Love God, Love People
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1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.
3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.
5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. 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.”
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, since it is enacted on better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
8 For 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 and with the house of Judah,
9 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. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: 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.
11 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.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.
3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.
Christ, our High Priest
Christ, our High Priest
The first part of this chapter is reminding us of Jesus being our High Priest in heaven, who sits in the true tent which God set up - not man.
The only person who dwelt in the temple which was created by man was God. The high priest went in once a year to offer a sacrifice for the sins of Isreal and then went out of the Holy of Holies only to return a year later to do the same thing.
Jesus has been established as our High Priest by God. Our High Priest paid the debt for our sin so we could be in fellowship with our God.
Through the sacrifice of our High Priest the New Covenant was established replacing the Old.
5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. 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.”
The Old Covenant
The Old Covenant
The Old Covenant was established by God with Moses. Moses was given exact specifications which the Israelites were supposed to follow to build the tent and all the things which were to be involved in offering sacrifices to God.
Everything.
The Old Covenant couldn’t compare with what God was going to establish with the New Covenant.
The Old Covenant couldn’t compare with what God was going to establish with the New Covenant.
The things which man used to build and create the items and place to worship God were material. They couldn’t stand the test of time.
Look at our own building. We have to do things to maintain it. Through the grace of God and your faithfulness, we have been able to do a lot of the projects we’ve been putting off. However, there will always be something we are maintaining.
Verse 2 talks about the “true tent” that the Lord has set up. It is made of heavenly materials which will never fade nor show the wear that our earthly worship places do.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
The fault of the Old Covenant
The fault of the Old Covenant
The fault of the Old Covenant was not in what God gave us. The law was perfect. If man had the wisdom to come up with the laws for an ordered society, they would mirror the laws that God gave us.
The fault was within our sinful nature. We couldn’t stand up to the law which was based on works. I think threw the Old Covenant, we can see man’s desperate need for a Savior. A need for the grace, mercy and love which God established and what we will see through the offering of the New Covenant God made with all people, not just one group.
We needed to have the New Covenant because we were incapable of keeping the laws of the first. We’re going to discuss this in just a little bit.
The next section of scripture is actually quoted from Jeremiah 31:31-34.
8 For 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 and with the house of Judah,
9 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. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
Israel and Judah both left the covenant God had made with them when they left Egypt. It got to the point that both nations were overrun by their enemies because they no longer followed the laws the Lord had given them. They were too busy doing their own thing.
If you looked at the temple, the people of Israel thought going through the rituals in the temple were enough to keep God happy. However, it was the daily lives they were living without regard for the law. They knew the law and had memorized it, but that is all it was to them. Just something you memorized and went about doing your own thing.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: 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.
The New Covenant
The New Covenant
When Christ came to earth, He established the New Covenant. He took the laws from the Old Covenant and summarized them with the word love.
Think about the law. If we love God and love people, we will be following the law that was established. Jesus spent His life on earth demonstrating this love for our Heavenly Father and love for others.
These laws won’t simply be in our minds, either. They will be in our hearts. They will guide us instead of just being something we are aware of and can quote.
The simple truth is, you can have all the scripture memorized you want to, but until that scripture changes your life and you live by it, it means nothing.
Remember just a little while ago, I talked about how Jesus boiled the law down to love of God and love of others.
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
Until we have love for God, love for others and truly demonstrate these things, we can talk all the scripture, all the religion we want, but we might as well have a one-man band strapped to our backs drowning out all our words.
I’ve already read 1 Cor. 13:1, but lets continue this section of scripture. However, I want you to listen with more than just your ears.
2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Love God, Love People
Love God, Love People
Through the demonstration of our love toward God and the love of our brothers and sisters in Christ and the love of those who need to come to the knowledge of the love their Heavenly Father has for them, we will show the world that we are His people and that the Lord is our God.
LOVE
LOVE
Simply put, put love above everything else.
11 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.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit
As I was reading this section of scripture and reading a few commentaries, it struck me.
When did the Holy Spirit come?
When did the Holy Spirit come?
The truth of this question is after Jesus was ascended into heaven.
49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
In other translations, the promise of His Father is the Holy Spirit.
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
In both of these scripture passages, Christ is telling them the Holy Spirit is coming. He hasn’t arrived on scene yet. But when He does, things are going to change for the better.
There was no Holy Spirit dwelling among the people until the day of Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit arrived that day, it shook the whole thing up. They were preaching with power. Many came to know the redemption work that was done on the cross that day.
Until the coming of the Holy Spirit, man was very dependent on each other. God sent prophets, but prophets were men who God chose to use and who were willing to be used. Some took some convincing, but regardless, God used them. The Holy Spirit is an integral part of our walk with the Lord today.
We as Christians will not need to teach each other about who God is and the love He has for them. This is something we will know. As Christians, we will all know God and the saving work He has done through His Son. From the greatest to the least, we will all know this basic truth.
From knowing this basic truth, we will all need to grow in our faith and trust in the Lord and the scripture He has given us to live our lives. Why would we do this?
Out of our love for God.
Out of our love for God.
If we truly love someone, we want to get to know them better. If we truly love God, we will want to read about Him and the book He has given us.
We will also really know the law. We won’t just have it memorized, we will allow it to help shape who we are and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. As I’ve said before, it is one thing to have the head knowledge of the scripture, it is another thing to have the heart knowledge and allow it to work in our life and change who you are.
What will this show the outside world?
We, His people, His family, we the adopted of Christ, we will know the Lord.
We, His people, His family, we the adopted of Christ, we will know the Lord.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”
His mercy
His mercy
Will we be perfect in our walk as we try to love God and love people?
No, but what a promise and assurance we have in this verse. The love our Father demonstrated to us by offering His Son as our sacrifice for our sins on the cross takes care of the way I will mess things up.
Love God, Love People. Why? Because He loved us this much and is still demonstrating that love to us.
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
The Old Covenant has been taken over by the New.
The Old Covenant has been taken over by the New.
The old hasn’t gone away. It’s been fulfilled by the New. It’s a part of it. However, our salvation is no longer based on how well we follow the law. It is no longer based on the works of man, it is solely based on the cross.
So, where are you today?
So, where are you today?
If we aren’t careful, we get hung up on the Old Covenant and will try to hold people to the law. This is a faith we want to build on works. We are so worrying about the speck we see in someone else’s eye, we can’t see the plank in ours.
Love God, Love People.