The Blood of the Covenant
Matthew 26:26-30
Harry Stoliker
October 28, 2007 EBC
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Although most of us have taken communion or been here at the Lord’s table many, many
times in our Christian lives, it still remains a precious experience
for us. How can something so simple as taking a little piece of bread and
a sip of juice touch us so deeply? Let me give you a few reasons why
this ordinance or command of Jesus to do this is always a rich spiritual experience
for believers who are walking close with their Lord and Savior.
1. Because we have been saved from being a Judas! Matt. 26:25 “Then
Judas, the one who would betray him, said, Surely not I, Rabbi? Jesus answered,
“Yes, it is you.” The last Passover Supper that Jesus shared with his disciples
was marred by the presence of the traitor. It was a very solemn and difficult
time in that room when Jesus said in V.21 “I tell you the truth, one of
you will betray me.” I’m sure a stunned silence came over them
all; it must have been a very nervous silence as they all felt their own
weakness of faith at some level. V.22 tells us that “they were all very sad
and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely not I, Lord?”
The Gk. word for sad, could be translated “utterly dismayed”
or “horrified.” The disciples had become a close-knit group
over the years of following Jesus. Here they were eating a meal together,
the Passover, which was a symbol of fellowship and close association. They
each dipped their bread into a common dish to scoop up the sauce and herbs,
as they thought about the great deliverance of God that occurred at the first
Passover.
Now, to think, that a traitor was right there in the room with them, one
of them! It was chilling and disheartening. Ps. 41:9 was being fulfilled
at the very moment they were in! “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared
my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” Judas plays the part by saying
“Surely not I, Rabbi!” Notice he says “Rabbi” where the others said
“Lord” – a title that in the gospel of Matthew is only used by people outside
the disciples, never the disciples themselves. How foreboding! Judas is insincere
in his question. He is just trying not to be detected by the other disciples
as the traitor. Maybe he thinks he can fool Jesus?
Jesus most likely replies to Judas quietly, so that the other didn’t hear
him say, “Yes, it is you.” The other gospels tell us that the disciples didn’t
know exactly why Judas shortly left the room. Had they known they
might well have tried to stop him.
We are blessed this morning because the Spirit of Jesus lives inside us and
keeps us from being a Judas! Oh, yes, I know at times we don’t live the way
we should and are ashamed of openly identifying with Jesus. We should repent of those
sins, yet, a true Christian will never, never share the same fate
as a traitorous Judas. V.24 says: “The Son of Man goes as it is written of
him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been
better for that man if he had not been born." So, when you as a true
believer take this bread and juice, thank God for your election, thank God that
you are a true son of God by grace in Christ and not a Judas.
2. The second reason that the Lord’s Table can be a rich spiritual experience
for the true believer every time he partakes of it is that it points to the forgiveness
of our sins. V.28 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured
out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Our experience at the Table
is as rich spiritually as our grasp on how much we have been forgiven by
God! Ps. 130:3 “If you, O LORD, kept a record so sins, O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.” How large would
the list be of all the sins you have ever committed against our Holy,
Majestic God??? If God kept a record of
every single violation of His Will and heart that you have committed and
brought it out against you at judgment day, where do you think you would spend
eternity?
Forgiveness…what a precious word! It means pardon, freedom, deliverance, remission-
it means God will not punish you the way you completely deserve to be
punished. I can’t merit his forgiveness, or earn it, or work for it,
or really even expect it based on anything I do myself.
Ps. 103:10 “God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according
to our iniquities.”
He treats us in Christ and because of Christ far, far better than our sins
deserve!!! So, every time you take this bread and juice you recall just how graciously
you have been treated by a Holy and Sovereign God that you gravely offended by your
insubordination and foul disobedience to His will! Yet, in kindness he has moved
you to repentance so that you might be forgiven and continually blessed
by His goodness!
When Paul was rebuking the Jews in Rom. 2:4 he said to them “Or do
you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing
that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” God gives kindness which
leads to repentance which leads to forgiveness which leads to endless blessings
which leads to an intensification of our love for Him! Do you remember the words
of Jesus which he spoke about the sinful woman in Lk. 7? She brought an alabaster
flask of ointment and poured it on Jesus’ feet, along with her own tears, wiping
his feet with her hair. All this to show her love for him. Simon the
Pharisees ridiculed Jesus for not knowing what kind of woman she was. Jesus
tells him a parable about a man who had an absolutely unpayably large debt
that was forgiven him. He concludes with V.47 “Therefore, I tell you, her
many sins have been forgiven – for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven
little loves little.” He was saying to Simon: “Simon, if you only
realized how much sin you need to be forgiven of! You don’t love me much because
you don’t realize the enormous sin you have which you haven’t brought to me for
forgiveness. She loves me much because she realizes how much sin she has been forgiven
of.”
Let me ask you this morning, do you have any deep sense at all of
how much sin Jesus has forgiven you of? Do you have any deep sense at all
of what it cost our Lord Jesus to forgiven you of that amount of sin? It
didn’t just get swept under the cosmic carpet! It all had to be punished by
the righteous wrath of God the Father. Jesus took all that
punishment so you could experience all that forgiveness for all
that sin! This kind of realization is what makes the Table so spiritually rich to
the humble soul!
3. The third reason that the Lord’s Table can and ought to be a rich spiritual
experience for the true believer every time he takes it is because our God is
a covenantal God! V.28 “This is the blood of the covenant, which is poured
out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” What is a covenant?
It is God’s own, sovereign, uninfluenced, un-coerced, decision to enter into
a loving, saving relationship with the “many.” Who are the
“many”? They are the people whom God elects to save. God has a right to save
whom he will save. He has that right because He is God! Romans 9:14-15
“What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!
For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I have compassion."
What does it mean to be in covenant with God? It means you are secure in His
redeeming love. It means He will never, ever change His loving attitude
toward you? It means when He looks at you, He decides to see His perfect Son,
Jesus Christ. It means you have a future spiritual inheritance that includes
eternal life in His presence and eternal joy at His right hand. Nothing
will ever change or corrupt that inheritance. God never cancels his covenant
with us. He never changes the basis for our position in the covenant. He
never takes back the gift of forgiveness and eternal life that He decided to grant
to you!
How do we know that? V.29 “I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit
of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s
kingdom.” What in this verse gives us great assurance that God will
keep his covenant of redemption with us?
The two words: with you! We will most assuredly eat and drink
with Jesus in the eternal Kingdom as He promised us! Now that is why every
Lord’s Table is spiritually rich to us who believe!
If you are eager to take communion this morning and rejoice in your love for
Christ, it proves that you are no Judas, that you are forgiven of an eternity
of sin and condemnation, and that you are in an everlasting covenant of redemption
with God Almighty because of the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.
If you cannot honestly say that you believe that Jesus Christ died on the
Cross 2,000 years ago for your personal sins against God, you are not ready
to take this bread and juice, and I want you to just kindly and quietly pass it by.
But even better than that, I want you to make this a special day.
I want you to cry out to Jesus and ask Him to become your Savior from sin
and hell. Tell Him you repent of all the evil thoughts and actions
that have marked your entire life. Ask Him to have mercy on your soul and
give you the gift of eternal life,
not because you deserve it in any way at all, but just because you believe
in Jesus Christ as your only righteous sacrifice for sin. I promise you,
He will hear and answer such a prayer.
Let’s pray together,
H.