54. Hebrews - A Contrast of Covenants

These days we may take many things for granted regarding our understanding of Jesus and the New Covenant, but 2000 years ago the Jews were faced with quite a challenging decision to make. They had to choose between the covenant that they had known and had been walking in for centuries, which was based upon their promises to God to keep various laws, rules and rituals... and a brand new way in which the laws, rules and rituals were made obsolete, and replaced with faith in a Person, Jesus the Messiah. The writer of Hebrews called this way "a new and living way." He said it's a "better" way. He wrote his epistle to the Hebrews to explain the New Covenant to them, and to contrast it with that old way in which they'd been living for a long, long time.

The writer explained to them how the old way was was merely a shadow. Laws, circumcision, rituals, etc, were all merely shadows, but had no substance to them. The substance would be found solely in this Person - Jesus, with their old way being done away with. The centuries-old Levitical priesthood, with all the offerings and sacrifices that went along with it, had ended, and was replaced with the superior Priesthood of Jesus. Their precious covenant was said to be "weak" and "useless," and the writer was telling them of "a better hope through which we draw near to God."

All of this would be difficult for many Jews to accept. They had a choice: remain in the old way that didn't work, or choose the new and living way. They would be familiar with everything the writer wrote about. The Jewish and law-based terminology, along with all the covenant talk, would be very well understood by them. But they were faced with which way they would go. Which covenant... which way... would they choose? If we can understand some of this background regarding the circumstances that the Hebrew people were in back then, then we can better understand the message of the book of Hebrews.


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51. Is Everything in the Bible Written to Us Directly?

For this episode of the Grace Roots podcast, I'm including a short clip from a recent Growing in Grace podcast that I do with my friend Mike Kapler. If you'd like to hear the entire message, it's found here.


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43. Jesus Is the Guarantee That We're Saved to the Uttermost

A few podcasts ago I talked about how our promises are no guarantee, but God's promise is. The oath that God made to Himself, written about in Hebrews 6, is where our hope lies. It's a hope we can cling to with certainty! Hebrews 7 brings up the oath again, after showing how the Law was "weak" and "unprofitable," and it could make nothing perfect, so therefore it was "annulled." Something better came along, based upon God's oath rather than being based upon the repeated sacrifices of the law or our works. This oath makes "Jesus guarantor of a better covenant." (Heb 7:22). There had formerly been a ministry of mortal priests, offering sacrifices day after day, which could never make anyone perfect. But through the one offering of Jesus, who lives forever, all our sins have been taken away and we have been perfected forever.


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42. The Power of an Endless Life: Jesus Perfects Us Forever

Under the Old Covenant, there was priest after priest after priest who continually offered sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice - all of which could never do a thing to make anyone perfect! The reason many priests were needed is because they were prevented by death from continuing on. So no perfection could come from the Levitical Priesthood.

One reason the New Covenant is different - and better - and in fact does away with the Old Covenant, is because the Priesthood is "according to the power of an endless life," referring of course to the life of Jesus.  While no one could be made perfect or right through the many sacrifices performed under the Old Covenant Levitical priesthood, through the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus we have been perfected forever.


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41. How Jesus Supersedes and Does Away With the Old Covenant

In the book of Hebrews, we're reminded that Jesus is "High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek." Just who is this Melchizedek? Very little is said about him in the Bible, and yet He is very significant when it comes to Jesus and His priesthood, which is far superior to that of the Levite priesthood. In this podcast I talk about what all this means, and why and how Jesus is not only superior to the Old Covenant, but does away with it.


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Clash of the Covenants - new book from Mike Kapler

The brand new book, Clash of the Covenants - Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee, from Growing in Grace co-host Mike Kapler is now available for Kindle on Amazon!  Remember, you don't need a Kindle in order to read.  Download the Kindle app on your computer, tablet or smartphone. 

GOD IS NOT YOUR PAROLE OFFICER, HE BROKE YOU OUT OF PRISON!
Have you been robbed by religion? Have you ever wondered where you really stood with God? For everyone trapped in a mindset of wondering whether God is angry or disappointed with them due to a lack of performance or dedication, help is on the way. In fact, it already arrived more than a couple thousand years ago.

Christian churches are filled with people who have been hearing Bible teaching built upon a foundation of mixing together two very different covenants that are not alike. Frequently embraced in most Christian circles, the practice of combining the old and new covenants has resulted in a diluted version of the gospel. This religious formula has caused many to avoid the institutional church altogether, often puts them in a state of confusion, and leaves them hungering and thirsting for a new identity of righteousness, unaware it has already been provided.

The current reality of unconditional love, peace, freedom, forgiveness, and everything else that is good, has been gifted to us by God's grace through the finished work of Jesus Christ. This is the message most people have been longing to experience, but it may require a complete change of mind from a lifetime of traditional church doctrines that have left many drowning in guilt and feeling as though they are in a state of bondage. God has provided a way of escape from the burdensome religious business—it is through a New Covenant where it is impossible for us to fail, because Jesus is the mediator and guarantee of this better covenant, and it has been established on better promises.

35. There No Longer Remains a Sacrifice for Sins

Many people stumble on a verse that is unfortunately taken out of context: Heb 10:26 "For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins..."

The point of the book of Hebrews was to show the superiority of Jesus and His one sacrifice through which sin was taken away and through which God remembers our sins no more, over the Old Covenant system in which sins were never taken away and in fact were only remembered! Hebrews 10:26 isn't saying that Jesus' sacrifice doesn't apply to people who sin willfully. That would contradict the whole point the writer was making! Rather, as we look at the verse in context, we see that the point is that Jesus' one sacrifice does indeed apply to people who sin, and that there is no other sacrifice that they can turn to.


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18. The New Covenant Is New

The New Covenant is not a continuation of the Old Covenant, and no part of the Old can be mixed in with the New. The New Covenant is something completely new and different - and better! The Old Covenant was based upon both man and God keeping their parts - but man failed miserably. So a New Covenant came about that was based solely upon God keeping His part, without man's involvement! It can now, therefore, never fail!


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