INTRODUCTION THE NEW COVENANT IN MY BLOOD (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Luke 22:20) In preparation for the Communion Service this morning I want to explore the phrase, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. We repeat this phrase each time we partake of Communion. Why do we do this and what does it mean? My sermon this morning will be more like a theology lesson than a sermon. My hope is that you will be edified by these thoughts on the New Covenant. There are four recordings in the Scriptures of what Jesus said that night about the cup. In Luke 22:20 it reads, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Matthew 26:28, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.mark 14:24, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," I Corinthians 11:25, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Note that all three of the Gospel accounts have the phrase poured out for you or for many. Matthew adds for the forgiveness of sins. All four mention the idea of covenant, only Luke and I Corinthians explicitly identify the covenant as the New Covenant. What is a covenant between God and people? What is New in the New Covenant? What does Jesus blood have to do with this covenant? What are we professing when we partake of the Cup? These are some of the questions we will consider today. WHAT IS A COVENANT? The idea of covenant runs throughout the Bible. The word is mentioned 284 times in the Old Testament and 34 times in New Testament. It is not too much of a stretch to say that understanding the idea of covenant is critical to understanding the message of the Bible. There is a whole approach to the Bible called Covenant Theology. They see that the idea of covenant is the central theme of the Bible. You can trace God s work of redemption through history through the covenants in the Bible. April 2, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 1
The basic definition of covenant is promises given that bind two parties together. The marriage vow is a good example of a covenant. Two parties bind themselves together by promises they give to each other. A covenant is a little different than a contract. A contract is based on a law or it is a legal document. A covenant is based on the faithfulness of the promises of the parties. A covenant is more in keeping with personal relationships. God has chosen to use the structure of a covenant to form a binding relationship with His people. In the Scriptures there are at least five major covenants God makes with His people. The Covenant with Noah, God promises to preserve the earth from being destroyed by another flood. The sign of this covenant is the rainbow. The Covenant with Abraham, God promises to make Abraham a great nation and through him all families of the earth would be blessed. The sign of this covenant is circumcision. The Covenant with Moses and Israel, God promises to make Israel His people forever and the sign of this covenant is keeping the Sabbath. The Covenant with David, God promises that someone from His line will sit on the throne of God s kingdom forever. Finally the New Covenant, God promises to forgive His people. The sign of this covenant is the Lord s Supper. WHAT IS NEW IN THE NEW COVENANT What is the New Covenant? What is new in the New Covenant? For the answer to this we must go to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31 is the only place in the OT that the New Covenant is mentioned by name, although the idea is in Ezekiel and Isaiah. Jeremiah 31:31-34 NIV "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. (32) It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. (33) "This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (34) No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." April 2, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 2
The need for a new covenant was the inability of the people in keeping the old covenant or the Mosaic Covenant. They continually broke the covenant that God had made with them. The Old Covenant was an external covenant, it was made up of laws, which were good in themselves, but because of the weakness of the flesh, the people of God couldn t keep it. Therefore God promised a new covenant, a covenant based on better promises as Hebrews states it. (Hebrews 8:6) The specific promises of the New Covenant are: 1. God would internalize his law in the hearts of his people. God would put his law in their minds and write it on their hearts. Even under the Mosaic Law God told the people that they needed something done to their hearts and He promised to change the hearts of His people. (Deut. 30:6) In Ezekiel God promises to change the hearts of His people and indicates how it would happen. Ezekiel 36:26-27 NIV I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Through the New Covenant God has put his laws into our hearts by giving us a new heart and by giving us His Spirit to dwell within us. 2. Another promise in the New Covenant is that all his people will know the Lord in the same way and to the same degree. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," There will be no division among the people of God as to their knowledge of God and as to their direct personal access to God. We all have the same access to God through the Spirit and through the Blood of Christ. Under the Old Testament the people had to go to God through mediators such as the priests who had special access to God through the offerings of the tabernacle and temple. Only the high priest could go directly into the presence of God once a year. But under the New Covenant we all will know the Lord in a personal, intimate, unhindered, way through our great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have direct access into the presence of God through the New Covenant. 3. And the third promise in the New Covenant is that our sins are forgiven in a way that they will no longer be remembered. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. Under the Mosaic Law sins were forgiven but only on the basis of a future perfect sacrifice of the perfect Lamb of God. Their sins were covered by not completely removed. Their consciences were not perfectly assured of this forgiven because their knew that the blood of April 2, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 3
bulls and goats could not give them this confidence. This is the thought in Hebrews 9:14-15 The Old Covenant prepared the way and prepared the people for the New Covenant. The New Covenant has always been God s plan for His people. It is the everlasting or eternal covenant. It is the covenant that fulfills or completes all the other covenants in the Old Testament. WHAT DOES JESUS BLOOD HAVE TO DO WITH THE NEW COVENANT? Our third question is, What does Jesus Blood have to do with the New Covenant? The answer seems pretty straight forward now that we know what is new in the new covenant. It is through the blood of Christ that we have forgiveness. The blood of Christ solves our problem of removing our sins and giving us complete forgiveness. It also solves God s problem of how to remain righteous and forgive our sins and the sins of OT believers. This is the message of Romans 3 Romans 3:25-26 NIV God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood--to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. It is through the blood of Christ we all can have direct access into the presence of God. Hebrews 10:19-20 NIV Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, (20) by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, It is through the blood of Christ that we come to God with a changed heart. Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. The Blood of Christ is a way of speaking about the life of Christ poured out for us on the Cross. It is the Blood of Jesus poured out for us that we have a New Covenant relationship with God. This is why Christians make so much of the Blood of Christ! WHAT ARE WE PROFESSING WHEN WE PARTAKE OF THE CUP? April 2, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 4
Now when we partake of the Cup in the Lord s Supper, what are we professing? We are professing our faith in the efficacy and sufficiency of the Blood of Jesus in which the New Covenant is enacted. We are professing our faith in the forgiveness of our sins. We are confessing that we have confidence to come into presence of God. We are professing that our hearts have been renewed by the Holy Spirit. There is much going on when we come to the table of the Lord and partake of the Bread and the Cup. CONCLUSION Finally a covenant is a relationship based upon promises that bind two parties together. For a covenant to be finalized it must be accepted. God gives the terms and promises of the covenant but we must accept it. When we partake of the Communion Service we are saying that we are renewing our commitment to God s promises. Our promise to God is that we surrender to God all that we are and have because we belong to Him. We are His people by grace through faith in what Christ has done for us as represented by the Bread and the Cup. It is a renewal of our covenant of faith with God. John Wesley wanted to come up with a service that help the people renew their covenant with their God. He found a prayer in the writings of the 17 th century puritan divines, Joseph and Richard Alleine. Wesley wanted a form of worship which would help people bind themselves to God more fully. So in 1755 he came up with a Covenant Renewal Service using this prayer. The Methodist Church, as well as other groups, still hold an annual Covenant Service using this prayer. I thought it would be helpful to use this prayer as a way of closing this message on the New Covenant in the Blood of Christ. This should help us to partake of Communion and renew our profession of faith in Christ. Let s stand and pray this pray as a renewal of our covenant with God as we remember His Covenant with us through the Lord s Supper. I am no longer my own but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you, exalted for you, or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing: April 2, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 5
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am yours. And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen April 2, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 6