Scripture: Matthew 26:26-29
I. Communion pictures an old forgiveness.
A. Jesus celebrated the last supper with His disciples during the most important Jewish holiday of the year: Passover (Matthew 26:17). When the disciples participated in the last supper, they remembered an old forgiveness from God. They remembered how God had forgiven the sins of Israel on Passover night through the blood of the lambs. Jesus would now pay the price of redemption for us with his sacrificed body. “Take eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26).
B. Jesus passed the cup in vs. 27-28 and said: “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” The phrase blood of the covenant was used at the old covenant ratification in Exodus 24:8: “And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.’” The blood brought forgiveness.
II. Communion pictures a new forgiveness.
A. Communion goes back to the old covenant God made with the people through Moses. But communion also speaks to a new forgiveness Jesus would give us through the new covenant. The phrase that Jesus uses in Matthew 26:28 – for the forgiveness of sins – also comes straight out of the Old Testament. Jeremiah 31:31 and 34: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah… For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
B. The blood that Jesus shed on the cross offers me and you forgiveness. If we believe that Jesus died in our place on the cross as our sacrifice, we can be forgiven for all our sins. Near the end of his life John Newton said, “Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.” We remember these truths at Communion.
III. Communion pictures a renewed forgiveness for you.
A. Jesus will share another meal with His followers in heaven (vs. 29). But until we reach heaven, we always need forgiveness. We receive a renewed forgiveness from Jesus each time we participate in Communion. And we now have a new heart and a new power to live for Jesus because of the new covenant of Jeremiah 31:33: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Application:
Come to the table. Receive Christ’s forgiveness and commune with Him.
Sources:
The Bible
Commentaries by D.A. Carson, J.C. Ryle, and Charles Quarles.
Sermon Discussion Questions
1) Jesus died on one of the most important holidays of the Old Covenant: Passover. What is a covenant? How does the forgiveness of the Jews at Passover relate to the forgiveness of Christians at the cross?
2) What did the new covenant promise Christians that the old covenant could not provide? What was the most important promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31:34?
3) How often do we Christians need forgiveness from God? In what part of our worship services can we celebrate our forgiveness?