060820 religion of the heart hebrews 8 7 13 dale wells

Religion of the Heart

Dale WellsPalm Desert Church of ChristAugust 20, 2006

Automakers’ message: Old is obsolete; new is better

The truth: Old is beautiful!

To Christians, old is not as good as new

Hebrews 8:7 NIV For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.

What is a covenant?

God’s covenants are unilateral

What was wrong with the old covenant? Preliminary question: Which covenant?

Which Strauss?

Or, perhaps, a different Strauss?

Four Old Testament covenants

God’s covenant with NoahKeyword: Mercy

Genesis 9:8-17 NIV Then God said to Noah … (9) "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you … (11) … Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."


(12) … "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you … a covenant for all generations to come: (13) I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.


(14) Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, (15) I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.


(16) Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." Genesis 9:8-17 NIV

Peter connects this to baptism 1 Peter 3:18-22 NIV

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, (19) through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison

Peter connects this to baptism (20) who disobeyed

long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, (21) and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also

Peter connects this to baptism not the removal of

dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (22) who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

God’s covenant with AbrahamKeyword: Grace

Genesis 12:1-3 NIV The LORD had said to Abram, … (2) "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you … (3) I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

God’s covenant with AbrahamKeyword: Grace

Genesis 17:1-7 NIV … (7) I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

Paul connects this to baptism

Galatians 3:26-29 NIV (26) You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, (27) for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (28) There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (29) If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

God’s covenant with DavidKeyword: Faithfulness

Psalms 89:1-4 NIV I will sing of the Lord's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. (2) I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.


(3) You said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, (4) 'I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations.'" Psalms 89:1-4 NIV


Psalms 89:29-34 NIV I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure. (30) "If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, (31) if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands,


(32) I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; (33) but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. (34) I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered. Psalms 89:29-34 NIV

Linked to Jesus’ resurrection

Acts 2:22-38 NIV "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. ...


(25) David said about him: "'I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (26) Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope,


(27) because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. (28) You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.'

Linked to Jesus’ resurrection (29) "Brothers, I can

tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. (30) But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne.

Linked to Jesus’ resurrection (31) Seeing what

was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. (32) God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.

Linked to Jesus’ resurrection (33) Exalted to the

right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. (34) For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand


(35) until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."'(36) "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

Linked to Jesus’ resurrection (37) When the

people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" (38) Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. …

God’s covenant through MosesKeyword: Law

Exodus 19:1-8 NIV In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt … they came to the Desert of Sinai. (2) … and Israel camped there … in front of the mountain.


(3) Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:


(4) 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. (5) Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. …


(7) So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to speak. (8) The people all responded together, "We will do everything the LORD has said." … Exodus 19:1-8 NIV


Exodus 24:4-8 NIV Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. … (7) Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey."


(8) Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words." Exodus 24:4-8 NIV

These words link to Lord’s Supper Matthew 26:26-29

NIV While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." (27) Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.

These words link to Lord’s Supper (28) This is my

blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (29) I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."

Only one of the Old Testament covenants was bilateral

The law didn’t fail – the people did

Hebrews 8:8 NIV But God found fault with the people and said : "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

The law didn’t fail – the people did

Hebrews 8:9 NIV It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.

The law as portrait and mirror

As a portrait, it portrays the ideal As a mirror, it betrays the reality

New covenant – unilateral

Jeremiah 31:31-34 NIV "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

New covenant – unilateral

(32) It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.

New covenant – unilateral (33) "This is the

covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

New covenant – unilateral (34) No longer will a

man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.“

What was wrong with the old covenant? Was the law defective? No, but we are! Romans 7:1-25 NIV … (7) What shall we

say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." (8) But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. … (12) So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

What was wrong with the old covenant? (13) Did that which is good, then, become

death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. (14) We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. (15) I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. (16) And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. (17) As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. …

What was wrong with the old covenant? (22) For in my inner being I delight in

God's law; (23) but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. (24) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (25) Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Romans 7:1-25 NIV

What’s New about the New Covenant? New heart

Hebrews 8:10 NIV This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts…

What’s New about the New Covenant? New heart

Hebrews 8:10 NIV This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts…

New relationship Hebrews 8:10 NIV … I will be their God, and they will

be my people. New understanding

Hebrews 8:11 NIV No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

New assurance Hebrews 8:12 NIV For I will forgive their wickedness

and will remember their sins no more.“

There’s nothing to go back to

Hebrews 8:13 NIV By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

Day by Day (Godspell)

Day by dayDay by day Oh Dear Lord Three things I pray To see thee more clearly Love thee more dearly Follow thee more nearly Day by day

060820 religion of the heart hebrews 8 7 13 dale wells

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