To Guarantee the Ultimate Promise, Part 2

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. This is the second segment of a message titled, To Guarantee the Ultimate Promise. It's from a sub-series on what our High Priest does. It was first preached on September 2, 2012. It is the ultimate promise that Christ, our High Priest, guarantees.

So here it is. There are four parts to it and we're going to kind of work backwards through the text. Because the first one, the first part to it, we find in verse 12 and that is forgiveness. This is the first promise of that ultimate, for the first part to that ultimate promise of the new covenant. It is forgiveness. Look with me at verse 12.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds. I will remember no more. I will remember no more. Now we know that God, being the infinite person that He is, doesn't actually forget anything.

Alright? But He says, I will remember no more, meaning that when He says, I will remember no more, He removes the requirement of payment. He will not hold it against us. Here is a profound verse in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them.

That word imputing, crediting to their account to require that payment, not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Here is the contrast with the law. The law specifically was a reminder of sin and we will see that as we go on further in the letter to the Hebrews. The law was specifically given as a reminder to the people that they are sinful and that they must necessarily be separated from God. But in the new covenant then, under grace, under the principle of grace and the covenant of grace, God says, I will remember their sin no more.

Aren't we glad for that? What a wonderful truth that is. And as the psalmist says, as David says, He has not dealt with us according to our sin. Now you need to be very careful here because this is how a lot of people mistake grace. They think that grace is just ignoring sin and turning your back on it and ignoring it and pretending as if it never happened. I said God has not dealt with us according to our sin, but understand this, He has dealt with our sin. Grace always deals with sin and God has dealt with sin, but He has not dealt with us according to our sin. And that is a powerful part of the new covenant. That is what we are going to be looking at next week. This ultimate promise that He has guaranteed based upon His ultimate sacrifice.

That's next week. Understand this, God has not dealt with us according to our sin, but He has dealt with our sin. But that forgiveness where He says I will remember their sin no more, that is a key principle, a key element of this ultimate promise that God has given us, that is guaranteed to us in our high priest who intercedes for us at the right hand of the throne. Here is the second part to that ultimate promise and we find it in verse 11 and that is personal relationship. Personal relationship with God. Remember in the Old Testament sinful man was necessarily separated from God. And under the old system, man interacted with God only through things that represent the character and purpose of God. But under the new covenant, God promises personal relationship.

Why? Because we were created for Him. And so He guarantees this personal relationship. 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.

They shall know me. That is a term of relationship. That is a term of intimate interaction with each other, of walking with each other. It means to know by encounter versus simply interacting through things that represent Him. We interact with Him personally. What a profound truth that God wants to interact with us. He does and we can and He will because the barrier has been taken out of the way.

What is that barrier? Those things in my life that are contrary to His character and purpose, He has taken that barrier out of the way through that first element of forgiveness. Because that's what Christ the Lamb guarantees for me.

It is absolutely wonderful that God has provided this for us. So therefore, because He guarantees us personal relationship then, we are free to pursue Him. Under the New Covenant, with the promise that God has given me, I am free to pursue that for which I was designed.

What was I designed for? To know God and walk with Him, to fellowship with Him. And I am free to pursue that because the barrier is taken out of the way. And I therefore can have personal relationship, fellowship, communion with God. That's a part of His ultimate promise that Christ guarantees for me. We are blessed to have that promise from God.

We need to know what it is. Folks listen, this is the stuff of meditation. You might think, oh this is Hebrews, this is deep theology. Listen, God has revealed it, we need to know it. And I am convinced today that there are far too many Christians today walking around in a shallow frustration because they don't understand the promises that God has lavished upon us in the New Covenant. The next part of that New Covenant is the one that Lindsay sang about this morning.

The Holy Spirit. And I term it as, number three, God's powerful presence in verse 10. Look with me at verse 10. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

That is the terminology of presence, of being together with. I will be their God and they shall be my people. In Ezekiel chapter 36, it says it very specifically, I will put my spirit in them.

I will put my spirit in them. That spirit of God, He is God, He is not an it, He is not a thing, He is not just a force, He is a person, He is the third person of the Trinity. He is God who has taken up residence in you and me. A significant part of that New Covenant that God promises us that is guaranteed by Jesus Christ. God, as Peter says in 2 Peter, has made me a partaker of His divine nature.

That's wow. Me, a sinful being, a rebel, necessarily separated from God and His absolute holiness, this God who is a consuming fire, has now reconciled me to Himself. Not only has He reconciled me to Himself, He has taken up residence in me. As God is saying, I will be among my people. As Jesus said in John 14 and John 16, He promised the comforter that will come, the spirit of truth. He says, He will be in you. Wonderful truths, God's presence in you.

Listen, I'm going to challenge you with something this morning because there's something that I think that we need to understand. First of all, let me say this, there is no place on earth, there is no place on earth where you enter the presence of God. Now, I know that challenges some of you in your thinking of when you come to church, that you think when you come into these doors, you're coming into the presence of God. There is no place on earth where you enter the presence of God. The sanctuary in the temple, in the tabernacle, the sanctuary simply meant that. The holy place, the set apart place because that's where God was. And in that sanctuary, the holiest place of all, the high priest could go once a year and he dare not go in there without blood sacrificed, a life forfeited. God said, it is there that I will meet with you. Folks, that sanctuary doesn't exist on this earth. Andrews makes it very clear to us that that sanctuary is where Christ is seated next to the throne.

And we are with Him. There is no place on earth where you enter the presence of God because now that Christ is seated at the right hand of the throne of majesty, if you are in Christ, you are in His presence. That being the case, those who are Christ's have a whole new dimension of God's presence.

He has taken up residence in you. The believer individually, the church corporately are now the temple of God. The church corporately, not the building, the body of Christ, the people of God in whom He has taken up residence. That is the place of God's manifest presence.

It's exactly what was sung about in that song. That Christ lives through me. Christ comes alive in me by virtue of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

That is God's powerful presence as God prophesied to the prophet Ezekiel, I will put my spirit in them. The Savior says we have become partakers of the divine nature. Well, here's the fourth part then to the ultimate promise, the new covenant. The fourth part is life change, life transformation. 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.