It is more glorious than the Super Bowl, World Series and all major concerts or activities and millions of Christians participate in this event every Sunday. What is this event called………The Lord’s Supper.
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The Glory of the New Covenant in the Lord’s Supper
Matthew 26:26-28
Every Sunday, we as a church get to engage in one of the most glorious activities ever, more glorious than the birth of your child, more glorious than your wedding day, more glorious than your own birth. Without what resulted from this event that we celebrate, people would spend eternity in hell separated from God, they would not know the joy of the Lord in their daily lives, their lives would be completely different, if it was not for this event that we celebrate known as the Lord’s Supper or Communion. Some people see it as just grape juice and crackers but if by God’s grace, through the working of the Holy Spirit, he opens your eyes to what you are partaking of, you will rejoice, maybe weep with joy, as you come to see the glory, love and grace of God in the Lord’s Supper.
-Why is it so glorious?
Because communion represents the greatest act of Love by God bestowed upon the human race. The Lord’s Supper represents the inauguration or beginning or start date of the New Covenant were God promised through the prophets to give us a new heart, he promises to give us his Spirit, he promises to write his laws upon our hearts that we may obey they and he promises to forgive all of our sins and remember them no more. He also promises that we will be His people, children of God.
-So when partake of the blood and body of Christ one of the things that we are celebrating is God’s faithfulness.
In order for us to understand the verse here in Mathew 26:-28 we must understand the new covenant and in order to understand NC, we must understand the Old Covenant.
-Basics of a covenant- A covenant is an agreement, a contract, if you ever leased an apartment or a house, you enter a covenant. Some covenants are conditional, meaning if you do such and such a thing, I will do this but if you don’t do such and such a thing, I will do that.
Now let’s look at the old covenant and see what type it was. Exodus 19:5-6(maybe);
Leviticus 26:3 (Obedience)
26:14 (Disobedience)
And in most of the Old Testament, you are going to find a whole lot of verse 14 happening. God blesses, yep the people go and worship the false god’s of the world, they disobey his commandment, or they corrupt God’s commandant. Instead of bringing an animal without blemish to sacrifice to the Lord for their sins, they would bring sick, and weak animals to the Lord and keep the good one for themselves. The priest and elders would deceive the people and be about their own gain, yet God would show mercy and not destroy them.
Side note: I sometimes hear people say that God in the OT was more strict, less grace but that is not true because God would give the Children of Israel chance after chance but they would still rebel and not fulfill their end of the covenant. So God, in keeping with his word, punished Israel, they felt his wrath which lead to their enemies conquering them and forcing the people to live in exile in foreign countries. Their kings and princes were killed, priest and prophets killed, people had no food.
But God made a promise that even though they would live in exile, have their enemies conquer them, even though they would face the wrath of God, he promises to make a new covenant with them. This is the grace and mercy of God, even though they broke the covenant, even though they did not carry out their end of the agreement, the Lord is still showing mercy.
This make me think about Psalms 30:5
“For his anger last only a moment but his favor last a lifetime; weeping may stay for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” NIV
-So God, through the prophets tell the Children of Israel that He is going to make a new covenant with them.
Recap: Look at the grace of mercy of God,. This people, the children of Israel, God takes them out of slavery, parts the red sea so that they can escape their enemies, bread from heaven falls out of the sky to feed them, they conquer all of their enemies and enter this promised land, despite all of this good that God has done for them, they still choose to go and worship the gods of the world and do the things of the world and break Gods commandments and God said, despite what you have done, I am going to make a new covenant with you and this new covenant is going to be better than the old one that we made.
Let’s look at this details of this New Covenant
Hebrews 8:8 the House of Israel and the House of Judah-Show unity Israel where split into two groups (Israel in the North and Judah in the South)
But guess what this covenant extends beyond the house of Israel and Judah, but apply to gentiles or none Jewish people as well.
Throughout the Old Testament, we see that gentiles where always apart of God’s plan of redemption. For example, In Romans 9:22-26 the Apostle Paul quotes Hosea and the Apostle Peter also quotes Hosea to show that the new covenant promises are to the gentiles as well.
In John 10:16 Jesus said that he has other sheep that are not of this fold-Here he is referring to the gentiles you and me.
In Acts 10:44-45 the Holy Spirit falls upon Cornelius and his household, these are gentiles, non-Jewish believers who have trusted in Jesus for salvation.
-Hebrews 8: 9-10– In the Old Testament God gave Israel his commandments, ordinance, things like the 10 commandments but the Children of Israel threw them aside and walk in this own ways but God is saying here in this new agreement that he is making is that he is not going to leave it up to us(our flesh) to carry out his will?
Show “I wills” in Hebrews 8:10
If God leaves us up to our own will(our flesh), we are going to do the same thing that the Children of Israel did.
The prophet Ezekiel (36:25-27), speaking of the same new covenant promises puts it another way. Here God is promising a new heart, his Holy Spirit and what does verse 27 say, I will cause you to walk in my statues. He is no long leaving it up to man to carry out his will but God is actually working in us to carry out his will
Side note: You want to know if you have been born again, do you have a new heart, new desires, new affections?
We also see the Apostle Paul carrying out this same thought in his Letter to the Philippians where he said that
“for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure” Philippians 2:13
Who do you think that God is accomplishing this, it is by his Spirit!
“You must know and recognize that the Holy Spirit is not some consolation prize that you get from entering into a covenant relationship with God. It is not as if Jesus is the real thing that I want but since I can’t have Him, I’ll take the Holy Spirit.”
John 16:7-To your advantage that I leave so that the Holy Spirit will come.
Note: NT Gentile believers, no new testament books-Relied upon the Spirit and the word written on their hearts and mind.
You have everything that you need to live a godly life, you are not lacking anything: You have the Holy Spirit, you have the Word, you have the Body of Christ, you have leader, and teachers, and people with different gifts…God has equipment his church to do ministry!
-God’s People
Outside of this new covenant, you are not God’s people, you are not a child of God, you are a child of God’s wrath, but because of this covenant that God is making, you know can become a people, you now can become a child of God but you are not born this way.
“My People”….God is putting claims on you.
Kid game of “My Car” God is saying the same thing about you…….He is saying “My people”, you are my treasured people.
John 10:27-30-In my hand
Titus 2:14—-You are God’s—-If God claims you, you are never alone, if God claims you, you are never forsaken.
And do you want the proof of the extant of his claim of you——Romans 8:32-He who did not spare His own son”……..And not only did he deliver us all, but the Son consented.
So take that loneliness, so take that depression, I am loved, I am God’s.
Now here is one of my favorite parts of this new covenant. Verse 12
“I will remember their sin no more”…….sin is gone, pass, future, present, sin is no longer attributed to my account, it is gone…..forever, I am, you are forgiven! Let’s contrast this verse with
Romans 2:5
“Storing up wrath”—-So outside of entering into this covenant relationship with God, our stubborn and unrepentant heart is storing up wrath. This means that the sins you commit are not disappearing but that they are being stored up in your sin/wrath account, it like you are collecting wrath.
But the verse that we just read, Hebrews 8:12 is saying that that account is now closed!!!!!!
Here is another way to look at, Hebrews 10:14-You are perfected, spotless forever…..this is peace, let that marinate I am forever perfected, forever clean in the eyes of God through this covenant.
How does God accomplish this? And how can he enter into such an agreement where he does all the work with such sinful people? How do we know that this covenant is forever true?
The answer: BLOOD, THE BLOOD OF JESUS
-Disease Outbreak
Let me make that more clear, have you ever seen one of those movies where there is a deadly disease spreading, and so they have a hospital set up for all the people infected by the disease. And so in order for the doctor to treat these people, he puts on a fully body suite with a oxygen tank and he walks into the sick room to treat the people, after he is done, he go through a door that brings him into the sanitation room, he is spayed off so that any trace of the bacteria is removed from him and then he enter the room with everyone else that he free of the disease, their food, comfort, life.
That is a good picture of the new covenant, the blood of Jesus and our old life.
That sick room, where people are doing is us, it the world because we have all been bite by the serpent, we all have his poisonous venom of sin inside of us, so we are all dying. And just like that doctor leaves the sick room and passes through the door to enter the sanitation chamber, where he is sprayed down, Jesus is the door that we enter and his blood is the sanitation area and only after we have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and we are able to enter the other room, where there is life.
So Jesus is the door and is blood is the cleaning agent? But why blood, because God required the life a thing to make amend for sin and life is in the blood, you remove the blood from my body I will die, some people have died from blood lose, so the life of a thing animal or person is in the blood.
So let’s land this plane and get us home to the Lord Supper
Mathew 26:26-28
“My Blood of the Covenant”
-Jesus is cleaning us from the inside out vs Blood of bulls sprinkled on the Flesh. Exodus 24:7-8
It is his blood that cleanses us from sin but Jesus response here is multifold, Jesus his blood cleanses but in this statement Jesus is speaking to something else as well.
-During this period of time many covenants were made in blood. Now we go to escrow, and record deed.
Let me give you an example of this-Genesis 15:8-11; 17-18 -Explain covenant
As God passes through the pieces he is saying may this happen to the person that breaks this covenant.
when men made a covenant, they would both walk though the blood and their covenant would be official.
So Jesus’ blood makes the new covenant official, his blood ratifies the agreement and God is saying that I will keep this agreement, I am putting my own blood on the line to prove it. And not only am I going to fulfill my side of the covenant but I am also going to work in you to fulfill your side of the deal, this covenant will never be broken.
How do we enter into this covenant? By Faith
Statement of Faith
By faith we say, God I believe and want to enter into a covenant relationship with you. I believe that Jesus Christ is your son, fully God, I believe that his death on the cross has erased all of my sins. I believe that I am forever perfect in your eyes because the blood of Jesus has forever cleansed me and perfected me of sin. You are my God, I am your child, I will live my life serving you and doing your will.
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