Crossing The Line
Job 9-10
October 18, 2015

Ok, I know we’ve had some other things going on lately
Which means it has been now three weeks
Since we have looked at the book of Job.

So first, let me put you back in the flow
And see if we can engage our minds again with the story.

• Job was a righteous and blameless man.
• Because of his righteousness he was selected to suffer.
• Job lost everything
• But still Job refused to turn on God

• However after a couple of weeks Job did open his mouth and curse the day of his birth stating that it would have been much better if he could have just died in the womb.

• It was at this point that Job’s three friends decided to chime in.
• Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar

• Eliphaz basically told Job that he was suffering because he was a sinner.

• Job responded to that with a heartfelt appeal that his friends back off and show a little compassion.

If they had only stopped to realize exactly what Job was going through, then perhaps they would have been a little more sympathetic.

• And then Job returned to his lament.

• Then last time we met Bildad spoke up.

And if you’ll remember,
Bildad actually said some things that sound really true and right.

Things like, “Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?”

Or things like “God will not reject a man of integrity, nor will He support the evildoers.”

Those statements taken by themselves are true.
But they are misapplied to Job.

Bildad’s point was that
It would be unjust for God to do this to Job if he was righteous
And so therefore Job must not be righteous for God is always just.

And we talked about how Bilidad had a wrong view of God’s sovereignty.
We don’t get to define justice, God does.
If God does it, it’s just, even if that means you need to change your definition.

We also saw Bildad misrepresent God’s mercy, timing, work, and favor.

To put it simply, Bildad basically believed as Eliphaz did;
That Job must have been sinful,
For God would not have done this to a righteous man.

As we have said many times over,
They represent the fall-out of the prosperity gospel.

The prosperity gospel is that “health, wealth, and happiness teaching”
That basically states that if God is pleased with you,
He will bless you and if He is not, He will curse you.

That means that when a person is suffering,
The prosperity gospel is very cruel.

It only has one answer for suffering and that is that
It must be the fault of the victim.

And that is what has been preached to Job both by Eliphaz and by Bildad.
Well, tonight Job is going to answer Bildad’s accusation.

But first we need to introduce another important truth to the book of Job.

Up until now we’ve kept things pretty simple
In regard to who is right and who is wrong.

We’ve read the verse at the end of this book several times.
Job 42:8 “Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”

And we’ve used that passage as a measuring stick
To help measure what we read.

We know, based on that verse that the theology of the three friends is wrong whereas the theology of Job is correct.

That has been tremendously helpful to us in discerning what we read.

But that is only part of the equation.

I say that because by the time we end this book
You are going to find that God is pretty severe with Job as well.

In fact, there is a 4th man sitting among Job and his friends.
He is a young man and by his own admission he is not yet speaking because he believes that the old should speak first.
This young man’s name is Elihu.

Now he is important because he is the only player in the book of Job
Who does not get rebuked by God.

Many have assumed then (and it’s hard to argue)
That Elihu was sort of a human messenger on God’s behalf.

And let me show you what Elihu thinks of Job and his 3 friends.
Job 32:1-3 “Then these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. But the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram burned; against Job his anger burned because he justified himself before God. And his anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.”

Elihu is pretty angry at everyone.
And Elihu will go on a 6 chapter rant primarily against Job.

One example:
Job 33:8-12 “Surely you have spoken in my hearing, And I have heard the sound of your words: ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am innocent and there is no guilt in me. ‘Behold, He invents pretexts against me; He counts me as His enemy. ‘He puts my feet in the stocks; He watches all my paths.’ “Behold, let me tell you, you are not right in this, For God is greater than man.”

When you read statements like this from Elihu (and there are others)
You are left with the sense that Elihu doesn’t disagree with Job’s doctrine
So much as he has a problem with his attitude.

It seems to Elihu that Job has forgotten his place
And is failing to treat God with the respect that he should.

Now I bring this up because this is the very thing
That God will rebuke Job for later in the book.

Job 38:1-3 “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, “Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge? “Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!”

Job 40:1-2 “Then the LORD said to Job, “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it.”

Job 40:6-8 “Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm and said, “Now gird up your loins like a man; I will ask you, and you instruct Me. “Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?”

So to read this book and pretend that God is going to give 100% assent
To everything Job says is obviously wrong.

God is going to give Job the worst brow beating in the whole of Scripture.
God will confront him to such an extent that Job will actually say:
Job 42:1-6 “Then Job answered the LORD and said, “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ “Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”

So Job is going to repent before this book is over.

• It is immediately following this repentance that God will announce that Job should pray for His 3 friends who did not speak what was right about Him.

• And God will also say that Job did speak what was right.

SO WHAT ARE WE TO MAKE OF ALL OF THIS?

Let me sort of untangle it a little.
1) Job was righteous and blameless
2) Job did not suffer as a result of his sin
3) Job’s friends blamed his suffering on his sin, hence they spoke what was wrong.
4) Job clearly speaks what is right and yet still gets rebuked by God
5) Job’s problem was not his theology, it was his pride

What Elihu and God both eventually call Job down for
Was not that he said anything wrong about God,
But that he got a little big for his britches in the way that he said it.

And I bring that reality up to you this evening because you are about to see your first instance of Job starting to cross the line.

What you are going to see is
• Job explain doctrine regarding God that is true,
• But then you are going to see Job put a negative spin on it so as to make himself look good and consequently God look bad.

And this is the danger.
Any time we walk through suffering we can reach a point of frustration and despair that tempts us even to begin to question God’s wisdom.

You’ve seen it before.
• It was seen in Moses when he struck the rock.
• It was seen in David when he numbered the people.
• It was seen in Elijah when he ran to Sinai and questioned God.

1 Kings 19:14 “Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
Do you hear Elijah there?
What are You doing!

It was seen in the disciples when they woke Jesus up in the storm.
To which Jesus responded, “You of little faith…”

It was seen Martha and Mary when they questioned Jesus for not healing Lazarus.
“Lord, if You had been here, our brother would not have died”

Those were all instances of people in difficult circumstances
Who entertained the notion that while God was certainly God,
He might not be doing what is right.

The reason those people were so confused was because
Each of them knew they were living the way God had commanded.

So when hardship came their way, they didn’t understand it
And at times even took their frustrations out on God.
They allowed their view of what they deserved distort their view of God.

And in their frustrations they crossed the line.
And they all received a rebuke for it.

Listen to Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 15:15-18 “You who know, O LORD, Remember me, take notice of me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away; Know that for Your sake I endure reproach. Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers, Nor did I exult. Because of Your hand upon me I sat alone, For You filled me with indignation. Why has my pain been perpetual And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream With water that is unreliable?”

He accused God of lying to him.

Listen to God’s rebuke:
Jeremiah 15:19-21 “Therefore, thus says the LORD, “If you return, then I will restore you — Before Me you will stand; And if you extract the precious from the worthless, You will become My spokesman. They for their part may turn to you, But as for you, you must not turn to them. “Then I will make you to this people A fortified wall of bronze; And though they fight against you, They will not prevail over you; For I am with you to save you And deliver you,” declares the LORD. “So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, And I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.”

This happened with many of the heroes of the Old Testament

They obeyed God and suffered for it.
• Were they suffering because of their sin? No
• Was their understanding of God’s sovereignty wrong? No
• Did they turn away from God? No

But just for a moment they got a little big for their britches,
And God dealt with it.

Well, perhaps that helps you understand where Job is.
He is a righteous man. He is blameless and upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. There is no one like him on the earth, and he is not suffering as a result of his sin.

But, in his confusion, he is about to cross a line
And allow his pride to step in.

Let’s work through these 2 chapters and I’ll show you what I mean.

Each of these 2 chapters forms a distinct point
And we’ll break them each down a little more.
#1 JOB’S NEGATIVE TAKE ON GOD
Job 9:1-35

First let me just show you three attributes that Job ascribes to God here.
And incidentally they are all 100% accurate.

TRANSCENDENCE – (excelling or surpassing) it is the understanding that God is above and beyond us in every possible way.

Isaiah said:
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Paul said:
Romans 11:33-36 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

And this is the first attribute Job is going to ascribe to God;
And it’s absolutely accurate. God is transcendent.

OMNIPOTENCE – (all powerful) it is the idea that God has all power and can do anything He desires.

SOVEREIGNTY – (total authority) it carries the idea of God being the supreme ruler who is in charge of all things.

So Job is simply going to ascribe to God that
He is transcendent, omnipotent, and sovereign.
And he is speaking what is right about God.

The problem is that Job (because of his suffering)
Is going to put a negative spin on each of these realities.

Let me show you.
1) GOD IS TRANSCENDENT (1-12)

Here Job is talking about the reality that
God is above and beyond us in all things.

Now this is a good thing since we certainly want someone wiser than us in control of all things.

But Job really seems to put a negative spin on this.

According to Job, because God is transcendent:
• None can DISPUTE Him (read vs. 3)
• None can DEFY Him (read vs. 4-10)
• None can DISCERN Him (read vs. 11)
• None can DETAIN Him (read vs. 12)

Job says, “He’s transcendent so I can’t talk with Him, I can’t do anything but what He wants, I can’t understand what He’s doing, and I can’t keep Him from doing it.”

That really sort of paints God more as a bully than a Father.
Job is clearly put out with God for being so hard to understand.

He’s got a second attribute he’s a little frustrated with.
2) GOD IS OMINPOTENT (13-24)

Here again we find a true attribute of God,
But from Job’s perspective that only works against him.

Job doesn’t see it as the strongest God in the world is for me,
Job sees it as the strongest God in the world is against me
And there is nothing I can do about it.

(13-15) “God will not turn back His anger; Beneath Him crouch the helpers of Rahab. “How then can I answer Him, And choose my words before Him? “For though I were right, I could not answer; I would have to implore the mercy of my judge.”

Job knows God is all powerful and so that means
Even if I’m right there isn’t anything I can do about it.
The strong man wins every time.

And according to Job this is bad because
God is afflicting him even though he doesn’t deserve it.

(16-19) “If I called and He answered me, I could not believe that He was listening to my voice. “For He bruises me with a tempest And multiplies my wounds without cause. “He will not allow me to get my breath, But saturates me with bitterness. “If it is a matter of power, behold, He is the strong one! And if it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him?”
Job clearly says that God has no cause to do what He is doing.
And if that is not bad enough God won’t seem to let up.

Job will go further:
(20-24) “Though I am righteous, my mouth will condemn me; Though I am guiltless, He will declare me guilty. “I am guiltless; I do not take notice of myself; I despise my life. “It is all one; therefore I say, ‘He destroys the guiltless and the wicked.’ “If the scourge kills suddenly, He mocks the despair of the innocent. “The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?”

Job is actually saying that God is all powerful
And yet He is doing wrong things with His power.
(or at least things that Job thinks are wrong)

• He sees God destroying “the guiltless and the wicked”
• He sees God giving the earth “into the hand of the wicked”
• He sees God covering “the faces of its judges”

And then Job throws his hands up to his scowling friends and says,
“If it is not He, then who is it?”

If God (the omnipotent) isn’t doing these things than who is?
Who is stronger than Him?

And let me tell you from a doctrinal level, Job is pretty well right on.
In fact the issues he raises are some of the very issues that
Non-believers use against God to this very day.

See, Christians say that God is sovereign and omnipotent and in charge
And non-Christians then say, “So why does this good God kill all these innocent people?”

• Look at the 2 tsunamis…
• Look at Hurricane Katrina…
• Did only non-Christians die in those events?

Or what about those God has allowed to rule the earth?
Are we to assume that our government is made up of believers?

Would we not agree that our judges are blind to the things of God?

And yet we know God appointed them.
Romans 13:1 “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”

What Job is saying about God’s role in the universe is not necessarily wrong here. The problem is that Job is asserting that God is wrong in what He is doing.

One more
3) GOD IS SOVEREIGN (25-35)

In other words God is the supreme authority,
He has the right (and the power) to do whatever He wants.

Did you catch what Job is saying?

• My life is wasting away. (25-26)
• Now, I could try to make the most of it (27)
• But it won’t work because God has already determined to make it bad for me (28-31)
• And what is worse…He is sovereign, so there is no court that can make Him do otherwise (32-33)
• So I wish this sovereign God would just leave me alone (34-35)

Job knows that God is sovereign, and he knows that God can fix this.
Job’s problem is that God isn’t fixing it and no one can make Him.
He is frustrated that God is afflicting him.

Job says God is TRANSCENDENT but for Job that means UNAPPROACHABLE.
He says God is OMNIPOTENT, but for Job that means UNYIELDING.
He says God is SOVEREING, but for Job that means UNACCOUNTABLE.

Do you see how he is viewing God in a negative light?

And we tend to do that somethings in our suffering if we aren’t careful.
We tend to think that God is somehow wronging us
And actually grow frustrated with Him.

You can see where he is starting to cross the line.

But that is Job’s negative view on God.
#2 JOB’S NEGATIVE TAKE ON HIS CIRCUMSTANCES
Job 10:1-22

Here we run into Job’s view on life
(It is a bi-product of his negativity toward God)

Job has become a full-blown pessimist
(Now, I don’t know of any of us who could condemn him)

We all tend to do this, I just want you to understand that
God is going to later rebuke Job for it.

Again, let’s break the chapter down a little further.

Three main points that reveal Job’s negative view of his circumstances.

1) I AM RECEIVING INJUSTICE (1-7)

You can hear the brashness here can’t you?

(1-2) “I loathe my own life; I will give full vent to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. “I will say to God, ‘ Do not condemn me; Let me know why You contend with me.”

That’s pretty bold directly to the face of God.

Then Job actually questions God’s decision to afflict him.
(3-7) “’Is it right for You indeed to oppress, To reject the labor of Your hands, And to look favorably on the schemes of the wicked? ‘Have You eyes of flesh? Or do You see as a man sees? ‘Are Your days as the days of a mortal, Or Your years as man’s years, That You should seek for my guilt And search after my sin? ‘According to Your knowledge I am indeed not guilty, Yet there is no deliverance from Your hand.”

“Is it right..?”

Job knows that God is sovereign and powerful and transcendent
Job is just questioning whether God is doing what He should.

I’ll get honest here with you for a moment.
A few years ago during a particularly dark moment when we just couldn’t seem to get any relief with Carrie’s treatment for her depression. We had been years and still nothing seemed to get better.

I distinctly remember falling over the ottoman in our living room and telling God, “If I was God I would have fixed this by now.”

That’s not any different than what Job is doing.
• He knows who God is.
• He knows God is in charge.
• He just can’t fathom why God would be doing what He is doing
• And in his moment of pride and arrogance he actually begins to question if God knows what He is doing.

I am receiving injustice and I don’t deserve it.

Receiving Injustice
2) I AM REELING HOPELESSLY (8-17)

Now Job starts out by recounting that God created Him
And that it was indeed mercy and love that caused God to give him life.

You see that in verses 8-12

Especially 12, “You have granted me life and lovingkindness; and Your care has preserved my spirit.”

Job knows how good God has been to him.

Job’s problem is that he thinks
God has now decided to quit being that way toward him.

(13) “Yet these things You have concealed in Your heart; I know that this is within You:”

That is to say, “I know you are loving God, You just seem to be choosing not to be to me right now.”

And because of this Job has lost all hope.

(14-17) “If I sin, then You would take note of me, And would not acquit me of my guilt. ‘If I am wicked, woe to me! And if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head. I am sated with disgrace and conscious of my misery. ‘Should my head be lifted up, You would hunt me like a lion; And again You would show Your power against me. ‘You renew Your witnesses against me And increase Your anger toward me; Hardship after hardship is with me.”

I’m in a lose-lose situation.
• If I’m wicked, You’ll destroy me
• If I’m righteous, You’ll destroy me

You can feel the despair can’t you?

I’m receiving injustice I’m reeling hopelessly
3) I AM REQUESTING RELIEF (18-22)

Relief is actually a nice way to put it.
Job is back to wishing he could just die.

“I should have been as though I had not been, carried from womb to tomb.”

He wants it all over.
• Why would you afflict me when I’m innocent?
• Why would you create me just to destroy me?
• Why would you give me life to make me hate it?

Job looks at the transcendent, omnipotent, sovereign God
And says, “Based on these realities, I think You’re a little cruel.”

Job doesn’t think God is doing right by him.

It is statements like this that will have Elihu all fired up later in the book.
It is statements like this what will prompt God to address Job directly.
Job is crossing the line.

Now, let’s see if we can’t wrap this all up with a little application tonight.

Again Job is not suffering because he sinned.
God is never going to ask him to repent of some sin that caused his pain.

Job is a righteous man whom God is using to demonstrate to Satan
That a relationship between Him and His child cannot be severed.
And Job will faithfully demonstrate that.

Job is angry, Job is confused, but Job at no time will ever turn on God.
In fact Job, from the midst of his pain and his awful circumstances,
Will repent in chapter 42 and re-declare his commitment to God
Before his circumstances ever get any better.

The point of the book is clear.

However, we get the opportunity to learn here from Job
That accusing God of being unfair or unjust in the midst of our pain
Is a road you don’t want to travel.

I realize that things in this life happen all the time that seem wrong to us,
But that doesn’t mean they are wrong.

• We have to remember that in Adam we all fell and deserve nothing but the wrath of God.

• Paul reminds us both in Romans 5 and Ephesians 2 that we enter this world as enemies of God.

In fact:
Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

In Titus Paul wrote:
Titus 3:3 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.”

But God has chosen to be overwhelmingly merciful and gracious to His enemies.

Romans 5:6-8 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Titus 3:4-6 “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,”

That means that regardless of the hardships we face in life
We will forever be on the plus end of this deal.

One of the hardest things we are called to do as believers
Is to continue to trust that God is right
Even when everything around us seems wrong.

Transcendent doesn’t mean “unapproachable”
It means God knows what He is doing, even when you don’t.

Omnipotent doesn’t mean “unyielding”
It means that God will always be able to accomplish His perfect plan.

Sovereign doesn’t mean “unaccountable”
It means that God has everything perfectly under control.

Don’t cross the line and start blaming God
When all that is required is for you continue trusting Him.

Habakkuk 3:16-19 “I heard and my inward parts trembled, At the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the people to arise who will invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places. For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.”

Habakkuk said that’s actually a song you should learn
So that you can sing it when you suffer.

It’s a good reminder not to cross the line when you are in pain.

The Parable of the Day of Atonement
Hebrews 9:15-28
October 18, 2015

I realize it has been a couple of weeks since we were in Hebrews,
But hopefully you haven’t completely lost your grip on the point.

The book of Hebrews was written to a group of Jews
Who weren’t taking Jesus as seriously as they should have.

• Some were outright non-believers content to remain in Judaism.
• Some were intellectually convinced about Jesus, but had yet to confess Him.
• Some had confessed Him, but due to persecution were contemplating leaving.

The writer is showing all of them the absolute value of Jesus.

The first 7 chapters were about how Jesus is our great high priest.
• Greater than the prophets
• Greater than the angels
• Greater than Moses
• Greater than Joshua
• Greater than Aaron

Jesus is a priest according to the order of Melchizedek,
Meaning He is a priest forever and therefore able to save forever.

But that was only the writer’s first point.

In chapter 8 he moved forward.
We learned that a new priest necessitates a new law,
And so in chapter 8 the writer started introducing us to the new covenant.

• It is the covenant that was promised by God.
• It is the covenant that presumes failure by man.
• It is the covenant that penetrates the heart.
• It is the covenant that produces intimacy with God.
• It is the covenant that pardons sinners.
• It is the covenant that prevails forever.

It is the new covenant.

What the writer wants you to see is that
This new covenant was always God’s plan.

In fact, the old covenant was merely a parable to point you to the new.
We saw that last time in the first part of chapter 9.

Remember, the writer started describing to us The Day of Atonement
And then told us that that feast was merely a parable.

In 9:8 the writer said that it was “a symbol for the present time.”
“symbol” translates PARABOLE which is where we get our word for parable.

And you know what a parable is.
It is a physical story with a spiritual meaning.

Jesus used them all the time to explain spiritual truth.
• He gave a parable about soil to teach on the human heart.
• He gave a parable about a mustard seed to teach the glory of the kingdom.
• He gave a parable about a dragnet to teach about the judgment.
• He gave a parable about treasure in a field to teach the value of the kingdom.

And every time Jesus gave a parable,
The point was not to copy the parable,
But rather to see and understand the spiritual point.

If you heard Jesus give the parable of the soils
And only sought to be a better farmer then you missed the point.

And here we find that this was also true
Of the Old Testament feast known as The Day of Atonement.

It was never the intention for you to just do that over and over.
The intention was for us to learn from the parable.

So, as you and I look at the Day of Atonement
We are supposed to find the spiritual point.

Now in this parable there are 4 points of symbolism that the writer wants to make sure you see.

Just like in the parable of the sower we see what each symbol represents.
• Soil represents the heart
• Birds represent Satan
• Weeds represent idols
• Sower represents evangelists

So this parable of the Day of Atonement also has points of symbolism.

Now we saw the first one last time we met.
(even though I didn’t call it point #1)

The writer described for us the visual display of the tabernacle
Or what was known as “the tent of meeting”

Before the temple, Moses would erect the tabernacle, it was a tent,
And the children of Israel put it up every time they stopped.

And the writer described to us the basic look of that tabernacle.
(READ 9:1-5)

And so we got the picture of veils and the holy place and the most holy place.
Then he wanted us to see the priests going in and out of the veil.
(READ 9:6-7)

And so we saw the tabernacle and all the work going on inside of it.

And then the writer gave you his first point of symbolism.
(this is still all recap)
#1 THE EXISTENCE OF THE VEIL
Hebrews 9:8-10

What was the first thing you were supposed to learn from the parable of the Day of Atonement?

Under the Old Covenant, you couldn’t get to God.
Only the priests could enter the holy place and only the high priest could enter the most holy place and he only was able to go once a year.

In the old covenant, access to God was strictly forbidden.

Then the writer talked about how Christ entered that holy place for us.

Only, He didn’t enter that fake, symbolic, man-made one.
Christ entered the real one in heaven for us.

And through His sacrifice He offers
What the Day of Atonement was supposed to do but couldn’t.
Christ offers us a clean conscience.

They Day of Atonement was supposed to make you feel forgiven,
But it didn’t work because at the end of the day you still couldn’t get to God.

But because Christ actually atoned for us,
We are now fully forgiven
And our conscience has been washed clean.

And all of that we talked about last time.

Now let’s move on to the next point.
But before we do, I need you to recall that scene we read during our Scripture reading time. The Day of Atonement recorded in Leviticus 16.

I know there was a lot there, but let’s get the high points.
• Aaron was told to take from the people two male goats and a bull.
• He presented the goats before the Lord and the Lord chose.
• Aaron then offered the bull for his own sin to qualify him to perform the ceremony
• Then Aaron slaughtered the goat God selected and offered it’s blood inside the holy of holies.
• Aaron then returned and sent the scape goat away.

So take a moment and visualize the scene.
(You’ve already envisioned the tabernacle, now see the work of Aaron)

What the writer wants you to know is that the parable is not yet over.
There is more symbolism to be discerned.
There are more points to be made.

We first saw The Existence Of The Veil and learned that under the old covenant we couldn’t get to God.

Now let’s look at the second symbolic point to be made.
#2 THE EXECUTION OF THE SACRIFICE
Hebrews 9:15-22

Here the writer wants you to see the high priest slaughter that male goat.
He wants you to see him cut that goat’s throat.
He wants you to see him catch that goat’s blood.

It is violent, it is gruesome, it is harsh
I don’t care what the scenario, anytime you see life end, it is traumatic.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a slaughter house
And watched them slaughter a steer or pig or goat.

But there is that intense and violent moment
In which the animal instantly goes from life to death and it is harsh to watch.

The writer wants you to stop and watch the priest slaughter that goat.

Now, obviously the symbolism here is to who?
Christ.
He was slaughtered on the cross.
He was brutally killed there.
His life was taken.

And this was a major problem for the Jews.
They had difficulty understanding how the Messiah could actually die.

They had all these plans of a coming kingdom and a victorious reign.
The death of the Messiah was a stumbling block to them.

So the writer is explaining why this death had to occur.
(Not only why the goat had to die, but also why Christ had to die.)

And he gives here three reasons for the execution of the sacrifice.
1) TO RELEASE THE WILL (15-17)

“For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant”
He is telling you why Christ is allowed to bring in this new covenant.

He is allowed to do it because “a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant.”

Now this is deep stuff here, but it is so important.

We are all aware of the Old Covenant.
We are all aware of all the sacrifices and even that Day of Atonement.

But in all of those sacrifices there was a problem.
They didn’t work.
We know that because the veil remained and they had to keep sacrificing.

In fact:
Hebrews 10:1-4 “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

That means that sin was never forgiven in the Old Testament
Under all of those sacrifices.

Well that’s a problem.
• Then what about all those Old Testament saints?
• What about Abraham and Isaac?
• What about Moses and Aaron?
• What about David and Elijah?
• What about Daniel and Esther?

Notice what the writer said about Christ.
“a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgression that were committed under the first covenant”

The first thing Christ did through His death on the cross
Is go backward and pay for all of those sins of God’s people
In the past that had thus far not been covered.

Romans 3:23-26 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

At the cross God satisfied His holiness in that He used Christ
To pay for all the sins of all His people in the Old Testament.

If you’ve ever wondered how did people get saved in the Old Testament?
The answer is: The same way you did, through the sacrifice of Christ.

The only difference is that their sin was committed before the cross
And your sin was committed after the cross,
But on the cross Christ paid for both.

Now, why did He have to do this?
Why did He have to pay off all those pre-existing debts?

Back to verse 15, “so that…those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

God had promised eternal life to those Old Testament saints,
But they couldn’t receive it until their sin was atoned for.

(We don’t have time to go in to it deeply, but remember the story of the rich man in Hades? Abraham and Lazarus are not yet in the presence of God, they are in paradise; because Christ had not yet died)

It’s a conversation for another day,
But the point here is that Christ had to die
So that those Old Testament saints could receive the promise.

And then the writer explains what he means.
(16-17) “For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives.”

Now the word “covenant” here is a little misleading.
The writer uses the word DIATHEKE
Which literally referred to a “will” or a “testament”

Some of your translations may actually say “will”
And when you read it that way, it makes perfect sense.

When you are talking about receiving the benefits of a “will” then “there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a will is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives.”

If your father leaves his house to you in his will,
You don’t get it until he dies.

So you are understanding the necessity of the death of Christ.
He had to die so that the promise of eternal life would be available.

He had to die to RELEASE THE WILL.

2) TO RENEW THE COVENANT (18-21)
Here the writer takes you back
To a different day of sacrifice by way of illustration.
It was the day in which the children of Israel
Officially entered that old covenant with God.
And on the day they entered that covenant, they inaugurated it with blood.

The Bible says Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on everything,
Even on the people.

Could you imagine that?
It doesn’t sound like a fun church service does it?

Moses threw blood on everything.
He sprinkled the book, he sprinkled the people,
He sprinkled the tabernacle, he sprinkled all the utensils.

Everything was covered in blood.

And he said, “this is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you.”

WHAT WAS THE POINT?
Moses was illustrating the penalty for breaking the covenant.

Do you remember when God made the covenant with Abraham?
He had Abraham take a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon.

And you’ll remember that Abraham cut all of them in half
And God (not Abraham) passed between the pieces.

God was saying, “May such be done to Me if I do not keep My word”

That was the point with Moses too.
The people were saying that the spilling of blood
Is the penalty for breaking this covenant.

i.e. DEATH

And that is why Christ had to die.
He was satisfying the old covenant & establishing a new one.
One that would also be ratified by blood.

If you will remember this is what Jesus told the disciples in the upper room.
Matthew 26:26-28 “While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”

A third reason he had to die (release the will, renew the covenant)
3) TO REDEEM SINNERS (22)

And this was the initial point as well.
The writer made it clear.
If the covenant is broken there is only one penalty.
There is only one thing that is acceptable.
DEATH

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death…”

Now Aaron would kill a goat to satisfy God’s wrath,
But we already established that a goat was not acceptable.
It was symbolic.

It was symbolic of Christ.
And that is what the writer wants you to see
As you look at the Day of Atonement.

SO WE’VE SEEN THE TABERNACLE
AND WE’VE SEEN THE PRIEST KILL THE GOAT.

The Existence of the Veil The Execution of the Sacrifice
#3 THE EXPIATION OF THE SINNER
Hebrews 9:23-26

Expiate means “to pay the penalty for”

And so we read in Leviticus how Aaron would kill that goat
And then take its blood and disappear behind the veil.

He was going in to atone for your sin.

And the writer wants you to see another symbol in that.

Aaron wasn’t really going into the presence of God,
He was just entering a man-made tent.

And it’s a good thing because Aaron wasn’t taking an acceptable sacrifice, he only had goat’s blood.

That was a parable; a symbol; an illustration.

What did that event picture?
It pictured Christ entering heaven with His own blood
To actually expiate or atone for sinners.

Notice what the writer says:
(23-24) “Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;”

In other words the writer is saying
It’s ok that Aaron had goat’s blood, he was just entering a man-made tent.

But Christ was entering heaven and there, goat’s blood would not work.

So Christ had to take a better sacrifice.
He took His own blood.

We saw this last time:
Hebrews 9:12 “and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

The writer wants you to make that distinction.
• Aaron entered “pretend heaven”
• Jesus entered heaven

• Aaron took a “pretend offering”
• Jesus took the real one

And do you want to see the major difference?
(25-26) “nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

I told you several weeks ago,
This is one of the major flaws in Catholic doctrine.

Catholicism goes through Mass in which the priest calls Jesus down to sacrifice again for sins committed. That’s why they keep Him on the cross.

But that is not accurate, nor is it necessary.
Christ died one time, and that one time is absolutely sufficient.
He will never have to die again.

He doesn’t need to suffer often because “now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

When we take the Lord’s Supper it is NOT like the Catholic Mass.

I will not be calling Jesus down from heaven
To sacrifice Himself again for my sin.

This grape juice will not become His blood.
This cracker will not become His body.

It is a symbol, a reminder of what He did on the cross
Where that one offering was sufficient to cover all my sin for all my life.
Does that make sense?

All of the sacrifices that the priests made for all those years
Don’t even compare in power to what Jesus did on the cross.

In His one death on the cross
• He not only reached back and covered all the sin of all the saints of the Old Testament,
• He also reached forward and covered all the sin of all His children who would believe in Him in the future.

It is absolutely unfathomable,
But that is what the writer of Hebrews said here.

“This the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us.
Took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross.”

The Day of Atonement was a parable to illustrate that.

So you see the symbols:
• The Existence of the Veil (you couldn’t get to God)
• The Execution of the Sacrifice (required to redeem sinners)
• The Expiation of the Sinner (the blood taken to God for payment)

#4 THE EMERGENCE OF THE PRIEST
Hebrews 9:27-28

Now this is so amazing!

Picture that Day of Atonement.
• You’ve seen the veil,
• You’ve seen the slaughter,
• Then you saw the High Priest take that blood behind the veil where you know he has gone to negotiate your forgiveness.

While that priest is in there, I would think you’d be able to hear a pin drop.
This was a tense moment.
This was a serious and anxious time

In fact let me give you a little history on what Aaron wore
When he went into this holy of holies.

Exodus 28:31-35 “You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. “There shall be an opening at its top in the middle of it; around its opening there shall be a binding of woven work, like the opening of a coat of mail, so that it will not be torn. “You shall make on its hem pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet material, all around on its hem, and bells of gold between them all around: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, all around on the hem of the robe. “It shall be on Aaron when he ministers; and its tinkling shall be heard when he enters and leaves the holy place before the LORD, so that he will not die.”

Aaron was to have bells on the hem of his garment
When he ministered before the Lord.

What you might not know is that in addition, the people used to tie a rope around the ankle of the high priest when he would enter.

WHY?
Because if he slipped up or if God didn’t accept the offering, that priest was a dead man and the rope was to drag him out.

This was an intense scene.
This priest was entering the presence of God to negotiate atonement.
• I hope the priest is acceptable
• I hope the sacrifice is acceptable
• I hope God is feeling merciful

Can you feel the tension?
Your forgiveness hung in the balance

That being said, do you know what the most joyful moment
Of the Day of Atonement was?

It was when the priest emerged from the tent.

That meant God didn’t kill Him and it worked.
“And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”

Are you catching the writer’s point?
Just like the Jews eagerly anticipated the return of the priest from behind the veil, so now we should anticipate the return of Christ from heaven.

Now, we know His sacrifice worked. Why?
He rose from the dead

But we still long for His return and glorious appearing.
(When He will return to complete our salvation)

And that is the point of the writer.
• Stop clinging to that old sacrificial system
• Stop clinging to that old covenant
• That was a symbol…that was a parable

It was all a picture of Christ who is our great high priest.
He took the perfect sacrifice (which happened to be Himself)
And entered the presence of God on our behalf and atoned for our sin.

Trust in Him!
Friends it is the greatest news ever recorded!

It is the good news of the gospel.
• Through the blood of Jesus you can be forgiven of all your sin.
• Through the blood of Jesus you can have access to God.
• Through the blood of Jesus you can enter the new and perfect covenant.

You don’t need a goat
You don’t need an earthly priest
All you need is Jesus

He is priest, He is sacrifice, He is savior
And He is coming again to save those “who eagerly await Him.”

Is that you?
Are you in love with Jesus?
Do you eagerly long for Him to return?

As you can see, we are going to partake of the Lord’s Supper.
It is a time for us to remember the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf.

The grape juice represents His blood
The cracker represents His body
We eat it, representing our acceptance of His sacrifice on our behalf

And the Bible says that partaking of this is a sacred affair.
1 Corinthians 11:26-32 “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”

• He did not say you have to be worthy to partake (none are)
• He said you have to partake in a worthy manner.

When I partake I am saying that I am trusting in the sacrifice of Christ,
So make sure you are really trusting Him when you do.

So we are about to have a time of preparation.
If you’ve never cried out to Jesus for forgiveness.
If you’ve never expressed to Him that you trust what He did.
That is what this time is for.

If you are trusting Him for your salvation,
Then now is a sacred moment of remembrance and worship.

 

 

 

Cleansing the Conscience
Hebrews 9:1-14
October 4, 2015

As you know, we are working our way through the book of Hebrews
And recently we have entered a new section in that book.

The writer spent 7 chapters revealing to us that in Jesus
We have a new and great High Priest.

He is not a priest according to the order of Aaron,
He is a priest according to the order of Melchizedek
As was promised in Psalms 110:4.

And after giving a thorough explanation regarding this new priest,
The writer has now moved on to his second point
Which is the new covenant that this new priest brought.

We learned in:
Hebrews 7:12 “For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.”

If you get a new priest, you have to get a new law.
Well we got a new priest, now it’s time to look at His New Covenant.

It was promised in Jeremiah 31, we first examined it in chapter 8.

• Whereas the old covenant depended on the faithfulness of man,
This new one will depend on the faithfulness of God.

• Whereas the old covenant worked from the outside in,
This new one will work from the inside out.

• Whereas the old covenant brought condemnation,
This new covenant brought forgiveness.

• Whereas the old covenant brought separation from God,
This new covenant brought a relationship with God.

And the writer closed the eight chapter by showing us that the old covenant was ready to disappear and the new one was now in effect.

Well, this morning we move on.

The objective of the writer is simple. Just as he spent time detailing why the new priest was better than the old one, the writer also wants to spend time revealing why the new covenant is better than the old.

And the conversation in the early parts of chapter 9
Centers around the CONSCIENCE.
Now you know what your conscience is.
Your conscience that voice inside your soul
That causes you to have some sense of what is right and what is wrong.

• Don’t get your conscience confused with the Holy Spirit, they are not the same.
• All people have a conscience, only believers have the Holy Spirit.

Paul spoke of the conscience in Romans 2
Romans 2:14-15 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,”

Paul spoke of Gentiles “the non-religious” who instinctively
Did the things that were commanded in the Law.
Things like not murdering or not stealing or not committing adultery.

They weren’t people who had the Ten Commandments,
But somehow inside of them they just knew those things were wrong.

The reason is because to a certain degree God actually wired humanity
To know what was right and what was wrong.
That is called the conscience.

Now, the conscience is a sinner’s enemy.
The conscience refuses to let a sinner rest.

So man has been on quest to figure out how to handle a guilty conscience

Many throughout history (and certainly in our day)
Have simply sought to KILL THE CONSCIENCE.

Why? Because the Bible says that men love sin and in order to commit sin without feeling guilty they must sear their conscience.

1 Timothy 4:1-2 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,”

Ephesians 4:17-19 “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.”

They just ignore their conscience until it no longer bothers them.
Through exposure and practice, they become hardened to their sin,
They write a new code of what is right and what is wrong.
And eventually they even train their conscience not to work.

Well there is a major problem with that.
While guilt can most certainly be a bad thing (especially if it is false guilt),
Guilt in general can be a pretty beneficial thing.
Guilt is to the soul what pain is to the body.
Pain tells your body when there is something physically wrong,
Guilt tells your soul when there is something spiritually wrong.

And scripture says that
Those who make a habit out of searing their conscience
Only succeed in finding themselves square under the wrath of God

Romans 1:18-19 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.”

Those who suppress the truth or sear their conscience tend
To never deal with their sin and thus find themselves under God’s wrath.

Romans 1:28-32 “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

THE POINT: Searing your conscience is not a good way to deal with it.
(you won’t like the end result of doing that)

Realizing that, some people have turned to another avenue to try and handle their guilty conscience. That avenue is RELIGION

If you do something that makes you feel bad
You need to cancel it out by doing something that makes you feel better.

It is what I like to call “The Principle of Religious Exchange”

I cussed out my neighbor and felt bad about it, but then I went to church.
The two canceled each other out so I can feel better about myself.

The problem is that legalism resides here.
All your peace and assurance
Is wrapped up in the good things you are able to do.

This was the problem with the Pharisees.
Matthew 23:25-26 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.”

They did all those good things to sort of cancel out the bad.
Scripture teaches that they gave and prayed and fasted all in public.

The problem was that good deeds can’t cancel out bad ones.
Jesus said:
Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Sure these men did some good things, but they also
• Stole widow’s houses,
• Loved the glory of man,
• Put heavy burdens on people’s backs,
• Made their converts sons of hell,
• Were guilty of the blood of all the prophets.

But in their minds they did more good than bad
So they were able to satisfy their conscience through their religion.

Men used religion to try and satisfy their conscience
And this is precisely how the old covenant operated.

The old covenant was supposed to provide a means for you to
Obtain forgiveness, Remove your guilt, and Rest your conscience.

And the writer wants to zone in on the main way it was supposed to work.

The main way in which the Old Covenant was supposed to cleanse your conscience was through the “Day of Atonement”

And here is how it worked.
• In Israel if you sinned and you knew it, then you immediately dealt with that sin
via sacrifice.

• You were supposed to go to the priest and offer what the Law prescribed every
time you sinned.

• But that never seemed to settle the whole problem, because you didn’t always
know about all the sin you committed.

This reality was a tremendous weight upon the people.
In short, they could do what the Law required
But still the fear and anxiety and guilt would remain.

The only means of satisfying this was “The Day of Atonement”
• On the Day of Atonement the high priest would take two goats. He would cast
Lots for the goats. One would be designated to the Lord and the other as
the scape goat.

• The Lord’s goat would be slaughtered and its blood would be taken behind the
veil and sprinkled on the altar to atone for the sin of the people.

• The other goat was the scape goat. The priest would place his hands on this
goat, thus symbolically transferring the sin of the people onto this goat and
would then send it away.

• This offering was powerful because not only did it atone for the sin you knew
about, but also for the sins you didn’t know about.

On this day, all your sin was atoned for.
Leviticus 16:29-30 “This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you; for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD.”
On this day your sin was atoned for and sent away
For you to never have to think about it again.

It was intended to not only cleanse your soul,
But also to cleanse your conscience.

You were supposed to feel better because your sin was taken care of.

But it never really seemed to work.
What was supposed to be a day of peace and rest and assurance
Actually became a perpetual reminder that sin was never gone.

Any peace that was purchased on that day was definitely short lived.

So in our text today the writer is going to show you
Why the new covenant is so much better.

He’s going to set the old and the new side by side
To show you why the new covenant is so much better than the old one.

#1 THE PARABLE OF THE OLD COVENANT
Hebrews 9:1-10

I call the Old Covenant a parable because that is the wording that the writer will use.
In verses 8-9 the writer will tell you that the tabernacle “is a symbol”.

The word “symbol” translates PARABOLE,
Which means “to lay side by side”
And is also where we get our word for parable.

You are familiar with what a parable is.

It is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
The story may be about farming or fishing or baking bread or harvesting crops, but in the story is contained a symbolic spiritual reality.

The earthly story was NEVER the point.
The spiritual meaning was always the point.

For example:
In Matthew 13 Jesus gave the parable of the sower where He talked about the farmer sowing seed on 4 types of soil. If you walk away from that and all you learn is how to be a better farmer you drastically missed the point.

The point was about the human heart and how various hearts receive the word of God.
Well, the writer here tells us that the old covenant was the same way.
It was a parable. It was a symbol.

It was never intended to be the main point,
Rather it was intended that you look past the symbolic to the substance.

Let’s look at the parable here.

(READ HEBREWS 9:1-5)

Here the writer takes you on virtual tour of the tent of meeting.
He wants you to visualize it in your mind.

(2) “there was a tabernacle prepared”
(2) “the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place”

So we have this outer room.

(3) “behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies,”

And he lists the various paraphernalia that is included in that second veil

And while all of those things have a certain symbolic meaning,
The writer is very clear that NONE OF THOSE THINGS ARE HIS MAIN POINT.

(5b) “but of these things we cannot now speak in detail.”

The main thing he wants you to see is that
In the tabernacle there are two veils.
One contains the holy place the second the Holy of Holies.

(READ HEBREWS 9:6-7)

Now he wants you to see the work that is going on there,
So add the priests to your mind vision.

(6) “Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship,”

Do you see them? Like busy little ants…
They are working non-stop because the people are sinning non-stop.
• We have sinful people bringing their offerings.
• We have unclean people brining the required offering.
• We have thank offerings
• We have guilt offerings

It is a busy place with the entire nation working these priests to death
To try and stay ahead of the sin epidemic.
(7) “but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.”

Now the writer wants you to notice that one special day.
That one day when only one priest
Enters behind that second veil to make atonement for sin.

That day is of course Yom Kippur “The Day of Atonement”

The priest is going in to try and produce and absolute clean slate.
He’s going to put people at total peace with God and clean the conscience.

Can you see it?

WELL, THERE’S A PROBLEM.

This entire scene was a parable.
That means when you sit from afar and watch it unfold,
There was a message you were supposed to get.

That is what the writer says:
(8) “The Holy Spirit is signifying this…”
That is to say, when you watch that entire ordeal,
This is what the Holy Spirit wants you to walk away with.

What is the message you were supposed get?
(8b) “that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing,”

Do you see the first problem?
YOU CAN’T GET TO GOD.

Now granted there is a lot of symbolism regarding Jesus
In all those pieces inside the tent of meeting,
But none of them are the main point.

The main thing the Holy Spirit wanted you to see was a veil
And that access to God was impossible.

Only the priests enter the first and only the high priest entered the second

And the writer says this “is a symbol for the present time”
This is a parable for you to study today.

We have another problem:
(9b) “Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience”

Well that’s a bummer.
In short, THEY CAN DO IT, BUT IT DOESN’T HELP

Hebrews 10:1-4 “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

They are busy
They make lots of offerings, but they don’t work.

Why?
(10) “since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.”

Those offerings don’t actually cleanse your conscience because it’s just food and drink and all sorts of symbolic ceremonies.

• Do you suppose roasting a goat in the fire really takes away your sin?
• Do you suppose sticking your hands on a goat’s head and leading it off into the pasture really takes your sin away?
• Do you suppose the priest washing his body and putting on white garments actually makes him clean before God?

Of course not, that’s all symbol, it’s all parable, and it’s all external.
It doesn’t really do anything,
And therefore it can’t really help your conscience.

Your little girl can get out her toy dishes and symbolically feed you turkey and dressing, but will it satisfy your stomach?
No, it’s a symbol, it’s a parable

And that is what the writer wants you to see.

Despite all the offerings, despite all the goats, despite all the washings DO YOU SEE WHAT NEVER CHANGED?

THE VEIL
The veil never came down
And so it doesn’t matter how much you enjoyed the show,
Deep down in your heart you know it never worked
And your conscience doesn’t really feel any better.

Do you get the point?

The Old Covenant was a parable, it was symbol “until a time of reformation”
It was just a picture to get you ready for the day when the actual reformation arrived.
That was The parable of the Old Covenant
#2 THE PERFECTION OF THE NEW COVENANT
Hebrews 9:11-14

We were waiting for the “time of reformation”, well the writer mentions it.

“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come…”

That is to say when the new Priest arrived with His new covenant.
He provided substance to the symbol.
He fulfilled what the shadow represented.
He brought life to the parable.

“He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation”

I hope you can see the difference.
All those other priests entering that man-made curtain
Where just a symbol of what Jesus was going to do.

He didn’t walk through some man-made veil, He “entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle”

So when you set the two covenants side by side,
You can already see one major difference. It is THE SANCTUARY

The old operated in a man-made one,
Christ entered the heavenly and perfect one.

But that wasn’t the only difference you see. You also see the difference in THE SACRIFICE

(12a) “and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood,”

When Christ entered God’s true Holy of Holies
He didn’t take goat’s blood or the blood of a bull.

Trust me when I tell you that God is not interested in such things.

In fact even the Psalmist said:
Psalms 50:7-13 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God. “I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me. “I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains. “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats?”

Through Isaiah God said:
Isaiah 1:11 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.”

God has no interest in animal sacrifices.
He has no interest in the blood of goats.

Then why did He command it?
BECAUSE IT WAS A SYMBOL

When your daughter makes you a play feast you pretend to eat it,
But I’m guessing plastic fruit & play dough pies don’t really hit your spot.

So it was with God.
He commanded animal sacrifice to complete the symbol,
But that’s not really what He wanted and so it never really worked.

But Christ came and brought what God desired:
A perfect, sinless, holy, life sacrificed upon His altar.

Hebrews 10:5-7 “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.'”

Not only did Christ enter the better sanctuary,
He brought the acceptable sacrifice.

When you lay the two covenants side by side I can tell you a third way the new one is better. The new covenant brought about SUCCESS

(12b) “He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption”
• How many times did the old priests enter the tabernacle? –continually
• How many times did Jesus do it? – “once”

Why only once?
Because he “obtained eternal redemption”

Do you understand the difference between temporary appeasement and “eternal redemption”?

Those priests never satisfied God’s wrath,
They merely continued to remind Him of the promise that was coming.

God didn’t want those goats,
But every time He looked on the blood of one of those goats
It was a reminder that one day the Perfect Lamb was coming,
And God was willing to wait.
Jesus was that better sacrifice.
Romans 3:23-26 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

All those sins of the past were never fully atoned for,
God just “passed over” them until Christ came and made it right.

But when He came He obtained “eternal redemption”
There was never a need to do it again.
There was never a need for another sacrifice.
And I can show you one more way in which the new is better than the old when you set them side by side. And that is regarding the SATISFACTION it will give you.

(13-14) “For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

First the writer reminds the readers how much better they felt on the Day of Atonement, or on the day they brought an offering.

On that day when they brought their goat or washed in that water meant to make you clean, you sure felt better about yourself didn’t you?

And we just established that wasn’t really doing anything.

So how good should you feel knowing that Christ really did enter God’s presence and really did offer an acceptable sacrifice?

“how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

If the symbol made you feel that good,
How good should the substance make you feel?

See Christ really did wash away all your sin.
• Christ really did fully atone for you.
• Christ really did carry your sin away.
• Christ really did wash you clean.

In short, Christ really dealt with all those things that made you feel guilty.
He cleansed your conscience.
And now, all of those who are trusting in Christ,
Don’t have to live with a guilty conscience.

We often sing that song “In Christ Alone”
“No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.
From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus controls my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand
‘Til He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I’ll stand”

That is what the New Covenant brought!
The old brought a picture of total forgiveness.
The new brought the reality of it.

The Old covenant was a religion that kept you always making sacrifices to a God you couldn’t approach.

The New Covenant lets you approach the God who has forgiven you based upon the perfect sacrifice of His Son.

That is what we are talking about here.
The New is better than the Old.

A revival evangelist had finished a week long tent revival and was taking down his tent. As he was pulling up the pegs a young boy approached him and said, “Sir, what must I do to be saved?”
The evangelist said, “You’re too late.”
The boy answered, “Why? Because the revival is over?”
The evangelist said, “No, because Jesus already did it.”

There’s the difference.
The Old Covenant said “DO” the new says “DONE”

The application:
Run to Jesus, trust in His work on the cross for you,
And through Him have a relationship with the Father.

Leave the religious ordinance behind.

If you’ve never let go of your efforts to make yourself pleasing to God
And decided to trust in Jesus for what He did for you,
I would invite you to do that this morning.

DO YOU HAVE A GUILTY CONSCIENCE?
Jesus can replace it with peace.

In Jesus is eternal redemption.

Bildad’s View of God
Job 8
September 27, 2015

Well, as you know we are working our way through this story of Job and “The Woeful World of Uz”

• Job was a righteous man who suffered immensely.
• His suffering was not a result of his sin.
• His suffering was not deserved.
• And yet he suffered anyway.
• He lost his livestock
• He lost his crop
• He lost his children
• He lost his health

All he had left was a wife who told him to “curse God and die”
And three friends who have made it their personal mission
To find out what it was that Job did wrong.

In short, not only has Job suffered immensely,
But he has also done so without the smallest hint of compassion
From those who were supposed to care for him.

This is a horrific reality.

We have grown to understand that suffering is part of this human life.
Job himself reminded us in chapter 7 that life is hard and life is temporary.

Thanks to the sin curse we know that we are not immune to suffering.
• There isn’t enough money…
• There isn’t enough medicine…
• There aren’t enough safety precautions…
• There isn’t enough planning…
• TO KEEP MAN FROM SUFFERING

It is going to happen.

What we desire, is to be a voice of compassion and encouragement for people when they suffer.

Our objective is to
• Help them see their suffering biblically
• Help them trust God in the middle of the storm
• Help them carry their burden as much as we possibly can

And to better learn this, we are studying the book of Job.
Because, let’s face it, Job received none of this.

Instead of compassion he received accusation
Instead of encouragement he received condemnation.
AND WE DON’T WANT TO BE PEOPLE LIKE THAT.
Not only because people like that don’t help people in their suffering,
But also because God isn’t pleased with people like that.

At the very end of this book, God Himself will say:
Job 42:7-8 “It came about after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has. “Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”

Not only do we want to be an encouragement to those who suffer,
But even more than that we definitely want to be
Those who speak what is right concerning God.

Misrepresenting God is a terrible folly.
You remember the 10 commandments.
The 2nd said, NO GRAVEN IMAGES
Because they all misrepresent God.

Isaiah 40:18 “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?”

Isaiah 46:5 “To whom would you liken Me And make Me equal and compare Me, That we would be alike?”

You might sculpt a glorious eagle as a representative of God,
And regardless of your good intent, that is nothing but an insult to God
To suggest that He is as limited as an eagle.

A bird that can’t talk, can’t swim, can’t lift burdens with it’s fingers,
Can’t command the seas, and can’t raise the dead.

And in that misrepresentation you not only disrespect God,
But you do a disservice to all those you show the statue to
As their view of God becomes limited and weak.

Misrepresenting God is a horrendous crime.
And yet that is what Job’s friends had done.
They are not speaking what is right about God.

Our objective is to examine what they said, see why it wasn’t right,
And make sure we don’t make the same mistakes.

We already saw the explanation of Eliphaz who was certain that Job’s suffering was a result of his sin and that if Job would just repent then God would instantly take it all away.

Job refuted that last week.
Now friend number 2 rises to speak.
Tonight we get “Bildad’s View of God”

What I want to do tonight is first simply work through the text
And then come back and sort of extract the problem areas in Bildad’s theology.

5 points
#1 BILDAD’S ACCUSATION OF GUILT
Job 8:1-4

Once again it is obvious that Job’s friends
Don’t like the bitter words that are coming of Job’s mouth.

(1-2) “Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, “How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?”

If you will remember Job already explained why his words are harsh.

Job 6:2-3 “Oh that my grief were actually weighed And laid in the balances together with my calamity! “For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; Therefore my words have been rash.”

Job said that the reason his words were so harsh
Was because his suffering was so bad.
The reason you can’t fathom my harsh words
Is because you haven’t truly analyzed my harsh situation.

Job would say later:
Job 6:26 “Do you intend to reprove my words, When the words of one in despair belong to the wind?”

“You know people who are suffering sometimes say things they don’t mean.”

Well, it is obvious that Bildad took offense to that statement
Because here he references it.

“Job your words might belong to the wind, but they are a “mighty wind”
As if to say, one that can’t be overlooked.

I don’t care how bad your suffering has been,
Nothing warrants the type of things you’ve been saying.

And then Bildad (as Eliphaz did before him) seeks to bring a little understanding to the scene.

(3-4) “Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right? “If your sons sinned against Him, Then He delivered them into the power of their transgression.”

What Bildad says here is hard to argue with.
“Does God pervert justice?” – obviously “No”
“Does the Almighty pervert what is right?” – again “No”

That is Bildad’s way of saying that
God wouldn’t do anything that was wrong.

And then Bildad explains exactly what he is getting at.
“If your sons sinned against Him, Then He delivered them into the power of their transgression.”

So why does Bildad think Job’s sons died?
“your sons sinned against Him”

And as a punishment for their sin God has “delivered them into the power of their transgression.”

Are you catching what Bildad is saying?
Not only are your sons dead, but your sons
Are now suffering the wrath of God which they deserved.

That’s comfort to one who has lost a child.
But more than disturbing it is absolutely stupid,
For no one but God could possibly know such a thing.

(Even for the obvious sinner, you cannot know if he had a “thief on the cross” experience)

Bildad is pretty severe.

Bildad’s Accusation of Guilt
#2 BILDAD’S ADVICE TO JOB
Job 8:5-7

Here it is again, not so different from Eliphaz.

“If you would seek God and implore the compassion of the Almighty,”

Again, they are presupposing that Job has not.

But beyond that, notice what Bildad says:
“If you are pure and upright, surely now He would rouse Himself for you and restore your righteous estate. Though your beginning was insignificant, yet your end will increase greatly.”

Here is what makes them so difficult to deal with.
Bildad was 98% correct.

In fact Bildad was only off on one word – “now”

God did do what Bildad said.
Job 42:10-17 “The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold. Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold. The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. He had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land no women were found so fair as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. And Job died, an old man and full of days.”

God did what Bildad suggested, God just didn’t do it “now”.

Furthermore, God always does what Bildad suggested for His children,
He just doesn’t always do it “now” nor does He always do it here.

Bildad is confident that the only thing holding Job back from a life of prosperity and ease is simply the decision to seek God.

It is the prosperity gospel.

Bildad’s Accusation of Guilt, Bildad’s Advice to Job
#3 BILDAD’S APPEAL TO HISTORY
Job 8:8-10

At this point Bildad wishes to support his prosperity claims.

No, he doesn’t go to Scripture to support his thesis,
But rather he appeals to history.

You’ll remember that Eliphaz appealed to his experience and his vision.
Bildad appeals to history

(8-10) “Please inquire of past generations, And consider the things searched out by their fathers. “For we are only of yesterday and know nothing, Because our days on earth are as a shadow. “Will they not teach you and tell you, And bring forth words from their minds?”

So according to Bildad if you’ll just open your history book,
Or read the diary of your ancestors,
You will find that they already knew what I’m telling you.

If you’ll just fess up to your sin and start to seek God,
Then God will make it all good and prosperous.
Bildad says history supports his claim.

I would remind you that like experience and like visions,
History is also NOT infallible.
History contains a lot of wisdom and insight, but no guarantees.
Just because it happened one way with one man
Does not guarantee it will always happen that way.

Roger Staubach threw a jump ball up to Drew Pearson in a playoff game against Minnesota. They completed the pass called “The Hail Mary” and won the game.

Many “Hail Mary’s” have been attempted since that day, but there is no guarantee that just because it worked once it will work again.

It might, but it might not.
History is an important reference, but it is not an infallible guarantee.

Yet, Bildad appeals to history to support his claims.
#4 BILDAD’S ANALOGY OF JUDGMENT
Job 8:11-19

Here Bildad actually has an illustration in order to prove his point to Job.

(11-13) “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the rushes grow without water? “While it is still green and not cut down, Yet it withers before any other plant. “So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the godless will perish,”

Have you ever seen a cypress tree grow up next to a tank?
My parents had several, they grew quick and grew tall.
They prospered, but at the slightest hint of drought they died.

Job says the wicked are just like that.
They may in fact thrive on their sin for a season, but they won’t last and they will perish, just like a cypress tree.

He is telling Job “You obviously are the wicked who has forgotten God”

Bildad continues his explanation of the wicked
(14-19) “Whose confidence is fragile, And whose trust a spider’s web. “He trusts in his house, but it does not stand; He holds fast to it, but it does not endure. “He thrives before the sun, And his shoots spread out over his garden. “His roots wrap around a rock pile, He grasps a house of stones. “If he is removed from his place, Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I never saw you.’ “Behold, this is the joy of His way; And out of the dust others will spring.”

According to Bildad the wicked may thrive for a season,
But they have no security.

They can get big and look great, but that is a slippery slope.
Someday it will all come crashing down
And no one will ever hear from them again.
In short, the only thing the wicked has to look forward to
Is his momentary moment in the sun, but it won’t last forever.

He is like a cypress tree.

And be honest, you don’t disagree with him do you?

In fact, it sounds quite a bit like what Jesus taught us.
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.”

The wicked may in fact build a great house,
But it won’t stand through the judgment.

Isn’t that what Bildad just said?

And then we have Bildad’s final statement.
#5 BILDAD’S ANSWER TO SUFFERING
Job 8:20-22

• Based on Bildad’s theology that God doesn’t pervert justice.
• Based on his belief that God rewards sinners for their sin.
• Based on his understanding that history supports this theory.
• Based on his claim that the wicked man’s time in the sun is fleeting.

Bildad offers this final summary on suffering.
(20-22) “Lo, God will not reject a man of integrity, Nor will He support the evildoers. “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter And your lips with shouting. “Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, And the tent of the wicked will be no longer.”

Bildad’s final answer to suffering is as follows:
• God doesn’t reject the righteous.
• God doesn’t help the wicked.
• If you’d repent God would bless you.
• If you don’t, you won’t survive.

That is basically Bildad’s thesis and he says history supports him.

Now, let’s be honest, it’s really hard to find the holes
In what Bildad is saying.

Tell me if you disagree with any of these statements:
• God doesn’t pervert justice.
• The Almighty doesn’t pervert what is right.
• God delivers sinners into the power of their transgression.
• God has proven Himself faithful throughout history.
• The hope of the godless will perish.
• God will not reject the righteous.

You don’t disagree with any of that do you?
And yet, at the end of the book of God is clear that
Bildad has not spoken what is right about God.

So what do we do with this?
What did Bildad say that was so wrong?

That is what I want to show you.
It’s subtle, but it is dangerous.

Bildad misrepresents God in a very subtle and yet dangerous way.
(i.e. the dangers of the prosperity gospel)

I’ll have to show them to you quickly,
But there are actually 5 ways that Bildad misrepresents God.

1) BILDAD MISREPRESENTS GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY (3)

“Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?”

Now on the surface we obviously have to answer “No” to that question.
If someone at random on the street comes and asks that question,
The answer is always “no, He does not”

So what makes Bildad’s use of it so wrong?

It is the situation in which Bildad makes that statement
That reveals the flaw in his doctrine.

What is the situation?
The suffering of Job

The question is whether or not what Job is facing is “right” or “wrong” whether or not Job’s suffering is “just” or “unjust”.

Here is what Bildad is saying.
“Job, if you are saying that you are righteous
Then that would make what God did wrong.”

But let’s back up for a second.
Who gets to decide what is “right” and what is “wrong”?
Who gets to decide what is “just” and what is “unjust”?

God does.
Bildad has already defined what is “right” and “wrong” and then uses his own definition to say what God would or wouldn’t do.

Bildad is measuring God by his own standard.

According to Bildad a righteous man suffering is “wrong”
And therefore God wouldn’t do that.

According to Bildad it is “right” to reward a righteous man,
And so that is what God does.

Let me give you another example.
In Seminary I had on O.T. professor teach about the conquest under Joshua and the annihilation of so many people. The professor asked, “Was God ethical to order the death of so many people?”

We hear that sort of thing today don’t we?

But that is getting things backward.
God does not have to answer to our standard, we answer to His.
• Because He is holy, everything He does is holy.
• Because He is love, everything He does is love.
• Because He is perfect, everything He does is perfect.

If His actions offend your standards, then change your standards.
DON’T FORGET WHO IS POTTER AND WHO IS CLAY

To force God to fit into your own standards
Is to replace God’s sovereignty with your own.
That is what Bildad is doing.

And it is a common mistake we make in counseling people.
We see a tragedy and we assure people,
“That is not God’s will” or “God wouldn’t do that”

And we assure them of that
Because in our mind it would be wrong for God to do that.

THEN HOW DID IT HAPPEN?

The reality is that God is sovereign,
And nothing happens apart from His sovereign will.
If it offends your definition of justice or what is right,
Then you need to change your definition.

Bildad misrepresents God’s sovereignty.

He would have been better off to say, “I know this doesn’t look right to you and me, but we aren’t God, and I assure you that He knows what He is doing.”
2) BILDAD MISREPRESENTS GOD’S MERCY (6)

(6) “If you are pure and upright, Surely now He would rouse Himself for you And restore your righteous estate.”

One little word, but what a massive implication.
Bildad just told Job to seek God
And then assured him that God would be merciful.

But did you catch that enormous word?
“If”

Bildad says that God is only merciful and compassionate to those who “are pure and upright”

That is a misrepresentation of God’s mercy.

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Psalms 103:10 “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.”

If Job listens to Eliphaz and Bildad, he is in a world of hurt
Because Eliphaz is sure that Job is sinful
And Bildad insinuates that mercy is only for the righteous.

HE IS NOT SPEAKING WHAT IS RIGHT ABOUT GOD
We worship a God that is merciful to sinners, regardless of their sin.

3) BILDAD MISREPRESENTS GOD’S TIMING (6)

(6) “If you are pure and upright, Surely now He would rouse Himself for you And restore your righteous estate.”

That word “now” is also an enormous word in this text.

Bildad puts God on an immediate time table.
And I’m sorry, but you just can’t do that.

• We are continually told to “wait” on the Lord.
• We are familiar with Jesus and Lazarus, and an incident were Jesus purposely waited 4 more days just to give Lazarus time to die first.
• How many of God’s saints asked that infamous question, “How Long?”

God does not operate on our time schedule
And to assure people that He does is a misrepresentation of Him.
4) BILDAD MISREPRESENTS GOD’S WORK (8)

(8) “Please inquire of past generations, And consider the things searched out by their fathers.”

Bildad assured Job that history proved
That the righteous were always quickly delivered,
While the wicked were always quickly destroyed.

That is to say that God has always done it this way in the past.
Not only is that demoralizing to a saint who continues to suffer,
But it just isn’t true.

Genesis 4:1-8 “Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.” Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”

• Or should we read about how the prophets were treated?
• Or should we read about God’s Son was treated?

This notion that history is full of stories were the good are quickly delivered and the wicked always get caught are simply not true.

Yes we have great heart-warming stories like
• Daniel in the Lion’s Den
• David and Goliath
• The 3 Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace.

But is that how it always happens?

1 Kings 18:3-4 “Ahab called Obadiah who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly; for when Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water.)”

What about all those prophets that didn’t survive?

We read in the New Testament about how Peter was in prison
And the church prayed and he was released.

But what about the story right before that
Where James was killed with the sword?

The point is that there are most definitely times
Of God’s miraculous deliverance of His children,
But that isn’t always the case.

There are also stories of martyrdom and death.

And neither was the result of the person’s righteousness.
It was due to the fact that it fit God’s eternal purpose.

Bildad misrepresents God’s work throughout history.

5) BILDAD MISREPRESENTS GOD’S FAVOR (20)

(20) “Lo, God will not reject a man of integrity, Nor will He support the evildoers.”

Bildad’s answer is that
• If Job was really a man of integrity Then God wouldn’t reject him.
• If Job is instead an evildoer then there is no way God will support him.

But it is obvious that he has a mixed up definition
Of “reject” and “support”

According to Bildad suffering is an indicator
That God has rejected you
And prosperity is an indicator that God is supporting you.

And that simply isn’t true.

In fact, it is actually quite true that
God does in fact allow suffering in the lives of those He does accept.

What does the writer of Hebrews tell us?
Hebrews 12:5-6 “and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”

Or we could read:
Philippians 1:29-30 “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.”

Bildad implies that a good God
Wouldn’t bring suffering into the life of His children,
But that misrepresents God’s work in our lives.

The Bible is clear that God does do that.
He uses those things to accomplish His perfect will.
So on the surface everything Bildad says sure sounds and seems right,
But it is a blatant misrepresentation of God.

GOD IS SOVEREIGN,
• Whatever He does is right and He does not have to answer to your standard of justice.

GOD IS MERCIFUL,
• Even to sinners who do not deserve it.

GOD WORKS ACCORDING TO HIS TIMING,
• Not yours because He is accomplishing His purpose, not man’s.

GOD IS NOT FORCED TO ALWAYS DELIVER IN THIS LIFE.
• He doesn’t have to jump through our hoops, especially when His purpose requires deliverance at a later date. He doesn’t always instantly remove pain from His children, instead He lovingly asks them to wait on His timing.

AND GOD’S FAVOR IS NOT MEASURED BY WHETHER OR NOT WE SUFFER.
• God’s favor is promised to all those who have trusted in His Son, where there will be eternal comfort and prosperity.

What Bildad says only works if God works for you like a powerful genie.
Don’t be guilty of misrepresenting Him to those who suffer.

Instead remind those who suffer that
• God is sovereign
• God is Merciful
• God’s timing is for a purpose and it is perfect
• God’s work is also perfect regardless of the present affliction
• God’s favor is not proved by the presence of prosperity, but by the giving of His Son to die in your stead.

Don’t be a comforter like Bildad.

It dishonors God and it discourages those who suffer.

The New Covenant – part 2
Hebrews 8:1-13
September 27, 2015

The last time we gathered I told you that
We’re now at a TRANSITIONAL POINT in the book of Hebrews.

The writer is about to move into the study of his second text.
He is about to look at the SECOND PROMISE that blew his mind.

The first we have been all through.
Psalms 110:4 “The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

It is obvious to us that when our writer read that verse in the Old Testament and set his heart on comprehending it, that God opened the flood gates to him.

God helped him to see that the old priesthood would not last forever,
But that God was bringing in a new and better priest.

And the writer spent the first 7 chapters of the book of Hebrews
Helping us see that very fact.

Hebrews 8:1 “Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest…”

We have a great high priest.
• Greater than the prophets
(because He is the perfect revelation)
• Greater than the angels
(because He rules, they serve)
• Greater than Moses
(because He is Son, Moses is a servant)
• Greater than Joshua
(because Joshua entered the land, but Jesus gives rest)
• Greater than Aaron

• Aaron was priest based on pedigree, Jesus is a priest based on character.
• Aaron received tithes by command, Jesus received them based on worth.
• Aaron was a temporary priest, Jesus is a permanent one.

Jesus is our great high priest.
We have a great high priest.

But if you’ll remember the writer hinted in chapter 7
That there was more for us to learn.

Hebrews 7:12 “For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.”

In order to have a new priest (which we obviously do)
Then you also have to have a new Law.
AND THAT IS HIS NEXT POINT.
In short, a new and better priest is only ½ of the blessing.
We also get a new and better covenant.

And now having thoroughly studied Psalms 110:4
The writer wants to MOVE ON to the next promise and his next passage.

His new passage?
Jeremiah 31:31-34

We introduced this last week.
We looked at the low point for the old covenant.
Moses had brought them out of Egypt and offered a covenant. “If you’ll obey, I’ll bless. If you disobey, I’ll curse” and the people said, “No problem, we’ll obey!”

• 850 years later the northern kingdom is gone
• Judah has been conquered and exiled into Babylon
• Nebuchadnezzar has Jerusalem surrounded and will soon level the city

The old covenant had failed, and in the midst of that darkest spot in Israel’s history God introduced a promise.

That promise was of a new and better covenant.
And it is that promise that the writer of Hebrews now wants to focus on.

In Hebrews 8 the writer has two purposes.
• To remind you that you have a better high priest.
• To use the presence of that priest as proof that you now also have a better covenant.

So let’s look at our text this morning.
#1 JESUS’ EXCELLENT CREDENTIALS
Hebrews 8:1-5

It is true that we have been over, around, under, and through
The reality that in Jesus we have a new and better priest.

But since the presence of the new covenant depends upon the presence of this priest, the writer wants to reiterate that again.

You must understand that we have a new priest
And you must understand why He is better.

So let’s look at what makes Him more excellent.
1) THE SEAT HE HAS TAKEN (1-2)
(1-2) “Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.”
The key phrase you need to recognize there is the phrase “taken His seat”

Hebrews 1:3 “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

This is remarkable, because if you will remember, no priest ever did this.
And the reason was because their work was not finished
And their work was not perfect.

Even as the high priest entered the Holy of Holies to atone for sin,
There was more sin being committed.
That work wasn’t finished and that work wasn’t final.

THERE WAS ALWAYS MORE TO DO.
SITTING DOWN WAS NOT AN OPTION.

We have talked about creation and how on the 7th day God rested.
• He didn’t rest because He was tired,
• He rested because He was finished.
• It was perfect, there was nothing left to do.

But that was never the case for the priests of Israel.
There was always more to do.

BUT NOT FOR THIS PRIEST.
The work He did was so perfect and so powerful that
He was able to say, “It is finished” and He was able to sit down.

Hebrews 10:11-12 “Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD,”

That fact separates Him as a priest greater than all who came before Him.
What He did was perfect
What He did was complete
And there was no need for Him to do any more

That is an excellent credential

The seat He has taken
2) THE SOMETHING HE HAS OFFERED (3)
(3) “For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer.”

First the writer reminds you that EVERY PRIEST HAD A JOB.
“to offer both gifts and sacrifices”

If a priest doesn’t offer those than he really doesn’t have a purpose.
What good is a priest who doesn’t intercede with atonement before Holy God?

So priests give “gifts and sacrifices”

The writer then says, “so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer.”

The question is: What is the “something” that He offered?

Hebrews 7:26-27 “For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.”

Hebrews 9:13-14 “For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

Priest after priest after priest offered goat after goat after goat
And none of those things ever took away sin.

But He “offered Himself without blemish to God”

Matthew 3:16-17 “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

And that also makes Him a greater high priest.
• He brought a greater offering
• He brought an acceptable offering
• He brought an effective offering

He presented Himself as atonement for sinners and God was well pleased
No other priest could say that.

No other priest ever had the privilege of hearing God say,
“Your sacrifice is pleasing, you’ve done enough, why don’t you sit down.”

The seat He has taken, The Something He has offered
3) THE SANCTUARY WHERE HE SERVES (4-5)
(4-5) “Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “SEE,” He says, “THAT YOU MAKE all things ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN WHICH WAS SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN.”

Now there is a bold statement by the writer.

“if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all”

Really? Why?
Because a priest must mediate before God,
And God is not dwelling on the earth.

Granted He is omnipresent and we see His work around us,
But God’s sanctuary and glory do not dwell among us.

And that means that those priests who serve on earth
Are not actually going to the very presence of God.

Then where are they going?
They “serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things”

Remember what God said to Moses?
“See”, He says, “That you make all things according to the PATTERN which was shown you on the mountain.”

They served in the tent of meeting and then in the temple
And neither of those was the actual sanctuary of God.
They were a copy, a shadow, of the original.

Even after Solomon built God’s temple he said:
1 Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!”

Paul told the Athenians:
Acts 17:24-25 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;”

Jesus Himself said:
Matthew 5:34-35 “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING.”

When that priest went behind that veil
He was not actually going into God’s throne room.
He was going into a man-made copy to symbolize atonement.

Your child may make a tent out of sheets in his bedroom
And pretend he is going to outer space, but it isn’t actually happening.

The reality is that those old priests weren’t really priests at all.
None of them ever entered God’s presence to make atonement.

But Jesus did.

Look back at verses 1&2
He “has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.”

Hebrews 7:26 “For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;”

That is because He dwells in heaven.

Hebrews 9:11-12 “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

Jesus did what no priest ever did.
• He actually entered the presence of God.
• He took an offering that was actually acceptable.
• He did His work so well that He sat down.

No other priest could ever offer credentials like that.
Agreed?

HE IS A NEW AND GREATER HIGH PRIEST.
And you remember that a new priest requires a new law.

The presence of the new priest
Is proof that the new law must also be here.

Jesus’ Excellent Credentials
#2 JESUS’ EFFECTIVE COVENANT
Hebrews 8:6-13

You have to love verse 6.
We are reminded that “He has obtained a more excellent ministry”

Here I need to ask you, how much more excellent?
How much better is Jesus’ ministry than all the priests who came before Him? (Try and assign a value to it)

You’d probably have to say something like “infinitely better”

Since there’s never worked and His worked perfectly,
We really have difficulty assigning a value to it.

But you get that Jesus’ ministry is way better than the old priest’s.

Now, that value you assigned as to how much better Jesus is,
That is the same value you should assign
As to how much better His covenant is.
“He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant,”

He doesn’t give a value (it’s impossible)
But whatever the difference is, it’s the same (“by as much”)

Well we know why Jesus is a better priest (we just saw that)
But why is His covenant a better covenant?

Because it “has been enacted on better promises”

This new covenant is better than the old
Because the promises God made regarding it
Are better than the promises God made regarding the old one.

And then the writer uses some familiar logic
(7) “For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.”

You’ve seen that logic before.

Remember that was the same question he asked in regard to a new priest.
Hebrews 7:11 “Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?”

If the old priests were acceptable the why did God write Psalms 110:4?

And here he says, if the old covenant was acceptable
Then why did God write Jeremiah 31:31-34?

Do you see that?

Well, at this point you ought to be getting excited.
The writer is telling you that the new priest is only half of the surprise,
You also finally get the new covenant.

And the writer then reminds you of how great it is.

6 beautiful realities
1) IT IS PROMISED BY GOD (8)
(8) “For finding fault with them, He says, “BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH;”

God found fault with the old covenant and with the people who broke it
He witnessed the condemnation that the old covenant brought,
So He promised that days were coming when He would bring a new one.
“Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”

And please notice that it is a “new” covenant.
• It’s not old, it’s not used.
• It’s not factory refurbished.
• It is completely new.

God didn’t take the old one and just revamp it.
God didn’t take the old one and just tweak it.
God promised a “new” one.

It is just like the promise of new priest in Psalms 110:4.
When God promised that new priest we got one that wasn’t like the old at all.
• A different tribe
• A different qualification
• A different tenure
• A different effectiveness

He was new, not just a better old version of the old.

And so it is with this covenant.
It is “a new covenant” that God promised.

And so all Israel could anxiously wait for the day when it would arrive.

How would you know when it was here?
When the new priest arrived who would put it into effect.

The promised priest is here and so is His promised covenant

2) IT PRESUMES FAILURE BY MAN (9)
(9) “NOT LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS ON THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; FOR THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DID NOT CARE FOR THEM, SAYS THE LORD.”

The old covenant hinged upon man’s ability to obey God’s commands.

Exodus 19:7-9 “So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD. The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever.” Then Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.”

• After that people were to cleanse themselves
• And in Exodus 20 God spoke the 10 commandments.

That entire covenant hinged upon man’s decision and ability to obey God.
If at any point man “backslid” or “disregarded” or “disobeyed”
Or “fell away” then the covenant became a curse.

So it presumed that man would keep his word and be faithful.

Well we saw last week how well that worked out.

Even Jeremiah said that, “for they did not continue in My covenant, and I did not care for them, says the Lord.”

But the New Covenant doesn’t hinge on man’s ability to be faithful,
In fact it fully understands that they won’t be.

This new covenant knows that man on his own cannot remain faithful.
It is a covenant entered with man’s weakness in full view.
And this covenant doesn’t rest upon man’s ability.

That already sounds better than anything under the old covenant.

It is promised by God and it presumes failure by man
3) IT PENETRATES THE HEART (10)
(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 INTO THEIR MINDS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.”

Since this new covenant understands the weakness of man,
The new covenant promised to do something that the old did not.
The new covenant promised to change man.

The old covenant sat two stone tablets before the people and said, “Now familiarize yourself with this. Memorize it, and always obey it.”

TURN TO: DEUTERONOMY 6:1-15
Do you see the emphasis on reading and learning and memorizing?

It is a reality accurately summarized by David
In what is often misused verse.
Psalms 119:11 “Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.”

You may have learned that verse, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart…”

In fact we even have a “Pledge to the Bible”
“I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God’s holy word. And will make it a lamp to my feet, a light to my path, and will hide it’s words in my heart, that I may not sin against God.”

And that verse and that pledge has been used for years
As impetus for the importance of memorizing Scripture.

But can I fill you in on a secret?
It won’t work. In fact it didn’t work.

Memorizing Scripture (i.e. hiding God’s word in your heart)
Doesn’t keep you from sinning. (It certainly didn’t keep David from sinning)
It just makes you more accountable when you do.

(That’s not to say I’m against memorizing Scripture, obviously not, I’m just saying that a purely external approach did not make man obedient)

That was precisely how the old covenant worked.

But God promised in this new covenant
He was going to do for man what man could not do for himself.

God was going to change the heart.

TURN TO: EZEKIEL 36:22-27
Ezekiel is promising that same new covenant that Jeremiah is talking about.

But Ezekiel doesn’t stop there.
He actually illustrates it.
READ: EZEKIEL 37:1-14

And then finally:
READ: EZEKIEL 37:24-28

Do you see the difference?
It is the Holy Spirit who will come and transform the heart.

He will take God’s Law and write it on the heart.
He won’t take sinful man and tell him to be righteous, He’ll make sinful man righteous.

Colossians 1:26-27 “that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The old covenant persuaded the mind,
The new one would penetrate the heart.

Anyone in here who has been truly redeemed can certainly testify to this.
• I grew up in church where I was taught verse after verse after verse.
• I knew the stories, I knew the right answers.
• And I knew how I was expected to live.

And I would do it either to benefit myself or to stay out of trouble.

But when I was finally saved, and submitted my life to Christ,
Those verses became my passion.
BECAUSE GOD’S SPIRIT WROTE THOSE VERSES ON MY HEART.
That is why when a person gets saved, they love the Bible so much.
They read it and it now walks in testimony with the Spirit within them.

Before, the Bible confronted their spirit, it convicted their heart,
It seemed wrong to the logic of their mind.

But when God redeemed them and placed His Spirit within them
He also wrote those standards on their heart and there was agreement.

That is what the New Covenant did.
It changed man.

It penetrates the heart
4) IT PRODUCES INTIMACY WITH GOD (110
(11) “AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW CITIZEN, AND EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ FOR ALL WILL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST OF THEM.”

In other words, there will be no pecking order.

The old covenant was filled with a pecking order.
(You’ll see it in chapter 9)

But there was a Gentile court and then a women’s court
And there was a holy place and a most holy place
And it was all about how far you could go.

Not just anyone could draw near to God.
Some things had to be taught to you by someone else.

But not under the new.
“all will know Me, from the least to the greatest of them.”

I don’t have to have someone else talk to God for me
(I’m grateful when they do), I can go to God on my own.

That doesn’t disregard the importance of those spiritually gifted to teach God’s word, they are there for a purpose. But it does indicate that every single believer has just as much access to God as the next.

And that is glorious!
Hebrews 4:14-16 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

And that’s not even the best part.
5) IT PARDONS SINNERS (12)
(12) “FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE.”

The old covenant punished sinners.
We saw that last week with Nebuchadnezzar and the exile.
The new covenant pardons sinners.

Were the old brought condemnation, the new brings mercy.
Were the old brought charges, the new remembers them no more.

The new covenant is so much better than the old.

Many times we have read about the great white throne judgment in the book of the Revelation and we have talked about the books being opened.

And how those books contain all the deeds by which God will judge man.

But I don’t have any deeds written there.
All mine were atoned for at Calvary and God has forgotten my sin.

I will one day stand before Christ at His judgment seat for the manner in which I served Him, but all my sins have been washed away.

Romans 8:1-4 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

That is a reality that was promised even in the Old Testament.

Psalms 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

Micah 7:18-19 “Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.”

Isaiah 38:17 “Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.”

Total forgiveness of sin is available in the new covenant.

And finally
6) IT PREVAILS FOREVER (13)
(13) “When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.”

Jesus is a priest forever and His covenant is the covenant forever.

And the writer is clear.
“He has made the first obsolete.”

And it is “growing old” and “ready to disappear.”

And as I told you last week, 5 years after this letter was written
Titus destroyed Rome and the temple.
It was over.
We now have a new priest and a new covenant,
And they are both so much better than what they replaced.

Now, through Jesus you can have an intimate relationship with God.
A relationship that pardons your sins,
Changes your heart,
And one that will last for all eternity.

And my encouragement to you would be simple.
If you’ve never come to this great high priest
For forgiveness and salvation,
Then by all means cry out to Him.

He can save you and save you forever.