Pentecost is part of the fulfilment of the new covenant

1. Pentecost is part of the fulfilment of the new covenant Pentecost Sunday 19 May 2013

2. Pentecost is part of the fulfilment of the new covenant • The Word of God • Testament = Covenant • New Covenant • Our sinful nature  Judgment of God • Being Justified in Christ through faith • Die to self and live by the Spirit of God • Summary Sunday, 19 May 2013

3. The Word of God • My Word will not return empty • Is. 55:8-12 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. • Word = Sword • Heb 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. • Repent • Mat. 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

4. Testament = Covenant • Testament • Oxford Dictionary: 1 A Person’s will/agreement, especially the part relating to personal property: father’s will and testament - legal document 2 Something that serves as a sign or evidence of a specified fact, event, or quality: growing attendance figures are a testament to the event’s popularity • Covenant • Oxford Dictionary 1 An agreement: there was a covenant between them that her name was never to be mentioned 2 Law: A formal agreement, contract, or promise in writing, especially one undertaking to make regular payments to a charity. Law a clause in a contract drawn up by deed. 3 Theology: An agreement which brings about a relationship of commitment between God and his people. The Jewish faith is based on the biblical covenants made with Abraham, Moses, and David. • Testament = Covenant • Old Testament Covenant(s): • An agreement between God and His people (Israel) - He promised to be their God and bless them and Israel had to obey His commands. God made covenants with among other Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, David, Salomon • The word covenant is used 279 times in the OT • God's Covenant with Abraham • Gen. 17:1-2 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between Me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”

5. New Covenant • Israel failed in keeping the Old Testament covenants • Is. 63:8-10 He said, “Surely they are My people, children who will be true to Me”; and so He became their Saviour. In all their distress He too was distressed, and the Angel of His presence saved them. In His love and mercy He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. Yet they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy and He Himself fought against them. • New Covenant • Jer. 31: 31 - 34 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord:i) “I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. ii) “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” • Is. 59: 20,21 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord. “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and My words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.

6. New Covenant • Jesus came to fulfil both the New Covenant promises • Forgiveness of sins • John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! • I will put My law into their hearts • John 1:32-34 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. And I myself did not know Him, but the One who sent me to baptise with water told me, ‘The Man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the One who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” • Jesus declares the fulfilment of the New Covenant with the first Holy Communion • Mat. 26: 26-28 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to His disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.” Then He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. • The word Covenant is used 32 times, while New Covenant is used 15 times in the New Testament

7. Our sinful nature  Judgment of God • We were born in sin • Ps 51: 3-5 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight; so You are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. • Is. 64: 6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. • God is angry about our sin, and will judge and punish sin • Rom. 2: 5-11 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honour and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favouritism.

8. Being Justified in Christ through faith • Repent => Believe => Be Justified • Mat. 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” • Mat. 9:2 Some men brought to Him a paralysed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” • Luke 13: 13 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” • Rom. 3:21-24 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. • 2 Cor. 5:21 God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. • Eph. 2: 8,9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast • Gen. 15:5,6 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then He said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

9. Die to self and live by the Spirit of God • We have to take up our cross (die) and follow Christ! • Mat. 16:24-27 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what they have done. • The Spirit is with us forever • John 14:15-21 If you love Me, keep My commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realise that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. Whoever has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love them and show Myself to them.” • Abide in Jesus, and He in you • John 15:5-8 I am the Vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.

10. Die to self and live by the Spirit of God • The Spirit as the Advocate • John 16:7-11 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in Me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see Me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. • The Spirit of Truth • John 16:12-14 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from Me what He will make known to you.” • The Spirit gives us power to be witnesses/martyrs • Acts 1: 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

11. Die to self and live by the Spirit of God • We are made new by God - and the love of Christ compels us • 2 Cor. 5: 17-20 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. • We have died to ourselves, to life for Christ • Rom. 6: 1-7 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. • We live in the realm of the Spirit • Rom. 8:9-10 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.

12. Summary • The Word of God is the (s)word that separates spirit and soul • God is a God of everlasting covenant • Jesus came to fulfil the New Covenant, being the Lamb of God and baptising us with the Holy Spirit of God • We have a sinful nature, and deserve the judgement and wrath of God • We are justified in Christ, if we repent and believe in His completed work on the cross • If we are in Christ, we have died to self, and live for Him by the power of the Holy Spirit