Participants: Ty Gibson, James Rafferty
Series Code: BOTB
Program Code: BOTB00008A
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00:20 You know friends it is not always easy to let go of the old
00:24 and take hold of the new. 00:25 Especially when it comes to technology today. 00:27 But this is exactly what Paul is calling us to do 00:30 in Hebrews Chapter 8. 00:31 He is asking us to embrace a new way of understanding God. 00:35 A new covenant, if you will. 00:36 I'm your co-host, James Rafferty with Ty Gibson, join us as we 00:39 study Hebrews Chapter 8. 00:41 James, in Hebrews Chapter 8 we, have an amazing development 00:45 of understanding in regards to the new covenant. 00:49 Here in Chapter 8 verses 1 and 2, the Apostle Paul begins 00:54 to lay his foundation, to build his case by informing us that 00:59 the main point, verse 1, "Of the things which we are 01:02 saying is this, We have such a high priest Who is seated at the 01:07 right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 01:10 Who is a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true 01:15 tabernacle which the Lord erected and not man. " 01:19 That's his beginning point, he wants to understand that we 01:22 are now dealing with a new High Priest, a superior 01:26 High Priest who is the minister of the sanctuary, the true 01:31 tabernacle in heaven. 01:32 Now even though we are not talking about embracing 01:34 new technology here, I-Pods and computers as such. 01:38 To the Hebrew mind this was huge because Paul was here 01:42 asking them to give up the old covenant, understanding, the old 01:46 sanctuary service, the old priesthood. 01:48 To see things in a whole different light, to embrace 01:51 a new priesthood. 01:52 The sum of everything that Paul was communicated to the Hebrews 01:56 was we have something better, we have a new High Priest. 02:00 A new ministry, a new sanctuary. 02:02 You know how difficult it can be when we are set in our ways? 02:05 To let go of old things and embrace new things. 02:08 This is something we definitely need to make a 02:10 transition on however. 02:12 We need to understand, that while the Bible presents to us, 02:16 especially in the book of Hebrews, the fact that on a 02:18 historic level, there is an old covenant and a new covenant. 02:22 That doesn't mean that the old covenant, new covenant 02:26 idea is confined to two different parts of history. 02:31 Actually, it is possible for me as an individual, for you 02:35 as an individual, for anyone of us as human beings, 02:38 to presently to be in an old covenant perception of God, 02:43 an old covenant frame of mind and experience with God 02:46 or in a new covenant experience with God. 02:48 We want to understand this from a very practical standpoint. 02:52 And grasp it as it has application for us. 02:56 And the only way we can really do that, I think, Ty, 02:59 is to really understand what the difference is between the 03:03 old and new covenant. 03:04 Fortunately friends, Paul makes it very, very clear 03:07 in the context of Hebrews Chapter 8. 03:09 If we move down here to Hebrews 8 and verse 6. 03:12 We are going to find him comparing the old testament, 03:15 old covenant experience with the new covenant experience. 03:19 It begins here in verse 6, He says, "Now he hath obtained" 03:22 that is Christ, "a more excellent ministry by how much 03:25 more He is also the Mediator of a better covenant, which was 03:29 established upon better promises. " 03:32 Better covenant, better promises! 03:34 We learned in a more previous time better here means superior 03:37 in strength so we have to have a superior covenant that is 03:42 based on superior promises. 03:44 Well what are these promises? 03:46 That's our first clue right there, that is our first 03:48 inclination to understand the difference between the 03:51 old and the new. 03:52 And verse 7 "For if the first covenant had been faultless, 03:55 then should no place been sought for the second. 03:57 for", verse 8, " finding fault with them," he said, "Behold 04:01 the day is come, said the Lord when I will make a new covenant 04:05 with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. " 04:08 So here's where we find an indication of the problem with 04:12 the old and why God wanted to make this change. 04:14 So the fault wasn't with the Lord, even in the old covenant. 04:18 The fault wasn't on the side of God and His ability to bring 04:23 to pass, what it was that He had entered 04:26 into by way of covenant. 04:27 Well the old covenant included the law of God 04:29 was at fault with the law of God, not with God, but His law. 04:32 Absolutely not, the law, according to Romans, Chapter 7 04:35 verse 12, and also in verse 14 the law is holy, just and good, 04:41 and verse 14 of Romans 7, the law is spiritual, there's 04:45 nothing inherently wrong with the law of God. 04:48 The problem exists within the human ability to actually 04:53 accomplish what the law mandates. 04:55 So when it says finding fault with them it's not talking about 04:58 finding fault with the Commandments, those are them? 05:00 Absolutely not! This is dealing specifically with the people 05:03 making promises to God that they could not 05:06 fulfill in their own strength. 05:08 That was the bad promise, in other words the fault was 05:11 found with them, being the people, 05:13 because they promised God what? 05:15 Well they very specifically, with a lot of vim and vigor 05:19 and determination, when they encountered God at Mount Sinai 05:23 and the Ten Commandments were delineated, they turned to Moses 05:28 and said, Moses all that the Lord has said, WE WILL DO. 05:33 And obey all His Commandments. 05:34 They actually meant it, I believe, just like we do. 05:38 They were sincere. 05:40 Just like Peter was. 05:41 They definitely intended to obey all the Commandments, 05:46 and do everything that God said. 05:47 But very, very shortly they discovered that they were 05:52 absolutely incapable of keeping the law in their own strength. 05:55 Now this is confirm time in verse 10, we won't jump there 05:58 to quickly, but in verse 10 when God describes the new 06:01 covenant, friends, do you know He what says? 06:02 He says the new covenant is about Me putting 06:04 My law in their hearts. 06:05 So it isn't the law that is being found fault with here. 06:09 It is people, it is us! 06:10 And of course today, as Ty said earlier, today we can have 06:13 old covenant experience, by making promises to God on a 06:16 spiritual level that we can't keep. 06:18 That's entering through an old covenant experience. 06:20 God wants to transcend us into the new covenant and it can 06:24 be difficult, I mean even me with an I-Pod, I have to get 06:27 my son to fiddle with it, to, to get it right. 06:31 My wife and I have cell phones, and often we get our son who 06:35 is about 15 years old, He's the one that's putting 06:38 all the information in these cell phones and showing us 06:40 how they work. 06:41 It's difficult for us if we are set in our ways to 06:44 transition to the new. 06:45 And we are definitely set in our ways as human beings 06:49 and the sin problem according to Scripture, is a very deep 06:53 dark pit that we get confined in. 06:55 Scripture actually says in one place James, that we are bound 06:58 with the cords of iniquity which kind of gives the idea that we 07:04 through habitual patterns, over and over again, I mean if you 07:08 wrap a string around someone's arms, they can easily break it. 07:12 But with repetition after repetition, after repetition, 07:14 many strings becomes a rope or a cable and then you find it 07:20 impossible to break free. 07:22 In our repetitive, habitual involvement with sin, not to 07:26 mention in our heredity tendency to sin, makes us 07:29 impotent to fulfill the law of God. 07:31 And the essence to this is self-dependence. 07:32 The essence of this is self sufficiency, the essence of this 07:35 is depending on what we can do on ourselves 07:38 and our faulty promises. 07:40 And God wants to break us free from those cords, He wants 07:42 to break us free from that self-sufficiency. 07:44 That's why Jesus came as a man and He said, "I can do nothing 07:47 of Myself, but I do everything the Father shows Me to do. " 07:51 I trust in Him, I trust in His power, He directs Me 07:54 My will is submitted to the Father, God is calling us to 07:57 the same experience. 07:58 The incredible background in the book of Hebrews 08:01 leading up to Chapter 8. 08:03 We have encountered an earlier chapter the fact that Jesus 08:08 Christ really took upon Himself our fallen human nature, 08:11 was tempted in all points like as we are, and yet was sinless. 08:16 Holy, harmless and undefiled. 08:18 Literally in Chapter 1, it says that He loved righteousness 08:21 and hated iniquity. 08:22 And yet it says that with strong crying and tears and struggle, 08:28 He fought the battle in human experience and was victorious 08:34 Now I love this context of the new and old covenant because 08:37 it tells us that the new covenant is all about experience 08:41 God wants us to have an experience with Him that is 08:44 different and it doesn't stop with just this intellectual 08:47 sent to, oh the law is holy the law is just, the law is good. 08:50 It continues to take us out of our self-sufficiency, get us to 08:56 turn to Jesus Christ, put our trust in Him, follow Him 08:58 and allow Him to come into our hearts and transform us 09:01 from the inside out. 09:02 Amen! And I love Galatians Chapter 2 and verse 20, 09:06 Which this is the statement for the Christian to latch on to and 09:13 claim as the promise of God. 09:15 It says there, "I am crucified with Christ," there's the 09:18 corporate element where all humanity was represented in 09:22 Jesus at the cross. 09:23 "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I," 09:28 Not I, Not self, not in my strength, not in my steam, not 09:33 in my ability, "Not I but Christ lives in me. " 09:38 Has taken up resident in my heart and soul as the powerful 09:42 guiding, motivating power inside of me. 09:45 Christ is in me and the life which I now live, 09:49 I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and 09:55 gave himself for me. 09:57 Let's really understand this Ty. 09:58 Let's really understand this new covenant experience that God 10:01 wants us to have. 10:02 Let's look here as we continue on in verses 9 and 10. 10:05 "Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, 10:07 in the day when I took them by the hand, 10:10 to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued 10:14 not in my covenant I regarded them not says the Lord. " 10:17 There's confirmation of what we have been talking about. 10:20 They were the ones that did not continue. 10:21 They made the faulty promises, the old covenant was based on 10:25 the promises that the people and not on the power 10:28 and promise of God. 10:29 God is reminding us in this Chapter of a very significant 10:34 and vital part of the history of Israel and the secret of 10:39 their failure in the wilderness. 10:41 He says "I lead them out of Egypt by the hand," I took 10:45 them out of Egypt Myself and this is a direct reference to 10:49 the Passover experience in Exodus 16, and it is a direct 10:53 reference to the Ten Commandments. 10:55 The first Commandment specifically, where God says 10:59 to the Israelites, prepatory to giving the Ten Commandments, 11:02 He says in Commandment number 1, I am the Lord Who has 11:06 delivered you from Egyptian bondage and then the 11:11 Commandments followed. 11:12 God is telling us very clearly here that when He entered into 11:15 that old covenant with them, all the provision was there. 11:18 He was as willing with them, as He is with anybody else in 11:20 history, even in the New testament times. 11:22 He was as willing with them as eager and as powerful with them, 11:26 as He is eager to be with us. 11:28 The problem was, at that time, that they discerned the human 11:34 part of the equation. 11:35 They discerned what it was that God was commanding, but they 11:39 didn't discern those Commandments in the light of 11:42 the shed blood of the Passover Lamb, 11:44 and God's delivering of them, was the necessary power by which 11:49 they could keep the law. 11:52 So they depended on themselves. 11:53 They became self-sufficient. 11:55 God is wanting us to move away from that experience. 11:59 Now notice what it says here in verse 10. 12:00 "For this is the covenant thy will make with the house of 12:03 Israel after those days saith the Lord, I will put My laws 12:08 into their mind and write them in their hearts. " 12:11 "And I will be to them a God and they shall 12:14 be to Me a people. " 12:15 Now I want to just touch on the whole context of the 12:20 new covenant then go back and highlight each 12:22 one of these points. 12:23 And they, verse 11, "Shall not teach every man his neighbor, 12:26 and every man his brother saying know the Lord. " 12:29 "For all shall know Me from the least to the greatest. " 12:32 "And I will be merciful, verse 12, "to their 12:36 " unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities 12:38 I will remember no more. " 12:41 Beautiful! Beautiful! 12:42 Full picture of what God wants for us, is experience. 12:46 We see here James, that God is very emphatic, 12:49 in taking upon Himself the responsibility that 12:52 only He can bear. 12:53 I love the fact that in verses 10 through 12, 12:57 five times the Lord says, I will, I will, I will, I will 13:02 I will, I am the One who's going to bring to pass this 13:05 new covenant, It's dependant on Me. 13:08 I Am your strength, I Am your power, I'm going to do this. 13:12 It's My promise, not yours. 13:14 You know new technology, Ty, I keep going back to this, 13:17 new technology can be difficult for us but it sure is a blessing 13:20 when we take hold of it. 13:21 I mean it sure is nice to have cell phones, it sure is nice 13:24 to have these computers and not to be able to be in contact 13:28 with people and not to be in danger of losing everything 13:31 you have because you have it written out and it's gone, but 13:33 you got stored somewhere and it is the same with the 13:36 new covenant friends, it is such a refreshing blessing to know 13:42 that God is the source of power that He is the One that is going 13:44 to do what He has promised to do, and we don't have to rely 13:47 upon ourselves and our power. 13:49 This is what Paul is introducing us to in Hebrews Chapter 8. 13:52 He is introducing us to a new experience that has always been 13:56 available, but we have failed to take hold of it. 13:59 It's time for us to take hold of it. 14:00 Don't go away, we'll be right back. |
Revised 2014-12-17