Our Better Covenant

Pick your bibles up.

That's our custom around here.

Lift them up, wave them around, make Jesus glad in the devil mad.

Let's say this together say Heavenly Father, I'm so glad for this message tonight.

You have it just with my name on it and I have my receiver open and tuned into heaven, and I believe I receive revelation, knowledge that will change my life, make me more productive for the kingdom in Jesus' name, amen, amen.

Let's turn to the book of Hebrews tonight, and we've got two verses, one in chapter seven, one in chapter eight.

They're right across from each other, so it's easy to look at Hebrews seven, verse 22.

And it says by so much was Jesus made a surety or a guarantor of a better Testament or covenant, a better covenant.

And then it reinforces that in chapter eight, verse six.

But now hath he, that is, jesus, obtained a more excellent ministry?

By how much?

Also, he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

And so a message tonight is entitled Our Better Covenant.

You know, our covenant with God is better, better than the covenant under which Israel functioned, you know.

I want to remind you that 2023, god gave me the beginning of the year, actually the end of last year, that 2023 is a year of God's power, and I want to take frequent note of the new covenant, because that is the source of our power.

We're covenant.

We're in covenant with Almighty God, who's the source of all power, and so you know, when we're facing difficulties, it's good to know that we have a covenant not only with God, but it's a better covenant than the one in the Old Testament.

When I read my Bible in 1 Corinthians 10, it says the all of the Old Testament is written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the age have come, and certainly, if that's true back 2000 years ago when the Corinthians was written, how much more true is it now?

The end of this age, the church age he's talking about, is coming upon us more and more, and I like to use the Old Testament to spur me on to what's available in the new.

That gets even better.

It's better than what they had.

When I read these wonderful testimonies of miracles in the Old, it's not just to celebrate that, it's to spur me on to believe God for the greater miracles that we have a right to under the new covenant.

And so, getting back to the book of Hebrews, I just want to remind you of this too.

The theme of the book of Hebrews is Jesus is better.

See, right here we just got through reading.

He talked about better in the fact that he was a better high priest than Aaron, see.

So he's better than Aaron, he's better than the angels, he's better than Moses, he's better.

Our covenant is better.

And so just think about the wisdom and mercy of God.

I mean, he did not leave us without power.

He knew we were gonna face giants.

You know, Israel faced giants and they were afraid of them, you know.

But we don't have to be afraid of giants, the giants that we face.

I think about David.

You know, they were afraid of the giants when they went into the Promised Land.

And then, 400 years later, here comes David, and they still facing giants and they were still afraid of giants.

And Goliath had them all scared.

They were all hiding behind rocks, you know, and they were trying to, you know, not be in his line of sight and he was out there cursing them and trash talking them I think that'd be modern parlance for what he was saying and but he faced Goliath unafraid.

Why?

Because he knew he was in covenant with God, and we have a greater covenant than David.

You know, if David can face Goliath, we can face our Goliaths.

We can face them down and defeat them.

Not just face them, but defeat them.

So why?

Why was he successful when all the rest of these guys were hiding?

Well, he was steadfast in his covenant.

He already, as a young teenager he's what?

17, 18, maybe years old but he had already tested the worth of his covenant out there when he was protecting his dad's sheep.

He's out there watching somebody else's sheep.

He doesn't even have ownership of it.

And when the lion came up and take one of the sheep, he said no way.

When the bear came up, no way.

He killed both of them.

I mean, why did he do that?

How did he do that?

Cause he was a big boy?

No, he wasn't big, physically big Listen, I don't know anybody big enough to kill a lion or a bear.

I mean they've pretty well got the mastery over human beings.

I mean they're extremely strong and agile.

So how did he do it?

He did it because he knew he was in covenant with almighty God.

Oh, my goodness, what the value of that power.

And we need that power.

We need that power right here in the 21st century, in the year 2023, because we're facing some giants and we're not going to be afraid.

So here we had.

When you go back and read the story of David and Goliath, I mean this giant is out there defying Israel's army, and guess what David did?

David and say you're out here defying the armies of Israel?

He said you're defying the armies of the living God.

He switched and he arrayed the battle and put the devil or Goliath rather against God, not just against men.

And so that's the other secret is that know this, that whatever giant you're facing, whether it's a giant in your health, or a giant in your finances, or a giant in your marriage, or a giant with your children and something is attacking you, listen, they're not after just you, they're not just after that thing, they're after God, they're after God's covenant, they're trying to dishonor him.

So if you'll array the battle that way, it'll help you get the victory, praise God.

And so you know, just make sure that when you run against the no, don't ever run from a giant.

Always run toward him and have your mouth open.

Speaking God's word Don't I mean listen, you don't hold back.

God's word is called the sword of the spirit, and that word sword is dagger there in Ephesians, chapter six.

It's the only offensive part of the armor of God that we have.

It's offensive weapon used and it's used in hand to hand combat.

You know, you're gonna have to get kind of down and dirty with the enemy sometimes.

I say I would say the devil, but we rarely, we rarely fight the devil himself.

I've been talking about this Sunday morning.

We talk, you know, he has his hierarchy, he's got demon powers and so forth that he delegates a lot of his.

They're the troublemakers.

But regardless of who you're facing, whether it was the devil himself, we don't have to be intimidated because we have power that's associated with our better covenant.

You know, in Galatians 3 we covered this recently but it bears going back there in Our Bibles and get in front of you.

Galatians, chapter 3, verse 13 it says Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law Because, because he have being made a curse for us, as it is written, cursed as everyone that hangeth on a tree that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Galatians 3:13

You know, technically, every man, woman and child on the earth has been redeemed from the curse, even though they're walking in it.

Most people are, but it only comes on.

The redemption only comes through Christ.

We only have access through the blessings, through Christ.

And so he redeemed us from the curse.

And Yet David's covenant, and under that covenant he, he, he had many miracles.

Again he did.

He killed the lion, he killed the bear, he killed alive, he had many victories in battle.

And and how was it?

His covenant had curses for sin when he was disobedient to his covenant.

There were curses attached to that covenant, which was true of all of Israel.

I mean, when they got off on the wrong side of the covenant, they reaped the curses.

But our covenant is a better covenant, found upon better promises.

We have no curses.

We've been redeemed from the curse of the law.

The curse of the law can't touch us.

In fact, ephesians 1-3 says we've been blessed with all the spiritual blessings that heaven itself enjoys in Christ.

And so Jesus took all the curses for us.

You know when people are, I've encouraged people before when they were going through a tough time.

We all go through tough times, we all have giants, we all have things that come against us, and I encourage people.

You know why don't you just go to Deuteronomy 28, verses 14 through 66, and read all the curses?

Deuteronomy 28:14–66

Read all the curses that we've been redeemed from, cause those are the curses that came with disobedience to the first covenant, the law.

Whenever they got sideways, whenever they got dropped out with God didn't do what God told them, they started reaping curses.

And so you start reading those.

Well, how many?

You know 50, 52 verses of curses on there.

You know that's all the ones we've been redeemed from, we're exempt from.

We've got to get out of jail free card already.

So just a few examples here.

Verse 22 is consumption, which could be fever, inflammation, consumption.

Consumption could be pneumonia, it could be COPD, it could be, you know, any kind of asthma.

You've been redeemed from it.

Verse 24, drought drought has to do with hunger and financial ruin.

Verse 30, marriage trouble, financial trouble.

Verse 35, arthritis.

Verse 41, not enjoying your kids.

Yeah, yeah, if you got trouble with your kids, that's a curse written in verse 41.

And hey, we've been redeemed from that curse.

We have the right to have peace in our homes and so.

And then it says every sickness that's not listed.

See what if you don't find your particular situation in those verses in Deuteronomy 28?

It doesn't matter, whatever it is, you've been redeemed from trouble.

You've been redeemed from it.

He bought you out from underneath it.

Glory to God.

Oh, I think we ought to lift our hand right now.

Father is so.

Our Father, I tell you, always takes care of us in grand style.

Grand style, I know there's trouble in the world.

I mean, we see stuff all the time, every time you turn around, and then you're experiencing it when you go to the gas station, when you go to the store, when you go anywhere and spend money, when you see your bills pile up, when you I mean, inflation is real and but listen, I mean that doesn't hinder, we have God's economy that we can tap into.

We don't have to be limited by what's going on in the world.

So I just got four things tonight.

When you face a giant, let's learn from Israel's troubles, because 1 Corinthians 10 said all of these things that are written in the Old Testament are written for our admonition or our teaching or our warning upon whom the ends of the age have come.

So let's not have to learn by our own experience.

Let's let David teach us a few things.

Let's let Saul teach us a few things.

Let's let all the Old Testament folks that made mistakes and walked in the curses for a certain period of time let's learn from their mistakes.

And so the first one that we wanna see let's turn over to Psalm 78.

And Psalm 78 here?

I wanna start with this verse here in Psalm 78 to point out something about Israel.

The Psalmist wrote in verse 41, yeah, they turned back talking about Israel.

They turned back and tempted God.

It limited the Holy One of Israel.

They limited God.

If we're not diligent, we can limit God by not learning from Israel's mistake.

So the first thing that we need to think about is found in verse 40, at verse 36, 78, 36.

It says in that verse nevertheless, they, israel, did flatter him with their mouth and they lied unto him with their tongues, for their heart was not right with him.

Neither were they steadfast in his covenant.

So the first thing that we need to learn is to obey the love of God, the only commandment.

See, they had commandments.

They had a long list of things that they had to fulfill.

They had the law.

They had the dietary law.

They had all the laws of sacrifice.

They had to keep Shabbat.

They had to keep these days they had so many laws that they could trespass on.

And then they could, and if they didn't do everything just right, they would walk in the curse.

But for us, the only commandment that we have is the love, is the love commandment.

That's all.

He just wants us to obey love.

So, obey the love of God.

Put God first.

We're to love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, all our strength.

Put God first.

He's the number one at the top of the list.

And sometimes you, you know you've got to put God above your friends Sometimes.

Sometimes you have to put God above maybe the approval of a spouse.

Sometimes, you know, for you to obey God, sometimes you've got to take a stand that maybe in the short term, maybe your spouse doesn't agree with it, maybe your kids don't like it.

Listen, I'm telling you we need to obey the love of God and keep him first, honor him, and then, of course, the second part of that love command is to love others.

As I said, we have to walk in love toward others.

That's our only commandment.

And so, but here, romans 12, 9 says let your love be without dissimulation.

In other words, don't be a fake, don't be a hypocrite.

Don't, don't put a love.

Look on your face when inside you're really you don't mean it.

There's a lot of that kind of fake stuff.

See, they flattered them, god, with their tongue, but they didn't mean it.

See, they didn't really love God.

They didn't really put him first.

They cared about themselves first and foremost.

They put themselves first all the time.

And as soon as things went south, as soon as things were tough, they murmured and complained.

That you know, when you do that, you're showing that you don't really love God or trust Him much either.

You know you're complaining all the time.

You know, which brings me to part number two.

Remember God's faithfulness.

Count your blessings.

That's what the old timers used to say.

Count your blessings.

I mean, if you think about all the ways that God has seen you through every difficulty, when was the last time you faced a giant and God helped you overcome?

Why don't you think about that?

Why don't you thank Him?

Thank Him that he's available to you 24 seven.

He never goes on vacation, he's never.

He never has an answering machine.

Have you ever been on one of these long voice bells?

You just keep, you know, press one.

You know.

Then da, da, da, da da press two, you know, takes 30 minutes to get to the right person.

No, god is always available.

He's 24, seven, he's hearing you.

And this is sound in first 42 and 43.

It says Israel remembered not His hand or the day when he delivered them from the enemy, how he had wrought His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the field of Zohan.

I mean, they forgot that as soon as they got out of Egypt, while they were on their way to the Promised Land.

Well, actually, while they were walking and they got stopped at the Red Sea, they had already forgotten all the miracles.

When they came to the Red Sea, oh no, you brought us out here to die.

And boy, when they turned around and saw Pharaoh's army come and galloping toward them, they really did.

They all panicked.

No, let's remember God's faithfulness, let's count our blessings, let's be filled with gratitude.

You know, gratitude and praise just makes it very hard for you to have a pity party.

I mean, if you tend to be, if that's the way you tend to be right now in your growth, you know, you know you need to grow past that, well, just start plugging in a lot more praise.

I mean you just need to spend more time praising God and quit dwelling on the trouble and dwelling on the problem.

I mean, you know God will show you your way of escape, but spend some time magnifying him.

Which brings me to number three.

Number three watch your confession.

I'm talking about some things you can do when you face a giant.

These are, these are learning from Israel's mistakes.

Watch your confession, watch your what's coming out of your mouth.

Whatever you magnify will be magnified.

Look at verse 19.

Yeah, they spake against God.

They said can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

Behold, he smote the rock that the waters gushed out and the streams overflow.

Can he give bread?

Also, can he provide flesh for the people?

Woo, wow.

Verse 30, 21.

Therefore, the Lord heard this and was Roth.

He was enraged.

You want to make God mad and start questioning his ability.

Man, that's one thing.

To question his willingness, that's usually out of ignorance.

When people question God's willingness, it's usually out of ignorance of his will, and so that doesn't make God near as bad as when we think.

Can God?

I mean God can do anything but lie.

I mean there's nothing too hard for the Lord.

I mean they, they forgot that so fast.

They forgot.

So watch your confession.

Whatever you magnify will be magnified, whatever you're talking about.

Stop talking death, stop talking poverty.

Stop talking about your children and your trouble with them.

Stop talking about your troubled marriage.

Stop talking, stop talking.

Stop talking, stop talking.

Watch your confession.

Make sure that what comes out of your mouth it lines up with God's Word and you know, eventually, as you put these things into place, the giant that you're facing will fall like all the rest did.

Now, he's not your first giant and he won't be your last.

But listen, these kind of things come if God doesn't send them.

It just comes with the territory, comes with living in this world.

And so we know.

I mean, when you want to picture that giant, picture him falling down just like Goliath did.

I mean he collapsed when that stone hit him in the head.

I mean that stopped him in his tracks and David went up and cut his head off with his own sword.

Man, I'm telling you wow, run toward the giant.

Don't ever run from the devil.

Run, run toward him and hurl the Word of God and the name of Jesus toward him and watch him fall.

Amen, our better covenant is all based on our better covenant.

Lift your hands and receive tonight.

I know you might not have heard anything new, but you got some fresh encouragement and I just encourage you.

I speak over you that you're a victor.

I speak over that you're an overcomer, and there's nothing too hard, that our God, who's cut the covenant with us?

He's cut the covenant with us through Jesus, and so we've got the mighty God on our side.

Hallelujah.

Thank you, lord.