Delight in Jesus’ better promises.

Sermon Transcript

December 28, 2007. The best day of my life. December 28, 2007 was Andrea and my wedding day. On that day Andrea and I entered into the covenant of marriage. A covenant is a chosen relationship in which two parties make binding promises to one another (Schreiner). On December 28, 2007, Andrea and I entered into a covenant, promising to forsake all others until death parts us. Have you ever wondered why a man and a woman fall in love, have a wedding, make this outrageous covenant promise to one another, and get married. It’s not a byproduct of human social evolution. We make covenants because the one true God is a covenant keeping God.

There are two primary covenants by which God relates to his people in the Bible. The first covenant, or the old covenant, is the one that God made with Israel through Moses before the coming of Christ. After God saved Israel out of slavery in Egypt by grace, he brought them to Mt. Sinai and had, so to speak, a wedding ceremony with his people, in which the Lord promised to be their God and have them as his people. As part of the covenant ceremony, the Lord gave his people instructions to build a special place – a tent – where he could dwell with his people. The Lord loves to be with his people. Since God is holy and his people sinful, they couldn’t simply waltz into God’s tent and meet with him. They needed priests because priests grant access. If you want to meet the King of England, you can’t just stroll into Windsor Castle. They’ll stop you. You need an authorized representative sent from the king to grant you access. You need a priest. Luke Walker is correct when he writes, “The Sun will burn your eyes out from a distance of 92 million miles, and…you expect to casually stroll into the presence of its Maker?” So, God gave his people priests to offer gifts and sacrifices at God’s tent so that his people could have real, though limited, access to God.

Now, and this is incredibly important, this first covenant arrangement with the tent, priests, and sacrifices was never meant to be permanent. Hebrews 8:5 says that “They serve a copy and shadow of heavenly things.” The first covenant priests and sacrifices were like a shadow that prepared the way for Jesus the final priest who opens the way into the true presence of God. Hebrews 8:1-2 – Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, [2] a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. The OC was preparatory. It’s not obsolete. Allison Burkard, one of the members of our church who is on the sermon review team, says that the old covenant is a little like the 40-year old tech used at her office that is obsolete now that they’re migrating to something new and far better. So, why is the new covenant with God that Jesus established for us so much better than the old covenant? If your office has migrated from only communicating via email to something like slack, it’s probably pretty obvious why the new slack is better than the old email. What is so much better about the new covenant that Jesus has established for us by offering himself on the cross and rising to God’s true right hand? Hebrews 8:6 – 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. The new covenant contains better promises. That brings us to the big idea of our passage this morning: Delight in Jesus’ better promises. Delight in Jesus’ better promises. This morning our passage will help us explore three of Jesus’ better new covenant promises and how to delight in them. 1. Better hearts 2. Better community 3. Better forgiveness.

BETTER HEARTS

It’s important to know that the new covenant is not a new idea. During old covenant times, God’s prophets pointed the people forward to the day when the Messiah would come and establish a better covenant with better promises. One of those prophets was named Jeremiah. Hebrews 8:8-12 is a lengthy quote from Jeremiah 31:31-34 where Jeremiah looked ahead to the new covenant with its better promises. And the first better promise of the new covenant is better hearts.

The problem with the old covenant and its Ten Commandments written on tablets of stone was that God’s people did not keep it. God saved them by his grace, but they didn’t live for his glory and keep his covenant by faith. Hebrews 8:8-9 – “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. The people had God’s command without the ability to keep them. The poem often attributed to John Bunyan describes the fault with the old covenant, “Run, John run, the law commands, but gives us neither feet nor hands.” God’s old covenant and its laws were good, but God’s people did not keep it, but God in his grace promised to make a new covenant in which he would give believers in Christ new hearts that love to trust and follow Him. Hebrews 8:10 – 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, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. By the power of the Holy Spirit, believers in Christ have new, better hearts, God’s law has been written there. We do not yet obey Him perfectly, our new hearts love to trust and obey God, and we will never fully and finally turn away from faith in Him. I love the way that the poem attributed to John Bunyan concludes, “Run, John run, the law commands, but gives us neither feet nor hands. Far better news the gospel brings: It bids us fly and gives us wings.”

How do we delight in the better hearts that the Lord Jesus Christ has given us? Follow them! Follow your [new] hearts! “Follow your heart” may be the worst advice anyone used to be able to give you. The Bible says that your heart was deceitful and wicked above all else. But you have a new heart with God’s law written on it, which means that your new heart wants to trust God’s word, wants to obey God’s commands, all for God’s glory. Delight in this promise by following your new heart. Cultivate your new heart by reading God’s word, studying God’s word, discussing God’s word, and obeying God’s word. Follow your new heart away from sin and into increasing trust in God. Delight in your new heart by following your new heart into faith and obedience. The second better new covenant promise to delight in is…

BETTER COMMUNITY

One of the profound differences between the old covenant community and the new covenant community is that the old covenant was a mixed community; a mixed community. Meaning, before the coming of Christ, the old covenant community, Israel, was composed of believers and non-believers. The community was made up of all Abraham’s physical offspring and some followed the Lord by faith and some did not, but they were all part of the visible community of Israel. This helps explain why every male baby was circumcised as a sign that they were part of the cut off, set apart, old covenant community of God. Some of those babies would grow up to love the Lord, others would not, but all received the covenant sign because the old covenant community was mixed.

Jesus promises a better community because the new covenant community, the church, isn’t mixed. Everyone in the new covenant community, the church, knows the Lord Jesus Christ personally, from the least to the greatest. Hebrews 8:11 – 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. Of course, in the new covenant community we teach one another how to apply the transforming power of the gospel to everyday life. But we don’t teach one another to know the Lord because by definition everyone who is part of the new covenant knows the Lord personally by faith. The new covenant promises a better community where everyone knows the Lord.

How do we delight in the better community promised in the new covenant? Three ideas:

Join the new covenant community through baptism and membership.

From the time of the NT to now, both believers and non-believers have been welcomed to attend the church’s assembly on the Lord’s Day. If you’re not yet a Christian, we are delighted that you’re here. But if the church service is mixed with believers and non-believers, how can we say that everyone in the new covenant community knows the Lord? Baptism and church membership mark off the new covenant community where everyone knows the Lord. Baptism is the new circumcision, it’s the new initiatory rite into the visible, new covenant community. However, since everyone in the new community knows the Lord, baptism is for those who have repented of their sin and believed in Jesus as their personal Savior. Church membership – this is the way that we officially affirm one another’s personal relationship with the Lord. Have you been baptized since coming to know the Lord? Have you joined the visible new covenant community? Take that step – connect card.

Unite around the Lord

Since everyone who is part of the new covenant community, the church, knows the Lord, then knowing the Lord is the basis for unity and warm relationships in the new covenant community. We may not be in the lifestage, we may not be experiencing the same sufferings, we may not see eye to eye on tertiary political matters, and we may have wildly different cultural and life preferences. However, despite all of that, we can and must walk in unity and warm, intimate relationships because the basis for our unity and warmth is nothing less than our personal knowledge of the Lord. Knowing the Lord together, even if we have nothing else, is real community.

Base your relationships on the Lord

Love knowing the Lord together. Make the Lord the subject of your conversations and the basis of your joyful fellowship with one another. Guys – now is the perfect time to begin making the Lord the center of your conversations because there is nothing to talk about related to the Eagles anymore. Since we all know the Lord, we can go beyond the surface and small talk and ask one another about the Lord, pray with one another to the Lord, and encourage one another in the Lord. What might this look like on Sunday or when your CG gathers? This is our new covenant gift. Delight in it.

BETTER FORGIVENESS

In the old covenant, the priests offered sacrifices again and again because they never actually took away sins (Heb. 10:11). Those sacrifices prepared God’s people for the better covenant established by the once for all sacrifice of Christ on the cross, which promises better forgiveness. Hebrews 8:12 – For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. Sin is like debt. Imagine your sins as a bill that you receive at the end of a meal that needs to be paid. Now imagine that the balance due is $100B! You’d have no hope to pay for it. You’d be washing dishes in the back for eternity to work that one off. The bill that is due for our disobeying and ignoring the eternal God is infinite, but Christ paid it in full for us at the cross. He took our sin and gave us his perfect righteousness, by grace received through faith. When was the last time you went out to eat at a restaurant? Do you remember exactly how much the bill was for? Of course not. Do you know why? Because you paid for it. You took care of it, so you’ve forgotten it. It’s like that with our sins. Christ mercifully paid our bill in full. It’s taken care of, so the Father remembers it no more. Of course, he doesn’t literally forget anything. No, it’s better than that. Because of the finished work of the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, all our sins are forgiven and we are declared totally righteous, as though we had never sinned!

How do we delight in the better forgiveness Christ promises in the new covenant? Rejoice in the forgiveness of sins. Get together every week and sing your heads off because God will remember your sins no more. And spread the forgiveness of sins. We delight in the forgiveness of sins by declaring it to others. Take the wonderful promises to your friends, co-workers, neighbors and classmates and invite them to delight in the better promises too.

Delight in Jesus’ better promises: better hearts, better community, better forgiveness. Please bow your heads with me. If you’re not yet a follower of Jesus, I want to invite you to receive his promise of complete forgiveness. If the Lord counted up your sins, you’d be lost forever. But with Christ there is complete forgiveness. Repent of your sins and receive Christ’s promise of complete forgiveness.