Now have your Bible open, please, to Hebrews chapter 8, and the theme of this chapter is stated right at the beginning—the main point. Let's read a few of the verses at the beginning of this chapter. 

Now, this is the main point of the things we're saying. We have such a high priest who's seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord erected and not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, it's necessary that this one also have something to offer. For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law, who serve the copy in the shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For he said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” 

Jesus gave a striking example for us to look at this morning concerning old covenant worship and new covenant worship. And I'd like for you to turn in your Bible right now to the 18th chapter of Luke. And I want us to read this and look at this in our own Bible. 

Luke chapter 18—this is an example of an old covenant worshiper and a new covenant worshiper. Luke 18, look at verse 9. Also, he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. He gives us this example. 

Two men went up to the temple to pray: one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. 

I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. 

Now this story told by Jesus sometime before his death on the cross demonstrates the difference between an old covenant religious man and a new covenant believer. The old covenant man was trusting in his performance and his works, and that's what he boasted about when he stood before God. The new covenant man had only God's mercy as his prayer—God, be merciful to me, a sinner. 

And I love Psalm 147 verse 11, which says God has pleasure in the person whose hope is his mercy. Does he have pleasure with you today? Because the bottom line hope, the bottom line of your faith and your worship, is the mercy that we've been singing about this morning when God gave Jesus to die on the cross. 

Every person in this place today belongs to this example. I want us, right at the beginning, for us to identify ourselves. Which of these two men am I? And I'd like to invite you to turn to Romans the third chapter, which helps us see ourselves from God's perspective. 

The third chapter of Romans, please. And I'm going to begin with verse 9, following your Bible. What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they're all under sin. As it is written, there’s none righteous, no, not one. There’s none who seeks after God. They’ve all turned aside; they’ve become unprofitable. There’s none who does good, no, not one. 

Their throat is an open tomb, with their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. This is God's perspective of man. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they’ve not known. There’s no fear of God before their eyes. 

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 

But now, the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe, for there’s no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 

Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. 

Now, that scripture gives us a chance to identify ourselves. Which of these two men am I? The man who stood and boasted about his own performance and about his works, about his ability to keep the law, or the man who cried out, God be merciful to me, I need to be saved? 

Today, God's written word calls upon us to examine our faith, and this is the bottom line of how we examine our faith. At this time of my life, do I fall short of the glory of God because I'm depending upon my performance and my works and my ability to keep the law? Or am I justified freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, our Savior? 

I'd like to invite you to turn to a passage of scripture relative to this. Turn to the book of Titus, please, to chapter 3, and listen to a statement about our justification freely. Titus, chapter 3 in your Bible, and look at verse 11, please. 

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Let's ask ourselves, has the grace of God, the mercy of God, the grace—has that appeared to me? Am I overwhelmed by the amazing grace of God? The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. 

I thought as we studied the book of Hebrews chapter 8, I would call upon us to consider our relationship. Which of these two men am I? And you can know for sure, you can leave and go to your home today with the absolute assurance that you know you're the man who's been saved by God's grace. 

And so the passion of the writer of the book of Hebrews is that the readers will have contrite, full assurance concerning the main point. This is the main point: Jesus is our Savior. He's our high priest at the right hand of the Father right now. He's our advocate because of our sins. That's the main point. 

The writer of the book of Hebrews brings that to our attention in this great, wonderful chapter, Hebrews chapter 8. And I've been so enthusiastic in my own heart about what this chapter says to me. 

And there are two major points that we're going to look at in chapter 8 today. The first point—I'll just mention them first, then we'll go back and look. The first point that the Hebrew writer makes is we can hold fast to the new and better covenant. 

I suppose many of us are aware that the Bible presents itself in the form of covenants or agreements or promises from God. And basically, we're looking at the new covenant today, which is more excellent than the old covenant. 

What the writer of Hebrews chapter 8 is saying to the readers—and that's you and me, right now—we can hold fast to the main point that Jesus is our Savior and he's our priest, our great high priest at the right hand of the Father. 

And then the second point we'll look at later is that we must believe in our mind that the old covenant is obsolete and ready to vanish away. I regret to say this, but I think many people who will go to church today are depending upon their ability to fulfill the old covenant laws. It won't work, people. God gave the people of Israel up who tried to be saved by keeping the old covenant. 

So let's look at these points this morning, these two different points. First of all, we can hold fast to the new and the better covenant. Now, please note carefully the convincing applications that are stated in these first five verses regarding holding fast to the new and to the better covenant. 

Let me just remind you of this. On the night before Jesus died, he met with his disciples for a supper and he took the cup of wine that night and he lifted it up before the men and he said, “Man, I want you to know now there’s going to be a new covenant.” It's important for us to realize when it started. It started when he died on the cross for our sins. 

So what are the points that he's making relative to that? Well, he's saying we have a high priest seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And let's read the first five verses again of Hebrews chapter 8. 

Now, this is the main point of the things we're saying. We have such a high priest who's seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord erected and not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, it's necessary that this one—that's Jesus—also have something to offer. For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law, who serve as the copy and a shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For he said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” 

So the major point he’s making, the main point he’s making, is that we have a high priest. He felt it was so important to stress that truth. And there are some new covenant facts that we just read about. He wants us to cling to the main point of the book of Hebrews. It’s really the main point of all of the scriptures. He wants us to hold fast and to cling to that main point. 

Let me try to illustrate that. Supposing this week you went to your mailbox to get out the mail, and so much of it is junk mail, but you saw you had one letter with a return on it from the Supreme Court of the United States of America. And it was written by the Chief Justice, John Roberts. You’d be quick to open that letter and see what he’s going to say. You start reading that letter to you, and you see that it’s a personal letter. And John Roberts begins by saying, “This is the main point of this letter.” That would sure spark your interest, wouldn’t it? You wouldn’t put that aside until you finished reading the letter. 

Well, the letter that we are reading today is from God—our Creator God, our Savior. And as he begins this chapter, he said, “I want you to know this is the main point of this document of Hebrews. We have a high priest who’s seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven.” Friends, I just want to say that’s good news. This main point is good news. It’s a promise. 

And the book of Hebrews several times tells us, hold fast. Take a tight grip on this promise, especially on this main point. Now concerning that, he tells us Jesus Savior is the ministry of the sanctuary. And listen to this carefully. Jesus, the high priest, is the ministry of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle of God. 

Do you ever wonder, how can I be sure that I belong to the true church, the true family of God? There's so many varieties. How can I be sure that I belong to the true family of God? In 2 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul talked about that danger. There’ll be others who’ll come and preach a gospel that’s not the true gospel. They’ll preach about a Jesus who’s not the true Jesus, not the true Savior. 

How can we be sure? Well, if we hold fast to the main point of the Bible— and the bottom line of our assurance is found in this chapter written to the first-century Hebrews—if you know in your heart, dear friend, that your faith is summarized by holding fast to Jesus Christ, my great high priest, my Savior, you’re part of the true church of God, the true family of God. That’s good news to know in this age of uncertainty. 

And it was necessary, he tells us, that this one would have something to offer on our behalf—that this priest that we hold fast to, this Savior we trust in, he had something to offer. Now, when we started this morning and reading in chapter 18 verses 9 through 14 about two men who went to the Lord to pray, the first man was offering to God, telling God what he had to offer: “Here’s what I have to offer to you, Lord. I’ve kept the feasts, I tithe, I obey the laws.” And the second man said, “I only have one thing to trust in. I trust in your mercy, which you offered for me at the cross.” 

I want us to look at some scriptures about this. Just with me, think for a moment, what did this man, Jesus, have to offer on my behalf? Look at your Bible at 2 Corinthians chapter 5, at verse 21. I want you to see it in your own Bible, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21. It’s talking about what Jesus, our priest, our Savior, offered for us. It says this: God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. 

What did the Son of God have to offer on my behalf? When he left heaven and came to this world to be our Savior, he was willing to say to the Father, “Father, I will take the sin of Richard Kranz, all of the lifetime sin of Pastor Richard Kranz, and I’ll bear that to the cross, and I’ll pay for every sin of his lifetime.” That’s what Jesus offered. 

Look at 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 18, in your Bible. This high priest had to offer something to God on our behalf. 2 Peter 3, verse 18. Christ also suffered once for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit. 

What did Jesus offer? He had to be willing to be put to death for the guilt and the sin of mankind. Look at another passage relative to the question. He had something to offer for us. Look at Romans chapter 5, please, in your Bible. This is a beautiful statement concerning what he offered. Romans chapter 5. 

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

And then one more verse I’d like for you to look at in your Bible concerning what Jesus had to offer as our great high priest. Revelation chapter 1, please. Look at verse 5. John writes these words: The book of Revelation is from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own body. 

What did Jesus have to offer? He had to offer himself to pay the penalty for our guilt and for our sin at the cross, and therefore he’s able and he’s qualified to be our merciful, faithful high priest. It was necessary that he would have something to offer. 

And then notice that in the first five verses—or actually in verse 6 of Hebrews 8—it tells us that Jesus is the mediator of the better covenant. Look at Hebrews chapter 8, verse 6. Now concerning Jesus, it says this: Now he has obtained a more excellent ministry inasmuch as he’s also the mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. 

Right now in your mind, I’d like for you to think of this. Identify the one you think is your mediator between God and man. Who’s the one you believe to be your mediator, who stands on your behalf and defends you before the Father? Who is the mediator? 

Paul said in 1 Timothy chapter 2, “There’s one God and one mediator, the man, Christ Jesus.” I’m so glad to know this morning as I stand here and share God’s truth with you that I have a mediator. There’s only one mediator. Hebrews 7 verse 25 says he’s able to save us to the uttermost because he ever lives to make intercession for us. He’s saying, hold fast to this truth that Jesus is the mediator for you, the mediator of a better covenant. 

And the sacrifice that he presented for us is called propitiation. That means it was a total, complete, adequate sacrifice so that God the Father would be pleased with us and would forgive our sins. 

And then another thing about that first point that we mentioned this morning is that God has promised that he will be our God and we will be his people. Look at verse 7 through 11, please, in Hebrews chapter 8. 

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, he says, “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Jacob.” Let me just stop for a moment. Why are Gentiles included in that covenant that was made with Israel and Judah? Paul answers that in Ephesians chapter 3. He said, “God revealed to me this mystery, this secret, that the Gentiles would also participate in the promises that God had made to Israel and to Judah.” 

So when we read that this covenant is made with Israel and with Judah, it also includes the Gentiles who become believers. Paul pictured that as God putting branches into a live olive tree. He put us into that tree and we’re part of that tree also. 

Okay. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there’d been no place sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, he says, “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—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, because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord. 

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, none his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them. 

Now God has promised to us today that if we hold fast to Jesus Christ, we trust him as our great high priest, he’s promised, “I will be their God and they shall be my people.” And friends, this word explains our present and our eternal forever relationship with God. He’s our God. We are his people. We call him Abba Father. John, the apostle, got that in his mind and heart and he said, “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him.” 

And then he said, “Now we are the sons of God, and it does not appear what we shall be, but we shall be like him when we shall see him as he is.” When I think of this promise from God in this new covenant, “I will be his father. He will be my people, my son.” I think of my dad, who lived until he was 97 years old. What a great dad he was. 

And when I first went away to Bible college, I was pretty much broke and had to live from hand to mouth. I became a salesman at a shoe store, Dayton’s downtown shoe store. I did that for the full four years that I was in Northwestern. Tribulation comes through patience, and that’s the advantage I had from selling ladies’ shoes for four years. But sometimes I would have financial needs, and I just write a letter to my dad who lived 200 miles north, and pretty soon I’d find a check in the mail to help with those needs. He was always available.

It reminds me of what the psalmist said: as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities us. He remembers that we’re just dust, and he cares for us and he loves us. And that’s part of holding fast to this new covenant—this truth that Jesus is our great high priest. God is our father.

Now, the second point of this chapter 8 is that now, since we’ve chosen to hold Jesus Christ as our high priest, our representative with the Father, the one who made an offering on our behalf to save us, we hold him in our mind and heart. The second thing from this 8th chapter is that we must now believe that the old covenant is obsolete and ready to vanish away. 

This paragraph shows us the reason God has abolished the old covenant and established the new. And I’d like you to follow as I begin reading at verse 7 again, down through the end of the chapter. 

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, he says, “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—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, because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord. 

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, none his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them. 

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more. 

And he says, “A new covenant,” he’s made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 

Now the practical application of what we’re looking at in this eighth chapter today—in my faith, in my worship of God—if I understood that Jesus is my savior and my great high priest, and I hold fast to the new and the more excellent covenant, and have I come to the place where I’m willing to believe that the old covenant, which depends upon man’s effort, man’s labors and performance, if I’ve come to the place where I’ve been willing for that to be abolished and to vanish away. 

I want to have you look at Romans chapter 11 for a moment, at one tremendous statement we need to look at relative to this whole idea today. Romans chapter 11—one significant verse concerning the application of these truths. Paul wrote this statement in verse 32: For God has committed them all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all. 

God has included every one of us as persons who failed to keep the old covenant. Why did he do that? Because he wants to have mercy on all of us. And that’s the meaning of this chapter today. He talks about man’s failure. 

God said, “Under the old covenant, men failed.” I won’t take time today to read from Matthew 5, 6, and 7, the Sermon on the Mount. But Jesus spoke these words of the Sermon on the Mount, and his concluding statement was, “This Sermon on the Mount, which is old covenant, requires that you keep the law, and it requires that you be perfect by keeping the law.” 

And he said if that’s true, if you’ve kept God’s law to perfection, the old covenant law to perfection, then you’re like a man who’s built his house upon a solid rock. But he said if it’s not true, if you’ve not kept this old covenant teaching to perfection, if you failed in one point—if you’ve not been as perfect as God is perfect—your house is built on sand, and it’s going to crumble in the day when you stand before God. 

That kind of teaching from Jesus tells us that we need a new and a better covenant. And that’s what he gave to us on the night before he died. He said, “I’m giving you a new covenant now because you can’t keep the old covenant.” Therefore, you’re available now. If you’ve come to that place, God is saying if you’ve come to this place and you realize that you fail all these steps of the old covenant, then you’re ready to receive God’s mercy and his grace. 

When does this happen in a man’s life? It happens when he comes to an understanding: I’m guilty. I’m hopeless. I’m not adequate. All of my performance, and all of my religion, is in vain. I’m guilty before God, and I need a new covenant. God, I need a new word, a new promise from you. And that’s what we’ve been reading this morning in the eighth chapter of Hebrews. We’re reading about the new covenant. 

Now, let me just read several verses again to you. Let me start at verse 10 and just look at this. 

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, none his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them. 

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. 

And that he says, “A new covenant,” he’s made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 

We have a new covenant, and when we come to believe that new covenant that Jesus made at the cross, the Bible says we’re justified in the sight of God, and there’s never going to be any condemnation. I want to try to illustrate this. Consider this example: 

A young couple recently married purchase a brand new home. Time passes, and they begin to fall behind in some of the mortgage payments. They start receiving notices that their credit rate is in danger, and then eventually they receive a warning concerning foreclosure on their property. 

The husband takes a second job, hoping to help with the debt, but soon, because of unexpected expenses, it becomes evident that there’s no way they can catch up with these payments. And then, unexpectedly, they receive word from a sympathetic friend who understands their need and volunteers to pay off the mortgage. 

The point I’m making with that example: when they receive word from that friend that he’ll pay the mortgage for them, they’re free. Their mortgage is obsolete from the day it was paid. They experience propitiation, a sacrifice that’s adequate on their behalf. 

Folks, that’s what the gospel is all about. God’s Son came from heaven to earth to pay our old covenant debt and to set us free and to give us a new and a better promise. And right now—right now at this moment—he’s in heaven on our behalf appealing to the Father for our salvation. That’s the new and more excellent covenant. 

Now, if you have your Bible open, I want you to read with me verse 12 and 13. Read it out loud. Let’s read this promise boldly. 

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. In that he says, “A new covenant,” he’s made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 

One more time, let’s just read verse 12. This is the new covenant: For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. 

What can we say about that? Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Thank you for the new covenant. 

Let’s bow in a prayer. Father, we thank you for the main point of your word. We thank you so much that Jesus is our merciful and faithful high priest on our behalf, right there beside you in heaven, beside your throne. Thank you, Lord, and I pray that this promise, this word, will be strong and convincing and encouraging and joyful in the mind and heart of each person who’s been here today. 

Father, we love you and we thank you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.