Will you please turn to the book of Hebrews?
We read from Hebrews 8:6 through Hebrews 8:13. I will read it in English first, and my dear brother will read it in Chinese.
But now He, that is our Lord Jesus, has got a more excellent ministry,
by so much as He is a Mediator of a better covenant,
which is established on the footing of better promises.
For if that first was faultless,
place had not been sought for a second.
For finding fault, He says to them,
“Behold, days come, saith the Lord,
and I will consummate a new covenant as regards the house of Israel,
and as regards the house of Judah;
not according to the covenant which I made to their fathers
in the day of My taking their hand
to lead them out of the land of Egypt,
because they did not continue in My covenant,
and I did not regard them, saith the Lord.”
Because this is the covenant that I will covenant
to the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord,
giving My laws into their mind.
I will write them also upon their heart,
and I will be to them for God,
and they shall be to Me for people.
And they shall not teach each his fellow citizen,
and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,”
because all shall know Me in themselves,
from the little one among them unto the great among them.
Because I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their lawlessnesses I will never remember anymore.
In that He says, “New,” He has made the first old;
and that which grows old and aged is near disappearing.
Let us have a further word of prayer.
Dear Lord, with grateful hearts, we gather together unto Thy name. We thank Thee for Thy faithfulness to us.
Where two or three are gathered together unto Thy name, there art Thou in their midst. By faith, we believe that Thou art here with us.
We know that we are on holy ground. We will remove our shoes and stand on the ground of Thy bondservants, and say to Thee, “Lord, what hast Thou to say to us?”
Speak, Lord; Thy servants hear. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Thank God for gathering us together again at this time. The burden that the Lord has put upon my heart is very simple: it is concerned with the new covenant, its life, and its ministry.
We all know that we are today living under the new covenant. It is God’s will that we should live according to the new covenant.
Not only our life, but even our service—our ministry—must be according to the new covenant.
But as we fellowship with brothers and sisters in many different places, it seems to me that God’s people today are still living under the old covenant.
Not only our life, but even our ministry and our service, are still under the old covenant. To put it in another way, it seems to me that God’s people today are still walking in the outward way of so-called Christian life.
It seems as if all our Christian life and our so-called Christian service are still under the old covenant of law. It is still under the obligation of “thou shalt” or “thou shalt not,” instead of living and serving in the power of the life within.
We are still, as it were, living under law and not under grace.
But we know that God has not only provided for us this new covenant way of life and service; it is actually the only way that He wants us to live and to serve.
So I feel that it is time that we should go back to the very basics and, by the grace of God, not only understand, but also live and serve under the new covenant.
Now, this time, we would like to approach this matter from four different directions:
So let us look to the Lord together and pray that the Lord will really give us understanding—not only to know it, but also to experience it. And it is all for the glory of God.
As you read the Bible, probably one thing will surprise you. You will find that in the Word of God, it seems as if God delights in making covenant with man.
Now, what is covenant? That is an old English word. In modern times, we usually use the word contract.
We find that in every business transaction, even if you are trying to buy a house, you have to have a contract. There will be a legal document, and in that document it will relate all the responsibilities and privileges of both sides, both parties.
And it has legal right before the court.
Now, I remember when I was a child. At that time, when you were doing any business, there was not such a thing as having a contract. It was all by the word.
If you promised to do certain things, that is what you would do. But unfortunately, because of the weakness of man, man’s word does not seem to be dependable. You may promise something, but you do not fulfill it.
And because of this, you have to have a legal document to tell you your responsibility or your privilege. This is how contract comes into being.
Now, in our days, you find contract is everywhere. Nothing can be done unless there is a contract.
Isn’t it strange that our God should like to sign contracts? To Him, there is no need of any contract, because our God is the truth. Whatever He promises, He performs. He never goes back on His word.
So there is no need for God to have any contract. But strangely, you find this seems to be the way that God will deal with man.
Now, of course, we know it is not because God needs such a contract. It is because God knows our condition. We are so unfaithful. We are not believable. So somehow, we think God is like us, that His words are not dependable.
So God condescends Himself to our level in order to encourage us to believe what He has said. Here we see the love of God.
Throughout the Bible, you will find again and again that God made covenants with man.
If I am correct, the first word covenant appears in the Bible in Genesis 9.
If you return to it, you will find that after the flood, God knew that man was in such a frightened situation, because the flood had covered the world.
Every living thing had perished; only Noah and his family were saved through the ark. So no wonder there was such fear in the heart of man.
Now, in order to comfort man, God said how He would bless Noah and his family, that they would spread over the whole world, and that they would have dominion over the animals.
And whoever shed the blood of man would be punished. God said that He would no longer use a flood to destroy the world.
And He even put a symbol, a sign, in the cloud. At that time He said in Genesis 9:9:
And I, behold, I establish My covenant with you,
and with your seed after you.
So this is the first time that the word covenant is used.
But as you read what God said to Adam, even though the word covenant is not there, it is almost like a contract. As you read it, you find there are blessings that God has promised, but there are also responsibilities put upon man.
Man is to till and to keep. Man is to watch, and man is to subdue all things to the feet of God.
And God said there is one tree that you cannot eat. If you eat, you will die. So you have all these elements there. It is like a contract with man.
But we see how man failed God’s purpose.
So after that, you find that with Noah, God came out with clear words about a covenant, a contract.
Then, of course, we know afterwards, in the life of Abraham, how the God of glory appeared to him and asked him to leave his native place and his family, and to go where God would lead him. By faith Abraham obeyed.
But when you come to Genesis 15, you see God saying to him that he should have seed—many seed. It seems as if Abraham found it difficult to believe God, because he had not had any seed after all these years.
And God wanted to assure him. It was night, and God led him outside of his tent and showed him all the stars in heaven.
He told him that his seed would be as the stars of heaven. That strengthened Abraham’s faith. Abraham believed, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
Then God said that He would give him the land of Canaan, and Abraham could hardly believe that, because there were seven tribes already there.
So you remember that God asked him to do something. Actually, that was the old way of making a contract: you had the animals killed and put on two sides, and the two parties would go through it.
It was a contract of blood, and everything would be assured. There you find in that chapter that God made a covenant with him.
Then, of course, we are all familiar with God’s covenant with the children of Israel. When you come to Exodus 19, God brought them to Mount Sinai and gave them the Ten Commandments in order that they might be God’s people.
It is the covenant of law—all these Ten Commandments: “thou shalt,” “thou shalt not.” We call it the covenant of law.
And then, as you continue on, you find how they rebelled against God, and they wandered in the wilderness for thirty-eight years.
When again they came to the border of the promised land, in the land of Moab, God made another covenant. You find that in Deuteronomy 29:1.
It is a covenant of law with grace, with mercy. Under that covenant, they were able to enter into the promised land.
Probably you will think of David. After God had made him king over Israel and blessed him, you find in 2 Samuel 7 how God promised him to build up his house.
Even though the word covenant is not used, we all know it is the Davidic covenant.
After all the failures of the nation of Israel, God promised them in Jeremiah 31:31-34:
I will make a new covenant with you.
And that is recorded also in Hebrews 8. So these are the brief history of the covenants of God.
But probably, brothers and sisters, you will ask a question. It seems as if God specified especially two covenants.
One is the covenant at Mount Sinai. It is a covenant of law.
Then you find another covenant that God promised to the nation of Israel. It has not been fulfilled yet, but God promised that one day He would make a new covenant with them.
It is no longer a covenant of law; it is a covenant of grace. It is no longer, “Thou shalt, thou shalt not.” It is all, “I will, I will, and I will.”
But these two covenants are given to the children of Israel. Now we are Gentiles. So what has that to do with us? How is it that these two covenants seem also applicable to us?
Now, if you will read Romans 2:14-16, you find the apostle Paul trying to tell people how those who are under law will be judged by the law.
But how about those Gentiles who are not under the law? When God gave the Ten Commandments, the written words, to the children of Israel, it was for the nation of Israel.
If they obeyed God’s command, then God would be their God. If they did not obey God’s commandment, then God would not be their God. That was all concerning the nation of Israel.
Now, how about us? God has not given the Ten Commandments to us. We do not have written commandments. So what should happen to us? Is there any relationship to us?
This is what you find in Romans 2. In verse 14:
For when those of the nations which have no law
practice by nature the things of the law,
these, having no law, are a law to themselves,
who show the work of the law written in their hearts,
their conscience also bearing witness,
and their thoughts accusing or else excusing themselves between themselves,
in the day when God shall judge
the secrets of men, according to my glad tidings, by Jesus Christ.
So, brothers and sisters, you see that even though we do not have the written law, the Ten Commandments, given to us, still somehow the very nature of that law has been written upon our conscience.
We call it the natural law. The so-called natural law actually is the law of God written upon our conscience.
Even though, because we have sinned so much, our conscience seems to be in a coma, there may be a few times when our conscience wakes up a little while—especially when a person is dying.
You find that when a person is dying, he always wants to say something good, because in his conscience he knows he cannot see God.
And that is how religion comes into the world. Whatever religion it may be, if you really look into it, the nature is the same: how to appease the wrath of God.
And it is always answered by, “Do something good. Thou shalt; thou shalt not.”
So you find that even though we do not have the Ten Commandments written by God to us, the very nature of God’s commandment is in our conscience. So we will be judged by that.
When you look at it, you find that we are all under the old covenant of law.
Now, how about the new covenant? The new covenant was promised to the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel. You may say that it is not promised to us. How is it that today we are in the new covenant?
Now, if you read Luke 22:20, you remember that before our Lord Jesus went to the cross, He gathered His own in the upper room for the so-called Last Supper.
During the last Passover supper He had with His disciples, the Lord took up a loaf of bread and said:
This is My body given for you.
Do this in remembrance of Me.
Afterwards, He took up a cup. There you find Luke 22:20:
In like manner also the cup, after having supped, saying,
This cup is the new covenant in My blood,
which is poured out for you.
In other words, what God promised as the new covenant to the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah has now been given to us Christians.
So today, we are living and serving under the new covenant of grace. We have already experienced the new covenant.
We are living and serving under the new covenant. The children of Israel one day will also have the privilege of this new covenant.
Dear brothers, as we read the Word of God, we find that God has delivered us out of the old covenant of law, and now He has put us in the new covenant.
It is the new covenant of grace. It is no longer “thou shalt, thou shalt not.” It is no longer dependent upon our own selves. It is all, “I will, I will, and I will.”
I think theoretically we all know that we are under the new covenant of grace. But unfortunately, we find that we are still living under the old covenant of law, and even serving in the same way.
So this is what we want to seek together before the Lord.
Now, what is the new covenant? What is the new covenant that the blood of our Lord Jesus has sealed and that is given to His disciples?
As you read Hebrews 8, you will find it is very simple. In the old days, God took the hands of the fathers. He led them out of the land of bondage, led them through the wilderness, and was leading them into Canaan.
But somehow, the children of Israel struggled out of the hand of God.
It is as if a mother or father is holding the hand of a child and leading the child through the street. Somehow, the child’s attention is attracted by something in the window, and he struggles himself out of the hand of the parent and goes his own way.
This is the way we find God dealing with the children of Israel. God led them out of Egypt. God led them all the way through the wilderness. He made every provision for them.
It is as if He was holding their hands and leading them on. But somehow, they struggled out of the hand of God.
Now, brothers and sisters, in our Christian experience, how often we find we are in the same way. The Lord says, “I will, I will,” and yet we struggle out, as it were, of the hands of God.
And we want to say, “Thou shalt, thou shalt not.”
The old covenant of law is the outward way of life. Even with all God’s loving instructions and with all His merciful hands, it is still something outside.
He is holding their hands; it is not something inward. And because of that, there is the danger of leaving the hands of God and going one’s own way.
Now, brothers and sisters, somehow many Christians today are still in that kind of life. They do not see the inward way of life. They do not walk in the inward way of God’s leading.
But God says, “I will make a new covenant.” This new covenant is all inward, and it is all that God says: “I will, I will, and I will.”
It is not because you perform that God can acknowledge you as His own. It is because you are His, and He is responsible to bring you into His full purpose.
So when you read the new covenant, it is very simple. It is no longer Ten Commandments, no longer ten “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots.”
It has only three articles. In all these three articles, God says, “I will do this. I will do that. I will do everything.” And because of what I am doing, that is where you are.
So it is all a covenant of grace.
Whether you read Jeremiah 31 or Hebrews 8, you find there is a certain order there.
The first article mentioned in Hebrews 8:10 is:
Giving My laws into their mind,
I will write them also upon their hearts;
and I will be to them for God,
and they shall be to Me for people.
That is the first article.
The second article is verse 11:
And they shall not teach each his fellow citizen,
and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,”
because all shall know Me in themselves,
from the little one among them unto the great among them.
The third article is verse 12:
Because I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never remember anymore.
Now, this order is according to the will of God. God’s will is that He may be our God and that we may be His people.
So He writes His law into our minds. Then you find, secondly, how we are going to know His will. And then, finally, you find how our sins will be solved. This is God’s order.
But so far as our experience goes, we begin with the last article. We first experience what righteousness is. How can we be right before God?
We had no standing before God because we have sinned, and we have continued to sin. But thank God, He not only forgives; He forgets.
So this is the beginning of our experience of the grace of God.
Then, as you go on, how do I know the will of God? It says you know it in yourself. It is not an outward knowing, something that is taught to you. It is the anointing within you that teaches you.
And then finally, where do you have the power to overcome yourself, to overcome your flesh? You find that God Himself is your power.
That will be the order according to our experience.
Then you find Hebrews 8:13:
In that He says, “New,”
He has made the first old;
and that which grows old and aged is near disappearing.
Now, this refers to our experience. So far as God’s fact is concerned, the old covenant is already over. The new covenant is now in force.
But when you come to your own experience of God’s deliverance, it does not come all at once. You find that gradually the old passes away, and finally the new takes over.
So this is what you find concerning the new covenant.
Now, this morning we are just laying a foundation. God willing, tomorrow we want to see, according to our experience, how we can live according to the new covenant.
How can we be delivered from the old covenant of law and actually live according to the new covenant?
So let us continue to wait upon the Lord, that He will lead us into reality.
Lord, we want to thank Thee for Thy living Word. We pray that by Thy Spirit’s illumination, we may really be brought into the reality of Thy Word.
Deliver us from only knowing these things with our minds. We pray that Thou wilt lead us into living experience.
Show us how we may be delivered totally from ourselves and be brought into the new inward way of life, that Thy purpose concerning us may be realized.
We want to thank Thee that it is not only Thy will that Thou shouldst justify us, but also sanctify us, and even glorify us.
We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.