Hebrews, The Better Covenant – Part 2 Lawson Perdue

Hebrews: The Better Covenant Part 2

In Hebrews: The Better Covenant Part 2, Pastor Lawson Perdue shows how Jesus is better than Moses. Through Jesus Christ we are able to enter into all of God’s promises for us.

Hebrews Part 2 Transcript

Hi, friends and welcome to the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in. I’m actually teaching from one of my favorite books, the book of Hebrews, and I’m talking about the better covenant, and what makes the covenant better is Jesus. Today, we’ll be in Hebrews chapter three and Hebrews chapter four, and we’re going to talk about how Christ is better than Moses. Moses could show us the promise land, but Jesus brings us in to the promises. Open your heart and receive God’s good work today. And we were talking about, we need to know who Jesus Christ is. He is the son of God. He is the creator. He’s the son of man. He has authority and he is the savior of the world. We said that he is God manifest in the flesh. And he reveals the will and the plan of God. Not only that, but he is better than the angels. How many of you are glad that Christ is better than angels? Praise God. And so, Jesus is better than angels. I thank God for angels. Angels are sent to be ministering spirits to those who are heirs of salvation. Not only is he better than angels, he’s greater than demons. How many of you are glad that greater is he that’s in you than he that’s in the world? He begins to talk about what we should do with this in chapter two. He says we ought to give more earnest heed to the things that we have heard, lest at any time, we should let them slip or drift away. Don’t move away from Jesus. Don’t move away from the gospel. He goes on and says, don’t neglect your salvation. You have a great salvation. God saved you and raised you and gave you a position of authority. And he freed you from Satan’s power. So thank God for all that he’s done for us in the person of Jesus. Now he goes on in chapter three and he begins talking about considering Jesus, look at this in verse one, “Wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,” how many of you are glad you answered the call? What call? The call to salvation? When Jesus died and rose again, he called everyone and into salvation. And he says, “Partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle in high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.” I want you to consider Jesus. He’s the great high priest of our profession. Profession of what? Profession of faith. We professed faith. Another word for this word is confession. Praise God. Thank God, we have professed, we have confessed faith in Jesus Christ. And so he says, I want you to consider him “who was faithful to him that appointed him.” He’s faithful to the father. He says, “As also Moses was faithful in all his house, for this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses in as much he who built the house has more honor than house, for every house is built by some man, but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful to all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken after, but Christ as a son over his own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast to the confidence and the rejoicing of hope firm unto the end.” So what he begins to tell us here is Jesus is greater than Moses. Jesus is better than Moses. The keyword to the book of Hebrews is better. We have a better covenant established on better promises, it says in Hebrews 8:6. And what makes it better is Jesus. Praise God. And he says in chapter one, he’s better than angels. Praise God. Then he says here, he’s better than Moses. Jesus is better than Moses. Now think about Moses. Moses showed the people the promised land, didn’t he? Moses glanced at the promised land. He saw the promised land, but he never took them into the promised land. And that’s kind of like the law, the law can show you the promises, but it can’t take you into the promises. And so, there’s things that can hinder you from moving on in to receive the promises. And one of them is legalism. The law cannot take you into the promises. You can study the Old Testament, you can study the law, and you can see promises in the law. You can see promises for health and healing. The Bible says in the book of Exodus, I’ll bless your bread and bless your water, and I’ll take sickness from the midst of you. You can see promises for peace, you can see promises for financial prosperity. But the law could not take them into possess the promised land. It’s just like Moses, he saw the promised land, but he didn’t take the children of Israel in there. He says, Jesus is better than Moses. And he can take you into possess the promised land. In fact, the Bible says in II Corinthians 1:20, All of the promises of God in him, in Christ, are, yes, and amen to the glory of God, by us. In other words, God gets glory when we walk in the promises. He doesn’t just get glory when we sit on the premises, he gets glory when we walk in the promise. I want to walk in the promise. There’s some promise land, there’s some promises that I want to possess. There’s some things that I want to take. I want to make a difference. And if I’m going to make a difference in this world, it’s necessary for me to believe God. Praise God. And legalism isn’t going to take me in, the law is not going to take me in. But Jesus will take me in there. Praise God. Now notice what he says in verse six, he says, “Christ as a son over his own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast, the confidence and rejoicing of the hope, firm unto the end.” There’s a lot of different things that may come against your faith, but you’ve got to hold onto your hope. Praise God. You’ve got to hold onto your faith. You’ve got to hold onto your confidence. And that’s what he’s saying. Some of you started out believing Jesus, but now you’re trying to go back to the law. Don’t go back to the law. Just like he said in Galatians 1:6, Paul says this, I’m marveled that you’re so soon removed from him who called us into the grace of Christ to another gospel, which is not another gospel. They were trying to go back to the law. The same thing here is happening in Hebrews, they’re trying to go back to the law. They’re trying to add something to Jesus. That’s like saying that Jesus is not enough. Now, if we look at Colossians, Colossians addresses this, notice what he says in, Colossians chapter one, let’s start in verse 21, we’ll read through verse 23. He says, “You who were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, has he now reconciled.” So you’ve been restored to right relationship with God. “In the body of his flesh through death, to present you,” This is how Jesus presents you to the father, “holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.” Isn’t that marvelous? That you’re holy, that you’re unblameable, that you’re unreproveable That’s how God sees you in Christ. Notice what he says in verse 23, “If,” that’s a big if, “If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you heard and which was preached to every creature, which is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister.” Somewhere along the line, some of these folks have lost hope. Somewhere along the line, they’ve given up, they’ve given in, they’ve let go. So he said, listen, don’t move away, don’t let go. Don’t neglect your salvation. Keep believing God, keep believing the promises of God. Keep believing Jesus. Don’t back down. Praise God. Don’t back down. Just stay at it. Praise God. And so he says, listen, Christ is better than Moses. Moses could show you the promise, but he can’t take you in. Legalism can, you can read the law, you can see the promise, but it can’t take you there. Praise God. Now, there were people in the Old Testament that were blessed, but they weren’t blessed because they had a legalistic mentality. They were blessed because they lived by faith, because it takes faith to receive the promises of God. And that’s what he’s talking about. Now, he goes on and says this in verse seven, “Wherefore as the holy ghost says, today, if you will hear his voice,” Jesus is still speaking. That’s the theme of Hebrews. At the beginning, he says, God, who spoke to us by the prophets in the past, is now speaking to us by his son. Chapter one, verse one and two. So he says, “Listen, if you’ll hear his voice, do not harden your heart as in the provocation.” In the old Testament, when they provoked him, he says, “in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me and proved me and saw my works for 40 years,” they ran around the wilderness for 40 years. He says “Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, they do always err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest.” How can we enter in? Well, the law won’t take you in there. But notice there’s some other things. Legalism will keep you out of the promise land. There’s some other things that’ll keep you out of the promises. Look at verse 12, he says, “Take heed brethren lest there being any of you, an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.” Unbelief will keep you out of the promise land. And so, not only will legalism keep you out the promises, but unbelief will keep you out of the promises. You know, some people hear the word and just choose not to believe it. But I made a heart decision when I was a child and a young man. If I see any promise in the word of God, I’m going to believe it. So, don’t be hardened. Praise God, keep believing God. Don’t let legalism, unbelief or sin, keep you out of the promises of God. Then he goes on, listen to what he says in chapter four, verse one, “Let us therefore fear lest the promise being left us of entering into his rest that any of you should seem to come short of it.” He wants us to come into all the promises. Everybody say all the promises, All the promises of God are for me. God wants me to have all the promises. It’s not God keeping you out of the promises. God’s not in heaven saying, listen, I’m going to forgive Heather, but I’m going to send Aaron to hell, and I’m gonna bless Barbara, but I’m gonna keep Ed poor, and I’m going to heal Peggy, but I’m going to let Maureen be sick. That’s not what God’s doing. God said yes in Jesus. He said, listen, in Jesus, I want to forgive you, I want to heal you, I want to free you, I want to deliver you, I want to bless you, I want to prosper. And it’s your choice whether or not you’re going to believe it. He said, I set before you this day, life and good, death and evil. Choose life that you and your seed may live. The blessing comes with life. I chose to believe Jesus. I chose to believe the promises. And I’m not moving away from it. He says, let us fear, lest a promise of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. Some people just quit believing God, they’re not moving forward in their faith. Listen, I am believing God for more today than I’ve ever believed him for before in my life. That’s the thing with faith. As long as we’re here on this earth, probably when we get to heaven. Amen, it just gets bigger. You don’t just quit somewhere, you just keep believing God. He says, “For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” In other words, people can hear the word, but it’s not going to profit you unless you choose to believe it. Hallelujah. It wasn’t mixed with faith. It takes faith mixed with the gospel, mixed with the grace of God, mixed with the promise of God. If you don’t mix faith with the promises, you miss out. Notice that, he says in them that heard it, they had to mix it with faith, “For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they will enter into my rest, although my works were finished from the foundation of the world.” Listen, he said from the foundation of the world, the work was finished. What’s he saying? The Bible actually says this in Revelation 13:8, that Jesus was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And then it says in John 19:30 when Jesus was on the cross, he cried out, it is finished.

[Narrator] Coming up next on Grace for Today.

God’s with us. So Joshua and Caleb were what two out of two million faith in God will make you one in a million. So you keep your faith in God.

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.

So God made all these promises, right? And then Jesus came and Jesus died and shed his blood and paid for you to have the promises. Now the holy spirit gives you the power to receive the promises. Hallelujah. So God promised it, the father promised it, the son paid for it, the holy spirit gives you the power to receive it. Now, he says, these works were finished from the foundation of the world. In other words, God had a plan and it was good. And he says, “For, he spoke in a certain place of the seventh day in this way, God did rest the seventh day from all of his works. And in this place, if they shall enter into my rest.” In other words, God created everything. He said it was very good. And then he rested. And he’s not going back and recreating it, it’s done. Praise God. And so, he’s saying, what we need to do is we need to enter into rest. Now he says, “Seeing therefore, it remains that some must enter therein, they whom it was first preached did not enter in because of their unbelief.” In other words, they heard the gospel, they heard, here, the promised land is available, but not everybody entered in. Remember, Moses sent 12 spies. You don’t remember 10 of their names. Right, because they didn’t believe. In fact, Israel was about two million then. God told Moses, he said, I want you to pick 12 of the best men that you got, one from each family or one from each tribe of Israel, 12 of the best men, 12 everyone leaders among their tribes of the families. And he chose 12 men, one from each tribe. And among them were Joshua and Caleb. And then he sent those 12 men in to spy out, you can read about it in Numbers 13, the promised land. And he said, when he told to send them, he said, now you go look at the land and come back, tell me about the land, tell me about the fruit, tell me about the people. And he says, and be of good courage because he knew people’s tendency is to accentuate the negative and not focus on the positive. And so they came back and the 10 said, oh yeah, it’s good land. Nevertheless, there’s giants in the land. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so were we in their sight. You know the way you see yourself a lot of times determines the way other people see you. By focusing on what God says about you and what the word says about you, you can change how other people see you. I’ve had that happen in my life. I’ve had some people who are very close friends, who I think very highly of at times say very negative things about me. And I thought, they don’t know what’s happened in my heart. They don’t know what’s happened in my soul. And I’m going to, I’m going to keep moving toward because God’s changed on the inside, and he’s changed my mentality about that. And in a little bit, they don’t even identify with me with those things anymore. Why? Because I changed my thinking and it changed what I’m receiving. And they think about me in a completely different way. But anyway, these tens said, but there are giants in the land. It’s a good land, it’s got good fruit, but there’s giants in the land. And then Joshua and Caleb said, hey, it’s a good land, it’s got good fruit. Let’s go get it. God’s with us. So Joshua and Caleb were what, two out of two million. Faith in God will make you one in a million. So you keep your faith in God, keep believing God. That’s what he’s saying. Keep believing God, and you can enter into the work that he’s already done. So he says, they did not enter. There remains that some must enter in, but he says whom it was first preached did not enter in because of unbelief. “And again, he limited a certain day, saying in David,” So David came along after Joshua, “saying after so long a time, today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart,” keep listening to Jesus. “For if Jesus,” and some translations here say Joshua, “if Joshua had given them rest, he would not afterwards have spoken of another day,” because David came after Joshua. And David said, hey, there is another day. He said, “Therefore remains therefore a rest of the people of God.” And so what he’s saying, the children of Israel that eventually entered into the promise land, that wasn’t the ultimate promise. What we have is the ultimate promise. We have to Jesus. And if you go to Hebrews chapter 11, it talks about all these heroes of faith. And at the end, it says they without us could not be made perfect. In other words, he was waiting for us and what Jesus did. Now, look at what he says in verse 10, for he who is entered into his rest has ceased from his own works as God did from his. So if you’re going to enter into the promises of God, number one, you got to believe the promises of God. Right? You’ve got to believe the gospel preached, it says in verse two, did not profit them because they did not mix it with faith. In other words, it’s not only up to the preachers preaching the word, but it’s up to the believers believing the word. It’s your responsibility to believe. It’s my responsibility to do my best to teach what God gives me. And so he says, for he has entered into rest, he sees from his own works as God did from his. Praise God. So number one, you’ve got to believe it. But number two, you’ve got to get beyond your own works, your own performance, Because here’s what happens in a lot of charismatic, full of gospel word of faith churches like this one. People come and they hear the promises of God preached. They hear the word of God preached. And then they go out and say, I’m going to go do this. And they go try to make it happen in the strength of their flesh. And what happens when they try to go do it in the strength of their flesh, is they flop. And I’ve been guilty. I’ve done this myself. I’m going to see this promise come to pass, and here’s how it’s going to come to pass Listen, I ain’t making this come to pass. God’s going to make it come to pass or it ain’t going to come to pass. Look at this in verse 10, he that’s entered into his rest. There comes a place where we just rest and we realize, listen, this is not my work, this is not what I’m doing. This is what he’s doing, and I’m just going to rest in the grace of God. I’m going to rest in that that he promised, I’m going to rest in that he’s done, and I’m going to let God perform this. Does that make sense? He that’s entered into his rest has ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Just like in the beginning, God created the heaven and earth in six days, and then on the seventh day, he rested. He didn’t go back and try to do, so there comes a point where we just rest, and we just say, thank you, Lord. You know, one of the most powerful prayers that you can pray is just thank you, Lord? Thank you Lord for healing me. Thank you Lord for saving me. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for doing the work, because there comes a point, I mean you do what you can do, but then you just got to give it to God and let it go. He goes on and says this, “Let us labor therefore, to enter into that rest. If any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” Some of the hardest work that you’ll ever do is learn how to rest. And learn how to just relax and chill out. Praise God. One time God told me, Lawson, take a vacation. It’s a good word for me, take a vacation. In other words, just rest. Praise God. In Ephesians 1:6, it says, “To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he made us accepted in the beloved.” Verse seven says, “In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness sins, according to the riches of his grace.” So I was preaching on that one time, and I sat in a rocking chair on the stage, and I preached a whole message. Because in that word wherein, in verse six, it means this, it means to come to a fixed position in the grace of God. And what he’s saying there, God sees you, to the praise of the glory of his grace, God sees you in your full potential, through the grace of God. And if you’ll come to a fixed position of rest in the grace of God, he makes you accepted in the beloved. And then he says, in whom we have redemption, I like to say we’re redeemed from every curse. Even the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of his grace, according to the ultimate wealth of his grace, we’re forgiven for every sin. But we have to come to a place where I realize I’m not making this happen, Jesus is making this happen. And there’s action required, when you live by faith, there’s action required. Faith without works, faith without corresponding action is dead. Being alone. There’s action required. But at the same time, it’s not our work, it’s his work. And we’re trusting that Jesus makes this work. So he says, come into the promises, keep believing the word, mix the gospel with faith, and then rest in the grace of God. Rest in the work that Jesus has done. Say thank you, Jesus. I thank you, Jesus, that by your stripes, I’m healed. I thank you, Jesus, that I’m blessed and highly favored of the Lord. I thank you, Jesus, that no weapon formed against me shall prosper, but every tongue that rises against me in judgment, you will condemn for my righteousness is of you. That I know what to do, when to do it, how to do it, for I have the mind of Christ. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. So just come into a place of rest. Now he says, not only you have the written word, but you also have Jesus who is the living word. And he’s like, keep listening to Jesus. Keep hearing his voice. God is speaking. Are we listening? Don’t harden your heart. He’s speaking to us through the word, and he’s speaking to us through the son. Look at this in verse 13, “Neither is there any creature, any creation that is not made known in his sight, but all things are naked and open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have this great high priest that has passed into heaven., Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast to our profession.” Hold fast to your profession of faith. Hold fast to your confession of faith. Don’t be moved off your faith. Don’t be moved away from the grace of God. Don’t be moved away from those things that you’re believing God for. For we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, of our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. We said he’s merciful, right? Because he was tempted in all points like we are, but he’s faithful because he never sinned. And he says, let us therefore or come boldly to the throne of grace. What happens if you’re struggling? Run to Jesus. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace. It’s a throne of grace. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, Run to Jesus that we may obtain mercy. Everybody say mercy.

[Congregation] mercy.

So if we’ve missed it, what do you say? You run to grace and you look for mercy. We look for mercy, and find grace. Thank you, Lord, that you give me mercy and grace. And there’s grace to help you in time of need. Where is the grace in this situation? God, what have you called me? What have you appointed me? What have you anointed me? What direction are you taking me? Where’s the grace in this situation? Amen. Hallelujah. In worship today, God was just encouraging me. This is the grace on you. This is what I’ve called you to do. This is what I’ve anointed you to do. This is what I’ve equipped you to do. Keep believing me. Keep going forward. Don’t get distracted. Don’t observe these lying vanities. Don’t observe these other things that would try to take your eyes off the goal, but keep moving forward in what I’ve called you, appointed you, anointed you to do, and I’m going to bring it to pass. Amen. So come boldly to grace. Amen. So God says what? These things will keep you out of the promises, legalism, sin, and unbelief. They’ll keep you out of promises. But I want you to receive all the promises, and here’s how you do it. Keep believing the gospel. Keep believing the word of God. Rest in grace, and completely trust Jesus.

[Narrator] 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.

[Lawson] Friends, I want to invite you up to Family Camp Meeting at Charis Christian Center in Colorado Springs. We are going to have a great time time in the holy ghost. We’re going to have a great time in the Lord. We have special children’s meetings, special youth meetings, special holy ghost meetings for the adults. We have pastor Mark and Trina Hankins, Ashley Terradez, myself, pastor Max Cornell, Pastor Aaron Perdue. You can register at familycampmeeting.com. We would love to see you here in Colorado Springs. Praise the Lord, friends. I’m so glad that you’ve stayed tuned with us today. We’ve been talking about how Christ is better than Moses, and how he’s brought us into the promised land. All we need to do is believe him and rest in his grace. And we thank God that we can take this message of grace and faith in Jesus around the world. It’s our partners that help us do that. And if you would like to help us and partner with us taking this message of grace and faith around the world, we would love to hear from you today. Blessings.

[Narrator] Thanks for watching Grace for Today. This broadcast of 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 PO Box 63733, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80962. See you next time on Grace for Today.