A New Covenant (Part B)

Well, you are all one in Christ. Yeah, I get a little irritated when someone says, well, I'm a messianic Christian.

What is that? I'm a bald Christian. I don't go around bragging about that.

Maybe I should. There's no distinction. There's not, oh, you're class A. Well, I'll go back and coach while you lead me through the scriptures in first class. First class hits the mountain first. In other words, where you sit, never mind.

You can figure it out. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Hebrews.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today, Pastor Rick shares part two of his study called A New Covenant, as he teaches in Hebrews chapter eight. Many of the Jews listened to the scripture, and that's why Philip found Nathanael and said, we found the Messiah, the one whom the scriptures talks about.

What was he doing when Jesus showed up reading scripture? Well, back to this with the house of Judah and with the house of Israel. Jeremiah's prophecy, again, centered on Israel because the church did not exist. Just because God does not say something at a particular spot doesn't mean it's not somewhere else in some form. Sometimes it's not stated, but the fact is clear.

And this is one of them. And so this, again, does not mean that we are not without a covenant in the Lord. Let's now discuss New Testament covenant. Luke 22 verse 20, Jesus is the central figure here at the Last Supper. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. You see, the covenant, the new covenant for Israel had many physical things that belonged to it, as well as spiritual. The New Testament covenant zooms in on the spiritual. It doesn't tell the church you're going to get territory when I come back. It says you're going to get territory in heaven.

There will be a new Jerusalem in contrast to those who have not been raptured or suffered death who will be alive during the kingdom age and carrying on life at the millennial first Corinthians 11 25. I'm thinking I just lost a lot of people. Maybe I lost you when you walked in the door. But what are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to say, Well, this is technical. Let's skip it.

No, we'll take it. And what you don't get what doesn't stick. Well let it not stick.

But there will be those things that you will get. That's the work of the Holy Spirit, not me. I don't know what works in your head and not.

I'm still trying to figure out works in my head. And then when you finally begin to get a clue, you realize, you know what? I won't be in this life much longer. I'm getting older.

I finally figured a lot of things out and I won't be here to use them. First Corinthians 11 25 in the same manner he also took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. In other words, what was started by Jesus was continued. All that Jesus began both to do and to teach. Luke starts off in the book of Acts.

That's how it starts. All that he began to do and to teach. And there we find Paul continuing what his master had begun.

Second Corinthians three. Speaking of Christ who has made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant. Remember that, Christian, you are not ministers of the Old Testament. You're ministers of the new covenant, which includes the Old Testament.

It filters out that which is to vanish and it retains that which is to be retained. That discernment and that knowledge, that ability comes from a combination of the Holy Spirit working in our lives and the text that has been preserved. Unfortunately, many Christians get tripped up and they think the Old Testament is their guide over the New Testament and we usually call them legalistic.

They may not even come out and say that but they're doing that. And so beware when a Christian is only quoting you Old Testament Scriptures. We are ministers of the new covenant. Hebrews 9 15. For this reason, he is a mediator of the new covenant. And so there the New Testament, we can go on and on and on. And well, let me just finish this verse. Minister of the new covenant by means of death, for the redemption of the transgression under the first covenant that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. And we'll be getting that when we get to chapter nine in more detail. But there is our New Testament.

So don't feel slighted. But in Jeremiah, God had his moment to speak about the new covenant. That would be heart deep and everlasting. And the reason why Jeremiah was used at that moment is because the nation was abandoning their covenant and Jeremiah was raised up to say, God's got a new one. He's going to develop this.

This isn't over. And out of that new arrangement, he is going to have his people who love him. And in the end, all Israel will be saved. Not every individual Jew.

That is not what is meant. The nation will remain God. That is God belonging to God.

That is an unbreakable contract. But the individuals, well, the ones who reject Christ will be judged like the Gentiles who reject Christ. But the Jews who accept Christ will be judged like the Gentiles who accept Christ.

And you have to be able to sort that out or else you're going to get just like having your shoelaces tied together from the opposite feet and you walk and trip. Hebrews 7 19, for the law made nothing perfect. On the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to God. And that is our New Testament and covenant and testament are synonymous. So you say New Testament, Old Testament, New Covenant, Old Covenant. Now, what is a Jew? Well, there's again, there's the ethnic Jew and there's a spiritual Jew. There are three important Jewish categories.

Who is a Jew from the scripture standpoint, from a righteous standpoint? And I'll get to those verses in a moment, but they're the physical descendants of the patriarchs. Those are Jews according to the flesh.

There is the nation Israel that is not, is made up of people, but it is not a person. And in the end, that nation will be fully turned to God after they go through the Great Tribulation period and Christ returns. Then there are the spiritual descendants of the patriarchs. See the physical descendants, Judas Iscariot, for example, you won't see him in heaven. Bible is already, he is the son of perdition.

It'd be better if he had not been born and he is gone. He is a Jew. But then Paul the apostle, Jew also, he'll be in heaven.

So you make sure we keep that distinction straight or else we get tripped up. So the spiritual descendants. Well, what about Luke, the writer of the Gospel of Luke in the book of Acts? He's a spiritual descendant, born a Gentile, but born again, a spiritual Hebrew, Romans 4. And the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith, which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. You see, Paul, circumcision meant everything to the Jew. That was the covenant, going back to Abraham. Paul, writing to the Romans, doing much of what the writer to the Hebrews is doing, saying the same thing to the Jews, that you're no longer Jewish people by practice in the religion, you're now Christians.

You're now followers of Messiah, not the law of Moses as far as its rituals and pre-Messiah symbols. And so he writes to them and he says, those who follow the God of Abraham, whether they're Gentile or Jews, they are spiritual children of Abraham. Romans 10-12, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him. That's it, those who come to Christ.

Don't let me lose you now. Galatians 3.28, there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ. See, I get a little irritated when someone says, well, I'm a messianic Christian.

What is that? I'm a bald Christian. I don't go around bragging about that.

Maybe I should. There's no distinction. Oh, you're class A. Well, I'll go back and coach while you lead me through the Scriptures in first class.

First class hits the mountain first. In other words, where you sit, never mind, you can figure it out. Ephesians 2.14, for he himself is our peace who made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation. There's no more wall. Gentiles cannot come past this point at the temple unless pain of death strike them.

There's no more wall. We're all in Christ now. And they could not get it, and many cannot get it to this day, both gentle and Jew alike. So now we move to verse 9.

You probably thought we'd never get there. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out from the land of Egypt because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says Yahweh. This is emphatic. That first clause, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers. That is a wrecking ball to Judaism. It's a new covenant, not like that other one. It's not the same thing.

Can you imagine? They're sitting there, and they're delighted in going down to the temple, which within a few years will be completely gone, and it has not been rebuilt since. The Romans will soon destroy that precious temple, and he is saying to them, not according to the first covenant.

He's quoting Jeremiah. So radically different that Jews struggle with it to this day unless they are born again, unless they embrace Jesus Christ. They will as again, as a nation, the individuals that make up that nation at the end of the tribulation, at the return, at the miraculous and glorious return of Christ, they will again grab hold of it and become the people of God, but now only individual Jews come. The nation will not repent, and as such, she forfeits blessings. She still, as a nation, is God's people, but as a nation and as individuals, the blessings, the spiritual blessings are forfeited, and thus you have the law of Deuteronomy, the blessings from Mount Gerizim, and the curses from Mount Ebal, and again, I've lost a bunch of you. Like, what?

Who's bald? And what? This is grizzly. It's all you got out of it, but again, the Bible is big, and no man can get to its bottom, but on the way to trying to, there's so much that is rich and wonderful and to make us stronger in our faith. He says here in verse 9, because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says Yahweh. Well, they broke every covenant law they could break, and as I mentioned, they forfeit the blessings, but the covenant stands because God has made that solid, and now we go to verse 10. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh. I will put my laws in their mind, write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Now, again, he's quoting Jeremiah to Jewish people, but he's also saying, this applies to the Christians.

This is application to us. We're his people, but it's a dual application, one to the nation and those who belong to God, and then, of course, we can extract application to the Christians. You can parallel this also in Ezekiel 36 if you are really that industrious. So, the Holy Spirit has been made available to the church this identical way, where he says, I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

We already have that. The church has it. John's Gospel, chapter 14, Jesus talking to his disciples, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, that's what he says. The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, the Greek word from New Testament written in Greek originally, not necessarily spoken originally in Greek, but penned, written down in Greek. The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, the one who comes alongside of us. He continues, John 14, 26, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. That's how we have our New Testament, through the writing of men by an act of God, the Holy Spirit.

But there you see, we have the Holy Spirit and it's 1 John, chapter 2, but the anointing which you have received from him abides in you. You do not need that anyone teach you. Pause there real quick, because there are those that misunderstand that verse and they'll say, aha, I don't need a Bible teacher. Well, John is teaching them while he's telling them that, so that's not true.

That's not what he's talking about. But when you come to Christ, you have no one need to teach you. Okay, let me show you how to come to Christ. You're told what the truth is. When you come, that's not something someone's teaching you. That's a reaction to what the Holy Spirit is doing.

And nobody lords over that. We get the main, when the pastor says, if you bow your head and make this prayer, what if you followed a different template? What if you just booed to your eyes, I repent, I'm sorry, I want to be yours?

You'd be accepted. We just kind of help you through the main points, unless you want to sit down and read the Bible real quick and find out what they are for yourself. And so when he says, but the anointing which you have received from him abides in you and you do not need that anyone teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, just as it has taught you, you will abide in him.

He's writing to Christians being influenced by a cult called the Gnostics that were coming into, oh, you don't know that scripture. Let me tell you what it means. This is esoteric. This is high knowledge and you're not there yet. Here, put this apron on and I'll whisper in your ear the magic word. That's the free masons.

I don't need that stuff. I have the word of God myself. I have the spirit of God. And so my point is the Israel has not yet come to this as a nation, but the church is already there. He says, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Not so yet, right? Not yet. I better move on a little bit, unless I start seeing heads bob, drooling as you're falling asleep in the pew and blaming me for it.

Something's wrong with your diet. Verse 11, none of them shall teach his neighbor and none his brother saying, know the Lord for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them. We covered this in Ezekiel for those of you who remembered every word I said in Ezekiel. In the Millennial kingdom, every single Jew will be a convert.

They will be fully in love with God. And this is being said here by Jeremiah. Before, when the temple was up at the time this was written, the Jewish people relied on their priests to teach them, on the Levites to teach them in God's word. Then the rabbis kind of entered in. And now it's all the rabbis. But the day will come when Christ returns when the priests will only offer commemorative offerings but they will not teach the people because the people will know God just as well as the priests do. They will truly, personally, visually know Christ.

And that is a promise. So, to the Jew and to the church, those Jews who lived through the great tribulation along with the Jews that are subsequently born will serve him and all who accept Jesus Christ by faith right now belong to him. Galatians 3 29, and if you are Christ and you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Whatever God promised Abraham, if you are a child of faith in Christ, those promises apply to you too, barring those that are exclusively for you. Well, so we have one new covenant here presented in Jeremiah to Israel.

It finds fulfillment in the kingdom age and to all believers in some point. For example, 1 John 3 2, beloved now we are children of God. How many of you were once not children of God? How many of you sitting here had no relationship with Jesus Christ? You were on the bus hell, the bus going to hell and didn't even know it.

Quite comfortable. And then the Lord got hold of you and you're not the same person anymore. Satan tries to tell you all sorts of things and put them in your head to make you think that you're not so loved and so well off and that he's lying. Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. That is a promise to the Jews and the new covenant and to the church.

We enter glory and begins here, but it is finalized there. Well, I've got many more scripture verses to go, but that was the time is running out. Verse 12 for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds. I remember no more as a mouthful in Jeremiah's age. That is the time when they were killing the prophets.

That is the time when they were persecuting him, worshiping idols, mocking God, going against God. And so he's saying the day is going to come that not as an individual unless you repent, but as a nation. If God did not get rid of Israel's, if he does not forgive the nation their sins, then he will judge them as he has judged other people. But that's not going to happen. And so as a nation forgiven of past sins at the time when they repent, when they come to God as brought out in Zechariah, their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Of course not. Otherwise how could we be in? Now this does not mean God loses knowledge.

He just opts not to exercise judgment on it. We all appreciate this. Here's a psalm verse that every Christian is blessed by. Psalm 25 verse 7. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions according to your mercy remember me for your goodness sake O Yahweh. Remember not the sins of my youth. We try to tell our youth to walk the straight and narrow that it's difficult, that maybe you can't do it.

I don't know. Again, when I joined the military the poster that really got me was we don't promise you a rose garden. Well roses have thorns. Why would I want one?

But as a young lad it was like yeah that's a challenge. You're not promising me? I'll take that. Well you come to Christ he just says a better thing. He says the road to me and the life with me is straight and it is narrow. You have to press through it. Not broad and not wide like the gate that leads to hell.

You can just sashay on down that one. But to come into the kingdom you're going to have to fight. You're going to have to draw from you something more than what the world draws from themselves.

Is it worth it to you? We try as pastors and parents and persons to get our youth to not sin and have such a list of sins do not be remembered by God. We try to say listen you can you can learn two ways. You can learn through perception or experience. And the way I'm using it now experience is a hard teacher. If I tell you that frying pan is hot don't touch it. But you want to touch it anyway because you're too thick-headed to listen to instruction and you get your fingers burned. See that's now you've learned from experience. It's a stupid way to learn. But some just are determined and they're committed to get the tattoo. Stupid. And they just have to do it. Then there's the learning.

Sitting here right now saying why are you calling me stupid? You put the shoe on. Anyway then there's the learning through perception. This is what we want you to have. We want you to listen to instruction and say yes I got it. I can see that.

I'm smart enough to see it. I'm not going to do it. Again back to my military time early. You know when I was in boot camp they never asked me my opinion. They always spoke nastily to me.

They were never. The only time they were nice to me was at the hand grenade range. I'm not telling you. I'm telling the truth.

You step into the hand grenade pit. Okay, bribe. You're going to take this away. Wait.

What kind of sick moment is this in life? Why are you being nice to me? Because he didn't want me to blow him and me up together with the hand grenade. And that's the truth. Because it has happened.

It was precedence. Anyway. So here you hear your pastor saying to you, listen don't be a numbskull. Smarten up.

Learn from a distance. Don't be insulted by that. Be moved by it if you're guilty. As the saying goes, if the shoe fits, wear it. Well do something about the shoe.

And that is also true for our older saints is it not? If you are doing the wrong thing, start doing the right thing. What's wrong with you? Now what I don't like about this kind of preaching is that the Lord makes me live through so much that I say from up here. I'm just talking about that.

No, it was for them, not me. I'm the vessel. It doesn't work.

And he doesn't always turn it off. Okay, let's get back. Let's finish this verse 13. In that day he says a new covenant he has made with the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 2 Corinthians 3-11, for what is passing away was glorious. What remains is much more glorious. And so the Old Testament laws and rituals that are not upheld in the New Testament, for instance the Sabbath day which was given to the nation Israel, is not upheld in the New Testament. It's obsolete and this doesn't stop many from trying to resuscitate it and we must guard against that. I'll just close with this verse.

I didn't realize we were so late into this. Romans 8-3, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, that's why he had a problem with them as mentioned earlier, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh and every single Christian despises sin in every form.

There is no form of sin we are ever comfortable with, whether it is in us or in others, whether it is part of the curse that is on this life, we know what sin is and we know the only one that can deal with it. That's it. That's it. That's it. You