Hebrews, The Better Covenant – Part 1 Lawson Perdue
Hebrews: The Better Covenant
In Hebrews: The Better Covenant Part 1, Pastor Lawson Perdue explains the better covenant we have with better promises through Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, the promises were based on our performance, but in the New Covenant, Jesus did the work and secured the promises for us.
“But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” Hebrews 8:6
The Hebrews: The Better Covenant CD Set
Hebrews 8:6 says that we have a better covenant based on better promises!
What makes our covenant better? Jesus! In the Old Testament, the promises were based on our performance, but in the New Covenant, Jesus did the work and secured the promises for us. Join Pastor Lawson as he teaches through the book of Hebrews in this four part series, revealing the grace of God which we receive by faith.
Part 1 Transcription
Praise the Lord, friends, and welcome to the broadcast, I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in. I’m teaching today from one of my favorite books, the Book of Hebrews, and I’m teaching about the better covenant and what makes the covenant better is Jesus. We have a better covenant established on better promises. Today we’ll teach from Hebrews 1 and Hebrews 2 on how Jesus is better than angels. Thanks so much, and receive God’s good Word today. So I wrote a book about the Book of Hebrews and I also taught it a long time ago. And so we’re gonna begin in Hebrews 1 in just a few minutes, but the key verse to the book of Hebrews is Hebrews 8:6, and it says, “We have a better covenant established on better promises.” And the key word, key word’s better, the key verse is Hebrews 8:6, it says we have a better covenant established on better promises, and what makes it better?
[Congregation] Jesus.
Jesus! It’s better because in the old covenant God said, “If you do this, then I’ll do this.” The problem was that we couldn’t do it because we were spiritually dead, right? But in the new covenant, he says, “I will remember your sins and inequities no more,” amen. And the blessing in the new covenant is based on Jesus. The surety of the covenant is Jesus, he is the surety, he is the guarantee of the new covenant and the covenant promises of the Bible are guaranteed to us because of Christ’s work, praise God. So it’s no longer, “If you do this, then I’ll do this.” It’s like, “No, I’ll bless you, I’ll help you,” praise God. And it’s not based on our performance, it’s based on Jesus’ work. Now, when you have the Spirit of God in you, it changes how you live, and you’ll see today we begin in Hebrews 1:1, it says this, “God at different times and different manners spoke to the prophets by the Holy Ghost, and now he is speaking to us by Jesus.” God is speaking, amen? Are you listening? See, I think some people really miss out on what God is speaking, and the problem is some people don’t have a continuing relationship with the Holy Spirit. Because of Jesus, because of the grace of God, you can have a continuing relationship with the Holy Ghost, and that’s a key thing that goes through the Book of Hebrews is, “Don’t harden your hearts as they did in the provocation, but you listen to the voice of the Spirit,” you listen to Jesus. And he says, actually, in Hebrews 12, that Jesus is speaking from heaven, praise God. So that’s a theme that follows all through the book, that God is speaking to us through Jesus. So, look at this, the very first thing that the writer of Hebrews addresses in chapter one is who is Jesus Christ? Do you know the most important question that you’ll answer in your entire life is who is Jesus Christ? And so he says in verse two, he says, “God has in these last days spoken to us by his son.” Jesus in is the Son of God. As the Son of God he’s the creator of the universe, amen. So Jesus is God manifest in the flesh and we can look, he’s the express image of the Father, he upholds all things by the word of his power, he’s the living Word of God. “When he by himself purged our sins and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.” Jesus is the savior of the world. John looked at him in John 1:29 and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” “Being so much better,” he says this, “Than the angels, he has by inheritance obtained a name that is more excellent than they.” Jesus is better than the angels. He’s saying the Old Testament was ordained, right? By the angels in hands of a mediator, but the New Testament is ordained through the mediator Jesus Christ. He is the great high priest of this new covenant, right? So Jesus is better than the angels, and he goes on, he says, “For to which of the angels did he say at any time, ‘You are my son, today have I begotten you?’ And again, ‘I will be to him an father, he will be to me a son.'” Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. “No man has seen God at anytime,” again, John 1:18, “But the only begotten Son has revealed him. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him.” Did you know God bankrupted heaven for you, for me? He bankrupted heaven to gain a relationship with humanity. “You are my son, today have I begotten you, I will be him Father, he’ll be to me a son. And again, when he brings the firstbegotten into the world, he says, ‘Let all the angels of God worship him.'” worship him, he’s God. Again, God the Son, right? As the Son of God he’s the creator, the Son of Man, he has authority, he’s God in the flesh, he does the will of God. He’s the living Word, praise God. Savior of the world. He says this in verse seven, that angels, he says, “Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.” Praise God, are you servants of God? Are you ministers of the Lord? Praise God, he makes you a flame of fire. “But unto the Son,” he says, “‘Your throne, oh God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated inequity.'” Do you love righteousness? Do you hate sin? See, that’s the attribute of Jesus. When you love righteousness and hate sin, you should be anointed with joy. You know, we have so many people walking around, looking like what they don’t have and complaining and whining, love righteousness and hate sin, you can’t walk around like that anymore. Look at chapter two, verse one. “Therefore we,” because of who Jesus is, “should give more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” “Lest we should drift away,” it says in another translation. You don’t wanna drift away, you don’t wanna move away from Jesus. Paul says in Galatians 1:6, he says, “I marvel that you’re so soon removed from him who called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel.” Don’t move away from Jesus, don’t move away from the gospel, don’t move away from grace, Don’t move away from, it’s not me, it’s him, it’s Jesus. The gospel’s about Jesus.
Amen.
Don’t move away from Jesus. “I marvel.” They were being tempted, in Hebrews, to go back because people were persecuting them for their faith in Jesus. So they’re being tempted to go back to the old ways and the old law. And you cannot improve on Jesus. The law couldn’t make you righteous before Jesus and the law can’t make you righteous since Jesus. “By the works of the law no flesh shall be justified,” it’s evident, “For the just shall live by faith.” There’s only one way to be justified before God and that’s by faith in Jesus. So once you come to Jesus, once you trust in Jesus, once you believe in Jesus, he’s saying in these first three chapters, “Consider Jesus, I want you to consider him, and don’t move away from Jesus.” He says this in verse two, “For if the word spoken,” he’s talking about the old covenant, “By angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just repayment of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a.” Do not neglect your salvation. You have a great salvation, how amazing is your salvation, he saved you, healed you, freed you, gave you peace. He blessed you, he helped you, he sanctified you, he justified you. So great, he calls it, “So great a salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord.” Jesus was talking to us about salvation. How do you get saved? Believe on Jesus. “Unto you is this word of salvation sent,” the Bible says on the Book of Acts. It says there is no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved, but the name of Jesus. “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, it was first spoken by the Lord and confirmed to us by those who heard of him,” those who heard Jesus. God is speaking from heaven through Jesus and there are people who’ve heard Jesus and they’ve come into a relationship with Jesus and they shared Jesus with us. “And God bore witness with them, with signs and wonders and different kind of miracles of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will.” Thank God we have signs and wonders and miracles that bear witness of Jesus, amen! Do you know we’ve always had signs and wonders? We’ve always had signs. And you know, before I even got married, I went and preached in Las Animas, Colorado, at this little old Pentecostal Assembly of God church. I remember a man coming and it was one of the first, you know, week-long Holy Ghost revival meetings that I’d ever been to. You know, and I preached all week and the pastor gave me about $25. The pastor said he takes the expenses out of the church, and running the building, and all of his staff, and all of his salary out, and when he gets it done he gives you what’s left over. But you know, there was a man there, he was on a crutch and his leg was all withered up, and I remember laying hands on him and speaking to it, and I remember him walking out that night without his crutch, healed and whole and well. Wow, Jesus, that’s amazing! You know, God does things like that. That’s amazing. And then he didn’t come back the rest of the week, I thought, “Maybe he lost, I don’t know.” The next week I was holding meetings there and he came, he still healed, he said, I said, “You didn’t come back,” he said, “Yeah, I had to work the next two nights,” he didn’t have his crutch, he’s still healed, whole, well, strong, hallelujah. We serve a risen savior. He’s in the world today. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. He’s a miracle-working God. I prayed for a young man not very long ago in October, he says, “Gotta have another test,” maybe he’s already had it, he probably has, it’s January. He’s got an incurable virus, but he came back a week later and said he went to the doctor again and it’s not there, the virus is gone. Jesus is the same, Jesus is a, God bears witness to the Word that we preach with signs and wonders and different kind of miracles, according to his own. I wish I could do it, but it’s not me, it’s not my power, it’s his power, it’s his grace. I remember years ago, I had a young man, he must have been 13 or 14 years old and came to me a Wednesday night. It’s when we were meeting in Andrew Womack’s building, we had youth and kids and the adult services, and he said, “Hey, can you pray for my grandma tonight?” I said, “Yeah.” Grandma came a little bit later before service and I walked down the hallway and I put my hands around grandma. Well, not only I put my hands around grandma, but the Holy Ghost put his hands around grandma- And her husband came to me a couple weeks later and said, “I don’t know what happened to my wife the other night when you prayed for her, but she got hot and she’s been hot ever since,” he said she was on 13 medications and now she’s on one, she’s off of 12 out of 13 medications. I’m telling you, what you need is a dose of Jesus and a dose of the Holy Ghost. What you need is the power of God. I got somebody mad at me because I ask them to do an altar call and do ministry to people instead of promote their stuff at the end of the service. I’m telling you, I’m telling you, we need the Holy Ghost. I’m telling you, we grieve the Holy Ghost and we wonder, we need to quit grieving the Holy Ghost, we need to preach Jesus and let the Holy Ghost work! “God bore them witness through signs and wonders and different kinds of miracles of the Holy Ghost, at his own will!” I’m telling you there’s a God the Holy Ghost. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever and the Holy Ghost worked in the life of Jesus and the Holy Ghost will work in your life if you’ll preach Jesus. The apostles went forward and they preached Jesus, he’s the same, yesterday, today and forever. He’ll save you from your sins, he’ll heal your body, he’ll deliver you, he’ll help you, he’ll bless you. We need to start preaching Jesus. Jesus, Jesus.
[Churchgoer] Hallelujah, hallelujah!
[Announcer] Coming up next on Grace For Today.
He conquered the enemy, he spoiled principalities and powers, he took captivity captive, he gave gifts to man.
[Announcer] What’s the difference between the old and new covenants? Jesus. In this series, “Hebrews, The Better Covenant,” you will learn about the grace of God that we receive by faith. Jesus did the work and secured the promises for us so we can live in a better covenant with him. You can get the book for $15, the CD or USB for $39, or the book and your choice of CD or USB for $49 with free shipping. Call 719-418-4000 or visit lawsonperdue.com.
We need Jesus and we need the Holy Ghost. What’s Jesus done? He’s telling them. “For unto the angels has he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But in one certain place,” Hebrews 2:6, “He testified, saying, ‘What is man that you’re mindful of him, the son of man that you visit him?’ “What is man? Why are you so concerned about man?” This is David in Psalm 8:5-6, you can read it on down through there. “You made him a little lower than the angels, you crowned him with glory and honor, you set him over the works of your hands. You put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all things in subjection to him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But we see not yet all things put under him.” So he’s talking about man in the original creation. And in Psalm 8:5 and verse 6, when he says this, when he says, “You made him a little lower than the angels,” in Psalm 8, the word for angels actually in the Hebrew is the word Elohim, it’s the same word that’s used in Genesis 1:1, when it says, “In the beginning God,” Elohim, “made, created the heaven and earth.” It says he made men just a little lower than himself, God made us just, and God gave him authority. In fact, I’m gonna show you this so you can have a picture of it. Herb, I want you to come up here, we’re gonna say herb is God the Father, amen. Hallelujah. Amen. Come up here, real on the top level, right there in the center, all right? Now, I gotta have somebody be Jesus, who wants to be Jesus? Kevin? Oh, I’m gonna have you be something else. All right. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Who wants to be God the Holy Ghost? Amen. Mario, you be God the Holy Ghost. Amen, you get up right over here. God the Father, God the Holy Ghost, amen. Larry, you can be God the Son. Nope. Yep, that’s good, you be God the Son. We got God the Father, we got God the Son on his right hand, and we got God the Holy Ghost in heaven. Now you guys come up over here to the edge of the stage. And then Danny and Tanya, you come up here, they’re gonna be Adam and Eve. So they were created, he made them. You just, just come right up there even though you’re big. God made man just a little lower than himself, that’s what Psalm 8 says. He gave him dominion over the world, right? Gave him dominion over the Earth. And then Satan came, right? As Lucifer in the Garden. Kevin, I’m gonna have you be the devil. No, I love Kevin. I was gonna have you be God-
It’s ’cause I wear black.
But yeah, it’s ’cause you are wearing black, I thought- And really, you know, I wanted the devil to be a little guy because, you know what? We always put all this weight on the devil. Stand up there.
Okay.
The devil was, praise him, under us. He was our servant. Lucifer, he was a praise leader of heaven, right? But he got jealous of God and he wanted the worship that aspired to God, and in doing that, he came and he lied to Eve. Lie to Eve. And he said, “Don’t you know you’ll be like,” she’s already made in the image of God. “Don’t you know you’ll be like me,” right? And Eve believed him, right? She was deceived, and she ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good, probably a fig tree, because they sewed fig leaves together. Probably wasn’t an apple, you’re the apple of God’s eye, and Jesus cursed a fig tree. Then she gave it to her husband and he loved her so much- He ate it. Now, he knew what he was doing, right? When they did that, they fell, right? From their glorified positions, and they came down here and Satan lorded over them, right? Satan is the God of this age, he’s the God of this world, right? That’s who Satan is. But then Jesus came from heaven, he was at the right hand of God, and he came down here on our level and Jesus died on the cross for our sins, right? And he conquered the devil, praise God. He went to the grave. We’ll read about this in just a minute right here. And he conquered the devil, right? Now when we surrender to Jesus and we believe on Jesus, what happens? We are restored to our position of authority, right? Go back up there.
I’m going.
Jesus is right there. He’s right there in heaven, in heaven. Jesus, get back in heaven.
Oh. And he’s seated in heaven and he’s waiting till the devil be made his footstool, and we are seated in heavenly places with him. He restored us to our original glory. So when it says in Psalm 8:5-6 “He was made a little lower than the angels,” he says, “We see Jesus made a little lower than the angels,” we see Jesus on our level, right? In Hebrews here, when it says angels, it means angels, right? So he fell and he’s a little lower than the angels, he identified with man in his fallen state and he took our sin and he did no sin. But then he conquered the devil, right? And rose from the dead, he seated at the right hand of God, and when we believe and surrender ourselves to Jesus, we’re restored, and where is the devil?
Under our feet.
Under our feet, right? The devil is under our feet. Now, here’s when I grew up, as kid, we watched these little cartoons and we had the devil over here with horns, right? And then we had God over here in this ear, right? And God was speaking right over here. He’s on the level ground with the devil, okay, so you can go down here. And God was speaking to us, so we had, right? A little devil over here and a little angel, that’s not how it is at all. You have to take a step down. Get back down there where you belong. You have to take a step down out of your glorified position in Christ to even get in the devil’s mess. And you have authority over the works of the devil.
Amen.
Amen? And you are seated in heavenly places with Christ, amen? And you are seated there waiting till the devil is made your footstool. Amen? And you’re to take your authority in Christ. “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which was first preached by Jesus and then preached by those which were filled with the Holy Ghost, and God was bearing witness to the word that they preached, with signs and wonders and different kinds of miracles of the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah! Okay, you can all be dismissed, thank you. I just wanted you to get that picture. Because what you have to realize, what you have to realize as a believer is the devil is not who he used to be, and the devil is under your feet. Now, let’s read a little bit farther, verse nine. “We see Jesus made a little lower than the angelos, angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” The reason Jesus became a man is so that he could die. “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom,” the creator of all, Jesus, “In bringing many sons to glory to make the captain,” Jesus, “of their salvation complete through suffering. For both he who sanctifies,” in verse 11 of Hebrews 2, “and they who are sanctified are all of one,” we’re all of one body, right? We’ve all tasted flesh and blood. “For which cause he’s not ashamed to call them brethren.” Jesus is not ashamed to call you a brother. Jesus knows you blew it. You know what? Listen. I am not always the most gracious at delivering the message, right? But I really do try to obey God. But listen, there’s not one person in this room that hasn’t sinned, there’s not one person in this room that’s perfect, amen?
[Congregation] Amen.
We all make mistakes at times, okay? “Saying,” Jesus said, “‘I will declare your name to the brethren in the midst of the church, I’ll sing praise to you,’ and, ‘I will put my trust in him, and again, ‘Behold I and the children which God has given me.'” He goes on in verse 14, and talks about why Jesus became a man. “Forasmuch then as children are partakers of flesh and blood, Jesus himself took part of the same, that through death,” Jesus had to become a man so he could die, “he might destroy him who had the power of death.” You know what Jesus did when he went to the grave? He destroyed the devil, he spoiled principalities and powers, he destroyed his power over you. That is the devil. “And deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to bondage.” They were afraid of dying because they didn’t have a relationship with God. “For verily he did not,” look at this in verse 16, this is so powerful. “He did not take on him the nature of angels, but he became the seed of Abraham,” he became a man. Why did Jesus have to become a man? Because God made a covenant with a man. In the beginning God gave Adam authority, and Eve, over the Earth, he made a covenant with a man, and so God had to establish his covenant because Adam and Eve sinned and Satan was usurping authority over them. Man lost their rightful position because of sin, so God had to establish it through a man. So Jesus came as a man who never sinned, and when Jesus went to the grave, see, Satan and all these religious cohorts thought they had won, but man, it. He conquered the enemy, he spoiled principalities and powers, he took captivity captive. He gave gifts to men!
[Churchgoer] Whoo!
That’s what Jesus did, and he raised him up and set him, seated him at his own right hand. “Because of this,” verse 17, “in all things it behooved him to be made like his brethren,” he took on flesh, “That he might be a merciful,” why is Jesus merciful? Because he was tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin. “And faithful high priest,” why is he faithful? He never sinned. That’s why when he got in the grave, Satan couldn’t hold it, because Jesus never sinned. Nobody can say that except Jesus. And he conquered the devil for us, he took our sin. “In things pertaining to God, the high priest, in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation, to make restoration of right relationship, to make an atonement, a covering, for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted.” Jesus was tempted just like we are. Did you ever blow it? Yes. I’ve blown it more than once, but I have a helper, his name is Jesus, praise God. He is the Lamb of God, he’s the one who took our sins. He is the living Word of God, he is the only begotten Son. Do not move away from Jesus and do not neglect your salvation. You have a great salvation. He saved you, he freed you, he healed you, he blessed you, he raised you up, he gave you authority, he gave you dominion over all the works of the devil. So keep your eyes on Jesus and keep listening to him. Amen?
Amen!
[Announcer] You can get the book for $15, the CD or USB for $39, or the book and your choice of CD or USB for $49 with free shipping. Call 719-418-4000 or visit lawsonperdue.com.
Thanks so much, friends, for staying tuned to the broadcast. We’ve been talking about not neglecting Jesus, not neglecting our great salvation. You know, Jesus provided a great salvation, spirit, soul, and body. And if you need prayer to receive Jesus as your savior, if you need prayer for physical healing, for a financial blessing, for whatever the promise is, give us a call today. We have trained prayer ministers ready to receive your calls. Blessings.
[Announcer] Thanks for watching Grace For Today. This broadcast is made possible by our faithful partners. If you would like to become a partner, need prayer, or have a question, please call us at 719-418-4000 or go to lawsonperdue.com, or write us at P.O. Box 63733, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80962. See you next time on Grace For Today.
