Not Your Grandpa's Covenant

Hebrews chapter 8, verses 1 through 12.

Hebrews 8:1–12

Now the point in what we are saying is this.

! We have such a high priest,

Thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.

Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all,

since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.

They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.

For when Moses was about to erect the tent,

he was instructed by God saying,

See that you make everything according to the pattern

that was shown you on the mountain.

Because as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry

that is as much more excellent than the old,

as the covenant he mediates is better,

since it is enacted on better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless,

there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

For he finds fault with them when he says,

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,

when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel

and with the house of Judah.

Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers

on the day when I took them by the hand

to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

For they did not continue in my covenant,

and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, declares the Lord.

I will put my laws into their minds

and write them on their hearts,

and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

And they shall not teach each one his neighbor

and each one his brother, saying,

Know the Lord, for they shall all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest.

For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,

and I will remember their sins no more.

I assume you are all familiar

with General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Military leader, United States President.

In World War II, he achieved

probably one of the coolest job titles of all time,

supreme allied commander in Europe.

So I want to imagine a story about Eisenhower.

It's totally made up, okay?

There's no historical veracity to it.

Let's imagine a story about Eisenhower.

During World War II, let's say he's home in the States

for some reason, and he's walking along the street,

and he comes along this house with the front yard,

and in the front yard,

there's an eight-year-old boy named Johnny

and a bunch of his friends.

And Johnny and his friends are playing army.

They have cap guns.

They have radio flyer wagons

that sometimes they're pretending are tanks,

and sometimes they're pretending are airplanes.

Some of them are wearing pots on their heads

that they stole from their mom's kitchen as helmets.

And so Eisenhower walks by, and he says,

what are you guys doing?

And Johnny says, we're playing army.

We're fighting a war, and I'm the general.

And Eisenhower chuckles, and he says,

I'm a general too.

And Johnny says, you got any cap guns?

No.

You got a wagon or something to be a tank?

Eisenhower says, no.

Where's your helmet?

I don't have it with me.

Johnny says, you don't seem like a general to me.

Now, if you were watching that unfold,

how many of you would say,

Johnny's got a point?

I guess Eisenhower isn't a general at all.

Of course not.

Because you would know,

the problem is not that Eisenhower

isn't really a general.

It's not that he isn't qualified,

or doesn't have all the necessary rank and status.

The problem, in terms of Johnny's comprehension,

is that Eisenhower is so much more of a real general

than Johnny even realizes

about this guy who's just walked past his front yard.

Eisenhower is the real thing

to which Johnny and his friends

and his cap guns are all pointing towards.

Things that they're copies of.

Let's ask this question.

Let's say it's two weeks before Operation Overlord,

the invasion of Normandy,

two weeks before D-Day.

Who do you think should be in command of that operation?

General Johnny?

Or Supreme Commander Eisenhower?

When the stakes are high,

you need the real thing.

When the stakes are high,

you need the real thing,

not a copy.

And when it comes to our sin,

the stakes are high.

When the problem is as serious

as the evil in our own hearts and lives,

we need a real answer.

And so our text this morning,

Hebrews chapter 8,

Hebrews 8 · chapter mention

is going to be of little interest

to people who don't feel the weight

of their own sin.

For those who don't understand

just how messed up they are

and how totally unacceptable

they are before God,

Hebrews 8 is going to be

kind of boring and irrelevant.

But,

if you wince

when you take an honest look at yourself,

and if you have deep regret

for the ways that you have hurt others

and you continue to hurt others,

and if you cringe at the thoughts

that go through your mind every day,

and if you've done things

that you'd give anything

if you could just undo them,

and if on top of all that

you've realized that

all of those ugly things

are not just flukes and accidents,

but are expressions of something

that's really wrong

and bad about you,

if that's you,

then Hebrews 8 is for you.

Because the message of Hebrews 8

is take your real sin

to a real high priest

who gives better promises.

Take your real sin

to a real high priest

who gives better promises.

And so we're going to

ask the questions,

what does it mean

that Jesus is a real high priest?

And we're going to ask the question,

what are those better promises?

But before we do,

let's review what we've already learned

about Jesus as a high priest

in Hebrews.

Remember that a priest

is someone who goes

between us and God,

who represents us before God,

who mediates between us and God.

And as we see someone

who offers a sacrifice

for us to God.

So as we think about priests

going between us and God,

we've seen that Jesus

in chapter 4

is a sympathetic high priest.

He understands our weakness

because he's experienced it,

but without sin.

In chapters 5 through 7,

we've seen a variety of things

about Jesus as our high priest.

We saw that he's

a legitimate high priest.

He's not a priest

in the line of Levi,

but he is a legitimate high priest

because he was a different

priestly order

that is also designated by God,

the order of Melchizedek.

And the author of Hebrews

showed us this was part

of God's plan

based on the Old Testament Scriptures.

We've seen that Jesus

is a perfect

and a sinless high priest.

He doesn't need to offer

a sacrifice for his own sins,

but instead he can offer himself

as a perfect sacrifice

for ours.

And we've seen that

he's an eternal high priest.

He has an indestructible life

and he always lives

to intercede for us.

And then now,

as we come to chapter 8,

we see that Jesus

is the real high priest.

The realest,

the most real,

the high priest

of whom every other priest

who came before

is just a copy and a shadow.

So how is Jesus

the real high priest?

What's real about him?

We see it in verses 1-5.

Let's look at verses 1-2 first.

Now the point of what

we are saying is this.

We have such a high priest,

one who is seated

at the right hand

of the throne

of the majesty in heaven,

a minister in the holy places

in the true tent

that the Lord set up,

not man.

So Jesus is the real high priest

because where he is.

He's at the right hand

of the throne of God,

not on earth,

in heaven.

And there's also

the contrast between

the kind of

tabernacle

that he's in.

It says that he's a minister

in the holy places

in the true tent.

When you hear the word tent,

you should think tabernacle.

He's in

the true tabernacle.

So if that's

the true tabernacle,

maybe you think to yourself,

what does that say

about the old tabernacle?

A tabernacle

that the Lord

set up,

not man.

No other priest

can claim these things.

If a priest's role

is to represent us

before God,

to intercede

before God

on our behalf

to offer sacrifices

for us

to God,

then the location

of that priest

is going to make

a difference.

If you have one priest

who is on earth

in an earthly tabernacle,

in an earthly tent,

created by man,

then you have another priest

that's in heaven

right next to God,

speaking directly

into God's ears,

in God's presence,

in the real

holy place.

Which one's going to be

a better priest for you?

This is a tabernacle.

It says that the Lord

set up not man.

Remember in Exodus

when they built

the tabernacle,

God gifted

a man named Bezalel

with the gifts

and the abilities

to help craft,

along with his fellow

craftsmen,

all of the

structures

and utensils

for the tabernacle.

So that's a pretty

nice setup.

A man directly

gifted by God

to build

these things,

and he's given

the plans

from Moses

who got them

directly from God.

God.

And now the author

of Hebrews

is saying,

that's not

the true tabernacle.

There's a different one

that's better

in heaven.

Many of you guys

have probably

participated

in a science fair

at some point

in your education.

Right?

A bunch of students

get together,

they each work

on these projects

for a while,

they present them,

maybe they win

an award

for the best science project.

Imagine a tabernacle

fair,

and Bezalel

shows up,

he's got his tabernacle,

he knows

he's been gifted

by God,

he knows

he's got the plans

exactly

as God gave them

to Moses,

and he thinks

he's got

this tabernacle

fair locked in.

He goes up

to register,

he says,

I'm here to

display my tabernacle,

secretary says,

okay,

you're going to be

at table number

three,

right next to

table number

four,

where the Lord

God is presenting.

Bezalel says,

what?

He says,

yeah,

the Lord is

presenting

at the tabernacle

fair,

he's brought

his heavenly

tabernacle

with a true

holy place.

And Bezalel

says,

and I have

to be at the

table right

next to him?

that's what

the author

of Hebrews

is saying.

Jesus is

our high

priest in

a tabernacle

that's in

heaven,

created by

the Lord,

not man.

He's the

real high

priest.

Now look at

verses three

through four.

For every

high priest

is appointed

to offer

gifts and

sacrifices,

thus it is

necessary for

this priest

also to have

something to

offer.

Now if he

were on

earth,

he would

not be a

priest at

all since

there are

priests who

offer gifts

according to

the law.

Jesus did not

fit into the

earthly Levitical

priesthood of

the Old

Testament.

Remember what

happened with

Eisenhower?

Now imagine

Jesus walking

up to the

Levitical

priests at

their tabernacle

and he says,

I'm a priest.

And I'd say,

well, do you

have our special

priestly garments?

Jesus says,

no.

Do you have

a bull or

a goat or

a dove to

offer as a

priest?

Jesus says,

no, I don't

have that.

Well, are you

even a priest

at all?

Not here on

earth.

Not of this

kind of

priesthood.

Not of this

tabernacle.

verse 5.

These priests

who are on

earth, they

serve a copy

and a shadow

of the heavenly

things.

When Moses was

about to erect

the tent, he

was instructed

by God, see

that you make

everything according

to the pattern

that was shown

you on the

mountain.

These earthly

priests in

their earthly

tent carrying

out their

priestly duties

and their

sacrifices, they

are copies and

shadows of the

ultimate realities

of the heavenly

things.

they are

shadows of

the things

that actually

happen in the

presence of

God.

And God

showed Moses

a very clear

pattern of how

he wanted this

tabernacle and

all its utensils

created and it

was important that

Moses got them

right because they

point to something

that's much more

real and much more

important than

themselves.

They were never

meant to be

ultimate.

So Jesus is the

real high priest.

He's the realist.

And when Hebrews

talks about this

and when I say

he's the true or

the real high priest

it doesn't mean

that everything

that came before

was fake.

Because the

comparison here is

not real versus

fake.

God established

that old

priesthood.

It served a

purpose.

The difference

that the author of

Hebrews is showing

us here is the

difference between

the real thing

and the

representation of

that thing.

The difference

between what is

eternal and what

is only ever meant

to be temporary.

the difference

between the

foreshadowing of

something and

its ultimate

fulfillment.

Of course in the

simplest sense as

the author of

Hebrews says

it's the difference

between a real

thing and a

shadow.

So is a shadow

fake?

No there's

nothing fake

or counterfeit

or deceptive

about a shadow.

it's just not

the real thing.

That's all.

When you see a

friend after a

long time apart

you don't try to

hug their shadow.

And if you're

walking along

outside and you

hear a plane

overhead and a

shadow passes

over you you

don't look at the

ground and start

running and chasing

the shadow and

studying the

shadow.

When a shadow

passes overhead

you look up.

And that's

what the purpose

of all those

detailed,

complicated,

Old Testament

instructions were

for the tabernacle

and the sacrificial

system.

It was to create

a shadow that

would cause us

to look up so

that at the

right time when

Jesus came we

would look up and

we would see him

and recognize him

for who he is.

As the real high

priest in heaven

sitting at the

right hand of the

throne of

majesty.

So when you have

real sin that

condemns you before

God where do you

want your high

priest to be?

In some tent on

earth or at the

right hand of God

interceding for you?

When you have real

sin and you need a

high priest to go

between you and

God what do you

want?

Do you want a

shadow or do you

want the real

thing?

Now you might be

saying to yourself

okay I get it

Jesus is the real

high priest.

He's better than

what came before.

He's the real

thing.

They were copies

and shadows but

I have not been

trying to go back

to that Old

Testament system.

I haven't been

asking some Old

Testament priest to

represent me or

sacrifice for me.

I'm good with that.

Why is it important

for us to see here

in Hebrews that

Jesus is the real

high priest?

Two reasons that

I'll give at least.

One is we need to

know that Jesus as

our high priest has

the full approval of

God the Father.

We need to know that

Jesus as our high

priest is part of

God's plan for all

of time because

there's only one

true God, right?

There's only one God

who created the

world.

There's only one God

who flooded the

earth.

There's only one God

who made covenants

with his people.

There's only one God

who made promises to

Abraham.

There's only one God

who brought his

people out of Egypt

with great power.

There's only one God

who brought them

through the Red Sea.

There's only one God

who has literally

spoken and given

his words in detail

to his people.

There's only one God

who's done any of

that.

And so if Jesus

just comes to us

in a historical

vacuum, totally

disconnected from all

that, there's no

reason for us to

expect that he's

actually connecting

us, representing us

to the one true God.

We need to have

confidence that Jesus

is part of God's

plan for all of time.

He's a continuation

and fulfillment of

what God has been

doing all along.

But not only is he

better than the

Old Testament priests,

we need to know that

Jesus is a better

and real high priest

compared to any

alternatives that we

may try to find for

ourselves.

So we may not be

asking an Old

Testament Levite to

represent us before

God, but what kind

of priest do we

have?

What do we think

will stand before

God for us?

Who do we hope

will mediate between

us and God and

offer sacrifices for

us so that God

will forgive us and

overlook our sin?

Well, here's a few

possibilities.

We might be

trusting in the high

priest of our own

good intentions.

What's going to

represent me before

God?

It's my own good

intentions.

God sees my heart.

He knows it's in the

right place.

He knows that I try

to do good as much

as I can.

He knows that I try

not to do bad stuff

as much as I can.

A lot of times,

even when I do do

bad things, it's not

because I really want

to or I intend to do.

It's just, you know,

circumstances and all

kinds of stuff kind of

worked against me.

And so God knows.

He understands.

So when I stand

before God with my

sin, I'm going to

count on my good

intentions to

represent me before

God so that my

sins may be forgiven.

That's one option.

Maybe we have a high

priest of cultural

excuses.

Well, it's just the

world we live in right

now.

Everyone is doing it.

Everyone is saying

it's okay.

You know, maybe there

were some things that

maybe were wrong or at

least seemed wrong in

the past, but now kind

of in the situation we

live in, it is what it

is.

And so as I stand

before God with my

sin, he's going to

take into account the

culture that I live in.

God's going to see

that.

Or maybe the high

priest of religious

intensity.

I'm going to go to

church as much as I

can.

I'm going to be

involved as much as I

can.

I'm going to serve

every Sunday.

I'm going to do

everything midweek that

I can.

I'm going to read my

Bible every day.

I'm going to pray with

great feeling and

emotion.

I'm going to give and

serve as much as I

can.

And my religious

intensity will

represent me before

God.

He will see that I am

sincerely,

trying to honor him,

that I sincerely

believe in him.

And that will cause

him to overlook my

sin.

Or maybe it's the

high priest of

intense guilt and

self-punishment.

I'm going to make

sure that I feel so

bad about my sin.

No one is going to

feel worse about my

sin than me.

Maybe not even God.

I'm just going to

sit in my guilt and

I'm going to punish

myself.

I'm going to punish

myself mentally or

emotionally or socially

or physically.

But I'm going to

punish myself so that

God doesn't have to.

When I stand before

God with my sin, he's

going to see how much

I've already taken it

out of myself.

And therefore, he will

overlook my sin.

That's my high priest.

Or maybe you say,

my high priest is just

that I'm not as bad

as other people.

What stands between me

and a holy God?

It's all the other bad

people who are worse

than me.

So when God looks at

me, yes, he's going to

see some sin.

But he's going to see a

lot more sin in other

places and in other

people.

And so he's going to

grade on a curve and

I'm going to end up

okay.

Okay.

What stands before

God for you?

None of these are real

high priests.

And in fact, they're

actually worse than the

Levitical high priests

of the Old Testament

because at least those

priests were copies and

shadows pointing towards

something true and

something better.

But these high priests

that we come up with

are totally false.

They do not minister in

heavenly places.

They don't sit at the

right hand of the

throne.

They can't offer any

sacrifice for you.

And they leave you

condemned in your sin.

So the author of

Hebrews is telling us

verses 1 through 5,

Jesus is the real

high priest.

So take your real sin

to a real high priest.

A high priest who gives

better promises.

What are the better

promises?

Verses 6 through 12.

Let's start in verses

6 and 7.

As it is, Christ has

obtained a ministry, i.e.

a priesthood, that is as

much more excellent than

the old as the covenant

he mediates is better

since it is enacted on

better promises.

For if that first covenant

had been faultless, there

would have been no

occasion to look for a

second.

Jesus has a better

priestly ministry not

only because he serves

true heavenly realities in

the very presence of God

but also because his

covenant is better and

his covenant is better

because it's legislated,

it's enacted on better

promises.

And Hebrews tells us there

was a problem with the

old covenant.

It had a fault.

What was wrong with the

old covenant?

The old covenant came

from God himself.

Did God give his people

something faulty?

Something broken?

And now he's saying I

gotta do a redo, try again?

There's a fault in the

covenant?

What's up with that?

Did God mess up in his

first covenant?

Let's look at verse 7

again in the first part of

verse 8.

For if that first covenant

had been faultless, there

would have been no

occasion to look for a

second.

For he finds fault with

them when he says.

You would expect him to

say, if the first covenant

had been faultless, there

would have been no

occasion to look for a

second.

For he finds fault with it,

with the covenant.

But that's not exactly what

it says.

It says he finds fault with

them, not it.

See, the real fault in the

old covenant is not the

covenant itself per se.

It's with God's covenant

people.

Look at verses 8 and 9.

He finds fault with them

when he says, behold, the

days are coming, declares

the Lord, when I will

establish a new covenant

with the house of Israel

and with the house of

Judah, not like the

covenant that I made with

their fathers on the day

when I took them by the

hand to bring them out of

the land of Egypt.

For they did not continue

in my covenant, so I

showed no concern for

them, declares the Lord.

The people did not

continue in the covenant.

They broke the agreement.

They violated it in every

way and they received

the promised judgments

of the covenant.

That's some of the promises

of the old covenant, by

the way.

If you do this

judgment,

that's some of the promises

of the old covenant.

But this new covenant, which

Jesus is the high priest, has

better promises that address

this fault.

Verses 10 through 12.

For this is the covenant that

I will make with the house of

Israel after those days,

declares the Lord.

I will put my laws into their

minds and write them on their

hearts and I will be their God

and they shall be my people

and they shall not teach each

one his neighbor and each one

his brother, saying, know the

Lord, for they shall all know me

from the least of them to the

greatest.

For I will be merciful toward

their iniquities and I will

remember their sins no more.

What are the better promises of

the new covenant of which Jesus

is the high priest?

There are at least three that are

listed here.

God's law internalized in our

hearts, a personal relationship

with God for every member of

God's people, and total

forgiveness of our sins.

What was the law written on in

the old covenant?

Tablets of stone.

External.

Hearts were not changed.

In the new covenant, God writes

his law on hearts.

He changes something within us.

Something that was hard and cold

and dead previously is now

changed by God and the law is

not something external to us to

which we constantly try to live

but it's something that's

internal, that's empowered by

God himself.

And we aren't just a group of

God's people where some people

kind of receive special

dispensations of the Holy Spirit

at special times to accomplish

special tasks and some of us

you know are specially chosen by

God or have a special

relationship with him.

All of us know God from the

least to the greatest.

Everyone has a personal

relationship with God.

They know him

personally.

And of course a total

forgiveness of our sins.

I'll be merciful towards their

iniquities and I will remember

their sins no more.

If we were the fault in the old

covenant and our sin and our

violations and our covenant

breaking, the new covenant has to

have something to account for that.

Something to account for our sin

and God says I will be merciful and I

will remember those sins no more.

forgiveness and total

forgetfulness.

So what's new about the new

covenant?

Here it is.

This is by the way the longest

quotation of the Old Testament

in the New Testament.

Three promises available to us

because Jesus is our real high

priest and because he mediates a

new covenant for us.

The old covenant, the little

biblical priest could not offer

these promises to God's people.

And neither can any of the false

high priests that we may hope in

today.

The high priest of our good

intentions can't give us any of

these promises.

The high priest of cultural excuses

cannot give us any of these

promises.

The high priest of our own

religious intensity cannot give us

any of these promises.

The high priest of intense guilt and

self-punishment does not offer any

of these promises.

The high priest of being a little

bit better than most other people

offers no promises.

So take your real sin to a real high

priest who gives better promises.

We have such a high priest.

The main point of what we're saying

is we have such a high priest.

That's why the good news is called

the good news.

We have such a high priest.

So where are you this morning?

Are you aware of your sin?

It's Mother's Day.

Moms, were you a bad mom this week?

I don't just mean in a joking way.

Did you let your kids down?

Did you treat them in a way that you

shouldn't have?

Dads, were you a lousy dad this week?

Did you choose selfishness?

Did you choose anger?

kids, were you disobedient?

For all of us, did we give in to greed?

Did we give in to envy?

Did we hurt others with our words?

Did we live in shame of our high

priest Jesus?

Take your real sin

to a real high priest

who offers

better promises?

Only Jesus sits at the right hand of God.

Always ready to intercede for you.

Only Jesus offers a sacrifice

that is acceptable in heaven

in the very presence of God.

Only Jesus offers hope

of real obedience

in our hearts and lives.

Only Jesus gives you direct access

to know God directly.

Only Jesus

can take your real sin

and declare it totally forgiven

and totally forgotten

and show mercy to you.

We have

such a high priest.

That's good news.

And we're going to learn

a lot more

about the specifics

of what this is

in the coming weeks

as we look at the next few chapters.

But the main point

of what we're saying

is we have such a high priest.

A real one.

So let's take our sin

to Him.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you.

We are not

capable or worthy

in and of ourselves

to stand before you.

this week,

this morning,

this morning,

last night,

all of us

fell short.

All of us sinned.

And so we know

that

we need a high priest.

We need Jesus.

just as much today

as any other day.

And we thank you

that He is there for us.

Thank you that

He always will be there for us.

Help us to believe it.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.