God's Covenant

[The following is a manuscript of my Message delivered on Sunday morning, the 5th of February, 2017.  This is a shortened message as this was our 5th Sunday service of music, moved from last week due to scheduling conflicts.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

For our service this morning, Covenant Gospel Music Group is sharing their ministry of music with us.  Before we bring them back up, I’d like to talk just a little bit about covenants, because the name of this group inspired me.

The dictionary defines “covenant” as an agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons to do or not do something specified, or an incidental clause in such an agreement.  It says a covenant can be a solemn agreement between the members of a church to act together in harmony with the directives and goals of the Gospel.  The dictionary also gives a more biblical definition as the conditional promises made to humanity by God, as revealed in Scripture, such as the agreement between God and the ancient Israelites, in which God promised to protect them if they kept His law and were faithful to Him.

There are over 300 instances or uses of the word "covenant" in our Bible, and the vast majority come from the Old Testament and do indeed follow that biblical definition.  But the most meaningful to us, as followers of Jesus Christ, are found in the New Testament, one of which I repeat every time we observe Holy Communion.  What I recite comes from 1 Corinthians 11:25  from the New King James Version:  “In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’”  Paul based that on what Jesus Himself said, as recorded by the Apostles Matthew, Mark, and Luke in their Gospel accounts.

But I'd like to take a moment to share with you the full import of this new covenant between God and us - mankind, His creation.  He sealed this new covenant with the blood of His own Son, Jesus.  Listen to what the author of the Book of Hebrews says about this…

1 That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth. 2 There were two rooms in that Tabernacle. In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and sacred loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy Place. 3 Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room called the Most Holy Place. 4 In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now. 

6 When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room as they performed their religious duties. 7 But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use. 

9 This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. 10 For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies — physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established. 

11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 12 With His own blood — not the blood of goats and calves — He entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. 

13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. 14 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.

--Hebrews 9:1-15 (NLT)

Christ offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  By His own blood the new covenant between God and His people is sealed.  By His blood our eternal souls are washed clean.

Praise be to God.  Praise be to Jesus.  In the blessed name of Jesus.  Amen.

Let’s pray…  Father God, thank You for loving us so much that You entered into a new covenant with us, a covenant sealed by the very blood of Your only Son, our Lord Jesus.  Dearest Jesus, thank You for sacrificing Yourself just so the eternal part of us could be washed clean of our sins.  May we always remember Your sacrifice, and in remembering, obey Your word.  In Your blessed name, Jesus, we pray.  Amen.