In 2005, Robert Simon and Alex Parrish are two gentlemen that purchased a piece of art from uh a art auction as part of an estate auction held in New Orleans. Now, this painting that was entitled the Salvatore M was really run down and it was, it was poorly and partially restored and there were worms eating the word frame that was around it. And while the auction price, what that went for uh wasn't disclosed the list price because it was an estate sale for this painting. This estimated cost for this painting was around $750. And so they purchased this painting for about $750 and they thought that there was potential to this item because they had been doing research and they, they took it to some experts. They took it to an expert who could restore the pa painting to its original context and what they found. And there's actually some controversy around it. But what they found and believed to be true is that it was a long lost painting of Leonardo Da Vinci. And so this painting, it was a painting of Jesus and it was a painting of Jesus. They got it restored and then just 12 years later. So from 2005 to, to then 2017 on November 15th, 2017, this painting the Salvatore Monday was sold at an auction. Can you guess the price again? List price around $750 sold for $450 million. The largest auctioned item ever. Now, that brings up a few thoughts. Uh one who has 450 million to spend on a painting. I mean, it's about 226 inches small. I'd love to hear that budget conversation, right? But then two, how crazy is it that someone would, would pay that much money for this painting? Now, it's incredible that it's a painting of Jesus potentially by Leonardo da Vinci. $450 million. That's insane. But value is often attached to what someone is willing to pay for it. And so you could say that painting is worth $450 million because somebody paid $450 million for that painting. And so there is innate value, but there's also value in, in the purchase price. And the reason I bring that up is because when we talk about the human soul that who you are as a person, the question is, how valuable is a human life? How valuable is your soul? Well, if you look at the purchase price for that is that Jesus Christ, the son of God came down and died, gave his life and then rose again so that we can experience him and have a relationship with God. And so your soul, your life is more valuable than a $450 million painting by Leonardo da Vinci because it cost God His own son that you have eternal value. And that's why I believe that the greatest thing in life is a relationship with Jesus. The greatest thing you could ever have in this life is not something material that you can own. It is not earthly power or popularity, but rather is salvation for your soul. Now, salvation comes through a personal relationship with Jesus life in many ways, is like playing monopoly in which that when your game is over, when your life is over, all the pieces go back in the box. And so the question that we have to ask ourselves is, do you have a relationship with God? Do you have a place for your soul? That's why this morning's message is entitled the greatest thing in life because it's a relationship with the God who created the world and who saves the world. Now, the Bible is all about relationship. In fact, one of the most common theological terms discussed throughout the Bible is this word called covenant. And I want to take a deeper dive into that. And if you're not churchy, I want you to hang with me for a little bit because we're gonna give you some practical imagery to hang on to and then also land the plane at the end of why this is so important for you and me today. Because if you can understand the idea of a covenant, then you can understand the value of relationship with Jesus in our lives. Now, covenant defined is simply put a contract between or agreement between two parties. You could see this in political parties, uh Kings among nations in Malachi 214, it was actually used to describe marriage, that marriage is a serious commitment or contract between two people. Now, in that one, it is between two people. It's not two or more parties in that one. OK. Um But it comes in and it's a direct relationship with God. Now, the words uh that describe covenant in the Old Testament in the original language, in the words of covenant and then words around covenant actually could be described as to cut meat. Now, sorry, vegans out there. But in this case, the reason they say to cut meat was because when there is a serious contract to be had in the Old Testament, what they would do is that they would actually cut animals in half and that they would, the parties would actually walk between them. And so what they would say is that if I break my portion of this covenant of this contract, may I be like the animals that we're passing through, that's a lot more intense than a pinky promise, isn't it? And so that's how they would describe. So, to have a covenant is to have a relationship or to cut meat in this case. Ok. So it was a very serious thing. Now, there are five regular components or common components to covenants, as we see are these agreements here. Number one I already mentioned is relationships. It is, it is, it is a relational agreement. And so you see that in the marriage covenant, right? You have a bride and a groom, ok. Secondly, you see promises. We see this in a wedding ceremony as well, right? You ask a couple of questions. Do you promise to live together in Holy matrimony? I do, right? Those are the question part in a wedding ceremony but along with promises, then third, you have commitments. This would be the vow section of a wedding ceremony, right? When you make vows to each other, you are making not just promises but commitments to each other. Fourth component of a covenant is seen as benefits or in some cases, they list the curses or consequences that happen if you break the covenant. And then so in a wedding ceremony, right? To a long happy life together, you're committing to each other. There's a benefit of a long lasting marriage. But then the last thing you have a last component of a covenant is a sign, there's not always signs and covenants, but typically there is one and, and in a wedding ceremony or a wedding covenant, that sign is symbolized through a ring. And so it is a picture of the promise. Ok, so I want you to think through those things and when you think covenant think relationship or think of a wedding ceremony, it doesn't have to be too churchy. It can just be that God wants a relationship with you. Now, in the Bible, we see covenants throughout. Let me just highlight a couple of them. So you can understand the basis of what we're gonna land today. First, God made a covenant with Noah that's found in Genesis chapter nine that after he spared Noah and his family. So Noah in the ark that he promised to never flood the earth again. And so that was his promise. That was his commitment. The sign of that covenant was the rainbow. Now, it's very interesting that we live in a day where covenants and relationships and signs that were given in scripture, our culture tries to take and use them for other things. But we have to understand that the original purpose of that was a sign for the no way at covenant. Another example of a covenant is with Abraham. So God promised Abraham to make him a father of many nations that he would bless his family. They have lots of kids who would have kids who have kids who would bless the nation of Israel from that and then it would give them a promised land and that through the people and through the land that ultimately he would be a blessing to the world. Now, what's interesting about Abraham's covenant with God? Is that Abraham actually didn't pass through the animals like I described, but rather a symbol of God, this like smoking pot looking thing. You can check it out there in Genesis. Uh it's seen in Genesis 12 Genesis, 13 Genesis 15. So it talks about the covenant several times, but actually God himself passes through. And so when God makes a covenant and a promise with Abraham, he doesn't just make it with Abraham, but he actually makes it with himself. And so he makes a promise with himself on the behalf of Abraham saying, hey, Abraham, your people are gonna mess this up, but I'm gonna still be faithful. And so we have this really cool picture that we're actually still a part of today, this expansion of this Abrahamic covenant. Another covenant found in the Old Testament is the covenant with the people of Israel. So that's really seen given through the person of Moses. So think on the mountain, the 10 commandments. Now this one was a promise or commitment among the people and God saying, obey my commands and I will bless you that if you don't, you're gonna experience hardship. And so much of the Old Testament is filled with people battling with their obedience to God. And so when they obey God, they are blessed when they disobey God, bad stuff happens, eventually enough bad stuff happens where they repent and come back and God brings somebody to lead them back in. And so there's this continual back and forth, but a majority of it is people disobeying God. And so even when people were faithless, God was faithful, and so you have this promise, this covenant that they just struggle with. And that's gonna be really important as we, we discuss where we land today because another word for covenant is Testament. So if you think of how your Bible is broken into the old and new Testament, it's really the old and new covenant or as we talk about relationship, it's the old and new relationship. And so we see this picture here that when God gives a new covenant, a new relationship through Jesus, it changes everything. But one more example before we jump into our discussion today and that came through David. So in second Samuel chapter seven, God gives his promise to David that through his lineage will come the savior of the world, the king of kings, the good shepherd, that we have this picture that the savior of the world would come through his lineage. And that actually is fulfilled in the story of Christmas that Bethlehem, the city of David, that was the birthplace there of Jesus, not birth as in his nonexistence, but where he leaves heaven and comes down to earth. And so we see that fulfillment. And so the, the Bible in this big, big meta narrative story is broken into a series of relational promises known as Covenants. And this all sets up to what we're gonna talk about today, which is the new covenant. Now, I know again, this sounds real like a seminary class or Bible class, but stick with me because it's, it's gonna be really practical and helpful if we can understand this. So let's jump into our Bibles here in Hebrews chapter eight. So he's writing in an audience that's focused on the Old Testament and he's writing this. And he says, now, the point in what we're saying is this, I love that. I love that when the writer directly says here is the point, right? He says we have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places in the true tent that the Lord set up not man. Now, in previous weeks, we talked about the role of a high priest who really was responsible for restoring the relationship between man and God. And so I invite you to go back and watch some of the earlier uh messages or listen to the earlier messages in this Hebrews study. Well, in the past, we focused on the priest today, I wanna focus on the actual physical place and give a little bit of a background to a building or a facility called The Tabernacle because that's what he's referring to in that passage is about this tent. So the Tabernacle was set up really to, to represent the presence of God. And so there was like a fence if you will around the outside. So not everybody's getting in. And then for those that are getting in, there's a place for sacrifices there on the outside. And then you get into the building, which is also a tent and they're made up of two components. And so there is the holy place and then there's the holy of Holies. Now in the holy place, there is a few interesting things to note. First of all, there are no chairs actually in the holy place of the Tabernacle. And that represents the fact that the work, the work of a priest is never done. And that one of their primary roles was to continually clean and cleanse and work within that Tabernacle or temple. Also in that holy place, there was a candlestick or seen as a menorah or those seven candles if you picture that. And so that represents the light of God, which then Jesus comes onto the scene and actually says, I'm the light of the world that's on one side, on the other side is actually what's called the table of presents. And so there are 12 loaves of bread that were placed there to represent what God did to, to really sustain the people in the time of wilderness. Now, Jesus comes onto the scene and actually says, I am the bread of life. And so the priest would continually put bread there and it will last about a week, they'd pull it out and they would eat that bread. So they kind of had a subsidence there. And so Jesus comes in and he says, hey, you know the candles that are in the Tabernacle, I'm the light of the world. Hey, you know that table with bread, I am the bread of life. Then there is a place for incense and for the aroma of God and sacrifice there. And then within that there is a curtain that's separated from the holy place to a holy of Holies. Now inside of the Holy Holies, there is a golden altar, there was the ark of the covenant. And if you're not like churchy, just think old school Indiana Jones, OK? To think through that. And like people, I'm not saying that was accurate. I'm just saying that you have a picture of it. So the ark of the covenant represented the presence of God that in the Old Testament, it was so holy that if you touched it, you would die. And so they would actually carry it with poles to and so being put in the temple or in the Tabernacle represented the presence of God because inside of the ark of the covenant, there was a golden urn with Manna from when they were in the wilderness, there was Aaron's staff. Aaron was a priest as a brother of Moses. And then there was the table, um the tablets there of stone or the t um the really the tablets of the covenant representing that promise between Moses or the people of Israel and God. Now, along with that, there was this chair from this angel looking figure made of gold over this mercy seat or the Bema seat. Now, once a year on the day of atonement, the high priest would go in and offer a sacrifice or Sprinkle blood in there after offering sacrifice for himself to plead for the forgiveness of God on behalf of the people. And so there was always something going on at the temple or at the Tabernacle that there's always this pleading, this lighting of candles to make sure it's always lit. Things are always going, there's bread being made, bread, being served, bread, being given, incense, being lit, sacrifice, being given. And so this continued practice over and over and over again because it was never enough. It pointed to something. All right. And so there's a background of that building and if you want to read what we just talked about that's actually found in Hebrews chapter nine. So the first couple of verses I invite you to read that, but we're gonna pick things up here in chapter eight verse five, it says this. So they referring to the earthly priests serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God saying, see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain. But as it is, I love this verse, Christ has obtained a ministry that is much more excellent than the old, as the covenant he mediates is better since it's enacted on better promises. So better ministry, better covenant better promises. It says for if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. In other words, if the old testament was good enough, why did Jesus come? If the old way of doing things was enough, then why did Jesus himself come down? If there is another way to save the world? Why would God give his son? Right picture if, if the world health organization or whatever came and said, hey, that your child's blood is needed, it could save the whole world. So, oh, wow, that's a tough decision. And is it the only way? Well, no, we have like 10 ways, but that would be the most convenient way. So if you could just, you know, sacrifice like no, like if it's just a way to get to heaven, why would God send his son? But it's not just a way, it's the way. And so the old covenant, the old way was pointing to what Jesus was gonna fulfill. See, in verse 13, it says, and speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete and what was becoming obsolete and is growing old is ready to vanish away. So it's no longer about the old covenant, but about the new, the new is here, here's another way to think of it and more practical terms, Jesus is greater than the shadows and copies of Earthly Ministry. He's greater than shadows and in copies anyone make shadow puppets with their kids, this flashlight or night light or something in the room, I'll do that with, with kids and I, and I'm not very good at it and I'll be honest, if you're really good at shadow puppets, I question a little bit about what you do with your free time, but that's for another place in time. So II I don't have a lot of options making shadow puppets, right? Like bird uh like dog BB. OK. Um This is my dog. I know it's pretty good. Um But at no point, does my child ever think that my shadow puppet of a dog is the same thing as our dog, right? Like this is, this is, this is not the real thing. OK? It's not if, if you're not a shadow puppet person one, OK. That's probably good. But two think of another way to look at it. Anyone ever collects snow globes or ever seen or had a snow globe. Typically it's of a town or a place or a monument. Right. Imagine someone giving you a New York City snow globe with the Statue of Liberty in it. Oh, it's cute. It's fun. It's a fun way to remember or think about New York City. But if you got this little snow globe on your desk or on a dresser at no point in time, should you think that that is, in fact the real statue of Liberty? It's tiny, it's small. It's something that reminds you or points to the real thing, right? If you get a little repli replica of, let's say, you know, the Eiffel Tower, it's like a paperweight on your desk at no point is that the real thing, that's what the author is saying here, that everything in the Tabernacle, everything that was done, those practices, those routines, those rituals were done to point to the coming of Jesus. I fear that many people today struggle with what I would call copier, Christianity to help help illustrate my point. Let me just bring something out here in many ways. A copier is very useful in other ways. If you are a teacher or you work in an office where you have to use a copier, they can and often are the bane of your existence because they always break, right? When you need them to, right? Nothing is as frustrating as you have a deadline, you're working on something and then you get that dreaded sign of paper jam and then you're trying to open all the things and you're like here and you just don't know how to get anything. Like why won't you work? And so you just kick it. Not really that you would never do anything like that. I would never do anything like that. Ok. Maybe I have, um we get frustrated with this thing when it doesn't work, but at its best, it makes copies of something that already exists. Right? When I say copier, Christianity, I think people are trying to base their religion off of something else. Right. Well, it's my parents' faith. It's my friend's faith. It's my spouse's faith. You know, I've gone to church. I've, I've done the things, I've said these things but you don't get saved off the copy. And if something is copied after a copy, after a copy, it starts to get pixelated. And sometimes you have not even a full color copy, you just have a black and white copy and it doesn't substitute for the real thing. What the writer in Hebrews is saying is that those priests served a copy of the heavenly that we don't have copier Christianity that we have a calling in Christianity that you are called to be a son and a daughter that it's not a list of to do, but rather a relationship with the God who made you and saved you. You see religion is a shadow relationship is a substance. Too many people are walking around going, hey, I'm a Christian. Yeah, because it looks like something you're pretending to look like some, but there's no substance there, right? You don't want a shadow puppet Christianity. You don't want a snow globe Christianity. You don't want a copier. Christianity. You want the authentic real thing. And that is what God through Jesus offers. We continue reading in Hebrews chapter nine verse 15 says, therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant. So that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inherit inheritance since the death was has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. Thus, it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rights. But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered not into the holy places made with hands which are copies of the true things, but into the into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf, see that Tabernacle, that tent, the holy place with all the symbols, the holy of Holies. All those things were meant to resemble heaven to point people to heaven. But we don't need a Tabernacle or a temple or an ark of the covenant today because Jesus Jesus Christ himself is not in a tent, but in heaven through the very presence of God himself face to face. It was a symbol, it was a shadow, it was a copy of things to come. Now, Jesus is there interceding on your behalf and on mine. And so now he is saying there is a new relationship, there is a new promise. There is a new covenant that is not based on what you can do for me, but based on what I did for you. And so when you receive this new covenant, this new relationship, this new promise God says, you don't have to go into a temple says my holy spirit is coming into you that you are the temple that you are the building. And so now we gather, we have rituals, we have disciplines and practices, but it's so that we develop the relationship when someone is overseas. You always see that in the movies, right? They always have that picture of that loved one, right? To inspire them, which by the way, foreshadow in every single movie, if a person on the battlefield looks at a photo of a loved one, they're probably gonna die in the next scene. It just happens. It does just does it like I'm coming home to you baby. Oh, they're not gonna make it. Ok. That picture is not a substitute for the presence of the person. You look at the picture longing for the present. Does that make sense in Christianity? We have practices we gather as a church, right? But we gather as the body, as a family, to have community and connection and fellowship to worship, to sit together under the word of God. Why? To experience the presence of God? But church is not simply a building to come to but a family to belong to that. Now you have direct access to God through Jesus saying you can come to me not once a year on the day of atonement through a great high priest, but you can come to me to the throne of grace with confidence because I want direct relationship with you that the new is so much better, that your value is so high. It's so much greater than a $450 million painting because it cost Jesus his life and because he gave up everything, he wants to give you everything and it's a relationship with him, but don't just take my word for it. Jesus himself says these things here in Luke 22 verse 20 likewise the cup as they're passing, taking communion, which we're gonna do here in a little bit. So likewise the cup after they had eaten saying that this cup that is being poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. In Hebrews chapter eight, the author quotes Jeremiah 31. And so I want to go directly to that passage and here's what that passage reads says, behold, the days are coming declares the Lord when I will make a new covenant in the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made in the, with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt for my covenant, they broke. And though I was their husband and though I was their husband declares the Lord for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days declares the Lord, I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be my people no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and his brother saying, know the Lord for they all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest. Declares the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. He's saying what I'm about to give you is better. You don't just have a photo of what's to come. You have a relationship in the presence of God available to you. Paul writes in second Corinthians chapter three. He says, and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient in ourselves. You look, you didn't do anything, you didn't bring anything to the party. Ok? It says the claim for anything comes from us but that our sufficiency is from God. That who made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit for the letter kills. But the Spirit gives life one last passage here. Second Peter chapter two verses four and five. That as you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men. But in the sight of God chosen and precious you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Why can we say that the new covenant is better that the new promise, the new relationship is better. Well, a few things here, number one, Jesus is greater than the Tabernacle. He is the presence of God and he's standing before the presence of God in heaven right now. And then he's offered to those who trust Him as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit, the presence of the living God dwelling inside of you. That's why He can say that God is for you. God is with you. God is in you. He is greater than the Tabernacle because now it says your body is the living temple of God that where you go, the temple of God goes. That's why, what you do and what you say matter because you are the living temple. You are the house of God. You are the body that it matters what we do because the presence of God is living inside. So Jesus is greater than the Tabernacle. Number two, Jesus is greater than the priesthood. My job as a pastor is the shepherd to encourage, to serve to equip people for ministry. My job as a pastor is to serve and to bless and to help you find calling and ministry and purpose in Him that you don't have to go through me to get to God. But you get direct access to him that collectively we are called the priesthood of believers. This is incredibly powerful when you understand that you don't have to go through one person on one day of the year with the hopes that maybe you're good enough, but rather recognize that he is enough and that he is good and that he gives you direct access today. And the reason for that is because number three, that Jesus is greater than any sacrifice. The entire Old Testament can be summarized in man's failed attempt to be good enough for God. It doesn't mean the Old Testament is obsolete. It doesn't mean that Old Testament is bad. What it means is that the Old Testament shows us that we needed a savior, right? You don't simply go to the doctor to get better. You go to the doctor first to find out what you have. The Old Testament. The 10 Commandments, tell us what we have. We have a sin problem and no matter how good you think you are, you will not make it to heaven on your own. Andrew our worship. Pastor, his wife Morgan and, and, and Jared one of our elders. They, they just nonchalantly hiked the Grand Canyon on Friday. I think I woke up that same morning and my back hurt. So just getting out of bed. So that felt good. And then he's just up here playing today. Like nothing ever happened. You just hiked the Grand Canyon. He's like, oh, let's sing, bless it. A sh like I would be like, let's get a shirt. Like, like someone else is singing today. Look as big as the Grand Canyon is the Grand Canyon between you and God stretches for all eternity and you will not cross it no matter how hard you try in most world religion is man's attempt to get to God. And I'm telling you, you will not get there and you will be exhausted trying, but you don't have to because Jesus himself was a sacrifice. And then the last thing here is that Jesus then is greater than all feasts and religious customs. Look, we gather as a church regularly as a family. There are spiritual disciplines and things that you can do to work on relationship, right? But you don't do those things to be loved by God, you do those things because you are loved by God. Because when someone shows unconditional incredible love, the natural response to that is to be moved and then to move back and say, wow, it's not cool. Thank you. I'm gonna do whatever I want. Now people will say, well, John does that mean the grace of God means I can do whatever I want. Like if you ask that question, I will come back and say, I don't know if you really understand the grace of God, then because if you understand that grace and you've received that and you've been forgiven man, it makes you want to go forgive, bless, serve love others the way that God has loved you. So there's two signs of this new coming in. We're gonna practice these today and next week, the first sign of the new covenant, this new relationship, its new commitment is baptism is a picture of what Jesus did on the cross. And Jesus himself was baptized to give us that picture. And then when he's telling his disciples what to do before he leaves, he says, go and make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father Son, Holy Spirit and teaching them all to, to obey all that I've commanded you. And so it is a picture, an expression, a symbol just like a wedding ring is a symbol of a relationship. It is a symbol of your relationship with God. Next Sunday, we're gonna celebrate baptisms in our services and I wanna challenge you to get baptized if you've not previously. Now I'm respectful of other practices when parents have maybe baptized infants or things of that nature like they do that. Why? Because they love, they love their kiddos, they want their kiddos to be with God. But here's the thing, if you were baptized as an infant, you did not make that choice, right? You did not make that choice. What I wanna do is give you that choice to say, you know what I believe? I have a relationship with God. I have a relationship with Jesus and I want to tell people about it. So I invite you to take that step to get baptized. And then the second thing that we have here is the Lord's supper that in the upper room when they passed the bread, when they passed the cup that represented what Jesus did. It was an extension of Passover, not just an extension, but fulfillment of it. A practice for years and years and years wasn't just salvation back in Egypt, but really pointed to the salvation that would come through Jesus. And so we're gonna take that together in just a moment and I wanna ask you two questions here. Number one is just, do you have a relationship with God? Do you have a relationship? And then two, if you have a relationship, are you settling for shadows or choosing substance. I wonder how many people are living in a copy of Christianity. Just phoning it in going through the motions, making shadow puppets. They got their little Jesus Snow Globe somewhere when you've been called this so much more. And so we're gonna take these elements. Uh I invite you to open them, hang on to them and we're gonna take them together. And if you're not a Christian, right? You just receive Christ today. You can do that today. Invite you to receive this, to remember it, to have a relationship with God. Will you pray with me? De Jesus? We come before you. We know that we can't make it to heaven on our own. But God, you came down, you died on a cross for my sins and he rose again. God, I believe in you as Lord, I, I trust you as savior. I commit my life to you. I don't wanna just have a religion of to dos in efforts of my own that will fall short. God, I wanna have a relationship with you where I can have forgiveness and love and joy and peace, an eternity. God, I receive you into my life. I believe in you today and I commit my life to you in your son's name. We pray amen.