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Hebrews 8-10 - The Old/New Covenants and God’s Will for us today
*Invite people to read Hebrews 8-10 after the sermon*
I don’t know about you, but death isn’t something I generally like to talk about. Growing up, I remember my best friend losing his mother to cancer. I remember feeling helpless because I had no words to say… I was in shock. And all I could think about was: What if I were in his shoes? What if I lost my mom?
That thought... for me, was unthinkable. Yet I know many of you watching have had to go through this. Well, the older I get, the more this topic comes up.
My parents have already had conversations with me about their wills so that I know what’s supposed to happen when they die. Honestly, I hated to even have the conversation. But I knew it was necessary.
And by the way, if you’re listening to this sermon and you don’t know what a will is, that’s okay. That just means you’re probably a lot younger than me!
A will is basically just a pile of legal papers that say who gets what when someone dies. That can often cause problems in families that have more than one child…
I remember watching an episode of a show Amanda and I like called The Rookie. This episode happened a while back so hopefully it’s not too much of a spoiler…
But the main character, Nolan, a 40 something rookie cop, finds out after all these years that he has a younger half brother. He found out because their father passed away and wrote in his will that he wanted Nolan to have his classic muscle car. Nolan’s half brother had to deliver this car to him, and that’s when Nolan found out for the first time he had a half brother.
Well, his brother wasn’t happy about Nolan getting the car, and Nolan didn’t even want it! But because the will was a legal agreement, Nolan had to take the car.
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Anyway, you can go watch the episode for yourself, but the reason we need to talk about wills is because that’s the illustration that the author of Hebrews uses when talking about God’s covenant promise! Check out H ebrews 9:16-17…
“16 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.”
The Greek word for will can also be translated as covenant. But the reason the NIV translators chose to use the word ‘will’ is because they wanted the readers to know that in this context, the author is using legal language.
Okay, so how do we create a will today? It’s very similar to Jesus’ day…
[Picture] B asically you’ve got one person who describes what they want the will to say. Then you have a lawyer who writes it all down and makes it legal. Then you have the person or group of people who benefit from the will because they receive whatever is stated in the document.
Here’s what I want you to get… Think of God’s promise … His new covenant … think of it like a will!
God the Father is the one who establishes the will. Jesus the Son is the mediator between God and the recipients of the will, and anyone who chooses to put their believing loyalty in Jesus gets to be the recipient of this will! Check out Hebrews 9 verse 15...
“15 For this reason Christ is the m ediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance— now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.”
This is so important… Jesus is the mediator between us and God! He’s like the lawyer who makes the will legal and valid. But here’s where the illustration turns on its head…
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In our context, we would need to pay the mediator (lawyer). But with God’s covenant promise (His will), the mediator is the one who pays the price (Jesus)!
And many times wills have stipulations spelled out. Well, God’s will is similar because it depends on two things:
First, Jesus needed to sacrifice Himself to pay the price for our sins. Why? Because He’s God, and only God could live the perfect life required to pay the price for our sins. If that is confusing and you haven’t listened to the other sermons in this series, I encourage you to go back and listen to those because we’ve talked about this at length in previous sermons throughout this series.
Second, w e have to have a real faith in Jesus, otherwise our sins won’t be forgiven. There’s no amount of good works we could do that would grant our inheritance from God’s will. It only comes through faith in Jesus! And in this way, God’s will - His covenant promise - results in the gift of eternal life to those who choose to put their faith in Jesus.
And when we believe, as we’ve said time and time again throughout this series, we can KNOW with absolute assurance that God will make good on His promise to us so long as we continue to believe - so long as we continue to draw near to Him - so long as we’re actually believers.
Even if we turn away from God, His promise still stands! And what the author means by that is if at any point in our life we turn away from God, we always have the option of turning back to God. God never closes the door on people who truly want to seek Him.
This turning toward and away from God is an important concept for us to get…
[Picture of house with fence] I recently read a story from someone who lives in the Eastern parts of the world. This person said that the problem with our Western American thinking is that when we think about a follower of Jesus, we think about someone who is behind the fence and on God’s property.
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He said it’s like we think that we’re good as long as we’re on the right side of the fence. But the problem is, in his mind (and I would add, the biblical worldview), THERE IS NO FENCE! A person is either moving toward God or away from God.
Real believers are those who are continually drawing near to God. That doesn’t mean real believers don’t sin! Real believers will stumble… they may slip and fall… but they don’t turn around. They don’t turn their backs on God. It may take some time to get up after falling, but their posture is always turned toward God.
This is why in Hebrews 11 we see examples of people we call heroes of the faith. We call them heroes, yet not one of them lived a perfect life. In fact, all of them did some crazy stuff. However, none of them ever turned and rejected Yahweh God for another god. They remained loyal… they remained steadfast… they never turned around like Lot’s wife, looking back to her false gods. They continued to face the direction of Yahweh God.
Basically, God’s “will” (His covenant promise) stipulates that we need to maintain a posture that is always faced toward Him - I think an even better way to say this is that we need to remain loyal to Jesus alone. Our allegiance is to Him and no one else.
So keep this illustration of God’s promise to us being like His written will to us in mind as we continue our study...
Now, think back to the earlier chapters of Hebrews. We’ve often said throughout this series that God does not go back on His promises. He doesn’t make a promise and then refrain from following through with His promise. In other words, as we say today: God doesn’t ever “drop the ball.” When He says He’s going to do something, He means it, and we can trust that He will always follow through with His promises.
But here we are in chapters 8 - 10 of Hebrews. These three chapters are all about God’s Old Covenant Promise vs. His New Covenant Promise. And if the word covenant trips you up... Think: O ld Covenant = Old Testament; New 5
Covenant = New Testament [Jesus!] Testament and Covenant are synonyms - they both mean ‘promise’
So, when I think about God’s promises - His old and new - I have to wonder: Why wasn’t God’s first covenant promise good enough for His people? Why did He need to institute a second covenant promise?
Well, the first covenant was certainly good enough. But as the author of Hebrews says, the first covenant was only a shadow of the things in heaven and the things to come (Hebrews 8:5, 10:1).
So what was the first covenant? Well, basically God’s people would inherit the promised land if they continued to obey all of God’s commands. But their obedience needed to come from a loyal and pure heart - one that loved God and wanted to serve Him only. If they would do that, then they would enter into God’s promised land… or God’s rest, as the author of Hebrews explains it in chapter 4 verse 10.
In fact, check out what Moses had to say to the Israelites before they went into the promised land. I’m reading from D euteronomy 11, starting at verse 13…
“So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— 14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. 15 I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
16 B e careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be 6 many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
22 If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him— 23 then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. 24 Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. 25 No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.”
That’s basically a summary of the first covenant promise. God was saying, if you remain loyal to me, I will give you the land I promised (land was a big deal). But the first covenant promise also incorporated over 600 laws that basically described how Israel was to live as His loyal people.
Sometimes we look back on those laws and we think that they were just supposed to keep those laws so they could be saved from God’s wrath, but that’s not it at all! The law wasn’t there to save them… it was there to serve as a guide… it made the Israelites aware of their sin so that they could turn from that sin and continue drawing near to God.
So the writer of Hebrews is saying that everything under the first covenant is just a shadow of what was to come. The Law… the Tabernacle (which later became the Temple)... and even the sacrifices were all a shadow of what was to come.
And what was to come was the new covenant! The new covenant is God’s promise that you and I are under!
Check out Hebrews 8:8-12 … the writer of Hebrews has this long quote from Jeremiah 31:31-34 that explains how the new covenant will be different from the old… (Hebrews 8:8-12)
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“The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.
[BTW, this new covenant includes all 12 Tribes and all people who would identify as loyal to Yahweh God - again, this extends to us today in the way that the Apostle Paul describes… in Romans 11 he says that believers in Jesus are grafted into this new covenant promise]
9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. 10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Okay, so how is the Old Covenant different from the New? Let’s do a quick review [chart]:
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Old Covenant Promise New Covenant Promise
The Law: The Law: Written on tablets Written on our hearts
Access to God: Access to God: First through the tabernacle in Moses’ Through Jesus the Son! Our bodies day and eventually through the are His Temple - It’s where God’s Holy Temple, both of which were God’s Spirit lives! (1 Cor. 6:19-20) house (His dwelling place)
Sacrifices: One Sacrifice for All: Various kinds that served as a Jesus! His sacrifice served as the final reminder of sins (Heb 10:3) payment that needed to be made for our sins
So, as the writer of Hebrews says, this old covenant is now obsolete! (Heb. 8:13)
The new covenant is better in every way! The Old Covenant needed to be repeated over and over. Hebrews 10:11 says that…
“D ay after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties: again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.”
In other words, all these rituals… all the things the Israelites had to do in order to stay pure so that they could have a relationship with God… none of it was good enough to take away their sins! And even on their best day, when the High Priest would go into the holy of holies once a year, he would make sacrifices for himself and the sins of the nation, but even that ritual had to be repeated year after year.
There was no sacrifice they could make that would cover their sins for good!
Not even the Law could make people good enough for God. In fact, Hebrews 10:1 says that these sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, [and they] could never make perfect those who draw near to God in worship. 9
But now we have the New Covenant! This new covenant promise does away with all of that! And by the way, Jesus is that New Covenant! Check out Hebrews 9:24-27…
“For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. N or did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so C hrist was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
So, again, the first covenant was only a shadow of the second covenant. Jesus set aside the first to establish the second.
So I’ll ask the question again: Why did God choose to make a second covenant? It’s because that’s been His plan all along - ever since the garden of Eden! The red thread of Jesus’ blood can literally be traced from Genesis all the way through the last page of Revelation.
Now, going back to what we first talked about… do you remember how the author of Hebrews described this new covenant? He describes it like God’s legal “will” between us and Him. And this will was made valid when Jesus died for us.
But His will isn’t just a cold piece of paper that says what we get if we believe in Him. H is will … His promise … is Jesus!
God’s will is wrapped in love!
● John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son [Jesus], that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 10
● Romans 5:8 - “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” So with all of that in mind, Hebrews chapter 10 finishes by…
● Urging us to continually draw near to God with a sincere heart.
● Urging us to hold unswervingly to the hope we profess in Jesus because He will remain faithful to His promise.
● Urging us to spur one another on toward love and good deeds… not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.
○ Btw - “giving up” here in Hebrews 10:25 is about abandoning your faith. It’s about rejecting the gospel of Jesus. It’s about turning from God and moving away from Him.
○ This verse has been used so many times lately as a proof text that says online services aren’t good enough and that we need to meet in person as a large group if we really want to do “church.” While I agree that meeting as a large group is important, we need to be careful not to use verses out of context.
○ So to be clear: “Giving up meeting together” has nothing to do with how we’ve isolated ourselves from each other over the past few months. I know that some who are listening may have even used this verse as a proof text for why we need to get back together… and I know you had the best intentions. So I hope this is a good example and a reminder to all of you: W hen it comes to Bible study, don’t use Scripture for proof texts. Always run toward context. That’s the kind of integrity we need to have when we approach the scriptures.
So the writer urges us to continue in our faith no matter what, but then the writer gives us his fourth and final warning in his letter to the Hebrews. He’s warning his readers that they need to keep believing!
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But here’s what he’s not saying… look at the phrase: “deliberately keep on sinning” in Hebrews 10:26. This is not at all about Christians who continue to sin. It’s about people who once called themselves Christians but are choosing to reject Jesus. They are turning away from their faith - which, if you’ve been following along with this series then you know this is a huge theme throughout all of Hebrews.
So the warning here is that we need to keep on believing! And then he follows that up by spelling out the consequences of rejecting Jesus…
● There’s no other sacrifice for our sins that could make us right with God (10:26). Only Jesus’ sacrifice and our faith in Him leads to our forgiveness. ● There’s also a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. And wow… look at that, chapter 10:27 - those who reject God are called His enemies.
Then the writer concludes his warning with a sobering thought: It’s a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (10:31).
But it’s not all doom and gloom! There is hope! The writer finishes chapter 10 with encouragement!
He’s encouraging his readers to remember those first days when they put their faith in Jesus. His original readers knew what it was like to be physically persecuted for their faith. And in those days, they banded together. They stood side by side and suffered together. They joyfully lost their belongings, even their property, because of their faith in Jesus!
Why were they joyful? Because they knew that the things they have here on earth are but a shadow of what’s to come! They knew they had better and lasting possessions!
That should challenge our faith today!!! When was the last time you’ve suffered like this because of your faith in Jesus!? Probably never.
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But Scott, what about the loss of our American rights? What about this isolation we’ve been in for the past three months? What about those who have lost their jobs?
I would agree that all of that is difficult, but none of it warrants rejecting our faith in Jesus. And by the way, rejecting can easily mean replacing… The scary thing is that sometimes we’re not aware of how we’re replacing Jesus with the things we elevate in life. I would challenge you to think about this: H ave you put your faith in Jesus in the shadow of your American rights?
Don’t replace your confidence in Jesus with anything. As the writer of Hebrews says, “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God you will receive what he has promised.”
What’s the will of God? His will is His promise! God’s “will” for us is that we remain faithful to Him… that we continually draw near to Him! That’s what God’s will is for your life… it’s not a list of the right things God wants us to do! It’s about remaining faithful to Him no matter what happens in our lives.
Honestly, this language and imagery of “God’s will” really struck me this week. I never thought of God’s will for my life as a contract… I always thought of it as more of an abstract. But here’s what I want you to know: The will of God is not His plans for me. His will is the covenant promise! His will is for us to remain faithful.
Because when we remain faithful… When we persevere in this life, we will receive what God has promised us.
And so I’ll close today’s message with these final words in H ebrews 10:38-39…
“But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.”
Pray - M ay that be true of all of us. I pray that everyone listening would continually choose to draw near to Jesus...