CENTRAL TRUTH: Established The New Covenant By His Sacrificial Death.
MEMORY VERSE: … Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance …- Hebrews 9:15.
LESSON TEXT
Hebrews 8:6-10; 9:11-14, 22-28.
Hebrews 8:
6. But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.
7. For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.
8. But God found fault with the people and said: "The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.
9. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors 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.
10. This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Hebrews 9:
11. But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation.
12. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
13. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
14. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
22. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
23. It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.
25. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
26. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
27. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
28. So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
INTRODUCTION
Jesus established the new covenant by His sacrificial death, which provides forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who will enter into the covenant. By this act He paid for our sins with His life. In this week’s lesson we will come to recognize the significance of the substitutionary atonement of Christ.
LESSON
The new covenant mediated by Christ is greater than the old covenant which pointed to what Christ came to do. A new covenant was needed not only because the old covenant was a shadow of the reality that was to come, but also because the old covenant was faulty (Hebrews 8:7). Faulty because it could not give the people the power to live in obedience to God and serve Him in holiness. The Lord announced that the new covenant would be written on the hearts and minds of the people, rather than on tablets of stone as it was with the old covenant given through Moses.
This means a change of mind and a change of heart is needed to be part of the new covenant. The old covenant could not change the heart. It had no power to help. But the new covenant does have. We must therefore recognize that we cannot look back to the old covenant for answers pertaining to our redemption. We must now look to Christ, for in Him is found the reality of what God has for us since He is in heaven interceding for us daily. We must come to Him with all confidence and be assured that we will find help to challenges that confront us. The fact that God called the covenant given through Moses old indicated that it no longer had affect. The Hebrew believers had no reason to hold onto or look back to it any longer. In the same way no Christian needs to be under the bondage of the letter of the Law (old covenant). We must serve God and Christ in the newness of the Spirit. Jesus obtained our eternal redemption through His sacrificial death on the cross. By this means He initiated the new covenant. The benefits we enjoy aside our redemption in the Holy Spirit indwelling our hearts, being a joint heir with Christ and the promise to dwell in the presence of God forever.
LIFE APPLICATION
The new covenant has given us the privilege to receive forgiveness of sin through Christ without an animal sacrifice. Jesus died as the sacrifice to liberate us from our sin. Therefore, when we accept His sacrifice, we will be able to truly serve God acceptably. And as we serve Him, we will receive the eternal inheritance promised to us. This hope must motivate us to do our best to place God in all we do.
- Have you accepted Jesus’ sacrifice for your sin? If not, what stands between you and receiving forgiveness from God?
- How would you explain the meaning of Christ’s sacrifice to someone who has never heard of it?
DIALY BIBLE READING
Monday: Delivered by Blood. (Exodus 12:12, 13, 21-30).
Tuesday: Price of the Covenant. (Isaiah 53:3-12).
Wednesday: New Covenant Promised. (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Thursday: Blood of the New Covenant. (Luke 22:14-20).
Friday: The Sacrifice of Atonement. (Romans 3:20-31).
Saturday: Blessings through Faith in Christ. (Galatians 3:6-14).