Well, good morning to everyone. We're so pleased to have you all here with us this morning. We've got a tremendous text in Hebrews 8 and a message from the Lord—a crucial message, really—concerning the importance of significance, the implications of the new covenant which Christ instituted in his blood. 

So, we're going to continue in this eighth chapter. It's one of the most important chapters in all the Bible; yet, somehow it and the truth that teaches seem to be largely neglected or misunderstood or misapplied in the church today. 

I was talking to a man who's very involved in a Bible Church the other day, and in the course of our conversation, I said that I had been a regular doubting Thomas in this situation. He just gave me a blank look and I said, "You know, doubting Thomas?" 

"No," he said. 

I said, "Doubting Thomas in the Bible." And he said, "I don't know what you're talking about." So, out of curiosity, I asked him about his doctrine. He didn't know what his church teaches; he couldn't even give me one example of the doctrine that his church teaches. 

It's deeply troubling to me that the teaching and preaching of the Word of God is not only not the priority, not the central event in most evangelical churches, but apparently in many churches, it's non-existent. Our brothers and sisters' doctrine is simply the teaching of God's Word about Jesus—who He is, what He's done, and all that He's promised to us. It's not some academic thing; it's not some ethereal thing. It's just black ink on white paper, as Adrian Rogers used to say—God's truth, teaching revealed and preserved for us so that we might know Him and enjoy Him and glorify Him forever. 

Without doctrine, we know nothing. We do not know who Jesus is. We do not know what He has done; we know nothing of the gospel of salvation, of the Christian life, of eternity and hope and promise. All these things we can only know and understand and apply and take for ourselves through the study and hearing of the doctrine contained in this book. 

So I'm kind of hung up on doctrine. I think it's very important, central to everything we know and do. And today in Hebrews 8, we have the opportunity to study some of the most amazing doctrine concerning the new covenant in Jesus' blood. It is a doctrine that really makes sense of the whole of the Bible from Genesis on, and it's a doctrine that encompasses the whole of the New Testament concerning what Jesus has accomplished in His one-time death on the cross, His burial and resurrection—the institution of the new covenant and its implications in our everyday Christian life. 

It's not just important to know, understand, and believe; it is everything, my friends. It is God's salvation plan brought to fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and it's our privilege to study it together this morning. 

Let's look at our text. I'm just going to begin down in verse 6: Hebrews 8:6. Speaking of Jesus, it says, "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. 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, and 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." In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 

I've given you four points on your outline for our study this morning. First, we're going to look at the fault of the Old Covenant. Second, the promise of a new covenant. Third, the institution of the New Covenant. And fourth, the implications of the New Covenant. 

Well, last week we studied the first six verses of this chapter and the great truth that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the throne of God in the heavenlies. This signifies the completion of the work of Christ on the cross in accomplishing our salvation—it is finished; it is done. Remember we said last week that religion says "do," but the Bible says "done." It is finished, and that's the best promise of all: That Christ has accomplished our salvation. We can have assurance; we can rest; we can have hope and now know that we have salvation today and for eternity, and that Jesus is sufficient for all that God intends to accomplish in our lives each and every day. 

Today we come to verse 7 and really an interesting point of truth, of logic in the author's argument. And I just want to make some comments of clarification concerning the law covenant. If you look at verse 7, it says, "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second." The logic here is simple and clear. If the first covenant had been flawless—meaning that it could have accomplished salvation fully and completely—then there would have been no need for another covenant.

Hebrews 10:1—you're familiar with this passage—says, "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year make those who approach perfect or complete. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins." 

If the law, the sacrifices, the priesthood, the system of Moses could have made those who approach, who participated in it, perfect or whole, then the sacrifices would have ceased to have been offered, for the worshipers would have had no more consciousness of sins; they would have been purified. My friends, this is the very thing that Jesus did. He purified us; He cleansed us; He accomplished salvation fully and completely so that there's no longer condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

The Old Covenant was a shadow; its sacrifices were reminders of sin, but it never really paid the debt, never accomplished salvation from the wrath of God, from indwelling sin. It could not make those who approach perfect. So this was the fault of the Old Covenant. 

But I want to be clear here on what this means: why it could not save, why it could not empower us to live a holy life, to have victory over sin. First of all, it's important to understand that it was never the intent of the law covenant to save. We saw last week that from Adam until Moses, there was no law, and that the law ended with the coming of Christ and His sacrificial work. 

So the law, first of all, was temporary, and it was given not to save us but to show us our sin and lead us to faith in Christ. This is so abundantly clear in many texts. You're familiar with Romans 3:19. It says, "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, in order that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law—by good works—no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." 

Paul asks the question directly in Galatians 3:19: "What purpose then does the law serve?" It was added, he says. Remember, there's a vast expanse of time before the law covenant—it was added because of transgressions until the seed, Jesus, should come to whom the promise was made. And it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. He says, "Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one." Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 

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; it was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now listen to the statement: But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 

Man-centered, works-centered religions focus on the keeping of the law as a means to salvation. Even some within Christendom who preach the true gospel get confused about the role of the law in the life of the believer. But the Scriptures couldn't be more clear, and I want you to be clear that the law covenant was given to show us our sin, to lead us to faith in Christ, to be a picture—a shadow of the fulfillment that would come in Him. This is the purpose for which He gave it.

In Romans 3, Paul talks at length about how salvation is not by the law or by works but by faith. He then asks this question: "Do we make void the law then by faith?" And he says, "No, rather we establish it." We use the law for its intended purpose when we come to realize our sin and turn in faith to Jesus Christ for salvation. 

You see, the problem is not the law; it is not faulty unless we try to use it for a purpose other than God intended. The real problem is the sinfulness of man—every man born in Adam. Because of indwelling sin, which rules and reigns in every lost man in Adam, salvation cannot come through any law. 

Galatians 3:21 is the law against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the truth is all men are sinners; all have been confined to sin, and God's solution is that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ would be given to those who believe. 

In Romans 8:3, it says, "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh"—this is the good news—"God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh." Why? "In order that the righteous requirement of the law—that is love, according to Paul in Romans 13:8—might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." 

The law cannot save, and this is the message that these religious Hebrews needed to understand, and it is the message that every religious man today needs to understand. Rather, the law was given to show us our sin, to lead us to faith in Christ. And when a man comes to faith in Christ, God deals with the sin that indwells that man, and this is the secret to understanding sanctification. 

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Notice I want you to notice in verse 8—before we move on—first he says if there hadn't been fault with the Old Covenant, and then in verse 8, he says, "finding fault with them." What I found so interesting when I was studying is that it seems that the fault is with the Old Covenant, and then the next verse he says, "but finding fault with them." Real fault lies with man, with people. The Old Testament was faulty in that it could not provide sufficient provision against their faultiness. Does that make sense? It couldn't deal with the real problem, but it did serve its purpose for those who would receive its intention and seek a Savior, Jesus Christ. 

So we see the fault of the Old Covenant. Next, we see the promise of a new covenant. Verse 8: "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." 

The author quotes at length in this chapter from Jeremiah 31, and this is a prophecy, a promise of the new covenant. God says the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not like the Old Covenant, not like the covenant with Moses. This promise is foundational to God's entire salvation plan, and we see it, first of all, all the way back in Genesis chapter 12, as the promises to Abraham really lay the foundation of this fulfillment in Jesus Christ. 

In Genesis 12:1, it says, "Now the Lord had said to Abram: Get out of your country, from your family, 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." 

God made unconditional promises to Abraham in this chapter. He said, "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; I will bless you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." "I will, I will, I will." How different this covenant is from the Law Covenant! What did the Law of Moses say? "If you, then I will." 

You see, it was conditional. This is a major difference, my friends, because the blessing in the Law Covenant depended on the obedience of the people. But the fulfillment of the New Covenant salvation plan in Jesus' blood is wholly and completely dependent on the promise, the word, the character, and nature of God Himself. 

We see this promise reiterated throughout the Bible: the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or Israel. And God says again and again, "For My name's sake, I will not forsake My covenant; I will keep My covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Over and over and over, we see re-emphasis, reiteration of this promise, and it forms the basis, the foundation of the new covenant fulfillment in Christ. 

Let's look at that passage in Jeremiah 31. If you'd turn back there, the passage that the author quotes—Jeremiah 31:31—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 that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt: My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."  

This is the text that he quotes in Hebrews 8, and this is the great promise—the great new covenant. I want you to notice the security, the guarantee of these promises in the following verses. 

Look at verse 35: "Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea and its waves roar: The Lord of hosts is His name. If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever. Thus says the Lord: If heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord." 

What a clear promise! What a clear message of assurance that God will keep His Word, that God will keep His promises to Israel. There are those in the church today who say that God has cast off Israel, that the church has replaced Israel, that the promises are no longer in effect—of a kingdom and a land—for as yet there be no fulfillment of all these things. 

But God says, "If heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done," says the Lord. God keeps His promises. He will keep His unconditional covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, His new covenant with Israel. 

And did you notice the new covenant is with Israel, with the house of Judah? God never made a covenant with Gentiles. You see, this eighth chapter of Hebrews teaches us something that is amazingly important. The covenant is made with the house of Judah, and ultimately it will be fulfilled in Israel, as Paul explains in Romans 11. But we in the church are now experiencing a pre-fulfillment of these promises. 

Because when Jesus came the first time, He instituted the new covenant in His blood. So we see the promises of the new covenant in the Old Testament in the prophets—as we'll look at Ezekiel 36 in a moment—those associated with the new covenant, and these are now in effect in the church but will ultimately be fulfilled in Israel. 

It's so important to understand these things, my friends, that God keeps His word. Because let me ask you a question—you're dozing off at this point, wake up—if God does not keep His word to Israel, His unconditional promises to Abraham, then how can you and I trust that He will keep His promises to us in Christ? 

Turn to Ezekiel 36 with me, please. Ezekiel 36—this is another promise of the new covenant in the prophets, beginning at verse 24. I want you to look at the promises. He says, "For I will take you from among the nations; I will gather you out of all countries and bring you into your land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take out the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God." 

This is a promise to the nation Israel, final fulfillment and completion of the new covenant and God's salvation plan in Christ. But notice what the promises are: "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean"—this speaks of regeneration. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take out the heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh." "I will put My Holy Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes." This is sanctification—the indwelling, the sealing of the Holy Spirit. 

You see, my brothers and sisters, these are all new covenant blessings that we experience now in the church age. It's not a full and final fulfillment of the promises, which include a nation and a land and a Messiah on His throne over Israel. But it is a pre-fulfillment of the new covenant promises because of the major fulfillment of one-third part of the promises made to Abraham, that being a blessing to all nations through His seed. 

And that seed is Christ, Paul tells us. And He instituted this new covenant in His blood. In Galatians 3:16, it says, "Now to Abraham and to 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. And I say this: that the law, which was 430 years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise." 

Jesus is the fulfillment of the new covenant promise of a blessing to all nations through the seed of Abraham. 

We see the fault of the Old Covenant; we see the promise of the New Covenant. Next, we see the institution of the new covenant in just one verse to support what we've been saying here. In Luke 22:20—this is at the Last Supper shortly before His death, burial, and resurrection—Luke 22:20 says, "Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.'" 

In His death, burial, and resurrection, by the shedding of His blood, Jesus instituted the new covenant and the promises of regeneration, of a new heart and a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit coming to live in us and seal us for salvation. All of this came into effect as a pre-fulfillment of the promises and covenant made with the house of Israel. 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, we cannot overemphasize the importance of this truth. And that is why the author of Hebrews says in chapter 8, "This is the main point of all we are saying." The new covenant brought a drastic and powerful change in the bringing in of these promises, and it's a stark contrast with the economy of the old. It is a fulfillment of all that the old pictured, and it is in continuity with the old in this sense. But make no mistake, it is a complete severing, cutting off of the old, making it obsolete in the bringing in of the new. 

And this has so many implications in the living out of the Christian life. We see the fault of the old, the promise of the new, the institution of the new covenant. And finally, let's consider the implications of this new covenant life in Christ. 

I'd like to just read several texts for you to give us a feel for the difference, the stark contrast from the old to the new, and who we now are and what we have in Christ. You can follow along if you'd like, but you don't have to; I'm going to read several passages and I want you to listen. If you're taking notes, write down the promises that you hear. Write down the truths that you hear. 

Second Corinthians 5:14 says, "'For the love of Christ compels us because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died. And He died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.'" 

Colossians 3:1 states, "'If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Listen, for you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.'" 

These things are so important. Verse 9 states, "'Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.'" 

Romans 6:1 poses the question, "'What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should be no longer slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him, for the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.'" 

Just one more; Peter makes the same point in 1 Peter 1. He calls on us to be holy, to live holy lives, as we should be holy because God is holy. But listen to his reasoning here: "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever." 

You see, in the Old Covenant, the law just said, "Keep it; obey it," and man could not keep it. There was continual failure, despair, sacrifice, and the whole process kept repeating itself over and over, and those who approached were never cleansed fully, made complete. They were never perfect. The whole law system was meant to show us our sin and need and cause men to long for the Savior to come, to look to Him in faith. 

But there was no deliverance from the sin that dwelled in them. What we see in the new covenant promises is regeneration—dealing with sin in the flesh, as Romans 8 says Jesus did—and He did it for the express purpose that we might live new lives in holiness for His glory. He dealt with the problem of sin by killing us, crucifying the old man in Adam, and raising us to newness of life, giving us a new heart and a new spirit, and coming to live His life in and through us. We are new creations. We are new men, changed on the inside. We died with Christ. We died to sin. We died to the law. We are released from the power of death, from the bondage of fear of death. 

And that's why Paul says in Colossians 3, "Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man, and you have put on the new man." These are in the aorist tense, a one-time event accomplished in the past. We have put off the old man. You don't need to put off the old man. You have put off the old man. 

And then we see the present tense, an ongoing action. We are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created Him. We see this same truth in Ephesians 4. Let's look at Ephesians 4:17, please. 

Notice the logic. Yes, we are to live holy lives. Yes, we are to put away sin. But the reasoning now: we have a logical basis to live a new life because we are new men. Verse 17 of Ephesians 4 states, "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness." 

This is the lost world around us. But you have not so learned Christ. If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus, what is the truth in Jesus? "That you put off concerning your former conduct the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you have put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness." 

You see, the law said, "Do not lie," but it gave no power to live out the command. Sin indwells every man born in Adam, and that sin dominates, controls, rules in the lives of men. But Jesus came and dealt with that sin. He dealt with sin where it dwells—in the flesh—and He delivered us; He freed us from the controlling power of sin, made us new men, gave us a new nature. 

And now we have a basis, we have an enablement, we have a power, an ability to not lie, to obey, because we have put off the old man, and we have put on the new man. Peter says that in Christ God has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. We are fully and wholly equipped to live a holy life, a new life because we are new men. 

And the power that accomplishes this is the Holy Spirit—Jesus Christ living in us. In Romans 6 and those other passages we read, we see the why we can live a new life, because of the blessings we experience in the new covenant. 

This is perhaps the most vital thing to understand—that it is reasonable, that it is logical for us to live new lives. We should expect to live a holy life every day because we are new men. 

So there is a why. It's a foundational truth that gives us a reason, a basis for expecting to live a holy life every day. But I also, as we close, just want to touch on the how—the means to this holy living, the practicality every day. It's not law, my friends. It's not the Ten Commandments or the moral law of God. 

Now, our lives will match up; we'll express these things; we will not live contrary to the law of God, which is really a representation of His character and nature. But the law is not the means to holiness, ever. 

I want you to look at one more passage—Ephesians 3:14—that I think explains the how. Ephesians 3:14, Paul's praying for the believers in Ephesus. He says, "The means to holy living in this new covenant age is the power of the Holy Spirit in us, imparting strength to our inner man, and the very life of Jesus Christ worked out moment by moment in our lives as we abide in Him, as we trust Him and look to Him in faith. This is how Jesus described the Christian life in John 15. He said, 'The fruit does not come by our works, our efforts. The fruit comes as we know the truths of who we are and what we have in Christ because of what He has done in salvation. The fruit comes as we choose, moment by moment, to believe Him, to reckon what He says to be true: I am dead to sin. I am alive to God, and my deepest desire is to live for Him, to obey Him. I can only see this fruit as I walk by faith, as I trust Him, as I fasten my attention on Him, and yield to His life and power in me.'"  

The explanation of the new covenant Christian life is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." 

We are so blessed, my brothers and sisters, to live in this new covenant time, and we need to study, we need to know, we need to understand these truths, and we need to choose in our minds to reckon them to be so, to believe God. And we need to just trust Him, abide in Him as He works His will out through our lives, producing abounding fruit for His glory. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful that You teach us. We're so thankful for this book of Hebrews and how we see that now the new covenant promises are in effect in the church—Hebrews 8—and that there also will be a time when they'll be fulfilled completely in Israel according to Your promise. Thank You that it's by promise, that we can trust You and that You will do what You say. Help us to live lives that bring You glory, that are a witness in this world. Help us to understand Your means, Your prescription, Your way for doing that. And most of all, help us understand why it is that we can now live a new life because of what Christ has done. In Jesus' name, Amen.