Tom Lowe
10/1/2020
Moses smashes the commandments of God
Lesson IE2b: The Adequacy of the New Covenant (Heb. 8:10-13)
Scripture: Hebrews 8:10-13 (NIV)
10. This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declare the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
11. No longer will they teach their neighbor or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
12. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (see Jer. 31:31-34).
13. By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
Introduction:
The New Covenant would be permanent. Notice the personal quality of this covenant presented in the first-person singular pronoun: God said, "I will establish a New Covenant." "I will put my laws into their mind." "I will be their God." "I will be merciful toward their iniquities." "I will remember their sins no more." The three outstanding features that mark this New Covenant are inwardness, immediacy, and God's initiative.
Commentary
(Heb. 8:10) This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declared the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Notice the repetition of the words "I will." The Old Covenant tells what men must do, and the New Covenant tells what God will do. After the days of Israel's disobedience are passed, He will put His laws in their mind so that they will know them and, on their hearts, so that they will love them. They will want to obey, not through fear of punishment but love for Him.
The Law of Moses could declare God's holy standard, but it could never provide the power needed for obedience. Sinful people need a new heart and a unique nature within, and this is just what the New Covenant provides. When a sinner trusts Christ, he receives a divine nature within (2 Peter 1:4). This divine nature creates a desire to live and obey God. By nature, sinful people are hateful and disobedient (Titus 3:3 –7); but the new nature gives each believer both the desire and the self-motivation for a godly life.
The Law was external; God's demands were written on tablets of stone. But the New Covenant makes it possible for God's Word to be written on human minds and hearts (2 Cor. 3:1-3). God's grace makes possible an internal transformation that makes a surrendered believer increasingly like Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3:18). Does this not mean that, by the entrance of Christ into a person by His Spirit, He guides him into the knowledge of the truth? It is His voice that now whispers, “This is the way, walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21).
It is unfortunate that many Christians think they are saved by grace but must then fulfill their Christian life according to the Old Testament Law. They want the New Covenant for salvation but the Old Covenant for sanctification. The Apostle Paul had a phrase to describe this condition: "fallen from grace" (Gal. 5:4). Not "fallen from salvation," but fallen from the sphere of God's blessing through grace. We do not become holy people by trying to obey God's Law in our own power. By yielding to the Holy Spirit within that, we fulfill the righteousness of the Law (Rom. 8:1-4); and this is entirely of grace.
(Heb. 8:11) and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.
There is no forgiveness under the Law because the Law was not given for that purpose. "Therefore, by the deeds of the Law, there shall no flesh be justified in His sight; or by the Law is knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20). The Law could not promise forgiveness to Israel, let alone to all humankind. Only through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is that forgiveness possible to all who will call on Him. The Old Testament sacrifices brought a remembrance of sins, not a remission of sins (Heb. 10:1-3, 18).
The second characteristic, the new covenant's immediacy, means that no longer are we dependent upon a body of traditional testimony for our religious guidance. Another interpretation of verse 11 might be, "No man shall say to his neighbor or his brother, know the Lord; for everyone shall know me, from the least of those to the greatest." And then Isaiah said, "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:9). It is the privilege of those who come under the New Covenant to have a knowledge of God, which is not confined to gossip or the testimony of others. This knowledge grows out of the personal communion of the soul with God. To know God is not merely to have a book of information about Him, but to have a personal relationship with God that grows out of obedience to Him. God's most significant concern is not to impart knowledge about Himself to satisfy our speculated curiosity. He is interested in building a kingdom of right relationships between people. He gives Himself to those who obey Him. This obedience brings a vital immediate knowledge of God Himself, which is infinitely better than understanding facts about him.
Hebrews 8:11 quotes Jeremiah 31:34. It refers to when Israel shall be reunited with Judah (Heb. 8:8) and shall rejoice in the promised kingdom (Jer. 31:1-14. On that day, there will be no need to share the gospel with others because everyone will know the Lord personally. However, it is both our privilege and our responsibility to share the gospel message with a lost world until that day.
(Heb. 8:12) For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (see Jer. 31:31-34).
The Old Covenant was still governing the nation of Israel at the time this epistle was written. The temple was standing, and the priests were offering their appointed sacrifices. Devout Jews thought that their Christian friends were foolish to abandon such a "solid religion" for a seemingly intangible faith. What the unbelieving Jews did not realize was that their “solid religion” had grown old and was about to vanish away. In AD 70 the city of Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Romans and the Jews have not had a temple or a priesthood to serve them ever since (see Hosea 3:4).
However, the New Covenant brings eternal blessing. Jesus Christ is the author of "eternal salvation" (Hebrews 5:9) and "eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:12). The New Covenant can never get old and disappear. The Greek Word translated "new" means new in quality," not "new in time." This new covenant is of such quality that it will never need to be replaced!
Yes, our Lord is ministering based on a better covenant, a New Covenant that makes us partakers of a new nature and the wonderful new life that only Christ can give.
Finally, there is the divine initiative expressed by God when He states, “I will remember their sins no more!” What does it mean that God remembers our sins and iniquities no more? This important statement is quoted again in Hebrews 10:16-17. Does it mean that our all-knowing God can forget what we have done? If God forgot anything, he would cease to be God! The phrase “remember no more” means “hold against us no more.” God recalls what we have done, but he does not hold it against us. He deals with us based on grace and mercy and love, not Law and merit. This is seen in Jesus’ attitude of love, in His teaching of forgiveness, and in His tremendous respect for people. He loved people, not because of what they owned, not because of what they had achieved, not even because of what they were in a moral sense. He loved them because they were people. If they had failed in everything they undertook, if they had broken every commandment and had lost their conscious communication with God, they were still people; therefore, He loved them. He refused to measure values in terms of moral achievement. Once sin has been forgiven, it is never brought before us again. The matter is settled eternally. Here is permanent forgiveness. Under the old covenant, man would offer his sacrifice, but the very next moment he would have an uneasy feeling of anxiety, or he would wonder if he had committed a new sin for which he must make an additional sacrifice. He would be bowed down constantly by the burden of guilt.
I am willing to bet that you have occasionally heard people say, “Well, I can forgive—but I cannot forget!” “Of course, you can't forget,” I usually reply, “the more you try to put this thing out of your mind, the more you will remember it. But that isn't what it means to forget.” Then I go on to explain that “to forget” means “not to go on to explain that ‘to forget’ means not to hold it against the person who has wronged us.” We may remember what others have done, but we treat them as though they never did it.
There will be full forgiveness of sin. There will be complete pardon. How is this possible? It is possible because of the cross, for there God treated His Son as though He had done it! Our experience of forgiveness from God makes it possible for us to forgive others. When Christ personally forgives, He causes us to be personally forgiving. The only way we can know that we have been forgiven is that we are now forgiving toward others. Is there anything more healing than forgiveness? Because we have a much greater covenant, we are obliged to be that much more loyal to our God who has, in the life of Jesus, provided a moral standard to challenge our wills. He has also provided a continual personal fellowship to nurture our spirits and a permanent cleansing to put our consciences to rest.
(Heb. 8:13). By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
So, dear readers, we are not under the Mosaic system. God says that it is an old model, and He has brought in a new model; that new covenant He has made through the Lord Jesus Christ who is our Savior. Let me repeat, he did it, not because there was something wrong with the Old Covenant, but because there is something wrong with us. I feel sorry for people today who have come back to the Old Covenant. They try to keep the Sabbath day and they try to keep the Mosaic Law. Oh, my friend, if they will really study it and are honest, they know they are not keeping the Mosaic system. They come short. All of us need to come to God for mercy and accept in His New Covenant the provision of a Savior.
The Law was incapable of producing any good thing in man. Paul could say, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing . . .” (Rom. 7:18). And, friend, that is Scripture, and that is accurate. Man is totally depraved. That doesn't mean only the man across the street or down in the next block from you, nor does it mean only some person who is living in blatant sin; it means you and it means me. The Holy Spirit is now able to do the impossible. The Holy Spirit can produce a holy life in weak and sinful flesh.
The Law was weak through the flesh. It just will not lift us up; it can't lift us up. But a new principle is introduced: The Holy Spirit. What the Law could not do, The Holy Spirit is able to do. Therefore, you and I are to be saved and are to live the Christian life on this new principle. We have a New Covenant based upon better promises; God has given to us The Holy Spirit and Christ, our intercessor, is up Yonder to help us today.
This is a very wonderful passage of Scripture. If you want to get off the milk diet (although milk is good for you, and there is milk in the Word), learn to eat some meat along with it. The meat is to put the emphasis upon the living Christ, His ascension, and His intercession up-yonder in heaven for you and for me. Friend, when we lay hold on the living Christ, we have gone to the heights. We cannot go any higher than that in this age in which we live.
