EPIC: High-Impact Truths in the New Testament – Part 14

All right, well, we do continue the series called Epic. We're in Hebrews chapter six, and we're gonna dive into Hebrews eight. We're gonna look at two short passages that really carry a punch. So we start in Hebrews six, and we're gonna begin in verse 13. The author writes, "'For when God made the promise to Abraham, "'since he could swear by no one greater, "'he swore by himself.'" So today's topic is really the new covenant. And what we're gonna see first is the promise of the new covenant. Did you know the new covenant is older than the old? In one sense, the new covenant is older than the old because before Moses, there was Abraham. 430 years before Moses, there was Abraham. And Abraham and God had a conversation, and they were talking about this promise. Now, you know, Abraham, at one point, with a promise with God, he fell asleep. He fell asleep, and he woke up, and the covenant was ratified. So he didn't have much to do with it. God did it for him, God did it to him, and Abraham was snoozing through every bit of it. Well, what we see here in verse 13 is this idea that there's a promise of the new covenant that we now enjoy,

but Abraham was looking at the preview of coming attractions, right? Long before Jesus hangs on a cross, bringing in the new, Abraham is looking at a preview, and he's told something by God that you will be the father of many nations. Now, remember that later on to the Jews, that's gonna sound a little bit ominous, maybe a bit threatening. Other nations, Lord? Are you serious? Other people? No, but we are Club Israel. We've got our members only jackets on. I mean, we are exclusive, Lord, and yet you know, as well as I do, that the new covenant message is God unleashing the gospel on all of humanity. And so we begin with the promise given to Abraham, and then it is fulfilled through Jesus Christ hanging on that cross. Verse 14, he says, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply you. Now, the backdrop to this, of course, is your descendants, you know, the people that come from you, well, they're gonna be like the stars in the sky. Now, that's a lot of stars. The sand at the seashore, that's a lot of grains of sand. What's up with this?

Well, he's talking spiritually that we're gonna be descendants of Abraham by faith. And so he's referring to all the believers throughout the ages. Surely, I will bless you, and I will multiply you. And then Galatians reveals what this is all about. Galatians tells us that through Jesus Christ, the church is the fulfillment of this promise given to Abraham long ago. Now, as we continue into the passage, we see Abraham, a patient man. Abraham certainly trusted the Lord and depended upon him, except for that little stint. You know what I'm talking about? Do you remember the story? I mean, could we be honest for a minute? Because Abraham, he seemed to just waver just a little bit, you know, with that other woman, you know, plan B with the other woman. But you know, that's not the way that God sees it. In fact, in the New Testament, it literally says Abraham did not waver. And here, it says that Abraham patiently waited. So look at God's perspective on Abraham. And I would say, isn't that encouraging to you and me? Do you ever waver? Are you ever unfaithful? Remember that scripture says that even when we are faithless, God remains faithful. So what we've got on our hands here

is a beautiful situation where God is faithful to us even when we fail. And so we're seeing that there's this promise, this promise that has been given and it is fulfilled through Christ. And we see it in the church. And oh my goodness, it is awesome. In fact, there's someone in the parking lot celebrating it right now. So if you think that might be you, please help us. Verse 16, for men swear by one greater than themselves and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. So here, I want you to think about oaths that we make. I swear on the Bible, we say. I swear on my mother's grave. I swear on the mighty Thor. You look at all kinds of cultures and oh my. I mean, there's all kinds of people swearing by all kinds of. things and typically we pick something that is greater than ourselves to swear by. But here's the thing, that we have something that we benefit from when God swears by himself. And that's where this passage is going. It is the end of every dispute when God swears by himself. He swears by himself because he can't find someone greater. So God and God, two unchangeable things. God and God. When you have God on one side and you have God on the other, now you've ended every dispute. Because we humans, we're always looking for somebody greater to swear by. But there's nobody greater than God.

So men, they swear by something greater and there's an end of every dispute. And then in verse 17, the writer of Hebrews says, in the same way, God desiring even more to show the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his purpose interposed with an oath. So are you changeable? I mean, just think about your life and your promises. A lot of flavors of Christianity are really hinging upon our promises and our commitments to God, our level of dedication, our level of commitment. And yet, look at what real Christianity is. It's not about your promise to God. It's about God's promise to you. In fact, it's about God's promise to himself. And that's what we're seeing. Are you changeable? Follow me around for days. You will find I'm up and down and all around. I bet you are too. We are changeable. But there's one who is not changeable, and that is God. And so, because God could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself. And then we benefit from the unchangeableness of his purpose, his oath to himself. But what if I commit a really big sin? You already have. But what if I commit sins frequently? You already have. But what if I commit the same sin over and over? You have. But what if I sin willfully? Every sin is willful. Your will is involved.

You choose it. So you see how we try to blow this thing up. Can I mess this up, Lord? What if I, what if I? What God has arranged here is that you're not even in the equation. You can't mess this up. You can't ruin it. You can't do anything to undo the promise that God made to himself. See, if it were about you and your steadiness and your steadfastness and your stability, we'd all be up a creek. But it's not. It's about someone who's not you. So we see this in verse 18. One of my favorite verses in the scriptures says, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. In this corner, we have the God of the universe, a perfect promise keeper, hailing from all of eternity. He never tells a lie. It's impossible for him to lie. It's not in his nature. And then in this corner, we have the God of the universe hailing from all of eternity, a perfect promise keeper. He never tells a lie. It is impossible. And then by these two unchangeable things, you are saved forever. And it's about him and him. It's not about you. Amen. That is some incredible stuff.

But what if I, but what if I, and God is saying, but what if I, what if I have secured your salvation forever? Verse 19, this hope we have as an anchor for the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil. So do you see? I mean, God wants you to feel safe. Some people think ministry is scaring Christians. Literally, they think we can scare you into obedience if we threaten you enough with loss of fellowship and loss of salvation and falling out of God's will and loss of this and loss of that, that eventually we will scare you into obedience and we call that ministry. Well, here's what God calls ministry. He says, I want you to be sure and I want you to be steadfast. I want you to be solid. I want you to know what I've done for you. And so we have this incredible anchor for the soul, this incredible anchor. that keeps us sure and steadfast we can know that we can know that we can know that we're safe so what's anchoring you your promise to God or God's promise to himself it's not about you and that is the best news ever all right well we finished this portion in verse 20 he says where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek Jesus went into the Holy of Holies before you what's the forerunner it's not your favorite brand of SUV the forerunner is that Jesus went in before you he went ahead of you as the prototype the firstborn among many brethren the high priest who gets to go into the holy place and as soon as he gets in there he says come with me the presence of God now rumor has it in the Old Testament if you were a priest trying to go into the Holy of Holies if you hadn't done it right if you hadn't prepped yourself right they would tie a rope to your leg right you've heard this they tie a rope to your leg you go in there and if you hadn't cleansed yourself and prepared yourself for the presence of God you might just hear a thump as that head hit the floor and

then they pull that priest out and they'd say next you don't want to be next but they had to sacrifice first for their own sins then for the sins of the people and prepare themselves to go this priest into the Holy of Holies once a year and look at what Jesus has done he bounds right in there doesn't need to ask permission and then he says come on in with me our forerunner so I guess I would ask you how close is your Jesus are you still buying into that puny doctrine of getting closer to God how many emails and messages and how many sermons will we hear about formulas to get closer to God before we recognize we're in the Holy of Holies before we recognize that we're one spirit with the Lord before we recognize that we are united with Jesus Christ forever anyone who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him how close is your Jesus you can't get closer than one spirit you can't get closer than united in his death burial resurrection and ascension we are not inching closer to God we are united with Christ and he is our forerunner and it says he did this in the order of Melchizedek now if you know your history Melchizedek is a mystery man from Genesis Melchizedek meets Abraham on a lonely road and Abraham pays homage to Melchizedek he respects him he gives him a gift Abraham's just been at war and he's won the battle and he's got a bunch of loot in his wagon and he says here I honor and I respect you I give you a tenth of everything now does that mean that we need to be pulling out our wallets and given 10% as required many people teach that I would say only if you've been to battle and killed people and have a wagon full of stuff sure we'll take it dump it on the front lawn no the truth is tithing tithing in the Old Testament was mostly about food so you could bring in your Farley barley if you want but seriously people are talking about this story between Abe and Melchizedek justifying pressure pressure filled giving and in fact Abraham did this one time one time in his whole life to honor this priest and it was actually very common in the culture if you'd been to war and you see someone of royalty you give them some of your spoils of war out of respect and so the message that we see here in Hebrews is one of respect it has nothing to do with your wallet it

has to do with respect of Melchizedek he's a mystery man a mysterious priest and so Jesus shows up and the author of Hebrews get this this baffles the Jews the person of Jesus shows up on the scene he's our high priest in the order of Melchizedek and you can just see the Jewish scholars thumbing through Genesis going back to see wait a minute let's review who who Melchizedek is again oh there's a couple verses about him a king of Salem mystery man Abraham father Abraham pays respect to him why would he why would he do that who is this guy and then Jesus shows up thousands of years later in the order of Melchizedek what does that mean when there's a change of priesthood, there's got to be a change of covenant. When there's a change of priesthood, we move from law to grace. This is one of the strongest arguments to hold tightly to God's grace and abandon the way of the law. We got all kinds of people talking about balancing law and grace. You can't call Jesus Christ your priest and then go back to the law because the law says Jesus can't be priest. The law says they got to come from the tribe of Levi, the tribe of Aaron. The law says Jesus can't be priest. Jesus though, born in the tribe of Judah, a priest according to a mystery man Melchizedek, which is likely an early appearance of Christ. And so Jesus, the table-turner, the renegade, toppling furniture in church. He's got the wrong paperwork, the wrong passport. He's from the wrong tribe. He's breaking all the rules on purpose to say there's a change of priesthood, a new priest in town, which means a new covenant. So that's our first hot spot, this epic passage, and now we've seen the promise of the new, now let's see the new. Here we go. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. So what's the problem? Is the problem the law? No, the problem's not the law. The problem is the people under the law. And we see that actually in verse 8. He continues, he says, for finding fault with them. Does he mean the commandments? No, he means the people. For finding fault with them, he says, behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Here's the new covenant coming at you. Now let me just tell you a little bit about what you're

gonna see. You're gonna see a download and you're gonna see a deletion. The new covenant is a download and a deletion. It's a download of God's desires to your heart and God's desires to your mind. It's a download. They will all know me from the least to the greatest. They will know me intuitively. They will know me. It's a download and it's a deletion because God remembers your sins no more. Now watch this as we journey through the best summation in the scripture of what the new covenant is. Alright, verse 9, he says, not like the covenant which I made with their forefathers, so you better be expecting something new. He says, on that day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, for they did not continue in my covenant and I did not care for them, says the Lord. Alright, two big thoughts here. First of all, expect something way better, way different. Now I know what you've heard. I've heard it. I've heard it for decades. Oh well, you know, the new covenant is really just a continuation of the old covenant. We really need to balance law and grace. It's really just the continuation and fulfillment. It's just an ongoing. No, no. God says, God literally says, it will not be like the covenant I made before. Hang on. Put on your seat belt because we're seeing that there's something radically new and better under God's grace and God is telling us this in black and white. Secondly, he tells you why he had to make it different. Why did he have to make it so different? Well, it goes back to what we said about Abraham, right? That promise was God and God. Why is it God and God? Because they did not remain faithful. Because they did not continue in my covenant, says the Lord. So because they didn't continue, God made it about himself, which is great. Don't you love that? I love it when it's about God and God. So we continue to dive into this covenant and all that it means for us and I love that this comes on the heels of our conference together, the perfect wrap-up because everything we talked about for a couple of days is now summarized right here in a very powerful way. Verse 10, this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws into their minds. That's the download. I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be my people. Now you might be

questioning, you know, what are the laws? You know, there's a kind of a mixed message out there. I mean, you know, are you saying, Lord, that we're dead to the law, but the law's on our heart? Are you saying we're free from the law, but the law's on our heart? Are you saying Christ is the end of the law, but the law's on our heart? Because that would make no sense. You got something on your heart that you're dead to? Notice the word laws is in plural. It's actually different from the Old Testament quote. Sometimes the apostles do that, you know, they take an Old Testament quote and they tweak it to fit a New Testament context. And that's what's going on here. We got laws plural, which does not refer to 613 commands in Judaism. You don't have avoid pork written on your heart. You don't have avoid shrimp cocktail written on your heart. You don't have avoid Friday night emails written on your heart. What is on your heart? You know the commercial, what's in your wallet? I'm asking you, what's on your heart? When nobody's looking, what's on your heart? When you have total freedom, what's on your heart? Who are you? God has downloaded his commands, his laws. You know what they are. John tells us about them. He records Jesus saying this, a new command I give you, love others even as I've loved you. Secondly, John tells us these are his commands to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to love others even as he has loved us. Those are the laws written on our hearts. That's what God is renewing our minds with. It's not a mixed message of you're dead to it, but it's on your heart. In fact, you know, that's referring to an unbeliever. The book of Romans says that the Gentiles, the Gentiles who have no law, have the requirements of the law written on their heart and their conscience, so it will kill them. You ever heard somebody say my conscience is killing me? So God has made sure that the unbeliever is aware of the righteous requirements of the law so that they can recognize their need for a savior. That passage in Romans chapter two is not about Christians. It's about unbelievers being convicted so that they will be saved. What you have on your heart are Jesus's commands, believe and love. And guess what? Love covers a multitude of sins. I can't love you and steal from you at the same time. I can't love you and cheat you at the same time. Love covers a multitude of sins. Verse 11, they're not going to have to run around teaching everyone, his fellow citizen and everyone, his brother saying, know the Lord. Why not? Because they will all know me intuitively from the least to the greatest, from the six-year-old in the classroom, the nursery back there, in the kids programs, that six-year-old

and that Bible scholar and that person who's 99 years old. They will all know me from the least to the greatest because it's not about schooling. It's about intuitively knowing him and his presence in your heart. Some of those disciples turned apostles were fishermen. They had no education. Likely some of them couldn't read and write. They had, in some cases, they were hiring scribes because they couldn't do it themselves. I mean, it's not about head knowledge and schooling. It's about the intuitive knowing of the Lord. Some people say, oh, you better be fluent in Koine Greek to really know the Lord and really know the scriptures. Oh yeah, the Corinthians knew it perfectly. And look at them, a nightmare, practically having drunken parties at the Lord's supper. One guy sleeping with his father's wife, oh, they were fluent in Greek. Congratulations. Jesus works in any language because we all know him. You ever felt like when we're going through the scriptures, oh, you're just putting into words what I already knew in my heart was true. See, that's because Jesus lives in you. It's intuitive. It's natural. It's supernatural, but it's the new normal. Verse 12, he says, for I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more. I told you it was a download and a deletion, the download to your heart and your mind, the deletion of your sin record. We got lots of people that need to agree with God. I'm not talking about confession of their sins. I'm talking about confession of their righteousness. We got lots. of us that need to agree with God. Because God has said, I remember your sins no more. I remove them as far as the east is from the west. I keep no record of your wrongs. There's no clipboard, there's no scorecard, there's no ledger. Your sins are off the books. What about at the final judgment? Off the books. Who is it that's judged according to their deeds? Revelation 20, they're pulled up from hell and judged according to their deeds. Christians are showing up in chapter 21 of Revelation and God's words to us, no more tears, no more sorrow, enter into eternity with me. How could your deeds come up if your deeds are forgiven? It is finished. If God remembers your sins no more, do you? Why are you keeping a record? When you and God disagree, who's right? He's right every time. And he's saying it's finished, it's over. He's not dealing with you on the basis of your sins. He relates to you on the basis of your Savior. Your sins are gone. You are qualified. It is really finished for you. He keeps no record, and then we finish with this, verse 13, it says, when God said a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete, and what is becoming

obsolete and growing old is ready, ready to disappear. Does it say the law is gone? It doesn't say the law is gone. Let's be clear, the law is not gone, the law is not dead, but you're dead to the law. Do you hear that? The law is not gone, the law is not dead, you're dead to the law. Some people say, oh, this message is about law bashing. They don't know what they're talking about. We're taking the law and putting it on a pedestal. We're saying it's perfect and it's impossible. We're saying it's not 10, it's not 11, it's not 10 minus the Sabbath, it's not 10 plus tithing, it's 613 laws. It's perfect and it's impossible and no way. The law is not dead, but I had to die to it. I had to die to the law. The law is a perfect tool. It shows the unbeliever their need. But once we come to Christ, we die to the law so that we live to God. What do the iPhone 1 and blockbuster video stores, phone booths have in common? They're obsolete. They're obsolete. They're all gone. They're not coming back. We got something better. So I read recently, what is it, Redbox? You know Redbox, they were around for a while. They went out of business, but the boxes are still there. I mean, we're talking boxes as big as me. There's still thousands of boxes all over the country, just dead and empty. So if you want a box, go pick one up, enjoy it. But we got something better. We got downloads. We got iTunes. We got YouTube. We got clouds. We got all kinds of ways to transfer. We got something better. In Christ, we got something better. The law is a shadow. The law is obsolete. And so one day we will see all of this. We will see God face to face. But right now we're in this beautiful adventure, walking by faith, recognizing how incredible the gospel really is. We got something better. We got something epic. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your word. It never disappoints. We thank you for Jesus and that it's all about you. It's all about you. Your promise to yourself. You are a perfect promise keeper. We thank you that we can trust your oath to yourself, that we are safe forever. We got the anchor for the soul. Our salvation is not going anywhere. It's too late. We're already saved and we're already safe. We thank you that we're not walking on eggshells. We get to have confidence and stability in Christ. In his name we celebrate. Amen.