We'll be in Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. We'll begin in verse 19. And He, the Lord Jesus Christ,
took bread and gave thanks and break it. And gave unto them,
His apostles, saying, This is My body which is given for you
this do in remembrance of me." The Lord Jesus Christ would have
us remember His body, which was broken as a sacrifice for His
people, and He would have us remember it by the breaking of
bread. He did so to further confirm
that He's the end of all the sacrifices which were called
for under the law, under the Old Testament. And those offerings
were called the bread of our God. That's what they were called. Leviticus 21, verse 6. They shall be holy unto their
God. He's speaking about the high priest. They shall be holy
unto their God and not profane the name of their God. For the
offerings of the Lord made by fire, the bread of their God,
they do offer. He called those offerings bread,
His bread. And He says, Thou shalt sanctify
him therefore, for he offereth the bread of thy God. He shall
be holy unto thee, for I the Lord which sanctify you am holy. It's called bread. Those offerings
were called bread because they typified the life, the bread,
Christ the Lord. His body was made by God to be
offered to God to put away the sin of His people. And He's the
believer's only offering, and He's our bread, He's our life.
We saw that last time when we observed the Lord's table. If
you want to go back and look at it again, you can look at
the message titled, The Bread of Life. So He says here, He took bread,
and gave thanks and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This
is my body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of
me. And then verse 20, it says, likewise also the cup after supper,
saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for
you. Matthew says, shed for many for
the remission of sins. This cup had wine in it, typifying
his blood. The reason being, as you'll find
in the law, Leviticus 17, 11, the life of the flesh is in the
blood. And I have given it to you upon
the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the
blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." It's the blood.
The life. The Lord Jesus Christ shed His
blood for the remission of sins. To put away sins so that they
never be brought up again. To make atonement for the souls
of many. To bring them into oneness with
God the Father. And He told His disciples, this
is my blood which is shed for you personally. Was His blood
shed for you? Were your sins so deep that you
could never approach God without His blood? Was your heart so full of hate
toward God and for God that you could never know Him but for
Him revealing Himself in you through His blood? That's the
case with those for whom His blood was shed. That's how badly
they needed His blood. But the Lord made a statement
that we'll concentrate on this hour, right here. He says, this
cup is the New Testament in my blood. What's the meaning when
the Lord says, this cup is the New Testament in my blood? What does that mean? First of
all, the Lord declares He is fulfilling the everlasting covenant
by His shedding of His own blood, that He's fulfilling the everlasting
covenant, the will and testament of God Almighty. We must understand
that the New Testament existed before that which we call the
Old Testament. We have our Bible here. If it's
a King James Bible, you have a Bible here, most all translations,
divided into the Old Testament and New Testament. But before
there was what we call an Old Testament, there was this New
Testament. And it's always been in existence.
And the New Testament is the everlasting covenant of grace. Some call it everlasting redemption. It's the everlasting covenant
of grace, the everlasting testimony, testament of God. And it's a
covenant made between the triune God, It's a covenant that was
made, a testimony, a will and testament made between the triune
God. Turn over with me to Isaiah 49,
and I want you to see something here as we go through this. When
you begin looking at how God saves somebody, when you begin
looking at how the Gospel is preached, when you begin looking
at what's the meaning of Scripture, anywhere in Scripture, start
with God. Don't start with your heart.
Don't start with how you feel or what you think. Don't start
with how you always thought it was or how somebody always told
you it was. Start with God. Start with His
Word and look into His Word and see what these things mean. Isaiah
49.1, this is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. Isaiah is the
prophet, but this is a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
it is the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ speaking about Himself
through Isaiah. Now read this. This is what God
the Father promised to God the Son. Listen Oh islands unto me
and hearken ye people from far the Lord hath called me from
the womb from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of
my name and He hath said unto me thou art my servant. Oh Israel
in whom I will be glorified That's Christ's name first and foremost
is Israel When his children are called the Israel of God were
named after him. He's the Israel of God And he
said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength
for naught and in vain, yet surely my judgment is with the Lord
and my works with my God." I think this speaks mainly to his time
on the cross. But read on here, And now saith
the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to
bring Jacob again to him, his chosen children, though Israel
be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord,
and my God shall be my strength. The translation there would be
better, Israel may be gathered to him, and I will be glorious
in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength."
This is speaking of him coming in his mediatorial character
as the servant of God, as the God-man. And he said, it is a
light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the
tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will
also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest
be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus saith the
Lord. This is the Lord that has been
saying this whole thing. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer
of Israel and His Holy One, to Him whom man despiseth, to Him
whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers. Kings shall see and
arise. Princes also shall worship because
of the Lord that is faithful and the Holy One of Israel. And
He shall choose thee. Thus saith the Lord, in an acceptable
time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped
thee, and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant
of the people to establish the earth, to inherit the desolate
heritages." Look over at Psalm chapter 40. Psalm chapter 40. This covenant was made, first
of all, to his son. Who do you make your will and
testament to? You make it to your son, your
firstborn son. God the Father first made this
will and testament to His Son. I'm going to give Thee to be
a light. In Thee am I going to be glorified. I'm going to save
a people in You, God the Father said. Now look here at Psalm
40 verse 6. Sacrifice and offering Thou didst
not desire. Mine ears hast Thou opened. This
is Christ speaking. Mine ears hast thou opened, burnt
offering and sin offering hast thou not required? Then said
I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it's written of me.
I delight to do thy will, O God, yea, thy law is within my heart."
Look at Isaiah 53, verse 10. This is the covenant. God the
Father determined to save a people in Christ Jesus the Lord, in
His Son, to glorify His Son, to bring honor and glory to His
name, that the glory and the honor and salvation will be His
alone, to make His Son, give His Son a name above every name,
and to give His Son a people and a kingdom. And God the Father
required something of the Son. in this covenant. And here's
what he required of the Son. Look in Isaiah 53 verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him, his own son. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. His Son, He shall prolong His
days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand."
What's he talking about? He's going to justify people,
and He's going to make God just in justifying that people, and
therefore the will of God is going to prosper in His hand. And it says here, He shall see
of the travail of His soul, the agony of the soul, of His own
soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him, my son, a portion with the great,
and he, my son, shall divide the spoil with the strong, because
he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with
the transgressors, and he bear the sin of many, and made intercession
for the transgressors." Look over at Romans 3.25. This all
has to do with justice being satisfied. It has to do with
God saving a people in righteousness and in holiness. That's how God's
going to save His people. They're going to be saved in
perfect accordance with His holiness. Look here in Romans 3.25. Christ
is He whom God hath set forth a propitiation, a place of mercy,
a seat of mercy through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past. Look at verse 26. To declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. Now, John 17. John 17. And look at verse 1, John 17,
1. So the Father covenants to give His Son a people,
and that His Son would have a name above every name. And the Son
agrees that He will purchase that people, buy that people,
and in doing so glorify God in His holiness, glorify God in
pouring out His justice, because He would be the one who would
actually bear that justice and pay that justice. And so now
he comes to the hour that was talked about before the world
began in this testament, this will and testament of God. And
he says this, verse 1, John 17, these words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. This
is the hour that they agreed upon before the world began.
Glorify thy Son that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal,
that they might know thee the only true God in Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on earth.
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now,
O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory
which I had with Thee before the world was." And so the Lord
tells His people, this cup represents, is typical of my blood, the New
Testament in my blood, sealed and secure, procured in my blood. A man's last will, a testament.
The Lord calls it a testament because it's after the fashion
of God's testament. He's the first and he's the one
who says, this is my testament. Just as a man is not obliged
to make his will known in a testament, but only if he chooses to do
so. So God. was not obliged to make his will
known, his testimony known to his people, but he chose to do
so. Just as a man makes out his will
according to his own will and purpose, and nobody sways him
one way or the other, tells him how to do it, so it is with God. He determines who he'll save
and who he won't save. He determines what he'll give
and what he will not give. And nobody can say anything to
the contrary. Can I come into your household
and tell you how you are to be making out your will and testament?
You'd tell me to get lost, wouldn't you? I've got to tell you the
same thing. You start tampering with how
he's going to make his will and testament. And to whom? Now, Christ is the first heir
because He's the firstborn son. Those God chose to be His heirs
are joint heirs with Him. But He's the firstborn. Look
over at Romans 8, 15. Romans 8, 15. For ye, this is speaking to the
believer who is led of the Spirit of God, who is a son of God,
ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. You
have not been brought back to Mount Sinai when God saved you
through the Holy Spirit. But ye have received the spirit
of adoption whereby we cry, Abba Father, Father, Father. The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God. This is what a testament's all
about. Being an heir. If you're a son of God, a daughter
of God, a believer, you're an heir of God. And joint heirs
with Christ. He's the first heir. So we see
that this Testament, this everlasting covenant, included God's will
toward His Son, promising Him a kingdom, a name above every
name, a people, and promising to give this people, to make
this promise with His people, and to give them all they needed
to come into His presence and enjoy all His favor forever.
Now turn over to Ephesians 1. When did all this take place?
When did He make this will in the Testament? Here it is, Ephesians
1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will." It's his will. to the praise
of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the
beloved." So when our Lord instituted this supper, He said, this cup
is that New Testament in my blood which is shed for you, which
is fulfilling this work God has given me to do. And we see that
His blood was shed because God the Father desired Him to make
the offering to put away the sin of His people so that God
might be just and justifier of all who believe. Now, secondly,
The Lord declares that he is the end and the fulfillment of
the will and testament which God declared in the garden. God
created man to begin to tell us what his will and his testament
is. And he didn't wait around to
tell us, he told us in the garden. For reasons known only to God.
in showing His people that man could in no way keep himself
apart from God, keeping Him. He created Adam upright, righteous
after His image, and He gave him one law. And this was a covenant
with Adam. He made a covenant with him.
We're not saved by that kind of covenant. We're saved by the
covenant that God made with Himself. that He would save a people.
But now He's going to show us that any covenant He makes with
us, we're going to break it. We can't keep it. So He creates
a man perfect. Puts him in a perfect environment.
Gives him a perfect thought. And He has all the world. It's His. All the animals that
come to Him that aren't no sins in the world yet. So these animals
will come and go and He can walk up to them and name them and
pet them just like you can your puppy. And He names the animal. He has all these things. God
gave Him one law. And in Genesis 2.17, He said, Of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For
in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now this
covenant of works said, This do and die. Because He had life. He didn't have eternal life.
He didn't have the life that the believer has that's eternally
secure in Christ Jesus the Lord, but he's perfect. He's the first
representative man. He's the first federal head,
and he has life. And God's word to him was, if
you disobey this commandment, this do, and you die. And He
did that to show us, brethren, that if He makes a covenant with
us, even if we had perfect wisdom, perfect ability to understand
God in a perfect environment where no sin exists, without
Him keeping us and being our life, we'd disobey Him. We couldn't keep ourselves. As
soon as Adam died spiritually and plunged all mankind into
spiritual death, God began in the garden declaring His will
and testament of redemption in His Son, right then. Look with
me at Genesis chapter 3 and verse 9. And the Lord God called unto
Adam, this is after Adam's disobeyed, he had one law, he ate and he
died. And the Lord God called unto
Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard
thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked,
and I hid myself. If God had not come seeking Adam,
then Adam would have never sought God. He would have stayed in
the trees, hidden, because he was ashamed. Do you know what
sin is? It's shame. Do you know what
Christ despised when He went to the cross? The shame. He who
knew no sin was made sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Adam said, I hid myself because
I was ashamed. But the covenant God came and
preached the gospel of His Son to Adam and to Eve in the garden,
declaring His will and testament, His covenant to save His people
and destroy their enemies. Look at verse 14. And the Lord
God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art
cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field.
And upon thy belly shalt thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all
the days of thy life. And I will put enmity, hatred,
between you and the woman. More particularly, between your
seed, Satan, and her seed. Satan has a seed. He has children.
And Christ and Mary had a seed, that's Christ. And he said, I'm
going to put enmity and put hatred between Satan and his seed and
Christ and his seed. And that's the gospel right there. But he says, it, the seed of
woman, Christ Jesus the Lord, born of a virgin, it shall bruise
thy head. He crushed the serpent's head,
crushed Satan's head. Thou shalt bruise his heel. That's what
happened at Calvary when he went to the cross. Satan bruised his
heel, but in the process Christ crushed his head. Verse 21, unto
Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins
and clothed them. Just like if God had never come
seeking Adam, Adam would have never sought Him. And just in
the same manner, if God had never provided a substitute, He took
this in us after He said, I'm going to bring forth a seed of
woman that's going to be born of a virgin. And she's going
to crush this serpent's head. He's going to crush this serpent's
head. And he said, now, let me show you what else he's going
to do. And he goes over and he takes an innocent lamb that's
spotless. Sin had just entered in. This
lamb is probably more spotless than any lamb men have ever laid
eyes on. He takes a spotless, innocent lamb that has done absolutely
nothing, which is typical of Christ Jesus the Lord, spotless,
perfectly holy and righteous. And God takes that lamb and He
says, Adam, Eve, I'm taking your sin and I'm putting it on that
lamb right there. And now, I will by no means clear
the guilty and I'm killing that lamb." And he kills that lamb.
And he takes that blood of that lamb and he says, see this life
blood of this lamb, Adam? This lamb died so that you won't
die. And he says, now furthermore,
if I don't do something else, Adam, you won't take this sacrifice. You won't take this offering
to yourself. You won't apply this offering to yourself, this
blood to yourself by your own will. You'll go on hiding in
the trees like you've been doing. And so it says here, he made
coats of skins and he clothed them. He took those skins then
and he said, take your fig leaves off, Adam. That's a misuse and
abuse of my creation and what I created. Just like men abuse
His Word and His Law and try to cover themselves in it. He
said, that's a misappropriation of what I made the fig leaf for.
Take that off. Take off all your self-righteousness.
Take off all the works that you've put together. Take off everything
you've done to cover yourself. Here's my covering. It's the
lamb that I have provided. And He covered Adam in that lamb.
And so he began in the garden preaching the gospel. So when
the Lord says here in our text in Luke 22, 20, this cup is the
new testament in my blood which is shed for you, it pointed all
the way back to the garden and that testament declared by the
voice to Adam and Eve. This was Him making known what
His will and testament is to men which He determined before
He ever even made the first grain of sand. Now he said, now let
me show you. Now thirdly, the Lord's declaring
that He's the end and fulfillment of the Testament declared by
God in the law from Mount Sinai. He didn't stop declaring His
Word to us. He started before the world began. He made His will in His Testament,
and He made a covenant with Himself, God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit to bring it to pass. Then He created the
heavens and the earth. He created a man upright. He
gave him one law and said, This do and you'll die. You eat this
tree and you'll die. You'll lose life and you'll plunge
all mankind into spiritual death. And none of it surprised God.
He did it on purpose. He's showing us we can't keep
ourselves. That we're not our own keeper. That He's God. That
He'll receive the glory and salvation. After he's promised Abraham,
before he ever gave the law, he's promised Abraham that he'll
save him by free grace. He told him to come to Abraham
when he's in the land of idolatry, calls him out, reveals the same
thing in him. Now he has Israel. He's brought
them out of Egypt and he brings them out to Mount Sinai. And
he gives them a law. He gives them a law from Mount
Sinai. Now this law is going to say, Do this and you can live. That first law he gave at the
garden said, do this and you'll die, Adam. Because Adam had life.
Now all mankind is spiritually dead. And the people he's speaking
to are spiritually dead. Now he's going to show us because
of our spiritual death, we can't do anything to give ourselves
life. And so he says, now let me give you a law. And it's do
and you can live. Do it, you'll live. Look here
with me, Exodus 24, verse 1. He's showing us that He's the
one that justifies, makes righteous, sanctifies, gives wisdom, gives
life. And He made a covenant with man
and Israel from Mount Sinai. Exodus 24, verse 1, And he said
unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou and Aaron, Nadab and
Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship ye afar
off. And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall
not come nigh, neither shall the people go up with him. And
Moses came, he goes up, and then Moses came and told the people
all the words of the Lord and all the judgments, And all the
people answered with one voice and said, here's the backwardness,
here's the sin and rebellion that we are. Here's what all
the people said when they heard all of God's law. All the words
which the Lord has said, we will do. We'll do it. And Moses wrote
all the words of the Lord and rose up early in the morning
and he built an altar under the hill and twelve pillars according
to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the
children of Israel which offered burnt offerings and sacrificed
peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord." You hold your place
here. So the Lord has given Moses this
law. And Moses comes and he gives
it to the people. I want to go through this law
sometime. This law said you can't... You ever plant your corn? In
the South, this is pretty popular. Plant your corn and plant a bean
plant. A running bean, plant it in the
middle, plant corn. Plant a running bean, plant corn.
And your running beans, you can run them up your corn stalk.
And so you don't have to stake your bean poles. You know that's
against the law. That's against God's law. He
said you can't plant the same crops together like that. You
cannot plant them in the same field like that. How many of
you like a steak rare? You can't eat blood. You broke
God's law. And it's minute. This law is
minute. And it reaches further than just
our doing something. When I said, whoever of you likes
a rare steak, did you think, man, I'd like to have a rare
steak. You just broke his law. It goes
to the heart. It goes to the heart. So he gives
them. They say, oh, we'll do it all.
We'll do every bit of it. We'll do every bit of it. And this
was a covenant of work. This do and live. Look over at
Romans 3.19. Hold your place there, Exodus
24. Look over at Romans 3.19. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law.
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin." You mean God gave a law that we couldn't
obey? God wouldn't give a law a man
couldn't obey. That's what I grew up hearing,
you know. God wouldn't give a law a man
can't obey. How many times have you taught your child something,
when you saw them directly disobeying you, And you set a rule for them
knowing they're going to break it and fall. And you set it for
them just so they would break it and fall to prove to them
that they need to listen to you. Have you ever done that? You
ever done that? A child go to crawl up on a wall
or something and you say, don't crawl up there now, you're going
to fall. And he keeps on crawling. And you say, I tell you what,
go over there and crawl up on that wall. And you're standing
there to catch them. You gave them a law they can't
obey. They can't do it. They're going
to fall flat on their tail end. But you're there to catch them
and you're showing them, you got to listen to me. We do that
every day. We give our children laws they can't obey. To teach
them they can't obey them. They need to listen. That's what
God did. To teach us the knowledge of sin, teach us our frailty
and our depravity and what we are. Now look at Galatians 3.21.
Remember this word, testament. This is the New Testament in
my blood which is shed for you. Verse 21, Galatians 3.21. Is the law then against the promises
of God? Is it against the will and testament
of God? God forbid. For if there had
been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded
all under sin. That the promise, that promise
contained in His will and testament, that it should be by faith of
Jesus Christ, by His faithfulness, and that it might be given to
them that believe Him and trust His person and His work. Now
look down at chapter 4 and verse 1. Now I say that the heir As
long as he's a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though
he be Lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the
time appointed of the Father. Even so, we, when we were children,
were in bondage under the elements of the world, the law. But when
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, the testament,
the will that God had to have a people for himself. And because
ye are sons, not to make you sons, but because ye are sons,
God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant, but
a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. You
see, this law was given to show us that Christ is the one who's
faithful. Christ is the faithfulness of
Christ wherein we've been redeemed, and not our own faithfulness.
And what faith believes, the faith God gives, it believes
Christ in His person, His faithfulness in His person, and His faithfulness
in His work. And that's what the law was given
to teach us. We have none in ourselves. He's all of it. Now,
let's go back. Exodus 24. And I'll try to hurry
along. But I want you to see this. He
said, this is the New Testament in my blood. Now look back at
Exodus 24, 6. So he's given this law. So here's
what the Lord told Moses to do. Moses, they brought these offerings,
these lambs, these bullocks and all these things, and they killed
him. Sacrificed them. That's a picture of Christ dying
in our room instead, the room instead of his people. And Moses
took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the
blood he sprinkled on the altar. It had to be sanctified, made
separate and holy for God's use. And he took the book of the covenant.
the book of his law, the covenant, the testimony, his will and his
testament. And he took that book and he
read it in the audience of the people and they said, all that
the Lord has said will we do and be obedient. And Moses took
that blood and he sprinkled it on the people and he said, behold
the blood of the covenant which the Lord had made with you concerning
all these words. Now, Christ said, this cup is
the new testament in my blood. Now look with me over to Hebrews
chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. Now we're told in Hebrews 7.18,
there is a disannulling of the commandment going before because
it was weak and unprofitable. For the law made nothing perfect.
That law that God gave at Mount Sinai has been disannulled. because
it couldn't make anything perfect. But the bringing in of a better
hope did, and that's how we draw nigh to God. Now look at Hebrews
8 verse 6. Now, how was this law fulfilled? How was it disannulled? How was
it taken out of our way and nailed to the cross? Look, verse 6.
Now hath he, the Son of God, Christ the Lord, obtained a more
excellent ministry by how much also he is a mediator of a better
covenant, the everlasting covenant, the New Testament. He's the mediator
of it, which was established upon better promises because
it's established in Christ in his blood. Now look, for if that
first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been
sought for the second, for finding fault with them. There was no
fault with the law. There was no fault with that
covenant God gave. The fault was with us, with people. We couldn't keep it. And he said,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I'll make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
It wasn't that he failed and went to plan B, as some blasphemously
say. He determined to do this all
the while. He created Adam perfect in the
garden and gave him one law to show him he couldn't keep himself.
And then once he plunged mankind into sin, he gave a law to show
that there's nothing we can do to bring ourselves to God in
perfect righteousness. And he did. He gave both to show
us that we need a second federal head. We need a new representative. And in Adam, by his one disobedience,
many were made sinners, but by the righteousness, by the obedience
of one, Christ the Lord shall many be made righteous. So when
he says this is my blood, the New Testament in my blood, he's
saying that law back there pointed to me. Now let's see just how
real it did. Look at Hebrews 9.14. Let's look at verse 15. For this
cause, he's the mediator of the New Testament. That's what he's
declaring there when he takes that cup and says, this is New
Testament in my blood. He's the mediator of the New
Testament that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions
that were under that First Testament, beginning with Adam and all the
way through the Mosaic Law. That's that First Testament.
In Adam, all his people died, so he paid for those transgressions
for his people. And all the transgressions that
we committed in breaking the law given at Sinai, he paid the
price so that they which are called might receive the promise
of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, This
is common sense. There must also of necessity
be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after
men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at all while the
testator liveth. Whereupon for this cause, this is what it was
pictured, neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
What did Moses do when he got that first covenant? He took
the blood of a lamb and he sprinkled the people and the book and everything.
Now look here what he teaches us, verse 19. For when Moses
had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law,
he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water and scarlet
wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people,
saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath
enjoined unto you. Moreover, he sprinkled with blood
both the tabernacle and the vessels of the ministry, and almost all
things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding
of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
these, with the blood of bulls and goats. but the heavenly things
themselves with better sacrifices than these." That means the tabernacle
and that covenant and everything that was sprinkled with blood
under that Old Testament all pointed to something heavenly
and spiritual. And it says, For Christ is not
entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the
figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often, as the high priest entered into the holy place every
year with the blood of others. For then must he have often suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself, and as it appointed unto men once to die, but after
this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of many. And unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Moses took another's blood, not
his own. Moses took the blood of a lamb,
not of a man. Moses said, this is the blood of the testament
which God hath enjoined unto you. Christ said, this is my
body which is broken for you, and this cup is the new testament
in my blood. You see the difference in that? The Old Testament, that Old Covenant,
never was intended for us to come to God by the law, never
was intended for us to come to Him in our own righteousness. It was given, the moral law,
the Decalogue was given to shut us up to Christ, to shut our
mouths as guilty, and the ceremonial law was given to show us our
High Priest and our Lamb in whom we come to God. And it goes on. You can read through Hebrews
10. He says there again what we just quoted about the burnt
offerings and the sacrifices. The Lord wasn't pleased with
those things. He had no pleasure in those things. And Christ said,
Lo, I come to do thy will, that will in that testament. I come
to do it. I come to make it secure. And then, I do want to read this
to you. I've read it to you several times,
but I've got to read it to you. Verse 8. Hebrews 10, verse 8.
Above, when He said, Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings,
and offering for sin, thou wouldst not, neither hadtest pleasure
therein which are offered by the law, back there under that
old covenant. And then He said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God. He taketh away the first. That
covenant of works, that covenant in Adam and in Moses, He took
all of that away that He may establish. Establish. That's a key word. Establish
the second. This is the New Testament. This is the everlasting testament.
This is the everlasting covenant, which is established in my blood,
by my blood. By the witch will by God the
father's will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ through his blood Verse 14 says for by what offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified this cup
is the New Testament in my blood he said oh I got so much to show
you I can't show it all to you here Daniel go home and read
Daniel 9 27 Let me read it to you. He, Christ, shall confirm
the covenant with many for one week. It's not a literal week,
but for one week. He went about for three and a
half years preaching this covenant, preaching this testimony, confirming
it to the people. And in the midst of the week,
He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." He
put an end to the law. He put an end to all the blood
that flowed through the ages after ages, saying, this cup
is the New Testament in my blood. And it says, "...even until the
consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."
Then in Zechariah he says this, he says, "...as for thee also,
by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners
out of the pit wherein is no water." He's the one that led
captivity captive by His covenant, by His promise, by His testimony.
He took those that had no water of life, no sustenance, no moisture
whatsoever, that were in the pit, the grave, and He gave Himself
for them. And He redeemed them to God,
made atonement for them, reconciled them to God, put away their sins
forever. But how are we going to know it? How are we going
to come into it? How are we going to understand it? We're dead
in sins and trespasses. How are we going to come to a
knowledge of this? What power is going to make us actually
come to Christ and confess Him and fall on our faces and ask
His forgiveness and ask Him to have mercy on us and trust Him
alone? What's going to cause us to do
that? I've got to read this. Jeremiah
31.31. You've got to see this. Jeremiah 31.31. This is familiar to you, but
I'm going to highlight some things for you to pay close attention
to. And you consider the sovereignty of God. You consider His sovereign
grace. What He does in power and holiness. Listen now. Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, that 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 bring them out of the land of Egypt."
That's that covenant he gave at Sinai. He said, which my covenant
they break. Although I was a husband unto
them, saith the Lord. It was our fault, not his fault.
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel. after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my
law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts." I will put my law in their inward
parts and write it in their hearts so that they actually hear. Now
either we believe that God takes His law and writes it into a
sinner's heart and that sinner actually, because of God's sovereign
grace, beholds, I can't keep the law. I can't keep it now.
I can't ever keep it. And he realizes it's useless
and futile for me to try to come to God in the Law, to try to
sanctify myself in the Law. I have His Law written on my
heart and I hear what it says. I have His Law written on my
heart to where I delight in it and I want to observe it, I want
to follow Him. But I behold in my flesh, because
I hear that Law, I can't do that. I can't sanctify my flesh, I
can't cleanse my flesh. Now if God really is true and
His Word is true, then he says, I'm going to write my Law in
their hearts And when I do it, they're going to know that. Now does that make any sense
to you? They're going to know that. They're going to know that the
man that stands up and preaches the law is lying. Because God said, I'm going to
put my law in their heart. Now either he's going to do that
or he's a liar. Either He does that sovereignly or He's a liar. And after those days, I'll put
My law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts
and we'll be their God and they shall be My people. They won't
try to come to Me. partly with their works of their
legal obedience and their morality and partly in Christ. That's
worshipping. Baal is what that is. You know,
when Joe asked Gideon's father when they said he worshipped
Baal, he was in the camp of Israel. He was in the land of Israel.
He came with a bullock. He got it from God's Word. You
know what that word Baal means? Go home and look up. Rhetoric,
just as far as the rhetoric goes, it means Lord. So when he took
his bullock and he went to his altar, just like the children
of Israel were doing, he was crying, Lord, Lord, just like
they were, just like the true children of Israel were. But
God, from God's point of view, he said, Baal. He's worshiping Baal. He's coming
thinking that his act of bringing that offering, putting it up,
bringing it, that therein is his life. That's not his life.
The life is Christ who the offering typifies. He said, I'll put my
law in their hearts and they'll know that. I'll put my law in
their hearts. And he says, And they'll be my people. And they
shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For
I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin
no more. It doesn't mean that they won't need teaching, it
doesn't mean they won't need to be taught, but they shall
all know Him, the true and living God. They shall know the truth
of Christ, that He is the end of the law for righteousness,
that He is all our inheritance, all our portion, all our sanctification,
all our wisdom. I didn't know what I know now
when the Lord saved me, but I knew He's everything. I knew He's
everything. I knew His redemption was particular.
I knew His redemption had to be because I knew His sacrifice
put my sin away. And if it put my sin away and
it was effectual and I had nothing to do with putting it away, then
everybody for whom He died, He put that sin away. And I beheld
a multitude that would have nothing to do with it and wanted nothing
to do with it and was on a mad dash to hell saying, no, He died
for everybody. That's not how it is, Clay. And
I beheld the Lord has shown me grace. The Lord has done something
for me that he hasn't done for these other people. And why on
earth did he do it for me? I'm worse than, way worse than
those other folks. But he said, that's the case.
They'll know me. And now listen to who this is
that says this. Well, now, maybe God doesn't have the power to
reveal it quite like that. Well, let's see. Verse 35, Thus
saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and
the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night."
He's pretty powerful, I'd say. He divides the sea when the waves
thereof roar. The Lord of all these hosts is
his name. And this is what he said, this
is how sure this thing is. We're either going to bow and
say, you know, that's how it is, or we're going to go on saying
he's a liar. But that's what he said. If those
ordinances depart from before me, if the sun departs and the
moon departs and the waves depart, which I've said, if they depart
from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also
shall cease from being a nation before me forever. Thus saith
the Lord, if heaven above can be measured, and the foundations
of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the
seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord. Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built
to the Lord. Shall be. There won't be any
guesswork about it. Okay, back to Hebrews 10.15.
I'm preaching like Jessica Stan this
morning. Brother Jesse hears that and
I hope he takes that as a compliment. Hebrews 10.15 Now here's the Hebrew writer
putting it in the New Testament language for us. Whereof the
Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. This is to the believer. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in
their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more." Now where remission of these is,
there is no more offering for sin. You know what happens when
the Lord does this? When the Lord writes this law
in their hearts and reveals that there is no more offering for
sin, they quit offering things to God to try to put away their
sin. It's just how it happens. Either Christ's blood is that
precious to accomplish it, and God the Father is that sovereign
to accomplish it, and the Holy Spirit is that irresistible to
accomplish it, or He is not God at all. It's just that simple. Verse 19. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which He hath consecrated for us." This is
the New Testament in my blood. Through the veil, that middle
wall of partition that broke it down, that He took the law,
He did away with it, He satisfied it, upheld it, magnified it,
honored it. And this new and living way is
His flesh. His flesh and His blood, His
life is the new and living way. and having a high priest over
the house of God. Not only is He our life in new
and living way, but He is our high priest who presides over
God's house, who presents His blood, whoever liveth to make
an intercession for His people. And He rules in the hearts of
His people. And He says, let us draw near
with a true heart, not a divided heart, not trying to come partly
with Christ and partly with some other filth, but with a true
heart. In full assurance of faith. Full assurance that His blood
actually is His blood secured, procured, consecrated for us
through that veil. Having our hearts sprinkled from
that evil conscience. That evil conscience that wants
to come with some work of our own hand. And our bodies washed
with pure water. That's what He's saying when
He says this cup is the New Testament in my blood. Let me give you
the application. as we take this bread and this
wine. Let's do this in remembrance
of Christ Jesus the Lord, the Son of God, who gave His body
willingly and had His body broken under the wrath of God for you
to whom He has given a spirit of faith in Him. This cup is
to remember that the New Testament, all spiritual promises, all spiritual
blessings are yes and amen to us in his blood. This cup of
wine is to remind the believer of the covenant which lasts forever. If we truly remember his blood
and what he accomplished, then partaking of this cup will be
a reviving and refreshing to our souls as wine that makes
glad the heart. As we meditate upon the shedding
of Christ's blood, we must have an eye to it as shed for us. We needed His blood, we take
hold of His blood, we hope to have benefit by His blood who
loved us and gave Himself for us. And also in all regards to
the New Testament, we talk about this New Testament, this New
Covenant, this new way, living way. We must have an eye to the
blood of Christ, which gave life and being to that testament. He gave life and being to that
testament. and which seals to us all the
promises of it. Because had it not been for the
blood of Christ, you and I, believer, could have never had a New Testament. We could have never had the New
Testament. And had it not been for the New
Testament, which God promised to make in our hearts, which
has been made in the hearts of the believer through the Holy
Spirit, we had never known the meaning of Christ's shed blood. Some people don't know the meaning
of it. The people don't know the meaning of it. As we take
of this bread and this wine, let's rejoice with King David.
Here's what he said. This was his hope. Although my
house be not so with God. He had sons that were disorderly
and the kingdom was disorderly. He said, yet He hath made with
me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, For
this is all my salvation and all my desire, although He make
it not to grow. Now, I'm going to ask Brother
Pete, would you pass these elements out? This table is for those who trust Him by faith
that this blood was shed for you. Luke 22, 19 says, And He took
bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave unto them, saying,
This is my body, which is given for you, this do in remembrance
of me. Likewise also the cup after supper
saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for
you. Hebrews 13.20 says this, Now, the God of peace that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good
work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing
in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. Our God, we thank You for this
time to remember our Savior to remember the sacrifice that
he made to glorify your holy name and how successfully, triumphantly,
victoriously he accomplished that work. We thank You, Father, for bearing
witness to this in the heart that You've made new, that we might enter into these
precious, precious blessings. And behold, that in His blood we've been made Your heirs. and joint heirs with your only
begotten son. How thankful we are that you
did not leave one iota of this work unto your people. but that you accomplished it
in calling out your people, making them new, creating them in righteousness
and true holiness, causing them to walk honorably before you
by your power. You are God. Only you can perfect the people
and only you shall have the praise for it. What an amazing gift, Lord, that
we can approach you knowing that none of our past
sins, our present sins, or even our future sins shall ever be
remembered by you. What a reason to rejoice. Lord, how we do thank you. How horribly, horribly we take
these things for granted. Have mercy on us, Lord. Keep us for Christ's sake. Do
it for Your glory alone. And we ask these things in His
name. Amen.