Having Obtained Eternal Redemption | Hebrews 9:11-22 | Maundy Thursday

Is Jesus merely a moral teacher, or something more? While many view Him as a guru of "enlightened living," the events of Maundy Thursday reveal a deeper mission. Our problem isn't just a lack of kindness; it is rebellion against our Creator.

In this sermon, we explore Matthew 26 and Hebrews 9 to see how Jesus replaced the temporary sacrifices of the Old Covenant with a "once for all" sacrifice. By shedding His blood, Christ didn't just modify our behavior—He obtained our eternal redemption.

As you watch, we hope you are encouraged by the "Sign and Seal" of the Covenant of Grace, resting in the finished work of the spotless Lamb.

 

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Thank you for joining us for this week's sermon from First Reformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota. Each week we dig into God's Word trusting that the Holy Spirit will continue the good work of sanctification in us.

What did Jesus come to do? This is a question that is often asked. It's an important question. People often treat Jesus by putting Him into our usual human categories that we ascribe to people of great influence. They look at His teaching in the Gospels and they make Jesus out to be a guru who came teaching an enlightened way of living in this world. He taught us how to love one another and how to value things in a way contrary to the ordinary way of the world. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the merciful. In the way that Jesus sees the world. And the world sees the wisdom in much of what Jesus has to say because it is clear that the world would be a better place if we took his words to heart. But is this all Jesus came to do? Did Jesus simply come as a messenger who was a divine instructor in hopes that people would listen and make the world a better place? Well, so many believe that that was the mission of Jesus. That's all he came to do. And I would love to be able to say that this is only the way that the world takes a view of Jesus.

But unfortunately, there are even those within the Christian church who hold to this view. They believe Jesus came with a message of love and peace, and then that wasn't popular, so He was cut down in His prime. And this idea is alarmingly common in our time, but it isn't a new idea. It is something that persistently springs up throughout history. And I believe this occurs because it's easy. It doesn't involve much. It doesn't require much of you. If you adhere to this idea of who Jesus is and His understanding of the ministry, it doesn't require much sacrifice from those who follow him. And as you look at the stories that make up the Gospels, that idea that Jesus was just an enlightened teacher, a guru, we say, can float for a little while. But eventually, you have to move from the stories about the teaching ministry of Jesus And you have to get to the details that are given to us about events surrounding a Passover, the final Passover of Jesus' ministry. And it starts with the triumphal entry that we remembered this past Sunday. And as we move through the week to the institution of the Lord's Supper and then move on to the story of the crucifixion, and then ultimately culminating with the resurrection and then finally the ascension, we see what Jesus has come to do because we need to look at those events and see how substantial they are and realize that these events need to be explained.

If we want to know who Jesus is and if we want to understand what He came to accomplish, We need to make sense of those events. Scripture from the very beginning makes it abundantly clear that our problem is more than us just needing to be nicer to each other. At the root of our problem is the fact that we are creatures in rebellion against our Creator. And the events that we remember this week make it abundantly clear the mission of Jesus was to redeem His people that they might be in covenant with Him so that we would be saved from sin, death, and hell. Now the teaching of Jesus is significant because what does it do? It exposes our need for what He is going to do, the work He is going to accomplish in this week, these events that we are looking forward to. Tonight and tomorrow and on Sunday. His teaching lets us know that we need what He accomplishes in His death and resurrection. Because here's our problem. This is what the teaching of Jesus exposes in us. We don't love God and we don't love our neighbor as we ought. And the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount exposes our problem with those things even further, doesn't it?

He tells us that even if we haven't committed adultery, we still violate the seventh commandment when we lust. We haven't murdered anyone, yet Jesus tells us we violate the sixth commandment when we're angry with a brother. And over and over in the Gospels, Jesus rightly diagnoses the condition of the human heart. We find that we need a greater solution than behavior modification. We need new hearts. We need to be redeemed. And we gather this evening to commemorate a particular event, and we read from Matthew's account of that event. On the night on which Jesus was betrayed, He instituted the Lord's Supper. And Jesus blesses us not only with instructions for the meal, but he lets us know what that meal is pointing to. And so as we look at verses 7 and 8 here, we see that the bread is his broken body and the fruit of the vine is the blood of the covenant. And this is essential to our understanding of the work of Jesus for his people. Throughout Scripture, covenants are made And they are instituted with the shedding of blood. And this shows the severity of covenants. They are more than a friendly agreement finalized with a nice firm handshake.

The shedding of blood exhibits to us that keeping the promise of the covenant is a matter of life and death. The covenant established on that Thursday night long ago is a covenant that addresses our deepest problem. Jesus tells us that this covenant is about the forgiveness of sin. This is the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Son didn't take on our flesh to simply roam around the countryside of Nazareth and preach a few sermons. He took on our low estate to suffer and die, and by His shed blood, bring us into the covenant of grace. A covenant that forgets our sins. A covenant that makes us righteous before a holy God. That's the mission of the Messiah. And it is made visible to us in the meal that we commemorate this evening. And the passage that we read from Hebrews 9 makes this abundantly clear for us. Jesus spoke of the blood He would shed being what establishes a new covenant. And the author of Hebrews here spells out what the blood of Jesus did for us. Back in the old covenant, blood was shed. But it was the blood of goats. It was the blood of calves.

But it was a continual flow of blood. Day after day, week after week, year after year, there were sacrifices. Ultimately, they were pointing to the greater promise that would come when Jesus would shed His blood for the sins of His people. Instead of sacrifices that needed to be repeated, the work of Jesus accomplishes an eternal redemption. And we read that He offered Himself without blemish. All of humanity was plunged into sin by our first parents. Every last son of Adam and daughter of Eve was fallen and in need of being redeemed. And Jesus came to buy us back. That's what redeemed means. It means to buy back. And he did so to make us right with God. Those sacrifices in the old covenant, they were not simply a ritual without meaning. They showed that rebellion against God deserves death. The animals that were brought to the altar showed an understanding of the truth that sin requires life. As punishment. With all of these sacrifices, there was always a knowledge that what was being done there on those altars was not final. There would be more and more sacrifices, and there was an even greater shadow that was over the whole system.

While an animal was standing in at those sacrifices. One day death would come for each and every person who brought those sacrifices. Death was going to get the final word. But at the right time, the Lord Jesus Christ took on our flesh and shed his blood once and for all that we might have peace with God. And the author of Hebrews helps us understand this by making connection between the Old Covenant and what Jesus had done. And notice the similarity. Do we have to go back here? There we go. Notice the similarity here in the quote from Moses and the words we read from Jesus in Matthew. This is the blood of the covenant. That was not a random coincidence. Jesus was making it abundantly clear that what he was doing that night and what he would do on the cross was bringing about a new and greater covenant. He was headed to the cross not because he was a failed political or religious revolutionary, He was going there as the plan of God, that the Messiah of God would suffer, that he would shed blood, that he would die as the sacrifice for his people, that his people might be in covenant with him.

And Scripture is clear to let us know that the sin and rebellion of humanity cannot simply be pushed aside by the wave of a hand. God cannot brush off our sin as, "Oh, that's no big deal. Don't worry about it." Forgiveness requires the shedding of blood. And when it says this, it isn't suggesting that a skinning of your knee would be acceptable, or that you can go out and have a syringe stuck into your arm and extract a pint. And blood— that blood would be acceptable for the forgiveness of sins. When it says shedding of blood, it means death. Death is required. Forgiveness of sins requires death. My sin is a rebellion against a holy God. My sin is treason against the King of the universe. I deserve His wrath. The only way for me to escape judgment is to have that price paid by another. No animal can fully cover my sin. No human, ordinary human, can cover my sin. Why? Because another human needs their sin covered as well. We are all dead in trespasses and sins. Only the God-Man, Jesus, can fully atone for my sins. I need Him to shed His blood for me.

And this is what Jesus came to do, that we might be brought into covenant with Him through His shed blood. And so as you come to the table this evening, it is my prayer that you will do so mindful of why we participate in this meal this evening. It is a sign. It shows us what is happening, the body of Jesus broken, his blood shed. But it is also a seal, a seal of the covenant of grace that cannot be broken. That God has made this covenant with us and he will keep us. So as you come to the table, take the bread and know that in love his body was broken for you. Take the cup and know that the blood of Jesus was shed and he bore the cup of the wrath of God for your sin. And he drank it down to the dregs. This covenant is for you. Come to the table trusting in the forgiveness of sins. Come to the table in confidence knowing that the covenant made with you can never be broken because it is guaranteed by the perfect blood of a spotless Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As you come to the table, let the truth of the promises that Jesus makes drive you to live in confidence that you might pursue holiness to the glory of our great Savior. Having obtained eternal redemption for His people, He alone is worthy of all honor, glory, and praise. Come to the table trusting in the forgiveness of sins. That Jesus has given you. Amen. Let us pray. Great and merciful God, we thank You for the gift of Your Word that shows us what Jesus came to do, that He came to bear the punishment for our sin. And we pray that as we come to the table, we would be reminded that You have done this so that we would be in covenant with You, and You do not break Your promises. The blood was shed to guarantee our salvation. May we rest in that. May we receive it, and may it lead us to live holy lives that You might receive all honor, glory, and praise. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.

Thank you for joining us for this week's sermon. For more information about First Reformed Church, head to our Facebook page or website edgertonfrc.org.

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