Between You and God

Hebrews 8. Now we come to the better covenant, the New Covenant. The writer expounds upon the New Covenant that was prophesied in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36. He notes how the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant on many points. I want us to focus in on two of those points. One is found in 8:10 where the Lord said, "I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be My people." Here, God declares that, rather than writing His will on tablets of stone as He did with the Old Covenant, He would write the New Covenant on the tablets of our hearts. His will would no longer be external; now it would be internal. Under the Old Covenant, obedience sprang from fear. Under the New Covenant it issues from a willing heart and mind.

The second point we focus on today is found in 8:11, "None of them shall teach his neighbor...saying 'know the Lord,' for all shall know Me...." The New Covenant secures the personal revelation of the Lord to every believer. Carefully note that. As a New Testament believer, the Lord Himself reveals to you His will and that which He expects of you. In other words, if you came to me and said, "Royce, I haven't been in church like I should, but no one came to visit me. No one came to confront me of my laziness. No one came to tell me to get back in church." I would answer, "I know. It's not our job according to Hebrews 8:11. In fact, 8:11 says you already know what you should have been doing because the Lord wrote His will on your heart!" You see my dear believer, no one has to tell you what to do. You know what the Lord requires of you. You know you should be actively a part of a church. You know you should be tithing. You know you should be witnessing. You know you should be spending time with the Lord in prayer and Bible study. I don't even have to continue this list. You know exactly where you are falling short, because Christ lives in you and has written His laws on your heart. Now what you do next is up to you. What you do next shows what you really believe about God. At this point I can say no more. Now, it's between you and God!