Jesus: our Mediator of the New Covenant. Matthew 9:1-26

Transcription

1 Jesus: our Mediator of the New Covenant Matthew 9:1-26

2 Matthew so far Jesus - our King: of royal lineage birth announced by angels attested to by Magi fulfilled prophecies to the dot made us kings to reign with Him Jesus - our Word: God s will God s power God s supply

3 Matthew so far Matt 1-2: Birth of Jesus Matt 3-4: Baptism and Temptations of Jesus Matt 5-7: Blessed are Sermon on the Mount Matt 8: Beginnings of Jesus Ministry Jesus mission on earth establish the New Covenant between God and Man Matt 9: Jesus introduce the New Covenant to Jews who have lived under the Old Covenant for over 1500 years.

4 Matthew 9 1 Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2 Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven. 3 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, This fellow is blaspheming! 4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Which is easier: to say, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Get up and walk? 6 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. So he said to the paralyzed man, Get up, take your mat and go home. 7 Then the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.

5 New Covenant: Forgiveness The main clause of the New Covenant: complete forgiveness of sins For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. (Heb 8:12)

6 New Covenant: Forgiveness Jesus said, 5 Which is easier: to say, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Get up and walk? Because healing is empirically verifiable, the teachers of the law would conclude, it is easier, though blasphemous, to say Your sins are forgiven. By declaring and enabling the man to walk, Jesus demonstrates that He has authority on earth to forgive sins.

7 New Covenant: Health The Jews understood that disease originates from sin. Penalty of sin is death. Disease (a sign of body breaking down) is the beginning of death. On the Cross He bore our sins and our sicknesses: He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases. (Matt 8:17, Isaiah 53:4)

8 New Covenant: Health And by His stripes we are healed. (Isa 53:6) Today, we are the healed walking in divine health. Place of healing gifts and ministry : Primarily to help non-believers to place their trust in Jesus. Just as we are righteousness conscious, we need to affirm our divine health too, as both were obtained on the cross of Jesus.

9 New Covenant: 1) Forgiveness 2) Health

10 New Covenant: Acceptance Matt 9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector s booth. Follow me, he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. Matthew: a Levi a tax collector a social outcast had everything except acceptance By grace, Jesus qualified Matthew to be his disciple Matthew needs only to respond to the call: Follow me 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. (Eph 1:6)

11 Matthew 9 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

12 New Covenant: Mission - sinners saints Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? They greatly misunderstood the ministry of the Messiah. Jesus reply in three parts: an argument from analogy an appeal from Scripture a declaration of His mission It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. He healed the physically sick and now He is healing the spiritually sick!

13 New Covenant: Mission - sinners saints 3 But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. (from Hosea 6:6) Hosea addressed a people satisfied with their rituals but displeasing to God. mercy - checed (Heb): mercy, kindness, loving kindness, favour A classic clash of law and grace: Pharisees insist that sinners become righteous ( sacrifice ) in order to gain their approval. Jesus shows checed to sinners just as they are ("I desire mercy").

14 New Covenant: Mission - sinners saints For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Pharisees expected the Messiah to come and pick the righteous, beginning with themselves. Problem with Pharisees: did not know that they were not righteous but only self-righteous, Jesus declared mission: call sinners so that they become the righteousness of God in Him, to be saints.

15 New Covenant: 1) Forgiveness 2) Health 3) Acceptance 4) Sinners Saints

16 Matthew 9 14 Then John s disciples came and asked him, How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast? 15 Jesus answered, How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

17 New Covenant: Joy With Jesus around, it s about feasting and not fasting joy and not mourning! We are full of joy because we have Jesus. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11) Without Jesus : depend on our efforts, stuck with sin, and lots of sadness. With Jesus : depend on Jesus, sins forgiven, and lots of joy.

18 Matthew 9 16 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

19 New Covenant: No mixing with Old Issue: many still want to fit the new way that Jesus brought about into old outdated patterns. The Old Covenant was meant to drive us to Christ. Now that the New Covenant has come, the Old Covenant is obsolete.

20 New Covenant: No mixing with Old No change: God's character Changed : our relationship to God though Christ. Old Covenant: standing before God depended on obedience to the law. New Covenant: our righteous standing before God is a free gift to us on the basis of our faith in Christ who has fully kept the law for us, and has given His Holy Spirit to live in us and to empower us to live righteously!

21 New Covenant: No mixing with Old No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Old Covenant NOT updated by simply patching New Covenant realities over them cannot try to make works support grace We have to have a whole new garment completely trust Christ for our righteousness before God through grace.

22 New Covenant: No mixing with Old Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. New Covenant realities in Christ cannot be contained in the old forms of the Old Covenant ie the Law and rituals and temple services. New Covenant life is about living by the Holy Spirit.

23 New Covenant: 1) Forgiveness 2) Health 3) Acceptance 4) Sinners Saints 5) Joy 6) No mixing with Old

24 Matthew 9 18 While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live. 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. 20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed. 22 Jesus turned and saw her. Take heart, daughter, he said, your faith has healed you. And the woman was healed at that moment.

25 Matthew 9 23 When Jesus entered the synagogue leader s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, 24 he said, Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep. But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.

26 New Covenant: Life Jesus demonstrates that the New Covenant is about life being restored to the dead. Woman with bleeding: living dead, bleeding from the womb, the place of conception of life, unable to reproduce life. Jairus daughter: dead, no life. Jesus gave life back to both of them.

27 New Covenant: Made clean Unclean : lepers, contact with dead or unclean, menstruating, had mildew in house could not enter into the Temple, NO right standing before God But when Jesus was in contact with the unclean, He did NOT become unclean instead health and life issued forth. Contact with Jesus made them clean. Clean : right standing before God, righteousness

28 Jesus: Mediator of the New Covenant New Covenant: 1) Forgiveness 2) Health 3) Acceptance 4) Sinners Saints 5) Joy 6) No mixing with Old 7) Life 8) Made clean Heb 8:6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.