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[0:00] Amen. Well, you can take your Bibles and open with me to Hebrews chapter 8. So as you're turning to Hebrews chapter 8, I want to ask you, what is the backbone of our country?

[0:40] What is the backbone of our country? And you might come up with some inventive answers like farming or the Second Amendment or various things that form the backbone of our country.

[0:55] Ultimately, what the backbone of our country is, I think, is the Constitution, right? It constitutes our nation.

[1:06] It orders our governments and legal system. And without the Constitution, you really can't explain the history of our country.

[1:18] Apart from the Constitution, you can't really explain where we are today as the United States. If we tried to explain the history of our country apart from the Constitution, it would be like trying to tell the story of Columbus without a boat.

[1:35] That's an integral part of the story. It would be like trying to play the movie Frozen without Elsa's psychotic meltdown. That's just an integral part of what's going on in the story.

[1:46] Those things form the backbone of those stories. The Bible itself is a story. It's made up of 66 books, but all with one author who is God himself.

[2:02] The multiple human authors, but God is the divine author behind all of it. And we believe because of that unity, because God is the one who has inspired and written the Bible ultimately, we believe that there is one overarching story.

[2:18] We believe that there is a backbone to the Bible. And so what is the backbone of the Bible? I think we could say it's the covenants that God makes with his people. The promises that he makes to them.

[2:31] You think of the covenants that he's made with Adam in the garden, that he made with Noah saying he would never flood the earth by water again. The promises he made to Abraham to make him a prosperous nation that would be a blessing to the ends of the earth.

[2:46] The covenant he made with Moses, which we'll be considering tonight, of the way that God's people should conduct themselves having been redeemed from slavery. And there's a covenant he made with David promising that one of his sons would rule forever.

[3:02] The Jews were proud of these covenants, and rightly so. God had made these promises to the Jews, and they were very proud of their heritage.

[3:13] Just like we are proud of the Constitution, if you're a true American. These colors don't run, baby. And the author of Hebrews is writing to Jews who have become Christians.

[3:26] They're proud of their heritage. They're proud of the covenants they've received from God. But in chapter 8, the author of Hebrews tells them, there is an even greater covenant than all those ones you've received.

[3:40] There is a covenant that's better and goes further and does more than all of these covenants that you're so proud of and that form the backbone of the Bible. And this covenant is better because it has a better priest, and it has better promises.

[3:56] And so tonight, our title is A Greater Covenant. A Greater Covenant. And we'll cover chapter 8 in two sections.

[4:08] Number one being the priest of a greater covenant. The priest of a greater covenant. In chapter 8, verse 1, the author of Hebrews does something very helpful for us.

[4:24] He says, Now the point in what we are saying is this. And anytime you're reading or listening to someone talk, whenever they say words like that, you need to pay attention.

[4:35] The author of Hebrews is saying that everything I've mentioned in chapters 1 through 7, here is the main point of it. And we've covered some difficult thinking, some difficult teaching in Hebrews 1 through 7, but here he's saying this is the main point.

[4:50] So if you felt lost or confused at any point in the book of Hebrews, chapter 8, verse 1 is incredibly helpful and encouraging to you. The main point of what we're saying is this.

[5:02] We have such a high priest. Here's what he's been saying all along. Here's what he's been driving at from the jump.

[5:12] We have such a high priest. And in chapters 1 through 7, what he's really been saying is he's showing us what we need. He's showing us what kind of priest we need.

[5:24] We need someone who can atone for our sins. We need someone who can take us into the presence of God. And in chapter 8, he says, We have everything we need.

[5:36] We have a high priest who does this. We have a high priest who will reign forever as a priest. His work will never stop. And this priest is one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven.

[5:53] A minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. He's seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven.

[6:06] If you remember back to chapter 1, verse 13, there was a statement there that says, From God the Father to Jesus the Son, sit at my right hand.

[6:17] In chapter 8, verse 1, we read that he is seated. He has sat down. He has completed his work. The priest in the temple in the Old Testament, they were constantly on their feet.

[6:29] They were constantly offering sacrifices. Their work was never done. But when we see Jesus, he has taken a seat. He has finished his priestly work.

[6:40] He has made atonement for our sins. And he's seated at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. The majesty in heaven being a term to describe who God is in his majestic glory and in his power.

[6:53] And the right hand of a king is the most influential place to be. It's the most powerful position to be other than the king himself. And we see Jesus seated at the right hand of God.

[7:08] And he's verse 2, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up and not man.

[7:19] And this makes Jesus' priesthood different. He doesn't serve as a priest on earth. He serves as a priest now in heaven, in the true tent.

[7:31] Now the word true here can trip you up a little bit. He's not saying that Jesus is in the true tent and the Old Testament priests were in a false tent. What he's meaning is that by true is that it's the real one, the actual one.

[7:45] The true reality of what the tent symbolized. And if you think back across the Old Testament, there was the temple. There was a permanent building. Did not move.

[7:56] It's where God resided in Jerusalem. But before they got there, they had the tabernacle, which was really just a tent. And so as the Israelites left Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea.

[8:09] And God said, I need you to build a tent for me to dwell in. And you just follow me. And if I stay in one place, set up the tent there. And if I move on, pick up the tent and follow me.

[8:21] So it was really the tent or the tabernacle was basically just a mobile place to meet with God. It was kind of like the Donut Man. You know, you see him outside of Arby's.

[8:32] You see him outside of Cash Saver. He just kind of moves around where the traffic goes. This is kind of what the tabernacle was like. It was a mobile place to meet with God. Much more serious than the Donut Man. But donuts are good.

[8:44] And so the tabernacle, this tent on earth, would move around. It was temporary. It was mobile. But Jesus is serving in the true tent.

[8:55] The tent that the Lord set up and not man. Verse 3, For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices.

[9:06] Thus it is necessary for this priest, Jesus, also to have something to offer. These priests in the earthly tent, these priests on earth, offered up gifts and sacrifices to the Lord.

[9:19] They offered sacrifices for the people's sin. They offered gifts of thanksgiving for the people to worship God. And so the author of Hebrews is saying it's fitting also for Jesus, this priest, to offer up a gift as well.

[9:34] And what is it that Christ offers to God? He gives himself. He lays down his own life. He paid for our sins on the cross, shedding his own blood. That is the gift.

[9:45] That is the sacrifice that Jesus offers as our high priest. And he says something interesting in verse 4. He says, Now if he, that's Jesus, were here on earth, he would not be a priest at all.

[10:02] Since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all. We looked at this last week in chapter 7, but chapter 7 says that Jesus wasn't descended from Levi.

[10:18] Any priest in Israel had to come from Levi's line. And Jesus was descended from the tribe of Judah. And so on earth, Jesus could not function as a priest.

[10:29] And if you think about his time on earth, reading through the gospels and learning about his life, did he ever enter the most holy place in the temple? No. He went no further than the average Jew would go.

[10:43] He could not serve as a high priest according to the Old Testament law. Because he was not descended from the correct tribe. And he says at the end of verse 4, There are priests who are descended from Aaron, from the tribe of Levi, who can offer sacrifices and gifts according to the law.

[11:07] And he says in verse 5, talking about these earthly priests, these priests who serve in the earthly temple, in the earthly tabernacle, they serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.

[11:20] For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.

[11:32] These earthly priests serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. What does he mean by a copy and a shadow?

[11:44] Well, I think he's actually drawing from something else that's found in history. I think he's actually drawing and appealing to Plato's, one of Plato's stories. Not Plato like you play with.

[11:56] My kids just mix up all the colors right when they open it and it ruins all of them. But that's okay, they have fun. But Plato liked the philosopher. He was a Greek philosopher back in the B.C. days.

[12:07] Really smart guy. I had to read him in college. He believed some weird things. But being a Greek philosopher, he was very well known. And these people that are receiving this letter of Hebrews were Greek-speaking Jews.

[12:24] They likely would have known some of Plato's writing. And Plato has a particular story. I've read it. It's called Plato's Cave Allegory.

[12:35] The Cave Allegory. And basically, a lot of these Greek philosophers, Plato included, believed that everything we see on earth is simply a copy or a shadow of true realities.

[12:50] Okay? So he would say, here on earth we see a horse. Because there are horses on earth, there must be truer and better horses in heaven. It's kind of a weird belief.

[13:01] But the author of Hebrews, I think, appeals to it here when he says they serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. So in this cave allegory, he's got some guys that are just posted up in this cave.

[13:12] All right? It's kind of weird. But he's envisioning them as being enslaved or unenlightened. And so what they're doing is they're sitting in this cave just staring at the back wall.

[13:23] Staring at the cave wall. And there are people outside the cave that are living life and doing things and participating in activities. And they are casting a shadow on the back wall of the cave.

[13:35] And Plato is saying that those men looking at the shadow on the cave wall are not seeing true realities. They're seeing reflections of what is actually true outside the cave.

[13:48] And so they're not seeing reality in itself. They're seeing a reflection or a shadow of what is real. I think the author of Hebrews is saying something similar here.

[14:01] These earthly priests serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. Now, the Old Testament doesn't call the tabernacle or temple or the priesthood a shadow.

[14:16] And so he's explaining to us how we should read the Old Testament. When you think about a shadow, a shadow doesn't really have any independent existence, does it?

[14:29] It just merely indicates that something real exists. That something does exist that's making that shadow. And so the author of Hebrews is saying that this is what the Old Testament system was like.

[14:41] This is what the priesthood was like. It was just a shadow pointing to the reality that would one day come. These things were real, but they only existed to point toward the true reality in heaven.

[14:58] The shadow and the copy are beautiful and good, but they are not the real thing. And I found this out the hard way. Like a year or so ago, Lacey and I were going to get our real IDs.

[15:12] Anyone in here have a real ID? Okay. Yeah, it's like big government kind of stuff. But anyway, so I'm like, okay, I'm going to get a real ID. Finally, I need to do it so I can, you know, travel and have a credit card or whatever the rules are.

[15:24] And so I go in, you have to have like a birth certificate and all this documentation that I don't usually keep track of. And so I go in with my birth certificate to get my real ID, Lacey was with me.

[15:36] And I go in, go through everything, hand my birth certificate over, and she goes, this is not the original copy. And I was like, yeah, I'm pretty sure it is. I'm pretty sure you're wrong.

[15:46] She's like, no, I'm right. This is a copy of your birth certificate. Now, a copy of a birth certificate is helpful, but it's not the real thing, right? And so couldn't get my real ID, haven't been back since.

[15:59] So I need to do that. But the copy of things is helpful, but it is not the reality. And so the author of Hebrews is pointing back to the old covenant system, back to the sacrifices that were made by the priests.

[16:13] And he says, these things were true, but they were shadows. And now that Jesus has come, they're not worth holding on to anymore.

[16:28] Now that Jesus has come, Jesus is the substance. Jesus is the reality that was casting that shadow. Now that the reality has come, do not hold on to the shadows.

[16:38] And as you know, these Jews were converted to Christ, but Christianity was an illegal religion. And Judaism was accepted. And persecution began to squeeze these Christians.

[16:51] And many of them were wanting to go back to their Judaism because it was safe, and it was legal, and they could have their families back again. And the author of Hebrews is saying there's nothing to go back to.

[17:02] It was merely a shadow pointing forward to the reality. It's not worth holding on to anymore. And I think a helpful illustration for us is to think about a ticket to the Super Bowl.

[17:17] If you don't know what the Super Bowl is, it was an event about Taylor Swift. So, Super Bowl, obviously a big football game. How much was the average ticket to the Super Bowl sold for?

[17:29] Oh, we got some hands. Any guesses? Just say it. 1,000. 1,000. Too low. How much is it worth? A mortgage worth too high. It was 10,000. The average ticket to the Super Bowl was $10,000 this year on average.

[17:45] That's a lot of money. Not quite in my budget, but maybe someday. So, imagine buying a Super Bowl ticket for $10,000 and having the ticket in your hand.

[17:59] That ticket is worth $10,000. How much is that same ticket worth after the game? Nothing.

[18:10] You throw it in the trash, throw it on the ground, maybe keep it for just memories. But that ticket is completely worthless. But that ticket is completely worthless once the true event comes.

[18:23] The ticket is only worth $10,000 because of what it can do for you, because of what it points to, because of what it gets you into. The ticket is valuable because it can get you into the game.

[18:33] But once the game takes place, the ticket itself is worthless. And so these Jews who were tempted to go back to the old covenant system, it would be like buying a Super Bowl ticket and not going to the game.

[18:49] And framing the ticket and being super proud of it, your wise investment. That ticket is worthless after the game takes place. And the old covenant, while it was valuable and useful before Christ came, now that Christ has come, the true reality is here and the shadow needs to pass away.

[19:12] And this idea is actually even ingrained in the Old Testament. This isn't something the author of Hebrews is making up. And he points us to the Old Testament, which we'll see here in just a moment.

[19:23] And if you look at verse 5, when Moses was about to construct the tent, he was instructed by God saying, See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.

[19:39] If you're paying attention, you notice that Moses was building this tent based on what he saw. So this earthly tabernacle was really just a replica of what God showed him.

[19:51] And so the heavenly temple isn't like the earthly temple, just a little bit better. It's not like the earthly temple 2.0. It's not like the iPhone 15 compared to the 14.

[20:02] You know, not that different, slightly better. The earthly temple and tabernacle are actually modeled off of what already existed in heaven. The true reality that existed in the presence of God.

[20:15] And so these details of the Old Testament point to a deeper reality. Something true and real. But Jesus is the substance.

[20:29] He is the fulfillment. He is the light. He is the real thing that all of this Old Testament stuff points to. And so you think about all of the sacrifices, all of the hoops they had to jump through to be in right relationship with God.

[20:43] What was the point? It was intended to point them to Christ. But in what way? If you were a Jew growing up in the Old Testament times, you would have learned that when I sin, something has to die.

[21:04] My sin leads to death. Either the death of something in my place, or the death of me. And as you over and over again offer these sacrifices, you are learning that the outcome of sin is death.

[21:21] You are learning also that bloodshed leads to forgiveness. And one day someone is coming from God who will bring sin to an end. This was the point.

[21:32] And so once Jesus is here, once that person is here that these things pointed to, you don't need to hold on to the shadow. Verse 6, But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old, as the covenant he mediates is better.

[21:55] The ministry that Christ has is better than what the Old Testament priests have because the covenant that he mediates is better.

[22:06] We no longer need to go to a tent to be in the presence of God. Jesus is our tabernacle. Jesus is the temple of the living God.

[22:19] And if you read John 1, verse 14, the word that is Christ became flesh and dwelt among us. And that word dwelt is actually like he tented among us.

[22:33] He set up his tent among us. Jesus is the one through whom we meet with God. If we want to be in God's presence, we need to go to Jesus. We can draw near to God through him.

[22:47] And it says that he mediates it. And a mediator is someone who goes between people. There's a fight between you and your sibling who's so annoying.

[22:58] I'm not going to say which one it is. The mediator is someone who comes and puts their hand on both of you and tries to help you get along to varying degrees of success, but tries. And Jesus mediates a covenant that is better.

[23:12] And Jesus has spoken of as mediator a couple of times in the Bible. One of them is 1 Timothy 2, 5, which says there's one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave his life as a ransom for all.

[23:28] Whenever Jesus is talked about as a mediator, it is talked about in connection with his death. How does Jesus mediate this covenant? He pours out his own blood.

[23:39] He sheds his life for his people. And why is this covenant better than the old? Because or since it is enacted on better promises.

[23:52] The new covenant, as opposed to the old, comes with better promises. It promises to do more. And so if you're considering two jobs, which one are you likely going to go with?

[24:04] The one with better promises. The one that offers you more money and less hours. Am I right? You're going to go with the one that has better promises. And God is saying to us that Jesus' covenant has better promises.

[24:20] And so we've seen the priest of a greater covenant. Secondly, in verse 7 to the end of the chapter, we see the greater covenant. The greater covenant itself. In verse 7 it says, For if that covenant, that first covenant, had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

[24:46] So the author of Hebrews is saying that there was a flaw in this first covenant. There was something wrong with this first covenant that God had given.

[24:58] Now it's not that God misspoke. It's not that God made a mistake. What is the flaw? The flaw is it could not make God's people perfect. It could not make them holy.

[25:08] It could teach them who God was. It could point them towards God. But it could not actually save them. It could teach them what sin was and what holiness was. But it could not actually change the people from the inside.

[25:21] It could not save them from their sin. But because it had a fault, there was an opportunity to look for another covenant.

[25:33] And in this covenant, Jesus says, This covenant will come through the shedding of my blood. And as he's shedding his blood, dying on the cross for the sins of his people, what does he say?

[25:47] It is finished. This is the final sacrifice. We're putting an end to all these sacrifices that would never stop. This sacrifice that I am offering is the final one.

[26:00] It actually pays for sin. And if the old covenant could save, there would have been no need for a better covenant to come.

[26:12] And so verse 6, it says that this new covenant is better because it has better promises. What are those promises? Well, we see these promises in verses 8 through 12.

[26:24] And if you notice, the spacing or the margins of verses 8 through 12 might be different in your Bible because he is quoting from the Old Testament. He's quoting from Jeremiah 31.

[26:35] He's saying this idea of a new covenant is actually found in the Old Testament. It's actually found before I showed up and wrote this letter to you. In verse 8 it says, For he finds fault with them when he says.

[26:51] And let's just pause there. Verse 7 says there was a fault in the Old Covenant. In verse 8 he says there was a fault with the Old Covenant people.

[27:02] So which one is it? Was the flaw in the Old Covenant or was the flaw in the people of the Old Covenant? And based on what he says, it's both. The people rebelled against God and the Old Covenant could not save them.

[27:14] And so he finds fault with them when he says, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord. When I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel, Israel and with the house of Judah.

[27:31] This new covenant promise was made to the people of Israel, ultimately. But this new covenant was different. Verse 9 he says, It's not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

[27:50] For they did not continue in my covenant. And so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. The people rebelled against God repeatedly.

[28:02] And because of that, God showed no concern for them. In other words, the curses of that covenant fell on them. They died under God's wrath because they were disobedient to his word.

[28:14] But in verses 10 through 12, he shows us what this new covenant is like. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord.

[28:25] I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people.

[28:36] And they shall not teach each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.

[28:52] I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. Where was the old covenant written? It was written on tablets of stone. It was written in books.

[29:04] It was written on their doorposts. But this new covenant will be written on the hearts and minds of God's people. And these Jews who received the old covenant, they would have cherished these words.

[29:20] They would have written them down. They would have written them on their doors. They would have written them on pieces of paper. They were written on the stone tablets that God gave to Moses. But no matter what they did, they could not write them on their heart.

[29:33] These rules, these laws, could not change them from the inside. And so regardless of how much they loved God and how much they loved His word, they could not live up to His standard because they had sin in their hearts that they could not deal with.

[29:51] And maybe you can relate to that. Maybe you're here and you've tried to change your life by your own effort. Maybe you've tried to overcome sin that you see in your life by your own power.

[30:05] Maybe you have sin in your life that you're saying, I'm going to deal with this. This is the last time I'm going to commit a sin like that. I'm going to be pleasing to the Lord from now on. And you end up right back where you were.

[30:19] This is what the Israelites lived with under the old covenant. But in this new covenant, God will change our hearts. He will write His word on our hearts. He will give us new hearts.

[30:31] Our only hope is not in ourselves but in God's transforming grace. And He says, I will be their God and they shall be my people.

[30:43] This is covenant language. God is promising to be faithful to them and His people will be faithful to Him. And what's the result of this? They shall all know me.

[30:57] Verse 11. From the least of them to the greatest. And so in the new covenant, all of God's people are saved.

[31:08] And if you think about under the old covenant, there were people in Israel. Some of them were saved. Some of them were not. Just because they belonged to God's covenant people did not mean they had been saved.

[31:20] Just because externally, on the outside, they were close by God's people does not mean they were transformed. Doesn't mean they were forgiven. But God is saying that in the new covenant, in this new promise, all of His people will know Him.

[31:37] And it's only the people who have been saved and forgiven who belong to this new covenant. Everyone who is God's child knows the Lord.

[31:49] So He says, they shall not teach everyone his neighbor and his brother saying know the Lord because all of them will know me. Now this doesn't mean that we as believers don't need teachers in general, but what it does mean is that in the church, among the people who are truly saved and converted, we don't need someone to constantly tell us how to be saved, how to know the Lord because by nature, we know Him because He's transformed our hearts.

[32:14] And how do we know the Lord? Verse 11 says, they'll all know me. What's the cause of that? What causes us to know the Lord?

[32:27] Verse 12, for or because I will be merciful towards their iniquities or their unrighteousness and I will remember their sins no more.

[32:43] The way we know the Lord is because He has been merciful to us. If you're a Christian, the way you know the Lord, the reason you know the Lord is because He has forgiven your sins.

[32:56] He has chosen to not remember your sins, to not count them against you because they have been paid for by the death of His Son, Jesus Christ.

[33:09] Sin is our greatest problem. Sin is my greatest problem. Sin is your greatest problem. It cuts us off from the presence of God.

[33:22] And so in order for God to bring us near to Him, He has to deal with our sin. He has to overcome our sin. He has to be able to forgive it. But how can He just forgive it? He is a just and righteous God.

[33:33] He punishes sin. He doesn't let unrighteous people off the hook. So how is it that we can be made right with Him? Something had to die. Something had to die in our place.

[33:45] And the Old Covenant was pointing us to the One who would do that. Jesus Christ died in our place. He was spotless. He was sinless. He was perfectly righteous. And He died in our place in order that God can say in verse 12, I will be merciful towards their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.

[34:12] And as believers, sometimes we can feel incredibly guilty for sins in our past. We can feel ashamed of who we were before Christ and this verse comforts us.

[34:30] God knows our sins. God knows our unrighteousness and has chosen to pay for it and not hold it against us.

[34:43] There's so much comfort in verse 12. our knowledge of the Lord has its foundation in the forgiveness that we receive from Him.

[34:56] And again, our hope is not in ourselves. Look at, just look back down at verses 8 through 12. Look at verse 8. Look at how many times God says, I will do this.

[35:07] Verse 8, I will establish a new covenant. Verse 10, I will make this covenant with the house of Israel. Verse 10 again, I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.

[35:19] I will be their God. Verse 12, I will be merciful toward their iniquities. I will remember their sins no more. It is God alone who does this.

[35:31] And He accomplishes this through the high priest that rules and reigns forever. And so our knowledge of God is based on the foundation of Him forgiving us.

[35:42] And so if you have not been forgiven, you do not know God. If you have not been made right with Him, you do not know God regardless of what you might claim. And so our greatest problem is sin and that greatest problem is solved in the new heart that God gives us.

[35:58] We, as God's people, should delight in obeying Him. Now it doesn't mean that we always obey. It doesn't mean that sin is no longer tempting to us, but it does mean that ultimately we desire to be faithful to God.

[36:12] God. And all of these promises listed in this passage are ours in Christ. And 2 Corinthians 1.20 says that every promise of God finds its yes and amen in Christ.

[36:26] And in verse 13 it says, in speaking of a new covenant, He, God, makes the first one obsolete. You remember the blackberry from last week?

[36:36] That's obsolete. It's useless now. And so the author of Hebrews is saying that by God speaking of a new covenant, He makes the first one useless. He makes the first one pass away and be worthless.

[36:50] And then he continues in verse 13, what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. And in just a few years after the book of Hebrews was written, the temple was completely destroyed.

[37:07] In 70 A.D., Rome came in and completely destroyed the temple. There were no stones left standing on top of each other that had originally been the walls and pillars of this temple.

[37:20] And so the old covenant was done after Christ died on the cross, but the old covenant was completely foreclosed on when the temple was destroyed. And the author of Hebrews predicts this, saying, it's been made obsolete and what's becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away completely.

[37:38] the era of the priesthood was over and the era of the sun had arrived in full. What are you hoping in?

[37:51] Maybe you're here and you trust in Christ and are hoping in him alone for salvation. That's incredible. I encourage you to continue in that. Pursue Christ. Obey Christ.

[38:03] But maybe you're here tonight and that is not you. Maybe everyone around you would say you're a Christian, you're in church, you read your Bible regularly, all good things, but maybe the only faith you have is in yourself.

[38:18] Maybe the only thing you're hoping in is in your good works, your power to overcome sin, your ability to do what's right and get your life in order. And if you want to have a hope that will get you through death, you need a new heart.

[38:36] You need God to save you. You need God to make you new. You need forgiveness. And the good news of the gospel is that God saves anyone who calls on him.

[38:48] God has so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life. Believe in Jesus.

[38:59] Believe this good news. Turn away from your sin and your dead works and follow Christ. And if you don't do that, if you don't turn from your sin and place your faith in Christ, you will be the object of what verse 9 describes when God says, I showed no concern for them.

[39:23] If you die apart from Christ, you will go to hell for all eternity. And that's not just an imaginary thing. That is the true reality.

[39:36] But if you repent of your sins and believe in Christ, you'll experience all the promises of God fulfilled in Jesus. And I pray that you would receive those promises.

[39:48] Let me pray for us. our Father, we sang this evening that Christ is the true and better Adam, and he's also the mediator of the true and better covenant.

[40:09] This new covenant is unlike any of the promises you've made before because it will actually cure us of our sin. It will actually help us overcome our sin.

[40:21] So Father, I pray for all of us that we would turn from our sin and look to Jesus and consider him the founder and perfecter of our faith who has gone before us in the heavenly places where he is now seated at your right hand and is praying for us as we pray to you.

[40:38] Father, I pray we draw near to our great high priest, Jesus, your son, because he has forgiven us our sins. He's shown mercy toward our unrighteousness.

[40:50] And I pray we'd all in this room taste the beauty of that true promise that you've given to us through your word. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[41:00] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. böden.

[41:11]  Amen.