Introduction:
1. Have You Ever Been Asked The Question: “What’s New?” Usually, The Person Asking You This Question Is Really Trying To Find Out How You Are Doing. But Sometimes, They Want To Find Out If Anything Fresh & Exciting Is Going On In Your Life! Or They Want To Know If Anything Interesting Is Going On In Your Life! How Do You Usually Answer? “Oh, Nothing!” - Or - “Not Much!” This Morning, I Want You To Think About This Question In A Whole New Light! Because, In The Life Of A Born-Again Christian, There Should Be Something New Going On In Your Life! After All, This Is What Jesus Does! According To Revelation 21:5, Jesus Says: “Behold, I Make All Things New!”
2. So, What’s New In Your Life This Morning? Is There Something New In Your Life? Is There Something New In Your Mind? Is There Something New In Your Heart? Is There Something New In Your Walk? If There’s Not – Something’s Wrong! Because If You Consider Yourself To Be A Christian, There Ought To Be Something New In Your Life!
3. In Hebrews 8, We Have Already Seen That The Lord Jesus Christ Is The Greatest Servant – He Is Our “High Priest, Who Is Set On The Right Hand Of The Throne Of The Majesty In The Heavens; A Minister Of The Sanctuary!” (8:1-2) Now, We Learn That The Lord Jesus Has “Obtained A More Excellent Ministry!” (8:6) In Other Words, The Greatest Servant Performs The Greatest Service! And This Great Service That He Performs Is Making The Hearts & Lives Of His People New! How Does He Perform This Great Service – Of Making “All Things New” In The Mind, Heart & Lives Of His People? 8:6 - “But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much [Or Through Which] also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises!” He Performs His Great Service – Of Giving You A New Mind, Heart & Life – Based Upon A “New Covenant” – A “Better Covenant” Between God & His People! And This Is What The Rest Of This Chapter Talks About!
4. What Are These “Covenants”? We Need To Understand A Few Things About These Covenants:
First, A Covenant Is A Serious & Solemn Contract! There Are Usually 2 Or More Parties Involved, With Certain Stipulations Written Down, A Vow To Uphold Them, And Consequences If They Are Not Kept! In The Hebrew Language, The Word For “Covenant” Actually Means “To Cut Through” - Which Shows How Serious & Solemn These Agreements Were! An Animal Would Be Killed & Cut In Two - Then, The Participants In The Covenant Would Walk Between The Two Parts, Basically Saying: “May This Happen To Me If I Fail To Keep My End Of The Agreement!”
Second, A Covenant Between God & Man Is Always A Covenant Of Grace! Because A Covenant Between God & Man Is Basically An Arrangement & Agreement Initiated By God In Order For Him To Provide Salvation & Blessing For His People! What Is Grace? God Giving To Us What We Do Not Deserve! Especially The Opportunity To Have A Relationship With Him! God Has Made Several Covenants With Man! And They Are All Covenants Of Grace! Because, God Alone Can Offer This Kind Of Relationship! And It Reveals His Grace! And Because, God Doesn’t Have To Offer This Kind Of Relationship! And He Never Did Have To Offer This Kind Of Relationship! But It Reveals His Grace!
Third, The Two Covenants Being Described Are:
The First Covenant - The Covenant Of Moses - When God Gave The Moral Laws & The Ceremonial Laws To His People, Expecting Them To Show Their Love For Him Through Obedience! But They Failed – Miserably!
The Second Covenant - The Covenant Of Christ - When God Gave His Only Son To Satisfy All The Requirements Of The Laws For His People, Expecting Them To Show Their Love For Him Through Faith! This Is The “Better Covenant, Which Was Established Upon Better Promises!” (8:6) And This Is “What’s New” For A Child Of God! As Paul Put It: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new!”
5. So, What’s New In Your Life?
* Let’s Look At:
I. Why We Need Something New!
We Often Discover That What Is True Of The Old Testament Israelites Is True Of Us! The Reason They Needed Something New In Their Lives Is The Same Reason We Need Something New In Our Lives – We Are Failures!
8:7 - “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second!”
“Although The Law . . . Was Perfect, It Could Not Make Man Perfect!” (Kistemaker) And We See This Clearly In Verse 8!
8:8 - “For finding fault with them!”
When It Comes To God’s Grace In Revealing Himself To Men, Through His Covenants With Men, We Fail! And This Is Why We Need Something New!
A. When It Comes To Recognizing God’s Grace, We Fail!
8:8b - “He saith, 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!”
From This Point Through Verse 12, We Have The Longest Quotation From The Old Testament Found In The New Testament – Jeremiah 31:31-34! Why Is This Quote Used? Because The Southern Kingdom Of Judah Was About To Be Defeated By The Mighty Babylonian Empire When Jeremiah Was Written - And Soon, They Would Not Be Able To Perform The Sacrifices & Ceremonies Required Under The Covenant Of Moses! So, The Lord Gives Them A Promise Of Hope In Hopelessness & A Promise Of Light In Darkness! If They Truly Understood & Believed What They Were Told, They Would Not Have Had To Be So Discouraged When They Saw Their City & Temple Looted & Destroyed! But Instead, They Failed To Recognize God’s Promise Of Grace & Deliverance! And They Wanted To Continue In Their Old Ways!
When It Comes To Recognizing God’s Grace, We Fail Too! We Need Something New!
B. When It Comes To Remembering God’s Grace, We Fail!
8:9a - “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!”
Note The Pronoun “I”! It Was All God’s Doing! It Was All God’s Grace! After 430 Years Of Slavery In Egypt, God Delivered Them! But Instead, They Failed To Remember God’s Grace In Their Deliverance! And They Wanted To Continue In Their Old Place! After They Heard Pharoah & The Egyptian Army Was After Them: Exodus 14:11-12 - “And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness!”
When It Comes To Remembering God’s Grace, We Fail Too! We Need Something New!
C. When It Comes To Responding To God’s Grace, We Fail!
8:9b - “Because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord!”
They Did Not Respond To God’s Grace! So God Restrained His Grace! They Failed To Respond To God’s Grace!
When It Comes To Responding To God’s Grace, We Fail Too! We Need Something New!
* Now, Let’s Look At:
II. How We Receive Something New!
Even Though The Israelites Failed, God Remained Faithful! Even Though God Restrained His Grace For A Time, He Would Not Restrain It Forever!
8:10a - “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord!”
For He Is “Merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth!” (Exodus 34:6)
And Even Though We Fail, God Remains Faithful! And The Way We Receive Something New Is Through God’s Faithfulness! Because God Has Made A New Covenant Through His Son, Jesus Christ! And Through This New Covenant, He Gives His Child:
A. A New Mind!
8:10a - “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!”
With Something New To Think About! Philippians 4:8 - “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things!”
B. A New Heart!
8:10b - “And write them in their hearts!”
With Something New To Love! Psalm 119:97 - “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day!”
C. A New Walk!
8:10c - “And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people!”
With Someone New To Serve! This Has Always Been God’s Desire!
D. A New Understanding!
8:11 - “And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest!”
With Someone New To Know!
E. A New Forgiveness!
8:12 - “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more!”
Conclusion:
1. So, What’s New In Your Life? Have You Been Given A New Mind, A New Heart, A New Walk, A New Understanding, And A New Forgiveness? This Is The Ministry That The Lord Jesus Christ Performs In The Lives Of His People! And This Is What Ought To Be New In Our Lives – Fresh, Exciting, Interesting – Every Day! These Are The Blessings Of The New Covenant!
2. But We Also See What Should Happen To Our Old Lives!
8:13 - “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!”
At The Time This Was Written, The Old Testament Ceremonies Were Still Taking Place At The Temple In Jerusalem – Just A Few Short Years Before The Roman Army Would Come And Destroy Once Again The City And The Temple! And The Old System Was About To “Vanish Away!”
So It Is In Our Lives As Christians! Our Old Ways Still Get In Our Way! Our Old Ways Of Thinking; Our Old Loves; Our Old Actions; Our Old Understanding; And Our Old Guilt! But They Too – In Just A Few Short Years – Will Completely “Vanish Away!” So Until Then, We Need To Focus Our Attention On The New! 2 Corinthians 5:17 - “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new!”
3. Now, How Will You Answer When Someone Asks You The Question: “What’s New?”
* Closing Hymn: “Since Jesus Came Into My Heart!”
