Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: The Word-phrase “Post Haste”

Some of you know that I sometimes use the word-phrase “post haste”.

The word-phrase “post haste” came into usage during the reign of Henry VIII of England.

Relays of horses were stationed in strategic towns in England.

When a letter was stamped “posthaste,” it meant “ride for thy life!”

If a carrier was caught delaying on route, he was hanged!

Letters of the sixteenth century often bore a drawing of a letter carrier suspended from the gallows.

Beneath the drawing occurred the words: “Haste!

Post haste!

Haste for thy life!”

What a friendly reminder of the importance of those messages!

This Easter season ought to stamp posthaste on our hearts with the most important message that we have the privilege to carry.

And while our lives may not be at stake, somebody else’s eternal life, is which is then even more weighty than being hanged.

Today is Palm Sunday!

So let’s mount our horses and ride with the Good News of Eternal Hope being sent by our King, made possible by the new covenant!

Transition:

This morning, I want to talk about Thursday.

This Thursday, you might hear or you could say: “Happy Maundy Thursday!”

The word “Maundy [mŏnˊdē]” means “new commandment” and this is how this coming Thursday gets its title.

It is a Latin translation of “mandatum novum” which literally translates to “new commandment”.

Maundy Thursday is, then, all about this “new commandment” greatly attributed to Jesus’ words in John 13:

This new commandment is seen throughout Christendom as being ratified on Maundy Thursday.

Today, we will look, therefore, at the new covenant being sealed the Thursday of the Holy Week - with the relationship that YHWH has established between Himself and us right on the night before Jesus gave His life.

This is of huge theological importance!

Last week we were in Luke 19 and so this morning let us return to Luke and go to chapter 22 starting in verse 7:

Scripture Reading:

A lot can be gleaned theologically in this one passage alone, but for this morning I want to focus on the exact moment that Christ instituted this new covenant.

Transition:

Today we symbolically remember the cost of the covenant as we come to the table of our Lord.

I. Passover Me the Bread

It is important to understand what exactly is a covenant and how does it apply when God is involved.

in short a covenant is much like today’s business deals you have two parties that have something to gain from making the Covenant and both parties agree on consequences for either side not living up to the obligations of the Covenant.

But unlike business deals today, each side swore that if they did not live up to the Covenant, they would be deserving of being chopped up into bits and pieces.

However, something was quite unique with God’s first Covenant to man.

This first of a kind business deal was between Abraham and YHWH.

Other than it involving the Creator of the universe, the other most unique thing about this deal is the obligation to fulfill the deal was only one-sided.

In other words, Abraham got the best deal of all time: he had zero obligation and responsibility to the conditions of the Covenant!

other than being the very first Covenant between God and man it was also the very first Covenant that was unconditional— but the unconditional element is not always characteristic of a covenant between God and man.

For instance, fast forward history a bit, and you’ll read about the Covenant between Moses and YHWH—which was very conditional on the obedience of the nation of Israel.

You know this, but what I really want to show you is HOW this covenant was ratified: in Exodus 24:7-8 =

The sprinkling of the blood ratified the relationship.

It approved and sanctioned it formally—just as any agreement made between any government officials would need to be ratified by formal membership.

And now, as a remembrance, it is not the outer act of sprinkling that ratifies this new covenant but by taking it inside of us— for example, the partaking of the elements of communion.

This really might convey that this is a matter of the inner man, of the heart - with YHWH.

Part of this condition of obedience to the mosaic covenant is what ties into this morning’s passage.

This leads us to the Passover.

The first Passover was the moment when God “passed over” the Israelite homes in Egypt during the 10th plague.

For those Israelites, who were obedient to God by listening to the instruction of sacrificing a lamb and putting the blood on the doorpost, this one act of obedience saved them from the wrath of God—which was sure death for the firstborn in the Egyptian households.

I trust you’re familiar with the rest of that story, but I’ll point out that the Israelites were also commanded to remember this miracle by celebrating the Passover annually with a feast which eventually developed into a week long party.

Jesus uses his last night alive in the natural flesh within the context of this Passover remembrance to convey an intense message that He is the blood sacrifice, just like the lambs’ blood on the doorpost, that will keep them safe and deliver them from the wrath of God.

In 1 Corinthians 5:7, the apostle Paul explicitly calls Jesus as the sacrificed Passover animal.

So then, our only act obedience is to believe and accept this sacrificial lamb.

Once again, we now have an unconditional covenant that we are free to accept the terms.

“What Terms?” you ask! Great Question!

Jesus answers that!

John 6:53-54

To eat Jesus’ body means to believe and to follow Christ.

So we must eat His bread!

Transition:

But that is not all!

Jesus also says eating is not quite all to it so:

II.

Passover Me the Cup

We together must also drink from the cup.

Jesus also says after eating:

Why does He mention BOTH eating and drinking?

What does our drinking of the cup mean to our relationship with God? Great questions this morning!!!

Jesus tells us here that the cup is the covenant.

Jesus is not talking about the cup itself, but what the cup contains.

Elsewhere, the Bible uses the word “cup” figuratively which makes for an interesting study.

But for now, we’ll be satisfied that the contents of the cup are extremely important mainly because it is YHWH who symbolically serves the drink to represent His sealing of the covenant—”Really? is it really YHWH?” Yes! Look in the O.T.:

Psalm 16:5 -

It is God the Father who decides what is in the cup of our life - what we will experience or take in and we will drink from the cup which God sets before us.

This also includes the cup of God’s wrath:

Psalm 75:8 -

and again in the N.T.:

However, in this cup for Christ— it contained the suffering and death God had set before Him.

Look back at our passage and go down to verse 42 where Jesus says:

And then later in John’s account: John 18:11 -

BUT there is also the cup of salvation!

Psalm 116:13 -

And so this morning Jesus Christ invites us to drink of the cup of His blood

BUT what does it contain?

What does it represent?

It contains the blood of the sacrifice by which He enabled us to be in a restored, pure relationship with YHWH.

It contains the means by which we again are seen as friends rather than enemies of YHWH.

Hebrews 9:22 says

Christ had to shed His blood or there would be no relationship between us and God.

With no blood, we would still be enemies of God.

This cup contains the Father reminding us that He had His Son die on the cross and that, now because of HIm, we have a restored relationship.

When we drink of this cup, we declare this new covenant of YHWH as we remember the cost.

How appropriate with Good Friday approaching!

So What?

Today we again renew our response, our covenant response.

We again remember our commitment ourselves to God.

And unless we do, we have no relationship with God.

Conclusion:

Unless we drink of this cup and eat of this bread, we will be forced to drink of the cup of God’s wrath—You know I am not talking about salvation through partaking in communion.

But what I am saying is unless we believe in Christ and trust in Him, we have no part in His Father, nor in His Kingdom.

So the cup is before us this morning along with organic unleavened bread.