Latest / The Daily Word / October 9 – A New and Better Covenant
Transcript
- Robert Rosales: Hey, good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, Lakeshore family. Welcome to the Daily Word podcast. I'm Robert Rosales, and along with my wife Yolanda, I have the privilege of serving as the campus pastor at our Gastonia location. Thank you so much for investing some time with me in God's Word today. Whether you're listening on your morning commute, enjoying a cup of coffee, or you're beginning your day with the Lord. My heart is that this time encourages you and draws you closer to Jesus. As a reminder, each day we're reading through the Bible together as a church using the life journal reading plan. If you don't have one, come on, go to the lobby, the welcome center at the campus you attend and pick one up. This is where we get our reading plan for the month, for the day. Today we're going to be focusing on the New Testament passage. And as we read, I just want to remind you, I'm using the SOAP method: scripture, observation, application, and prayer. It's a simple tool that I've been using, many of us have used for many, many years. And it helps us move God's word from the pages to our everyday lives. So before we begin and I share with you my journal insight for today's reading, come on, just agree with me as we pray and we invite God to speak to us. Come on, Father. Thank you for this new day and for the privilege of opening your word. Quiet the distractions around us and the noise within us. Give us hearts that are teachable, minds that are attentive, and lives that are ready to obey whatever you reveal. Holy Spirit, illuminate the scriptures and help us not only understand them, but help us live them out today. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen. Well, friends, today's passage for October 9th comes to us from Luke 22. And I journaled on verse 20. Listen to verse 20 in the New King James as I read it. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. These are Jesus' words. Most of you are very familiar with this. This is a time when Jesus was taking communion or the Lord's Supper, or we'll say the Passover meal with his disciples. Listen to what he said when he got to the wine that represented his blood. He said, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. Here's the title of my journal entry: A New and Better Covenant. Come on, say it with me. A new and better covenant. Covenant. Let me just give us a little bit of a reminder, a refresher about covenant and what it means. Scholars agree that a covenant is fundamentally an agreement between parties that defines their relationship and establishes mutual rights and responsibilities. Applied to Jesus' sacrifice, the term captures something essential. God binds himself by solemn oath. To do what he has promised. The new covenant in Christ's blood functions as a binding commitment rather than a casual agreement. Jesus' death put into effect what both testaments call a new covenant. Just as ancient covenants between nations or rulers and subjects establish the terms of a relationship, so Christ's Blood sealed covenant establishes the basis for humanity's relationship with God. Because it is based on consent rather than coercion, it establishes a responsible moral relation between people and God. Come on, hold on to all of that. A little bit of information about covenant and what it means. Let me write, let me give you what I wrote down as far as my observation from this verse. It it's a lot. I think it's I think it's substantive, so lean in with me. When Jesus identified the cup with a new covenant in my blood, quote unquote, he drew on centuries of Jewish expectation and reframed it through his upcoming sacrifice. The new covenant contrasts with the old covenant, a conditional agreement God made with Israel through Moses. That established laws and ceremonies defining sin and showing forgiveness through sacrifice. The prophet Jeremiah foretold this change, promising that God would establish a new covenant in which his law would be written on hearts rather than merely on stone, enabling all people to know God directly. That's Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34. The blood imagery carries profound significance. Just as the original covenant required blood sacrifice, animal blood sprinkled on the people and tabernacle, the new covenant similarly demands blood. Without bloodshed, there is no forgiveness. That comes from Hebrews chapter 9, verses 15 through 22. But here's the decisive difference. The old system required repeated animal sacrifices that could never truly remove sin, since bulls and goats' blood proved insufficient. Jesus established a new and better covenant through his own blood shed on the cross, providing the complete sacrifice the old system could never achieve. Jeremiah's promise that God would forgive iniquity and remember sin no more finds its fulfillment in Christ's poured out blood. When believers trust in that sacrifice, God no longer holds their transgressions against them. The cup thus becomes a tangible sign of a transformed relationship. The new and better covenant rests on faith in Christ's shed blood rather than On repeated works or sacrifices, since his single offering suffices for all who believe for all time. Matthew's parallel account clarifies that Jesus' blood was shed for many for the remissance of sins. That's in Matthew twenty-six twenty-eight. And while Jeremiah's envisioned a covenant where direct knowledge of God would extend from least to the greatest. With complete forgiveness. Again, Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34. This is powerful. Our better and new covenant with Jesus is powerful. How does this apply to our lives, Pastor Robert? Well, this is what I wrote for me. As a follower of Jesus, I will rejoice in the fact that I have been placed into a new and better covenant through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. This is good news. I no longer have to wonder. If I am in God's good graces because of the blood of Jesus, I no longer have to wonder if God will keep his promises. Because of the blood, he will. I've been completely forgiven and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. I will move forward with confidence that I am the blood bought, purchased possession of the most high God. I am his and he is mine. From this point forward, every time I take the Lord's Supper, I will remind myself that I am in a better and new covenant, ratified in the blood of Jesus. Come on, somebody say amen. Here's a prayer. Father God, thank you for speaking to me today through your word. Holy Spirit, help me to live this out daily. Help me to walk in faith and expectancy. For all that God has for me as a recipient and a partner in a new and better covenant. I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Lakeshore family, as you go about your day, my prayer is that you'll keep growing in your love for Jesus and his word. As you invest time with him, may he give you fresh insight, strengthen your faith, and guide your steps. Thanks for joining me today on the Daily Word Podcast. I pray you've been encouraged to stay in God's Word and walk closely with the Holy Spirit. God bless you, and we'll catch you again tomorrow.