Who Invented the Forgiveness - Covenant for US?

[0:00] Please take your Bibles and go to Matthew's Gospel, the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew chapter 26, in that black Bible, you can pull that out and go to the back, which is renumbering the New Testament, find page 23, page 23, Matthew chapter 26, starting in verse 17 this morning, 26, 17 to verse 35.

[0:37] That's what we're gonna study this morning. Chapter 26 of Matthew's Gospel, verse 17 to 35, I'll read, and then we'll jump in.

[0:53] Now on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying, where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover? And he said, go into the city to a certain man and say to him, the teacher says my time is near, I keep the Passover at your house with my disciples, and the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

[1:18] And when evening had come, he was reclining with the 12 disciples, and as they were eating, he said, truly I say to you, that one of you will betray me. And being extremely sorrowful and grieved, they began to say to him, each one, surely not I, Lord.

[1:38] And answering, he said, the one who dipped his hand with me in the bowl is the one who will betray me or deliver me. The Son of Man goes, just as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

[1:55] It would have been good for him if that man had not been born. And Judas, the one betraying him, answering, he said, surely it's not I, Rabbi.

[2:08] He said to him, you've said it yourself. And while they're eating, verse 26, Jesus, taking bread, blessing, he broke, and giving it to the disciples, he said, take, eat, this is my body.

[2:26] And taking a cup and giving thanks, he gave to them, saying, drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out concerning many unto forgiveness of sins.

[2:41] But I say to you, I will never drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father. And after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

[2:55] Verse 31, Then Jesus said to them, you will all be caused to stumble because of me this night, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.

[3:09] But after I've been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. But answering, Peter said to him, though all will be caused to stumble because of you, I will never fall away.

[3:21] Jesus said to him, truly I say to you that this night, before a cock crows, three times you will deny me. Peter said to him, even when I have to die with you, I will never deny you.

[3:34] likewise all the disciples spoke. Forgiveness. A concept.

[3:50] An action that is totally out of the question when it comes to what has happened in recent days regarding George Floyd. As a matter of fact, white people are called to ask the black community to forgive them for past sins.

[4:16] What is forgiveness? That should probably be understood. Forgiveness, the word from the Bible, we see life and should view life from a biblical worldview because that's true.

[4:32] Let God's word be true and every man be found a liar, says the Lord. The word forgiveness means to cancel. To leave behind, to let go.

[4:47] To remit of sins, of debts done. To remit of sins, of debts done. No one can remit the sin of someone else.

[5:00] I can't remit your sins. You can't do mine. You can't do that. The sins that I've done, you can't cancel those out that you've not done that I've not done to you.

[5:13] I mean, that doesn't make any sense. No one can remit the sin of someone else. except one.

[5:27] There's one person who can cancel out your sins. There's one person who can let all your sins go.

[5:42] It's Jesus, the Lord Jesus. Only through Him and what we will see today, the covenant of forgiveness can we be remitted of sin.

[5:54] So here, the driving theme of Matthew's gospel, bow down and worship Jesus. He's the Messiah, the Son of God, King of Israel, Judge of the world who initiated the forgiveness covenant for us.

[6:07] Who initiated, or you can say fulfilled, or you can say inaugurated, whatever verb you want to use there. Initiated, fulfilled, inaugurated the forgiveness covenant for us.

[6:28] So we will look at today what's highlighted here for us and then we will get to partake in this in a physical, tangible way. Keeping our germs to ourselves.

[6:43] The forgiveness covenant. Jesus initiated the forgiveness covenant for us so that we may be forgiven of all our sins and have relationship with the Father through Him.

[6:56] Happy Father's Day. Father, you are our Father. We can call you Father because of Jesus. Here we begin the section of Jesus' last hours with His disciples from Matthew's perspective.

[7:16] Passover began. And after Passover, they would begin the Feast of Unleavened Bread which lasted seven days. And by the time of the first century, the whole feast would be called Passover.

[7:31] Very, very meaningful time for Jews. Israelis came from all over. Jews came from all over the Roman Empire and beyond to come to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.

[7:45] Seven days, eight days, and maybe sometimes even longer they'll stay. They celebrated this together. It was a meaningful time. And it was at this last supper that Jesus inaugurated the Lord's Supper.

[8:04] An ordinance we regularly celebrate as His followers. Jesus initiated the new covenant by His blood by giving His life.

[8:19] And the Old Testament was directing us towards this forgiveness covenant. And one instance of this pointer, I guess you're looking at the cameras would be this way if you're looking at me.

[8:35] Anyways. It's found in the Passover feast. That was a pointer. Because as the lamb or the kids, not a human kid but a baby goat, was slaughtered in place of the firstborn and then they would remove leaven from the house, so Jesus Christ, Jesus Messiah, was our sacrifice who removes our sin.

[9:04] so you would you see, you will see how this supper was given a whole new meaning centered around Jesus Christ.

[9:18] And it would be Judas who would fulfill scripture and he would be I gave the term the stepping stone that would send Christ to the cross unto the forgiveness of our sins.

[9:38] He was the one who would trigger it. So before we get into this, some technicalities, provisios, there's four different views on the elements.

[9:54] The Roman Catholic view, the Lutheran view, the Reformed view or it's also known as John Calvin's view and then there's the Zwinglian view or you can also think of it as the Baptist view.

[10:12] Roman Catholic view is transubstantiation, the bread and the juice actually becomes the body and blood of Jesus, actually becomes that.

[10:24] Lutheran view is transubstantiation, it's Jesus is above, below and to the side of the elements. I have yet to really understand the Lutheran view for me.

[10:38] The Reformed view or was John Calvin's view is that you have the real presence of Christ with the elements. Then Ulrich Zwingli's view or what has become as the Baptist view is that these elements, they're a memorial, a remembrance.

[11:01] Most evangelicals obviously take the last three views, Lutheran, Calvin's or Baptist view and the most common views you're probably familiar with are the last two. You'd be more familiar with Calvin's view or the Reformed view and you probably would be even more familiar with the last view which lots of churches take that view, the last view which is the Baptist view which is we believe it's a memorial and so since we're Southern Baptist church that's the view we take as well here at Cottonwood Bible Church.

[11:28] It's memorial. The power's not inherent in the elements and they're not a means of grace. The means of grace is the gospel. That points us to the gospel, the means of grace.

[11:39] But I want you to notice first from the text how the Passover it's a pointer to the forgiveness covenant. Notice verse 17.

[11:55] Now on the first day of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus saying where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover? Now this is important because this Passover which would point to the forgiveness covenant, Jesus would use this and show how the Passover pointed to him that all leaven would be removed from Jewish homes to prepare to celebrate the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread.

[12:21] Verse 18. He said, go into the city a certain man say to him the teacher says my time is near. So they would celebrate this Passover together.

[12:32] Now it's hard because you say wait a minute if they're celebrating Passover Thursday and they're slaughtering a lamb or a kid on Thursday I thought Jesus was crucified when they were slaughtering a lamb on Friday.

[12:47] So there's a discrepancy trying to figure that out. It's hard to determine how this fits. My view as well as that I've taken with others that there was two distinct Passovers one from a Judean calendar the other from a Galilean calendar.

[13:00] Jesus with his disciples were following the Galilean calendar which would be on Thursday and Judean calendar would be on Friday having two separate Passovers and there's discrepancies with the different views but there's the view of where I land but whatever view you take obviously Jesus was celebrating the Passover with his disciples and notice he says my time is near say to this man my teacher says my time is near a phrase that's speaking about his coming arrest his coming crucifixion so he'd celebrate Passover with his disciples I keep the Passover your house with my disciples verse 19 and the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover he'd celebrate that with them and in Passover as they celebrate that the father would be kind of the figurehead he and Jesus would assume the father figure among them to be the leader as he would lead his disciples through this

[14:03] Passover meal and I said this earlier and I think it's important for me to say this again the Old Testament was directing us towards this forgiveness covenant it was a type and one instance of this pointer is found in this Passover feast because you have the lamb with a kid it was slaughtered in place of the firstborn there in Exodus chapter 12 and leaven was removed from the homes of Jewish people as a sign of removing sin so Christ was our sacrifice who removes our sin see that's the picture so you have it displayed here at Passover a time a real event that happened for the nation of Israel and for them to celebrate that and it was a type of what's going to happen a pointer to what Christ himself would fulfill Passover a pointer to the forgiveness covenants but notice as well another point that we see here betrayal which was a stepping stone to the forgiveness covenants

[15:14] Judas being used by God verse 20 and when evening had come he was reclining with the twelve disciples and as they were eating he said truly I say to you that one of you will betray me sundown Thursday Jesus reclined with his disciples the custom of the day was a triclinium which involved reclining on cushions it was a U-shaped pattern around a low table in the middle da Vinci didn't have it right it wasn't a long table no it wasn't like that sorry da Vinci it was Leonardo da Vinci right he painted that right it wasn't da Vinci yeah no it's not how it worked it was a U-shaped Jesus would be at the top he'd be the father head the sons would be around him he'd lay on their left eat with their right feet would be out the head of the family led the meal so Jesus was leading this he was the leader he was the honored guest and at some point while they were eating the Passover

[16:24] Jesus told them that one of them will betray him imagine what Judas was thinking right then oh my goodness how did he know notice the response from the disciples verse 22 the idea from the verb here they were terribly deeply grieved ginormously sad tremendous sorrow and then began to ask Jesus and how this phrase here was it was expecting a negative answer surely not I Lord because no one had expected something like this to happen among them especially with Judas notice notice what he says in verse 23 answering he said the one who dipped his hand with me in the bowl is the one who will betray me or deliver me remember it's the same word that was used from last week three different times the custom was dipping food into the horseth it was a kind of sweet sauce

[17:41] Jesus said this as a way to identify which one it was he was close to him and Matthew doesn't give us lots of details here John's gospel does where Jesus actually dipped it and gave it to Judas but Jesus was trying to get his disciples to understand eating together was an outward sign of friendship so it wasn't someone that they would suspect the idea they would not suspect Judas to be the one they had no idea it would be from him especially given his status among them again Matthew doesn't give us those details but in John's gospel and you know me I don't like going to other gospels and working with one gospel but just to give us a little bit of insight Judas used to carry the money box you wouldn't give somebody a money box if you didn't trust them you wouldn't let them take care of the money I mean we all trust Susanna thank you Susanna we appreciate you we trust them they're trustworthy that's why they never suspected

[18:48] Judas and then you have this striking statement from Jesus verse 24 son of man goes just as is written to him but woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed it would have been good for him if that man had not been born so God had sovereignly orchestrated that so sovereignly orchestrated this so that Judas would be the stepping stone through whom Jesus would be betrayed he would fulfill scripture having been ordained by God to betray Christ Christ because friends God ordains all things that happen he does it was God's will and purpose for Judas it's rendered certain because it's been predicted but notice at the very same time in the very same breath

[19:53] Jesus gives a sad woe means sadness and a warning woe to that man because the betrayer was accountable it was God ordained yet Judas was totally responsible he should not have done it he was culpable he was guilty and instead of hanging himself he should have dropped to his knees confessed and said have mercy on me right God ordains all but people cannot come to him on judgment day and say I was not chosen that's why I couldn't believe you can't do that that's not how it works with the

[20:56] Bible the Bible never speaks of it this way God chooses but people are culpable God wills all things for his own purpose but it does not make God responsible for sin in any way and if you can figure that out let me know because I still haven't figured that out God but think on this ponder this even though we do not have the ability to trust Christ we're still responsible to trust Christ and if we don't trust Christ then we'll be held responsible for that not God so don't delay come to Christ today come to Jesus say have mercy on me a broken and a contrite heart

[21:57] God will not turn away friend you trust Christ you come to Christ you humble yourself and God will save you because he says come all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest he is a merciful God and sadness grips us because we read verse 25 and Judas the one who was betraying him answering said surely it is not I and notice he calls him here Rabbi in hypocrisy Judas asked calling him Rabbi and remember what we said in Matthew's Gospel remember what we said in Matthew's Gospel and I'm not saying it for Mark Luke or John but in Matthew's Gospel it's been made clear anyone who called

[23:02] Jesus Rabbi did not really believe in him remember that we've talked about this so it's striking it's ironic that Judas called him Rabbi and notice Jesus answered you said it yourself it's on you in other words it came out of your mouth and you know think about it Jesus could have told the disciples it was Judas right and they would have stopped him beat him up tie him up with duct tape rope but this is good for us to see because it's another indication Jesus was in total control Judas was the one God being used by God to begin this process by which you and

[24:04] I will have forgiveness of sins did Judas leave at that point we're not told it seems like it according to John's gospel which would make sense given what Jesus would do next with the Lord's supper with his disciples which now we come to this next point which is vital to what we're looking at today the forgiveness coming at 26 to 30 while they're eating he took taking bread blessing it he broke giving to the disciples he said take eat even this Passover meal but now Jesus is going to reinterpret the Passover Jesus would use the unleavened bread and wine and give it new meanings for his disciples take and eat this command to eat is only in Matthew's gospel this is my body and not that

[25:06] Jesus body was broken because it wasn't unless you see it figuratively but Jesus body wasn't broken no bones were broken in his body but when he says here take eat this is my body the idea is this from one bread it's broken into many pieces so it's many yet also one many different pieces and we do it like this we have little individual pieces but the idea is having one loaf and you disperse it from different pieces because from one body he gives himself on our behalf to many that's the idea from many from one is to many it symbolized the unity of the body and that Jesus body was given on behalf of us and we share together in the giving of his body together collectively it unites us at least it should it unifies us and just as a side note here this is for free this is why this whole racism thing as far as for us as

[26:27] Christians is ridiculous if there's anyone who should not be racist it's us because what unites us together whatever shade of color that you are of your skin is Jesus Christ we're one in him that's what makes it so beautiful that's what makes the gospel the real true answer to this mayhem that's happening in our world in our country and they're so blinded to it to the cup verse 27 taking a cup there was three or four different cups that they used in the Passover so maybe it was whichever cup give me thanks he gave it to them drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out concerning many unto forgiveness of sins so represented his blood or life which was shed or poured out concerning or for many unto forgiveness of sins which alludes to

[27:37] Isaiah chapter 53 what Yahweh would do to a suffering servant in verse 10 through 12 it alludes to Exodus chapter 24 remember that part when Moses ratified the covenant that Israel made with Yahweh with his people and he sprinkled the blood on them now it's Christ's blood it's his life this is the new covenant as predicted in Jeremiah 31 verse 31 to 34 Jesus would give his life so that his people may have forgiveness of all their sins again notice poured out for or concerning on their behalf is the idea so his death would be vicarious a substitutionary gift for all who believe in your place a vicarious substitutionary atonement and so these elements that we partake of something magical doesn't happen when you take the

[28:56] Lord's supper doesn't all of a sudden make you nice and pure that doesn't happen because the power is not in the elements the powers with the elements or towards which the elements point it points to Christ it points to his giving of his body it points to him giving his life on our behalf it points to what Messiah has done the power is not in the elements but in the message towards which the elements points the gospel you're forgiven you're cleansed and he's commanding them us to commemorate his death so this first Passover marked out God's people and the provision of a sacrifice in their stead back in Exodus chapter 12 in the same way Jesus is our provision he dies for his people he gives himself on our behalf we see such great love

[30:06] Jesus had for his own for his disciples for us for you are you not a follower of Jesus then you come to him and find forgiveness of all your sins today so we remember we remember what Jesus did and proclaim our identification with this great act the bread and the juice that doesn't change us but it's meant to bring about change in us as we remember what Christ has done for us because as he has forgiven us what does Paul say in the same way Christ has forgiven you so you forgive each other you display that same grace and mercy to each other because he's done that for us collectively as his people we need to ponder this constantly remind ourselves of the vicarious gift of Jesus on the cross because we're so prone to forget we're prone to forget that we're embraced by the

[31:10] Father only through Jesus Messiah we're bent on performing for God to gain his acceptance nothing you do will add or take away from your salvation it's Christ and Christ alone so remember Jesus death it's key in our relationship with the Father reconciling our relationship with the Father our sin upon Christ God's righteousness is puted to us happy Father's Day thank you thank you Father for being our perfect Father and sending your Son to die for us but that's not the end notice verse 29 verse 29 but I say to you I will never drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink a new with you in the kingdom of my father this is also another fun part to the

[32:15] Lord's Supper not only do we look back to what Jesus has done but we also anticipate the future when he will return to set up the full kingdom and the celebration of the eschatological feast where we will be with him forever we'll be at home with the Lord and you'll see millions and millions of there's Nancy over there and there's Anne there's there's needle over there right there's all the saints that you know and you see them and we're celebrating together in our resurrected state all of us together millions and all shades of skin colors right they're all there the feast and Jesus says that's what I'm going to celebrate with you so we remember the past which encourages us in the present and gives anticipatory hope for the future your sins have been forgiven in the past why are you weighing yourself down with guilt you have forgiveness now this gives you encouragement right now and it gives you hope for the future that you will be with your savior we look to Jesus to what he's done and what he will do he redeemed us and one day he will reign and you will reign with him over this whole world which seems like it's a

[33:54] God forsaken world and yet it won't be so may the proclamation of the central truth of the true pure gospel and encourage your soul strengthen your love for your savior who came to die in your praise and bring you forgiveness notice what happens verse 30 after singing a hymn which we'll do that in a few minutes too a few moments we'll sing together they probably sang the hello psalm 115 118 they left for the mount of olives but we can't stop there because we also have to look at verses 31 to 35 and the reason why because this is why we need this forgiveness verse 31 and 35 gives us the reasons why we need forgiveness after the benefit of forgiveness and cleansing the reasons we need to be forgiven and cleansed Jesus

[34:57] Jesus said to them you will all be caused to stumble because of me or fall into sin just as is written from Zechariah 13 verse 7 which will be fulfilled I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will run they would desert him scatter away from him that very night they would stumble in their faith and yet though it was a serious sin it would not be final forgiveness would come because notice what he says in verse 32 but after I've been raised I will go before you to Galilee there's the promise of restoration there's the promise of forgiveness there's the promise of renewal Jesus gave them the promise that they would be forgiven and restored friends this was why they needed forgiveness and cleansing this is why you need forgiveness and cleansing we sin we fall short we doubt we question and we become very unteachable because look at what

[36:10] Peter says the all may be caused to stumble because of you I will never fall away and he's speaking for the other disciples as well he's the spokesman haven't heard from Peter in a long time since chapter 19 Peter arrogantly and immaturely proclaimed he would not deny the Lord verse 34 Jesus said to him shall I say to you this night before it crows three times you will deny me actually Peter you're going to be the worst says Jesus but Peter again an arrogant unteachableness adamantly stood by his claim even if I have to die and it says I will not deny you it is literally you may I will never and disciples said the same thing a great lesson for us may we be careful of our attitudes when it comes to sin may we be humble teachable self-giving followers of

[37:24] Christ friends this is why we needed forgiveness you know it's a good thing we have verses 26 27 28 29 and verse 32 because you read verse 31 to 35 wow this is that sad but when we humble ourselves before him and teachable submission he will forgive us he'll cleanse us and restore us renew his relationship with us which is why we need the reminder of the elements a oneness and sharing the bread and the cup together a new united believing community of faith we're committed to Christ and we're committed to each other this is central to the gospel Jesus death and the inauguration of this new freedom a new deliverance of total forgiveness forgiveness was affected by his sacrificial vicarious substitution or a death and as we'll take this together in just a few minutes you can look back and you can also look forward and have present encouragement

[38:35] Jesus initiated the forgiveness covenant for us so that we may be forgiven of all our sins and have relation with God through him relation with the father the love of the father for us so I'll encourage you as you I'll give instructions in just a few minutes I'll encourage you you can say happy father's day to your father in heaven he's the perfect father for us through Jesus so we didn't say something weird trying to be sensitive to people I don't know how this is going to work I'm trying to figure this out on the way as we go so we'll probably sing a verse or two of how deep the father's love for us which I thought would be appropriate father's day and then at some point what I'll do is I'll just say hey as you see fit come and there's there's a little paper thingy but

[39:38] Sandy's awesome she thought of it so she put the little breads inside of that for you way to go Sandy and then she did the cups too Chris and Jane did the cups so you can take a cup and a little thing of bread and then you should go back to your seat so we'll sing a verse or two probably two verses probably two verses and then after that I'll give you the cue and then you can come up as you see fit you might want to just ponder and then wait and then I'll kind of check out see if everyone's got a bread and a cup and if you have one you'll say hey go get one and remember this is for us you might say hey I'm not a member here look if you've been we believe in baptism by immersion you've trusted Christ you come from a church of like faith and practice partake of the Lord's supper with us we're not a closed communion if you don't know Jesus we don't think you should take this and if you do know Jesus and you haven't gone to make things right with somebody that you you've tried to make things right that's different if there's something you have something against someone else and you haven't gone to try and reconcile maybe it would be better for you not to partake wait first try and reconcile because God's reconciled with us right in Jesus so first go and reconcile with them and next time we partake of the Lord's supper then take with us okay so that's what we'll do try to figure this out so we'll do a couple verses we'll sing a couple verses of how deep the Father's love for us and then I'll say okay you guys come and then just come and then once everyone

[41:16] I didn't finish that part once everyone gets one then I'll say okay let's take it together and then we'll take the bread and I'll say okay take the juice and then just keep your cups with you because there's a trash can you go out you can throw it in there so how's that sound does that work am I making sense I'm making sense this way am I making sense this way though to you okay I see nods okay good let me pray first and then we'll sing let's pray as we want to thank you Lord Jesus we want to thank you Father for being the perfect Father for us for this forgiveness covenant and so we will celebrate this together your love for us Father so deep for what you've done for us in Jesus we celebrate you we celebrate the gospel today together in your name Jesus amen to that borg

[42:26] Thank you.