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Andy Stanley - Ninety Part 8 The New Covenant · Andy Stanley Sermons

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Speaker 1: Here are two words that always make me a little
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Speaker 1: bit suspicious, and I bet perhaps they make you suspicious
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Speaker 1: as well. Unlimited unconditional, unlimited unconditional, unlimited coverage. Are you
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Speaker 1: sure you know once they get off the highway? Is
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Speaker 1: that where the limit ends? You know? Is unreally unconditional guarantee?
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Speaker 2: Yeah? I'm so sure. Where's the fine print?
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Speaker 1: Doesn't doesn't she always get nervous when somebody says unlimited unconditional.
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Speaker 1: A few years ago, I was at a college orientation
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Speaker 1: with one of my kids, and they were talking about
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Speaker 1: the school and we had already enrolled and we're about
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Speaker 1: to start in two weeks and they're giving us all
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Speaker 1: the deal. And so the food services guy came in
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Speaker 1: and he was gonna explain how the food services food
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Speaker 1: services works and if you you may remember this from college,
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Speaker 1: or maybe you're in college, and you get a card
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Speaker 1: the cards free, and then you load it up with
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Speaker 1: a bunch of money, and you get a certain number
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Speaker 1: of swipes, and then once you eat up all that food,
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Speaker 1: you loaded up with some more money.
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Speaker 2: And they were talking about the different packages.
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Speaker 1: If your kid eats a little bit, if they're gonna
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Speaker 1: eat two meals, three meals, and then they had unlimited.
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Speaker 1: You could put a certain amount of money on that
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Speaker 1: card and your son or daughter could live in the
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Speaker 1: cafeteria and just eat all day long unlimited. So anyway,
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Speaker 1: he's telling us this, and he said, you know, one
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Speaker 1: time he was doing this spiel and a lady raised
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Speaker 1: her hands. She said, well, you need to understand my
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Speaker 1: son eats a lot. He eats a lot. And he said, well, ma'am,
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Speaker 1: you probably need to get the unlimited plan. She said, no, no, no,
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Speaker 1: he eats a lot. He said, I understand, so you
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Speaker 1: should probably get in it. She said, no, no, no, no,
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Speaker 1: you don't understand. And she just couldn't quite grasp the fact.
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Speaker 1: What unmant unmant like not limited? And she he said,
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Speaker 1: by the time we finished going back and forth, she
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Speaker 1: still wasn't satisfied that unlimited would be enough food for
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Speaker 1: her son, because there always seems to be a catch
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Speaker 1: when it comes to unlimited. Now, the interesting thing about this,
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Speaker 1: I would imagine that some of you may have had
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Speaker 1: a similar conversation with God. You know, you hear about unlimited.
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Speaker 1: You know, God's unconditional love and God's unlimited forgiveness or
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Speaker 1: his unconditional love and his unlimited forgiveness. And you're thinking, Okay,
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Speaker 1: I know I heard about that in church and Sunday School,
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Speaker 1: but have you checked my record. I don't think your
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Speaker 1: un is big enough for me. And if you think
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Speaker 1: perhaps God's unlimited and unconditional isn't big enough for you
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Speaker 1: because of your record, I cannot tell you how happy
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Speaker 1: I am today that you're gonna hear what we have
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Speaker 1: to talk about. So let's just jump right back into
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Speaker 1: the story where we left off last time. Jesus is
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Speaker 1: on his way to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover with his guides.
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Speaker 1: And Passover is a big deal because Passover is an
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Speaker 1: annual celebration where Jewish people would get together and celebrate
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Speaker 1: the fact that God had delivered their ancestors from Egypt
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Speaker 1: and Egyptian slavery. But it was a little bittersweet in
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Speaker 1: the first century because Israel was an occupied territory. Israel
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Speaker 1: was occupied by Rome, so the Jewish people were celebrating
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Speaker 1: God's liberty and God's liberating activity in the past, but
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Speaker 1: it didn't seem like God was going to answer their
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Speaker 1: prayers in the present. But in spite of that, Passover
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Speaker 1: was a big deal, and Jerusalem was the place to be.
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Speaker 2: So get the picture.
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Speaker 1: Thousands and thousands and thousands of Jewish pilgrims are pouring
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Speaker 1: into this even large by ancient standards, this large city, Jerusalem.
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Speaker 1: Every road is packed, everybody's moving in the same direction.
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Speaker 1: The city is crowded, the hotels are full. And Jesus
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Speaker 1: and his guys and the people who follow him constantly
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Speaker 1: have joined that crowd of people moving in towards the city.
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Speaker 1: And the chief Priest and the Pharisees and the keeper
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Speaker 1: of the temple, the keepers of the temple, they've heard
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Speaker 1: that Jesus is coming to Jerusalem, and they're thinking this
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Speaker 1: is the opportunity they've been waiting for, if only they
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Speaker 1: can find him.
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Speaker 2: In all the crowd.
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Speaker 1: The chief priest, the text tells us the chief Priest
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Speaker 1: and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found
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Speaker 1: out where Jesus was should report it so that they
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Speaker 1: might arrest him. But there was a caveat because they
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Speaker 1: were smart. But they weren't going to arrest him during
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Speaker 1: the festival, they said, or there might be a riot
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Speaker 1: because Jesus was dreamly popular. So hey, he's somewhere in
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Speaker 1: the city. Surely we'll be able to spot him. We'll
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Speaker 1: put a few people on, you know, to tail him.
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Speaker 1: And then once the celebration's over and people start leaving
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Speaker 1: the city, we move in, we separate him from the crowd,
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Speaker 1: we arrest him, we'll have him put to death, and
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Speaker 1: then we're going to send a group to find a
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Speaker 1: Lazarus or we're gonna put Lazarus to dead two to
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Speaker 1: death as well, and then maybe this whole thing will
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Speaker 1: be over with and behind us. The text says that
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Speaker 1: the next day, the next day, being about five days
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Speaker 1: from the actual Passover celebration, there are spies on the
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Speaker 1: lookout for Jesus fans eagerly expecting his arrival. The text
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Speaker 1: tells us that about five days from Passover, the great
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Speaker 1: crowd that had come for the festival that's Passover heard
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Speaker 1: that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. Now, he'd
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Speaker 1: been kind of traveling around these other little villages and towns,
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Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, there's this rumor he's coming
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Speaker 1: into the city. He's coming into the city. Which gate
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Speaker 1: will he come through? From Which direction will he come?
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Speaker 1: They weren't sure, And there's this buzz everywhere. The whole
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Speaker 1: city is expecting Jesus. And the reason they're so excited
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Speaker 1: is they're thinking, maybe this will be the moment, this
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Speaker 1: will be the passover that we finally not only celebrate
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Speaker 1: Israel's freedom and being set free from Egyptian bondage, but
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Speaker 1: maybe this is the passover where we celebrate liberty from
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Speaker 1: Roman bondage as well. Maybe Jesus will proclaim himself king
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Speaker 1: and the.
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Speaker 2: City will be full of patriots.
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Speaker 1: So Rome is nervous, Pilot is nervous, the Pharisees are nervous.
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Speaker 1: Everybody is on the lookout for Jesus, and they spot
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Speaker 1: him coming. And when they see him from a distance,
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Speaker 1: word travels quickly and people line up on both sides
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Speaker 1: of the road, and they took out branches and they
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Speaker 1: went out to meet him, and they begin to wave
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Speaker 1: them in the air and to blay them on the streets,
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Speaker 1: and they begin shouting Hosanna, Hosanna, hosanna, which meant save us, now,
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Speaker 1: save us, now, save us now. This was a cry,
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Speaker 1: This was a prayer that the Jews prayed to God.
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Speaker 1: And suddenly they're focusing this prayer on a person, Jesus,
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Speaker 1: as he rides in to town. But then it escalates,
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Speaker 1: blessed is he. They begin to say, blessed is he
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Speaker 1: who comes in the name or who comes with the
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Speaker 1: authority of God.
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Speaker 2: And then it turned political, blessed is the king of Israel.
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Speaker 1: And they had assumed that Jesus had come to Jerusalem
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Speaker 1: to do something for the nation, But in fact, Jesus
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Speaker 1: had come to Jerusalem to do something for you, to
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Speaker 1: do something for the entire world that in the next
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Speaker 1: few days unbeknownst to them, and in the next few
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Speaker 1: days this will take everyone by surprise.
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Speaker 2: In the next few days, what Jesus would do would be.
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Speaker 1: So confusing that they wouldn't understand it until after it
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Speaker 1: had all been completed. In the next few days, Jesus
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Speaker 1: would fulfill God's promise to Abraham, and he would replace
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Speaker 1: God's covenant with Israel. Because many centuries before this first
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Speaker 1: century event, God had promised Abraham that he would become
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Speaker 1: a nation, and through that nation, the entire world would
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Speaker 1: be blessed. And Jesus is about to fulfill that promise.
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Speaker 1: And in fulfilling that promise, he would replace God's covenant
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Speaker 1: with Israel. So for the next few days Jesus is
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Speaker 1: in the temple, and he's laying low, and he's moving
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Speaker 1: around at night, and there's Jesus siding here, and there's
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Speaker 1: a Jesus siding there. But by the time they get there,
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Speaker 1: Jesus and his guys are already gone. He even goes
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Speaker 1: to the temple and teaches a little bit, but exits
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Speaker 1: before they.
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Speaker 2: Can arrest him.
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Speaker 1: And then two days out from passover, two days out
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Speaker 1: from Passover, something that would have seemed miraculous took place.
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Speaker 1: The Pharisees and the Sadducees and the teachers of the
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Speaker 1: law finally got a break. They finally had an answer
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Speaker 1: to prayer. One of Jesus's closest followers breaks rank. The
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Speaker 1: text says in Judas, and Judas went to the chief
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Speaker 1: priest and the officers of the temple guard and discuss
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Speaker 1: with them how he might betray Jesus, And the text
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Speaker 1: says Luke says that they were delighted. And the reason
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Speaker 1: they were delighted is because actually they were afraid. They
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Speaker 1: were afraid that if Jesus became king, and if Jesus
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Speaker 1: declared himself Messiah, that they would lose everything that Jesus
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Speaker 1: becoming king meant they would lose everything that was valuable
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Speaker 1: to them, that he would take things away. And perhaps
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Speaker 1: that's the reason you were afraid for Jesus to be
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Speaker 1: the king of your life, because of what he might
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Speaker 1: take away. But as they were about to discover, Jesus.
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Speaker 2: Did not come to take anything. Jesus came to give something.
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Speaker 1: So the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees and
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Speaker 1: the Sadducees agreed with Judas, and they were delighted, and
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Speaker 1: they agreed to give him money, and he consented and
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Speaker 1: wants for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them
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Speaker 1: with no crowd was present.
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Speaker 2: And so the stage is set.
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Speaker 1: The kingdom of this world versus the Kingdom of Heaven.
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Speaker 1: The kingdoms of this world with their top down arrangement,
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Speaker 1: with their violence oriented arrangement, with there we can handle things,
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Speaker 1: we control things, arrangement with their imperial system, the kingdoms
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Speaker 1: of this world versus the Kingdom and the plan of God,
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Speaker 1: and their plan would actually succeed, but their objective would
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Speaker 1: not be met because unlike them, Jesus did not cling
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Speaker 1: to his life. It was his intention all along to
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Speaker 1: give his life away. But before he did that, there
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Speaker 1: were two loose ends that he had to tie up
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Speaker 1: and passover, and the Passover meal was the perfect opportunity
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Speaker 1: to do just that. So we send some friends out
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Speaker 1: into the city to find a place that he and
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Speaker 1: his disciples, the twelve can celebrate Passover meal together.
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Speaker 2: It's a place that's off.
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Speaker 1: The beaten path, where they won't be interrupted, where they
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Speaker 1: won't be arrested, somewhere where no one will be able
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Speaker 1: to find them, that they can have peace and have
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Speaker 1: these final conversations. Because Jesus knew his time was drawing
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Speaker 1: to a close. And as they began the Passover meal,
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Speaker 1: something happened that was so disruptive that I'm absolutely convinced
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Speaker 1: that the disciples were never able to put all of
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Speaker 1: this together until after the resurrection.
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Speaker 2: But here's what happened while they were having the meal.
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Speaker 1: While they were eating, Jesus took bread, unleavened bread, more
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Speaker 1: like crackers. Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks,
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Speaker 1: he snapped it in half, he broke it, and he
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Speaker 1: gave it to his disciples, saying, take and eat.
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Speaker 2: This is my body.
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Speaker 1: Luke's version, this is my body given for you and
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Speaker 1: Just before they were about to take their first bite,
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Speaker 1: they stopped and looked at each other and thought, did
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Speaker 1: he just say what we think said, wait, wait, wait,
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Speaker 1: this is your body.
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Speaker 2: But he wasn't finished. It got even more offensive. Do this.
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Speaker 1: He said, do this in remembrance of to which they
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Speaker 1: could have said, well, you don't have to tell us
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Speaker 1: what to do this in remembrance of We've been doing
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Speaker 1: this in remembrance of something since we were little boys,
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Speaker 1: since we were little boys, since we were children with
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Speaker 1: our fathers and our grandfathers. We did this in remembrance
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Speaker 1: of God coming to Egypt and taking his people out
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Speaker 1: and punishing the nation of Egypt and punishing Pharaoh. We
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Speaker 1: know exactly what we're doing this in remembrance of Jesus
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Speaker 1: smiled and said, that's all changing. From now on, when
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Speaker 1: you celebrate Passover, you will do this in remembrance of me. Now, gentiles,
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Speaker 1: that we're all gentiles, most of usunless you're Jewish, and
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Speaker 1: you're way ahead of me if you're Jewish. But gentiles,
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Speaker 1: let me explain something to you. At this point, everybody
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Speaker 1: should have gotten up and left the room. This should
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Speaker 1: have been the end. I mean, okay, Jesuz, you've contradicted Moses.
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Speaker 1: You've set yourself up and above and apart from Moses,
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Speaker 1: and you can mess with Moses, even though that's gotten
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Speaker 1: us in a lot of trouble. And you're not very
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Speaker 1: popular with the religious leaders because you kind of diss
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Speaker 1: Moses over and over and over. But Jesus, look at us.
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Speaker 1: You don't mess with Passover. You can't replace Passover. You
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Speaker 1: can't make Passover all about you. I mean, let me
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Speaker 1: try to illustrate it this way. Imagine this coming December.
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Speaker 1: I show up on the first weekend of December and say, hey,
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Speaker 1: you know, churches, is hey about to you know, move
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Speaker 1: into this holiday season. And you know, normally on throughout
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Speaker 1: December we celebrate the birth of Jesus. But this December,
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Speaker 1: we're gonna celebrate my birth. Every single weekend we get together.
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Speaker 1: We have some new songs that.
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Speaker 2: Have been written.
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Speaker 1: They're all about me. This whole thing will crescendo. We're
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Speaker 1: gonna have an andy Eve service, you know, with candle lights.
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Speaker 1: Then on Sunday morning, we're all gonna gather and I'm
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Speaker 1: gonna put a big chair out here and sit here,
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Speaker 1: and you're all just gonna talk about how great I am,
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Speaker 1: and we're just you know this December it's all about
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Speaker 1: me and all of you would leave the church and
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Speaker 1: you should. In fact, if I ever do that, you
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Speaker 1: have my permission ahead of time. Leave the church. Something
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Speaker 1: bad has happened. Right now, here's my point.
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Speaker 2: Look up here. This was way worse than that. This
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Speaker 2: was way more disruptive than that.
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Speaker 1: Jesus, Okay, you're great in all you know, but you
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Speaker 1: can't make passover about you. That was the beginning of
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Speaker 1: the meal. Jesus just goes back to the meal.
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Speaker 2: You're looking at each other and like, did you maybe
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Speaker 2: we misunderstood.
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Speaker 1: Maybe this whole you know, triumfle entry thing kind of
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Speaker 1: went to his head. I mean so, but he wasn't done.
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Speaker 1: So to eat their meal, have a conversation. Who knows
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Speaker 1: what's runing through their minds, and then we're told this
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Speaker 1: in the same way, in the same way after supper.
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Speaker 2: So they eat the whole meal.
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Speaker 1: After supper, Jesus took the cup and he said this
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Speaker 1: this cup is, to which they could have said, hang on, whoa, whoa, woa,
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Speaker 1: we know what this cup is. This cup represents the
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Speaker 1: blood that was shed by animals. The night that our
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Speaker 1: ancestors left Egypt and went to the Promised Land, and
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Speaker 1: they had to slaughter and a lamb of you know,
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Speaker 1: a spotless lamb, and put the blood over the door,
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Speaker 1: down the sides of the door, and the death Angel
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Speaker 1: passed through Egypt, and we all left under the blood
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Speaker 1: of the lamb, and you know, went to Mount Sinai,
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Speaker 1: and God established us as a new nation. I mean,
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Speaker 1: we know, we know exactly what this represents to Jesus.
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Speaker 1: If we could, could we please stick with the fifteen
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Speaker 1: hundred year old script that we all learned as children.
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Speaker 1: I want you to understand how extraordinarily disruptive this was.
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Speaker 1: And the same way, after the Supper he took the cup,
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Speaker 1: and here's what he said. This cup is the new covenant,
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Speaker 1: not a new covenant, the new covenant. This cup has
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Speaker 1: always represented a celebration of God's covenant with the nation.
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Speaker 1: Up until this night, every time you got together, it
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Speaker 1: was the celebration of the fact that God established a
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Speaker 1: brand new relationship with the nation at Israel. But from
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Speaker 1: now on, when you take this cup, you are going
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Speaker 1: to celebrate a brand new covenant that begins tonight.
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Speaker 2: And if they'd been paying attention in Sunday school. These
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Speaker 2: Jewish boys knew that.
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Speaker 1: The prophet Jeremiah had predicted the day would come when
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Speaker 1: God would establish a new covenant that would replace the
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Speaker 1: current covenant. In fact, this was six hundred and fifty
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Speaker 1: years before this moment with Jesus and the disciples. The
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Speaker 1: prophet Jeremiah said this. He said, the days are coming,
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Speaker 1: so pay attention and get ready. Somebody take notes. The
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Speaker 1: days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make
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Speaker 1: a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the.
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Speaker 2: People of Judah. And it will not be like the covenant.
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Speaker 1: It will not be like the covenant I made with
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Speaker 1: their ancestors when I took them by the hand to
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Speaker 1: lead them out of Egypt, that covenant that God established
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Speaker 1: with Moses, when Moses came down with the ten Commandments
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Speaker 1: and all the rituals and the rules and all the
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Speaker 1: stipulations and all the I will and you have to,
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Speaker 1: and if you don't, I won't. He said, It's not
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Speaker 1: going to be like that one. But there will be
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Speaker 1: a replacement covenant. But the question that they should have asked,
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Speaker 1: if they've been thinking straight, and we find out next
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Speaker 1: week they weren't thinking straight because everything was moving so fast.
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Speaker 1: The question they would have to think is, well, if
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Speaker 1: you're establishing a new covenant, is it going to be
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Speaker 1: like the old one?
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Speaker 2: How will it be different?
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Speaker 1: And the prophet Jeremiah six hundred and fifty years earlier
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Speaker 1: answered that question. He said, I will put my law.
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Speaker 1: Here's the difference between the two covenants. I will put
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Speaker 1: my law, the law that was written on some stone,
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Speaker 1: the law that God brought, that Moses brought down from
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Speaker 1: the mountain.
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Speaker 2: He said, in the new Covenant, there's going to be
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Speaker 2: a new law.
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Speaker 1: And I'm gonna put my law in their minds, and
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Speaker 1: I will write it on their hearts. They will not
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Speaker 1: have to memorize the laws and the stipulations for the
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Speaker 1: new covenant. It will be a covenant of conscience. And
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Speaker 1: this had been promised hundreds of years before the night
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Speaker 1: that Jesus said, I am inaugurating, I am unleashing. I
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Speaker 1: am establishing not a new covenant, the one you should
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Speaker 1: have been waiting.
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Speaker 2: For all along, back to pass Over.
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Speaker 1: He says, this cup is the new covenant, the one
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Speaker 1: that was promised long ago, the one that you should
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Speaker 1: have been looking for. The one that it's about to
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Speaker 1: begin now, a new kind and this new covenant represents
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Speaker 1: a new kind of relationship, because that's what a covenant is.
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Speaker 1: A covenant is an arrangement or an agreement or a
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Speaker 1: contract between two parties. And this new covenant would represent
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Speaker 1: a new kind of relationship. Not between God and a nation,
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Speaker 1: but between God and the nations, Not between God and
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Speaker 1: a group of people, but between God and individual people.
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Speaker 1: But the question they should have asked, the one they
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Speaker 1: should have wrestled to the ground, the one that should
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Speaker 1: have disturbed them if they had.
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Speaker 2: Been thinking straight.
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Speaker 1: This is okay, But what kind of covenant is it?
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Speaker 1: Would it be like the old one with so many
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Speaker 1: rules and conditions and punishments and blessings and we can't
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Speaker 1: even keep up with most of that.
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Speaker 2: Or is this new.
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Speaker 1: Covenant going to be more like the one with our
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Speaker 1: father Abraham. There's more of an unconditional covenant, because God
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Speaker 1: said to Abraham, look at me, Abraham, I'm gonna make
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Speaker 1: you a great nation, and I'm gonna bless the world
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Speaker 1: through you. And you can work with me or you
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Speaker 1: can work against me. But Abraham, when all is said
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Speaker 1: and done, you are gonna be a great nation, and
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Speaker 1: I am gonna bless the world through you.
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Speaker 2: I'm making you a promise. I hope you'll work with me.
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Speaker 1: But at the end, Abraham, I'm gonna make you a
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Speaker 1: great nation, and through that great nation, I am gonna
18:20
Speaker 1: bless the world. So this new covenant, what kind of
18:25
Speaker 1: covenant would it be? Now let's hit pause on Jesus
18:28
Speaker 1: and the Disciples. Hit pause, and now I want to
18:30
Speaker 1: talk to you just a little bit about ancient covenants
18:32
Speaker 1: that we're gonna come back to the story so you
18:33
Speaker 1: can understand the significance of what's happening in the room
18:36
Speaker 1: that night.
18:36
Speaker 2: There were essentially three.
18:37
Speaker 1: Kind of covenants that dominated the ancient landscape. The first
18:41
Speaker 1: kind of covenant is what's called bilateral parity treaty. Now
18:45
Speaker 1: there's not gonna be a test, but you should pay attention. Okay,
18:48
Speaker 1: it's called a bilateral parity treaty. And this is a
18:51
Speaker 1: covenant or an agreement between two equals. It's an I
18:54
Speaker 1: will if you will, and you will if I will,
18:57
Speaker 1: and if you don't, I'm gonna stop. And if I
18:59
Speaker 1: don't do it, you you expect me to do. You
19:01
Speaker 1: don't have to do what I'm expecting you to do.
19:02
Speaker 1: Just think business contract. That's what this kind of treaty was,
19:06
Speaker 1: or a treaty was. It's two groups get together, they're equals,
19:09
Speaker 1: and they come up with a contract. They both sign,
19:11
Speaker 1: or they both agree, or they cut their wrists or
19:12
Speaker 1: share blood, or kiss or hug. They were all kinds
19:14
Speaker 1: of things they would do, or trade daughters, you know,
19:17
Speaker 1: those all kinds of weird stuff. So this was between
19:19
Speaker 1: two equals. Then there was the bile what was called
19:22
Speaker 1: the bilateral suzerainty treaty. Now, a suzarin is like a
19:26
Speaker 1: king or a leader or a powerful person, and the
19:29
Speaker 1: way that this worked is that the suzarin or the
19:31
Speaker 1: king would dictate terms and conditions to a lesser power,
19:36
Speaker 1: a vassal who didn't have much choice in the matter.
19:40
Speaker 1: The best way to understand this is to think curfew. Okay, son,
19:45
Speaker 1: it's my car, these are my keys. I'm gonna let
19:48
Speaker 1: you drive my car, and I expect you to be
19:51
Speaker 1: home at ten o'clock.
19:52
Speaker 2: What time? Say it out loud, ten o'clock. So here's
19:54
Speaker 2: the keys.
19:55
Speaker 1: Now, if you don't get home by ten, you don't
19:57
Speaker 1: get to drive this next time. Okay, And for every
19:59
Speaker 1: ten minutes. You're late, I'm adding twenty minute. You know,
20:02
Speaker 1: this goes on and on and on, and so the vassal,
20:05
Speaker 1: which is the child, it's like, thank you, Father, and
20:07
Speaker 1: I'm going to try to obey your rules. And I
20:09
Speaker 1: don't get to give you rules. You give me the
20:11
Speaker 1: rules because you're the suzerin and I'm the vassal. Okay,
20:14
Speaker 1: you got it. That's how it worked. Now, here's the
20:15
Speaker 1: most important thing about that. God's relationship with the nation
20:19
Speaker 1: of Israel was a suzerin that was a bilateral Suzarin treaty.
20:24
Speaker 2: It was like curfew.
20:25
Speaker 1: God said to the nation, here are the rules, and
20:28
Speaker 1: God dictated all the terms when Moses came down from
20:31
Speaker 1: the mountain of Mount Sinai, hundreds and hundreds of years
20:33
Speaker 1: before this passover. When he came down from Mount Sinai,
20:36
Speaker 1: he had all the rules and all the conditions and
20:39
Speaker 1: all the punishments. If you'd like to read them, they're
20:42
Speaker 1: outlined at the end of the Book of Exodus, all
20:44
Speaker 1: of Levitigus, and most of Deuteronomy. It's the parts of
20:47
Speaker 1: the Bible that puts you to sleep. Now, they're really important,
20:52
Speaker 1: but they're not for us because we're not part of
20:55
Speaker 1: ancient Israel. That's why when you read them, you're like,
20:57
Speaker 1: who in the world could do all this stuff? It
20:59
Speaker 1: is so complicated, But God, this is so important. God
21:03
Speaker 1: was founding a nation, he was founding a civilization. He
21:06
Speaker 1: was founding a people that had to have rules and laws.
21:09
Speaker 1: He was establishing a brand new society. So he established
21:13
Speaker 1: a I will if you will, covenant, but if you don't,
21:16
Speaker 1: I won't.
21:16
Speaker 2: So here's how it went. He said to the nation.
21:18
Speaker 2: You can read it for yourself.
21:19
Speaker 1: He said to the nation, obey me, don't worship any
21:21
Speaker 1: other gods. Keep my rules and I'll keep you safe.
21:24
Speaker 1: Your crops will grow. I'll make sure that you're victorious
21:27
Speaker 1: in war. But if you don't keep my rules, if
21:30
Speaker 1: you worship other gods, I'm not going to protect you,
21:32
Speaker 1: and your crops aren't going to grow, and I'm not
21:34
Speaker 1: going to be for you anymore. In Israel's entire ancient
21:38
Speaker 1: history was faithful to God, unfaithful to God, faithful to God,
21:40
Speaker 1: unfaithful to God. And one time, this is amazing. At
21:42
Speaker 1: one point God actually put the whole nation. Parents, you
21:45
Speaker 1: should appreciate this. God put the whole nation in time
21:48
Speaker 1: out that's where time out started. They finally abandoned God
21:52
Speaker 1: and they worshiped idols, and God said, okay, I have
21:55
Speaker 1: warned you.
21:55
Speaker 2: We had an agreement. You broke your endo.
21:57
Speaker 1: The agreement took all the leaders of the nation of
21:59
Speaker 1: Israel and put him in Babylon for a seventy year
22:03
Speaker 1: time out, and then when they learned their lesson, he
22:05
Speaker 1: allowed them to come back into the land. So this
22:09
Speaker 1: was a suzeranty vassal treatment treaty.
22:12
Speaker 2: I am the king. You are the.
22:14
Speaker 1: Subjects here in my demands. If you don't obey, you
22:17
Speaker 1: will be punished. If you do obey, you will be blessed. Now,
22:22
Speaker 1: there's a third type of treaty that was common in
22:24
Speaker 1: ancient times. It was called a promisary covenant or a
22:27
Speaker 1: patron covenant. In this particular covenant, this is so important.
22:32
Speaker 1: One party, just one party binds itself to an obligation
22:36
Speaker 1: for the benefit of the other party. One party binds
22:40
Speaker 1: itself to an obligation, It makes a promise to the
22:42
Speaker 1: other party that's for the benefit of the other party.
22:45
Speaker 1: It is not bilateral. It's not I will if you will,
22:47
Speaker 1: and if you don't, I won't. It's unilateral. And it's unconditional.
22:52
Speaker 1: The best way to understand this one is to think
22:54
Speaker 1: middle school crush. Okay, you either wrote the note, read
22:59
Speaker 1: the note, or a friend of got the note and
23:00
Speaker 1: let you read the note. And the note went something
23:02
Speaker 1: like this, I promise to love you forever. I'm your
23:05
Speaker 1: friend forever. Even though your family's moving to San Antonio,
23:09
Speaker 1: I'm still gonna be I'm still gonna love you. And
23:12
Speaker 1: you know distances. You know, it was just unconditional, unconditional.
23:15
Speaker 1: It was all one sided.
23:16
Speaker 2: It.
23:16
Speaker 1: It was the promise of unwavering love. I don't expect
23:19
Speaker 1: you to do anything for me. It's all about you now. Fortunately,
23:24
Speaker 1: if you had a middle school crush, you did not
23:26
Speaker 1: ratify that covenant by taking the neighbor's cat and slicing
23:30
Speaker 1: it in half and sacrificing it. Which brings me to
23:33
Speaker 1: a really important part of understanding ancient covenants. And ancient covenants,
23:36
Speaker 1: they were all pretty much ratified the same way. Something
23:38
Speaker 1: had to die on all of them, and what generally
23:41
Speaker 1: they would do is take an animal, depending on how
23:43
Speaker 1: wealthy the parties were, and sometimes multiple animals, and they
23:46
Speaker 1: would literally split them right down the middle and they
23:49
Speaker 1: would lay them open, and then each party that was
23:52
Speaker 1: making the covenant together would literally walk through the halves
23:55
Speaker 1: of the dead animal. In fact, we talk about cutting deep.
24:00
Speaker 1: That language we're gonna cut a deal came from this
24:02
Speaker 1: ancient idea of cutting a covenant.
24:04
Speaker 2: That's what they would call it.
24:05
Speaker 1: That's what the Hebrew word means, We're gonna cut a covenant.
24:08
Speaker 1: And as they walk through these dead animal parts together,
24:12
Speaker 1: here's what they were essentially saying to each other.
24:14
Speaker 2: Both parties were saying, this.
24:15
Speaker 1: May it be unto me as it is this most
24:19
Speaker 1: unfortunate animal. If I violate the terms of this covenant exactly,
24:24
Speaker 1: whoe is the right response to this kind of covenant?
24:27
Speaker 2: WHOA In other words, I am pledging.
24:30
Speaker 1: I am pledging my life if I violate this con
24:34
Speaker 1: If I violate this covenant, this is a blood covenant
24:37
Speaker 1: between both parties. So back to the three covenants, So
24:41
Speaker 1: the promisory covenant, this is super important, the promissory covenant
24:45
Speaker 1: and the promisory covenant.
24:46
Speaker 2: Only one person is making a promise.
24:48
Speaker 1: Right, So when you when a group, when a person
24:51
Speaker 1: made a promisory covenant, they would slice the animals open,
24:54
Speaker 1: cut them in half. But instead of both parties walking between.
24:58
Speaker 1: Only one party would walk between. Why because only one
25:01
Speaker 1: party in the covenant was making a promise. It's all
25:07
Speaker 1: on them. Now here's the most fascinating thing of all.
25:09
Speaker 1: And if you're Jewish, oh, you're so lucky. Okay, this
25:13
Speaker 1: is so amazing. When God appeared to Abraham and he said, Abraham,
25:18
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make you a great nation, and then I'm
25:21
Speaker 1: gonna bless the entire world through that nation. They ratified
25:24
Speaker 1: that agreement with the sacrifice of an animal, and you
25:27
Speaker 1: can read about this in Genesis. And they cut open
25:29
Speaker 1: several animals and they have them up and there was
25:31
Speaker 1: space in between, and Abraham did not pass between.
25:35
Speaker 2: The pieces because this was all on God. Now Here
25:43
Speaker 2: was the question that night.
25:44
Speaker 1: It passover. God's establishing a new covenant. God's establishing a
25:48
Speaker 1: new covenant with the world. As they would find out,
25:51
Speaker 1: what kind of covenant is it? Jesus answers that in
25:55
Speaker 1: the way he explains the new covenant. Here's what he
25:58
Speaker 1: said back to Jesus and his guys up in the
26:00
Speaker 1: upper room. This cup is the new covenant. And the
26:05
Speaker 1: next statement clarified what kind of covenant it was going
26:08
Speaker 1: to be. This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
26:15
Speaker 1: I will play the role Jesus was saying, I will
26:18
Speaker 1: play the role of the animal that is sacrificed to
26:23
Speaker 1: inaugurate and to launch this new covenant, to which, if
26:27
Speaker 1: they were thinking straight, they would have thought, Okay, that's
26:29
Speaker 1: your part.
26:30
Speaker 2: What's our part?
26:31
Speaker 1: Which is poured out for you, guys, he would say,
26:37
Speaker 1: And those guys would later say to the Gentiles and
26:40
Speaker 1: Jews that they preached and reached and eventually to the
26:42
Speaker 1: whole world. He would say, you, you are on the
26:46
Speaker 1: receiving side. I as a representative God who have come
26:50
Speaker 1: to establish his covenant. I'm on the giving side. You
26:53
Speaker 1: are on the receiving side. Or to say it another way,
26:55
Speaker 1: it's this way. It's for you, it's on me. It's
27:01
Speaker 1: one hundred percent for you, It's one hundred percent on.
27:07
Speaker 2: Me.
27:08
Speaker 1: Matthew's account adds a few words, this cup, it's a
27:12
Speaker 1: new covenant, my blood, which is poured out for you
27:14
Speaker 1: for the forgiveness of sense. So, Jesus, this is all
27:20
Speaker 1: going so fast. This is not what we were expecting.
27:23
Speaker 1: So wait, So you are establishing the new covenant that
27:27
Speaker 1: Jeremiah prophesied. You're establishing the new Covenant. And in this covenant, Jesus,
27:33
Speaker 1: you are representing God's interest in establishing the covenant. And
27:37
Speaker 1: from now on, when we gather, we're no longer going
27:39
Speaker 1: to celebrate God. You're our father delivering our people from Egypt.
27:43
Speaker 1: From now on, we're going to celebrate the establishment of
27:46
Speaker 1: this new covenant. But the blood parts thrown us because remember,
27:50
Speaker 1: most of what Jesus said doesn't make any sense until
27:52
Speaker 1: after the resurrection. What do you mean this covenant is
27:55
Speaker 1: going to be in your blood?
27:56
Speaker 2: Are you kidding?
27:57
Speaker 1: You are the most popular person in this city. I
28:00
Speaker 1: mean people are waiting for you to step out during
28:02
Speaker 1: Passover and proclaim yourself king. What do you mean this
28:07
Speaker 1: covenant that you're beginning, that you're ratifying, is going to
28:10
Speaker 1: be and you're blood for the forgiveness of sin. Wait
28:13
Speaker 1: a minute, blood for the forgiveness of sin. That's the
28:15
Speaker 1: temple equation. That's the temple equation. That's what we've experienced
28:19
Speaker 1: our whole life. We go to temple, we take an animal,
28:21
Speaker 1: they sacrifice the animal, we get forgiveness of sins. And
28:23
Speaker 1: now you're talking is if you are the animal that
28:26
Speaker 1: results in forgiveness of sins. But Jesus, you're going so fast.
28:30
Speaker 1: Even if this was true, even if this was is literal,
28:34
Speaker 1: you you can only spill your blood once. And they
28:41
Speaker 1: should have seen this coming, because on day one when
28:46
Speaker 1: Jesus stepped onto the pages of history as an adult,
28:49
Speaker 1: John the Baptist, looking to this very moment three years
28:55
Speaker 1: or so earlier, said to the crowd gathered.
28:58
Speaker 2: There on the banks of the Jordan River, Look, look,
29:04
Speaker 2: look the lamb of God.
29:08
Speaker 1: Who single handedly, all by himself, gonna take it all
29:14
Speaker 1: on him, who has come to take away the sin
29:18
Speaker 1: of the entire.
29:21
Speaker 2: World.
29:23
Speaker 1: And the next day, this new covenant and his blood
29:29
Speaker 1: for the forgiveness of your sin would be officially ratified
29:34
Speaker 1: with Roman nails and Roman steel. The empire that best
29:42
Speaker 1: represented the kingdoms of this world was victorious for a moment,
29:51
Speaker 1: but God was up to something bigger. The new Covenant,
29:58
Speaker 1: the new Covenant, a new arrangement, a new agreement between
30:03
Speaker 1: God and this entire image bearing rebel race, a new
30:10
Speaker 1: covenant for every nation in every generation. This was the
30:15
Speaker 1: big one. This was the final one. This was the
30:19
Speaker 1: everlasting one. This was the one that would fulfill God's
30:23
Speaker 1: promise to Abraham and replace God's arrangement with the nation
30:29
Speaker 1: of Israel. It was the unconditional covenant. It was a
30:35
Speaker 1: promissary covenant. Only one half of the relationship. Only one
30:42
Speaker 1: party in the relationship would act on and inaugurate this covenant,
30:47
Speaker 1: and it would be Jesus, God's son. It was unilateral,
30:50
Speaker 1: one sided, unlimited coverage. And would there be terms and
30:54
Speaker 1: conditions like God's relationship with Abraham, with Moses and the
30:58
Speaker 1: people of Israel. Would there be conditions The answers, yes,
31:03
Speaker 1: but they would be nothing. They would be nothing like
31:07
Speaker 1: the terms and conditions. They would be nothing like the
31:11
Speaker 1: terms and conditions, the laws, the ceremonies, the stipulations that
31:14
Speaker 1: God rolled out and laid out for the nation when
31:16
Speaker 1: he established that covenant at Mount Sinai. In fact, I
31:21
Speaker 1: think if we were to say to John Matthew, Mark Luke,
31:22
Speaker 1: John the Apostle John, if we were say to John John,
31:25
Speaker 1: I mean, this is this is this is really too
31:27
Speaker 1: good to be true, but it's so good. I hope
31:29
Speaker 1: it's true that God established a relationship or the potential
31:34
Speaker 1: of a relationship with me through Jesus, the Son that
31:36
Speaker 1: he forgave.
31:37
Speaker 2: All of my sins.
31:38
Speaker 1: That it was unilateral that he did the whole thing,
31:40
Speaker 1: that it was really for me and on him.
31:43
Speaker 2: I mean, what do I do?
31:46
Speaker 1: And I think John who sat there that night and
31:49
Speaker 1: was as confused as everybody, John who watched Jesus die,
31:53
Speaker 1: John who put his arm around Jesus' mother to take
31:56
Speaker 1: care of her, John who peered into an empty tomb,
31:59
Speaker 1: and John who had breakfast with Jesus on the beach,
32:02
Speaker 1: And John who gave his life so that the world
32:04
Speaker 1: would know that God had done something for the world.
32:07
Speaker 1: If we were to say to John, John, how do
32:11
Speaker 1: I get in on that? How do I respond? If
32:14
Speaker 1: it's for me, how do I make it mine? I
32:18
Speaker 1: think John would say the best words I know are
32:21
Speaker 1: these words that whoever just trust in that, whoever just
32:29
Speaker 1: says yes, that whoever believes it happened and believes it's
32:34
Speaker 1: for them, you won't perish. You won't be left out
32:37
Speaker 1: of that covenant. You will have eternal new covenant life.
32:44
Speaker 1: Come on, who wouldn't say yes to that? If we
32:50
Speaker 1: were to say, Peter, Peter, it's too good to be true,
32:53
Speaker 1: It's too good not to be true, Peter, how do
32:55
Speaker 1: I get And I think Peter would have an.
32:57
Speaker 2: Even more even simpler answer than John.
33:00
Speaker 1: I think Peter would take us back to day one
33:03
Speaker 1: when he met Jesus. Jesus said, let's go fishing. Peter's like,
33:06
Speaker 1: you don't know anything about fishing. We've been fishing, okay,
33:09
Speaker 1: your carpenter, you know that's good, but we're fishermen. And
33:12
Speaker 1: then they caused so many fish they didn't know what
33:13
Speaker 1: to do with them. And Peter falls at Jesus feet
33:15
Speaker 1: and he recognizes, Okay, I don't know who you are,
33:17
Speaker 1: but you are in a different category than me. I'm
33:20
Speaker 1: not worthy to be on the same boat as you.
33:24
Speaker 1: Peter looks up at Jesus, and Jesus smiles and he said, Peter,
33:30
Speaker 1: I know all about you, but here's what I want
33:33
Speaker 1: you to do. I just want you to follow me
33:37
Speaker 1: and my friends. That is the invitation to the new Covenant.
33:42
Speaker 1: It's simply followed me. It's followed me with this caveat.
33:45
Speaker 1: I know all about you. I know what you did,
33:49
Speaker 1: I know what you didn't do, I know what you
33:50
Speaker 1: promised to do. I know you can't even keep your
33:53
Speaker 1: own rules. I know you've broken all of mine. But
33:59
Speaker 1: all of that is covered under my unlimited, unconditional Covenant.
34:04
Speaker 1: That I established in my blood for you. It's on me,
34:11
Speaker 1: it's for you. It's on me, it's for you. It's
34:15
Speaker 1: on me, but it's for you.
34:18
Speaker 2: So just come follow me, you say, Andy, it can't
34:30
Speaker 2: be that simple. It's that simple, Andy, but there's got a.
34:36
Speaker 1: You're just used to how you've been treated by the
34:37
Speaker 1: people that you know.
34:40
Speaker 2: This is why Jesus said he's your perfect heavenly father.
34:45
Speaker 1: This is why Jesus said it's as simple as trusting
34:49
Speaker 1: that it's true, and then it becomes all for you,
35:01
Speaker 1: assass