This is My Blood of the Covenant

Well, I'd like us to turn back together to the chapter that we went to the first half of Matthew

26

Today we are continuing our study in the Gospel of Matthew and I want us to focus in particular on the words that we find

in verses 27 and 28

Where we read that Jesus took a cup

When he had given thanks he gave it to them saying drink it all of you

For this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many

for the forgiveness of sins

Today we are able to share in the Lord supper again, which is brilliant

It's and it's quite remarkable that and the very week that we had that we'd scheduled to to resume this is

The same week that we come to the passage in Matthew where the Lord supper was instituted and of course the Lord supper is a very important part of

our lives as disciples and as a church together. It's a very special thing for us to

experience

So it's great to be able to see the bread and wine. There's there's very powerful

Visual symbolism in front of us

It's great to be able to touch the bread and wine. It's real. It's physical

It's something that we take and handle and in which we participate

It's great to taste the bread and the wine. We eat the supper together and in doing so we are nourished and fed

It's even great to smell the bread and the wine Jesus and the disciples would have smelled the same smells

Around the table here in Matthew 26 these senses seeing tasting touching smelling are all important

But I don't think they're what's most important

It might sound a wee bit strange

But I think the most important thing about the Lord supper is not that we're seeing

tasting touching or smelling the bread and wine I

Think the most important thing is that we're listening to the bread and the wine and

That's because the bread and wine are telling us something and

That means that even if you are at home today and I'm not able to to participate physically in the Lord supper

And even though I'm sure you wish so much that you were able to be here just now

You don't need to panic or worry about the fact that you're not able

To do so because what matters most is that we are hearing and listening

To what Jesus is telling us through all of this

So what is Jesus saying?

Well, there's a lot we could say about the Lord supper today

I want us to just focus on what we're being told here in Matthew 26 and in particular

I want to focus on what Jesus says about the wine because in verse 28 Jesus says something massive

He says this is my blood of the covenant

Now that is a huge statement

But what on earth does it mean?

Well, that's what I want us to think about together today and to do so we're going to ask three questions

What is a covenant?

What is the covenant and what does it mean for you?

So our first question is what is a covenant?

Well, when you see the word covenant in connection with the Bible

There's five things that I want you to have in your minds. Well, actually there's six, but I'm only going to tell you five

Just now

Number one is a relationship between people. That's really what a covenant is. It's establishing a relationship between people

There's a bond formed between parties

Two is clear, firm, articulated truth

So the relationship isn't vague or fluctuating. It's not a free-for-all. There's no spin or deception

It's a relationship that's grounded on

clearly set out terms and

these

These set out the expectations and the boundaries of the relationship

Number three is life and death commitment

So the concept of covenant is not for anything minor

You don't use a covenant to decide who's going to mow the lawn or who you're going to play Minecraft with later on this afternoon

Covenant is to do with matters of life and death

importance and

Those involved in a covenant are expected to be committed to it as a matter of life and death

Number four is real life action. So a covenant is never just a theoretical paperwork exercise

It has a direct effect on real life

so

In the covenant relationship

For those who are involved their actions and their lives are going to be shaped by that covenant. There's certain things you do

There's certain things you don't do and the people in the relationship

Are expected to be obedient to the terms that they are committing to now

That's not obedient in the sense of slavery. You must do this or you must do that

But obedient in the sense of being willing to fulfill the obligations that you now have towards one another

So relationship between people clear firm truth life and death commitment real life action number five

lasting security the result

Should be that the covenant relationship brings lasting security for all those who are part of it

So the firm truth of the agreement the seriousness of the commitment the reality of real life obedience all comes together to establish a secure

safe

consistent relationship

That you can rely on

So that's five key elements of a covenant we can summarize them under the following headings

Covenant relationship covenant truth covenant commitment covenant obedience covenant

security and

I would want you to try and keep these five things in mind as we think about

Covenant and what I hope you can see by looking at these is that really

This is simply summarizing what all good healthy relationships look like

So a good example of of a covenant is marriage. It brings two people together in a relationship

It's grounded on firm clear truth. It's it's based on vows and it has a legal status attached to it

It's a commitment that is for the whole of life. It involves real life action for a husband or wife

There's there's things they do and things that don't do as a result of that covenant relationship and it brings

lasting security

So marriage is a very clear example of this but even in terms of relationships that aren't as formal as marriage

The same emphases apply

So for example these five headings I think really just portray what what any good friendship looks like

People relate to one another as friends

It's grounded on truth as you get to know one another and learn more about one another

The best of all friendships are for life and greater love has no one than than than that that of the person who will lay down their life

for their friends

If someone's your friend then there's things that you definitely do so you talk you spend time together

You help each other and there's things you definitely don't do so you don't gossip about them

You don't pick on them

You don't you don't take them up and put them down at a whim and you don't take advantage of them and a good friendship brings

lasting security, it's a wonderful thing so even friendships an example of this I think that even a good employee

employer

relationship

Looks the same

There's clear terms and expectations in that relationship

There's commitment. There's real-life obligations for both the boss and the staff and if things are the way they're meant to be

then everyone benefits from lasting security and

Equally on the other side of the coin

Problems arise in marriage and friendship or in the workplace when individuals fail

in one or more of these five areas

Now all of that means that when we when you see the word covenant

It's not talking about some weird archaic concept from ancient history

It's actually talking about everything that we crave in our relationships with others

And you can see that if you think of the opposite of all of these things

So covenant relationship is the opposite of selfish individualism

Covenant truth is the opposite of deception and manipulation

Covenant commitment is the opposite of being superficial or changeable

Covenant obedience in real life is the opposite of empty airy-fairy waffle and

Covenant security is the opposite of temporary or casual

relationships and

in today's world

Whether it's with friends with colleagues with lovers so many relationships today are selfish

manipulative

shallow

half-hearted and

insecure

And

If you've been on the receiving end of that

You will know how horrible all that can be

And that's why so often in life the very things that should give us the greatest joy can be the things that can cause us

The most pain broken friendships

nightmare colleagues or

failed relationships these are all incredibly

hard

In that world

The word covenant is thrilling it is everything we long for

and

The amazing thing about Christianity is that covenant is what lies at the very heart of the whole thing

Which of course brings us to question two

What is the covenant as Jesus establishes the Lord's supper in Matthew 26 after taking the bread and giving it to the disciples

He then takes a cup of wine and he says drink it all of you for this is my blood of

the Covenant

That means that one of the things the Lord's supper is telling us is that at the heart of

What Jesus's death is all about is the covenant?

It's central to all that he's doing

But what is the covenant?

Well, we can pretty very simply and say that

The covenant is the big thread that ties the whole of the Bible and the whole of Christian theology together

So for example if you were to drive north today, you would probably go over the Queen's Ferry crossing

How is that Queen's Ferry crossing held together and held up over the Firth of fourth?

Well, it's held up by massive cables that span across the whole thing if you turn on a light switch in your house

How does it work?

It's connected to a vast network of wires and cables that make up the national grid and even if you go to school tomorrow or to uni or

Tune in to listen to a lecture what you're gonna learn tomorrow is

Part of a wider curriculum that spans across each stage of your education so much of what we do every day

Is part of a framework which is bigger and which holds everything together and it's exactly the same with the Bible

The Bible is an incredible book full of different people different periods different places different cultures

But the whole thing is held together by one key concept

Covenant

It's the framework that spans the whole of the Bible. It's the thread that runs right through it

And that's reflected very clearly in the titles that are given to the two big sections of the Bible as I'm sure you know

The Bible is divided into two big chunks Old Testament and New Testament and that word Testament simply means covenant

We could just as easily say

Old Covenant and New Covenant the whole Bible is framed around this

concept

So we'll see that if we look back at these five key areas

Christianity is all about the relationship between God and

Humanity the Bible presents that relationship as a covenant relationship

Christianity is grounded on clear solid

Stated truth that's precisely what the Bible is it is setting out the terms the implications and the expectations of a

relationship with God

Christianity is a matter of life and death commitment now. That's not even the slightest

Exaggeration the whole thing is about living or dying. It's about heaven or hell. It's about being saved or being lost

Nothing is more important Christianity is not just a nice thing to think about on a Sunday morning

It's a relationship that's grounded on full commitment

Christianity is all about real life action and

Here in Matthew everything is pointing towards the one great act that Jesus has come to do and the Bible is

Is constantly presenting us with a record of real life stuff

That's happened and that's building up towards the cross the whole Bible is centered on the real life

obedience of Jesus that takes him all the way to the cross and of course as

Christians the reality of what Jesus has done it now transforms how we live each day of our lives as well and the goal of it all

The goal of Christianity is lasting security. In fact, it's eternal

eternal security

for all who trust in Jesus

Covenant is at the heart of what Christianity is all about

So the covenant what is it?

Well, it's referring to God's great plan to bring us back into a relationship with him

But as we said a week ago the Bible divides that into two big chunks

And you've got the old and the new and we kind of need to ask well, how does that all work?

And how does that fit together?

Well, when we're looking at the difference between the old and the new covenant older New Testament

It's important that we make sure we understand it correctly

So

When we say old and new

We mustn't think of old and new in terms of completely

Chucking out the old and bringing in a completely different replacement instead

We need to think of it in terms of the old being a shadow and the new being a fulfillment

So maybe it's helpful to think of it like this that when you say the difference between the old and the new

It's not like old and new stuff where you your shoes are old

You throw them in the bin you go and buy a new pair of shoes and there's a complete total

Replacement one's pink the others are red or whatever and it's not such a radical change as that

It's more in terms of a progression sometimes

It's maybe helpful to think in terms of an old way of doing things and a new way of doing things

So for example when I was a young child I

wobbled when I walked and I I couldn't really speak

Very clearly I'd get words wrong when I said anything as an adult. I don't do that anymore and

I can I can walk fully and I can talk

coherently and

the old way of childhood has passed and

The fullness of adulthood has come. It's not that that the old me was thrown away and completely abandoned

I'm still the same person. It's still me walking. It's still me talking

Probably talk too much now

But the key thing is that the old has been fulfilled and been completed in the new

That's exactly how it works in the Bible

The covenant stretches right across the whole thing

But in the Old Testament the Old Covenant there are shadows

pointing towards the ultimate

fulfillment in

Jesus

Now there's there's four

big Covenant shadows in the Old Testament

That I want to highlight and they're all connected with key individuals. So first of all you've got Noah

and

God comes to Noah and he makes a covenant with him and

Central to that covenant is the creation

It's a shadow of God restoring the universe that has been broken and cursed because of sin and

The sign of that covenant is to do with the creation particularly to do with with rainfall and clouds

It's the sign of the rainbow

That is is the sign of that covenant

Next God makes a covenant with Abraham

Central to that covenant is the family God promises Abraham a son and that that

And his descendants would become a great nation and that's a shadow of

God restoring a divided and hostile

Humanity and bringing them back into one family and the sign

For that is circumcision which of course is connected with the male reproductive organ again pointing to the idea of family and

descendancy

God makes a covenant with Moses

Central to that covenant is the law and the tabernacle or the temple

That's a shadow of restoring humanity to be the image of God

So obeying the laws to become again what God wanted us to be the tabernacle is where God

Dwelled with his people and through the Old Testament. That's a really

Important theme and the great emphasis of that is that you had this building the tabernacle or the temple and in the middle of that building

God dwelt with his people and the sign of that covenant was observing the Sabbath day

Which of course is pointing back to Eden where where humanity did fully bear the image of God and where God did indeed

Dwell with humanity and then fourth we have a covenant with David

Central to that covenant is the kingdom. It's a shadow of God's kingdom

Being established and all the damage of sin being put right

Everything being restored to what God intended it to be and the sign of that is that David's descendants would sit upon

The throne now that diagram there is a bit of a simplification

And there's a lot more to it and there's a lot more overlap between these than maybe that cover that diagram

Perhaps is able to portray but I hope that that's helpful to see that you've got these shadows

Running through the Old Testament that are just building things up bit by bit by bit

But they are all shadows

And that's why when you go back to the Old Testament and you read about them

You see that they're all a combination of success and failure

So you look at Noah

There was the promise that the world would never again be destroyed by a flood and it hasn't been but the world is still cursed

And it's still broken and even Noah himself failed

rather sadly

After Abraham a great family nation was established the nation of Israel

But it was pretty tiny compared with the rest of humanity and even the nation itself just kept on dividing

After Moses there was clear instruction with the Ten Commandments

They had the amazing privilege of God being present there in the tabernacle and then the temple

But they kept on disobeying these commandments and eventually God departed from the temple

And after David there was a line of kings sitting upon the throne

But half of them were terrible and eventually the kingdom was conquered by foreigners

All of these were a combination of success and failure mostly failure because they were all shadows

None of them restored things properly and they were never intended to they were only ever meant to be shadows

And that's why I've drawn them as arrows because they're pointing towards

something and

What they're pointing to is

the new covenant the new testament and

This is what Jesus is talking about

The whole reason he has come is to fulfill

Everything that these shadows pointed towards so for the creation

Jesus has come to defeat Satan to destroy the kingdom of evil to break the curse of sin and to

Restore the whole universe into a new creation and new heavens and a new earth

For the family Jesus has not just come to unite Abraham's biological descendants

He's come to unite the whole of humanity in fact

He's come to make a new humanity Jews Gentiles every family every nation every race every class all

United as brothers and sisters for the law

He's come to fulfill everything that the law required and he's come to teach us what God's law instructs

And he's doing that so that we can learn and understand and grow and fulfill our potential to be everything that God created us to be

For the temple Jesus has not come to to build us a temple. He's come to make us the temple

So instead of God dwelling in the middle of a room in a building in Jerusalem. He's come to dwell in you and

me in our hearts by his spirit and

for the kingdom

Jesus has come as king and as Matthew's been telling us all the way through this gospel the kingdom of God has come and

Right now and forevermore Jesus reigns as king over the whole universe

And he's calling all of us to become and to live out our lives as

citizens of that kingdom

Everything in the Bible is pointing towards this moment when the shadows of the old become a reality in the new and

You can even see that right here in Matthew 26

You see the Passover mentioned in verse 2 that's immediately pointing you back to Moses and telling us that the salvation of Israel

Through the death of a lamb is a shadow of the salvation that Jesus is going to bring through his own blood

You see Jesus being anointed in verse 7 the disciples thought it was a complete waste of money

But Jesus is no this is a precious thing. It's pointing forward to something

You see the plotting of the Pharisees you see Jesus Judas betraying Jesus

The forces of evil are conspiring against him

But all of this is known and understood by Jesus because it's all leading up to the key moment

That's approaching everything in the Old Testament everything in Matthew's gospel is pointing towards this big key

event the great moment of

covenant fulfillment is

coming and

Jesus says

If you want to understand this

You need to listen to a cup of wine

Now that probably sounds really weird, but it actually makes perfect sense

Because that cup of wine is representing the blood of the covenant that means it's telling you something

Incredibly important. It's telling you about covenant relationship

Jesus is round this table with his disciples and he gives the cup to them

He's in a relationship with him and so he says to them drink it all of you

It's not just for Jesus. It's for all of them because they all belong together in a relationship

It's a meal that's being shared

It's pointed to the fact that Jesus has come to restore us into a relationship with God and

into a relationship with one another

The wine is also telling you about covenant truth Jesus uses this wine as a picture of his blood

Blood that's going to be shed as he goes to die in order to save us

That's the key truth of Christianity that Jesus has come to die and rise again so that we can be saved and that salvation is

for many

That's one of the many incredible truths that it's not just for these disciples. It's not for the elite

It's not for the select few. It's a message of salvation proclaimed for the many

This wine is telling you about life and death commitment because the blood that Jesus is talking about

It's not the blood of a lamb or a bull or of anything else. He says this is my blood and

The fulfillment of the covenant promises is literally a matter of life or death for Jesus

Because our salvation can only happen through the death of our Savior and Jesus is saying that's exactly

What I'm going to do

The wine is telling you about real life action

Jesus is saying that that this is my blood which is poured out

poured out wine is speaking of poured out blood and it's telling us that Jesus actually did it

He actually died

His blood actually poured in real life real time. He did it. He had to go to the very limit

in order to be obedient and he did it

He did everything that was needed and

The wine is telling you about

lasting security because the whole reason he did it was for the forgiveness of

sins

That means that for all who trust in Jesus the guilt and damage and

brokenness and horribleness of your sin is

Washed away

And the result is that you are freed and

You are safe

Totally and utterly secure

forever

And that also means that there is so much to celebrate and that's what the wine is telling us to do

It's Jesus is telling us to take the cup because it's the blood of the covenant and that covenant is giving eternal security

To all who trust in him and in a world of disease and disaster and sorrow boy. Is that a reason to celebrate?

But what's maybe even more amazing is that for Jesus he is not quite celebrating yet

Because for him the time to celebrate is not now for him the time to celebrate is still to come

That's why the new covenant is a big arrow because it too is still pointing forward

It's pointing forward to the day when Jesus will come and take you home and bring you into his new creation

That's why he says in the very next verse I won't think of this again until that day when I drink it new with you

In my father's kingdom because for Jesus the moment to celebrate is when you are home with him

forever

That's his goal

That's why he was sent. That's why he came. That's why he died so that he could save you and bring you home

safe and secure forever

So the covenant is

God's great amazing plan of salvation and when Jesus says this is the blood

This is my blood of the covenant. He's telling us about everything. He has come to do

He's come to fulfill the covenant. He's come to complete God's plan of salvation

He's come to bring you back into covenant relationship with God and he did it all

By pouring out his blood on the cross

Last question is what does this mean for you?

Well, I hope that it helps you to see how the Bible fits together. I

Also hope it helps you to see just how big and brilliant God's covenant plan of salvation is and I

Really hope that it makes you love that word covenant because covenant theology is so cool

But you might be looking at all of that and you might be thinking well that all sounds great Thomas

but I can't live up to it and

You can so easily think well covenant relationship sounds great, but my relationship with God is nowhere near what it should be

It's so easy to look at that. I think well, I'm just a failure and I don't match up to all of this is saying

Covenant truth maybe sounds great, but but you might be thinking well, I don't really understand it all and

There's so much. I don't know so much. I need to learn and the truth about my life is that I've just made tons of mistakes

And I keep on making mistakes

Covenant commitment sounds great, but but sometimes I just want to give up and

Sometimes I feel tired or dissolutioned or discouraged sometimes

I feel people have hurt me and I've let other people down and it's so easy to look at ourselves and think well

I don't feel particularly strong or healthy in my faith

Covenant obedience sounds wonderful, but but you might be sitting there thinking yeah

But I'm constantly attacked to sin and if I look back over the past seven days. It's not a story of obedience

It's a story of failing and

There's no way that that that we can say to God look at what I've done and

Covenant security maybe sounds great for those who are doing well in their Christian lives

But for you, maybe you sit here and you're saying well, I just feel like a constant disappointment to God

Maybe you feel like that today. Maybe you feel like that as a Christian

Maybe you feel like that as somebody who wants to be a Christian

You could say all that theology sounds great Thomas

But it sounds like it's for the proper Christians

It doesn't really apply to me

Well if you feel like that today, I can totally understand why you do

But I'm also delighted to tell you that you're actually totally wrong

Because who is all of this for

Who is the blood of the covenant poured out for who are the kind of people who get to share in all of this

Is it the elite the strong the wise the successful the ones who are spiritually on fire?

Well Matthew 26 tells us who it's for

All of this is for those who trust in Jesus and

Here in Matthew 26 that means it's the people who are sitting around the table with him

But what happens to them next

After this moment do the disciples go out and

Leave this room in triumph and overcome every obstacle that they face as as these models of of faith and wisdom and courage

No, that's not what happens at all

These disciples go out from this room and they totally stuff up

Jesus tells them that they're gonna fall away and scatter and if you read a few verses further on you see that they fall asleep

They run away and despite what Peter says he does in fact deny Jesus

But Jesus says to them you might fall away, but I will go

before you and

This is because all these promises and blessings of the covenant are never

Ever dependent on us

It is not about what you do. It's not about you matching up. It's not about us doing anything

Because Jesus does it all and

So the covenant is not about our truth or our commitment or our obedience or our efforts to restore a relationship

With God it is all about him

It's his truth

It's his commitment. It's his obedience

He is the one who makes us secure and far more than you will probably ever realize

He is the one who wants to be in a relationship with you

that lasts forever and

It does not matter

how

useless or broken you think you are

Because all the incredible theology of the covenant is for weak

broken people

like Peter and the disciples and you and me

And this brings us last of all to the sixth thing that I wanted to say about covenant

if you look at that diagram again, you'll see that I've drawn

covenant as arrows and

That's partly because they keep pointing forward the arrows in the Old Testament are pointing forward to the new and

Even the new covenant is pointing towards the new creation when Jesus returns

But that's not the only reason why I've drawn them as arrows because the other reason why I've drawn them as arrows is because the covenant is

Being driven along by something

So as you go see this thread running through the Bible there is a tidal wave of strength

Pushing these arrows forward. There's a relentless momentum that drives Jesus through Matthew 26

Into Matthew 27 and all the way to the cross these arrows are being driven along

Right through the pages of scripture and across the generations of history

But you need to ask what is it that's driving these arrows forward?

Well the driving force behind all of these is

Covenant love

Unstoppable

unrelenting

unending

Unbreakable covenant love

and if you look back over all these

Examples in the Bible you'll see that every person in these arrows messed up Noah Abraham Moses David Peter James John

All the disciples they all failed again and again and so do we we keep on failing but the arrows

never stop

And that is because God's covenant love never fails

And when Jesus holds up that cup of wine he is saying I will never ever give up on you

And that is why covenant theology is the coolest thing ever because it's telling you that

threaded through the whole Bible and spanning across the whole of history is the covenant plan of God

Which is driven forward by the fact that he loves you and he will never ever give up on you

And all we have to do is trust him

That's all we have to do

Because that's the terms of his covenant

He's the one who's put all these arrows in place. He's the one who is blasting it all up

He's the one who is blasting it all along. He is the one who has done absolutely everything that's needed and all he's

saying to you is to just trust me

Follow me I

Will hold you and I will never let you go I

Really hope

That

every one of us here and

Every one of us at home. I

Hope that we can all hear

What this cup of wine is saying?

Amen, let's pray