HEBREWS 16


     We will begin this lesson in Hebrews 8:8 "For finding fault with
them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah:"

     We find that over and over, the Lord has had mercy on the
Israelites. When one thing does not work, He has forgiven them, and
given them another opportunity. The last opportunity, is the grace of
God, through His Son Jesus Christ. This opportunity is for physical
Israel, and for spiritual Israel [Christians]. This last opportunity
is not made through the law, but is a free gift to all who will
believe, and accept it. Jeremiah 31:31  "Behold, the days come, saith
the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel,
and with the house of Judah:" Jeremiah 31:32 "Not according to the
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them
by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant
they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:"
Jeremiah 31:33 "But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with
the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my
law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be
their God, and they shall be my people." Jeremiah 31:34 "And they
shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the
least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will
forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
The amazing thing, to me, is that God still loves all of us.

     Hebrews 8:9 "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 continued not in my covenant, and I
regarded them not, saith the Lord."

     These Hebrews that went into Egypt, soon forgot God in this
idolatrous land. They cried out to Him for help when they became
slaves to the Egyptians. God intervened on their part, and brought
them out, by His mighty Hand. Ten plagues, God brought on Pharoah, so
he would let the people go. God opened the Red Sea, that they might
walk across in safety. He miraculously fed them every day on the
journey.  The Bible says that their shoes and clothing did not wear
out, even though this journey took 40 years. When they were out of
water, God had water to flow from a rock for them. How could they fall
away from God, after such great shows of His love to them? In the
following Scriptures, we see another instance of Israel falling away
from God.  It seems, over and over, even unto this present time they
are still away from God. The wonderful thing is, God is merciful. II
Kings 17:16 "And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God,
and made them molten images, [even] two calves, and made a grove, and
worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal." II Kings 17:17
"And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the
fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do
evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger." II Kings
17:18 "Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them
out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only."

     Hebrews 8:10 "For this [is] the covenant that I will make with
the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to
them a God, and they shall be to me a people:"

     This is a beautiful promise to the house of Israel. I believe
this includes physical Israel and spiritual Israel. When you are
saved, you really have a change of heart. You no longer want to live
the life you did before you received salvation. We are told over and
over, to have the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord, we must
believe in our heart. It is as if you have had a heart transplant. You
no longer have an evil heart of unbelief. That old heart has been
changed into a heart that wants to please God. Your heart has been
washed in the blood of the Lamb and made every whit whole. This new
heart, guided by the Holy Spirit of God, has learned the perfect way
of the Lord. His laws have been written there. This heart no longer
desires to sin; it desires to please God. The issue of the heart is
what we are. The mind is stayed upon God, because the heart is stayed
on God.

     Hebrews 8:11 "And they shall not teach every man his neighbour,
and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know
me, from the least to the greatest."

     When the Lord reveals Himself to mankind, there will be no need
for evangelizing. I believe this happens, when Jesus Christ, as Lord
of lords and King of kings rules the thousand years here on the earth.
Here is another Scripture that is saying the same thing. Habakkuk 2:14
"For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the
LORD, as the waters cover the sea." Let us look at two more Scriptures
that can shed a little light on this. I John 2:27 "But the anointing
which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any
man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things,
and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall
abide in him." I John 5:20 "And we know that the Son of God is come,
and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true,
and we are in him that is true, [even] in his Son Jesus Christ. This
is the true God, and eternal life." God is a Spirit. When we receive
the Spirit of God, within us, we no longer decide our life, Jesus
decides and we follow His instructions.

     Hebrews 8:12 "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."

     In the old earthly Temple, the high priest made sacrifice for the
sin of the people. This blood of animals that they sacrificed could
only cover the sin. Washing in the blood of Jesus completely destroys
your sin. It is done away with. The Bible says it is as far as the
east is  from the west. It also says, it is in the bottom of the sea.
The point it is really making is, that your sin is no more. Sin, for
the believer in Christ, died on the cross, when Jesus took it upon His
body. I John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his
Son cleanseth us from all sin." I John 1:8 "If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." I John 1:9 "If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." You see, from all this,
that we have sinned and deserve to die. Jesus paid in full the death
penalty for us, when He gave His body on the cross.

     Hebrews 8:13 "In that he saith, A new [covenant], he hath made
the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old [is] ready to
vanish away."

     When you make a new will, the old one is no longer in effect.
That is what God has done here, He has made a new will. This New
Testament is that will. This Covenant was not signed with the blood of
man, but with the blood of the Father's own Son {Jesus Christ the
Righteous}. The old covenant has been retired and the new covenant is
now in effect. God provided the new and better way. Jesus is the Way.
The way we activate this covenant is through belief in Jesus Christ as
our Saviour and Lord. II Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man [be]
in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new."  This is that new birth that all believers
in Christ receive.






























                             Questions 16

1.  In verse 8, who did God say He would make a new covenant with?
2.  What is the last opportunity which God has made available to all?
3.  In Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 31, God says He will make a new
    covenant with whom?
4.  What did God say He had been to them?
5.  Where will God put His laws in this new covenant?
6.  Why will they not teach their neighbor in that day?
7.  Who did God take by the hand and lead them out of slavery?
8.  When was the only time they cried out to God?
9.  Name some of the miracles God did for them, that should have left
    no doubt in their mind who He was?
10. Why do you suppose they fell away to other gods?
11. What are some terrible sins mentioned here in 2 Kings?
12. In chapter 8 verse 10, God says He will put His laws in what 2
    places?
13. When will there be no need for evangelizing?
14. Quote Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 14.
15. The Son of God has come and given us an ______________.
16. God is a ______.
17. In Hebrews chapter 8 verse 12, God says He will remember what no
    more?
18. Where are 2 places the Bible mentions your sins have gone, when
    you receive Jesus, that makes them impossible to find again?
19. What was the only thing the blood of an animal could do to sin?
20. If I walk in the Light of Jesus Christ, what cleanses me from all
    sin?
21. We have sinned and deserve to ___.
22. Jesus paid in full the _____ _______ for us.
23. When He said He made a new covenant, what happened to the old?
24. When you make a new will the old one is no more in ______.
25. What was this new covenant signed with?
26. If any man be in Christ, he is a new _________.