back to index2020-7-5 New Covenant in Christ
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Alright, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 8. 00:00:05.980 |
We're continuing our study in the book of Hebrews. 00:00:09.400 |
Hebrews chapter 8, we're going to be reading from verse 7 through verse 13. 00:00:26.400 |
For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for 00:00:31.600 |
For finding fault with them, he says, "Behold, days are coming," says the Lord, "when I will 00:00:35.840 |
effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 00:00:40.640 |
Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the 00:00:47.040 |
For they did not continue in my covenant, and I did not care for them," says the Lord. 00:00:51.480 |
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. 00:00:55.600 |
After those days, says the Lord, "I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write 00:00:58.760 |
them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 00:01:03.120 |
And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, 00:01:07.000 |
'Know the Lord, for all will know me, from the least to the greatest of them. 00:01:10.920 |
For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.'" 00:01:16.040 |
Heavenly Father, we pray for your anointing and your Holy Spirit to cause us to listen 00:01:21.200 |
and understand and apply these truths, Lord God, in our lives. 00:01:25.800 |
Help us, Lord God, to have clarity of thought, clarity of heart, that you are the potter 00:01:31.440 |
and we are the clay, that you would mold us as you desire. 00:01:36.480 |
You know, as a pastor, you know, Apostle Paul is one of those men that I see in Scripture 00:01:45.520 |
And obviously, he wrote so many of these letters, and we, you know, dissect his personality, 00:01:53.000 |
his writings, his vocabulary, and so we know much about Apostle Paul. 00:01:56.960 |
And typically, when men think about going into ministry, we often talk about Apostle 00:02:02.680 |
Paul's ministry and his strategy, how he preached the gospel, what cities did he go to, how 00:02:10.040 |
But aside from Apostle Paul, there are many great men that God has used to fulfill his 00:02:18.400 |
In fact, the majority of people's ministry doesn't look anything like Apostle Paul. 00:02:22.320 |
When we think of Apostle Paul, you see this man, even though he lived a short life, he 00:02:27.160 |
went from city to city and established dozens of cities. 00:02:31.880 |
And again, at the end of his life, I mean, he's credited to bringing the gospel to basically 00:02:39.080 |
But there are many people who have labored and preached without seeing any fruit in their 00:02:45.240 |
In fact, I would say that more than not, people who enter into full-time ministry live their 00:02:51.600 |
whole lives frustrated and then die frustrated because they didn't see the fruit that they 00:02:57.800 |
And one of the men that represents that more than anybody else in the Bible is probably 00:03:03.400 |
You know, Jeremiah is known as a weeping prophet. 00:03:08.400 |
I mean, the book is Lamentations for a reason, because the whole book is lamenting. 00:03:14.280 |
Book of Jeremiah is written in the context of bringing judgment to the nation of Israel, 00:03:20.920 |
The northern kingdom already fell into the Assyrians, and then the southern kingdom has 00:03:25.080 |
outlasted them because they had a few good people. 00:03:29.320 |
But in the end, their sins was going to bring about the judgment of God, and Jeremiah's 00:03:35.160 |
whole ministry was to warn them about the judgment that's coming. 00:03:38.760 |
And so these verses in Jeremiah 27 through 8, it captures his heart and why he's called 00:03:47.120 |
He says, "Oh Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived. 00:03:51.520 |
You have overcome me and prevailed, and I have become a laughingstock all day long. 00:03:56.560 |
Everyone mocks me, for each time I speak, I cry aloud. 00:03:59.200 |
I proclaim violence and destruction, because for me, the word of the Lord has resulted 00:04:06.360 |
I've only taken two verses, but this is sort of what Jeremiah's ministry was like all throughout 00:04:15.920 |
The reward for his ministry and his suffering is that judgment does come. 00:04:21.280 |
And then they go into captivity, and it isn't until years later they look back and say, 00:04:25.520 |
"Wow, Jeremiah was really speaking about God. 00:04:27.800 |
He was the prophet, but during his life, all he saw was suffering." 00:04:34.440 |
Who would want to go into ministry if that's what ministry looks like? 00:04:39.480 |
Most people think of the glory, you know, the Apostle Paul planting churches, going 00:04:43.480 |
from place to place, and revival breaking out everywhere. 00:04:47.680 |
But majority of the people who diligently serve God, serve God simply out of obedience, 00:04:56.000 |
But even Jeremiah, even in the book of Jeremiah, he was able to persevere, because even though 00:05:04.960 |
he was preaching about the judgment, God was prophesying through him that he was not going 00:05:10.800 |
to forget about them, that he's going to remain faithful. 00:05:14.600 |
And so the text that we're looking at about the transition from the old covenant to the 00:05:17.920 |
new covenant comes directly out of Jeremiah's text, in Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 31. 00:05:23.600 |
And it is a direct quote from that passage that in the midst of the darkness, in the 00:05:27.600 |
darkest period of Israel's history, God reminds them that he is not going to forsake them, 00:05:35.840 |
And that new covenant obviously is what he is referring to in Hebrews chapter 8. 00:05:43.280 |
With that perspective, coming out of Jeremiah 31, it says, "For if that first covenant had 00:05:48.120 |
been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second." 00:05:53.240 |
"For finding fault with them, he said, 'Behold, days are coming,' says the Lord, 'when I will 00:05:57.280 |
effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.'" 00:06:01.160 |
Again, he's speaking to people who are obstinate against God. 00:06:07.800 |
In fact, the sin in Israel has gotten so bad that they were actually offering up their 00:06:13.280 |
children as human sacrifice to the idol, Molech. 00:06:20.280 |
And so in the midst of proclaiming judgment upon them, he breaks in with this prophecy 00:06:26.000 |
that even in this darkness, God is bringing light. 00:06:30.120 |
"Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the 00:06:37.200 |
For they did not continue in my covenant, and I did not care for them, says the Lord." 00:06:40.960 |
In other words, he says, "The covenant that I made with Moses, with the nation of Israel, 00:06:46.040 |
was a conditional covenant, that if you obey my commandments, I will bless you. 00:06:50.660 |
And if you disobey my commandments, curse is going to be upon you." 00:06:54.680 |
And so, the book of Jeremiah is the fulfillment of the covenant that God made with the nation 00:07:03.800 |
But even in that midst, he says, "But a new covenant is coming, unlike the old covenant, 00:07:11.420 |
God is going to fulfill the covenant that he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 00:07:16.920 |
An unconditional covenant that he will not forsake his people." 00:07:21.120 |
You know what's just interesting, the word for covenant in Hebrew, berith, literally 00:07:28.280 |
So when you're reading the Old Testament and you read the word covenant, most of the time 00:07:36.160 |
And the reason why that word literally is cut is because of the way that they made covenants 00:07:40.860 |
at that time, which is reflected in the way that we have weddings. 00:07:43.960 |
So if you know, I'm sure many of you have been to weddings, or most of you I'm assuming, 00:07:49.720 |
and you have two aisles, or one aisle, and you have one party on one side and the other 00:07:54.280 |
party on the other side, and then after the covenant is made, they would both hand in 00:08:01.000 |
Part of the reason why the Christian church does that is it reflects the way that they 00:08:08.440 |
We see that reflected in Genesis chapter 15, when God makes a covenant, he would cut the 00:08:15.100 |
And then the two parties who are entering into this covenant would walk down this aisle 00:08:19.440 |
with the animals who are bleeding on both sides, and the significance behind that is 00:08:25.400 |
One, if whoever breaks this covenant is going to be like these animals, that they will also 00:08:33.240 |
In other words, that this covenant is to be taken seriously. 00:08:37.120 |
But the second meaning behind that covenant is that this covenant is ratified by the blood. 00:08:42.320 |
So the blood that is shed by the animals and the significance behind their death is what 00:08:50.840 |
And so what God is saying that in bringing this new covenant, and even by the by its 00:08:55.360 |
very word pointed to the coming of Christ, that God was going to ratify this old covenant 00:09:02.400 |
that they could not fulfill with a covenant that they cannot break because God is going 00:09:07.120 |
to be faithful to himself, which is what he reiterates in Hebrews chapter 6. 00:09:13.680 |
And so the whole point of this text this morning is how and what is he doing in this new covenant. 00:09:22.660 |
If I was to summarize, and again, you know, I'm not good at putting titles on sermons. 00:09:27.960 |
You know, if it was up to me, I would just say Hebrews 8, you know, verse 7 through 13. 00:09:36.940 |
As I was reviewing the sermon after I gave the title, if I was to re-title the sermon, 00:09:48.520 |
Because in a nutshell, that describes what he is saying here, the old covenant versus 00:09:55.240 |
And I know it is a cliche in the Christian community. 00:10:06.680 |
Religion is a bunch of set of rules that you follow. 00:10:10.840 |
A relationship is what we do because of the personal relationship that we have. 00:10:15.560 |
So that kind of summarizes, okay, in a nutshell. 00:10:18.760 |
So if you're going to fall asleep, at least remember the title, okay? 00:10:24.680 |
The old covenant versus the new covenant, okay? 00:10:28.720 |
But if you do, at least remember the title, okay? 00:10:33.000 |
There's three things that he says about this new covenant. 00:10:36.120 |
A renewed relationship with the law, a renewed relationship with God, and third, a renewed 00:10:44.520 |
So that's basically how this text is divided. 00:10:47.960 |
First of all, the difference between the old and the new covenant is our relationship with 00:10:56.160 |
In Hebrews chapter 810, it says, "I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write 00:11:02.200 |
And again, it's that same idea as repeated in Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 26. 00:11:07.640 |
"Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove 00:11:12.960 |
the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." 00:11:19.440 |
Remember when the old covenant, the Mosaic covenant was written, where was that written? 00:11:33.120 |
God literally wrote the old covenant law on stones. 00:11:39.120 |
And then he says, in the new covenant, instead of writing it on the stone of your heart, 00:11:43.280 |
he said, "I'm going to renew your flesh and your mind so that it would be embedded in 00:11:49.880 |
Now, to better understand what's happening, the transition from the old and the new covenant 00:11:54.360 |
in our relationship with the law, before Adam and Eve fell, we didn't have the Mosaic law 00:12:01.800 |
to say, "You can't do this, and you ought to do this." 00:12:07.240 |
It was written in their mind because God created them to be a reflection of his glory. 00:12:14.160 |
They had a relationship with God and his standard and who he is, and it naturally reflected 00:12:22.760 |
But when they fell, that innate understanding of his glory and who he is began to get tainted. 00:12:31.080 |
So as time went by, God chooses to write his command, his laws, on stone because they were 00:12:38.280 |
no longer able to recognize it in their hearts. 00:12:48.040 |
So much of the Mosaic law, if you read prior, you could see it reflected, whether it was 00:12:55.800 |
Before it was written in stone, you could see that it was some of it, that they understood 00:13:01.960 |
But as time went by, God makes this covenant with them saying, "I'm going to show you what 00:13:12.080 |
So as ages go by and as you fall further and further away from understanding of who I am, 00:13:18.040 |
you will be able to see the law and see what you have fallen short of." 00:13:22.280 |
So now when Christ has come, he regenerates the Christians and he makes us new. 00:13:29.940 |
And so when we have become new, what has he done? 00:13:32.120 |
He has restored that innate ability to understand who God is. 00:13:39.400 |
And that's our relationship with the law, where we are able to understand who he is 00:13:44.880 |
and his nature, because we lost it in our fall because of our sin, God places it externally 00:13:50.280 |
so that people can see the standard in which we have fallen. 00:13:55.120 |
And then in the new covenant, because the Holy Spirit is indwelling in us, now that 00:14:00.640 |
new law of who God is, his glory was written back into our hearts and into our minds. 00:14:07.800 |
But you and I do not know that perfectly because we are still living in this flesh. 00:14:12.520 |
So the theologians call this here and not yet, meaning that we have been regenerated, 00:14:18.080 |
but the final fulfillment of this relationship with the law is going to be up in heaven. 00:14:22.600 |
So when we're in heaven, there aren't going to be a set of rules to follow. 00:14:27.760 |
There isn't going to be another set of laws, like on Sunday you should do this and do not 00:14:32.080 |
touch this and do not go here, because it says it's going to be in our hearts, it's 00:14:37.120 |
We are going to be able to understand and know innately in our mind, in our heart. 00:14:43.960 |
He says in this covenant, you no longer, the set of rules is no longer about what you do 00:14:50.520 |
It's not a bunch of check off stuff that you do and say, I did this. 00:14:56.460 |
If I want to be a Christian, what do I need to do? 00:14:59.040 |
And if somebody asks you that question, you may say, well, you got to find a good church. 00:15:18.480 |
And we can tell them all these external things to do. 00:15:21.740 |
But again, if you've been studying the Bible for any period of time, you know you can do 00:15:30.420 |
Nobody has done that better than the Pharisees. 00:15:32.760 |
Well, you have to evangelize, you have to memorize scripture, you have to give, and 00:15:36.480 |
you have to do this, you have to do that, you have to keep the Sabbath. 00:15:39.240 |
And nobody kept the law like the Jews, like the Pharisees. 00:15:43.600 |
And yet when Christ came, he says, this has nothing to do with me. 00:15:51.920 |
He says in the new covenant, it is not a set of rules that are external. 00:15:58.400 |
In Romans chapter 7, he says the whole purpose of the law is so that we may understand and 00:16:05.920 |
In other words, the law didn't make it utterly sinful. 00:16:10.440 |
The law revealed the utter sinfulness of our heart to show us how far we have fallen from 00:16:21.160 |
But now in the new covenant, what the law could not do, God did by sending his son in 00:16:28.560 |
For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did by sending 00:16:34.040 |
And as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. 00:16:38.760 |
That's why it says in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, to describe a Christian, therefore if anyone 00:16:45.600 |
The old things have passed away, behold, the new things have come. 00:16:49.760 |
So when somebody asks, what is an identifying mark of a Christian? 00:16:54.480 |
The first thing that this describes is our relationship with the law. 00:16:59.640 |
Is there an innate desire to reflect his glory? 00:17:03.880 |
Some people think salvation is just not going to hell. 00:17:08.280 |
You go to church and do the right things and it's nothing more than superstition because 00:17:16.320 |
And if you've read the Bible and have been paying attention to anything that the scripture 00:17:22.680 |
You can be a member of the church, you can serve, you can give, you can go to short-term 00:17:28.840 |
And unless there is a regeneration of our heart where the Holy Spirit is indwelling 00:17:33.200 |
in us, and unless there is a change in our relationship where what we do is not simply 00:17:40.560 |
following the external rules that have been set before us, which was the old covenant, 00:17:46.480 |
we're in a new covenant, the regeneration of our heart causes us to desire to worship 00:17:53.680 |
And that's what Jesus was saying in John chapter 4 to that Samaritan woman. 00:17:57.480 |
Is it this mountain or that mountain we ought to be worshiping? 00:18:01.000 |
What God is looking for are people who worship him in spirit and in truth. 00:18:04.640 |
In other words, not just to follow the external rules, but is there a regeneration in our 00:18:10.400 |
heart where God has written his laws in our heart and in our mind? 00:18:14.440 |
So Adam Clark in his commentary on this text says this, "All their affections, passions, 00:18:19.120 |
and appetites shall be purified and filled with holiness and love to God and man, so 00:18:24.480 |
that they shall not willingly obey and feel that love is fulfilling the law. 00:18:29.640 |
Instead of being written on the tables of stone, they shall be written on the fleshly 00:18:37.680 |
That's the difference between somebody who is just following rules. 00:18:42.480 |
And you know, there's a lot of people who are good at following rules. 00:18:52.120 |
If there are rules, my first instinct is, why do I have to do that? 00:19:00.880 |
And you follow one rule, and the next question is, what other rule can I follow? 00:19:05.320 |
I don't understand you, but there's some people, a lot of people are like that, especially 00:19:12.600 |
What he's saying is not talking about people who are good at following rules. 00:19:17.560 |
He's talking about worship that's coming because we have innately changed inwardly. 00:19:24.920 |
And maybe some of you, you don't remember a particular day that may have happened. 00:19:32.320 |
I got knocked over the head, and then I was different. 00:19:35.160 |
And I know that more than not, many of you just grew up in the church and gradually began 00:19:39.280 |
to understand the glory of God and your sins, and you can't pinpoint a certain day, but 00:19:44.400 |
you can point to a certain period of your life where your affections changed. 00:19:53.040 |
Maybe you did it because your parents made you do it. 00:19:55.780 |
Maybe you did it because you just, I'm a Christian, I identify as a Christian, so that's what 00:19:59.600 |
a Christian's supposed to do, and maybe you're just good at following rules. 00:20:02.640 |
But at some point, at some period, if it's not some particular day, you remember when 00:20:10.360 |
there was a regeneration of your heart, where worshiping God was no longer an obligation, 00:20:18.200 |
Where obedience to Him was not necessarily a sacrifice, but the very thing that I desire 00:20:26.320 |
We come to Christ, and the world won't understand why are you doing what you are doing. 00:20:31.520 |
The world doesn't understand because they don't know the joy that it produces. 00:20:34.840 |
They don't know that this is where we find life. 00:20:38.960 |
In the new covenant, there is a new relationship with the law where it is embedded in us through 00:20:45.880 |
And we are attracted to the Spirit of God more than anything else in this world. 00:20:51.280 |
So without that Spirit, the Word of God makes no sense. 00:20:55.760 |
Read certain parts of the Scripture, like 1 Peter, where it tells us to suffer for good. 00:21:04.000 |
You know when you're suffering for good, you know what we call that in this world? 00:21:08.200 |
And we have a whole world right now crying out, "Injustice, injustice." 00:21:19.660 |
Because injustice means that needs to be corrected. 00:21:24.400 |
And yet, in the non-Christian perspective, that makes absolutely no sense. 00:21:29.360 |
Yet in eternal perspective, he says, because it brings greater glory, greater light. 00:21:36.220 |
So a non-Christian would never understand that. 00:21:38.000 |
As somebody who does not have the Holy Spirit, somebody who doesn't recognize the eternal 00:21:41.960 |
hope that we have in Christ, will never understand that. 00:21:48.660 |
If you are following religion, here's a bunch of rules that you're supposed to do. 00:21:52.240 |
Here's a bunch of things to make things right. 00:21:55.000 |
But there's a lot of things in the Scripture that we are called to do in the eyes of the 00:22:01.840 |
And we are called to do that in order to bring the greatest glory to God. 00:22:07.080 |
That's the first thing that he says that happens when the new covenant, when the Holy Spirit 00:22:12.280 |
The second thing is our relationship with God is renewed. 00:22:15.680 |
Hebrews chapter 8, verse 10, "And I will be their God, and they shall be my people." 00:22:21.120 |
Now we may look at that and say, "Well, I mean, he uses that on the nation of Israel 00:22:30.440 |
Let me illustrate this and what he means by here. 00:22:32.560 |
He's not just simply talking about a legal definition, a description of the people of 00:22:43.120 |
You know, some of you guys know my wife, people who've been at our church for a long period 00:22:50.520 |
And some of you guys are like, "That's weird. 00:22:57.040 |
Well, there's a reason behind that because a long time ago, I mean, 15, 20 years ago, 00:23:01.120 |
it's been a while, when our church was much smaller, I think we had about maybe 50, 50, 00:23:09.040 |
You know, Esther Kim is a very common name in the Korean community. 00:23:13.360 |
So we had two Esther Kims and then two other Esthers. 00:23:16.600 |
So in order to distinguish the Esthers, we had one Esther we called Ezlo. 00:23:22.640 |
And the reason why we call her Ezlo, I will not get into. 00:23:24.800 |
Some of you guys who've been here for a while, you know why we call her Ezlo. 00:23:28.040 |
And then we had another lady in our church, her name was Esther Song, so we called her 00:23:34.320 |
And then we had another Esther, her name was Esther Beck, so we called her E Beck. 00:23:39.200 |
And then Esther will happen to be the oldest among them, and so they called her Mama Esther. 00:23:43.660 |
So today, a lot of people don't know where this came from, and we have people much older 00:23:49.480 |
So people from the outside is like, "It may seem weird, but that's the history behind 00:23:55.880 |
I remember in the beginning of that, before we had all these, you know, ways to differentiate 00:24:00.880 |
them, people would, I would say Esther, and I'd have to re-explain. 00:24:09.120 |
In fact, I used to get into a lot of trouble because I used to send emails to Esther Kim. 00:24:16.520 |
And then the other Esther Kim, Ezlo, would get it and said, "Okay, thank you." 00:24:21.560 |
And then I'd look at the names, "Oh, shoot, I messed up." 00:24:26.440 |
But by that time, in order for me to differentiate between that, my Esther and other Esthers, 00:24:35.080 |
And everybody knew when I said, "My Esther," that I was not referring to Esong or Ezlo 00:24:42.400 |
We're talking about Esther that I have a covenant relationship with. 00:24:50.880 |
That's what distinguishes her between any other Esther in the universe. 00:25:01.540 |
So that's what I mean when I say, "My Esther." 00:25:03.400 |
And the reason why I say all of this is when he says that I will be their God and they 00:25:09.120 |
shall be my people, he's not simply identifying them legally. 00:25:16.200 |
And in this new covenant, there is going to be this intimate relationship that they didn't 00:25:22.800 |
And again, Ezekiel 37, 26, "I will make a new covenant of peace." 00:25:29.000 |
See, the old covenant was called the covenant of the law. 00:25:34.320 |
The new covenant is called the covenant of peace. 00:25:37.000 |
The covenant of peace, not because that there's no turmoil, no trouble in your life if you 00:25:41.640 |
enter into this covenant, he's talking about a peace between sinner and a holy God. 00:25:47.720 |
And that barrier between us and God is going to be taken away. 00:25:51.040 |
And so therefore, this new covenant that you and I are in is called the covenant of peace. 00:26:00.920 |
This is the covenant that he was leading us to. 00:26:03.360 |
And I will place them and multiply them and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. 00:26:10.640 |
So in other words, there is a personal possession. 00:26:14.100 |
So the first characteristic of this new covenant is a new relationship with the law. 00:26:20.220 |
But the second is a new relationship with this God. 00:26:23.780 |
There are many people who come to church for years and years and years and years, have 00:26:42.000 |
And that is a distinguishing mark between somebody who met Christ and fell in love with 00:26:47.360 |
him versus somebody who worships him from a distance. 00:27:32.400 |
And I'm sure you would take that a lot more personally. 00:27:34.840 |
And you take that personally because the mom that I'm talking about is your mom who loved 00:27:43.140 |
And there's a personal affection for that mom. 00:27:49.060 |
You care about her name being dragged through the mud. 00:27:53.760 |
See, so many Christians who come to church has no personal affection for this God that 00:28:02.800 |
And so when his name is being blasphemed, you hear it like you're hearing something 00:28:11.320 |
Hearing news of somebody who died that you don't know. 00:28:17.040 |
See, he says in the new covenant that not only are we his, but he is mine. 00:28:40.760 |
And that's what initiates us from wanting to come to him. 00:28:44.280 |
Part of the reason why so few Christians pray is because God is impersonal. 00:28:53.000 |
It's like going to a job interview to get things done. 00:28:57.920 |
To say that you went, you dressed up properly, and you said the right things. 00:29:03.420 |
The way we go to a job interview, the way we go to meet a close friend is very different. 00:29:09.520 |
The other thing is just something that you have to get over with. 00:29:12.860 |
And at the core of that is because of our relationship with God. 00:29:19.720 |
See, the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian in 2 Corinthians 4, 3-4 is 00:29:24.720 |
that non-Christians are blinded by the enemy, by the God of this age, so that we do not 00:29:42.920 |
But the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is that a Christian has opened 00:29:55.440 |
You cannot see his glory and not fall in love. 00:30:05.920 |
You know, you can go and eat a sandwich and say, "I like it or I don't like it." 00:30:09.540 |
You can go take a vacation and say, "I like this area, I don't like this area." 00:30:14.120 |
But when our eyes become open to the glory of God, when our eyes get open to the glory 00:30:27.840 |
Because every human being was created for that purpose. 00:30:33.320 |
Every human being was created in the image of God. 00:30:37.440 |
So when our eyes become open to see that image, we recognize that this is what we've been 00:30:53.760 |
That's why in Acts chapter 9, 18-19, Apostle Paul lived all his life in religion and obeying 00:31:00.760 |
He said, "As to the law," he says, "he was perfect." 00:31:05.560 |
But yet when he met Christ, what does he say? 00:31:07.840 |
In light of the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ, all of that became rubbish. 00:31:13.640 |
All of these external things that he was checking off. 00:31:17.640 |
He said he was better than everybody else and he wasn't exaggerating. 00:31:25.360 |
And yet in comparison to the new covenant relationship with Christ, all of that was 00:31:39.840 |
And after three days, what happens in Acts chapter 9, 18 or 19? 00:31:44.120 |
He says after three days, the scale falls off of his eyes. 00:31:48.560 |
Now, I'm not an optometrist, but most people don't walk around with scales in their eyes. 00:32:04.600 |
Then after seeing the glory of Christ, all of a sudden he was seeing for the first time. 00:32:11.060 |
And from that moment on, he became an evangelist. 00:32:16.480 |
He was just telling people about what he fell in love with. 00:32:21.520 |
And all of a sudden, he began to love whatever he loved. 00:32:24.920 |
Because that's what happens when you fall in love. 00:32:28.120 |
When you fall in love, you know, I hated noodles before I met Esther. 00:32:32.480 |
I'm not going to say I love noodles, but I like noodles. 00:32:38.880 |
You end up liking what the other person likes. 00:32:41.000 |
You end up doing what that other person does when you fall in love. 00:32:47.960 |
Scales came off of his eyes, and all of a sudden, Christ's mission was his mission. 00:32:53.620 |
He hated the Gentiles, and all of a sudden, he became the apostle of the Gentiles, and 00:32:59.840 |
That's why in 2 Corinthians 3, 14-18, it says, "But their minds were hardened, for until 00:33:05.080 |
this very day at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains unlifted, because it 00:33:14.880 |
All they see is a set of things that they're supposed to do and not do. 00:33:18.300 |
But they do not see, because they did not see Christ. 00:33:21.880 |
To this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart, but whenever a person 00:33:28.440 |
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 00:33:32.200 |
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are 00:33:36.640 |
being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the 00:33:42.400 |
You notice here, if you pay attention, he's describing sanctification. 00:33:48.240 |
In the way that we do discipleship, if we get somebody who's not disciplined to be disciplined, 00:33:56.740 |
If somebody's not memorizing scripture and they're memorizing scripture, they're being 00:34:01.520 |
If you're not doing what you're supposed to do, and you get them to do what they're supposed 00:34:06.760 |
That's not how the Bible describes sanctification. 00:34:10.260 |
The sanctification he describes is a greater exposure to his glory. 00:34:16.000 |
More and more of seeing who he is, we are being transformed as we are seeing his glory. 00:34:23.360 |
So when we see his glory, it causes us to love the Word. 00:34:33.340 |
But it happens because internally we are changing as we are seeing his glory. 00:34:41.360 |
So justification happens when the scales fall off. 00:34:44.840 |
Sanctification happens as we see more and more of that glory. 00:34:48.880 |
So you can have an individual who is very disciplined, who's memorizing scripture, and 00:34:55.040 |
is very good at rule keeping, and be no closer to God than when he first started. 00:35:04.080 |
There is no affection for God growing in that person. 00:35:07.240 |
So he says the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant is not only 00:35:11.040 |
a relationship with the law, but relationship with this God. 00:35:15.560 |
He renews a renewed affection, which is the catalyst behind what we do. 00:35:20.580 |
So there's a world of difference between somebody who is regurgitating information about Christ 00:35:28.960 |
You went to seminary, and I know this deep theology. 00:35:32.720 |
I was told this, so now I'm going to tell you the knowledge that I have. 00:35:38.160 |
There's a world of difference between somebody who is sharing because he heard it and then 00:35:41.960 |
he's regurgitating it versus somebody who witnessed Christ. 00:35:47.000 |
He saw his glory, and he's just telling you what he loves. 00:35:55.280 |
When you talk to somebody who's just selling you a product versus somebody who wants you 00:36:00.560 |
to have this because he believes that it just hasn't affected me, it will affect you. 00:36:07.320 |
So the catalyst behind sanctification is a growing, growing relationship with Jesus 00:36:14.240 |
Third and finally, a renewed relationship with each other. 00:36:19.340 |
Right now, again, we live in a world where we're all like, "We need to get this right. 00:36:32.900 |
But the scripture clearly says, "Until there is restoration and peace with God, there is 00:36:41.820 |
The injustice and racism that people are so concerned about is a result of the fall of 00:36:49.840 |
It is not simply because of certain rules and regulations that we need to change. 00:36:56.200 |
Again, if there are certain things that we need to change, we should change. 00:37:01.040 |
But overall, the scripture tells us, "Peace with man does not and cannot happen until 00:37:10.360 |
See in Hebrews 8, 11, it says, "And they shall not teach everyone, his fellow citizen, 00:37:15.420 |
and everyone his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord, for all will know me, and from the least 00:37:29.320 |
In fact, Hebrews 5, 12, the very author says, "You ought to be teachers by now." 00:37:37.960 |
In Ephesians 4, 11-12, the pastors that you guys studied not too long ago, he says, "He 00:37:43.160 |
established apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip so that we 00:37:53.400 |
James 3, 1, "Not many of you should be teachers," meaning some need to be teachers. 00:37:59.080 |
So what does he mean here when he says, "You shall not, they shall not teach everyone, 00:38:03.840 |
his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord.'" 00:38:08.880 |
What he means here is not saying that there's no need for anybody to teach anything because 00:38:13.440 |
now since the law is written in our hearts and our mind, everybody knows what to do and 00:38:21.760 |
While we are here, the here and not yet, he's established teachers, apostles. 00:38:26.520 |
In fact, he has regulations on when we establish teachers, what are the qualifications that 00:38:37.440 |
What he means here is that we no longer have additional things, additional people to get 00:38:46.240 |
Remember, this is being stated in the context of the old tabernacle versus the new covenant. 00:38:52.560 |
In the old tabernacle, there was a clear hierarchy of how they can reach God. 00:38:59.440 |
The high priest, one person, he has the most intimate access to God. 00:39:04.280 |
He can go to the Holy of Holies only once a year. 00:39:06.840 |
The priest can go to the Holies, the outer chamber, and they can make sacrifices and 00:39:12.140 |
sprinkle the blood, but they could be around the chamber. 00:39:14.920 |
If you were a Jewish male, you can come to the outer court and offer the sacrifices and 00:39:19.320 |
hang around, but if you were a Jewish female, there are certain parts of the tabernacle 00:39:24.920 |
If you happen to be a Gentile convert, there are certain places that you couldn't go to. 00:39:29.960 |
If you had any kind of defect, if you were a eunuch, or if you had any kind of pores 00:39:37.320 |
There was a strict hierarchy of who had access and who you needed to go to in order for you 00:39:45.120 |
He's saying in the new covenant, all of that is broken. 00:39:48.780 |
There is no other mediator between us and God other than Christ Jesus, and every single 00:39:59.280 |
I don't have more access than you do, and you don't have more access than I do. 00:40:05.100 |
Just because you get a title or I went to seminary, somehow there's some inner chamber 00:40:15.360 |
Meaning, every single one of us, everything that we need for a life of godliness, you 00:40:24.300 |
Some of the biggest hindrances in our Christian life is when we begin to convince ourselves, 00:40:34.040 |
I am the way I am because I wasn't discipled. 00:40:35.840 |
I am the way I am because I don't have enough older people in my life. 00:40:39.280 |
I am the way I am because we lack this program. 00:40:44.720 |
Once we begin to tell ourselves that I lack these things to access God, from that moment, 00:40:53.200 |
I don't need to go to God because it wasn't me. 00:40:57.880 |
And yet, in 2 Peter 1, 2-3, it says, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge 00:41:02.480 |
of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything 00:41:12.040 |
I want you to stop right there and just let that sink in. 00:41:14.620 |
Everything that you need for life and godliness has been given to you. 00:41:21.320 |
Think about how often we think, "If I had this, if I had a better small group, if I 00:41:27.680 |
had better pastors, if I had a better community, if I had older people in my life, if I had 00:41:33.960 |
a better job, if my kids were more obedient, if I had a little bit more money, if I had 00:41:39.480 |
a better job, if I had better vacation, if I lived in a better neighborhood, if I had 00:41:45.600 |
And once that thought enters our mind, from that moment on, I am the way I am because 00:41:52.320 |
And yet, the scripture says, "No, the access has been opened to you." 00:41:57.880 |
Everything that you need for life of godliness, you already have. 00:42:09.400 |
The gathering of people are people who have equal access to God. 00:42:13.200 |
You don't need to come to church simply to meet God. 00:42:17.980 |
Church is a place where we come to celebrate what we have in Christ. 00:42:24.160 |
Church is a gathering of people that have been regenerated, who have fallen in love 00:42:28.120 |
with what we have in Christ, to worship together. 00:42:36.640 |
Because it's not about the educated, it's not about what race, it's not about our background. 00:42:43.160 |
Every single person, no matter how difficult your life, no matter how sick you are, no 00:42:48.760 |
matter how much time you have or how little time you have, every single one of us has 00:42:53.280 |
access to the holy of holies because of what Christ has done. 00:42:57.600 |
And that's what affects our relationship with each other. 00:43:14.280 |
So because I am satisfied in Christ, when I come to church, the overflowing joy in me 00:43:28.720 |
But you have a church filled with people who are frustrated because I don't have this, 00:43:31.120 |
I don't have that, and then they come to church, how come he's not giving me, nobody's reaching 00:43:34.360 |
out to me, nobody cares about me, because we're trying to find satisfaction in each 00:43:38.680 |
other that was meant to be fulfilled in Christ. 00:43:48.600 |
So even when we feel injustice, we can't squash our joy. 00:44:02.960 |
My life is not found in making sure that I get what's mine. 00:44:08.320 |
It's like winning the lottery, you know, and you got a billion dollar, the greatest lottery 00:44:12.700 |
in history, and then you're complaining about the parking ticket that you got. 00:44:21.920 |
And instead of celebrating the lottery that you won, a billion dollars that you didn't 00:44:27.560 |
deserve, you spend all your time complaining about that ticket that was unjust, you know. 00:44:40.760 |
I got to go to the parking, I got to go over there, wake up early and pay this ticket. 00:44:45.200 |
You know, it's a $50 ticket and it's nothing to you compared to what you already have in 00:44:50.080 |
That's why the greatest hindrance to true worship is a grumbling heart. 00:44:59.000 |
Not recognizing what it is that we have in Christ. 00:45:01.560 |
But imagine a community of people who recognizes what they have in Christ. 00:45:19.840 |
Not because I know you're going to, you're going to be fair to me. 00:45:25.040 |
Because my love is not based upon your love for me. 00:45:31.220 |
And that's how God restores peace in mankind. 00:45:36.340 |
You fill a room or a society or a country filled with people who want fairness. 00:45:43.980 |
Again, perfectly understandable in the secular world. 00:45:49.940 |
But as Christians, we're all lottery winners. 00:46:01.900 |
So peace with God is what causes the peace with man. 00:46:12.340 |
If you were poor and you had Jesus, I'm talking about real poverty, right? 00:46:15.980 |
I'm not talking about not being able to drink boba whenever you want, right? 00:46:25.060 |
Like if you were poor and you had Jesus, would that be enough? 00:46:30.940 |
If you caught COVID or somebody you love caught COVID and they died, but you had Christ and 00:46:45.340 |
Would you be okay if you were imprisoned falsely and had to spend the rest of your life in 00:47:04.340 |
Every single one of us has been given something that you and I could not possibly earn. 00:47:10.580 |
So even if I become sick and homeless and die early, for the rest of eternity, God deserves 00:47:19.900 |
The character of believers should be different than the world. 00:47:26.660 |
In fact, let me ask the praise team to come back up. 00:47:31.060 |
Yeah, if you guys can come back, come back up. 00:47:33.260 |
We're going to sing this song, "All I Have is Christ." 00:47:37.260 |
You know, the song, "All I Have is Christ," is hard to sing sometimes when you're rich. 00:47:43.460 |
Every single one of us, because we live in Orange County. 00:47:48.020 |
No one is going to leave this room and saying, "I don't have $7 to go get a hamburger." 00:47:57.340 |
But sometimes because we're rich, to say, "All I have is Christ," because it's not true. 00:48:06.060 |
We're sitting in an air-conditioned room, living in a free country, right? 00:48:09.580 |
We don't have people breaking down doors and trying to arrest us. 00:48:12.980 |
You know, our persecution, at least now, our persecution is people not liking us, right? 00:48:19.540 |
So sometimes it's rich people to say, "All I have is Christ," it's just not relatable. 00:48:24.100 |
You know, when we sing this song, "All I Have is Christ," I think we need to be reminded, 00:48:32.700 |
So in our distraction, in all the blessings that God has given us, as we sing this song, 00:48:41.180 |
So let me pray for us, and then we'll let our worship team lead us. 00:48:44.580 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much, Father, for the new covenant that you've given us. 00:48:52.500 |
Help us, Lord God, if we have drifted in any way and have forgotten what it is that we 00:48:59.020 |
Help us to be reminded, even as we sing this song, that all we have is Christ, all we need 00:49:04.980 |
And may that be our cry, may that be our worship, may that be the source of our joy.