Made To Be Broken
The Journey: Strolling through the Scripture with the Savior • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 viewsThe New Covenant brings Moral Desire, genuine relationships, final atonement
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Series: The Journey: Strolling through the Scripture with the Savior
Series: The Journey: Strolling through the Scripture with the Savior
Title: Made To Be Broken
Title: Made To Be Broken
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One website asked readers, What was the most heartbreaking promise someone in your life has broken? Alison answered:
About a year and a half ago my alcoholic father started drinking again after 10 years of sobriety. This hit me like a semi-truck. I broke down and was completely hysterical. I couldn't believe that my amazing father, the man I love more than anyone, had picked up the bottle again. I was heartbroken. We, as in me and his fiancé, got him to stop drinking. I made him promise me that he'd stop. I made him cross his heart. He promised and crossed his heart and I told him if he did, I wouldn't be around anymore. This seemed to work. Or so we thought. It wasn't until three months ago did I realize that he had broken that promise. He was arrested for public intoxication and jailed for a month. I couldn't believe him. I was so angry and hurt. I kept thinking that he just didn't love me enough to try. I had the hardest time forgiving him but I wanted more than anything to just tell him it was okay but I couldn't. That anger was still there even after he got out and I had to really find it in myself to give him one more chance. After he was arrested I didn't talk to him at all. I had frequent phone calls with his fiancé who talked to him everyday. She kept telling me that he was sorry and he was ashamed but I knew she was in the same boat as me. I was too upset to even feel sorry for him. After he got out, he was put into a treatment facility where he is today. He gets out in just over 2 weeks. I'm hopeful he will keep his promise once again and stay sober. I don't know if I'll be able to forgive him again if he breaks it. But he's my father and I love him more than anything.
No doubt, Alison’s pain is very real. You can hear it in her words, but she is facing a very painful truth that all of us come to realize: As human beings, we have a hard time keeping our promises. In fact, the truth is that no matter how much pride you take in keeping your word, often, the promises we make become the promises we break.
BACKGROUND
And that truth delivers consequences far beyond personal disappointment. It also creates great problems in our relationship with God. I say that because the God of the Bible is a God of promises. In theology they are called “covenants.” In those covenants, God makes us promises of His blessing and help but those promises carry with them a required response from us to His goodness. In his definitive work on systematic theology, Wayne Grudem defines Biblical covenants like this: A covenant is an unchangeable, divinely imposed legal agreement between God and man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship. Biblical covenants are also authenticated by initial and continuing signs that show that a person is in this relationship with God.
In Scripture, three covenants are revealed. The covenant of WORKS, the covenant of redemption and the covenant of grace. The first covenant in Scripture is found in Genesis chapter 2. God gives Adam the job of tending and keeping the Garden; That is what Adam is to do: He is to work to take care of God’s creation. God’s blessing is to place within the garden the tree of life so that Adam can live forever in his perfect paradise. But under this covenant, Adam falls and plunges the whole human race into sin. If you didn’t know God’s sovereignty, you’d be tempted to think that God had failed: The covenant of works was violated and man was now unfit for paradise.
But God was not out done. You see, being sovereign, He knew what was going to happen and, in eternity past, God had entered into another covenant. It was not the covenant of works; it was the covenant of REDEMPTION. tells us that God, the Son—the One Who took on flesh and lived with us, was actually the “LAMB SLAIN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.” That’s a mouthful!! It tells us that in eternity past, before Adam every breathed a breath, God the Father had determined to send His Son to redeem a people for His own possession and that He—God the Father—would accept His Son’s perfect sacrifice for sin.
That phrase also tells us that the Son agreed to come and live under the law. It tells us that this Son would humble Himself and become obedient, even to death on a cross. That phrase also tells us that God, the Holy Spirit agreed to empower the Son to carry out His mission on earth and then to apply the benefits of His sacrifice to His people after Christ returned to heaven.
And God would carry out this great Redemption through one last covenant: The Covenant of GRACE. Now, it is tempting to think that this Covenant of Grace applies to the New Testament, while the “Covenant of Law” applies to the Old Testament. There is a certain amount of truth to that, but the truth is that, even under the Law, the Jewish people were actually experiencing Grace.
Paul said of Abraham that Abraham was not justified by his works, but by faith (and through grace). Even the fact that God selected the Israelites to be His chosen people was not because they were intrinsically better than anyone else, but because God sovereignly chose to favor them. But here is a truth that is often misunderstood: Even in the covenant of grace, there were requirements placed on man. In the Old Testament, the covenant of Grace was connected to keeping the law. The initial sign of this grace covenant in the OT was circumcision; the continuing sign of this covenant was the Sabbath and the other ceremonial festivals. The people were to keep the law, yes, but, as we showed a couple of weeks ago, keeping the law was simply the response of the people to the redemption that they had already experienced. Do you remember what said? It said: (NKJV And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Based on God’s deliverance of them, the Jews were to respond by obeying God’s law.
As Jesus said when He came, they were to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength (the essence of the first four commandments) and they were to love their neighbors as themselves (the essence of the last six commandments). That was their part; that was their covenant obligation to God.
So how well did they live up those obligations? Well, not too well, I’d say. Before Moses could even get down the Mountain with the law, the people had broken the law. What follows are forty years of wondering in the desert as Moses dies and is succeeded by Joshua as the leader. Joshua leads the Israelites into the Promised Land and they have success.
In our text for today, Joshua has reached the end of his ministry. He knows just how fickle the Israelites are, so he stands to call them to renew their covenant with God. Read with me in :
And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to what I did among them. Afterward I brought you out. ‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.
Joshua 24:2-6
I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’ “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:13
2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods. 3 Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. 4 To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. 5 Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to what I did among them. Afterward I brought you out. 6 ‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea . . .
13 I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’ 14 “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua challenges the people to recommit and they make a promise.
So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”
Joshua
But Joshua knows these people. They are like an alcoholic at an AA meeting. They talk a game they aren’t able to play. Joshua knows this and tells them as much in the very next verse. He says:
16 So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; 17 for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. 18 And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”[1]
Joshua 24:
But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
But Joshua knows these people. They are like an alcoholic at an AA meeting. They talk a game they aren’t able to play. Joshua knows this and tells them as much in the very next verse. He says: “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.” And unfortunately, Joshua has them pegged about right. Just two chapters later in we read that, after the death of Joshua:
But Joshua knows these people. They are like an alcoholic at an AA meeting. They talk a game they aren’t able to play. Joshua knows this and tells them as much in the very next verse. He says:
But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.”
And unfortunately, Joshua has them pegged about right. Just two chapters later in we read that, after the death of Joshua:
Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.
Judges 2:
“You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.” And unfortunately, Joshua has them pegged about right. Just two chapters later in we read that, after the death of Joshua:
11 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; 12 and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.
You see, even under the covenant of grace where God had promised to forgive their sins, the people could not walk in obedience to God. They would try:
· David the king would be a man after God’s own heart, but he would commit adultery and murder.
· Solomon would be the wisest man who ever lived but he’d be a fool around idolatrous women.
· King after king would take the blessing of God and turn it into an opportunity for idolatry.
· God would send prophets to call people back to repentance and obedience, but one by one, their message would be rejected until, finally, the only remedy would be great suffering, death, and captivity.
Yet there was still hope for Israel. Many of the prophets spoke of it, But there would be one prophet who would speak of Israel’s hope in different terms. His name was Jeremiah. In he says:
‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: ‘In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David A Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, And Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS’
14 ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: 15 ‘In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David A Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, And Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS’
Jeremiah speaks of a (capital!) Branch of David. When he speaks like this, he is speaking of Jesus Who would come as the Messiah. He would bring with Him the ABILITY to live out the moral requirement of this covenant of Grace. And Jeremiah tells us how the Messiah is going to do this. He says in :
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
You see, the old covenant of grace which sought obedience through imposing the rule of the law had failed. Something new was needed! And what was this new thing that was needed? It was a NEW covenant of grace!
31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
You see, the old covenant of grace which sought obedience through imposing the rule of the law had failed. Something new was needed! And what was this new thing that was needed? It was a NEW covenant of grace!
TRANS
And I know some of you are thinking right now: “Come on, Rusty, this isn’t Seminary! Do I look like I want to talk about the ‘three covenants’ this morning? I need something practical—something that will help me survive in this dirty, nasty world. Why do I need to know about the “New Covenant?”
Well, you and I need to know about this new covenant because it brings some awesome things into our lives. You see, the New covenant doesn’t just bring moral OBLIGATION, it brings
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The New Covenant bring moral desire.
The New Covenant bring moral desire.
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Before the law had been written on a tablet of stone. It was simple letters on a stone tablet cut into rock. But now the law has a new LOCATION. Look at 31:33:
33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, AND I WILL WRITE IT ON THEIR HEARTS.
What does that actually mean? Well, it means that, under the new covenant, we will not just be TOLD what to do, we will actually be given the DESIRE to do it.
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
What does that actually mean? Well, it means that, under the new covenant, we will not just be TOLD what to do, we will actually be given the DESIRE to do it.
ILL
PIC - ANGRY 3 YEAR-OLD
One of my fondest stories of my niece was when, as a young child just learning to talk, she was told by her mom to do something. With her own unique defiance, she looked at her mom, stomped her foot and said: “I can’t WANT to.” That may have been bad English, but it was GREAT theology. Apart from Christ, we can’t WANT to. But, under the new covenant, we receive moral desire.
TRANS
And just why do we now want to do what we could not do before? It’s because of the second benefit of this new covenant. Now does the new covenant bring moral desire, the new covenant also brings:
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The New Covenant brings genuine relationship.
The New Covenant brings genuine relationship.
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Under the new covenant, there is a new relationship. Look at the last part of v 33: It says,
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Now if you are a Bible student, you may be thinking, “Well, that’s not really new, Rusty. The Israelites were called the people of God already.” Well, yes, they were the people of God, but even as His people, they had to keep their distance. When they arrive at Mt. Sinai with Moses where the first covenant is made, look at what the Bible says in :
And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Lord, and many of them perish. Also let the priests who come near the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.” But Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.’ ” Then the Lord said to him, “Away! Get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest He break out against them.” So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.
In the old covenant of Grace, the people could not come close to the Lord or they risked death. But under the New Covenant of grace, instead of distance and dread, there is anticipation and reality. In the NLT, tells us that under the new covenant we:
21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Lord, and many of them perish. 22 Also let the priests who come near the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.” 23 But Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.’ ” 24 Then the Lord said to him, “Away! Get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest He break out against them.” 25 So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.
For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)
In the old covenant of Grace, the people could not come close to the Lord or they risked death. But under the New Covenant of grace, instead of distance and dread, there is anticipation and reality. In the NLT, tells us that under the new covenant we:
For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest,
That was how it was then, but look how it is now: v22
You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. 19 For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. 20 They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21 Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.”
That was how it was then, but look how it is now: v22
Heb 12:
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. 23 You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. 24 You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.
This new covenant brings this new relationship with God. And that new relationship is not some ritualistic religion, it has great passion and desire. says 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord.[1] There isn’t some dreaded, imposed relationship like there was in the old covenant; now there is a relationship that comes from the heart.
O look! I firmly believe that some Christians under the new covenant are still living like Israelites under the old covenant. Relating to God is just some religious ritual they go through. That is not new covenant behavior. Under the new covenant there is moral desire and genuine relationship and all of that is possible because under the new covenant, there is also
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The New Covenant brings final atonement.
The New Covenant brings final atonement.
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No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Now, if you think about that statement with the right view of God, you will immediately see a problem. If God is truly just—and He is!—He cannot simply decide to remember sin no more. If He allowed even one sin to go unpunished, His justice would fail and He would cease to be God. So, here’s the problem: God must PUNISH sin in order to FORGIVE sin.
V34 ends: For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. Now, if you think about that statement with the right view of God, you will immediately see a problem. If God is truly just—and He is!—He cannot simply decide to remember sin no more. If He allowed even one sin to go unpunished, His justice would fail and He would cease to be God. So, here’s the problem: God must PUNISH sin in order to FORGIVE sin.
Now some might answer, “Well, it was possible for sin to be punished under the Old Covenant. That’s why they slaughtered so many bulls and lambs at the temple.” But makes this statement:
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
In other words, all of that slaughter in the Old Testament never paid the penalty for a single sin. It simply looked forward to the ultimate sacrifice that would pay that penalty.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. In other words, all of that slaughter in the Old Testament never paid the penalty for a single sin. It simply looked forward to the ultimate sacrifice that would pay that penalty.
(NLT) says it like this:
Heb
how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;
,
And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
4 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. 15 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.
That says so much!! Jesus went to the brutal cross, under the New Covenant, not to cover sin, but to pay for it!
· He was beaten with the Cat of nine tails that took the flesh from his back and left Him a quivering bleeding mess;
· He was nailed to a cross through his wrists and His feet that set his nerves aflame and caused Him excruciating agony as his weight was borne on the very spikes that impaled Him.
· He suffered the agony of gradual suffocation as He gradually became to weak to lift Himself up to gather enough oxygen to survive. If you’ve never seen someone die that way, you have no idea the agony involved. It was brutal.
But all of that wasn’t His greatest suffering. His greatest suffering was for our sin. In one afternoon, the eternal God-man suffered your eternal hell in those six hours of agony. He paid the price so that God’s law could move from stone to flesh. It would now be written in our hearts. We would now receive not just the rules to obey, but the power to obey them. We would receive not just a ritual to follow, but a relationship to enjoy. We would receive not just a promise of forgiveness, but a full righteousness that would make us just as if we had never sinned.
Maybe that’s why on that final night before the cross when Jesus was celebrating Passover with His disciples, He said, This is the NEW COVENANT in my blood. Drink this and remember ME.
And that’s what we are going to do today. We are going to celebrate the NEW COVENANT of grace.
DO COMMUNION
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