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Covenant, at its most basic level, 
means an agreement between two or more persons. It's an agreement 
between two or more persons. Very often in the Bible, when 
we speak of covenant, we speak of God's dealings with His people. In fact, our Bible is sort of 
set up to reflect that. We have the Old Testament, or 
the Old Covenant, and we have the New Testament, or the New 
Covenant. And here in Hebrews chapter 8, 
the author is celebrating the fact that the New Covenant is 
superior. The New Covenant is better. Not saying that the old was horrible 
and wretched and monstrous and bad, but he is just highlighting 
by way of a contrast that the New Covenant under its head, 
the Lord Jesus Christ, far exceeds what the old covenant did. So I'll just pick up reading 
in Hebrews chapter 8 beginning in verse 1. Now this is the main 
point of the things we are saying. We have such a high priest who 
is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in 
the heavens a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle 
which the Lord erected and not man. For every high priest is 
appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, it 
is necessary that this one also have something to offer. For 
if he were on the earth, he would not be a priest, since there 
are priests who offer the gifts according to the law, who serve 
the copy and shadow of the heavenly things. as Moses was divinely 
instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For God 
said, See that you make all things according to the pattern shown 
you on the mountain. But now he has obtained a more 
excellent ministry, inasmuch as he is also mediator of a better 
covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that 
first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been 
sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, 
he says, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I 
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with 
the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with 
their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead 
them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue 
in my covenant and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this 
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after 
those days says the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind 
and write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they 
shall be my people. None of them shall teach his 
neighbor and none his brother saying no the Lord for all shall 
know me from the least of them to the greatest of them. For 
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless 
deeds I will remember no more." In that he says in New Covenant, 
he has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete 
and growing old is ready to vanish away. Well, we are going to focus 
primarily on the center portion of this section, specifically 
verses 7 to 12. And basically what the author 
is doing here is appealing to Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah 
was an Old Testament prophet who lived at a time when Israel 
or Judah specifically was going to go into exile for having broke 
the covenant. And so from Jeremiah 30 to 33, 
God consoles the people. God gives them a message of hope. 
It's looking beyond their present state, looking beyond the captivity 
that is to come to that future state when God in Christ will 
do a great and glorious work. So, he appeals to Jeremiah 31, 
again an Old Testament prophet who announced the coming of this 
new covenant, this better covenant, this better covenant that was 
established on better promises because it revealed and it was 
ratified by the Lord Jesus Christ. But prior to getting to that 
section there are a couple of observations we should make in 
the rest of the chapter. The first is the minister of 
the true tabernacle verses 1 to 2. The word tabernacle means 
dwelling place. You perhaps have heard of the 
temple. Solomon built this great big temple under the direction 
of God. It would be a place where Israel could go and meet their 
God. They could present sacrifice. 
But prior to the building of that temple, there was a mobile 
temple. There was a tabernacle. They 
would put up a tent, and they would put the furnishings in 
there. And that is where God and sinners would meet together. 
And so what our author is saying with reference to this tabernacle, 
the new covenant tabernacle, the blessing that we have in 
terms of salvation, we have Jesus. He is the minister. He is the 
mediator. He is the surety of this particular 
thing. Notice what he says in verse 
one, chapter eight. Now, this is the main point of 
the things we are saying. We have such a high priest who 
is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in 
the heavens. I think what the author does 
right here is says, this is theology for dummies. You ever see those 
books, dog handling for dummies, windows for dummies? They're 
usually yellow and black and it has whatever your interest 
is, they have that for dummies. The idea is, is that people who 
aren't real skilled can take one of those books off the shelf 
and figure out quantum physics. Hopefully they don't have quantum 
physics for dummies. But you take that off the shelf 
because you're not skilled, you're not schooled, you don't understand 
a lot. Look at what the author does 
here in chapter 8 verse 1. This is the main point of the 
things we are saying. He started in chapter 5 verse 
1 to present to us Jesus as the high priest of the new covenant. He's not like those Levitical 
priests. He doesn't go daily to offer up sacrifice. He doesn't 
go first to offer sacrifice for himself because he is sinless. He is of the order of Melchizedek. That's what the author says in 
chapter 7. And he brings this to application. He says this 
is the main point of the things we are saying. We have such a 
high priest. We look at the deficiencies of 
the Old Testament priesthood. We look at the limitations of 
those sinful men who ultimately were cut off because they died. 
We have a high priest who far exceeds everything and anything 
they ever did. And look at the language of the 
text. We have currently right now in our possession such a 
high priest. We need to think about that as 
the people of God. We don't have human priests that 
we go into a box and confess our sins to. We have a high priest 
stationed at the right hand of God most high who has rendered 
up the best possible sacrifice, namely himself. He has offered 
up himself as a substitute for guilty sinners. And what we read 
in the scriptures is that he ever lives to make intercession 
for us. Now all of us get discouraged. 
All of us get tried. All of us get tempted. All of 
us get downcast. May I direct you to Hebrews 8, 
verse 1. We have such a high priest who 
answers everything with reference to God. Who answers in everything 
with reference to man. He says he is seated at the right 
hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. It's unique, 
isn't it? It's blessed. He's like Melchizedek. He is both priest and king. He not only offers up himself, 
but because God is pleased with his offering, he exalts him to 
his right hand. He stations him at his right 
hand, and he gives him universal authority, sovereignty, reign, 
and rule over all things for the church. He is telling Christians 
who are battle weary that you have such a high priest. You have one who is at the throne 
of the majesty on high. This is Paul's way in Romans 
chapter 8, when he is encouraging Christians to live consistently 
with their profession. He says, God did not stare, but 
He delivered up His Son. How will He not also freely with 
Him give us all things? Church of Jesus Christ, we have 
a great high priest stationed at the right hand of the majesty 
on high in a position of sovereignty and of power and preeminence 
so that he can aid the people of God. This is one of the recurring 
themes in the book of Hebrews. Turn back for just a moment to 
Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews 4, verse 14, seeing then 
that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, 
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. He 
exhorts them to two things. Seeing the fact that Jesus has 
passed into the heavens, he needs to hold fast your confession. 
That means don't waver. Don't let go. Persevere. When everybody else is challenging 
historic Christian orthodoxy, don't you follow suit. If people 
call you names, if they say you're weird, if they say you're an 
odd duck, don't relinquish. Hold fast. In this particular 
context, what was going on is that Jewish Christians were being 
pressured to go back to the Mosaic ritual. They were being pressured 
to go back to the temple to bring their sacrifices. And our author 
says, hold fast your confession. Don't go backwards. Be like Martin 
Luther. When he was summoned before the 
man, he said, here I stand. I can do no other. Unless I am 
convinced by Holy Scripture, unless I am shown from the book 
that I am wrong, here I stand. I can do no other. That's what 
the author is saying. Notice in verse 15, he says, 
for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our 
weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without 
sin. Beautiful. Sometimes people read 
this and they say, well, he doesn't really know what it's like. No, 
we don't know what it's really like. Have you been tempted fully? 
Or have you given up along the way? If 100% represents the fullness 
of a temptation, some of us on the best of days might get to 
30% and then we fall. We don't know what it's like 
to be tempted the way Jesus was, but he knows what it's like to 
be tempted the way we are, yet without sin. Notice what he does 
now. Secondly, let us therefore come 
boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and 
find grace to help in time of need. He's a pastoral heart. It's a pastoral perspective. 
He wants his readers to stand fast. He wants them to apply 
to Christ. He wants them to come prayerfully. 
He wants them to fetch help in their time of need. Which, if 
you are a thinking Christian, is every moment of every single 
day. We ought to pray always. We ought 
to come boldly to the throne of grace. We ought not to make 
peace treaties with our sins. We ought to deal with them by 
the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, this minister of the true tabernacle. And then verse two, he says, 
a minister, chapter eight of the sanctuary and of the true 
tabernacle, which the Lord erected and not man. He's talking about 
heaven. He's talking about the glorious promise to come. He's 
talking about the fulfillment of all of God's promises. Jesus 
administrates that realm. Jesus is over it all. Jesus is 
our King of Kings. Jesus is our Lord of Lords. And 
we can come to Him. We can come through Him. That's 
the point of the author. This is the main point of the 
things we are saying. We have such a high priest. If 
you lived in old covenant Israel, you saw the high priest, at least 
intimately, one specific day of the year. It was that day 
of atonement when he would come and he would offer up sacrifice 
for himself. He would offer up sacrifice for 
the sins of Israel. Then he would take a goat, he'd 
lay his hands on that goat, and he would confess the sins of 
Israel. And then he would send that goat out into the wilderness. 
You would hear him confessing your sin. You would see him confessing 
his own sin. But you probably wouldn't have 
nearness to him. So I suspect the Levitical priesthood hung 
out together. They're not going to hobnob with 
the riffraff in society. Isn't this one of the complaints 
of the Pharisees about Jesus? This man receives sinners and 
eats with them. Jesus hobnobs with us. Jesus 
is with us. Jesus promises, I will never 
leave you nor forsake you. Jesus is present with His church 
in their evangelism and missionary enterprise. Jesus is present 
with His church in all facets of her being in life. And Jesus 
is with His people. That's what our author wants 
you to get. Yes, we're here to witness a baptism. Yes, we're 
here to reflect on the entrance into the Kingdom of God by way 
of the Gospel. But as the people of God, we 
need to suck the sweetness out of this flower. We need to understand 
we have such a High Priest. We need this High Priest. He 
is fitting. He is fitting for us. Because 
we're so sinful, He is so holy, and He brings us into the presence 
of God. He then goes on to show the function 
of the High Priest. Verses 3 to 5. Every high priest 
is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, it 
is necessary that this one also has something to offer. Jesus 
offered. You see, a priest engages in 
two activities. Offering, sacrifice, and intercession. He's not a priest if he doesn't 
offer. He's not a priest if he doesn't sacrifice. He's not a 
priest if he doesn't engage in this act of atonement. We all 
know what it was that Jesus offered. He didn't bring a bull. He didn't 
bring a lamb. It wasn't like the old covenant. Imagine for a moment that you're 
a worshipper in the old covenant. Instead of getting up today, 
putting on your nice clothes, getting in your car and driving 
here, you would have went out into your yard. You would have 
grabbed an animal. You would have taken it down 
to the tabernacle. You would have taken a knife. You would 
have slit its throat. You would have engaged in dissection. 
You would have handed that over to the priest who would then 
burn it as a sweet-smelling sacrifice to our God. You see, sinners 
need sacrifice in order to approach God. It's a fundamental principle 
that the Apostle lays out in Hebrews 9.22. Without the shedding 
of blood, there's no forgiveness. You mark my words right here, 
right now. If you are not a believer in 
Jesus, If you are a sinner who has not dealt with the Savior, 
there is no way to deal with your sin apart from the blood 
of Jesus Christ. There's no way. You might come 
to church and say, wow, I need to fix up my life. I need to 
change things. I need to stop going here. I 
need to start going there. I need to implement a course 
of moral reform or change. Hebrews 9.22 lays it down, without 
the shedding of blood there is no remission. You're not going 
back in history. Don't go out to your yard or 
your neighbor's yard, take his dog or his cat and put a knife 
to his throat in an attempt to appease our thrice holy God. 
No, the glory of the Christian message is that Jesus offered 
himself once. Jesus offered himself at Calvary 
to the Father. The Father accepted that sacrifice. Now, every single sinner that 
looks to Christ in faith receives forgiveness. It's that good. It is that good. You say, well, 
if you preach that, everybody will go out and live like wicked 
sinners. No, they won't. They will see that Jesus' blood 
and righteousness is theirs. They will strive by God's grace 
and the power of the Spirit to please their Savior. It is the 
Gospel that brings liberty from both the power and penalty of 
sin alone. It is that good. It is that wonderful. It is that 
blessed that you look to Christ in faith and you'll receive forgiveness 
and you'll receive a righteousness. You'll be clothed in a righteousness 
not your own so that you'll stand before God most high on that 
day of judgment. And instead of him saying, depart 
from me, you curse it into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and 
his angels, in Christ you'll hear. Well done, good and faithful 
servant. Enter into your rest. It's that good. He offers sacrifice. He offers 
himself. He offers up his own body at 
Calvary. Now let's get thirdly into the 
superiority of the new covenant. Look at what he says in verse 
7 for if that first covenant had been faultless then no place 
would have been sought for a second. What's the implication. There 
was fault in that covenant arrangement. You say, well, God made that 
covenantal arrangement. Did he make something faulty? 
No, the problem wasn't the covenantal arrangement. The problem wasn't Moses. The 
problem was us. The problem is sin. You see, 
the covenant made with Moses and the nation of Israel called 
them to a certain life. And I believe in so doing, God 
showed them their moral bankruptcy. God taught them, even in this, 
their need for blood atonement. He taught them about the coming 
of the Lord Jesus. The fault in this covenantal 
arrangement is right here. It's in your heart and mind. 
Remember when I said the good news is that good? It is that 
good because the bad news is that bad. Some of us think we're 
okay. In fact, there's a book that 
says I'm okay, you're okay. Some of us think that everything 
is just dandy in the world around us. Some of us think that, yeah, 
we're not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm not 
like other men. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not 
unjust. I'm not a liar. I'm not a cheater. I'm not like 
these tax collectors. I'm pretty all right. Do you 
realize that each and every one of you here deserves God's wrath 
and curse, both in this life and that which is to come? Do 
you understand that? I'm a firm believer that the 
good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ, doesn't make a lot of 
sense until we understand what the Bible says about our hearts. 
The same prophet Jeremiah that the writer's going to appeal 
to says in Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart is deceitful above all 
things and desperately wicked. We don't like to think that way, 
do we? Not desperately wicked. Who do you think you are, preacher? 
I'm a part of a social club. I'm a family man. I got a plaque 
on my wall that says I'm the employee of the month. And you're 
sitting here telling me that I'm desperately wicked. I'm not. God is. See, apostles say when 
he wants to bring this point home, he says there is none righteous. 
No, not one. There is none who understands. 
There is none who seeks after God. If you think you're all 
right, for just a moment, walk with me. The first and foremost 
commandment is this, you shall love the Lord your God with all 
your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Fail. Every single one of us, Christians, 
fail. What's the second commandment? 
Which is like unto it, love your neighbor as yourself. That's 
another big fail. We are selfish. We are proud. We are arrogant. We are bitter. We are grumblers. We are complainers. We are whiners. We are perjurers. We are covetous. Some of us even 
go beyond those internal sins that everybody doesn't see. We 
engage in outward acts of wickedness. That's what the Bible says. If 
you don't understand that, the good news of Jesus doesn't make 
that much sense. See, if all you need is a little 
help from on high, if all you need is a little help from your 
friends, if all you need is a bit of remedy that you can apply, 
or if you just need what Michael Horton calls therapeutic, moralistic 
deism, if that's what you're in the market for, you haven't 
come to grips with this biblical reality that all have sinned 
and fall short of the glory of God. What does God through the 
prophet Isaiah say when he's celebrating the atoning work 
of Jesus to come? He says, all we like sheep have 
gone astray. The Bible likens us to sheep. 
Sheep are not the most intelligent creatures. Sheep are wayward 
beings. Sheep need a shepherd. All we 
like sheep have gone astray. We have made a mess of our lives. 
We have engaged in filth. We have engaged in ungodliness. 
We have engaged in all manner of evil. We have raised the fist 
to God. There's a part in Romans 1 where 
the Apostle Paul is indicting the sin of man. And he says they 
did not even like to retain God in their knowledge. Who do we 
think we are? When we don't even want to retain 
the knowledge of our Creator in our minds? When we say, no 
God, that's how Edwards translates Psalm 14. 1, the fool is said 
in his heart, there is no God. Edwards says, the man says in 
his heart, no God. It's not just confined to the 
pages of Holy Writ. This is the attitude of mankind 
out there and in here. Do you come to grips with this 
reality, this savage reality? The Gospel makes no sense. You'll 
see it as a contending religion. You'll see Jesus as a nice teacher. 
You'll see him as a moral example. That's not how the apostles preached 
him. Just prior in 1 Corinthians, Paul said the Jews, they seek 
after signs. The Greeks, they want wisdom. He says, but we preach Christ 
and him crucified. It's a stumbling block. It's 
a scandal. A crucified Messiah? That's crazy. That's like military intelligence. 
That's like old news. That's like jumbo shrimp. That 
is just not something we traffic in. A crucified Messiah. But that, according to the Apostle, 
is the wisdom and the power of God. Such that when we sinners 
look to Him, we receive forgiveness and we receive His righteousness. 
You need to understand that the fault was not with the covenantal 
arrangement. The fault was with the sinner 
under the covenantal arrangement. Now notice verse 8 of Hebrews 
8, because finding fault with them, He says, Behold, the days 
are coming, says the Lord. I already read it, so we'll just 
rehearse some of the more salient points. God's making a covenant. Not like the one I made with 
them when I led them out of Egypt. The covenant that they broke. 
You know what the first feature of the new covenant is that we 
ought to find great comfort in? Is that it's unbreakable. God 
is relentless. God is indefectible. God is going 
to save us. God will be victorious. You see, 
Hebrews 7.25 doesn't make sense if we can break this new covenant. 
Because in Hebrews 7.25 it says that Jesus is able to save to 
the uttermost. Jesus is able to save completely 
all those who draw nigh unto God through Him. The first feature 
of New Covenant Christianity is that it's unbreakable. That's 
why any scheme, any system, any view that places a sinner in 
the New Covenant and then suggests that he can lose his salvation 
is not biblical. It's not theologically correct. 
You see, God, who begins this good work in us, will complete 
it unto the day of Jesus. Not like the covenant that I 
made with them before. The one that they broke. And 
in Jeremiah, he says, even though I was a husband to them, it underscores 
their guilt. Yes, He was Lord. Yes, He was 
Master. Yes, He was Sovereign. But He 
was husband. Husband. He broke it. They had a good thing. They had 
a good relationship. They had a good marriage. Have you ever 
heard of a man leaving his wife, and then you say, why? Or a woman leaving a good man, you 
say, why? What's the problem? What's the 
issue? You don't say, well, marriage 
as an institution is bad. You say, that person's got a 
messed up heart. They left their husband. Notice 
the second feature of this new covenant that is true of all 
those in the new covenant. He speaks of the internalization 
of the law. That just means kids that God 
takes his law and puts it right in our hearts. See, in the Old 
Testament, that law was external. They were called to obey. Some 
were internally circumcised. Some obeyed from the heart. But 
it wasn't an essential feature of that covenant like it is today. In the New Covenant, one of the 
things that is true of every New Covenant member is that the 
law is in our hearts and minds. Notice. Not according, verse 
9, to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day 
when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land 
of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, and 
I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant 
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says 
the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind 
and write them on their hearts." Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that great? I heard a caricature of Reformed 
theology the other day. The man seemed to indicate that 
Reformed people think they're under the Old Covenant. That's 
not true. The Old Covenant, especially 
according to Hebrews 8, is done. It's obsolete. It's over. But 
there's elements that were there present in the Old Covenant that 
are still present in the New. And the law of God is one of 
them. Only the Christian doesn't look at the law and say, oh, 
how I hate your law. It is my consternation all the 
day. Oh, how I despise the command that I have to honor my parents. Oh, how I despise the command 
that I'm not supposed to murder people. No! The Christian has 
the law of God now inside. The Christian now sees that law 
and says, oh, how I love your law. The language of the Apostle 
John in 1 John, he says the commandments of God are not burdensome. They're 
not grievous. Here's a little point, friend. 
This is a good way to know if you're in the new covenant or 
not. What do you think of God's law? Is it your dread? Is it something you hate? Now, 
I'm not asking you to keep it perfectly. None of us do. That's 
why we need Jesus. But do you say, forget that law. 
I want to do whatever I want. I'm the captain of my own destiny. 
I make my own decisions. And I'm going to be a rebel under 
God. But I love Jesus. Yeah. What did Jesus say in John 
14, 15? If you love me. What? Well, do whatever you want. It's 
the way Christianity has interpreted that passage. If you love me, 
you just no holds barred. You be as wicked and as ungodly 
and as worldly and as licentious as you possibly want. No. Jesus said, if you love me, you'll 
keep my commandments. That's a feature of New Covenant 
Christianity. You're in an unbreakable covenant. 
Not because of you. It's because of our covenant 
head, Jesus. But one of the features in that 
New Covenant is that the law of God is now your friend. It's 
not something you delight in. Again, you will not keep it perfectly, 
but when you break that law, you go back to the Savior and 
say, please forgive me. Wash me afresh in the blood. 
Fill me with your Spirit. Keep me on the careful path. 
Cause me not to stray. You can sing with that hymn we 
just sang, I'm prone to wander. I'm prone to leave the God I 
love. You confess it as a genuine demonstration of your contrition 
before God. People say, your law is horrible, 
God. Don't make such rules for me. That's not Christianity. What's another feature in this 
covenant? It's the personal knowledge of God. Notice this in verse 
10. Yeah, verse 10 at the very end, 
and I will be their God and they shall be my people. None of them 
shall teach his neighbor and none of his brothers say, no, 
the Lord. No, the Lord, you know him. If 
you're in this covenant, doesn't mean you know about him. Yeah, 
I know that, you know, Muslims have the Prophet Muhammad and 
they worship Allah. They go to Mecca on Hajj. They engage in jihad sometimes. They do certain things. The Buddhists 
or the Hindus, they have these certain features to their religion. 
And all these Christians, they have a God who's Trinitarian. 
And Jesus allegedly died on the cross. That's not the knowledge 
he's talking about. You see, in Jeremiah's day, this 
was a real practical element in the life of Israel. What's 
the prophet Hosea say? My people perish for lack of 
knowledge. Not that they don't know who 
Yahweh is. They don't know Him intimately. The sin of sins, 
according to the prophet Hosea, is my people have forgotten me. 
They've forgotten me. They have not wanted to retain 
the knowledge of God in their hearts. So what's a feature of 
New Covenant Christianity? They'll know the Lord. You believe 
the Gospel and what happens? You know the Lord. He knows you. You know Him. It's a beautiful 
relationship. This overlaps into what he says, 
I will be their God and they shall be my people will be with 
each other. We'll hang out together, we'll 
enjoy each other, we'll fellowship with one another. Some of you 
might say, well, that's language that kind of belittles God. No. 
Look at God in the tabernacle, what's he telling Israel, I want 
to be where you're at. One man has made a good observation 
with reference to Exodus. Exodus 25 begins that portion 
of the book where God says he wants to dwell with his people. 
Exodus is very easy. Just keep this in your mind. 
God delivers, God dwells, God demands, and God dwells. This 
is all courtesy of Dr. Ralph Davis. The dwelling portion, 
chapter 25, he starts to specify how they're supposed to build 
the tabernacle. Has anybody ever read that and 
go, oh man, wow. Curtains and hooks and tenons 
and construction materials. And maybe you architectural types 
and you building contractors and you guys who work with lumber, 
read that with gusto. Look at how they're hanging stuff. 
For most of us, we go, oh, man, that's a lot of chapters between 
25 and 40. It's not interesting. The bulk 
of the book is about God dwelling. What happens? Smack dab in the 
middle. 25, 32. What happens in 32? They get impatient, the people do. 
They tell Aaron, make us a God that we can worship. What's Aaron 
do? He fashions a calf for them to 
worship. Moses comes down. He sees this. 
He's irate. What's Aaron do? He lies. Oh, 
the people, they just wanted a God to worship. So I threw 
this gold in and out came this calf. After God deals with all this, 
what do we get back to? Hanging curtains. Putting lumber 
in. Tenants. All these items. He might be tempted to go, oh 
man, back to this boring stuff again. He says the judicious 
Israelite reader would have said, oh, blessed routine. Blessed routine, because we almost 
lost this. With that calf worship, with 
that exchange of the glory of God for that which is not God, 
we almost took this tabernacle and threw it into the sewer. 
Give me chapter 35 and talk to me about curtains. It's the knowledge of God, it's 
intimacy with God, it's personal union with God. This is what 
Jesus prayed in John 17, chapter 17, verse 3. In his high priestly 
prayer, he said, This is eternal life, that they may know you, 
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. When 
you go into heaven, you're not going to say, wow, look at those 
streets of gold. Look at those pearly gates. You 
might think that, to be sure. But the beauty of heaven is God. This is the essence of eternal 
life. It's God. Again, a place to examine 
yourselves. Some of you young people and 
children, do you read your Bibles? What do you think about church? 
Do you want to listen to sermons? Do you want to go on sermonaudio.com? 
Do you want to listen to good men bring the truth? Do you want 
to have your fathers and your mothers instruct you from the 
Word? And a feature of New Covenant religion is the knowledge of 
God. Sometimes I wonder about North American Christianity. 
There's very little knowledge of God. There's knowledge of 
how he'll help me. Suggestions for how to be a better 
me. There's ways for him to give me a shot in the arm so I'll 
be a better worker. I'll be a better husband. I'm 
not saying these are bad things, but how many of us oftentimes 
just come in and bask in the presence of God. If that's the essence of eternal 
life, why chase all those shadows? Why chase all those substances? Why chase all those things? If 
your life is characterized by the knowledge of God in terms 
of His new covenant Christianity, what are you to be about? You care about God? You care 
about the knowledge of God? Great litmus test. Where do you 
spend your time? I'm sorry, but if you've got 
more hours on Facebook than anybody in the Western Hemisphere, you may get a jewel from the 
Facebook innovators. What's it say about your relationship 
to God? If you know every hockey player 
that's ever lived in his professional amount of times that he put the 
puck in the net, And you can rattle off statistics and facts 
about whatever and anything it is, but you know not God. You can't give a simple gospel 
explanation to a sinner on how to be saved. You can tell what 
kind of headers are on this kind of a hot rod. Well, you ladies, 
you got all the fiction works down, have you read any of Louis 
Burkard? Are you men chasing whatever 
pursuit to relax your mind? Fine. Those are legitimate things. 
We are social creatures. I'm not here to condemn everything. 
But you can't define justification for your kid. If an essential 
feature of New Covenant Christianity is the knowledge of God, how 
are we doing? How is it going with us? I'm 
not talking about the Armenians. I'm not talking about the Catholics. 
I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about us. And brethren, 
it is unconscionable for us as Reformed Christians. We've got 
such a heritage. I love the way Spurgeon describes 
it. When I walk back into church 
history, I can shake hands and hug and embrace brothers who 
believe the same thing I've believed over 20 centuries. It is unconscionable for us as 
Christians to be illiterate with reference to the knowledge of 
God. Again, this is not saying that no one knew the Lord in 
the Old Covenant, but it was not an essential feature. In 
the Old Covenant, you had your Jacob's and your Esau's. You 
had your Isaacs and your Ishmaels. Of course, Isaac and Jacob knew 
God, but it wasn't an essential feature of that old covenant 
religion. Whereas in the days that Jeremiah prophesied of, 
when Jesus says, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is 
shed for many for the remission of sins, He came to bring us 
the knowledge of His Father, the knowledge of Himself. He 
came to give us the Holy Spirit so that we may approach Him, 
so that we may come to His Word, so that we may have an interest 
in spiritual things. If you don't have that interest, 
you need to believe the Gospel. You need to be saved. We've lowered 
the bar. I'm guilty of lowering the bar. 
Christianity demands our entirety. What's Paul say in Romans 12? 
Therefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech you by the mercies 
of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, which is 
not the sacrifice or service of the super-spiritual among 
you. That's your reasonable service. You've been bought with a price. 
Therefore, glorify God with your body and your soul, which are 
Christ's. Don't buy into this lie. And 
I'm sorry if I have perpetrated. I ask forgiveness that the bar 
of Christianity is down. I'm not saying we work to get 
it. We believe by God's grace for the saving of our souls. 
But when we're Christians, is there a spiritual appetite? How 
come for an hour and a half, it looks like we're engaged in 
punishment. Sunday worship at times looks 
like it's just like killing us. But man, put me in front of that 
hockey game and I've got an energy and a ferocity. Not me. I couldn't give a whatever about 
the hockey. I'm just handing in my man card 
here in Canada, right? You're not a real man if you 
don't like hockey. I love my sons-in-law and my son. They 
play hockey great. Put whatever in. Put whatever 
in. What's Jesus saying in the Beatitudes? 
Blessed are they who what? Hunger. Thirst after righteousness. Younger thirst after righteousness. 
Notice Jesus uses two lively images. What do you do when you're 
hungry? You get food. I do. If I'm hungry, get out 
of my way. Actually, my family knows. Throw 
them an apple. Throw them a burrito. Throw in 
something. Why does Jesus use that image? Because it's something 
in our gut we know. Blessed are you. Not if once 
in a week you throw God his religious bone, and you show up for an 
hour and a half, and then you go on your way and do what you 
really like. You hunger for righteousness. You thirst for righteousness. Some of you young people, that 
is going to affect the way people look at you in this world. What 
a blessed thing. That guy's weird. Jesus says 
He's hungering and He's thirsting after righteousness. I'd rather 
be weird in the sight of God-haters than approved by the Lord of 
all the earth. You see, this is an essential 
feature of New Covenant Christianity. And the final one is the forgiveness 
of sins. For I will be merciful, verse 12, to their unrighteousness 
and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. 
Praise God. Praise Him. Bless him, honor 
him. Every one of us who have received 
the forgiveness of sins, this would be an appropriate time 
for us to get on our faces and do shower praise to Almighty 
God. He's forgiven us. He has cleansed 
us. He has washed us. He has done 
this by virtue of the fact that his son lived and died and rose 
again on our behalf. Not because we deserve it. Notice 
what he says. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness 
and their sins and their lawless deeds. I will remember no more. 
That old concept that the prophet Micah introduces in Micah 7, 
using his own name. Who is a God like you? Pardoning 
sins. He says he has taken our sins 
and he has cast them into the depths of the sea. He doesn't 
remember them. We're not the proverbial puppy 
that made a mess in the carpet. God hates our face and He rubs 
it in there every single time. So I fear some of us look at 
Christianity. He's forgiven us. He's cleansed 
us. He's washed us. He's purified 
us. I confess, for some of us, it's 
hard to wrap our minds around this. Some of us who have been 
reared in homes filled with guilt. I'm not saying all guilt's bad. 
Guilt is good if it causes us to flee to Christ. But as forgiven 
Christians, you are to enjoy what He has done in your life. 
That doesn't mean when you sin, you should feel guilty. You go, 
you confess it, and you believe that He forgives you, and you 
move on. There's no merit. There's no extra points if you 
sit on your couch for ten hours and say how guilty and miserable 
you are. Oh, Martin calls that evangelical 
penance. We have to atone for our sin 
before we'll feel good. Confess your sins. First, John 
one nine, it's a small passage, he says. God is faithful or if 
we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us. And to 
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Not God is faithful, but you 
need to go out and feel bad for four hours. How does that look? After four hours, well, I felt 
bad long enough now. Now I can have this joy and liberty. 
At least the Catholics, you go in, they give you your penalty, 
you go out, you pray the prayers, and you're done. With us Protestants, 
it's kind of hard to quantify. Well, how bad do I have to feel? Can we believe the gospel and 
understand the forgiveness of sin through Jesus and move on? 
This is what the prophet Isaiah did. When God shows him his glory, 
the prophet says, woe is me, for I am undone. He says, I have 
unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips. What 
does God do? God sends a hot burning tongue 
to atone for his sin. And then what? God says, who 
shall go for us? Who shall we send? The prophet's 
hand goes up. Here am I, Lord. Send me. I don't 
think I'd do that. I'd probably say, oh God, I have 
to feel bad for a few hours before I'm of any use to you. I have 
to be long faced. I have to make everybody around 
me miserable. I have to really demonstrate that I deserve this 
forgiveness. We don't deserve it. That's why 
it's grace. That's why it's mercy. That's 
why God says, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and 
their sins and their lawless deeds. I will remember no more. 
So what's the rub here? What does this have to do with 
baptism? It's a good question. What does this have to do with 
baptism? I think it has to do with baptism in two ways. One, 
It defines for us what New Covenant membership looks like. It defines 
for us what New Covenant membership looks like. There are some churches 
who practice infant sprinkling. We must ask the question, or 
the question begs to be asked, are those infants herein described? The question isn't, can God save 
them? What God does in his secret decree 
and sovereignty and the mystery of his own will, and it's outworking 
between him and those infants. The question is, when we go to 
put somebody into that tank, can we say these features are 
true in their lives? Not are they perfect. Not are 
they the most excellent specimens of a human being we've ever seen, 
because no one would be baptized that. But through their profession 
and through a life that gives some sort of credibility to that 
profession, can we say, yeah, they know the Lord? Yeah, they've 
been forgiven of their sins. Yeah, they have the law of God 
written in their hearts. I think this passage has everything 
to do with baptism. I think it is loud and clear 
what we ought to expect in the new covenant. What ought to be 
essential in the New Covenant? What ought to be in the hearts 
of everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ? So yes, this 
passage deals with baptism. A second way is that baptism 
causes all of us, and it should, to reflect on our own baptism. 
It should cause all of us to be mindful of that time that 
we publicly identified with Christ. Let's ask the question again, 
how are we doing? Are we living as those who know 
God? If somebody in your workplace 
or at your school were pressed and said, what's most important 
to that person? Would they say hot rods? Would 
they say the newest recipe? Would they say my doll collection? 
Would they say my record collection or my CD collection? Would they 
say, my jewels, or my gold, or my silver? Would they say, you 
know, they're kind of weird, kind of odd, but they really 
seem to follow Jesus of Nazareth. Let's think about our own baptism. 
I don't want to take away anything from Sarah's special day at all. But in light of these features 
that are essential in the New Covenant, where are we at, us 
professors of faith? And then a third reason this 
passage has to do with baptism is because it tells us that the 
New Covenant is blood soaked. Sometimes people don't like the 
Old Testament. It's full of blood. Animals being 
sacrificed. People groups being exterminated. The Old Testament is all about 
blood. Look at how this new covenant 
is surrounded. Hebrews 7 verse 27, who does 
not need daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices 
first for his own sins and then for the people's. For this he 
did once for all when he offered up himself. The new covenant 
is blood soaked. Look at chapter 9 verses 11 to 
14. But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come with 
the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands. 
That is not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and 
calves but with his own blood. He entered the most holy place 
once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Notice verse 
14. How much more shall the blood 
of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without 
spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the 
living God? Hebrews 10, verse 10. By that will, we have been sanctified 
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ Once for all, 
verse 12, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice 
for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God from that 
time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool. For by 
one offering, he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. You see, the New Covenant is 
blood soaked because of the demerit of our sin, because of the gravity 
of our lawlessness, because of the fact that we pursued every 
manner of evil that God had forbade. The New Covenant is blood soaked 
because it took the blood of Jesus Christ to take away that 
sin. You see, when he's saying that 
in Hebrews 9.22, without the shedding of blood there is no 
remission, he's got a point. And his point is it's in the 
blood of Christ alone that there is remission of sins. Consider 
the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 53, a passage we're all 
familiar with, probably. The song of the suffering servant, 
the one who would bear the guilt of his people. Well, prior to 
Isaiah 53, get this, is Isaiah 52. So you're dazzled here with 
mathematic acuity. But Isaiah 52 announces or summarizes 
or gives us a condensation of what will be the thrust of 53. 
It talks about kings bowing before our Lord Jesus. It talks about 
His victory. But smack dab, in the middle 
of this summary, it says this about our Lord Jesus. Just as 
many were astonished at You, so His appearance was marred 
more than any man and His form more than the sons of men. Why 
was His appearance marred? Because he was beaten. He was 
bloodied. He was bruised. It's not talking 
about later in Isaiah 53 when he says, we esteemed him not. That kind of means that in his 
earthly ministry, we didn't pay him any attention. He was nothing 
special. He was no big deal. Isn't this 
not the carpenter's son? Of course, we didn't esteem him. He was no big potatoes. But in 
the summary statement, it's talking about his cross work. The ESV 
translates Isaiah 52, 14 this way, as many as were astonished 
at you. His appearance was so marred 
beyond human semblance. You want blood. Go to the New 
Covenant and is formed beyond that of the children of mankind. The Holman Christian Standard 
Bible translates, just as many were appalled at you, his appearance 
was so disfigured that he did not look like a man. And his 
form did not resemble a human being. Why? Because of our demerit. Because 
of our sin. Because of our guilt. Because 
of our shame. Because of our raised fist. Because 
of our sheep-like ability to go astray, Jesus was disfigured. Men hid themselves. Men didn't 
look at Him. But they say, He saved others. He cannot save Himself. Praise 
God. Praise God, because if He would 
have saved Himself, we would be dead in our trespasses and 
sins. You see, the New Covenant is 
blood-soaked. When we go into this water, what 
we need to think about is the great redemptive work of Jesus. 
We don't congratulate Sarah and say, man, you're doing a good 
thing today. We praise God that he saves miserable sinners like 
Sarah Neufeld. Oh, but she's such a sweet little 
girl in Adam has gone astray and deserves the wrath of God. 
Let me just close with a statement concerning atonement. commenting 
on 2 Samuel 21, which was an atonement ritual in a place called 
Gibeah. Dale Ralph Davis writes, this 
text says atonement is horrible. It is gory. Atonement is never 
nice, but always gruesome. We need to see this, for we easily 
fall into the trap of regarding atonement, atonement for those 
who are not Savvy with the term means God and God reconciling 
sinners to himself through the blood work and through the blood 
shedding of Jesus at Calvary. He says we need to see this for 
we easily fall into the trap of regarding atonement as merely 
a doctrine, a concept, an abstraction to be explained, a bit of theology 
to be analyzed. or little better to view it as 
a moving story to be replayed during Passion Week. But we should 
know better. Surely the Israelite worshipper 
realized this when he towed a young bull to the tabernacle and had 
to slit its throat, skin it, cut it in pieces, and wash the 
insides and the legs. It was all mass and gore. From 
slicing the bull's throat in Leviticus 1 all the way to Calvary, 
God has always said atonement is nasty and repulsive. Christians 
must beware of becoming too refined, longing for a kinder, gentler 
faith. If we've grown too used to Golgotha, 
perhaps Gibeah can shock us back into truth. Atonement is a drippy, 
bloody, smelly business. The stench of death hangs heavy 
wherever the wrath of God has been quenched. That's what the 
new covenant is all about. Your way in is to believe on 
the Lord Jesus. Believe all that the Bible says 
concerning him. Believe that he lived. Believe that he died. 
Believe that he rose again. you will have everlasting life. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank you for your word and we thank you for the superiority 
of the new covenant. We thank you for your grace and 
your mercy displayed in the people of God. We thank you for the 
fact that Jesus lived in obedience to your law, died as a sacrifice 
at Calvary, and rose from the dead, and that we have such a 
high priest. I pray that we would not soon 
forget this, that we would come often to Hebrews chapter 8, that 
we would feed our souls on the good doctrine contained herein, 
and that it would be a source of help and encouragement to 
us along the way. We just ask as well, Father, 
that you would have dealings with any and all who do not know 
you, May your spirit be at work. We trust in the Sovereign God. 
We know with men it is impossible to bring conversion, but we know 
with you all things are possible. We just pray today it would be 
the day of salvation, a day of joy, a day of rejoicing. Not just because Sarah got baptized, 
but because sinners found everlasting life. And we pray in the name 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.