The New Covenant

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:10

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

00:18

Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

00:25

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St.

00:31

Luke chapter 22 verses 7 through 20. Then came the day of unleavened bread on which the

00:37

Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare the

00:43

Passover for us, that we may eat it. They said to him, Where will you have us prepare it?

00:48

He said to them, Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.

00:54

Follow him into the house that he enters, and tell the master of the house, The teacher says to you,

00:59

Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room, furnished, prepare it there.

01:08

And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. And when the hour came, he reclined at table and the apostles with him.

01:18

And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

01:25

For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he said,

01:33

Take, take this and divide it amongst yourselves. For I tell you that from now on, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.

01:42

And he took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you.

01:49

Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying,

01:54

This cup is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood in the name of Jesus.

02:03

Our gospel text says Jesus said to his disciples, I have earnestly desired to eat this

02:11

Passover with you before I suffer. This Passover, this is the

02:19

Passover of Passover's. And if you're familiar with your Old Testament, then you are aware of the whole story of the

02:26

Passover. It's found in the book of Exodus. And in that book, we find that the children of Israel have been enslaved by a evil, wicked

02:34

Pharaoh who did not know who Joseph was, didn't care who Joseph was.

02:39

And unfortunately, we're not going to talk about Joseph tonight, but it's a great story that points us to Christ.

02:45

And he enslaved the children of Israel and put them in bondage for four hundred thirty years.

02:55

How old is the United States? Two hundred something ish. Right. I remember when the bicentennial coins came out,

03:02

I thought it was a big deal, but then I was going, I was a little lad, you know, wow, I want the bicentennial, right? Two hundred years in nineteen seventy six.

03:12

Two hundred years, we're not even halfway there for the children of Israel. And then

03:18

God raises up Moses, a murderer, quite the screw up. It's weird how

03:24

God uses sinners. But then again, if he didn't use sinners to do his will, who would he use? Right.

03:32

Commissions him, sends him to Pharaoh and says, let my people go.

03:37

And then begins the ultimate showdown. The showdown between a false god. That's what a

03:42

Pharaoh is. They're a god king, right? The ultimate showdown between a false god and the true

03:48

God. They go ten rounds. Pharaoh loses every single round.

03:55

The last round, though, is the most frightening of them all. The Passover. This is the one that gets our attention.

04:05

Why? Because God says that he's going to send the destroyer.

04:12

And Egypt. The destroyer. He's going to go by every house.

04:20

And if the house does not have the blood of the Passover lamb on the doors.

04:26

The destroyer will go in and he will take the life of the firstborn.

04:36

But if he finds the blood of the Passover lamb on the door, the destroyer passes over and moves on down.

04:46

And so the children of Israel, that terrible night. By the way, it was

04:53

Friday the 13th. I know that's a little bit of an interesting historical note, but this is absolutely true.

05:00

It was Friday the 13th. One of the reasons why Friday the 13th comes down to us the way it does.

05:08

The children of Israel, no one. They didn't lose a single person. The firstborn were all spared.

05:16

And they all sat and they feasted on this Passover lamb cooked with bitter herbs and cooked in such a way that none of its bones were broken.

05:27

And the reason why is because that Passover lamb was the substitute.

05:34

The substitute for the firstborn. And now we come to our text in our gospel lesson tonight from Monday, Thursday, and we hear that Jesus says,

05:44

I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you because this time the

05:52

Passover lamb gives way. The type and shadow gives way to the one whom it was pointing to.

05:59

The real lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the one whose blood covers us.

06:07

And so when the destroyer comes to visit us. He passes over.

06:14

Because the firstborn for us has already died. You see, the

06:20

Passover lamb was the substitute for the firstborn and now Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, steps on to the field and he goes to war.

06:32

And the way he's going to win this is by dying. He says, I have earnestly desired to eat this

06:38

Passover with you before I suffer. I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

06:45

And he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.

06:56

There was already in Jesus' time a standard Passover liturgy, if you would. You can see it if you've ever seen a

07:03

Seder meal. Established cups for different things and Jesus takes these cups and he changes everything.

07:12

Something new is happening. Something amazing. The disciples are probably sitting there slap -jawed as Jesus utterly changes the very rituals that they have grown up in and for years and decades have done the same thing at the same time at the same place in that liturgy.

07:31

Jesus now changes it. He takes bread and when he had given thanks, he breaks it and gave gives it to them saying this is my body which is given for you.

07:47

Oftentimes, use a phrase to kind of make a point. Sometimes we

07:53

Christians put the emphasis on the wrong syllable and when we do so we kind of mess things up.

08:00

Where do you put the emphasis in these words? This is my body. Which is given for you.

08:09

Where do you put the emphasis? I'll tell you where I put it.

08:16

For you. The reason I put it there is because that's what

08:26

I need. And if you're honest, that's what you need as well. It's amazing to me our picture of God when we are sinning like there's no tomorrow, enslaved to sin, obeying it's every beck and call, practically offering ourselves to the devil to do his work.

08:50

What we end up thinking about God is that God is mad. God is coming after us.

08:56

God is going to throw lightning bolts at me. God is gonna, God is gonna and all we think is about the wrath of God and the reason why is because we know that's exactly what we've earned.

09:07

It's Adam and Eve hiding in the trees from God. We all do it.

09:12

We all know existentially what that feels like. Hiding from God. And yet, here's

09:19

God in human flesh and He is about to go and suffer and bleed and die for my sins and for yours.

09:29

And there's no talk of judgment. Only gifts. It's Christmas if you would.

09:40

Take heed. This is my body, which is given, given for you.

09:49

Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise, the cup after they had eaten saying, this cup is poured out for you.

09:57

This is the new covenant in my blood. This is the new covenant in my blood.

10:06

And there's the words poured out for you.

10:13

The sinless for the sinner. And that's what happens on the cross.

10:19

God lays on him the iniquity of us all. Jesus becomes the singular sinner of all of mankind.

10:25

And there he is naked and exposed to the wrath of God. And God lets him have it.

10:34

And none of this is abuse because Jesus says he lays down his life willingly for us.

10:43

And so we return to our epistle text talking about this new covenant in the blood of Christ.

10:50

The Holy Spirit bears witness to us for after saying this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days declares the

10:58

Lord I will put my laws in their hearts, write them in their minds. Yes, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.

11:08

No more. They sit there and go, can it really be that God will remember our lawless deeds no more?

11:19

Well, we're not accusing God of being senile. It's not like well in his old age.

11:25

I mean after all how many gazillions of years old is he anyway? God as he's getting up there in age is kind of starting to lose it, right?

11:34

The reason why he remembers our lawless deeds no more is because they're all atoned for.

11:40

Christ has given his body, given his blood, poured out, broken, shed for you.

11:48

There's nothing to remember. I mean how many of you guys remember the transactions that you've conducted?

11:56

You know, you can think through and tick off the receipts from Lowe's and from Hugo's and from the post office from 10 years ago, 15 years ago.

12:06

You can't, right? That those transactions have already taken place. They're long in the past.

12:13

Well, see that's the thing. The transaction that took place between Christ and the

12:18

Father, the shed blood which redeems us, purchases off the slave block sets us free.

12:26

That transaction has been conducted. All of our sins atoned for. Not a single one of them is unaccounted for, unpaid for, unbled for, undied for.

12:36

Every single one of them has the blood of Christ across it, paid in full.

12:43

It's been nailed to the cross and that cross disappeared 2 ,000 years ago.

12:49

And I don't care what the Catholics say. They say they got so many pieces of the cross. You know, you go different Catholic churches and we've got a piece of the true cross.

12:57

I think it was Martin Luther who said they've got so many different pieces of the true cross they could rebuild the Ark of Noah with them, right?

13:05

But that cross is long gone. God remembers your lawless deeds, your sins.

13:14

And we're not talking about hypothetical sins here. We're talking about four real, awful sins.

13:22

Sit there and go, well, what kind are you talking about, Pastor? Well, let's walk through the list.

13:29

Idolatry, disobeying your parents, false belief, profaning

13:37

God's name, murder, adultery, theft, covetousness, lying for real sins.

13:51

The real sins that you and I have committed, He has truly bled and died for.

14:00

When you hear tonight, when you come to this altar and you hear these words, take, eat, broken, shed for you, for the forgiveness of your sins.

14:15

The ones you committed when you were in your 20s, the ones you committed five minutes before you walked in the church, they're all accounted for.

14:25

And God remembers our lawless deeds no more. You'll never stand before Christ when we finally get to see

14:37

Him face to face. And He'll say, remember that time when you. Right.

14:44

He won't. He won't. And then the text says this.

14:51

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, we have confidence.

15:06

How many of you, when you've been in your darkest moments, have thought, I better not ever go back to church? Oh, man.

15:13

They're not going to be happy to see me. Right. When you sin, the devil gets the upper hand.

15:22

Your first temptation is to say, church is the last place I should be. But see, the text says,

15:30

Christ God remembers your lawless deeds no more. So you come confident into Kong's finger.

15:38

You come confident, confident that you are forgiven, confident that you are sprinkled by the blood of Christ, confident that the blood of the

15:45

Passover lamb covers you and the destroyer and the devil and all of his accusatory demons can't say a word about you.

15:54

Not one. I remember what he did. I remember what she did.

16:01

I'm covered by the blood. Thank you. Right. Confidence.

16:12

So we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood, by the new and living way that Christ opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh.

16:22

And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.

16:31

Notice here, this is like Christianity with a backbone. This is like Christianity that says,

16:37

I know I'm forgiven. I know that God loves me. I know that Christ bled and died for me.

16:43

Confidence, assurance. This is not arrogance. It's something completely different.

16:51

This is 100 percent assurance that God truly is what he says he is.

16:57

Love. Love, so we can draw near to God in a true heart, full assurance of faith, our hearts having been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, our bodies washed with pure water, referring to your baptism.

17:18

Notice here the sprinkling of Christ's blood in the waters of our baptism takes away from us an evil conscience.

17:28

So let us then hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering. And why can we not waver?

17:34

Because he who promised is faithful. It's not dependent on you. It's dependent on the one who gave the promise. And the last time

17:40

I checked, God doesn't lie. He says he's going to do something. He's going to do it. He says he's forgiven you and that he remembers your sins no more.

17:48

Guess what? He loves you and he remembers your sins no more. So let us consider then in light of all this, and this is where it gets fun.

17:59

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.

18:06

You see how the two go hand in hand? It's like love and marriage or peanut butter and jelly or maybe peanut butter and honey.

18:13

Depends on what you like, but the two go together. You being forgiven in Christ, having confidence and assurance of the forgiveness of your sins no longer makes it so that you are enslaved to your own sinful nature, enslaved to the devil and think and act like him completely self -absorbed.

18:31

That's how the devil operates. The devil is the original narcissist and he has trained us all how to be that same way, right?

18:41

We're not a bunch of spiritual selfie takers. Do I look holy today?

18:50

Right. I did that too well. Okay. All right.

18:57

But because we are forgiven, because God remembers our lawless deeds no more, because we have full assurance of the forgiveness of our sins.

19:10

Because of all of this and the one who is faithful, the one who is promised is faithful, and this is our hope.

19:17

It cannot be taken from us. So now we can stir up one another to love and to good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some.

19:29

In other words, come to church, but encouraging one another and encouraging each other all the more as you see the day drawing near.

19:40

Have you looked at the condition of the world? Is it better than when you first started growing up when you were a little kid?

19:49

Has it gotten better or worse? Worse. Condition of the church, better or worse?

19:55

Worse. The day is drawing near. So what do we do? I know, let's go buy buckets of food and hide in our basements and we can learn how to become survivalists.

20:07

No, no. As we see the J drawing near, let's encourage each other onto good works.

20:16

The night is coming. The day is long spent, but there's still enough light, still enough light that we can still love and serve our neighbors because Christ has loved us.

20:32

This is what we are set free to do. You see, as Christians, we are given good works, which

20:38

God prepared in advance for us to do. And all of these things, it is our joy and our privilege, not in order to be saved, but because we is saved.

20:48

We are heading to heaven. We have full assurance of these things. So tonight, as we come to the

20:57

Lord's table to remember the original Lord's Supper, the changing of the

21:04

Passover into the Lord's Supper, the type and shadow giving way to the reality to where we can now see the end from the beginning.

21:15

Let us draw near, confident of God's mercy and grace, confident that what we receive in our mouth this night is the body of Christ broken for us, for the forgiveness of our sins, the blood of Christ shed for us, for the forgiveness of our sins.

21:32

And let us consider what an amazing, powerful, loving, gracious, kind God we have who care, who cares so much for us that he would give us such precious gifts.

21:48

To sustain us. And strengthen us on our way as we travel as sojourners through this very short life on finally to the eternal kingdom, where we will see him face to face and being confident of the forgiveness of sins, we will not shrink back in fear when we see

22:10

Christ. Instead, we will run to him the way a wife runs to her husband at the airport after he's been gone on a long trip.

22:30

We will run to him the way parents run to their children, having never seen them because they adopted them and seeing them for the first time.

22:45

But that kind of confidence only comes from knowing that the love is real. And tonight we know this love is real.

22:55

So cherish these words, broken and shed for you, for the forgiveness of your sins.

23:05

In the name of Jesus. Amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax free donation to Kungsinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th

23:26

Avenue, Northwest, Oslo, Minnesota 56744. And again, that address is

23:33

Kungsinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th

23:39

Avenue, Northwest, Oslo, Minnesota 56744. We thank you for your support.

23:47

All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message.