses. The tabernacle which Moses built presented a picture of the spiritual and heavenly realities, a foreshadowing of the heavenly tabernacle or sanctuary.
The entire ministry of the Levitical priests pertained to earthly things and provided no better than a shadow of the heavenly things.
Verse 6. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
I think we can see that. I think we have seen that. I hope you think about it forever.
Jesus is the sacrifice. He had to offer it. He could not be a priest without it, so he offered himself.
Then he sat down. Paul is attempting to lead the Hebrews into a knowledge that God has not taken from them, but has added to them.
The Levitical system had nothing perfect or permanent to offer, but Christ obtained a more excellent way in that he was perfect.
He was very God in flesh. He is a more excellent mediator because he was appointed high priest with an oath, and his priesthood is everlasting.
He is the author of a better covenant which is established upon much better promises. Seven. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for a second.
That just makes sense. If the first one would suffice, then there would never have sought a second.
Well, the people say, well, the first one was wrong then.
Was it? How do you explain the fact that God had to replace it,
David? That's right.
Now, to prove that, let's read the next verse. For finding fault with them, not it.
Them. The fault was in them, not the law.
He said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
Finding fault with them. Underline them. Yes. No.
That's in verse six. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is a mediator of a better covenant.
Well, it's a better covenant, all right. It wasn't given before, so they had the best they had, but now a better one has come at the right time.
Any questions? First, the word better. Well, right.
We could probably find a better word than better, a more excellent, but I think it's our interpretation of the word better.
This is better than this, so this must be wrong. It wasn't the law that was wrong.
He found fault with them. The trouble was in them. That's true.
That's right.
Must much better. That's right.
Nine. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when
I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the
Lord. The first covenant was typical.
The new covenant is substance, Christ the Son of God. You can't get any better than that.
The first covenant was administered under an imperfect priesthood. It was run by man, not perfect.
The new covenant with better promises is administered under a perfect priesthood.
Christ is perfect. Jesus is perfect. The first covenant had to do primarily with things external.
The new covenant has to do with things spiritual. Jesus the
Christ in you, not a man offering a sacrifice in a tabernacle, but Jesus Christ abiding in the heart of every believer in the person of the
Holy Spirit. The first covenant was restricted to Israel, the new covenant to whoever will.
And we know the elect will. Verse 10. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the
Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a
God, and they shall be to me a people. A new covenant will be written upon your heart.
Not upon tables of stone, but they will be able to open, liable to open.
They will be able to destroy it. 11. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. Everybody knows
God. Not everybody responds to God. Israel is judiciously blind today.
He has blinded their eyes. But their blinded eye will be opened when
Jesus comes again to reign. Verse 12. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their inequities will
I remember no more. In order to be their God, as mentioned under the preceding verse, it is essential that the inequities should be absolved.
Now, Jesus not remembering their sin anymore, how does that compare with us not remembering their sin anymore?
Greg? Right. But he can.
It will be as though you never sinned. Now, all spiritual evil against the nature and law of God is represented in these following terms.
Unrighteousness. Injustice or wrong. Now, this is against God, your neighbor, and yourself.
Unrighteousness. Sin. Deviation from the divine law.
Missing the mark. Aiming at it but missing. Iniquity. Lawlessness. Not having knowledge or acknowledging a law, having no law written in their hearts and restrained by none in their conduct of their lives.
When God says that he will remember no more, that's not like we forgetting.
I have forgotten a few things. I can think of two things I've forgotten.
That's an axi -moron, and with God it's as though it never happened.
Thirteen. That in, he saith, a new covenant he hath made the first old, now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
In Romans 7, 18, For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good
I find not. I had the desire to do it, but I end up not doing it.
Man is totally depraved. That does not mean the man across the street or the man in Washington.
Who does it mean, Greg? More than that, it means me.
I want to give you an illustration this morning of the law versus grace.
A housewife puts a roast in the oven to serve for dinner. The phone rings.
She gets interested in the conversation. Later she smells the roast and runs to the oven and finds that it's overcooked.
Typical. Grabbing a large fork, she tries to lift the roast out of the pan, but the fork won't hold.
The meat's too well done for it to hold. She tries again closer to the bone.
Still the fork won't lift it. She gets a spatula and lifts the roast out.
What the fork could not do, the spatula could. There was nothing wrong with the fork, nothing wrong with the law, but it could not hold the flesh.
It was weak through the flesh. There was something wrong with the flesh.
It was overcooked. The spatula does what the fork could not.
Grace does what the law cannot do. I want to close with reading something
I wrote a long time ago, The Total Depravity of Man. It started in Genesis 5, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of man was only evil continually.
611, the earth also was corrupt for God, and the earth was filled with violence.
The very first embryo of every idea, the figment of every thought, the first materials out of which persecution, conception, and ideas are formed, were all evil.
The fountain which produced them, with every thought, every purpose, every wish, every desire, and motive, was incurably poisoned.
All these were evil without any mixture of good. The Spirit of God which strove with them was continually resisted, so that evil had a sovereign sway.
Now this is man. They were evil continually. There was no interval of good, no moment allowed for serious reflection, no holy purpose, no righteous act.
The absolute absence of all righteousness causes a human to be grossly wicked and extremely evil and cruel, one that cares nothing for anyone except themselves.
This human has no morals or art of any kind. He has become brutally savage and cruelty in action and conduct, even as totally depraved sinners were able to perform duties of religion, morality that would make you appear righteous.
By nature, none understand, because natural consciousness and law do not testify of the grace or salvation based upon an imputed righteousness.
All we know by nature is to establish a righteousness of our own. All who think they are saved based on anything other than the imputed righteousness of Christ are idolaters.
None by nature or practice possess a righteousness equal to the demands of God's law and inflexible justice.
Pretty dark picture, isn't it? That's how God sees the world.
What a picture of fallen man. Such a picture as God alone, who searches the heart and tries the spirit, could possibly give.
Now, we have a few minutes. Do you want to go back to anything?
Yes. All right.
Your question is... Your question then is what? Oh, for Israel, no.
There will come... Right. There will come a day when they will turn.
They're not doing that now. I care less about how much they're going back. They're not turning to Jesus.
There is a day when they shall. We do now.
We have this. It is in our hearts because we don't have to go to a priest.
That's a good question. Touches on Roger's question. All right, anything else?
Yes. Yes. Everything has been established, even that that's in the future.
It's all done. Christ has done it all. We're acting that out day by day.
So, in that he saith, A new covenant he hath made the first old, now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away the old.
It's finished. It did what it was supposed to do. Now the new comes. Now, don't think that God made a mistake.
He didn't. Don't think that since God found out that the law wouldn't work, then he cometh his son.
He was slain from before the foundation of the world. Everything has been done and it's being revealed to us as we travel this world.
Anybody else? Well, I was afraid
I wouldn't get to that illustration and I skipped over some words that I had, but I think you get the meaning.
I urge you to read. Read, read, and re -read and bring out things next week that we didn't bring out this week.
Same with this week. You should have questions about last week. How many even remember what we talked about last week?
Well, Roger, you have to. You just must.