Christmas and the New Covenant (Post-Advent Sermon)

Text: Hebrews 8:6–13 ESV

As you can see, we, as a church, are not letting the Christmas cheer die yet. We are keeping it going. In fact, we're continuing a tradition we started years ago as a church, and that is, a post-Advent sermon. Right after Christmas, we still do one more message. And that's what this is. 

This year, as I was getting ready for Christmas and preparing this Sunday, I started thinking, what would it be like if you met someone who, maybe they're a foreigner and never heard about Christmas and never heard about Jesus, and they come and ask you, what are you doing? What are you celebrating? Why are you doing what you're doing? 

I'm just curious. What's your answer? What would you say to them? Maybe you'd start telling them, well, we are celebrating the birth of Jesus, this baby. And you might tell them the Christmas story — born in a manager, Mary, Joseph, etc. I can easily imagine that they would say, okay, so there's a baby born 2000 years ago, why are you celebrating him today? Why does that matter for you right now? 

How would you answer that question? And there's probably a dozen, two dozen, good answers to that question. I think this text is one of them. Why do we celebrate Christmas? What's the big deal? What's all the hype about this baby? Well, today we're going right to the heart of one of the reasons we celebrate Christmas. This passage focuses on what we call the new covenant. 

For some of you, that might be a familiar term, for others, that might be a new term or sound like a big, scary theological term. But I hope this text makes at least part of the new covenant simple and clear. It shows how this really is a new covenant, meaning something else was old, but this is better, this is bigger, this is greater. And when you think covenant, think promises. God makes a promise to his people. 

So what is this new and better promise? Well, this is what I think the text shows us: 

Jesus in inaugurating the new covenant. . .

• Replaces what's broken in us (10)

• Restores what was lost (11) 

• Remediates what hindered us (12)

That is where we are heading. Of course, before getting to those three “R’s,” we are going to see that the old covenant was broken and what was wrong. That’s where we will start as we look at verse 6–9. Before we get to those three “R's,” let's first get some of the context. Look at verse 6 where we see the author announce that the old covenant has been replaced: 

“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.” (Hebrews 8:6 ESV)

Why? Because the old covenant was broken according to verse 7: 

“For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.” (Hebrews 8:7 ESV)

Look also at verse 13 incase you are slightly doubtful: 

“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.” (Hebrews 8:13 ESV)

The news has come. The old is obsolete, passing away, vanishing. 

I don't know if you have ever played that game called bigger and better. Here's the idea. You start with a penny. And then you go and you knock on doors and you say, “Hey, I've got a penny, you got anything bigger and better?” “Sure, I got a quarter.” Well, that is bigger and better. Then you go to the next person and say, “Hey, I got this quarter. Do you have anything bigger and better?” “Sure. I got this microwave.” Great. You take the microwave, and you go to the next house. “Hey, I got this microwave. Do you have anything that's bigger and better than this?” “Yeah, I got a sailboat.” All of a sudden you went from a penny to a sailboat. The idea is that you leave the penny because the quarter is bigger, better. You don't need a penny, and so on and so forth. The new replaces the old. It's bigger, it's better. 

You might be thinking, well, was something wrong with the old one? Yeah, actually, something was not wrong in particular with the covenant keepers. And you see it in the 8–9:

“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, 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.” (Hebrews 8:8–9 ESV)

The problem with the old covenant was with the people trying to keep it. It was with God's people, Israel. Problem was, they, here's the words, did not continue in my covenant. They rebelled. They were stubborn. They had stiff necks. Those were some of the most common words in the Book of Deuteronomy that God uses to describe his own people. 

And actually, in the middle of that book, here's what God says: 

“But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.” (Deuteronomy 29:4 ESV)

The problem is Israel's got a corrupt heart and eyes. They can't see the Lord and love him. That's the problem. Therefore, the Old Covenant fails over and over and over again. The picture is not like Israel just needs a tune up. It’s not, take the car to the mechanic and change the oil, re-grease a couple of squeaky parts, and tighten a few bolts and then it will all just work great. They will be able to uphold their part of the old covenant. No, that wasn't the diagnosis. The diagnosis was the mechanic saying, “Hey, look, I hate to break this to you. Your engine’s shot. The heart of the beast is dead. It's not working.”

Now you see the problem. Well, what does this have to do with Christmas? Well, they needed a new engine. They needed a new heart. And God had a plan. And the plan was that he was going to send his Son to give them a new heart. 

Look, Christmas means that God refused to leave us in this state. He refused to leave his children without new hearts, without a relationship with him, stuck in their sin. Christmas is the celebration that God sent a rescuer. And that brings us to the first “R.” Jesus, in securing the new covenant replaced what was broken in us—our heart. Turn with me now to verse 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.” (Hebrews 8:10 ESV)

You might read that and think, “Where is the new-heart language you were talking about, Don?” It might sound a little cryptic. “I'll write my laws there in their heart, or put them in their mind?” Well, let me see if I can help get us there so you can see that those phrases point to the truth that God is promising new hearts.

First, I don't want you to think that the new covenant is that Jesus made us masters of being Bible memorizers — “I'm going to put my word, the law, in their minds.” My wife growing up did something called Bible Quizzing. I never did it, but she explained it to me. You would memorize large passages of the Bible, even whole books. Then you’d meet with other kids and have a competition. You’d sit on these little pads and they ask you a question. First one to stand up would get to answer the question. And the pads told the judges who was first. All the questions had to do with memorization. 

Now, I want you to know that Hebrew 8:10 does not promise that all Christians will be expert Bible quizzers. In fact, if you remember back in Jesus's day the religious rulers were actually really good at Bible memory and knowledge. Jesus even acknowledges this (John 5:39). They were good at memorizing and knowing the Scriptures, but they totally missed who Jesus is. They missed what God was really saying. Their hearts were hardened to the message. The author of Hebrews here is quoting Jeremiah 31:31–34. Look at that real quick: 

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,” (Jeremiah 31:31 ESV)

It is an exact quote. So it is no surprise that we read this: 

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33 ESV)

As soon as we remember that these are God’s words spoken 500 years or so before Jesus, then we start thinking of other promises that God spoke then that have overlap with this promise. So here is Ezekiel 11:19:

“And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” (Ezekiel 11:19–20 ESV)

Notice the similarities. The heart language. The obedience language. And the “they will be my people and I will be their God '' language. The point of Hebrews saying “I will write my law on their mind and heart” is to say in the words of Ezekiel, “I will finally give them a heart that can not just intake my word in their mind, but it will actually go down and implant in a soft heart that is eager to receive my word for what it is.” 

This isn’t just a tune up. This is the new covenant replacing hearts of stone with soft hearts. You get a new heart. You get a new engine — an overhaul. And what happens? Here's what happens. What you despised, you now delight in. You did not love God's word. You did not love God's law. You now delight in God’s word, in God’s law. Obedience is not a burden. It's freeing. It's a life giving. It's a joy-filled obedience.

I just finished renovating a bathroom in our new place with some help from others. When we took out the old shower, guess what we found? Dry wrought floor. Flooring that was completely destroyed by water. So what we did do, we ripped out the old floor and put a new floor in. There was no salvaging the old, messy floor. So it is with us. Christmas is worth celebrating because it means that God saw and understood that our hearts needed to be replaced. Christmas was step one in securing this reality for all who would come and be part of this new covenant. 

It doesn’t stop there. Yes, Jesus replaced what was broken in us, but he also restored to us what was lost—a relationship with God. Go back to the end of verse 10 and then to verse 11 with me: 

“I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 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.” (Hebrews 8:10–11 ESV)

In their rebellion, in their hardness of heart, God’s people no longer knew God. He was not their God, and they were not his people. Jesus restores what was lost, bringing us back into a relationship with God. 

The text talks about how we're not going to go around teaching each other to know God. I don't want you to go thinking like, “Well, that's awkward. You know, Sunday school teachers, preaching, what about seminaries that are teaching people about God? ”That's not what the text is trying to get out. Here's what it's trying to say. They don't teach, “know the Lord,” why? Look at the “For,” because they'll all know me — from the least of the greatest. The idea is that you don't have to go to say, “Hey, you can know the Lord,” because if they're believers, they will know God. God will be near them. He will be there. He will have a relationship with them. 

Now, you need to stop and just remember what we're talking about. Just to jolt yourself back into reality. Sometimes, when we are dealing with the Bible, we become comfortable with earth-shattering realities. We forget how stunning something is. God is promising a relationship with us. The God of the universe. 

Look, we get stoked if we meet someone famous. I was at the doctor's office recently and while waiting I was watching a show that was on their TV. I don't know what the show was, but it showed these people on a bus tour. These tourists get on buses and tour neighborhoods, I'm sure in places like California, where a bunch of rich and famous people live. And this show was following The Rock, Dwayne Johnson. Well, The Rock was driving, and he saw one of these bus tours, and he's like, “I'm  going to drive, I'm up, and I'm  going to go say hi to them.” He drives up, and they just go wild. They're taking pictures, and they're screaming. This is the moment they've been waiting for. They just saw The Rock. He waved at them. Now, here we are getting shocked at seeing famous people, and here's the God of the universe who's not just saying like, I'm going to come by, take a quick selfie, and we can move on. No, he said, I will be your God, I will dwell with you. You will know me. 

God, this is God of the universe, the One who created all things. He's above all things. He holds Saturn in its place, and he keeps earth spinning, and he gives breath to your life all at the same time. He is perfect, infinite, all worthy, worthy of all praise forever and ever. And here's what he says his Son secures for you — you will know him. 

You want to know why we celebrate Christmas? Why do we celebrate the baby? Because God says, “I'll know you. You're going to know me — have a personal relationship with me. And it doesn't matter if you're the least or the greatest. This is available to the rich and the poor, the great and the small, the unintelligent and the brilliant, little kids and big kids. God of the universe, promising, I’m securing a relationship with you. I'm not keeping distant. I'm not keeping far off. 

Listen to what Jesus secures at the New Covenant. Listen to the promises that become ours, the reality that becomes ours. This is 2 Corinthians 6:16:

“What agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (2 Corinthians 6:16 ESV)

Or this in Revelation 21:3: 

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” (Revelation 21:3 ESV)

That is worth celebrating. That's worth singing about. Our God is with us. He dwells with us. We know him, personally. 

When this baby is born, it's the dawning, the start, of a plan which is going to culminate in this New Covenant being sealed in his blood. We see that in the new covenant Jesus replaces what's broken, and he restores what's lost, which means that New Covenant faith is not abstract. It's not distant.

What is faith? What does it mean to be a Christian? What does it mean to be a part of the new covenant? Well, it's not just having Scripture memorized like the Pharisees. It is not walking around saying I just keep all these rules. The new covenant promises that you will have a new heart so that you would delight in your God and you would know him. It's not this abstract “I believe in these truths” and my God is far off and distant. 

It is “I have a relationship with God through Jesus.” It's something you experience. It's something you know, you taste, you see, you delight in. I mean, here's the thing. I didn't grow up in church. I'm in high school, and the Lord grabs hold of me. It wasn't as if you know, like a math-class fact. You know one day you don't know that two plus two equals four. The next day, you're like, Oh, two plus two equals four. That's really interesting. Is that what happened to me? No. What happened for me and so many, for anyone who is truly a follower of Christ, was that my heart was dead. I didn't care about God. And then I did. It wasn't as if his kindness was far off. I actually knew him.

If you hear that and you think I've never tasted that I've never experienced that I want to say that. That is what the Christmas story is inviting you to know. You may have read the Bible. You may have grown up hearing these stories. But here the Bible is promising that not only can you hear the story, this story, by God’s power, can actually change your heart and you can really know the God in this story. 

If that's you, if you want to come and not just hear about this God, but actually know here, there's a big barrier — a blockade. You can't get there. You need something remediated. It brings us to our last point. Jesus remediated what hindered us. So turn with me to verse 12, and you will see what he fixed. 

 “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12 ESV)

What was the barrier? This verse uses two words to describe it: iniquities and sin. In other words, you haven't been perfect. When you look at your life, especially when you compare it to a perfect God, you have fallen short. You’ve messed up. That sin acts as a wall preventing you from approaching a holy God. But here’s why we celebrate Christmas, because whether you're hearing this for the first time or the hundredth time, this is reality. 

You had no chance. Your hard heart was going nowhere. You were far off from God and the big problem was this sin, this brokenness, this rebellion. But at Christmas, we remember that God sent a rescuer. We celebrate that a Savior has arrived. 

This Savior came for the needy. What did he do? He made this statement true: “for I will be merciful iniquities and remember their sins no more.” Why? Because this baby would grow up and live a perfect life. But then he would go to the cross and say, “I will take your sin for you and you take my right living.” “If you trust in me, it is yours”

Listen to this this just a few verses later, Hebrews 9:15: 

“Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” (Hebrews 9:15 ESV)

The sins, the brokenness, are redeemed, gone washed away, taken care of. He remembers your sins no more. That's worth celebrating.

I was reading a business guru this week who was saying that 2021 is not over. There's still time to go do something good — to end on a high note. That’s not terrible advice. But I want to say something that I think is far more important. To all of you who at the end of 2021 look back and think a high note would just sound empty because you are aware of all your shortcomings in 2021, there is good news. If you look back and think about the goals you set, or the things that didn't come true, didn't happen, I want to say, I think there's something far better than ending on a high note. 

All your shortcomings, all your failures to 2021, everything you can think of—all the gossip, all the times you slipped into lust, all the times you failed to love your husband, or your wife, or your kids, or honor your parents, or all the times that you didn't work as unto the Lord. Here's a good way to end 2021. It's to look at all of those things, and to hear this from a God who has secured a new heart for you, who has given you restored what was lost, says this to you:

For I will be merciful toward *your* iniquities, and I will remember *your* sins no more. That's really good news and the end of 2021. 

Now, you might be thinking, is there something practical here? Well, I have good news. I think this is very practical. Here's what I know about the Bible. What I know is that the Bible is really good about helping us understand that when we have a right view of reality, right living follows. Right thinking creates traction. 

This is the kind of truth that when seen and believed creates these kinds of prayers that get answered by God. Listen to this from Hebrew 13:20: 

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:20–21 ESV)

Notice how it's through Jesus through Jesus Christ, so through that good news — the good news that your iniquities and sins are gone — through the good news of these realities of the new covenant — that Jesus has replaced what was broken, he has restored what is lost, and has remedied what hindered us — here’s what it produces. 

It produces, through Jesus Christ, a person who would do his God's will. It works for us with new obedience. Here's how. I just, I love this. This is how the Christian life works. Right thinking creates a different way of living. Because God works through you to create someone who conforms more and more to his likeness. All the sudden, when you soak in this good news, you start delighting in following his word. This after all is what it means for that word to be written on our hearts and minds. We start delighing to obey it. Then all the sudden gossip is not a problem in 2022. Lust is something we gladly flee because we found in God something far greater. You start loving your spouse, caring for your kids, delighting in obeying your parents. On and on. 

So we celebrate Christmas because this baby born 2,000 years ago replaced what was broken, restored what was lost, and remedies what hindered us. And now we get to turn to communion, the place he called us to go to remember this new covenant. 

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:20–21 ESV)