SCRIPTURE READING: Hebrews 8:1-13.

GOLDEN TEXT: Hebrews 10:16.

There is a popular teaching today which claims the Ten Commandments, alone, constitute the Old Covenant. Therefore, because the Old Covenant is done away, they claim the Ten Commandments are abolished. They also say "The Old Covenant was made with ISRAEL, but we are not Israel," assuming the New Covenant is made with GENTILES. This popular teaching leads to the assumption that the Old was a harsh, cruel law (The Ten Commandments), while the New is only with Gentiles and contains no law, but only PROMISES. The Old had law. The New has grace. The object of today's lesson is to search the Scriptures, whether this modern and popular teaching is correct.

1. Did God say He would make a NEW Covenant? Hebrews 8:8. With whom did the Lord say He would make it -- with Gentiles?

2. To whom do the COVENANTS, the glory, and the PROMISES pertain? Romans 9:4. Has a Gentile, as such, any hope, or is he a STRANGER to the covenants of promise? Ephesians 2:11-12. In what manner can a Gentile come into the New Covenant relationship? Ephesians 2:13; Galatians 3:29; Romans 11:17.

3. Who is the Mediator of the New Covenant? Hebrews 8:6. What is BETTER about the New Covenant - is it founded on better LAWS or no laws? (last part of verse.)

4. Was there a FAULT with the OLD Covenant? Verse 7. If something had not been AT FAULT with Old, would there have been a second? Then has not God proposed the second Covenant FOR THE VERY PURPOSE of correcting the FAULT with the Old?

5. If THE LAW constituted the Old Covenant, and there was nothing but the law connected with it, then the fault must be with the Law. This is exactly what the popular modern teaching assumes, and therefore they tell us that, in order to correct this fault, Christ did away with His Father's Law. The Law came from GOD. Then would not this impute the FAULT to God Himself? Was the LAW faulty? Psalm 19:7; Romans 7:12, 14. Was it to be done away? Psalm 111:7-8.

6. What, then, was the FAULT with the Old Covenant? Hebrews 8:8, first phrase; verse 9, last phrase; Jeremiah 31:32 last phrase.

7. Under the Old Covenant God wrote His Law on two tables of stone; but the people were rebellious and never permitted the loving principles of the law to enter

into their minds and hearts. How will God correct that fault in the New Covenant? Jeremiah 31:33.

This was written in 606 B.C. What

was God's law at that time? Read also Hebrews 8:10; and 10:16. Do

these texts say a DIFFERENT law, or a BETTER law will be written in our minds and hearts?

8. Under the Old Covenant, we saw in the preceding lesson that the promises were purely MATERIAL and national -- temporary inheritance of the land for THIS LIFE ALONE. What are the better promises of the New Covenant? Hebrews 9:15.

9. When is a Testament in force? Hebrews 9:16-17. Did the Testator die? Verse 28.

10. How may we become His HEIRS? Galatians 3:29; Mark 1:15; Acts 2:38; Romans 8:9, 13-17.

NOTE: The Greek word for "Covenant" is "Diatheke," which means Testament, or witnessed WILL by which one bequeaths his possessions after his death. A Covenant is defined as an AGREEMENT; or the conditional PROMISES of God. In the N.T., the Greek word is translated interchangeably, "covenant" and "testament." Our Inheritance from Christ is by a conditional Testament involving an Agreement and therefore it becomes also a Covenant.

The New Priestly Service

(Heb 8 NKJV) "Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, {2} a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. {3} For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. {4} For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; {5} who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." {6} But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

A New Covenant

{7} For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. {8} Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; {9} "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD. {10} "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. {11} "None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. {12} "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." {13} In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away."

(Heb 10:16 NKJV) ""This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,""

(Rom 9:4 NKJV) "who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;"

Brought Near by His Blood

(Eph 2:11-13 NKJV) "Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh; who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands; {12} that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. {13} But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ."

(Gal 3:29 NKJV) "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

(Rom 11:17 NKJV) "And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,"

(Psa 19:7 NKJV) "The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;"

(Rom 7:12-14 NKJV) "Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Law Cannot Save from Sin

{13} Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. {14} For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin."

(Psa 111:7-8 NKJV) "The works of His hands are verity and justice; All His precepts are sure. {8} They stand fast forever and ever, And are done in truth and uprightness."

(Jer 31:32-33 NKJV) ""not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. {33} "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

(Heb 9:15-17 NKJV) "And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

The Mediator's Death Necessary

{16} For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. {17} For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives."

(Heb 9:28 NKJV) "so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation."

(Gal 3:29 NKJV) "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

(Mark 1:15 NKJV) "and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.""

(Acts 2:38 NKJV) "Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

(Rom 8:9 NKJV) "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His."

(Rom 8:13-17 NKJV) "For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. {14} For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. {15} For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." {16} The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, {17} and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."