September 6, 2015 A.D., by Pastor Ben Willis

The Prophet Jeremiah 31:31-34 [NLTse]

“The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord.
“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

Interlude

[Super-glue two paintsticks together.] Anyone ever heard of Gorilla glue? Great stuff. These are two paint sticks. With a line of Gorilla glue. And we’ll set that aside…

The Letter To the Hebrews 9:11-28 [NLTse]

So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

Now when someone leaves a will, it is necessary to prove that the person who made it is dead. The will goes into effect only after the person’s death. While the person who made it is still alive, the will cannot be put into effect.

That is why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal. For after Moses had read each of God’s commandments to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God’s law and all the people, using hyssop branches and scarlet wool. Then he said, “This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you.” And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship. In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things – the things in heaven – had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.

For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.

Sermon

Our God – our Father – is a covenant-maker.

He made a covenant with Noah promising to never again destroy all life on the earth by flood. And He gave us the rainbow as a sign of this “eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” (See Genesis 9:8-17)

He made a covenant with Abraham promising that Abraham’s family line would grow to become a great nation, and that through Abraham’s descendants that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed. He promised Abraham’s children all the land between the Nile and Euphrates rivers, and gave them circumcision as the sign of this everlasting covenant. (See Genesis chapters 12-17)

God Almighty made a covenant with Moses promising to make the nation of Israel His treasured possession from among all the nations of the earth, to make them a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation”, if they would follow God’s commandments. The Sabbath was the visible sign He gave of this covenant. (See Exodus chapters 19-24 and Deuteronomy)

The Lord made a covenant with King David promising that one of David’s heirs would always sit on the throne of Israel, and that David’s kingdom would be established forever, even as David’s heirs were promised to obey all of the Lord’s ways. (See 2 Samuel 7) The sons of David, the kings of Israel, were the living signs of this covenant.

And some have argued convincingly that God also made covenants with Adam and Aaron and Aaron’ son, Phineas, and others.

Our God – our Father – is a covenant-maker.

Some of these covenants have been one-sided, God bearing all the responsibility. Some of the others have given responsibility to God and Man. And God has always been faithful: The great covenant-keeper! And humanity has always been faithless: Not always circumcising, not obeying the Law, Israel’s kings not always following in God’s ways; breaking the terms of each and every one.

In our Old Testament reading this morning, back around the 600s B.C., the Prophet Jeremiah announced Abba’s intention to make another covenant, a new covenant. This new covenant wouldn’t be like the old covenants that Israel kept for awhile but broke eventually. No. This new covenant would require a circumcision of the heart. He would put His commandments deep inside of people. God Most High Himself would forgive their wickedness and never again remember their sins…

Our God – our Father – is a covenant-maker. He establishes this new covenant, and He fulfills our failings in all the others, in Jesus Christ.

A covenant is legal action between two or more parties. That legal action can be someone committing to leave their belongings to another or others when they die, like a will. That legal action can be a man and a woman committing themselves and their belongings to each other, forever, like in marriage. Buying and selling property is a kind of covenant. Establishing a business partnership is a kind of covenant. The receipt you got at the movie theater or Home Depot serves as a kind of covenant. Even friendships can be covenants when commitments are promised and kept, when assurances need to be offered and are…

Contrary to modern beliefs and practices, covenants are to be unbreakable. There should be no such thing as “no fault divorce”. Filing “bankruptcy” should never be allowed! They are all a breaking of what God established to be unbreakable.

(Now, don’t get me wrong. People are people, and sin happens, and forgiveness is available for those who have trusted in Christ, confess their sins, and seek His grace to change their ways. But none of that changes that fact that covenants are meant to last forever, or at least until the terms of the covenant have been fulfilled.)

Back to our Gorilla glued sticks… Gorilla glue promises that if you fasten two things together with their glue that the new piece might break again, but they promise that it won’t break in the place where it was glued. They promise that the glued areas will be stronger than the original materials. [Break the glued stick over my knee.]

God established covenants to be unbreakable. A relationship, a deal, an agreement, a commitment might break in all sorts of different ways and in all sorts of different places but they will never break at the the junction of the covenant. Not at the place of the promise. Not where the covenant-commitment was made. Not if God’s involved. Not if He is Lord of our covenants. Things might break, but they will break anywhere but there.

[Move to the Lord’s Table.] Which brings us to the Lord’s table and the New Covenant established in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, established in His body and His blood.

This is the bread, this is the cup, of the eternal, unbreakable covenant God has made between Himself and people. All the benefits of Christ’s sacrifice are wrapped up and made fresh new to us in this bread and this cup.

Jesus can say, “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life,” (John 5:24) because the New Covenant is an unbreakable covenant. Paul can write to Titus, “he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit,” (3:5) because the covenant is everlasting. And to the Romans, “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of @#!*% can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Yes, Paul can write these things, saying even, “I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns,” (Philippians 1:6) because God Himself has established this New Covenant not through a weak, sinful man the likes of Noah, Abraham, Moses, or David. No. He’s established this covenant through sinless Son of Man/Son of God, Christ Jesus of Nazareth.

And in Jesus the heart is circumcised and the Law is fulfilled and Son of David and the King of kings is able and willing to keep the ways of the Lord! And the earth will, indeed, never be completely destroyed again by floodwaters, but by the purifying fires of judgment: Fires that will warm and welcome those made righteous by His sacrifice, those saved by His body and His blood; fires that will destroy and put an end to the wicked and wickedness once-and-for-all.

So, come to the Table! This is not my table. It is not the Evangelical Presbyterian Church’s table. It is the Lord’s Table! And the Lord Jesus Christ invites all those who have trusted in His death on the cross to serve as God’s sacrifice for sin to come and be refreshed and be made new by the New Covenant made in His body and blood.

Feed yourselves on bread that pronounces you innocent of your every sin, bread that grants you Jesus’ Own righteousness in the place of all your wicked thoughts, words, and deeds. Drink deeply from a cup that assurances you of salvation, a cup that proclaims here and in the heavenly places your peace with God. Eat and drink holiness. Swallow the unconditional love of the Almighty. Satisfy your hunger with true forgiveness. Quench your thirst with a new life to worship and give never-ending thanks to the One Who truly saves…