>> [ Congregation singing ]
>> Today we are blessed
with a wonderful gift from God,
the Bible.
This book is God's living word.
In its pages, we are told,
"For the word of God is living
and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword."
It is in this book of books
that we find the answers
to all of men's questions
and need.
This morning, your area
Churches of Christ
welcome you to a program
committed to that perfect
law of liberty.
>> [ Singing continues ]
>> As we present
"The Living Word."
>> [ Singing continues ]
>> Now, here is your host,
Ray Sullins.
>> Welcome to the
"Living Word" program
on this wondrous
Lord's Day morning.
It is always an honor and
a privilege to have you with us.
And we are thankful that
you have chosen to be with us
for this time as we gather
before the very throne of God.
It is our hope and prayer
this morning
that we will each participate
and do our own part
to make this time
acceptable in his sight,
and that we do all things
according to his perfect will.
As we begin our offering
to God at this time,
will you bow with me
before his throne in prayer?
Our God and Father in Heaven,
we are so thankful for this,
another day of life.
We're thankful
for the greatest of all gifts,
the sacrifice of Jesus on the
cross, as well as his death,
his burial and his resurrection.
And, Father,
we know that it's only through
this greatest of all gifts
that we have the opportunity
to be found justified today
and ultimately
justified eternally.
Help us, Father, this day
to give you our very best
as we worship and praise
and lift up your wondrous name.
And thank you
for the avenue of prayer
that we might always
communicate to you and know
that certainly you would
have us to do these things
and do them according to, again,
what we find in the Bible.
In Jesus' name, we pray.
Amen.
This morning, we want to begin
our songs of praise
by singing a song which reminds
us of the great deliverance
that we have through God
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
So at this time,
won't you join in
with the congregation
as we sing together,
"He is Able to Deliver Thee."
>>  'Tis the grandest theme
through the ages rung 
 'Tis the grandest theme
for a mortal tongue 
 'Tis the grandest theme
that the world e'er sung 
 "Our God is able
to deliver thee 
 He is able to deliver thee 
 He is able
to deliver thee 
 Though by sin oppressed,
go to Him for rest 
 Our God is able
to deliver thee 
 'Tis the grandest theme
in the earth or main 
 'Tis the grandest theme
for a mortal strain 
 'Tis the grandest theme,
tell the world again 
 "Our God is able
to deliver thee" 
 He is able to deliver thee 
 He is able
to deliver thee 
 Though by sin oppressed,
go to Him for rest 
 "Our God is able
to deliver thee" 
 'Tis the grandest theme,
let the tidings roll 
 To the guilty heart,
to the sinful soul 
 Look to God in faith,
He will make thee whole 
 "Our God is able
to deliver thee" 
 He is able to deliver thee 
 He is able
to deliver thee 
 Though by sin oppressed,
go to Him for rest 
 "Our God is able
to deliver thee" 
>> It seems more and more
in our society
that we often forget
those who have done so much
to bring our country
or to do things in our life
to bring us
to where we are today.
Who am I talking about?
Even the older generation
in our nation.
Consider why we have
the freedoms that we do today
and think about the sacrifices
that have been made
in past years
to see that we can live
in this country
and to have the things
that we do
as well as the freedom
that we have.
Yes, the fact is,
many individuals
who are still alive today
have paid great prices that
we might be able to have the joy
and the privilege to live
not only in this country,
but to have the things
that we do as Americans.
But why do I bring
this up today?
I bring it up because even
in a spiritual sense,
we are to be those
who stand strong in a world
that certainly often does not
understand the idea of freedom.
Many often have done
those things
that are contrary
to the will of God
and really who desire
to actually have control
or power over others.
But when we think
about ourselves
and we consider the world
that we live in,
we must not forget again
the many who have paid the price
that we might be
where we are today,
those who have again
accomplished what we can
or what they can
in their lives,
so that I might have even
the spiritual freedom
and that I might be able
to follow my God
based on what we learn
in the Bible.
If we go to God's word,
we also find a lot of
information about honoring
and respecting those
who are worthy of such,
especially those who are older,
who have done great things
in their lives.
The fact is,
we might even recall
what Solomon said
in Proverbs 20:29.
There we read, "The glory
of young men is their strength,
and the splendor of old men
is their gray head."
Here we have addressed
both realms of the discussion
this morning.
The young who stand strong today
and who might even
be able to do things
to continue to help our nation,
not only in a physical sense,
but to help us
in an ability
to live spiritually
as we desire,
but also the older
who are now wise
and who have taught us so much
about what it means
to stand for things
and to be committed to things.
This beautiful idea of gray hair
is used in an honorable way
to confirm the wisdom of one
who has experienced
the many ups and downs of life.
Notice what else
Solomon said about this topic
in the same book,
but in chapter 16 and verse 16,
where he states that wisdom
is even better than gold.
Let's all remember
those around us in our lives
who have made us who we are,
who have made such
a great difference in our lives
and who have done things
that we might not
only have a secular freedom,
but the spiritual freedom
to be the types of people
that God would have us to be.
And let's be willing
to show them honor and respect,
the honor and respect
that people deserve
who have done things
in order for us
to be exactly where we are.
Certainly, we are not
only a blessed nation,
but a blessed people.
And we need to always understand
that if we will put
righteousness before us
each and every day,
we will always be able to be
greater in the sight of God.
This morning,
we'll be continuing our series,
which is called The Better
Things from the Book of Hebrews.
And our specific topic
of the day is a better covenant.
So please continue
with us this morning.
And after our next
song together,
we will return with this study
from God's word.
As far as our speaker
of the day,
we are happy to have
Brother Trey Sullins with us.
Brother Trey
is one of the ministers
of the Kansas Expressway Church
of Christ here in Springfield.
He's also a full-time instructor
at the Bible Institute
of Missouri.
We thank him
for joining us this day
to lead our discussion
in God's word.
But for now, let's join together
in the second song
of the morning,
the name of the hymn --
"Blue Skies and Rainbows."
>>  Blue skies and rainbows,
and sunbeams from heaven 
 Are what I can see when
my Lord is living in me 
 I know that Jesus is well,
and alive today 
 He makes His home
in my heart 
 Never more will I be
all alone 
 Since he promised me
that we never would part 
 Green grass and flowers
all blooming in springtime 
 Are works of the Master
I live for each day 
 I know that Jesus is well,
and alive today 
 He makes His home
in my heart 
 Never more will I be
all alone 
 Since he promised me
that we never would part 
 Tall mountains, green valleys, the beauty that surrounds me 
 All make me aware of the One who made it all 
 I know that Jesus is well,
and alive today 
 He makes His home
in my heart 
 Never more will I be
all alone 
 Since he promised me
that we never would part 
>> Good morning
and thank you again
for being here with us.
It's such a pleasure
that we have to study
God's word, to worship him
on his day, this Lord's day.
And so thank you.
We've been looking at,
through the book of Hebrews,
the many things that are better
in the law of Christ.
And really, as you
probably have noticed
and we've already discussed,
this is the purpose
of really the book of Hebrews
for the most part.
One of its main goals
is to express the fact
that we have a better situation
in which we live today,
better than it's ever been,
even under the old law
and even a law before that.
But nonetheless,
what we want to do now
is to go back to Chapter eight,
to the book of Hebrews.
We want to see how we have
the better covenant
under the law of Christ
and under Jesus the Christ.
To see this,
we need to start off
by reading the first few verses
of Hebrews chapter eight.
It says there in verse one,
"Now this is the main point
of the things we are saying.
We have such a high priest
who is seated at the right hand
of the throne of the majesty
in the heavens,
a minister of the sanctuary
and of the true tabernacle
which the Lord erected
and not man.
For every high priest
is appointed to offer
both gifts and sacrifices.
Therefore, it is necessary
that this one also should
have something to offer."
We'll pick up the next few
verses in just a moment.
But to think about that, notice
mainly there in verse two,
what is being said.
He says, "Here's the main point."
The point is that
we have a high priest
who's at the right hand of God,
but also a high priest who is
ministering in the sanctuary of,
as it says, the true tabernacle,
which is one of the Lord.
Now, think for a minute,
if you have the house
in which you live or apartment
or wherever it
and whatever it might be,
wherever you live.
Imagine now if right next door
there was a building
that was built by God
and you had the ability
to live in that building.
Would you think
you'd want to live there?
Well, probably so.
Can you imagine?
It'd be perfect.
There'd be no flaws in it.
Everything would just run
exactly as you
would expect it to.
It'd be the greatest place
to live.
Well, here you have
the comparison being made
between that old tabernacle
all the way back into the books
or into the books
of the Old Testament
and the true tabernacle,
as it says,
a tabernacle built by God,
one that was not
or did not need man's hands
in order to be constructed
so that there would be flaws
and other things and tiny
imperfections within it,
but one that is a spiritual
tabernacle, one that is perfect,
made by God, and obviously
that one is superior.
Now, why he's saying
this is really
where we get to here
in just a moment.
The fact that this ministry
of Jesus,
this ministry in which he served
as God's high priest
is of this true tabernacle.
The word ministry
has to do with service,
or it literally means service.
And so when you think about the
ministry in the true tabernacle,
the idea is the work that Jesus
did in this true tabernacle,
the service that he performed
in order for it to function
as it was supposed to function.
Now think about that in
comparison to the old tabernacle
or even the temple
that came a little bit later
in the Old Testament
and world history.
That had high priests
and had priests within it
who worked to do God's will.
They served as and ministered
in that tabernacle.
And as they did this, they were
performing the will of God
so that things might be
accomplished as God
had intended it to,
so that people could worship
the way that God wanted them to.
Well, think about
that now with Jesus.
He's not in
a physical tabernacle.
He's in the true tabernacle,
the spiritual tabernacle,
this realm of spiritual things
and serves as minister
or high priest
doing the will of God
so that we can worship today.
Now, think about
that practically.
What does that mean to us?
It's meaning that God sent
His son, Jesus the Christ,
to do His will,
to serve as that minister,
so that we can have the ability
now to worship our God
and to serve him today.
Just like under
the Old Testament laws,
if they didn't have
those priests before them,
in between them and God
so that they could worship God,
they would have no way
to get to God.
They would have no way
to worship God
if God didn't set up this system
and tell them how to worship,
then they wouldn't have known
what to do.
Well, in the same way today
we've got
Jesus the Christ
right before us
so that we can serve and so that
we can worship our God.
Now, the point of the book
of Hebrews,
as we've been saying,
is that this is better.
This is way better than it was
under the Old Testament.
Think about some of
the different comparisons here.
We'll see some more
in a moment.
But Jesus the Christ
is obviously better
than any high priest
that's ever been.
He's better
because he's perfect.
He's better because
he's the son of God.
He's better because God sent him
from heaven directly.
And now he's back in heaven
at the right hand of God,
even as we've just read,
so that we can continue to serve
and he can continue to fulfill
that role
as the high priest
in that spiritual sense.
All these things
and so much more.
See how much better it is
that we have today?
We don't have to go to some
person to perform God's will.
We go to the Son of God himself.
In Leviticus chapter ten,
there's a great example of why
this is better in that chapter.
Right at the beginning of it,
you've got these two priests,
and these two priests
basically were complacent.
They didn't really take
the work of God seriously.
And because of that,
they offered to God sacrifices
and offerings in a way that he did not command, in a way
that was lazy or in a way
that was unauthorized by God.
The result therein is that
God killed them
both for their rejection
of Him and their disobedience.
People have flaws.
We mess up, we sin.
But if we serve
under the Son of God,
the high priest
of Jesus Christ himself,
who is perfect,
that will never be a problem.
It'll never be a problem
where Jesus does something
that harms or hinders
our ability to worship God
and to serve him today.
It just won't happen,
because he's perfect.
He is that son of God.
See, the covenant we serve in
is so much better today.
If you continue there
in verse four though, it says,
"For if he were on earth,
he would not be a priest,
since there are priests
who offer gifts
according to the law,
who serve the copy
and the shadow
of the heavenly things,
as Moses was divinely instructed
when he was about to make
the tabernacle for he said,
'See that you make all things
according to the pattern
shown you on the mountain.'
But now he has obtained
a more excellent ministry
inasmuch as he is the med--
also --
or he is also mediator
of a better covenant
which was established
on better promises."
See that comparison
next being made
is that Moses was given
these instructions,
was given these requirements
for how that tabernacle
was to be made,
and it was by God's requirements
and it was right in his sight
at that time.
But how much better is it now
that we have Jesus the Christ
as the high priest.
We have the true form,
not the shadow
of what was in the old days,
that old tabernacle,
the old priesthood,
all those things
that were were simply shadows.
They were things
that were looking forward
to the real thing,
looking forward
to the actual tabernacle,
the actual high priest,
the actual priesthood
and service
ministry of Jesus Christ.
Well, that's what we have today.
How much better then?
And that's what
the point of verse six,
An excellent ministry,
a better covenant established
on better promises.
Now we want to take
the rest of our time
to look then
at those better promises.
This covenant in which we live
under came by better promises
and delivers
better promises to us.
And the whole point of this
is really to see, again,
as chapter eight is telling us,
we ought not to look back
at the old ways of Judaism.
We ought not to look back at the
old ways of the patriarchal law.
God has done away
with those things.
as Colossians 2:14 tells us.
But beyond that, we have
something so much better.
You know, we have phones
and computers and cars
and all these things
that we're constantly needing
to upgrade and update
and all those kinds of things.
Well, imagine for a moment
if you got a phone
and then you thought,
you know what,
I want to go all the way back
to maybe the phones that had
to be attached to your car,
those first forms
of cell phones,
if you want to call them that,
where there was
a big old box in your car
and a cable running from it.
Well, who would ever think
that was more convenient
or that was more --
was a better way
to do it than what we have now?
Something as simple as a phone.
Now, I guess there's pros
and cons to each of them.
But nonetheless,
the point is you don't
go backwards in progress.
You don't regress to things
that have been improved upon.
We don't ever do that in life.
You ever thought to yourself,
if you're
going into the hospital,
"I'd like to get an operation
that was invented in the 1700s"?
Obviously not, you'd say,
"What's the latest and greatest?
What's the best results for my body to get me healthy today?"
We do that all over the place.
And so we need to do that
with the word of God
as well, that we live
in the better covenant.
Therefore, we should only live
by the better covenant,
that New Testament law.
Now think about what that means
practically from the rest
of these things
in the chapter, verse six,
we've already talked about
these better promises
that he offers unto us.
And if you see again how it says
"this is established
on better promises."
Well, think about why it was
established on better promises.
If you look at 1 Peter 1:10,
there's a passage there talking
about this day of grace
that we live under, a grace which those prophets of old
searched for.
They tried to find.
So think -- even those people
that were directly revealed
things by God
searched for the time
in which we live.
See how much better it is
that we live when we do?
Guys like Isaiah who prophesied
of the Messiah,
Jeremiah who prophesied of the
Kingdom in Jeremiah chapter 31,
or the church that was to come.
Guys like Daniel,
who also prophesied
of that kingdom and the church.
These guys, although
they prophesied of these things
and so many more,
didn't really understand
what they were prophesying.
They were receiving a message
to God, delivering it,
but they
couldn't see the result.
They couldn't see
the fulfillment,
so they didn't quite know
what they were saying.
And so they searched.
They wanted to know.
They wanted to see the
fulfillment of these promises.
And even the book of Hebrews
explains
that Joshua promised a rest,
but there's a better rest
that was to come in the future.
That better rest is heaven.
All these things are
what the new covenant,
that covenant of Christ,
the New Testament is built upon.
And all these things
are what Jesus the Christ
serves in as the high priest.
It is a covenant established
on better promises
because it's ours today.
Now that's not to say
that the old covenant was bad.
The Book of Hebrews here
even says in verse seven,
if that first covenant
had been faultless,
then no place
would have been sought
for another.
The word "faultless"
there really has to do
with something
that is not of any use anymore,
or it has been made
to be of no effect
or been made of something --
or it has become something
that has a flaw within it,
in a sense.
The flaw isn't that
it was designed badly.
The flaw is that
it can't save us.
Galatians 3:19
even tells us that very fact.
Its purpose,
the law of the Old Testament,
was purposed to bring
people to Christ.
Hebrews 9:15
tells us that Christ died
for those under the first
covenant as well.
So think about all these things
that we've been talking about.
We have Jesus, the high priest.
That's why it's
a better covenant.
We have not only a high priest
who is the son of God,
but a high priest
who is perfect.
That's why it's
a better covenant.
We have a high priest
who offered himself
as the Son of God
for us under the covenant
in which we live.
Another reason
why it's so much better.
We have a high priest who also
gave us these better promises
and fulfilled
these better promises
that had been searched for
for thousands of years.
Another reason why it's such
a better covenant.
Not just that,
but we have the covenant
that God has set up today,
the covenant that continues on
in which we can make it
to heaven with.
1 Corinthians 15:24 tells us
then comes the end, when
he delivers the Kingdom of God
to the Father.
Now, if we stay
in this covenant,
this covenant which tells us
about the church
and about how to live
and to be right,
that New Testament covenant,
if we stay there, live there,
abide by the rules
and the things
that God tells us to do in that,
and be the Christians
of that high priest
who are in that church,
then that church that we're in
gets delivered to God,
the father.
The question really becomes
for us,
do we want to live under
that new covenant
or do we want to live
under our own covenant?
One we've made up
that's not authorized by God,
that isn't taken to heaven
at the end.
The choice is simple -- live
under that covenant of God
and you have the blessings
and the rewards
that God offers to us.
 Who at my door is standing,
patiently drawing near 
 Entrance within demanding?
Whose is the voice I hear? 
 Sweetly the tones are falling,
"Open the door for Me!" 
 "If thou wilt heed My calling, I will abide with thee" 
 All through the dark hours dreary, knocking again is He 
 Jesus, art Thou not weary,
waiting so long for me? 
 Sweetly the tones are falling,
"Open the door for Me! 
 If thou wilt heed My calling,
I will abide with thee" 
 Door of my heart, I hasten!
Thee will I open wide 
 Though He rebuke and chasten,
He shall with me abide 
 Sweetly the tones are falling,
"Open the door for Me! 
 If thou wilt heed My calling,
I will abide with thee" 
>> Again, let me thank you for
choosing to be with us this day,
and I hope that our time
together has been certainly
an encouragement
and a blessing to us all.
And remember that you're invited
to join us every Sunday morning
at 7:30 as we commit ourselves
to this service
before the throne of God.
But for now, let me ask you
if you have any questions
or comments
about today's lesson,
maybe like a free transcript
or free CD
or DVD of the program,
or possibly we could assist you
with free Bible materials
or free
Bible correspondence courses.
No matter what your need is,
please feel free to contact us
at the following address.
"The Living Word,"
2540 North Kansas Expressway,
Springfield, Missouri, 65803.
Many of these items are also
available on our website.
That address,
TheLivingWordProgram.com.
Or if you prefer, you may
call us at (417) 869-2284.
Thanks be to God
that through Jesus Christ
we have been given a better
covenant to follow, a covenant
that is founded
on the most precious blood
of our Lord
and Savior Himself.
Therefore, may we ever
live in this life
and meet the standard of God
which He has set in
His covenant, that we might be
found pleasing in His sight,
and ultimately recipients
of his rewards and promises.
>> Our prayer is to help
the world know more
about God
through this television program.
"The Living Word"
has been brought to you
under the oversight
of the elders of the Kansas
Expressway Church of Christ
in Springfield, Missouri,
with the assistance
of the following area
Churches of Christ.
>> [ Congregation singing ]