Classic Christianity – Christmas P1 (12-20-21)
Understanding the Book of Hebrews The New Covenant and The Birth of Jesus
As we begin our study today, during this Christmas season, Bob is teaching from the book of Hebrews. He points out the keys to understanding the new Covenant. “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” (Hebrews 10:16) And he puts into perspective the Laws of Jesus. These Laws of Jesus are the laws of Love.
Matthew 22:37-40
37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The entire old Testament was fulfilled by Jesus in the law of Love.
Hebrews 8:13
13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
Once we begin to wrap our minds around these key points of scripture, then everything starts to make sense for a person. For if Jesus did not make this change, then why would He had have to come to begin with? If we could do all the law of Moses ourselves, then Jesus would not have had to come. If we could live our lives and be perfect, then Jesus would not have had to do anything at all. He could of sat up in heaven and just let man have at it, trying to attain perfection through trying to be obedient to the law. No one can be obedient to the law.
Pentecost was the beginning of when the Holy Spirit was sent to the world to restore life to people. God gave us this as a gift. You can either accept it or reject it. On the day of Pentecost the Apostles themselves were suddenly made whole again themselves. They had the power of the Holy Spirit alive living in them. Prior to that they were scared men. They had no power prior to Pentecost. They had to be born again and on that day, the Holy Spirit for the first time came to permanently live in man.
Prior to Pentecost, the Holy Spirit did not permanently indwell believers. The Spirit came upon people for doing mighty works of God, but it did not indwell people and give permanent life until the day of Pentecost came. The reason for that was because prior to the cross, sins were temporally covered by the sacrifices of bulls and goats. However after the cross, Jesus took the sins of the world away completely and God is not judging us on our sins (plural). There is only one sin that has to be corrected of (repented of, changed our mind on), and that is the sin of unbelief. A person must place faith in Jesus for salvation. Jesus tells us the world’s sin is unbelief in Him. [John 16:9]
John the Baptist identified Jesus and even said behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
John 1:21
21 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Because Jesus took away the sins of the world, and we are forgiven people, the Holy Spirit will never leave the person that has become born again of the Spirit. This is the good news of the New Covenant! Jesus gave us permanent life in Him! That right there is worthy of praising Him for Life!
To put into perspective the New Covenant, it was on the day of Pentecost that the New Covenant became a reality. That was when the body of Christ was formed. That was the day that things started becoming new again. That was the day the church came into existence. That church is still growing today. Whenever a person comes to Jesus by faith and the Holy Spirit makes them born again, then they too become a part of the body of Christ.
John 14:16,17
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth…
This is all part of the New Covenant. So often we forget about how lost we were to begin with. We come up with all types of nonsense. We justify ourselves and even others by saying, “I’m basically a good person” or “they are basically a good person.” Hopefully you don’t say it. Hopefully you don’t believe it. But we have all heard others say it. We hear this all the time. If we were really good people, we would not need Jesus in the first place.
The Old Testament and even in the New Testament we see people trying to live in the energy of their own flesh. No one can live the Christian life apart from Jesus living in us. Only after the death of Jesus on the cross, and the Holy Spirit coming to live in a person are they born again of the Spirit. There are still people that still try to live in the energy of the flesh and they think they can do that. They can’t. No one can. Only by faith is it possible to please God.
Many people come to God for forgiveness and don’t have a clue about His life. Many of these people are still lost and are still dead because they only came to God to get their sins forgiven. They don’t have the Holy Spirit alive living in them. Why? Because they still think that getting ones sins forgiven is salvation. Getting your sins forgiven didn’t give you life. Your sins were forgiven at the cross. The whole world’s sins were forgiven at the cross. That was reconciliation and God did that on the cross for everyone. But reconciliation is not life! Life is Life. A person must receive Jesus for Life.
Romans 5:10
10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
We are saved through the Life of Jesus, not His death! This is the most wonderful news of the the New Covenant. That’s why the Apostle Paul said without the resurrection of Jesus we are to be pitied of all people. It’s the resurrection that is key for Life.
1 Corinthians 15:19
19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
If it wasn’t for the resurrection then we are still in our sins. We would still be dead.
1 Corinthians 15:19
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
So many people have been given a false gospel today. They may have been told come to Jesus to get your sins forgiven. Or they have been told, come down the isle and give yourself at the alter to Jesus. Yet these people return to the pew and still remain dead as a hammer. They don’t have Life. Why? Because they have been taught a false gospel. They never received life. They never received the Life of Jesus to live in them. They believed in a faith of themselves instead of faith in Jesus.
Romans 8:10
But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
Forgiveness is in His life. This is why the bible says when we have His Life, we have forgiveness. It’s not found apart from Christ Jesus. Forgiveness is received in His Life.
Ephesians 1:7
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
That’s why you have so many people walking around today thinking they are saved, when in reality they don’t have the Holy Spirit alive living in them. There is no power. They thought they were saved because they thought they got their sins forgiven when they walked down an isle, or when they asked for forgiveness (as though the asking itself was the part that caused God to forgive them of their sins). They placed their faith on what they believed instead of Jesus.
These people may be sincere, but have no power to live the Christian life. They are no different than the apostles the day before Pentecost. They are not indwelt by God. They are dead. They don’t have His Life living in them. They have never understood the
Hebrews 8:12,13
12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” 13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
Yet people are still trying to do the Law. Yet God tells us we can’t do it!
Hebrews 9:15-22
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.16 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Many people today are not rebelling against Jesus. They are rebelling against religion. They may have grown up in a religious world and were taught they have to obey this or obey that. Yet they realize there is no way they can obey all these rules and regulations. So they walk away from religion. They say forget it! I can’t do that. And they are correct. No one could do it. This is good to rebel against religion. Jesus didn’t come to give us religion, he came to give us Life. We don’t live by religion. We don’t live by principals. We don’t live by a law. We don’t live by promises. We live by His life
Mark this in your bible. Let it sink in. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Hebrews 9:22
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