To Guarantee the Ultimate Promise, Part 1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Hebrews 8 speaks of the new covenant that has been forged through Christ's blood payment. How is this covenant different from the first covenant that God made with his people? Hebrews 8 says this new covenant has better promises than the first. Just what are those promises? Today Pastor Rich unpacks the promise God gives in this new covenant, promises that are guaranteed through our high priest Jesus.

Let's listen in. He intercedes for me in the presence of God to guarantee the ultimate promise. He is a guarantee of the new covenant. So that ultimate promise of which we speak is the new covenant.

He guarantees this ultimate promise. Now, the first thing that we need to do is define what a covenant is because that word is throughout this text that we are studying today in the letter to the Hebrews. What is a covenant? The word covenant means, it comes from two words, it means to place between two.

To place between two. So in other words, what it is, it's an orderly arrangement, an orderly agreement, an orderly arrangement to act in a certain manner. It's an agreement, if you will, with an obligation to it.

It's kind of like the idea of the last will and testament that we hear of. But in other words, the Lord is saying in a covenant with this arrangement, this orderly arrangement between the two, the Lord is saying, this is how I will be toward you. God is promising us, this is how I will be towards you.

This is going to be my disposition towards you. And disposition is a good word that encapsulates and defines what this covenant is. We can take some verses of scripture, for example, to help us understand what God's disposition is toward us. It was Jesus himself as he was talking with Nicodemus when he said, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. That's his disposition toward us. The apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 3.18, for Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. So God's disposition towards us is to rescue us, to bring us to himself. That is the disposition in this new covenant. So we see then the great contrast as we read in the text before us in Hebrews chapter 8, that in the Old Testament, a key emphasis was the separation of sinful man from a holy God. But God in his love and his grace and his mercy sent his son Jesus Christ so that in the New Testament under the new covenant, the emphasis is reconciliation, that which was separated, bringing it back together again. And that is the chief message of the New Testament. That is the ultimate promise, essentially where God says, I am all about bringing you back to myself.

That's his disposition towards us. And therefore, we understand that as our ultimate objective is to draw near to God because it is that for which we were created. Then we must understand that to the measure that you are apart from God, you are dissatisfied because you were created for God. If you are still alienated from God in your sin, dead in your sin, then you cannot possibly be satisfied. At best, you can only find things to temporarily fill in that emptiness, but you cannot ultimately be satisfied. If you have been reconciled to God and you are in Christ, then you can be satisfied. So draw near to him, therein is the satisfaction that he desires for you. Because to the degree that you are wandering from God in fellowship from him, to the degree that you are apart from him, you are dissatisfied.

Do you have an element of dissatisfaction in your life this morning? Then I would urge you, what you need to do is to draw near to God, pursue him with all your heart, soul, and mind. And in him you will find the satisfaction that you desire. So we see then before us what we have is the new covenant.

And he has a couple of words that he uses to describe it. It is the ministry, the current ministry of Jesus Christ. He is the lamb who sits on the throne next to the throne of the majesty on high.

That is where he is now. And his presence there makes a great statement. It is a presence of intercession. He intercedes for me in the presence of God.

And it is presence there that makes that intercession. And what is he interceding for? He is interceding to guarantee this ultimate promise. He says in chapter 8 verse 6, But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry in as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant which was established on better promises. And then in verse 8 he calls it specifically the new covenant. The new covenant.

More excellent meaning it is surpassing. It is way beyond anything that was being done in the Old Testament. The sacrificial system that was but a foreshadowing of the reality that was to come in Jesus Christ.

This is the real thing and it is way above what was possible and offered under that old system. And so he calls it a new covenant. New in the sense that it's not just cleaned up and made over. It's a brand new covenant. It is essentially different. And it is a new covenant. And this is why it is more excellent.

This is why it is new. Number one, because it does not depend upon man. The old covenant was a conditional covenant. It depended upon man.

God says if you do this then I will do this and I will be this to you. And the problem with that is if you look with me at verse 9, Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. Because they did not continue in my covenant. The old covenant was dependent upon man.

This one is not. They did not continue. So we find from that and this is one of the reasons for the old covenant was to teach us this very thing. That man, excuse me, depending on himself, man will ultimately fail. We cannot be counted upon. We will fail.

But then when it comes to this new covenant, there are two words that appear six times. I will. I will. The Lord says that six times in this passage. I will.

It's not dependent upon man. God is saying this is my disposition towards you. This is how I will be towards you.

I will. And he says that six times in this new covenant, meaning that this new covenant is a God thing. It doesn't depend upon us in order for it to become fulfilled. And that's because, as he says way back beginning in verse 6, that is built upon better promises. The better promises of the new covenant. Better meaning that they are stronger and nobler. They are built upon an unshakable heroic foundation.

And that's what we're going to be studying next week. That the ultimate promise that he guarantees is based upon his ultimate sacrifice. Again, purely a God thing.

It's not of our doing. So it's better promises. Promises don't get any better than this. In fact, this is what makes grace amazing. These are the things that we need to understand. So this ultimate promise, this new covenant that God has provided for us, we need to understand what it is. Because this new covenant is the new covenant. Remember in the upper room, the night that Jesus was betrayed, the night before he was crucified, he took the cup and he said, this is the new covenant in my blood. Christians, loved ones, listen, you need to know what that means. We need to know what we're celebrating. We need to know what God has provided for us.

If we are going to truly fully love and appreciate him for all that he has done and surrender ourselves to him day in and day out. Let me first identify the new covenant. The new covenant has the ultimate promise. The new covenant has four parts to it that we're going to look at today that are revealed to us.

But let me first identify the new covenant before we continue in our notes there. The new covenant is specifically identified, quoted in Hebrews chapter 8 here. It is quoting Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31. And of course, that is right at the time when Judah was being taken captive by Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar. And the Lord reveals through the prophet Jeremiah, he says, and the reason why they were being taken captive is because they did not continue in the old covenant. Israel did not continue to walk with and follow God because man, depending on himself, will ultimately fail. And we learn that from man's experience. But the Lord says, I will make a new covenant with them.

And this is what he teaches. And I believe it's also reiterated in Ezekiel chapter 36 and some details there that are provided for us. Now, it says in here that the new covenant was made with Israel.

It is to Israel. And we take that in the New Testament because the Lord says that salvation is of the Jews. He says the salvation of Christ comes to the Jews first and also to the Greeks.

But the prophecies of Isaiah make it very clear that God's salvation is to the ends of the earth, not just the Jews. So we today in the church are definitely beneficiaries of this new covenant. And we will see as we break it down the four parts of this new covenant, the benefits that we have in Jesus Christ, that ultimate promise that he guarantees for us as he intercedes for us in the very presence of God. So when Jesus said, this is the new covenant in my blood, I challenge you this morning as Christians, as those who are in Christ, know what that new covenant is. Know what it is that he has promised.

Know what it is that we celebrate when we take that cup. This is a message from God to us where God is saying, this is how I will be towards you. This is my disposition towards you. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.