The New Covenant Really Means “New!”

Introduction

The Psalms are a rich source of inspiration because they so effectively describe our human experience, how we see life and how we feel about it at times.  But as believers in Jesus Christ we have to remember the Psalms were written under an Old Covenant paradigm.  We are under the New Covenant. That is what Communion is all about.  So lately I’ve been inspired to preach on the differences between the Old and New on Communion Sunday.

Example:  Psalm 88

One of the critical differences is how the psalmists perceived their relationship with God and God’s relationship with them. In this Psalm, for example, he mentions wrath (verse7) and rejection (verse 14).  And a general view of hardships as indicative of God forgetting him and just letting stuff happen.  But the New Covenant paints a different picture under Christ.

• Where once there was wrath from God, the New Covenant offers peace with God.
• Where once there was enmity between God and man there is now reconciliation.
• Where once there was unrighteousness there is now the righteousness of God in Christ.
• Where once there was darkness there is now light.
• Where once there was the rebellion of the flesh there is now the inspiration of the Spirit.
• Where once there was the oppression of the Law and religious duty, there is now freedom in Christ for relationship with Christ.
• Where once we were fugitives on earth, we are now  citizens of heaven.
• Where once there was the fear of God’s punishment when we sinned, there is now the invitation to draw near for His mercy and grace.

Text:  Romans 5:6-8 (NIV) ⁶  You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1. Just the right time

Or “The fullness of time”

Galatians 4:4 (NASB77)  But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.

God is not bound by time but He uses it like a skilled surgeon.  He is precise. And with respect to your life and my life He is always perfect in His timing.

2. “when we were still powerless”

Adam Clarke:  “utterly devoid of power to extricate themselves from the misery of [our] situation.”

We couldn’t think straight.  Couldn’t see straight.   Couldn’t walk straight.  We were stuck.  We were that kind of powerless before God.

3. “Christ died for the ungodly”

The ungodly.  Not the morally upstanding or the righteously outstanding.

“And that for such as these Christ should die, is a mystery; no other such an instance of love is known, so that it may well be the employment of eternity to adore and wonder at it.” –Matthew Henry

4. “God demonstrates His own love”

The cross is the ultimate altar.  In Old Testament times God’s people would erect altars, like piles of stones to commemorate God’s faithfulness.  Jesus didn’t ask us to set up a stone altar.  He asked us to Remember Him.  He is God’s deliverance personified.

Remember the clear demonstration of His love when your circumstances get murky.

“Don’t believe the devil’s lies about My awareness of you or My affection for you.”

“Don’t draw wrong conclusions about Me from your perceptions of your circumstances and situations.”

Faith in God will always beckons us to draw different conclusions than what is apparent.

Faith always says there is more going on here than meets the eye.  Like a suspenseful movie, there is a twist.  The Lord says, remember the cross and trust Me there is a twist to your story.

We have an adversary, the evil one, and his ultimate weapon is not primarily to get us to do wrong things.  That is just a means to his ultimate objective, which is to dilute our faith with a perverse or partial view of God’s character.

Communion in intended to be an antidote to the devil’s slander of our Lord.  It reminds us of God’s love:  God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.