Heb.8:6-13 The New Covenant. Part 1 A New Heart

Intro: Most of us enjoy new things : Guys if you are like me you like it when you come home from work & discover your wife…. New Dessert

A)That smell hits you when you walk in the door – she says try this and it is hot & gooey – right out of the oven / melts in your mouth

B) Like me you say that is great give me some more – She says You can’t have any more now you need to wait until after dinner /

1) Like me you say Shine dinner lets just eat this / Like me you sneak some more when she isn’t looking

C) We like New DESSERTS

We like it when someone gives you a New Car – happens frequently

A)Like the smell of a new car – I have experienced that twice in my life first was High school graduation: Subaru Hatch back/ loved that car

B) 2^nd about 6 yrs ago my grandfather gave us a gift – growing family needed a van –

1) New cars are great / Love that smell.

New Places & New Adventures : Silver falls in Oregon : Gorgeous

A)New Adventure: Missions trip / trip to Israel

B) Today is mothers day: Ladies enjoy buying a New Dress / not that you need one / several in the Closet / but something special new dress

1) Look on your face – I really like this

C) We like New things New Desserts / New Cars/ New Places / New Adventures/ New Clothes /

1) Even when having those things is not really necessary

Well in our Passage that we are covering today : We see that God has done a New thing / But it was Necessary thing

A)He has established a New Covenant : This is the greatest new thing that you will ever hear of

B) The greatest New adventure that you will ever embark on is an understanding & Experience of the New Covenant .

C) This makes Hebrews Ch. 8 one of the most exciting passages in all of the Bible : The writer is quoting in v.8-12 directly from Jer.31:31-34

1) Promise in the O.T. of a New Covenant that God was going to set up.

Now a Covenant is a Contract or an Agreement between two parties

A)Several covenants that God made in the O.T. – ( Look at on Wed.) but the Main Covenant. Was the called the Old Covenant. That He made w/ Israel

B) In the Book of Exodus – giving of the Law – the Lord established this Covenant. / the TERMS of this Covenant are found in several places Rd on Duet 11:22

²²If you are careful to obey every command I am giving you to follow, and love the LORD your God, and do what he has told you to do, and are loyal to him, ²³then the LORD will force all those nations out of the land ahead of you, and you will take the land from nations that are bigger and stronger than you. ²⁴Everywhere you step will be yours

²⁶See, today I am letting you choose a blessing or a curse. ²⁷You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today. ²⁸But you will be cursed if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God.

C) The thing we see about the terms of this Covenant. Is there was a Condition

1) The Promise of Blessing was based upon man’s obedience in keeping the Law of God / In Living according to the 10 Commandments

D) We saw in the Book of Exodus that When God thundered from on top of Mt. Sinai in giving the Law to Israel, the people responded

1) All that the Lord has said we will do/ But Broke that 40 days later

Moses delayed his coming down – Make us a Calf

That was the Problem w/ the Old Covenant & the reason there was a Need for a New Covenant. / Problem was Man couldn’t keep it

^{Heb 8: 7}For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. ⁸Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah

A)The First Covenant. Was not Faultless or w/ out Fault – but the fault wasn’t w/ God or what He established / it was w/ THEM /

B) The Problem was w/ Man & in his inability to hold up his end of the Bargain / to keep the O.C. / the Law

C) Now Paul tells us in the book of Galatians Ch.3:24 that the Purpose of the Law was to be a Tutor or a School master to drive us to Christ

1) The purpose of the Law was to point out our Short comings / Show us that we are sinners & in need of a Savior

D) Paul would say How would I really know that I wasn’t suppose to Covet if the law didn’t say Thou shall not Covet

1) The Law established for us God’s Standard of Righteousness and showed us where every single one of us / Fallen short

So the Lord says v.8 the days are coming when I am going to establish a New Covenant. W/ the house of Israel & the House of Judah

A)Now question arises whom then does this New Covenant. Apply to ? It has a direct Application for Israel but also for the Church : explain

B) Again recall the writer of Hebrews is quoting from Jer. 31 this passage speaks Prophetically to Israel & points to what will happen in the Millennium

1) When Israel as a nation will Acknowledge that Jesus is the Lord

C) At His 2^nd coming the Blinders will be Lifted they will embrace that Jesus is their Messiah – See Wounds ask Where… wounds / House of my friends

1) They will realize what Peter said was true they had Crucified the Mess.

During that time Jesus is going to set up His Kingdom in Jerusalem and He will rule & reign on the earth for 1,000 yrs

A)And the Jews will acknowledge Him as their God

B) So this passage taken from Jer.31 has great Prophetic significance for Israel that will come about during the Millennium

1) But it doesn’t just apply to Israel although the promise was given directly to them / it is not exclusively for Israel

C) It has application for Israel Prophetically / but it also has Application for the Church PRESENTLY

1) Matt. 26;28 Last supper – Jesus speaking w/ disciples this is My Blood of the New Covenant. Which is shed for many for the remission of sins

D) On that night before Jesus would go to the cross / when He spoke in that manner / He was signifying that the New Covenant. Was being established

That Point is the Climax of the writer of Hebrews focus on talking about the Superiority of Christ Priesthood after the order of Melch.

A)God was setting up a whole new Priesthood where His son would be the H.P. because He was going to do a whole new thing

B) He would Establish a New Covenant – Based upon the work of His son

1) A New Covenant. That would be based upon V.6 BETTER PROMISES

C) Why are the Promises in the N.C. better than the Promises in the O.C. ?

1) Again The Promises of the O.C. were conditional – The enjoyment of those Promises was based upon man’s Performance

D) But the Promises of the N.C. are not Conditional / but they are unconditional / not based on Man’s Performance / But Christ performance

E) See Under Old Covenant - if I didn't perform right I not only would not be blessed - but I would cursed!

1) So the focus was on my Performance

But the New Covenant is not based on my performance, but the performance of Jesus! He performed perfectly

A)Everything He did; thought, said, was exactly what Father desired!

B) He met the conditions of the Old Covenant perfectly - then He died for ALL of us who couldn't meet it!

1.) He became a curse for US - took OUR unrighteousness on Himself -

transformed His righteousness to US

C) So New Covenant is better - because established on better promises. Unconditional - not my ability to perform! His Ability & Resources

The O.C. said Do - the N.C. says done !!! believe in the work of Christ :

A)Put your faith in what He did / enjoy the Blessings of God that are available to you because of what Jesus has done

B) O.C. said Do this & Live / the N.C. says Live & you will find yourself doing these things –

C) Now there are 3 key components to the N.C. – New heart / New Part /New Start /

D)Today I want to spend the rest of our time talking about this first component : New heart v.10

I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts;

Ezk 36 the Lord clarifies what He is doing in the NC -

²⁶I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

There the Lord declares I am going to give you a New Heart

A) New Heart speaks of an Internal work! The O.C. was external: the focus was on man's outward performance: Sacrifices/ washings

1) Keeping the Law

B.) But The outward sacrifices; & washings could not effect the inward!

Jer 17:9 - "The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it! "

C)Be surprised what heart is capable of :

Matthew 15:19 "Out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander"

D.) Been rightly said that the Heart of man’s problem is a heart problem!

1) Our Hearts are wicked – I am never surprised any more hear of something someone did .

But praise the Lord - He has the answer to OUR heart problem: He says I will give you a new heart!

A.) Not clean up the heart but give you a new heart!/ The Heart is the core of who we are & that is where God starts on the Transformation work

B.) Heart transplant! – Marc O. gangs "Can't picture him like that"

1.) That’s the Lord new Heart!

Now in Ezk God says I will remove your Heart of stone:

A.) Speaks of Hard heart no response to God's call - seed on wayside no interest in spiritual things / it is a heart that is spiritually Cold & unfeeling

B) A heart that is Dead – Spiritually there is no life; no vitality;

1) The Lord takes out that cold hard lifeless heart & gives us a New heart a heart of flesh

C) Living; feeling Tender: & responsive! Pride and stubbornness are broken down - the new heart readily answers the call of God;

But notice what else the Lord declared in Ezk. Not only will I give you a new heart but I will place my spirit w/ in you & He will cause you to ….

A)The Lord says that Part of this new work is that my spirit is going to live inside your heart – do a change in you

B) He is going to Empower you / so that what I am calling you to do you will want to do & He is going to enable you to do them

C) So With the newness of heart comes a change of desire thru God’s spirit working w/ in us

1) God’s word no longer written on tablets of stone but now written on our minds & In our hearts

D) The H.S. bringing conviction concerning the word in our hearts & empowering us to follow after it.

1) Paul put it this way in Phil 2:13 God is working in you both to WILL & TO DO for His good Pleasure.

A Scientist was touring in the Amish Country of Penn. The Amish are people who love God very deeply / Very old fashioned in the way they live

A)No TV / no computers / no modern day appliances / no cars / everything is still in the horse & buggy stage

B) They live very simply & they talk in king James English / thee’s & thou’s

C) Well this particular Scientist was talking w/ this Amish man about the Amish man’s believe in God

1) Do you really believe that there is a God ? / A. man answered Ye

Scientist said Have you ever seen God ? No / Smelt God ? No / touched God ? No

Well how can you believe that there is a God if you haven’t seen / smelt / touched God How do you even know there is a God / Unscientific illogical

The A. man answer was great : tellest thou me this / Pray tell – Hast thou ever seen thy brain ? No /hast thou …. Smelt … / NO / touched thy brain ? NO

Then how knowest thou that thou hast a BRAIN ?

How Knowest thou that God is real – New Covenant. Like that great old Hymn put it :

I serve a risen savior He is in the world today, I know that He is living No matter what men may say I hear his voice of mercy I hear his voice of cheer and just the time I need Him He is always near.

He lives, He lives Christ Jesus lives today He walks w/ me & talks w/ me along life’s narrow way. He lives He lives salvation to impart You ask me how I know He lives He lives w/ in my heart . The NC

A New heart – God’ spirit in us to lead us / direct us & empower us

One of the things that we forget in looking at the early Church is that they didn’t have the book of Acts to study / Epistles / gospels

A)But they were so impacting / why were they able to turn their world upside down / Reason: they understood the New Covenant

B) That is the Lord speaking in their hearts by the H.S. / concerning what they should do and how they should act where they should go

1) They listened to the voice of the H.S. in their hearts & they obeyed

C) And when the writings of Paul/ Peter/ James / John began to circulate they merely confirmed what the H.S. was already speaking to their hearts

1) They would say Yes that is exactly what the Lord has been showing us speaking to our hearts thru His Spirit

D) So the scriptures were confirming what the Spirit was already speaking to their hearts or if they were not hearing correctly / scriptures would modify

1) Scriptures would correct them where they were in ERROR

E) That is why the early Church was So Radically effective even though they didn’t have the N.T. Scriptures

1) They listened to & obeyed the Leading of the Spirit – God’s word written on their hearts

But over the yrs we have moved away from that example & have had the tendency to want to become more structured more programmed A)We have this tendency to become very principle oriented We want Patterns & we turn the N.T. into a New Law to follow /

B) In doing so we miss out on the power/ Listen your Christian experience will be lifeless/ unexciting & uninspiring / even dead

1) if you don’t understand that a key to the N.C. is the Lord says I will

write my will upon your hearts / My spirit will lead you

C) In many ways we have become a generation that likes to study & theorize & philosophize about the deep things of God

1) Yet me never experience it for ourselves

D) We love to read about others being spirit lead & doing radical things but we seldom give the Lord that chance to work in our own lives in that way.

Now you might be thinking –Wait this is sounding kind of dangerous isn’t this how groups get off into Holy Laughter & stuff

A)Ignoring the scriptures to “follow the Leading of the H.S.” ?

B) First of all the H.S. is never going to tell us to do something that contradicts the Word of God. He merely compliments the word

C)2^nd understand I am not talking here about Church practices or services /

1) the N.T. especially the book of Acts gives us guidelines on what the Church is to look like & be about

D) So I am not talking about the Church structure or practices / I am talking about our day to day Christian lives / How we live / How we act

1) How we respond practically to what the word says : Example Peter

Peter at the gate Beautiful – guy begging / Peter could have said well scripture does tell us to be kind to the poor but I don’t have any money so I guess I am off the hook today / I have nothing to give this man

A)But Peter was in tune w/ the Spirit – Sensed the spirit moving in that situation / Peter turned to the man & said Silver & gold ……..rise & walk

B) He followed the spirits leading & an awesome miracle was the result

1) I wonder how many radical things the Lord would like to do thru us if we listened & obeyed in that way?

C)Another Example MY Dad – Prior to conversion – Drank a lot . / Two refrig. / one filled w/ booze

D) After my dad’s conversion continued to drink – never drunk

1) One night Bible study ….. Tony you don’t need that anymore

Now he could have rationalized Well the Bible doesn’t say to not drink / just says to not be drunk / I don’t get drunk anymore

A)He could have argued that Jesus drank wine / He could have debated that the Germans drink beer like water / cultural thing

B) But He didn’t do any of those things He just LISTENED & OBEYED that night – we emptied bottle after bottle of booze from Frig./ Cabinet

1) Filled up several trash cans w/ the Bottles and my Dad has never drank again since then

C) In that moment of obedience He was filled w/ Power

1) He will never know until He gets to heaven / how huge an impact that obedience had on my Life . Huge

D) It was only yrs after that night that he read there in Prov 31 that it is not for Kings to drink wine / or in Lev. Priest forbidden drinking strong drink

1) There God confirmed to his heart that In Christ he is a part of a Royal Priesthood & therefore doesn’t feel that He should drink alcohol.

E) What the Spirit was speaking to his heart was later confirmed in the word

But many Christians never hear the Lord speaking to their hearts in that way / not tuned into the voice of the spirit

A)Instead they try to make the N.T. into a program to follow like working out at the gym / Just follow ABC –everything Ok

B)You can be an Authority on the Bible able to argue doctrine w/ anyone / they can talk on all the pts of theology

1) And be as dead & as dry as a bone in the desert/ No life / No warmth / No

touchability

C) Not Knocking study / Yes study / Yes learn / School of Discipleship & Ministry, but don’t have a TEXT BOOK WALK W/ THE LORD

1) Don’t lose sight that the Lord is seeking to live thru you by His spirit / wants to speak to you in that still small voice / Hear & obey

I will place my spirit inside of you to lead you / cause you to walk in my ways to keep my statues & do them.

A)So listen to what I am saying / follow where I am nudging Respond to how I am leading / do it daily

B) That is when your walk gets exciting / Listen to God’s voice & allow the word to confirm to you what the spirit is saying / fix a fence

Listen the Churches in N. County would triple in size if believers simply listened to the voice of the H.S. in them nudging them to Share the gospel

A)Listened and obeyed when the Lord would say- share w/ that person / show some love to your neighbor / spend some time w/ that co-worker

B) We would be amazed & blown away at how many doors would be opened for us / how many lives we touched if we lived in that way

1) The Churches wouldn’t be able to contain the amount of people being saved / No need for Harvest Crusades & the like

C) If husbands & wives would just listen to what the H.S. is speaking to their hearts concerning their marriage

1) There would be a lot fewer divorces in the Church/ a lot less need for marriage retreats / seminars & books about family life

D) The truth of the matter is most of us Know the principles laid out in scripture concerning marriage / we Know the roles

1) But where we struggle is we are not sure how it plays out in our situation specifically

E) How the Lord wants me to love my wife as Christ loved the Church in each situation .

1) That is where the H.S. comes in – He wants to lead us instruct us / speak to us / Question is are we listening

Convinced that is why Eph. 5:18 Starts w/ be continually being filled

If you are listening / tuned in & sensitive to the voice of the H.S. He will show how to minister to your kids

A)He will make you effective in talking to them

B) He will show you things about your kids that are concerned / things that need to be addressed / things that are not that big of deals

C) He will show you areas in your own life where you need to REPENT of

1) Areas that He is seeking to change

If you are listening He will tell you what T.V. shows to watch / what not to watch or if you should have a T.V. at all

A)Again people say Hey I have liberty to watch T.V.& that is absolutely true

B) But here is the question does the Lord want you watching everything that You are watching ? Probably not !!!

1) But are you listening – or have you tuned out the Lord in that area of your life.

C) The more we fail to listen to the voice of the H.S. in all of those areas the more distant His voice becomes

1) Inevitably what we do is quench the work that the H.S. is seeking to do in our lives / he is only able to take us so far.