John K. Jenkins Sr - A New Covenant

Matthew chapter 26, for the few moments I have, I will read verses 26 through 29. Matthew 26, verses 26 through 29. As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, «Take, eat; this is my body.» Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, «Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father 's Kingdom.» Verse 28 is what I want to focus on; one section there says, «For this is my blood of the New Covenant.» I want to talk about the New Covenant. This past Wednesday, my wife and I celebrated 43 years-that’s a miracle! She has stuck with me for 43 years. She has tried to leave on several occasions and has even tried to put me out on a few occasions. The day we got married at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church in Washington, DC, on August 23rd, our marriage almost started off on shaky ground when Pastor Durham gave her the ring for me. I put my right hand out for her, and I put my left hand out for her to put the ring on. She slapped it down and grabbed my right hand. Okay, you didn’t slap my hand, but you did try to put it on my right hand. Let me rephrase that — did you try to put it on my right hand? Let 's put the camera on it. Did you try to put it on my right hand? You did! Okay, you didn’t slap it, but you pushed it away. You reached for the other hand. Okay, whatever! You 're still trying to control the situation. I gave her my left hand, and she again reached for my right hand. Ultimately, I just let her put it on my right hand, and I changed it to my left hand later-no need to fight in front of everybody here while we’re getting married. But every time I look down at this ring finger of mine, it reminds me that I am in a covenant relationship. The saints of God need to be reminded that you are not in a contract with God; we are in a covenant relationship. Some people treat marriage like a contract, but you make vows, and those vows say, «Until death do us part,» not «Until divorce do us part,» but «Until death do us part.» I want to remind us-I don’t know, I’ve tried over my 34 years here at the First Baptist Church to make people aware and sensitize them to the sacredness of the relationship we have with Jesus. The fact is, when we come to partake in communion, it is a reminder that we have a covenant with God. I don’t know if you understand the seriousness of that because God has made multiple covenants with men over time. In fact, there are about nine covenants throughout the Old Testament that God made with different people. He had a covenant- well, first of all, let me tell you what a covenant is. Repeat this back with me. If you’re taking notes, write this down: a covenant is a permanent agreement. When you have a contract, a contract has an ending date, but a covenant has no ending date because it is a permanent agreement. Say, «A permanent agreement!» It covers your total being-your purpose, your destiny. Contracts normally cover a specific skill or money associated with an agreement, while a covenant is based on mutual trust. When you enter into a covenant with somebody, it’s believing that you will keep your word, and I will keep my word. Contracts are developed because of mistrust; because I don’t think you’re going to do what you said you’re going to do, I’ll sign a contract. In case you don’t do what you say you’re going to do, I can take you to court. It 's based on mistrust. Are y’all with me? The covenant is normally witnessed; it is a sign or a witness to what you have agreed to. A witness validates the agreement that you will keep it. In the Old Testament, when they made a covenant, often either a gift was given in exchange, or they would take an animal, kill it, and walk between the blood of the animal to seal the agreement. God made multiple agreements throughout the Old Testament. Adam had a covenant with God. Noah had a covenant. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Israel, Levi, Phineas, and David all had covenants in the Old Testament. But I want to focus for the few moments that I have on four of those covenants. Can I do that? Let me talk about four. Noah had a covenant, and God said with Noah that he would never destroy the Earth by water again. Abraham had a covenant, and it was a covenant that declared he would make Abraham’s descendants a special people. David’s covenant, the third one, was a commitment from God that he would establish David’s family as the royal heirs to the throne .