Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Hebrews chapter 8 as we are going to look at the various covenants made by God with an emphasis being on the New Covenant. I believe it is important for us to understand these covenants because many today try to mix and match them and then come to unbiblical conclusions with them.
Before we get to our text this morning regarding covenants, let me explain our part in receiving them, in this case a pardon. Back on May 2, 1985 a story appeared in The Kansas City Times dealing with the attempts of some fans of the late O. Henry, not the candy bar, to obtain a pardon for him! O. Henry was a short-story writer who was convicted in 1898 for embezzling $784.08 from the bank where he was employed. The problem here is that you cannot give a pardon to a dead man. A pardon can only be given to someone who can accept it!
Keeping that story in mind, listen to the following story, again a true story. We are told:
In 1829 George Wilson, in Pennsylvania, was sentenced to be hanged by a United States court for robbing the mails and for murder. President Andrew Jackson pardoned him, but this was refused, and Wilson insisted that it was not a pardon unless he accepted it. That was a point of law never before raised, and the President called the Supreme Court to decide.
Chief Justice John Marshall gave the following decision: “A pardon is a paper, the value of which depends upon its acceptance by the person implicated. It is hardly to be supposed that one under sentence of death would refuse to accept a pardon, but if he refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged!” And he was hanged.
Provisionally the gospel of Christ which is the power of God unto salvation is for everyone irrespective of what he may be or what he may have done. Potentially, it is only to “every one that believeth.”
- Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, 5341
Again, if you reject God’s covenant, it doesn’t mean that God failed but you have not received it into your life even though it was there for you. And once you have died, this pardon is worthless if you have not received it before you died. With that said, let’s begin reading in Hebrews chapter 8, beginning in verse 6 and see what the Lord has for us this morning as we look at the various covenants made by God for us and focusing on the New Covenant given to us by Jesus Christ.
The Bible speaks of several different covenants and before we look at the New Covenant that Paul is speaking of here, I thought it would be helpful to take a look at these other covenants and what they are all about.
1. THE ETERNAL COVENANT
In Hebrews 13:20 Paul tells us, “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.” The Living Bible puts it this way, “And now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he who became the great Shepherd of the sheep by an everlasting agreement between God and you, signed with his blood, produce in you through the power of Christ all that is pleasing to him. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
This is very interesting to me because Paul is telling us that this redemptive covenant was established between the Father and the Son before time began. The point is this, before He created us, He knew what we would do and what He was going to do to redeem us back – God would have to become flesh and shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins, die and be raised the third day! I’m so glad God did not give up on us but loves us so much that even before He created us, He knew what it would cost Him to pull us up out of the mire of sin we have placed ourselves in and bring us to glory – save us to the uttermost!
2. THE EDENIC COVENANT
In Genesis 1:26-28 we are told, “Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”
This covenant was made in the Garden of Eden between the Triune God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and man whom they created. In this new life was innocence, joy, peace, harmony with all of creation and God placed Adam over all of His creation with one simple test of obedience to their Creator, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” Genesis 2:16-17. The penalty for disobeying was death, spiritual death instantaneously and the physical death process began, the Second Law of Thermodynamics or the Entropy Law which says that things are wearing down, falling apart, moving from order to disorder!
3. THE ADAMIC COVENANT
This covenant deals with the condition of fallen man, sinful man’s life on this earth. In Genesis 3:14-19 we are told, “So the LORD God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.’ To the woman He said: ‘I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.’ Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat of it”: Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.’”
First of all in verse 14 we see the tool that Satan used to deceive Eve, the Serpent, being cursed. In verse 15 we see the first promise of the Redeemer being mentioned and it speaks of the seed of the woman. That may be an indication of the virgin birth because the seed comes from the man. Also, this Redeemer will be bruised but not a deathblow, which may speak of His resurrection. We don’t know what childbirth was like before the fall because it didn’t happen, but after the fall it was dangerous and painful as verse 16 tells us. Also, the battle of the sexes began here as Eve tried to usurp the role of her husband and her husband tried to lord over his wife – the loss of harmony in marriage. Not only was man cursed but verses 17-19 tells us the earth was cursed and each spring and summer I am reminded of this as weeds grow easily and freely, they don’t even need water! We see the beautiful roses but they are covered with thorns! And in this we see not only physical death but also spiritual death occur!
4. THE NOAHIC COVENANT
In Genesis 9:8-17 we are told, “Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: ‘And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’
And
God said: ‘This is the sign of the covenant which I make
between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you,
for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and
it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow
shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which
is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh;
the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember
the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature
of all flesh that is on the earth.’ And God said to Noah,
‘This is the sign of the covenant which I have established
between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.’”
This covenant said that God would not judge the earth again by a worldwide flood and His sign to us that this covenant remains is the rainbow in the sky. Now, if there was not a worldwide flood during the time of Noah, then God’s covenant is meaningless because we see local floods all the time! Now in saying that, God will judge the earth again, one more time but this time with fire, not a flood!
5. THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
In Genesis 12:1-3 we are told, “Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
The descendants of Abraham would grow into a great nation and they did, and through his descendants the Messiah would come as all the nations of the world would be blessed from the seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ, just as Galatians tells us, “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.” Galatians 3:16.
6. THE MOSAIC COVENANT
This was a legal covenant given to Israel and it consisted of commandments – Exodus 20:1-26; judgments or social laws – Exodus 21-24; ordinances or religious laws and practices – Exodus 24:17-31:18. Keep in mind that this was a conditional covenant based upon works, based upon obeying these laws. In Exodus 19:8 we are told, “Then all the people answered together and said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do.’ So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.” And in Exodus 24:7-8 we are told, “Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.’ And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.’”
While Moses was on Mount Sinai getting the Law from God the people were already breaking it! You see, the Law was never intended to make a person holy or righteous before God because he could never keep them all. The Law was to show man his weakness and point him to the Messiah, to Jesus. Paul made that very point in Galatians 3:23-26, “But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
7. THE DAVIDIC COVENANT
In II Samuel 7:1-17 we are told of this kingdom covenant given to David and his descendants. It speaks of there being a temporal rule and an eternal rule coming from his linage. Who is this eternal king? Jesus Christ of course! We see this played out in the New Testament as we read in Luke 1:30-33, “Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.’”
8. THE NEW COVENANT
This covenant is unconditional, unilateral, based upon the faithfulness of God and not man. Now please understand that the New Covenant didn’t replace the Old Covenant because it was bad. The Law of God is good, it is perfect. The problem is not with the Law but with man. You see, the Law has no power to save all it can do is tell you if you are obeying the Law or breaking the Law!
And as you look at the Law of God, as you look at what God demands from us to be received up into heaven, you will find we come up short, we miss the mark because the mark is perfection! We all come up short of that, no matter how close some may think they get, they still miss the mark as Paul tells us in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Often today we hear people say that our problem is a poor self-image, poor self-esteem. I don’t see that as I read the Scriptures. In fact, many see themselves better than they really are; better than how God sees them. They need to die to self and see their shortcomings that they may come to Jesus and ask Him to be their Lord and Savior! Before you do that you must realize that you are spiritually bankrupt, you have no resources to save yourself!
I’m sure all of us know the signs of being bankrupt on a monetary basis, but just in case you don’t, as a public service, I will try to help you out. You know you are bankrupt if:
Folks, Paul’s point here in Hebrews is that we are all spiritually bankrupt with no resources to change that condition of ours. His point being is that if the first covenant or the Old Covenant was faultless, then there would be no need for a second covenant or New Covenant. This was no surprise to God, remember the eternal covenant that He made before time began.
Now, for these Jewish believers who were struggling with their faith, Paul shows them that this New Covenant is not a new idea or thought but was spoken by the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah. The Lord said to Jeremiah that there was coming a day when He was going to make a New Covenant with Israel, and folks, that day has come as God became flesh and dwelt among us some 2,000 years ago!
This New Covenant is not written on stone but upon our hearts, it is not external but internal. You see, the Old Covenant was based upon the Law, blessings for obedience and cursings for disobedience. That is not what we see in the New Covenant. Now, as Christians the Holy Spirit indwells us, God has given us new hearts that are sensitive to His direction, and He guides us, not by the Law but by speaking to our hearts through His Word!
Thus, the problem of sin was dealt with, done away with. Keep in mind that the Old Testament sacrifices could not take away our sins but it could only cover them for a time, but sacrifices were made daily by the priests, multiple sacrifices. It was more of a ceremonially cleansing, it did not clean a person on the inside. But now our sins have been cast as far as the east is from the west to be remembered no more as God has cleansed us inwardly and it overflows outwardly in our actions!
Paul paints us this picture in Hebrews chapter 9 as he speaks of the earthly tabernacle and its implements. He says starting in verse 6 of Hebrews chapter 9, “Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance; the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience — concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” Hebrews 9:6-15.
You see, He died once for all and this free gift of salvation is open for everyone to receive, but it is their choice. The work is finished by Christ, the blood of the animal sacrifices couldn’t do what Jesus has done for us, completely cleansing us from our sin, restoring fellowship with the Father, He is our Great High Priest, our Mediator between God and man!
It is very sad to me that people take the work of Christ so lightly. Some Christians even fall into this attitude and downplay or even ignore what Christ has done. Folks this should fire us up, it should ignite our hearts to go forward for Christ and let others know of the victory that they can have in Him, that He saves to the uttermost!
How many of you remember the Alamo? You guys are older that I thought! Sorry. Anyway, listen to the story of the Alamo and what it accomplished. We are told:
Colonel William Travis faced the embattled defenders of the Alamo. “Men, the Mexican dictator, General Santa Ana, has demanded our surrender. But this fort is essential to the defense of Texas. My orders are to hold it. There is no help coming to reinforce us. The Mexicans are about 5,000 strong.”
Then as the 232 American soldiers watched, Colonel Travis drew a line on the dirt floor with his sword. “Any man who wants to escape is free to go now; any who are determined to stay and die in defense of the Alamo will cross this line.”
Strong-muscled Davy Crockett boldly stepped across. Others followed, and finally only James Bowie (who made the Bowie knife famous) was left, too ill to move by his own strength. He asked to be carried across.
Colonel Travis sent the fateful message: “We refuse to surrender.”
The Mexicans attacked on March 6, 1838. It took three assaults for them to overpower the fort by shear mass of numbers. The Americans fought back grimly, fiercely, but inevitably all lay dead.
When news of their bravery leaked to American forces, the defenders were inspired to advance. General Sam Houston gave the battle cry: “Victory is certain! Remember the Alamo.” The motto fired the men on to victory over the Mexican army.
- Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, 5190
That, in a sense is what Paul is saying here in Hebrews 8:6, “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” In other words, “Victory is certain! Remember Calvary.”
The battle lines are drawn and Satan will do everything in his power to destroy the message of the New Covenant by distorting it like we see with the many new Bible translations and men like Rick Warren and his Purpose Driven philosophies! We have dealt with this before but just listen carefully to this:
Rick Warren’s global P.E.A.C.E. Plan is targeting the continent of Africa. He believes the world is on the brink of a great spiritual awakening and that every religion can be used to bring this “new reformation” into place. In May, at the Pew and Religion Forum, Rick Warren stated: “Who’s the man of peace in any village – or it might be a woman of peace – who has the most respect, they’re open and they’re influential? They don’t have to be Christian. In fact, they could be a Muslim, but they’re open and they’re influential and you work with them to attack the five giants. And that’s going to bring the second Reformation.” While Rick Warren’s global P.E.A.C.E. Plan is based on good works, Davis is concerned about where this movement is ultimately heading. He is particularly concerned that this new “reformation” is under girded by ecumenical/New Age considerations.
Not only is Satan trying to distort the message but to destroy the messengers, you and me for God uses us to bring the Gospel message forward. In the days we are living in there are more Christians martyred for their faith than at any other time in church history! Some of you may remember this story of a missionary and his two sons that occurred back in 1999. We are told:
New Delhi, India, (AP) – The charred bodies of a missionary and his two sons were laid out in wooden coffins Sunday amid a wave of outrage at their killings, the first deaths in a string of attacks on Christians in India.
Police arrested 49 Hindu radicals suspected of burning to death Australian Graham Stewart Stains, 58, and his sons Philips, 10, and Timothy, 8, Saturday as they slept in their jeep. . . .
. . . A mob of 40 people, some armed with bows and arrows, attacked Staines’ jeep as he and his sons slept outside a village northeast of Baripada, where they had attended a Bible study program. The attackers then doused the vehicle with gasoline and set it ablaze, beating up any bystanders who tried to rescue the family, police said.
The killings were in an area that had not experienced the Hindu-Christian violence recently plaguing another region of India where radical Hindus protest that Christian missionaries were converting tribes people to their faith.
Folks, we need to stand strong in the faith that has been entrusted to us and let people know of the New Covenant that was sealed in the blood of Jesus – our salvation that is based upon the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary – paying in full the penalty for our sins. You see, it is based totally on His faithfulness and not ours. Jesus cried out from the cross of Calvary “It is finished!” May we proclaim it boldly to a nation, to a world that is in darkness! Because, “Victory is certain! Remember Calvary!”