[0:00] And we're going to be looking at verses 11 to 28 today. Now, I have technically covered verses 11 through 22 in the past two messages, which has been a while.
[0:15] But last time, as I mentioned, we looked at this thing that I didn't feel like had been dealt with a lot in Christian circles, that Christ earned this eternal inheritance for us, and it was given to us by means of his death.
[0:29] It was an inheritance. So we spent some time on that. But I want to go back to the big picture look at the book of Hebrews tonight. And so we're going to cover verses 11 through 28 today.
[0:42] In this section, what we'll look at today, the writer of Hebrews is taking some of what he's shown so far and building a case for how the new covenant is better than the old covenant.
[0:54] And by implication, why the Hebrews should not be looking to go back to the old covenant. Wake up. Wake up. I know that sounded boring. And so, but I wanted you to just kind of get a flow of where we were and what we're doing.
[1:11] And so I've titled tonight's message, why the new covenant is better. Now that's not a thrilling, oh, blow you out of your spew kind of title either. But the idea of what God has done is amazing.
[1:26] And he's just going to run through some stuff tonight as we cover all these verses and basically answer, why is the new covenant better? Better. I want you to think about that because as we've looked at the book of Hebrews, the thing for these Hebrew Christians was as they had turned to trust Christ from the old covenant, Jewish sacrificial system to trusting in the work of Christ.
[1:51] Now hard times have come along and they want to say, you know, it was easier to go back. It's just easier to go back. There were things we could see, things we could do. And so let's just go back.
[2:03] And he's building this case for you don't want to go back. What we have is so much better. So I'm going to read verses 11 through 28. It's a little bit of a longer section, but it'll give you the flow of it.
[2:16] And we'll have a sense of what's going on here. So Hebrews chapter 9, starting in verse 11. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
[2:48] For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
[3:10] Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
[3:24] For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.
[3:40] Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.
[4:01] And in the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
[4:15] Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things, he's speaking about the things that are on earth, Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
[4:31] For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
[4:43] Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own. For then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.
[4:56] But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
[5:19] Let's pray together. Father, I confess that as we've read this, it is so easy to see the complicatedness of this passage, and how many things he's tying together, how many things he's alluding to that they would have known about.
[5:39] It's just easy for us to glaze over and think, there's too much there. I don't get the flow of it. I'm lost, and I'm tuned out. Father, I pray that you would protect us from that tonight.
[5:53] There is a lot here, and Lord, I pray that you would make sure that everything you choose to shine forth would shine forth. And I pray that if nothing else, everyone here would have a good understanding of why it's better to be where we are than where they were.
[6:14] And Lord, help us to be people who are thankful for the wonder of all the things that God has done for us that we couldn't do ourselves, even as some of that is pictured here in this passage.
[6:26] So I pray that you would be with us, quicken our minds and our hearts, stir our hearts to be attentive and hungry for the things that are here. I pray that you would be with my physical voice, that it would be clear and would hold up, and I pray that you would be with my mouth, that what is spoken would be clear and would draw people to what's here.
[6:48] I pray that you would be lifted up and glorified. And may we be able to rejoice at the end and say, that's why the new covenant is better, and I'm glad for it. And I pray that you would be with us, in Jesus' name.
[7:00] Amen. Amen. One of the things I have said repeatedly through our study of the book of Hebrews is how I've compared the book of Hebrews to the old hash chorus that I learned in college, in Christian college, where one chorus would lead into the next.
[7:19] By the end of the last word of one chorus would be the first word of the next chorus, and you'd sing that chorus, and the end of that chorus, last word, would be the first word of the next chorus. And you just, eight or nine or ten or fifteen different choruses would be mashed together that way, and a person standing outside would kind of sit there and go, oh, you know, how do I pick a chorus out of that?
[7:42] It's just one right after another. And as I've studied the book of Hebrews, and people have often said it's one of the most, and I agree with it, and I don't claim to be any expert on it, it's one of the most difficult because it has that kind of idea.
[7:56] The writer of the book of Hebrews is like, I've got a bazillion things to say, and I've got ten minutes to say it, and I'm going to say all of them. And he just... And so, oft times it seems like he's just flooding us with things.
[8:10] He's alluding to this, and he's pulling that in, and he's pointing to that, and he's alluding to this, and he's pulling the other thing in, and he's pointing to that, and he just seems like on a roll.
[8:20] But let's just look at this passage. I have to admit, now we've spent some time, I really wanted to look at this idea of this testament, so we spent a Sunday night looking at that.
[8:34] And we've looked at some other things, and so we could go back and pull this apart in little details. Much more detail than I have any equipment to do.
[8:45] There is a lot here. But I want us to just get this big picture overview of why the new covenant has better. So, I'm going to give you phrases, or topics, or statements that are summations of sections, of verses, of thoughts that are in this passage, so that we can get an overview of what he's getting at when he says, the new covenant is better.
[9:14] So why is the new covenant better? Well, in verse 11, we're going to see that the new covenant is better because there's a better holy place. You can look at the passage there and see how he talks about there's a more perfect tent, not a tent made with hands, and he goes on to talk about that there's this better holy place.
[9:33] And he's using the picture of what went on in the Old Testament to point out, or point to the old covenant and see how it was all set up in this tent, this old covenant holy place.
[9:43] And we've described it before. Remember the tent with the two sections and the furniture and how only priests could go into the first section and only the high priest once a year could go into the second section. And how all of the rites and ceremonies or most of the rites and ceremonies of the old covenant took place within that holy place or the holy of holy places.
[10:05] It was an earthly holy place. Well, our new covenant has a better holy place. The old covenant holy place was made with human hands. It was of this creation.
[10:16] It was earthly. And it was only made, ultimately, to point to the true holy place. This passage, these verses speak about how it was a picture of the true holy place.
[10:31] It was there to show what Christ would need to do. It was there to show how holy God was and how we're restricted to access, restricted in our access to Him because of our sin.
[10:43] It was there to point out all these things. And so the old covenant holy place was an earthly place. It was only meant to point to the true holy place. Why is the new covenant holy place better?
[10:55] Well, it's a greater and more perfect tent. Now, is there a literal tent in heaven? No, I don't think so, although I'm not going to be dogmatic.
[11:07] Haven't been there. Hope to see it someday. Lord, I'm trusting to see it someday. I don't, I've not got a hope, so salvation. But I don't, I don't think it's literally a tent, but there are measurements, so maybe there's a tent.
[11:22] I don't know. I can't answer that. Tried to answer that one already and failed. But it's a greater and more perfect tent. It's a tent, or it's better to say rather than a tent, although he uses the word tent here to point to it.
[11:36] It's a dwelling place of the holiness of God. It's a place where, where God's dwelling, or holy, is dwelling in holiness. It's not made with hands. It's the one that the earthly tent, the earthly holy place was patterned after.
[11:54] And so, why is the new covenant holy place better? Because it's the real holy place. What was on earth just pointed. What's in heaven is real.
[12:06] And that's where the important stuff happened. A second reason, in verse 12, why is the New Testament new covenant? I'm going to switch those words.
[12:18] I'm going to try to stick to the idea of new covenant today. But if I say New Testament, I'm not referring tonight necessarily to the second half of the Bible. I'm referring to the new covenant.
[12:31] Why is the new covenant better? Because the new covenant priest comes with a better offering. The Old Testament priest comes, as he come before the holy place and was to offer an offering, he came with the blood of animals.
[12:51] So here's the Old Covenant priest. He walks up. He doesn't have his own blood because if he had his own blood, he couldn't walk there to provide it for an atonement. And maybe there's a way he could, but still, he doesn't come with his own blood.
[13:06] And that was for several reasons. One is, he had sins of his own to deal with. His blood wasn't worth anything. He couldn't bring his own. He had to bring the blood of another.
[13:17] And so, in the Old Covenant, the priest came with the blood of animals. In the New Covenant, our covenant is better because the New Covenant High Priest comes with his own blood.
[13:30] Blood shed. Now, the Old Testament priest, he shed animals' blood for the sins of the people, although it didn't take it away. It covered it. It pointed to that which would take it away.
[13:41] Our New Covenant High Priest comes with his own blood shed to pay for our sins and to bring us into a covenant relationship with him. He had no sins of his own to deal with.
[13:54] He could truly represent us as a High Priest. He could be completely effective because he would be the offering and the offerer.
[14:06] And so, he brings the appropriate offering into the better tabernacle. So, the New Covenant is better because the New Testament High Priest comes with a better offering.
[14:19] That's verse 12. Next, we're going to see that the New Covenant is better because the New Covenant offers a more effective purification.
[14:29] We spent a little bit of time on this last. We looked into the book of Hebrews, so we won't spend a lot of time just kind of summarizing what's there. The New Covenant offers a more effective purification.
[14:42] Now, under the Old Covenant, these priests would bring the blood of animals and they were only sufficient for outward purification. They did not take away sin.
[14:53] Sin was only covered looking toward the day when Christ would come and pay for the sins of his people. the blood of bulls and goats are not worthy to pay for our sins.
[15:17] They're not humans. And they're not animals. They're not unlevel with our creation. These animals were brought only to point to the sacrifice that would come and so under the Old Covenant, there were only offerings that could point, insufficient offerings, that God allowed to be able to purify the outward appearance so that people could continue in their worship of the Lord but only point towards what Christ would do.
[15:50] Now, the New Covenant is better because our priest offers his own blood sufficient to purify the conscience from dead works so that we can serve a living God.
[16:03] He doesn't bring the blood of insufficient animals. He brings his own blood. His blood is of infinite worth. His blood is of sufficient worth as to provide eternal redemption for all his people.
[16:20] The cleansing his blood provided was not ceremonial but complete. That's that verse 13. How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
[16:41] His blood unlike the old covenant his blood was perfect and his blood made it so that our sins to the very core were cleansed and paid for.
[16:55] So the new covenant is better because the new covenant high priest offers a more effective purification. In verses 15 through 17 we see that the new covenant is better because it has a better eternal inheritance.
[17:13] And we dealt with this last time and I emphasized there how we got the inheritance. I emphasized last time that Christ earned this it was made our inheritance and when he died it was given to us and since he died on the cross we have all the blessings that he accrued for us.
[17:37] But let's look at it in almost the same way but a little different. As we think about the new covenant the new covenant is a better eternal inheritance. This passage does not deal so much with what we will inherit but rather how Christ has gained for us how what he has gained for us is delivered to us.
[17:56] That's what I just I've now said it twice. Our new covenant inheritance is better because our inheritance is not contingent on our obedience.
[18:10] Okay. Now this is the purpose of part of the very way an inheritance is built up or is meant to be.
[18:22] An inheritance is not something that we get because we've been good sons and daughters. Some people might put your inheritance out that way but that's we get an inheritance not because we've been good sons and daughters but because we are sons and daughters or whoever else is an inheritor.
[18:41] Our inheritance is not contingent on our obedience. It's not our reward. Our inheritance is willed to us by Christ and delivered on account of Christ's death.
[18:53] It is what he earned and has given to us as heirs. Again we didn't earn this inheritance so we can't lose this inheritance.
[19:06] All that Christ has earned for us is ours because he has bequeathed it to us upon his death and dying on the cross we have this inheritance. And so in this inheritance all we could need was earned for us and given to us as heirs.
[19:27] So put that back in the equation. Why is the new covenant better? Because everything we needed was earned for us and given for us not as a result of what we've done but because he earned it he willed it to us and then he died that we might have it.
[19:51] Now he lives again so we get to share it with him. Not that he's taking it back but we get to share it with him. Wouldn't it be great if your dad built up this great inheritance, died, gave it to you and then resurrected so you could all enjoy it together?
[20:08] That would be the better kind of inheritance than dad's gone kind of thing. So our new covenant is better because there's a better eternal inheritance. We didn't earn it.
[20:20] Now I won't go far in this but let me just mention we learn from other places in scripture some of what might be included in our inheritance. I'm not going to go into this but just to mention a couple things.
[20:31] He doesn't go into it here so much but from other places in scripture even in the book of Hebrews we learn that part of his inheritance is eternal rest and that is with him.
[20:43] Part of his inheritance is his righteousness that he earned for us. We now have a perfect righteousness that is not our own but has been given to us because he has died and bequeathed it to us.
[20:56] And then also we could say in scripture that part of his inheritance is sharing in his reward. Scripture says that we will rule and reign with him and we will be heirs of God joint heirs with Christ.
[21:14] So the new covenant is better because of the inheritance that he's given to us that we didn't work for that's ours. He's provided it all.
[21:28] Fifthly the new covenant is better and this is verses 18 to 26. The new covenant is better because it has put away sins by Christ's sacrifice.
[21:38] Now we've talked about how there's a better purification and this is along the same lines but I'm going to put it a little differently and we'll see some of the things he points out here.
[21:51] I'm not going to point out necessarily the individual verses. This is a bit longer. This is eight verses eight or nine verses that deal with how Christ put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
[22:04] I'm going to just contrast it with the old covenant in these things. Under the old covenant sin was not put away but rather outward cleansing was repeated yearly each time yearly or each time we are defiled.
[22:21] And I hope by these statements you could see the difference here. Sin was put away. It was done. Think completely done versus the old testament where you sinned you brought a sacrifice.
[22:38] You sinned again you brought another sacrifice. And that's the way it was under the old testament. Sin was not put away but was rather outwardly cleansed so you could keep doing the stuff that you were supposed to do and that outward cleansing was repeated each year or even each time you were defiled.
[22:56] New covenant is better or under the old covenant rather. Sin was outwardly cleansed in a place that was only a shadow of where sin was really to be dealt with. By that he's pointing out the idea of when sin was covered in the tabernacle it was not in the place where sin was truly to be dealt with.
[23:18] It was dealt with in a place where it was pointing to where it would really be dealt with. So the old covenant was inferior in that it was only a shadow of where sin was to really be dealt with.
[23:34] Also under the old covenant the old covenant sacrifices were not effective because they were not sufficient to take away sin. That harkens back to verse 13 that we've mentioned a minute ago.
[23:46] Rather in this section under the new covenant the new covenant sacrifice of Christ is effective because it's sufficient. He was worthy.
[23:57] He was of sufficient value to deal with sin right down to the very conscience. And the new covenant is better because Christ put away sin by taking his own blood into the presence.
[24:12] Again he's referring back to things that he has already dealt with. Third it does not need to be repeated yearly or weekly or every time we defile ourselves by sin.
[24:23] Christ's sacrifice was sufficient to pay for sin for all time. It's done. Under the old covenant I could kill a lamb or take it to the priest and have him kill it, shed his blood, sprinkle it on the altar, burn part of it, eat part of it, confess my sin over it, walk away and it didn't take care of everything and I had to come back.
[24:49] But under the new covenant he was sufficient to take care of sin completely. Only one sacrifice for all time. He does not need to die repeatedly for us.
[25:03] Now he makes this strong case in this passage for this because in the Jewish mind it was just so hard to get out of the mindset that I had to keep bringing sacrifices because that was the old covenant.
[25:19] Yearly there were feasts where you had to bring sacrifices. When you sinned in an outward way you had to bring a sacrifice. In the normal course of life, the cleanness and uncleanness of things you had to bring sacrifices.
[25:34] There was just continue and continue. And so it would be easy for them to develop this mentality that it has to be an ongoing thing. And the writer of Hebrews is pointing out, no, under the new covenant it's once and done.
[25:45] And the writer of Hebrews points out that it's good that Christ does not need to die repeatedly because God has determined, as we see towards the end of that passage, verse 25 or 26.
[26:05] It's 26. No, it's actually 27. And just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment. So Christ hasn't been offered once to bear the sins of many who appear a second time.
[26:18] But here thinking about the new covenant, it's better. It's good that Christ doesn't have to die repeatedly like the animals because God has determined for mankind that he only die once.
[26:31] If we needed a savior that had to die over and over and over again, it just wasn't going to happen because God said he determined that man would live one life and that he would die and that he would face judgment after that.
[26:50] And if, and since Christ had taken on flesh and become a man, the God man, that would still apply to him. He would only have one life to live and he could only die once because that's how God determined mankind to be.
[27:05] He couldn't be offered over and over and over. It's a good thing. This sounds small, but it's a good thing that Christ's sacrifice was sufficient to pay for all sin, for all time, for all of his people, because he wouldn't have a second opportunity to die.
[27:23] So it's very much a good thing that we have this new covenant with a mediator, with a sacrifice, who could put away sin, whose putting away of sin was complete and total in one death, in one offering of himself.
[27:44] And so the new covenant is better. Sixthly and lastly, the new covenant is better because his better offering and the covenant that he gave to us or enabled us to have, I'm reading this wrong, the new covenant is better because his better offering and the covenant enable us to have a better result.
[28:12] Okay, I think you'll get this as we go. This is verse 28, 27 and 28. What was the result of the old covenant? It did good to show us our sin.
[28:23] We know that from Galatians. It did good to show us our sins, but it didn't deal with our sins. In fact, there's a sense in which, like Paul said, if I hadn't known the law, I wouldn't have known my sin.
[28:38] The old covenant heaped guilt. And the result of the old covenant was not justification or peace.
[28:51] It was only to point out sin and to point us to Christ. Now you say, wait a minute, what about salvation for those? Those in the Old Testament were saved by faith, pointing to Christ.
[29:04] So the results of the old covenant, it can only show sin. It couldn't deal with our sin. But the results of the new, to go to that verse 27 again and 28, in the new covenant, there is no judgment.
[29:22] The new covenant is better because there's no judgment. Christ has been offered once to bear the sins of many. And even better, in the new covenant, the result, here's a result that there was, the best they could hope for in the old covenant was the reference to the promised land.
[29:41] But that was only Canaan. And they lost that by disobedience. They came back, but they didn't have it fully. And they lost it again because of disobedience.
[29:52] And so they didn't get the end result, which was kind of the best thing they could hope for under the old covenant. What's the end result?
[30:03] What is it that we can hope for in the new covenant? Well, obviously, the first thing is the fact that there's no judgment. Christ has been offered to bear the sins of many.
[30:17] But the second thing is, Christ is coming to save those who eagerly wait for him. In this new covenant, there is a reward.
[30:29] There is the end of where Christ comes back and he saves us and he has dealt with our judgment. And we'll be eternally in heaven with him.
[30:42] No Old Testament person, Old Covenant person could see that. In the old covenant.
[30:53] They could see promises in the prophets and in the writings of Moses and in the Psalms of a coming heaven. But that was not because of the old covenant.
[31:04] That was because of the new covenant. And so the new covenant is better because there is a better hope. Christ is coming back.
[31:16] Let me give you just a few applications. I think we as Christians need to praise God we live in the new covenant. Most of us will say, oh, I'm so glad I live in the new covenant because I don't want to live by the dietary laws.
[31:32] Well, yeah, that's good. Most of us may say or many may say, well, I'm glad I'm in the new covenant because I don't want to bring animals to sacrifice all the time.
[31:44] Yes, that's good. But don't think of convenience. Think along the lines of what was really gained. We need to praise God because we live in a new covenant because it's all been absolutely dealt with for us.
[32:00] It's something that God has done through Christ that totally pays for our sin once for all. He does not have to keep dying. He has died for all our sins for all time.
[32:13] And he has promised to come back and to bring us to be with him. We look forward to his coming. So praise God we live in the new covenant.
[32:26] Secondly, you may not be trying to go back to the Jewish old covenant like these people were. But are you trying to earn acceptance with God?
[32:38] Are you trying to do the things that will make God happy with you? Are you sinning in your life and thinking, well, you know, I've done this one bad thing. Maybe I can do two almost good things and God will be happy with me again.
[32:51] The new covenant is not like that. The new covenant, Christ has done it all for you. His sacrifice there on the cross 2,000 years ago. If you are trusting in that sacrifice, his sacrifice has made you completely acceptable before God.
[33:07] He has paid the penalty of your sin. He has suffered the wrath that you and I deserve. He has earned the righteousness that we didn't deserve and that he has given that to you by means of an inheritance, made you acceptable and perfect and beautiful in God's sight and is coming back to bring you to be with himself for all eternity.
[33:33] Don't try to go back to trying to earn God's favor. And there's a sense in which many of us do it. It is so ingrained to us to be people who try to earn God's favor.
[33:47] But we need to be people who stand on God's favor. Not the favor I earn, but the favor Christ has earned for me and provided completely for me.
[34:00] So don't go back. Don't be like the Hebrews here were trying to go back. I could say it another way, a way that he's kind of said here.
[34:11] In fact, not kind of. He has said, Oh, Christian, do not forsake so great a salvation. But let me tie that to what he does here. And that is not in this particular passage, but in the book.
[34:23] Christian, don't forsake such a great salvation. Any suffering you may experience in this life is nothing in comparison to the wonder of what God has done for you and what he has in store for you.
[34:39] Don't turn. No matter how miserable. No matter how awful. I say that and I know it sometimes can be a struggle.
[34:50] You think, Lord, why? Why is this like this? Why am I failing like that? Don't turn back. Remember the salvation you have.
[35:00] It's all of God. It is not your own earning. Don't be discouraged by the things that you suffer. Fourthly, Christian, contemplate the wonder of the extent of what God has done to provide for you the salvation that you need and how it's all of him that he's applied that to you.
[35:26] Something I hope you get through this. Paul was talking, my son was talking as he was leading us in worship about the wonder of what God has done for us in saving us.
[35:39] Here we're continuing the same idea. Not only has he sent grace to awaken us, he's called us from the foundation of the world, he's chosen us, he's made us his child, he quickens us and makes us alive, but contemplate what he did to provide that.
[35:59] He sent his son to be the God-man. He was the perfect priest. He had the perfect sacrifice. He did it in the perfect place. He earned the perfect righteousness and then gave that to you by dying.
[36:12] And then he rose from the dead that he might share it with you. And he's coming back, having purged your sins and made you perfectly whole and complete before God based on what he has done.
[36:23] And he's coming back to bring you to be with himself. And we have not begun to touch on the wonders of what God has done to provide that for you.
[36:35] It's all of him. And he's done it all. Our lips need to be filled with praise and worship. Lastly, let me mention this one last thing.
[36:50] We've portrayed the Old Covenant as limited and ineffective. And so it is.
[37:01] But I want you to see, lastly, before we close, the grace of God in giving us both covenants. I don't want to beat up on the Old Covenant and say it was awful and it was nothing and it was no good because it was God's grace that gave us the Old Covenant.
[37:20] Without the Old Covenant, I would not know that I was a sinner. Paul said that. I wouldn't have known about lust if the law had not said, thou shall not covet.
[37:34] Oh, I'd love to not have been a covener or a luster. I would have loved to have been that. But I would have been that regardless if the law had not been told to me or not.
[37:44] Praise God. God sent His law to convict me, to condemn me, to show me that I was indeed a sinner because I would have lived my life happy to not know I was a sinner, happy to die at the end of life without a twinge of guilt, not knowing I was a sinner, only to wake up in hell justly punished by the wrath of God for all eternity.
[38:10] Praise God for the Old Covenant. I wouldn't have known that I was a sinner. And I wouldn't have known that there was nothing I could do to make myself right with God if it weren't for the Old Covenant.
[38:25] But I want you to see the grace of God. We've already been talking about it, so I won't make a lot of it. I want you to see the grace of God in giving us the New Covenant. Without the New Covenant, as a helpless sinner, I would have not had the salvation provided for and applied to me that I needed.
[38:45] I needed someone who would do everything. I needed someone who would give me that salvation based on His work and His doing.
[38:58] I needed a New Covenant because without everything He has done and me knowing that I am absolutely helpless to do anything, I needed this New Covenant.
[39:09] And so praise God for the New Covenant. Don't despise the old. Be thankful for it, but be thankful for the new. Now there's a whole lot more in this passage.
[39:24] But the gist of what I want you to get tonight is why is the New Covenant better? And there's more here, but the gist of it is because Christ has done it for us.
[39:39] Let's pray together. Father, we thank You for being able to look at this. I pray that You would help us to be people who keep the work of Christ in view and are careful not to turn back, to try to earn our standing before You in some good things that we think we might do.
[40:01] Help us not to be people who turn back even from just following the New Covenant because life is hard and there are sorrows and troubles that we wish would go away.
[40:13] But Lord, may we be eternally mindful of the wonder of our better High Priest, the better sacrifice that He had, how it was more effective, how He purified us to the perfect degree where the Old Covenant couldn't, how there is this better place that He has sacrificed Himself or provided His atonement in.
[40:38] Lord, just on and on, I pray that You would help us to be people who stand resting in You and not in our own strength. I pray that You would be with us and draw us to Yourself.
[40:50] In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Saumę±° O WAIT O WAIT O WAIT O WAIT O WAIT O WAIT O servant O WAIT Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and established them in every good word and word.
[41:50] Amen.