The Letter to the Hebrews
The New Covenant
Hebrews 8:6-13
Let’s turn to Hebrews 8. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we will bring one to you. Hebrews 8 is on page 1005 in the Bibles we are passing out.
Parts of the Bible are easy to understand – like Psalm 23 on how God is our shepherd, or James 1 on how God gives us wisdom. But parts are not so easy. And the temptation is to skip over the parts that are hard to understand and focus just on the parts that are easy.
But that would be a serious mistake. Because the Holy Spirit is the one who led the biblical authors to write what they wrote. He led them to write parts which are easy to understand, and parts which are hard to understand. So if we are going to honor the Holy Spirit, if we are going to trust the Holy Spirit, we won’t pick and choose. We will thank Him for the easy parts – and enjoy them and pray over them and be strengthened by them. And we will thank Him for the hard parts – and read them and study them and work to understand them.
And the reason I mention that is because today’s passage is difficult. It’s not easy to understand. It raises lots of questions – questions which probably won’t be answered in one Sunday morning’s worth of thinking.
But the Holy Spirit chose to have the author of Hebrews write this difficult passage – because if we will think about these things we will see more of God’s glory, be humbled before His mercy, be strengthened to trust His power, and be bolder in evangelism.
So let’s dig in. The author of Hebrews has been explaining why it’s so crucial that we keep clinging to Jesus Christ. Why keep clinging to Jesus Christ? Because He is the perfect high priest who brings us to God so we can be forgiven and loved and satisfied. And in the previous paragraphs the author has shown us how Jesus’ priesthood is superior to the Old Testament priesthood. And now today in ch.8 we are going to see how Jesus’ covenant is superior to the Old Testament covenant.
So let’s ask – How does Jesus’ Covenant compare to the Old Covenant? And look at what the author tells us in vv.6-7 –
6 But 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.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
Notice that Jesus’ ministry is more excellent than the Old Testament ministry, because Jesus’ Covenant is better than the Old Covenant.
And notice in v.6 that the covenant Jesus mediates is “better, since it is enacted on better promises.” So the New Covenant promises are better than the Old Covenant promises.
Or to use the language of v.7 – the first covenant was not faultless. Now it’s not that God made any mistakes. God never makes mistakes. This was all part of God’s plan.
But what we see from vv.6-7 is that Jesus’ Covenant is without any fault, while the Old Covenant had some fault. So --
What was the fault with the Old Covenant and its promises? To answer that question the author quotes from Jeremiah 31, which was part of the Old Testament. Jeremiah was written 500 years before Christ. So the Old Testament itself explained what was wrong with the Old Covenant and it’s promises.
So what was the fault with the Old Covenant and its promises? Read 31-32 –
8 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,
9 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.
So where did the fault lie with the Old Covenant and its promises? Did you catch that in v.8? Read the first six words – “For he finds fault with them.” The fault with the Old Covenant and its promises was the nation of Israel.
In what way? As he says in v.9 – “they did not continue in my covenant.” The problem was that the vast majority of Israel did not follow the Old Covenant. Some of them did. Moses and Ruth and David and Elijah and Hannah did. But the vast majority did not.
Think of it. God had delivered Israel from Egypt with astonishing signs and wonders. God proved to them that He existed, that He was powerful, and that He cared about them. And He calls them to love Him with all their heart and soul and mind. And that’s not some dull duty – loving God is the most satisfying experience our hearts can know. For God to command them to love Him is like commanding someone to love ice cream. OK!
So God commanded them to love Him. And God gave them laws to distinguish them from other cultures so people would see God’s blessing on them and come to God themselves. God gave them sacrifices to picture how He would forgive them when they sinned. And God promised that if they trusted Him they would have His all-satisfying presence in a land flowing with milk and honey.
What a covenant! What promises! So what did they do? They did what we all would have done if left to ourselves – they turned their backs on God. This is crucial to understand. The vast majority of Israel did not trust God’s promises. To see this look at Jer 32:30-32 --
30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, declares the LORD.
31 This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight
32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger--their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
So the fault of the Old Covenant and its promises was in Israel. Israel did not keep the Old Covenant. They did not continue in it. So if that’s the problem with the Old Covenant, then what does God do in the New Covenant? To answer that, let’s turn back to Hebrews 8. How is the New Covenant different? It’s different in four ways –
First, God changes people’s hearts. Look at what God says in v.10 --
10 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 …
See, if God left us to ourselves we all would do exactly what Israel did – we’d all turn our backs on Him day after day after day. So in the New Covenant God does something different. He puts his laws into our minds and writes them on our hearts. Which means He changes our minds and transforms our hearts so we want to trust and love Him.
Let’s get real specific. If you are trusting Jesus Christ today, here’s what happened. You had a sinful heart which would not turn to God. All you deserved was God’s judgment – forever. But God looked upon you in your rebellion and He loved you. He cared about you. And He sent Jesus to pay for your sins. Why did He do this? There was no reason in You. It was all because of His mercy.
And because Jesus paid for your sins at some point in your life God brought His mercy upon you and wrote God’s Word on your mind and heart. He freed your mind and heart from sin’s power. He gave you faith and repentance. And so you turned to Jesus Christ and trusted Him as your Savior, Lord, and Treasure – and at that moment were forgiven for all your sins and filled with God’s love.
But now you might ask – didn’t God do that for some people in the Old Testament as well? And the answer is Yes. God did that for Moses and Hannah and David and Ruth and for the remnant. But God let the vast majority go their own way. And one of the reasons God did that was so that today we could read about Israel and see – that’s what I would have done if God had let me go my own way.
So one difference is that in the New Covenant God changes hearts.
And the author mentions a second difference at the end of v.10 -- in the New Covenant God is our God and we are His people. The end of v.10 --
10 … and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Because God changed our hearts we turned and trusted Jesus Christ as Savior, Lord, and Treasure. As a result we were forgiven for all of our sin and reconciled to God. God became our God, and we became His people.
For God to be our God means that God commits all of His sovereignty, power, wisdom, and love to bring us the greatest possible joy of knowing Him forever. And for us to be His people means we commit to trusting God as our joy, our provider, our guide, our everything.
Now some people in the Old Testament had God as their God and were God’s people. But this was not true for the vast majority of Israel. But it is true of everyone in the New Covenant.
Third, in the New Covenant we all know God. Now that everyone in the world knows God, but that everyone in the New Covenant knows God. Look at v.11 –
11 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.
Here’s some wonderful news you could share with your neighbor – because of Jesus Christ we can actually know God. He dies to pay for our sins so God can change our hearts so we turn to Him. And when we turn to Him – we don’t find nothing. We find God. We can actually know God – not just know about Him, but know Him, experience Him, talk with Him, fellowship with Him.
Fourth, in the New Covenant we are completely forgiven. Look at v.12 –
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."
Again, Moses and Hannah were completely forgiven in the Old Testament -- because of what Jesus would do on the Cross. But the vast majority of Old Testament Israel was not – because they kept their backs turned on God.
And then in v.13 the author of Hebrews draws this conclusion from what Jeremiah ways –
In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
So the first covenant is obsolete, growing old, ready to vanish away. Because in 500 BC God promised to make a new covenant with Israel – and with men and women from every nation, tongue, and tribe. God will make a new covenant in which He will not let us go our own way into sin – but in which through Jesus He will change our hearts so we repent and believe and are forgiven and come to know God.
That’s how Jesus’ covenant is better than the Old Covenant – so keep clinging to Jesus.
Questions?
What does this mean for us?
First, see how merciful God is. See, we were all just like Israel. If God had waited for us to come to Him, He’d still be waiting. We were not interested, had our backs turned to Him, were rebelling against Him.
But God send Jesus to pay for our sins, and then reached down from heaven and changed our hearts. So if you wonder – why am I saved? – it’s true that you are saved because you trusted Christ. But why did you trust Christ? It’s because God loved me when I was His enemy and changed my heart. We gave God no reason to love us. But He loved us because of His mercy. So see how merciful God is.
Second, seek God’s heart-changing power. The New Covenant is all about God’s supernatural, heart-changing power. Too many of us try to change our hearts by our own will-power. Doesn’t work. But God promises that if we will come to Him as we are, trust Jesus, and pray over His word – He will supernaturally change our hearts.
Thursday night my heart was worried, frustrated, and bitter. And as I was trying to go to sleep, I started praying over some verses in James. And I kid you not – I felt the Holy Spirit completely change my heart. I felt faith and peace and strength rising in my heart. So seek God’s heart-changing power.
And third, boldly share the Gospel. How many of you know people whose hearts are hard towards God? All of us. So here’s the good news. In the New Covenant God changes people’s hearts. So he can change their hearts!
And God changes hearts through His Word – as we share the Gospel. So share the Gospel with everyone. Don’t wait for their hearts to be changed before you share the Gospel – God changes hearts through the sharing of the Gospel. So lovingly, humbly, and boldly share the Gospel with everyone.