Today, we’re looking at Hebrews 8. Don’t be fooled because there are only 13 verses. This chapter is packed! We’re going to point to the Big Idea that God’s “new”= better. And when we walk away from our time together today, I want you to know God instituted the “old” to point to the superiority of the “new”. Let’s pray:
Holy Father, I ask
in Jesus’ name that You would open our hearts and minds to the Scriptures
today. I pray that You would encourage
us and bring us to a new place of worship.
I ask that You would give us a higher view of You and conviction of our
sins and a hunger to confess those things so we may be cleansed, and allow You
to do a new work in us today. Amen.
You may notice something unique about my homiletics today
as we study this passage that teaches us Jesus
is the superior Priest, the new covenant is better. Verse six is contained in BOTH of my divisions:
1.The High Priest (8:1-6)
2.The New Covenant (8:6-13)
You’ve probably heard some of these expressions: “Out
with the old, in with the new.” “New and
improved.” New Coke. Under New Management. New formula.
Happy New Year. New car
smell. The implication is that new is
better. But in our human frame of
reference, that is NOT always the case.
Remember when new Coke went back to “old” Coke? But we’re talking about a heavenly
perspective. God’s economy. Where the old was meant to point us to the
new, the better, God’s “Plan A” that man would never embrace if it were the
first plan introduced to our finite, and sometimes narrow, minds.
And, because of our experience with disappointment in the
“new,” sometimes we resist it. Don’t we? It takes us out of the familiar. Out of our comfort zones. Even if that zone is filled with bad
stuff. We adopt the philosophy: “better
the devil you know.” Anyone with me,
here?
Well, the Hebrews who were trying to talk the recipients of
this letter out of their newfound faith in Jesus Christ felt this way. Judaism was their comfort zone. How could they NOT bring their sacrifices to
the temple? How could they NOT pay for
their sins? How could they NOT earn
their salvation? Sometimes our pride makes us think the same way. But, today, we are going to see a better
salvation, a better covenant, better promises from our heavenly Father.
Let’s look at verses 1-6 and The High Priest.
Read Hebrews 8:1-2.
The first thing I want you to notice is that we have a
High Priest who is sitting down! The
work is done! The victory is His – and
ours! The sacrifice is made! Salvation for everyone is accomplished! The second thing I want you to see is that He
serves in the true tabernacle in heaven!
We will talk more about this in verse 5.
Right now, let’s look at Jesus the High Priest versus the high priest
who served at the time of the writing of this letter to the Hebrews.
Read Hebrews 8:3.
Here we learn that the high priest is appointed to offer
gifts and sacrifices. If you want to
learn more about the gifts and sacrifices he would offer, you need to study the
Old Testament book of Leviticus. The
point being made by the author of Hebrews is that every high priest must offer
something – including Jesus! And didn’t
Jesus offer the ultimate sacrifice?
Himself!!! The old system taught
us so much: that we cannot save ourselves, that sin is super messy and super
costly, that without a Savior we have no hope.
Praise God for Jesus!!!
Read Hebrews 8:4-5.
According to verse 4, if Jesus were on earth, He wouldn’t
be a priest because there are already priests who are offering the gifts
prescribed by the law. So what would He
be doing? Exactly what He did! He fulfilled the old covenant that He now
mediates! He became the perfect
sacrifice offered by those priests!
Since the priests didn’t recognize that the ultimate sacrifice had been
offered, they were continuing to do so.
And they were serving in the sanctuary that is a copy and a shadow of
the true tabernacle in heaven! The verse
here reiterates how Moses was warned to build the tabernacle in accordance with
the pattern he was shown on the mountain.
The earthly tabernacle was to point to the better, true, heavenly
tabernacle! Are you getting chills over
this? I certainly am! Let’s keep going.
Read Hebrews 8:6.
This is a key verse.
It states that the ministry of Jesus is superior to the priests who
served in the earthly tabernacle. It
states that Jesus is the Mediator of a superior covenant. It states that the new covenant is superior
because it is established on better promises.
Ooh, the chills continue.
This pivot-point brings us to our first principle:
Jesus is the
superior High Priest.
Jesus is not only the Perfect, Sinless Lamb of God Who
took away the sins of the world. He is
also the Perfect, Sinless, High Priest Who laid down His own life to pay the
price for our sins. What a wonderful
Savior!!!
There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. We cannot pay God back for His free gift of
eternal life. I was listening to a
sermon earlier today, and the preacher said that it’s pride that makes us try
to earn our salvation. It takes humility
to be completely at the mercy of God’s grace!
But once we’ve experienced salvation, we become motivated to serve
Jesus. Not because we’re trying to pay
Him back, but because we are so grateful, so in love. This motivates me to ask the following
question:
What sacrifices
will you make to give Jesus the best you have to offer here on earth? What are you willing to give up to serve
Him? How much do you want to show Him
you love Him and you’re grateful for the place in heaven He died to give you?
Read Hebrews 8:6-7.
We’ve read here that Jesus’ ministry is superior and the
new covenant is superior and the promises that the new covenant is established
on are superior. Verse 7 blatantly says
that, if there were nothing wrong with the first covenant, a second wouldn’t
even have been sought. God used the
first covenant to show us how costly sin is.
The priests’ fingers would be pruned every day from washing the blood
off. Doesn’t it also reveal how valuable
Jesus’ blood is? For His one-time
sacrifice to pay the price for all since once-for-all, that is some valuable
blood! Sinless, perfect, powerful
blood. Blood that opened the door into
the presence of God the Father, Himself!
More chills.
Read Hebrews 8:8-9.
And here comes the piece de resistance. This quote from the old testament book of
Jeremiah covers verses 8 through 12 of Hebrews 8. God has declared to the prophet the terms of
this new covenant. This covenant is
unlike the covenant He made with their ancestors. God declares that the people were unfaithful
and God would turn away. And He
did. Remember the 400 years of silence
between Malachi and Matthew? Now, look
back at verse 6 where it says that the new covenant is based on better
promises. Well, here they come. Savor these verses. They are all so precious.
Read Hebrews 8:10.
After turning away from the people of Israel, God would
establish a new covenant where He will put His laws in their minds and write
them on their hearts. God will make sure
the people know what they are to do…how they are to live…how they are to
love. Ooh, more chills! He will be their God and they will be His
people. He’s talking about us Gentiles
who have been grafted into Abraham’s family tree, too! Isn’t this amazing???
Read Hebrews 8:11.
We won’t need to teach others to know the Lord because they
will all know God! This goes right along
with something I learned recently in Scotland and Ireland. There was a common theme through that whole
choir trip that centered on love, loyalty and friendship. From the first concert we sang at Greyfriars
Kirk, the burial place of the little skye terrier, Greyfriars Bobby, who slept
on his master’s grave in that graveyard for 14 years until he died. To the meaning of the Claddagh symbol of a
crowned heart held in two hands. To the
time we spent at a place called Corrymeela Ballycastle, where we learned about
their ministry of reconciliation. Love
God, love people, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. This
verse reminded me of Acts 2:17-21:
“’In
the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and
daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will
dream dreams. Even on my servants, both
men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and
signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the
moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the
Lord will be saved.’
Read Hebrews 8:12.
God will forgive our wickedness and will remember our
sins no more. Our sins will be cast as
far from us as east is from west. And
Jesus’ powerful blood covers our sin so God can’t see it. He remembers Jesus, not our sin. What a blessing that is! Hallelujah!
Read Hebrews 8:13.
The old covenant is made obsolete by the new covenant. One day, when it doesn’t serve as a pointer
to the new covenant, the old covenant will disappear. And what is that old covenant pointing
to? Salvation as a free gift through the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Verse 10 tells us that God will put the law in our hearts and
minds. The law will be within us. It won’t be an external set of rules that are
impossible to follow. Verse 10 also says
that we will have relationship with God Himself! Verse 11 says we will all know Him. One day, every knee will bow and every tongue
will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
My prayer is that my loved ones will bow in this life while there is
time to repent and be saved before the judgment comes. Verse 12 says God will forgive and
forget. THAT is the new covenant.
This brings us to our final principle:
Jesus is the
Mediator of a better covenant.
How is God motivating you to apply these Scriptures to
your life today?
What changes need
to be made for you to better cooperate with God getting His laws in your mind
and writing them on your heart? How
are you pursuing relationship with God each day? How is He wooing you to Him? How are you making your love for Jesus known
to others? Do they feel that same love
directed toward themselves? How is Jesus
using you to mediate His better covenant to a lost and dying world?
Are you still trying to earn your salvation? Place your trust in Jesus Christ for
salvation once-for-all, and quit striving for what you can never earn. Out with the old, in with the new.
Heavenly Father, I
pray that we would love You well. That
we would honor You with our lives. That
we would love the people you bring to us and point them to the Savior. Make us loving and loyal friends of God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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