Sunday Morning Service 10:30AM- The Ministry of Christ ~ Hebrews 8 ~ Pastor Ryan Nichols

And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter 8, Hebrews chapter 8. Well, this morning we start into what I consider the last series of the doctrinal portion of the book of Hebrews after chapter 10, which is what this series will take us through. It gets very practical in nature. And so this last kind of doctrinal series I've entitled the ministry of Christ, the ministry of Christ.

Now, over the next few weeks, there's four things I'm going to foreshadow these for you. There's four things that we'll look at, but we'll look at the first of those today. We will see. Over the next few weeks that Christ is a minister in a better sanctuary. We will see that Christ is the minister of a better covenant, that he is the minister in a better tabernacle, and that he is the minister of a better sacrifice.

But for this morning, we will look at the first of those. We will look at the fact that Christ is the minister in a better sanctuary. So starting in chapter 8, verse 1 of the book of Hebrews, it says this, now the main point in. The book of Hebrews, chapter 1, verse 1 of the book of Hebrews. Is that we're going to talk about the high priest. That is a minister in a better place.

And the mission he's given to us is to continue our mission. So the first thing that we're going to talk about in chapter 8, verse 1 of the book of Hebrews is this. We have such a high priest who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of majesty of the majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man for every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer.

Now, if he were on earth, he would not be allowed. He would not be a priest. priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law, who serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things. Just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to build the tabernacle, see, he says, that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain. But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as he is also the

mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. Christ, the minister in a better sanctuary. So he starts off in this section by telling us about how Christ is a minister in the sanctuary. And so in verse one, he says, now the main point in these things is this, and I appreciate this about the writer to the book of the Hebrews, because oftentimes when you're reading Hebrews, you're kind of like, where are we going here? And what's the point, right? He's good

to draw this point here. And what he's going to do is he's going to link together everything from the previous chapter to what he's going to share in this next chapter. He says, now the main point is this, we have such a high priest. We have the kind of high priest that not only has been described, but the high priest that is about to be described. And so first we must remember what we've learned about this high

priest up to this point in time. The high priesthood of Jesus is very different than the Aaronic high priesthood because it was permanent because it is for, ever because it is so much better. And it's according to a different order. It is also holy and it is innocent. He is undefiled. He is separate from sinners and he is exalted in his character. But most importantly, this high priesthood is a forever priesthood. It is not

prevented by death because he has sworn an oath. You are a priest forever. Not only that, but this high priesthood that we have is one that ever lives to make intercession, for us. We have such a high priest. But not only is it such a high priest that has been described in chapter seven, but he goes on to describe him like this, who has taken his seat, middle of verse

one, at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heavens, in the heavens. The first thing we realize about the fact that Jesus has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesties in heaven is that we are told about a heavenly reality of this high priesthood. The high priesthood on earth was a shadow of a heavenly reality. And he paints for us this heavenly reality because he says this Jesus is the high priest of a, who has taken his seat at the right hand of the majesty on high. And so we are reminded of the heavenly reality, the eternal

reality of the high priesthood of Jesus. But not only that, we take note of the fact that there's great authority in this priesthood of Jesus because he is seated at the right hand of the father, meaning that he is seated in the position of authority. So he has much greater authority in his ministry than the earthly priesthood. But I want you to take note of the posture that Jesus is in while he is with the father. He is seated at the right hand of the

father. Now, in just a moment, we're going to talk a little bit about the implements and the furnishings of the tabernacle because it's important for us to understand the heavenly reality. But you know, there's one piece of furniture that is not seen in the tabernacle at all. Do you know that there is no chair ever seen in the tabernacle? No, none. There's tables, there's lampstands, there's altars, there's all these different kinds of things,

but there's no chair. Why? Because the priest was constantly busy. He was constantly doing work because the work that he did was never finished because the work that he did was incomplete because the work that he did was not an eternal work. So there was no being seated for the priesthood. And yet what we see is that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the father. And

there's great significance in the fact that he has been seated. The significance is given to us in Acts. Number one, it is significant that he is seated at the right hand of the father because it means his redemption is finished. His redemption is finished. It's important for us to take note of that because there is no more work that needs to be done to redeem mankind. There is no more

work that needs to be done to make you holy in the eyes of God because that work was completed on the cross of Jesus Christ, which is why the very last thing that Jesus declared from the cross is a very powerful statement. He said, it is finished because it indicates the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Many of you may know this already, but that word's very significant for us to pay attention to because that phrase, it is finished, is a Greek word that says tetelestai. And that word literally means paid in full. And what would happen in the Roman times is that they would take the

certificate of everything that was owed and they would nail it to the door of the guilty party. Whatever debt you owed would now be nailed to your door. Can you imagine that? Imagine you come home today and your credit card statement's nailed to the front of your door. Bummer, right? Everybody's like, wow, you bought that, huh? But it would be nailed to the door. And until you paid that off, that certificate of debt would be held against you.

But when Jesus died on the cross, he cried out, it is finished, tetelestai, which literally means paid in full. Because what they would do is when your debt was paid off, they would take a stamp and they would stamp that certificate of debt paid in full. You could no longer be paid in full. You could no longer be held accountable for this debt any longer because the debt has been paid.

And so when Jesus sits down at the right hand of the father, he sits down because his work of redemption is finished. We were actually told in Hebrews chapter one, that when he had made an end of cleansing for sin, he was seated at the right hand of the father. That was one of the very first things we talked about, about Jesus and who he is. And so we understand that the redemption is finished. And I don't know who in here needs to learn to rest in the grace of God.

I don't know who in here needs to learn to rest in the grace of God. I don't know who in here needs to know the fact that your redemption is finished, that you don't have to do anything else to earn a status with God because the redemption is finished. And all it took was you believing that what God had done is enough to save you. But perhaps someone in here needs to learn to rest in the finished redemption of Jesus Christ. But the second reason why it's significant that Jesus

is seated at the right hand of the father is it means that his work of redemption was accepted. It means that his work of redemption was accepted. We are actually told in Hebrews chapter in scripture that God proved that Jesus or that Jesus was proven to be the son of God with power when God raised him from the dead, indicating that everything that Jesus did was true and everything that Jesus did had been accepted by the father. If you will, the resurrection, the ascension, and Jesus being seated at the right hand of the father is the receipt for the payment that Jesus had made saying, here it is. Here's the proof that what I did was enough

to take care of your sins because he was seated at the right hand of the father. He is seated at the right hand of the father. But the third reason why it's significant that Jesus is seated is I want you to pay attention to something. Jesus is at rest. Jesus is at rest because he has rested from all of his work. What do I mean by that? Let me tell you what I mean by

that. Jesus isn't worried about what you're worried about. Jesus isn't stressed about what you're stressed about. Jesus is not pacing at the right hand of the father. Jesus is not walking circles around the father. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the father because Jesus is at rest because his work is done. And we can rest in a savior who is resting in his finished work on the cross. I think this is important for us to pay attention to. This does

not mean that Jesus is not still ministering. After all, he's a minister in a better sanctuary. This doesn't mean that Jesus isn't ministering. After all, we've been told that he ever lives to make intercession for us. That's a ministry. But the ministry that Jesus is ministering to is a ministry. And the ministry that Jesus does for us is from the confidence of his own finished work

on the cross, not from the fret over hoping that everything's going to be good enough. And so you can rest in a savior who is resting for you. You can rest in a God who is not worried about what you're worried about. I have a question for you. What worry did you bring into this room this morning? What stress did you bring into this room this morning? Is it about a bill that you can't pay? Is it about a child that has walked away from Jesus?

Is it about a relationship that is broken? What worry, what stress did you bring into this room this morning? Is it about what you're going to do with your future? Is it about what you're going to do tomorrow because you don't know if you're going to have a job tomorrow? I don't know what it is for you. But whatever worry you brought into this room this morning is not something that is worrying

Jesus right now because he already has tomorrow solved. That's one of the most beautiful things about reading prophecy in the Old Testament is you look and you go, you mean Jesus already knows what's going to happen in the very end? Yeah, he does. So does that mean he knows what's going to happen at the end of my life? Yeah, he does. So does that mean I can stop worrying? I think you know where I'm going with this now.

Yeah, it does. What did you carry in here that you need to leave here this morning? It's time for you to understand that if Jesus is at rest, you should be at rest too. Because he is, we have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand, the place of authority, of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. It goes on in verse two to say, and he is a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched and

not man. He is a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle. There's a handful of words that we need to look at there. The first one is the word minister. The word minister means a public servant or a servant of the people. And so as we describe this heavenly reality of this better minister that we have, we are reminded that Jesus is a servant for the people. Have you ever

considered that? Have you ever considered that? Have you ever considered that? Have you ever considered that about who you are, that Jesus lives to serve you? But can I tell you that it's just an example of how we are to live to serve him? But he is a servant. He is a minister for the people. The way he ministers for us is to ever live to make intercession for us. The way that we

minister to him is to serve the people that are around us. And in turn, we serve him. And so he says he is a minister, but he's a minister in a sanctuary. That word sanctuary, when translated out literally means holy places. And what it indicates is the most holy place in the tabernacle. Now, if you don't know very much about the tabernacle, I'm going to go over this a few

times so that hopefully by the time you're done, when I say, if you don't know very much about the tabernacle, you'd be like, I do now. Thank you. If you don't know very much about the tabernacle, this is the way that it was set up. Around the tabernacle was a fence and only select people could go inside of the fence. Usually it was the priests. And then there was a, on the outside of

the tabernacle, there was a, a bronze laver and there was a altar of sacrifice. And there was a altar of burnt offering. And then there was a door that led into the tabernacle. Inside of the tabernacle, there were two compartments. The first compartment is called the holy place. Only the priests could go into the holy place. And in past the holy place, there was a veil that depending on

what scholars you read, say was anywhere from six to 16 inches thick. And on the other side of that veil is what's called the most holy place or the holiest of all. And inside of that holy place was the ark of the covenant, which represented the presence of God amongst the people. And on top of the ark of the covenant was this golden seat. It was called the mercy seat. It was a golden plate

that was put down over top. And imagine if you will, that this is the ark of the covenant and here's the mercy seat. And there were two angels, one on each side carved, not real angels, carved angels that were on each side, whose wings were pointing up and they were facing each other. That was the mercy seat. And what would happen is once a year, the high priest on the day of the covenant,

the day of atonement would take a blood sacrifice after he had first offered sacrifice for his own sins. He would take a blood sacrifice and for the people, he would sprinkle it on the, on the mercy seat so that he can make propitiation or a covering for the sins of the people for another year. Jesus, it says, is a minister in a better sanctuary. He is a servant, just like the high priest was who did this work, but he is in a holiest of all sort of a situation.

But it's not the tabernacle that's on earth. Notice what it says. Let me read it to you again. Verse two, he is a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord made and not man. That word true is a very interesting word. That word true means genuine as opposed to a copy. It could also be translated a certificate of authenticity, right? Anybody here ever collect

sports from memorabilia? If you ever collect sports from memorabilia, you know that if you're something that is signed by some famous person, they send along with it a certificate of authenticity so that you know that Patrick Mahomes signed that thing, not Patrick Mahomey, right? Okay. It's the actual guy, not a guy that kind of had a close name. It's the actual real deal. My

uncle used to always collect a lot of this stuff and displayed next to whatever it was, was always this certificate of authenticity. Well, that's the idea here. He says, Jesus is a minister, but not in a tabernacle. That is a shadow, which we'll talk about in just a moment. He ministers in the true tabernacle, the genuine tabernacle, the authentic tabernacle, which is the heavenly tabernacle

because he is a true minister in a better sanctuary. We go on from there. We see that this tabernacle was built by God and not man. So what does that mean for us? Well, the next thing he tells us about is he compares and contrasts the earthly ministry of the priesthood to the, heavenly ministry of christ it says in verse three for every high priest is appointed

to offer both gifts and sacrifices so it is necessary that this high priest also has something to offer he says every high priest that is earthly in nature is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices the gifts and sacrifices that he offered had to do with the grain offerings the burnt offerings but most importantly the sin offering most importantly the offering of the day of atonement which is what i just described for you here because that's what passed over the sins of the people for another year he said the high priests of the earth were appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices therefore it's necessary that this high priest meaning jesus who ministers in a better sanctuary of the true tabernacle also have something to offer it's interesting that the

writer says in verse three he says every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices to the hebrews doesn't go on to describe what he has to offer and the reason why is because he'll do more so in chapter 10 but let me whet your appetite for what he's going to say what jesus has to offer is not a sacrifice of a bull or a goat that will only last for a year what jesus has to offer is the precious blood of himself that will not just suffice for another year but will do away with sin for all of eternity do away not only with the guilt and the shame of sin on this side of eternity but the presence of sin on the other side of eternity because that's the better sacrifice that this better minister in a better sanctuary has to offer

and so he says he says every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices so it's necessary that this high priest have something to offer verse four now if he meaning jesus were on earth he would not be a priest at all since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law he brings us back to this statement again if it's an earthly ministry as far as the priesthood is concerned jesus doesn't qualify because jesus was of the tribe of judah not of the tribe of levi but remember jesus deals with the heavenly reality not an earthly shadow so he says let me read it in full context now if he meaning jesus were on earth he would not be a priest at all since there are those who offer gifts according to the law who

serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things moses was warned by god when he was about to erect the tabernacle for see he says that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain he says the earthly priesthood served as both a copy and a shadow of the heavenly reality the word shadow here is very interesting the word shadow means an imperfect portrayal or representation of a heavenly reality let me read that to you again shadow here means an imperfect portrayal or representation of a heavenly reality let me give you a little bit of an illustration anybody have a little kid that's played sports before and i'm not talking like your 12 year old

playing ball that knows what he's doing i'm talking like a four-year-old right i remember i coached no i'm going to get in trouble for this later um anyway we'll roll with it just don't just look at me okay i coached my daughter's soccer team one year i actually coached my daughter's. both their soccer teams. I don't know if you know this or not, but I'm a championship winning coach. But I coached one of their soccer teams when they were four years old. And I love watching

four-year-olds play soccer. I even enjoyed coaching four-year-olds. Once they were positions, I didn't care anymore. But when it's just one mass of children, all hopefully running in the same direction towards the proper goal, trying not to take the ball from each other, that's my game right there. I can manage that game every day of the week and twice on Sunday, right? Well, I remember

one of my daughters, I won't tell you which one, one of my daughters enjoyed playing soccer, but her favorite part about playing soccer was watching her shadow. And she would run like this. And she would just watch her shadow over there. That's the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. I was like, I don't even care that she's not doing very good. That's fun to watch right there.

Right? Listen, every little kid does it. It's okay. Again, I'll get in trouble later, but I'm used to that by now. But I remember watching her and thinking, that's kind of like what we do with the law, right? We just look at the shadow. It's an imperfect portrayal. It's a little distorted. It's not usually the same size, but there's enough of a shadow there to know that there's something real

on the other side of it, right? There's enough of a shadow to point you to a reality of what's real, a real person that casts a shadow. Well, that's what he says about the law. That's what he's saying about the earthly priesthood. It is an imperfect portrayal or representation of a heavenly reality. So don't get, too married to the shadow. Focus on what's real. And so he says, they serve a copy and a shadow of

the heavenly things. And then he says, and Moses was warned to build the tabernacle exactly as it was presented to you. If you'd like to write down scripture references in your Bible, you might, you might write Exodus 25 verse 40. So that's a direct quote out of Exodus chapter 25 verse 40. Now, it's interesting to take note of the fact that Moses probably had no idea that what he was

creating was a shadow of a heavenly reality. He knew it was great, but God was specifically speaking in this moment. It's, it's interesting to read the Bible and know that there is both a general revelation of God and a specific revelation of God, right? Like oftentimes in the old Testament, you see both. For instance, there are two examples of this in the book of Genesis.

There's a general revelation of God that we see as it is, expressed through a man by the name of Job, right? Job had a general revelation or a general understanding of who God is, which is how he was able to walk with God. If you look at it, Job was not an Israelite. He wasn't a descendant of Abraham. He was just a guy who knew God through general revelation. But then you have Abraham, who was probably a contemporary of Job,

who receives this specific revelation from God. And the specific revelation that Abraham received from God was go to a land. I'm going to show you start a nation. Through whom all of the earth will eventually be blessed. And so Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are given these specific revelations of God. I promise I'm going somewhere with this. Well, then if you look at the book of Genesis, you in the book of Genesis with the patriarchs, and then you have

hundreds of years of no specific revelation. You just have the general revelation of God, and they're going off of what they knew of God before, right? Well, then you come to the book of Exodus and God, once again, begins to speak very specifically. And he begins to speak specifically to a guy named Moses. The first specific revelation he gives him is, I want you to set my people free

and use all of these plagues to do so. And I will declare who I am through all of these plagues that I'm greater than all of the gods of the Egyptians. And so that's what he does. And then they come all the way to Mount Sinai and God gives specific revelation through the law. Through the 10 commandments, he gives a specific revelation of the holiness of God. Through the sacrifices,

he gives the specific revelation of God's desire. And that's the only way that man can have fellowship with God is if they are first atoned for through a blood sacrifice. But then God also gives man a meeting place with God, and it's called the tabernacle. And what's fascinating is when God gives him the instructions for the tabernacle, you start looking and going, wow, that's just a lot of random stuff inside of this building, right? Only what you realize is, is that all of the things of the tabernacle actually

point to the heavenly reality of Christ. Let's think about the things that are in the tabernacle. Go with me on this journey for just a minute. If you come to the outside of the tabernacle, the first thing that you come to is you come to this thing called a laver. It's like a big wash basin. It was huge. It's huge. Anyway, so what they were supposed to do is they were supposed to go in there and wash their hands.

It was the cleansing part for the priests. That's what they would do first. Well, what cleanses us? Well, we are told there's two things that cleanse us from sin. One is the word of God because it washes us like water. The other is the presence of the Holy Spirit and his cleansing in our lives. So as we look at that wash basin, we realize that that is typical of the heavenly reality of the power of God's word

and the power of the Holy Spirit as seen through water. Well, then the next you come to this, you come to this altar of sacrifice, the altar of burnt offering. And we're reminded that Jesus was offered on an altar, only it wasn't an earthly altar of burnt sacrifice. Ultimately, it was a heavenly altar where his blood was sprinkled for us to make atonement for our sin. Well, then you go into the holy place. Remember the place where only the priest could go. And there

were three pieces of furniture inside of the holy place. The first thing that there was is that there was this table of showbread, 12 loaves of fresh baked bread every single week that had to be put out freshly baked. And we are reminded that what did Jesus say about himself? He said, I am the, what? Go ahead and shout it out. I'm the bread of life, right? What we realize is, is the sustenance that we need for life is shown to us there in the

tabernacle through the bread of life. But ultimately it points to the real sustenance of Jesus Christ, which is why Jesus in John chapter six said, if you don't eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part in me. That didn't mean that he wanted us to cannibalize him. And it didn't mean that communion transubstantiated and became his body and blood. No, he's saying, you must take me into the point where I am a part of who you are through,

through faith. That's why Jesus tells us that when we put our faith in him, he comes and makes his home inside of us because he is now our sustenance for daily living. Well, then there's another thing that's in the tabernacle. Uh, the next thing that's in the holy place is called the lampstand and the lampstand had to remain lit all the time. And it illuminated was the only source

of illumination inside of the temple. Well, what did Jesus say? He is Jesus is the light of the world, right? And so what did Jesus say? He is Jesus is the light of the world, right? And so what did Jesus say? He is Jesus is the light of the world, right? And so what did Jesus say? He is Jesus is the light of the world, right? And so what did Jesus say? He is Jesus is the light of the world,

right? And so what did Jesus say? He is Jesus is the light of the world, right? And so we realized that this is a heavenly reality of the thing that brings illumination into our life, illumination of what sin is so that we can be cleansed of it, but illumination of how we are supposed to live and the illumination that we need to continue to grow because the lampstand represents the light of Jesus Christ. And then there's a third thing that's inside the holy

place. It's called the altar of incense, and it was to be maintained by the priesthood. Well, if you were to jump all the way into the book of revelation, what you would find is that we are told that the prayers of the saints are like incense being burned before the Lord. So the heavenly reality of the shadow of this altar of incense is that's the heavenly reality of our prayers that are constantly going up like incense into the nostrils of the Lord. And he goes,

better than Bath and Body Works, right? Because he loves the prayers of the saints. Well, then you come to the holy place or the most holy place. And inside of the most holy place, there's only one thing. And that's the Ark of the Covenant. And that Ark of the Covenant is representative of Jesus because he is the presence of God among us. Because do you remember

what name Jesus had? Emmanuel, God with us. But Jesus was also the mercy seat and the blood that was sprinkled on the mercy. Which is why we are told that we no longer have a barrier in between us and God, because Jesus has gone in before us into the most holy place, creating a way for us to come directly into the throne room of God. Do you see the heavenly reality that's created for us in that Old Testament

picture? Which is why God told Moses, Mo, make it exactly like I tell you, because everything is specifically purposeful. The way it's supposed to be, because it's all going to point them to the heavenly reality of Jesus. When I was a late teens, early twenties, there was a worship song that I loved, and I'm not going to sing it for you because I always get in trouble for that sort of thing. So I'm not going

to do that. But the lyrics go like this. It says, take me past the outer courts and to the holy place, past the brazen altar. Lord, I want to see your face. Take me past the crowds of people and the priests that sing your praise. Lord, I hunger and thirst for your righteousness, but it's only found one place. Take me, take me into the holy of holies. Take me in by the blood

of the lamb. And I love that because that's what God desires for us. God desires for us not to linger out here in the outer court, not to linger just in the holy place, but to go directly into the throne room of God where we can have unashamed fellowship with the creator who made us with his own special purposes. Which is why he says here, those serve as a copy and a shadow of heavenly things. Just as Moses was told by God when he was

about to erect the tabernacle for see, he says that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain. But now verse six, he has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. A more excellent ministry. There's three phrases in there that we're going to camp out on for a few minutes. Three phrases that are important for us to pay attention to as it was presented in that

verse. The first one is the ministry. It's described as a more excellent ministry, and that's exactly what it is. Well, what makes it a more excellent ministry? Well, I've been marinating on this quite a bit this week, and I've thought, Lord, what makes your ministry so much better? What makes, because of the sanctuary, what makes your ministry so much better? Well, I wrote down the

three things. Number one, the ministry of Jesus is more excellent because it is a ministry of redemption. Because it is a ministry of redemption. I want you to know something about the redemption of Jesus Christ. So the word redeem means to buy back or to purchase back for oneself. Well, what did Jesus do to purchase us back for himself? We see you and I, you and I had landed on the slave

market of sin. We were for sale on the slave market of sin. Only the fact of the matter is, not only were we on the slave market of sin, but we acted just like slaves. We proved that we were slaves by the way that we acted. Because we were bound by all of the sins of the world. We were bound by the self-righteousness of the world. We were bound by the pride of the world. And we followed it wholeheartedly because

we were a slave to it. And that was the only thing we knew how to be, was to be a slave to sin. A slave to the sins of our flesh. And though everyone in the world said, you're free, what we realized was the freedom that we proclaimed was the chains that we wore. And we lived like slaves even though we declared that we were free. And Jesus saw us on the slave market of sin and he

said, I want him, I want her. And the way that he purchased us is not the way that you would normally purchase a slave off of the slave market. We're told in the book of 1 Peter that he didn't purchase us with silver and gold after our vain traditions. No, he purchased us with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. In other words, he said, you are a slave and I want to set you free. But the

only way that I can set you free is if I give my life for you. And that's exactly what he did. He spilled his blood for us and he bought us off of the slave market of sin. The problem is too many people live like they've never been redeemed. Some people have never come to the knowledge of the fact that God has already paid the redemption price for your life. And he paid the redemption

price for your life through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. And once they hear that news, they go, well, I want to be set free. Great. Just accept the sacrifice that's been made. Just accept the fact that Jesus paid the penalty. Now you can be set free. But there's a whole other group of people out there. We call them Christians and they don't live like they're set free from sin. You've been set free from all of the slavery. The chains are

off of your wrist. The chains are off of your ankles. You've been given brand new clothes to wear. And what you did is you went back and you put the old clothes back on. You went back and you put the chains back on. And the things that you've been given are the things that you've been given. You were supposed to be set free from. You've gone back to. And instead of living like

a free man, which is who you are, you're back to living like a slave, which is who you're not, which is why you're miserable in your life. Because you were made to be free and whom the son has set free is free indeed. And if you've been set free from sin, don't go back to the bondage of sin. Because Jesus has a better ministry because he's set free from sin.

It is a ministry of redemption. And there's people in here this morning that need to know, there's people watching online that need to know you've been redeemed. Now accept the payment and live like you're free. Number one, it's a more excellent ministry because it's a ministry of redemption. Number two, it's a more excellent ministry because it is a ministry of rebirth.

It's a ministry of rebirth. I think sometimes we miss this point and I'll delve into this just a little bit more next week. The new covenant, because that's what we talk about is, is the new, uh, the new birth that comes through the new covenant. But, but we forget that being born again is biblical language. I was listening to an interview with a pastor. His name is JP Pecluda. I don't know if anybody follows him

or listens to him. Excellent pastor writes some great books on Christian dating and things along those lines. But, uh, but I was watching an interview with him. I think it was Fox news or some such thing like that. And, um, and they were asking him about his ministry because he's incredibly successful. He's got a huge church that he has been doing this for 20 years now. And, and, and God is doing

great things. And he goes and speaks. Matter of fact, he just spoke down at Oklahoma state like two weeks ago and like a thousand kids came forward and got saved. And they're like, what is giving you so much success? He goes, you know, all I do is I tell these young people you're dead in your sins. Jesus died for your sins. And if you will just put your faith in him, you'll be born

again. He goes, and that's what they do. They come forward and they get saved because they want to be born again. And I'm sitting there listening to him going, why are we reinventing the wheel all the time? All this guy did was give the simple message of the gospel and people get saved because the message of rebirth brothers and sisters is the message of the gospel because the ministry of Jesus is better because it is a ministry of

rebirth. Too many people try to live like a Christian without first being born again. They try to be a good person because they started feeling guilty about something they've done in their past. And so like, I'm going to be a good person now and not do the bad things anymore. Only the problem is they were never, born again. So for a moment, they have a desire to do good things, but pretty soon they find

they're worn out with it. Why? Because you were never born again because you never came to Jesus and said, Lord, I'm a sinner and I need reborn. I need the new life of Jesus Christ coursing through my life. I need the bread of life to give me life. Never came to that. So you're living frustrated because you're trying to be something that you're not. You're trying to live

free. You're trying to live free. You're trying to live free. You're trying to live free. You're trying to live free when you're still a slave. But if you come to Jesus and you let him make you brand new on the inside, because that's the ministry of rebirth, you find all of a sudden this new desire to follow him with all of your heart. So that's being reborn. I always like to

say, you know, April of 1998, I showed up to church the next day and nobody had to tell me to bring my Bible because I wanted to bring my Bible. No one had to tell me to write down the things Pastor Mark was saying because I wanted to write down the things Pastor Mark was saying. Nobody had to tell me to do devotions because I was reborn and I wanted to do the devotions. I didn't understand half of what I read, but I wanted to do that because I knew that's where I could find Jesus.

So that's being reborn. Was I perfect? A hundred percent no. Am I perfect now? I mean, I'm close. No, of course not. But the desire is there because of the rebirth that comes through the power of the Holy Spirit. That's what makes the ministry of Jesus so much better. And I don't know who needs to hear this this morning, but you need to be born again. That's what you're missing

in your life is you're missing the rebirth that comes through Jesus. And it's as simple as coming to Jesus and saying, Lord, make me brand new in you. And I promise you, God will do the most mysterious thing you've ever seen in your life. He'll do just that. He'll make you brand new. There's no right words you have to say. There's no right potion that it takes. It's just the simple

surrender of your heart to Jesus. And he will change the desires of your heart. So the ministry of Jesus is a more excellent ministry. One, because it's a ministry of redemption, two, because it's a ministry of rebirth, but three, because it's a ministry of restoration. It's a ministry of restoration. The word restore means to return to its original state, to return to its original state. And that's what God is in the business of doing in the lives of

people that surrender themselves to him as he restores you to your original state. What does that mean? Well, you were originally created. To be without sin. You were originally created to never die. And so when God comes in, he begins to restore who you were originally supposed to be. And he does that through a slow process in your life of you becoming more like him. And on this side of eternity,

you will never be without sin and you will still face death. But you know that spiritually speaking, you are being renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you have new life eternally that's waiting for you. That's the restoration process, doesn't just end with those two things. God begins to restore every part of who you are. God begins to restore the relationships in your life that are broken. God takes addicts and he

makes them clean. God takes angry people and he fills them with joy. God takes depressed people and he fills them with joy. God, God takes anxious people and he fills them with peace. And he does this because he is a, his is a ministry of, of restoration. And that's what God's doing. He's doing it for you. He's doing it for you. He's doing it for you. He's doing it for you.

He's doing it for you. He's doing it for you. He's doing it for you. He's doing it for you. He's doing it for you. And I love to see people who have surrendered their lives to Jesus. And I watched them continually become who God has created for them to be because their lives are being restored. I told first service, they said, I'm not a car restoration guy. Like I have a project car in my

front yard right now. It's called a Ford Ranger that just doesn't work. And I'm not willing to put the money into it just yet. Although now that I have a 14 year old, that's about to start driving, I'm going to have to. And for me to restore, it means I'm going to take it to a good friend of mine who knows how to work on cars. But, but it fascinates me. You fellas that, that you can look

at a car and you can go, I can't wait to restore that thing. It's going to be beautiful. And I look at it. I'm like, it's a hunk of junk. Okay. It it's missing seven windows and it's only supposed to have five. Like, I don't even know what you're going to do with that thing. It has no engine in it. It's where do the headlights even go in that thing? And they're like, it's

going to be beautiful. And then they start the process and you see it when it's done. You're like, son of a gun, look at you. You really did restore that thing. My wife has a desire to, I let my wife down all the time. I remember she came to me one time. She goes, Ryan, I have this dream. I want to take old houses and I want to restore them. And since you have construction

knowledge, I think we should work on this together. And then I became a dream shatterer in that moment. I said, no, because she can look at a house and she can go, look what it can become. And I look at the house. I'm like, I don't want any part of that. God's in the business. I'm not good with cars and houses, but when it comes to people, that's where God gives me the

vision because that broken people come into my office and they say, my marriage is about to fall apart. I said, well, let's work on it. And I watched what God can do. And I watched how God can rebuild a marriage and watch how God can rebuild a life. And I watched how, how God takes people who everybody else says no one can ever use them. And I watched God restore them to become

somebody that God uses and very powerful. Because God is in the business of restoration because Jesus has a more excellent ministry because it's a ministry of restoration. And so if your life needs restored, you're in the right place because that's what Jesus is in the business of doing in his more excellent ministry. Amen. The second phrase that he says is he is a mediator of a better covenant. We're going to talk about

that more next week. So hang that up and next week we'll talk about that more. But then we come to the last thing, the thing that I want to close with. And that's that this covenant has been enacted on better promises. This covenant has been enacted on better promises. Now, contextually speaking, the promises of the new covenant are the ones that I just told you about. The promises

of the new covenant are promises of eternal redemption. The promises of the new covenant are of eternal rebirth and the promises of the new covenant are of eternal restoration. Those are the promises of the new covenant. And so the new covenant is based on these better promises because Jesus has so much better of a ministry. But it's not just new covenant promises that are

so much better in our life. It's all of the biblical promises that are so much better in our life because of the ministry of Jesus Christ. I wrote this quote down from David Guzik because I thought it was good. He says, God has given us promises to get us through the darkest of times. God has given us promises to get us through the darkest of times. Well, I marinated on that all day yesterday. I just sat in that statement and I thought about

the promises of God. I thought about it while I mowed the yard. I thought about it yesterday afternoon while I went for a run. Sidebar, it was way too hot to run yesterday afternoon. My time was terrible. But I just thought about that all day. And so I came home from a board meeting last night and I pulled my journal out and I thought, I'm going to write down some of the promises that

have been the most precious promises. I'm going to write down some of the promises that have been the most precious promises for me. The ones that I have held on to that have gotten me through the darkest times and the ones that I'm going to continue to hold on to because I know dark times are always ahead because that's the life that we live in. And so these are my promises. I haven't

put them up here. So if you're going to write these down, you got to write quick because I talk fast. Okay. The first one is Joel, Joel chapter two, verse 25. And I prefer this than the new King James translation over some of the other translations because in the new King James translation, Joel 2, verse 25. And I prefer this than the new King James translation over some of

the other translations because in the new King James translation over some of the other translations. Joel 2, verse 25 says this, and I will restore to you the years that the swarming locusts have eaten away and the chewing locusts and the devouring locusts and all of the army that I have sent against you. Brothers and sisters, that promises that God will restore the years that the locusts have eaten away. Now in this room, I can about guarantee there's some people who can look back on their lives and they can see that for too many years, sin dominated their lives.

Either as an unbeliever lost in their sin or a believer who fell back into sin. And you go, oh my gosh, I've just lost all of those years. Oh my gosh, I've just lost all of that time. Lord, I don't even know what to do with that. And that's all just wasted time. Well, he makes a promise here. He says, I'm able to restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten away.

In other words, God is going to take what you see as your greatest defeats in your life. And he is going to turn them into your greatest victories. God is going to take the worst times in your life and your greatest testimony because God promises to restore the years that the locusts have eaten away. And I think we should claim some of these promises. Now I'm going to get mildly Pentecostal

on you for a minute as if I haven't been the whole time, but we'd understand something about the promises of God because of one particular movements in the church that is anti-biblical and unbiblical in nature, where the name it and claim it philosophy that, well, you want that truck? You can have that truck. You just need to claim that. You want that house? You can have that house. You just need to claim that house. I don't know

why that's always in the Southern accent, but it feels right. Doesn't it feels right with the Southern accent. Or for me, if you want that espresso maker, you should claim that espresso maker, right? And because of that, we stopped claiming the promises of God because we're like, oh, that's not biblical. No, it's incredibly biblical. As long as what you're claiming is

not things of the flesh to satisfy your flesh. But when you are claiming the truth of God's word, because God wants to do a work in your heart, incredibly biblical, that's called holding God to his promises. And I think that we should do it boldly. And so in your life, you need to say, Lord, you have said in Joel chapter two, verse 25, that you will restore the years that the locusts have eaten away. So father restore the years that

the locusts have eaten in my life, because that's what I need you to do. And you start claiming it boldly. And it's amazing how those better promises that come through the better ministry of Christ through a better sanctuary begin to change. Who you are. The second promise that I love is out of Psalm 147, verse three. This one's been pretty, pretty important to me. It says, um, it says, uh, and I will heal the brokenhearted and I will bind

up their wounds that were brokenhearted literally means to be shattered. And, and that word heal means, means to restore to its original condition. In other words, God takes shattered hearts and restore them. And I don't know what's broken your heart today. I don't know where you sit today. That's broken your heart. But maybe you take all of those broken pieces to the Lord and said, Lord, I need you to put this

back together again. Lord, your word says that you heal the brokenhearted and Lord, my heart is broken right now. So I need you to heal it. The next promise that I'd like to claim is Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 36 and Ezekiel 36, verse 36 says God speaking through Ezekiel, the prophet says, and I will take away your heart of stone. And I will replace it with a heart of flesh. In other words, if you have a prodigal in your life

that has become so hard hearted against God, maybe it's a kid, maybe it's a husband, maybe it's a wife, maybe it's a friend, whatever it is, you need to start claiming the truth of what God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel. When he said, I will take away your heart of stone, your heart that is so hard against the truth of God's word, their heart that is so hard against the things that God wants to do. Their heart that just keeps pushing away and pushing back on that. And I will replace it with a heart of flesh. And you need to start claiming that truth over the life of that loved one. Listen,

I'm not trying to be a name and claim a person right now, but by God, let's start doing it. Start claiming that promise over that person. Lord, I see what's going on with the hardness of their heart, but Lord, your word says that you can take away a heart of stone and you can replace it with a heart of flesh. Who here's praying for a prodigal? I want you to put your

hand up right now. Who's praying for a prodigal right now? Then it's time to start praying that. I remember sitting in Bible college. How much time do I have left? I got 10 minutes. We're good. I remember sitting in Bible college and we watched a teaching by Jim Cimbala. They made who Jim Cimbala is. He wrote an entire book about this teaching. It's called fresh wind, fresh fire. And Jim Cimbala talked about his daughter and his daughter had

walked away from God. Like he's got an immense ministry going. People are getting saved every week. People are being set free from, from addiction. People are getting saved every week. He's like in the heart of Brooklyn where there's just all kinds of craziness going on and God is doing a major work. And Satan goes after his daughter. Satan goes after his daughter and she

is gone. And he said, I didn't know what to do. She ran away and I didn't even know what to do anymore. He said, so I just started praying. He said, I remember being in a prayer meeting one time and he said, I don't know what your theology is about the Holy spirit. I don't care what your theology is about the Holy spirit, because I know what I saw. I don't care what your theology is

about. And I know what was real in that moment. And he said, I was in a prayer meeting with people that claimed promises over my daughter in Jesus name through the power of the Holy spirit. He said, I went home that night. I went home that night and I told my wife, I said, it's done. It's done. God's going to do what God's going to do. And God told me to release this now and let

him do what he's going to do to that prayer meeting. Because if that doesn't set her free, nothing can. He said, the next day, my daughter showed up on my doorstep. And now she's healed and she's redeemed and she's restored. Get a little Pentecostal in the way that you claim the promises of God. Amen. He says, I will take away your heart of stone and I will

give you a heart of flesh. The last one, because I'm really running out of time. The last one that I want to tell you about is Romans chapter 828. I know, I know that Romans 828 makes the doily of every fridge. Okay. It is the patented verse. Well, my coffee didn't taste right this morning, but Romans 828, God causes all things to work together for the good. But my gosh, can we

just believe that? Can we just believe that God really does cause all things to work together for the good? That's what it says. For I know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose. That means that there is nothing, zero things that as a believer in Jesus Christ that come into your life, that God's

not going to do something amazing with. You may see it on this side of eternity. You may, never see it on the side of eternity, but that's what he promises to do. And so the next time brokenness comes into your life, you need to say, Lord, your word says, your word says, for I know that God causes all things to work together for good. So Lord, I need you to do that with this

because you promised. I'm going to hold you to your promise. God, Jesus has a better ministry because it's a better covenant based on better promises. Amen. Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me, father, we come before you and Lord, I thank you for the truth of your word. And Lord, I thank you that we can get a little excited about what your word has to say because it's exciting stuff. And Lord, I thank you that it always ministers to our hearts

exactly where we need for it to. And so Lord, I want to lift up every person out here that put their hand up that said that they're praying for a prodigal in their life. Lord, that's what's heavy on my heart for people right now, because I know there's a lot of people praying for that. And Lord, I want to pray that they would not give up, but Lord, that they would continue to claim your promises, Lord, that you would even give them other great and precious promises in your word that they claim as their own, because that's the, that's the truth of what your word has to say. And Lord, I just want to pray that they wouldn't give up praying,

but that they would continue to pour out their hearts to you. And Lord, lift up every prodigal that was represented by those hands that were raised. And God, your word says, your word says that you are able to take away our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. And so Lord, I lift up the heart of every person, young and old, that is represented by those hands that were raised and asked that they would come home, that you would bring them back to you. And Lord, I want to lift up every person in here that

needs to be raised. And Lord, I want to lift up every person in here that needs to be raised. Some years of their life reclaimed or some years of their life restored or the locusts have eaten some things away, but you want their brokenness to become their battle cry. Lord, you want their broken times to be their greatest victories. And so Lord restore those years that the locusts have

eaten away. Father be with us as we go through this week, as we start a new month, may it be in the power of your spirit. Through the guidance of your word in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.

Lord God, we give you praise and we give you thanks. Lord God, may you continue to minister to us by the power of your word, by the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord God. Move mightily in our lives and change us. Mold us into your image, Lord God. We love you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.