The Blood of the Covenant
The Blood of the Covenant
9/28/2002 and 9/29/2002
1 Corinthians 11-NASB
25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
-We are receiving communion today and at the same time I am beginning a series on “COVENANT”.
-God blesses us through covenant.
-In the western world we often miss the degree to which God is committed to us because we don’t understand the whole idea of covenant.
-We have a NEW COVENANT AND AN OLD COVENANT.
-If anything is the theme of the Bible it is the story of covenant.
-Your salvation and your future is as secure as the covenant.
-Your covenant is based on the blood of Jesus.
-This isn’t some fickle agreement-we have a covenant with God.
-Before I really get into the whole idea of covenant…I want to focus on the BLOOD. The blood of the covenant.
Background Scriptures:
Leviticus 17 – NASB
11 ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’
Exodus 12 - NASB
21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb.
22 “You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.
23 “For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you.
-Blood represents a life.
-When man sinned, it cost his life. Another life had to die to give life back.
Romans 6 – NASB
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 3
25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, a through faith in his blood……
-When a Hebrew child went to the temple or the tabernacle he or she saw the effect of mankinds’ sin.
-They saw those animals sacrificed for them and they realized the impact of sin.
-Sin kills. Sin has to be atoned for. It can’t just be written off.
Hebrews 9
6 When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. 7 But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. 9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
-They saw animals die and it was more like a slaughterhouse.
-Even then, the blood of animals couldn’t clear the consciences or remove sin…it just covered it for another year.
THEN CAME JESUS
-Remember in Genesis when Cain killed Abel.
Genesis 4 – TLB
10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen—your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!
-What was Abel’s blood saying or crying out?
GUILTY
MURDERER
INJUSTICE
Hebrew 12
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks….
WHAT IS HIS BLOOD SPEAKING ABOUT YOU?
WHAT IS JESUS SPEAKING ABOUT YOU THROUGH HIS BLOOD?
1. HE SAYS: YOU’RE NOT GUILTY
Romans 5 –TLB
“And since by his blood he did all this for us while we were still sinners, how much more will he do for us now that he has declared us not guilty?....”
-The blood speaks. It says, THIS SEALS A COVENANT WITH GOD. ALL WHO RECEIVE AND PARTAKE HAVE BEEN DECLARED NOT GUILTY.
-I can remember being in a line to pay and someone pulling me out and bringing me to the front. It wasn’t fair but he had the authority to do it.
-Jesus pulled you out of line and said: NOT GUILTY.
-It isn’t fair but He gave His life for you.
-The penalty is paid by someone else.
2. JESUS’ BLOOD SAYS: YOU ARE FREE FROM SLAVERY
Ephesians 1
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
-Redemption is a term that the people of this era understood.
-They understood the slave markets. Slavery was a big business in this era.
-Redemption means to free from slavery. It comes for the word for “ransom”.
-Jesus’ blood was given in exchange for you.
-When you paid someone’s ransom you redeemed them, you set them free.
Remember Jesus came to:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,(Isaiah 61-NIV)
-I always think of Rambo. He went to get the POW’s.
-If you are a slave to sin or anything…you are free.
-Jesus set the captives free.
3. JESUS’ BLOOD SAYS: YOU HAVE PEACE
Colossians 1
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of a your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
-We were enemies in our minds with God but His blood says, YOU HAVE PEACE.
-The Kingdom of God is righteousness, PEACE, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
-The blood can bring emotional healing because it releases you from the burden and penalty of sin.
Hebrews 9
12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, b so that we may serve the living God!
-Your soul can be restored because Jesus was rejected for you.
-His blood gives you a pure, clean conscience.
-You can lay your head on the pillow at night and sleep in peace.
4. JESUS’ BLOOD SAYS: YOU HAVE A FUTURE
Hebrews 13 - TLB
20–21 And now, may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, all that is pleasing to him. Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep by an everlasting covenant, signed with his blood.
-The blood of Jesus is the red carpet into the very presence of God.
-It is the door into your future.
-There is no other way to the real you.
-The sacrifice of Jesus and the shedding of His blood and the pouring out of His blood in the key to your future.
-It sealed an ETERNAL COVENANT.
5. JESUS’ BLOOD SAYS: VICTORY IS CERTAIN, YOU’RE A WINNER
Revelation 12
11 But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,…
-We win, we conquer. PERIOD.
Revelation 12
10 Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens,
“It has happened at last—the salvation and power and kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ! For the Accuser has been thrown down to earth—the one who accused our brothers and sisters* before our God day and night. 11 And they have defeated him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of their testimony. And they were not afraid to die.
-To honestly put this in context, these people gave their lives for the gospel. They are victors. So are we.
-The point is that victory isn’t always measured the way we think.
-The key to and reason for our victory is Jesus’ blood.
-Victory didn’t come cheap. The covenant didn’t come cheap.
-It is as powerful as the blood of Jesus.
-Blood cleanses and brings new life.