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When God calls you away from something, it can feel impossible—especially when you're providing for a family. I felt the Lord calling me away from my last job back in 2023. I was making good money. I had just had twins, still in formula and diapers. But the Holy Spirit was persistent: "Your time here is up."
I was scared. I'll be honest with you—I was scared. I was an elder at 2819 Church, in the middle of revival, preaching, praying. But I was scared. My wife was home with four children. It was on my back. I tried to make things work. I ran into a business partner, someone I thought shared my values, a believer. I dove all in, working for equity in the company—40% ownership. But after close to a year, with no payment coming, I discovered I had no equity anymore.
When you're going into relationship, into contract, into covenant, there are two things you need to be aware of:
First: The integrity of the one you're making the covenant with.
In the West, we don't really understand covenant. We think, "I don't feel like paying it. I don't feel like doing it, so I won't." That mindset has permeated our society. Nobody trusts anybody because at any given time, you can switch up.
But not so with God.
In biblical context, a covenant was so binding that when people took covenant with someone, they weren't even viewed as two separate entities. They were viewed as one. One.
Second: You need to know what is required of you and what you're going to get. If you don't understand the covenant, it's hard for you to live up to your part of it.
Let me take you to John 6:35. Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe."
Jesus says, "I am the bread of life." But He also says, "You have seen me. You have encountered me. You are around me. But I know some of you do not believe. You can call yourself a disciple all you want. Just because you call yourself a disciple does not mean you believe. You can even follow and have nearness to Him—but that does not mean you are a disciple."
Then in verse 37: "All that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." This is a dependable God. It should give you confidence.
Do you know that you didn't start this thing with salvation? Do you know that anybody that really comes to know God is drawn by Him? You think you just woke up and were smart enough to follow Him? No. We had darkened hearts. All of us were led astray. But He says: "Of all that he has given me, I will raise it up on the last day."
He doubles down: "This is the will. I'm not even doing my own will. I'm doing the will of the Father who sent me, that anybody who comes to me, I will keep them all and raise them up on the last day." The dependable God. The faithful one. The one that is mighty to save.
In verse 40: "For this is the will of my father. Everyone who looks on the son and believes, believes in him should have eternal life. And again, he says, I will raise him up on the last day." Our salvation is secure in Jesus.
But here's what troubles many of us: Is he really going to come and get me? Is he really going to follow through on his word? I can't see him. I can't touch him and try to hold him to task. And many of our lives reflect that. We won't go all in on Him because we really don't believe His word. We really don't believe that He is who He says He is.
I'm not here to beat you over the head. I just want to expose your heart. Because really, behind that is why you won't go all in.
This is why some of us just keep one foot in the world, because we really feel like the world is more stable than Christ. We're married to Christ, but we keep a tender profile going—just to see what's out there—knowing that they will abuse us.
Here He is. He has given all that He had. He came from heaven. He gave His life. He rose on the third day. He went back to the Father. He said to us, "Listen, I'm going to prepare a place for you. If it were not true, I would not have told you."
But even in our humanity, some of us struggle to really believe it. I'm talking about really situating your whole life around the fact that the Holy Spirit has been sent here for us to walk this thing out, and our Savior is coming back to get us.
Does your life look like that?
Where have we secretly hidden a lack of trust in God and His word in our heart and acted like it was okay?
I was scared, y'all. You know why? Because I see four children and a wife and I look at the bank account and it's going down. I'm not trying to judge you. I've been there.
But here's what I know: He's faithful.
And can I tell you something? Even when you encounter some Judas-like movements, it never stops the will of God in your life. If I could go a little further, the Judas in your life can redirect you where you may have been distracted—to get you where He wants you to be. For me, that meant joining the full-time staff at 2819 Church as of June 2nd. It was the scariest almost two years of my life. I was getting kicked in the chest by fear every day. But ultimately, the fear was this: You can't depend on him. Those words are just words on a page. They're not backed by an eternal God.
You see how the enemy can creep in and make a home in our hearts? And we let him stay there.
In John 6:41, the Jews grumbled about Him because He said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"
Here's what's happening: After He had fed thousands of people and said "I am the bread of life," now they're questioning Him.
Haven't you seen God work in a season of your life when you knew there was no way you could make it out? And then He shows up. But then we get amnesia. Our knees are still bruised from praying and getting an answer, and we get amnesia on God.
Here's the thing: Some of you are making strides in God. You're really trying to read and pray. You're really trying to walk this thing out. And one of the biggest things you deal with—especially when young in the faith, but even seasoned saints—is that the people we love and care about around us don't affirm us.
As a result of that, we start denying God. We start pushing our Scripture under the bed. We don't want to wear anything that's Christlike. When we go out, we don't want to pray in front of them when we eat. We start hiding Him.
But don't worry about that affirmation. They didn't call you. They are neither the author nor the finisher of your faith.
In verse 43, Jesus answered them: "Do not grumble amongst yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day."
Verse 45: "It is written in the prophets and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me." You cannot try to get to the Father outside of Jesus.
Verse 47: "Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life."
And then verse 48, He really hits home: "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died." Verse 50: "This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die."
Verse 51: "I am the living bread that comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
He said, "I am the bread of life. If you eat of me, you will never die again. I'm not waiting for another man to affirm me. I come from the Father. I have spoken for Him. Eat of me and you will have eternal life."
He's speaking of Himself. This is the bread of life. I believe—motion to Himself—this is the bread of life. Yes, sir. This is not something else. I am Him.
I am the one that has been prophesied about. I am the one coming to die for the sins of the world. I am your salvation. I am your hope. I am the lover of your soul.
I don't care about what you got to say about me. Your words don't outweigh the words of my Father. I know I left heaven. I ain't asking you about it. I am the Messiah. I am the Son of God. You guys can't even see God. You would die. I have seen the Father.
Verse 52: The Jews then disputed amongst themselves, saying, "How can this man give us flesh to eat?"
Verse 53: Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly anytime He doubles down on this. Truly, you need to listen. Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you."
Verse 54: "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
In the Amplified version: "The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, the one who believes in me and accepts me as savior has eternal life. That is now possesses it. And I will raise him up from the dead on the last day."
Verse 55: "For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink."
Verse 56: "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him." In the Amplified: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, believes in me, accepts me as savior, remains in me, and I in the same way remain in him."
I gave you a couple things to look out for when you're making an agreement or a covenant:
One, the dependability of the one making the covenant with you.
Two, you need to know what is required of you and what you're going to get.
Your part is to abide in Him. Believe in Him. That's why it's so big for us to come away from dead works. We've been taught: "We got to do this. We got to do that. We got to do this. We got to do that. We got to check this off the book. We got to go back to the law. We got to do these things."
But that's why we stay away from the law. The reality is you'll never be able to fulfill it. You'll never be able to live by the law.
All of our requirements is to really and truly believe in Him, abide in Him, believe in His word.
When I talk about believe, it's not just a mental ascension. It means to cleave to and trust in Him. Think about going across a bridge like a mountain in Nepal, where there's a river and rocks. Usually in the movies, it's some real old, raggedy bridge. Why don't they do better bridges? But it's like a real rope that looked like it was made when Jesus was on the earth, with planks that really could have been replaced.
You're clinging to that bridge because you know you have no ability to fly. You know that if that bridge fails you, you will be destroyed.
That's how we're supposed to cling to Christ. That's how our relation is supposed to be to Him.
Think about when you're in love. You ever try to hug the person you're in love with and you just feel like you can't get close enough? You want to smell what they smell like. You love their hair. "Oh my gosh, I love you so much. You make me feel like... I love you so much. I miss you. I miss you."
There's a country saying: "You had your nose wide open." That means you are fully in love.
That's how we're supposed to be with Christ and His words. Cleave and nestle in and try to get even closer, even though we're already one.
Verse 57: "As the living father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me."
Verse 58: "This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever."
After He said this, His disciples grumbled. A large amount of His disciples left Him. They said, "What you talking about, man?" They researched it. "Drink blood? That's against our dietary laws. I'm not doing that. Ain't you Joseph's son? You tripping."
And they left.
But you know what I love about security in Christ? Maybe even as He saw some of them leave, still within eyesight, you know what He did? He didn't buckle. He turned to the disciples and said, "Um, do y'all want to go too?"
I want to say it was Peter. He was like, "Where would we go, God? Where would we go?" Christ didn't abandon Him because of the ones who left.
For you have the words of eternal life. I want to stamp this for you, beloved. When you hit hard times, we can't pick a Plan B.
Where else can you go? Who else can you run to that has the words of eternal life?
I don't care what economic hardship comes. I don't care how bad the divorce was. I'm not trying to be insensitive. You may have prayed and they still passed. Maybe your child is estranged from you and you love them like no other and you cry yourself to sleep at night. How could they do that? Maybe you're betrayed in business.
We don't leave the one who has words of eternal life. Nobody else has that. You don't give up the eternal for the temporary.
Now I want to give you that context. Now I'm going to jump back into Matthew 26.
He says: "Now, as they were eating, Jesus took the bread and after blessing it, he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take, eat. This is my body.'"
I wanted to give you that context because that was a hard saying. Christ lost followers over that.
Verse 27: "And he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, 'Drink of it all of you.'"
Verse 28: "For this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."
I want to talk about covenant here. In many transcripts and in other accounts, it says the new covenant. The new covenant.
In the Amplified version: "For this is my blood of the new and better covenant, which ratifies the agreement and is being poured out for many as the substitutionary atonement for the forgiveness of sins."
The word substitutionary means He actually made us one by His death on the cross. He wiped the slate clean and made us one. Think about that. He justified the ungodly—you and me—and so holy and the blood was shed. That's why we can't trample over the blood. Now we have access—not just access to Him, but now we are one with Him.
If you don't get that, man, I'm from a country church named Washington Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville. They may not have had all the language, but they sang a song. It went something like this:
I know it was blood. I know it was the blood. I know it was the blood for me. One day when I was lost. I know it was blood for me. They pierced Him inside. They pierced Him inside for me. One day when I was lost, Jesus died on the cross. And I know it was the blood for me.
And I'm talking about old mothers. Old saints. They didn't try to make it sound cute either. They would grunt it out. You know why? They had a revelation of the blood.
The souls-saving blood. The covenant-making blood. The blood that was needed for access to Him. He substituted and died in our place.
In real life, we deserved death, hell, and damnation—to be banished away from His presence, away from all holiness, from all righteousness, from all goodness, from all blessing from Him, from all grace.
And Jesus died on the cross to create a new covenant that we should have eternal life that starts when we come into relationship with Him and goes forever and ever and ever and ever.
You see why you need to feed on the words of Christ? Didn't that encourage your soul when I read that? It wasn't my words. I read the words of Christ.
You mean that Christ didn't even come on His own accord? He came because the Father sent Him. And He said the will of the Father was that all those that come to Him, He would never cast away. And even when I fall asleep—because we don't die, we fall asleep—He's going to raise me up on that day, and I'm going to be with Him forever.
That's the new covenant. That's what you've been called to. That's what He promised you. And Christ don't switch up on us.
Matthew 26:29: "I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day. When I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom."
Now, there is some theological debate on what He meant here. But when He says, "I will not drink," He was very specific. "I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine, speaking of wine, I will not do it again until that day when I will drink it new with you in my father's kingdom."
Some believe that when He rose after He was killed on the third day and appeared to the disciples, He drank then. But I did research. It says, probably one or two places, that Christ did eat to prove that it was really Him. But I see no record where it actually said He drank of the vine. I see no record of that.
Which leads me to believe He's talking about the wedding supper of the Lamb.
Beloved, I don't think we missed it. Pastor does a great communion. I've done a couple myself. We talk about the blood. But I'm talking about we who believe in Him. We are His disciples, the ones that will be raised on the last day.
There will be a time—I believe—where Christ holds the cup up and we take communion with Him.
Let me tell you something. I'll keep it real. My wife will tell you, I don't really drink. Like 950 times out of 960, I'm like, "Nah, I don't really... the wine ain't my thing." Not because I'm trying to be super holy. I really don't like the way it tastes.
But there will be one time. There will at least be one time that I will partake. Right? If you're going to sip on something, let's sip on something with a Savior. When we're in heaven and we have all been called. When we all get together to take communion, to drink of the vine with the Savior.
That's why I land theologically on that day.
He said new in the kingdom. He had already said the kingdom of God is at hand. But He said with you—new in the kingdom—on that day.
And I'm going to tell you something. Listen to me. Y'all know me. Hear my heart. I'm not trying to beat you over the head. If that doesn't stir up something in your soul—the thought of all of us being together and sharing wine in heaven at the wedding feast of the Lamb—beloved, you're missing something.
You're missing something. Something is off. Either we don't believe or we're distracted.
Nothing on this temporal earth will be able to satisfy like being in full communion and presence on that day with our brothers and sisters, those that have gone on and fallen asleep before us, and with our Savior.
Why? Because He made a new covenant with us. And He doubled and tripled down: All that belong to me, I will never cast away. And they now have eternal life. And I will raise them up on that day.
When God calls you away from something, it can feel impossible—especially when you're providing for a family. I felt the Lord calling me away from my last job back in 2023. I was making good money. I had just had twins, still in formula and diapers. But the Holy Spirit was persistent: "Your time here is up."
I was scared. I'll be honest with you—I was scared. I was an elder at 2819 Church, in the middle of revival, preaching, praying. But I was scared. My wife was home with four children. It was on my back. I tried to make things work. I ran into a business partner, someone I thought shared my values, a believer. I dove all in, working for equity in the company—40% ownership. But after close to a year, with no payment coming, I discovered I had no equity anymore.
When you're going into relationship, into contract, into covenant, there are two things you need to be aware of:
First: The integrity of the one you're making the covenant with.
In the West, we don't really understand covenant. We think, "I don't feel like paying it. I don't feel like doing it, so I won't." That mindset has permeated our society. Nobody trusts anybody because at any given time, you can switch up.
But not so with God.
In biblical context, a covenant was so binding that when people took covenant with someone, they weren't even viewed as two separate entities. They were viewed as one. One.
Second: You need to know what is required of you and what you're going to get. If you don't understand the covenant, it's hard for you to live up to your part of it.
Let me take you to John 6:35. Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe."
Jesus says, "I am the bread of life." But He also says, "You have seen me. You have encountered me. You are around me. But I know some of you do not believe. You can call yourself a disciple all you want. Just because you call yourself a disciple does not mean you believe. You can even follow and have nearness to Him—but that does not mean you are a disciple."
Then in verse 37: "All that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." This is a dependable God. It should give you confidence.
Do you know that you didn't start this thing with salvation? Do you know that anybody that really comes to know God is drawn by Him? You think you just woke up and were smart enough to follow Him? No. We had darkened hearts. All of us were led astray. But He says: "Of all that he has given me, I will raise it up on the last day."
He doubles down: "This is the will. I'm not even doing my own will. I'm doing the will of the Father who sent me, that anybody who comes to me, I will keep them all and raise them up on the last day." The dependable God. The faithful one. The one that is mighty to save.
In verse 40: "For this is the will of my father. Everyone who looks on the son and believes, believes in him should have eternal life. And again, he says, I will raise him up on the last day." Our salvation is secure in Jesus.
But here's what troubles many of us: Is he really going to come and get me? Is he really going to follow through on his word? I can't see him. I can't touch him and try to hold him to task. And many of our lives reflect that. We won't go all in on Him because we really don't believe His word. We really don't believe that He is who He says He is.
I'm not here to beat you over the head. I just want to expose your heart. Because really, behind that is why you won't go all in.
This is why some of us just keep one foot in the world, because we really feel like the world is more stable than Christ. We're married to Christ, but we keep a tender profile going—just to see what's out there—knowing that they will abuse us.
Here He is. He has given all that He had. He came from heaven. He gave His life. He rose on the third day. He went back to the Father. He said to us, "Listen, I'm going to prepare a place for you. If it were not true, I would not have told you."
But even in our humanity, some of us struggle to really believe it. I'm talking about really situating your whole life around the fact that the Holy Spirit has been sent here for us to walk this thing out, and our Savior is coming back to get us.
Does your life look like that?
Where have we secretly hidden a lack of trust in God and His word in our heart and acted like it was okay?
I was scared, y'all. You know why? Because I see four children and a wife and I look at the bank account and it's going down. I'm not trying to judge you. I've been there.
But here's what I know: He's faithful.
And can I tell you something? Even when you encounter some Judas-like movements, it never stops the will of God in your life. If I could go a little further, the Judas in your life can redirect you where you may have been distracted—to get you where He wants you to be. For me, that meant joining the full-time staff at 2819 Church as of June 2nd. It was the scariest almost two years of my life. I was getting kicked in the chest by fear every day. But ultimately, the fear was this: You can't depend on him. Those words are just words on a page. They're not backed by an eternal God.
You see how the enemy can creep in and make a home in our hearts? And we let him stay there.
In John 6:41, the Jews grumbled about Him because He said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"
Here's what's happening: After He had fed thousands of people and said "I am the bread of life," now they're questioning Him.
Haven't you seen God work in a season of your life when you knew there was no way you could make it out? And then He shows up. But then we get amnesia. Our knees are still bruised from praying and getting an answer, and we get amnesia on God.
Here's the thing: Some of you are making strides in God. You're really trying to read and pray. You're really trying to walk this thing out. And one of the biggest things you deal with—especially when young in the faith, but even seasoned saints—is that the people we love and care about around us don't affirm us.
As a result of that, we start denying God. We start pushing our Scripture under the bed. We don't want to wear anything that's Christlike. When we go out, we don't want to pray in front of them when we eat. We start hiding Him.
But don't worry about that affirmation. They didn't call you. They are neither the author nor the finisher of your faith.
In verse 43, Jesus answered them: "Do not grumble amongst yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day."
Verse 45: "It is written in the prophets and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me." You cannot try to get to the Father outside of Jesus.
Verse 47: "Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life."
And then verse 48, He really hits home: "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died." Verse 50: "This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die."
Verse 51: "I am the living bread that comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
He said, "I am the bread of life. If you eat of me, you will never die again. I'm not waiting for another man to affirm me. I come from the Father. I have spoken for Him. Eat of me and you will have eternal life."
He's speaking of Himself. This is the bread of life. I believe—motion to Himself—this is the bread of life. Yes, sir. This is not something else. I am Him.
I am the one that has been prophesied about. I am the one coming to die for the sins of the world. I am your salvation. I am your hope. I am the lover of your soul.
I don't care about what you got to say about me. Your words don't outweigh the words of my Father. I know I left heaven. I ain't asking you about it. I am the Messiah. I am the Son of God. You guys can't even see God. You would die. I have seen the Father.
Verse 52: The Jews then disputed amongst themselves, saying, "How can this man give us flesh to eat?"
Verse 53: Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly anytime He doubles down on this. Truly, you need to listen. Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you."
Verse 54: "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
In the Amplified version: "The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, the one who believes in me and accepts me as savior has eternal life. That is now possesses it. And I will raise him up from the dead on the last day."
Verse 55: "For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink."
Verse 56: "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him." In the Amplified: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, believes in me, accepts me as savior, remains in me, and I in the same way remain in him."
I gave you a couple things to look out for when you're making an agreement or a covenant:
One, the dependability of the one making the covenant with you.
Two, you need to know what is required of you and what you're going to get.
Your part is to abide in Him. Believe in Him. That's why it's so big for us to come away from dead works. We've been taught: "We got to do this. We got to do that. We got to do this. We got to do that. We got to check this off the book. We got to go back to the law. We got to do these things."
But that's why we stay away from the law. The reality is you'll never be able to fulfill it. You'll never be able to live by the law.
All of our requirements is to really and truly believe in Him, abide in Him, believe in His word.
When I talk about believe, it's not just a mental ascension. It means to cleave to and trust in Him. Think about going across a bridge like a mountain in Nepal, where there's a river and rocks. Usually in the movies, it's some real old, raggedy bridge. Why don't they do better bridges? But it's like a real rope that looked like it was made when Jesus was on the earth, with planks that really could have been replaced.
You're clinging to that bridge because you know you have no ability to fly. You know that if that bridge fails you, you will be destroyed.
That's how we're supposed to cling to Christ. That's how our relation is supposed to be to Him.
Think about when you're in love. You ever try to hug the person you're in love with and you just feel like you can't get close enough? You want to smell what they smell like. You love their hair. "Oh my gosh, I love you so much. You make me feel like... I love you so much. I miss you. I miss you."
There's a country saying: "You had your nose wide open." That means you are fully in love.
That's how we're supposed to be with Christ and His words. Cleave and nestle in and try to get even closer, even though we're already one.
Verse 57: "As the living father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me."
Verse 58: "This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever."
After He said this, His disciples grumbled. A large amount of His disciples left Him. They said, "What you talking about, man?" They researched it. "Drink blood? That's against our dietary laws. I'm not doing that. Ain't you Joseph's son? You tripping."
And they left.
But you know what I love about security in Christ? Maybe even as He saw some of them leave, still within eyesight, you know what He did? He didn't buckle. He turned to the disciples and said, "Um, do y'all want to go too?"
I want to say it was Peter. He was like, "Where would we go, God? Where would we go?" Christ didn't abandon Him because of the ones who left.
For you have the words of eternal life. I want to stamp this for you, beloved. When you hit hard times, we can't pick a Plan B.
Where else can you go? Who else can you run to that has the words of eternal life?
I don't care what economic hardship comes. I don't care how bad the divorce was. I'm not trying to be insensitive. You may have prayed and they still passed. Maybe your child is estranged from you and you love them like no other and you cry yourself to sleep at night. How could they do that? Maybe you're betrayed in business.
We don't leave the one who has words of eternal life. Nobody else has that. You don't give up the eternal for the temporary.
Now I want to give you that context. Now I'm going to jump back into Matthew 26.
He says: "Now, as they were eating, Jesus took the bread and after blessing it, he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take, eat. This is my body.'"
I wanted to give you that context because that was a hard saying. Christ lost followers over that.
Verse 27: "And he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, 'Drink of it all of you.'"
Verse 28: "For this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."
I want to talk about covenant here. In many transcripts and in other accounts, it says the new covenant. The new covenant.
In the Amplified version: "For this is my blood of the new and better covenant, which ratifies the agreement and is being poured out for many as the substitutionary atonement for the forgiveness of sins."
The word substitutionary means He actually made us one by His death on the cross. He wiped the slate clean and made us one. Think about that. He justified the ungodly—you and me—and so holy and the blood was shed. That's why we can't trample over the blood. Now we have access—not just access to Him, but now we are one with Him.
If you don't get that, man, I'm from a country church named Washington Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville. They may not have had all the language, but they sang a song. It went something like this:
I know it was blood. I know it was the blood. I know it was the blood for me. One day when I was lost. I know it was blood for me. They pierced Him inside. They pierced Him inside for me. One day when I was lost, Jesus died on the cross. And I know it was the blood for me.
And I'm talking about old mothers. Old saints. They didn't try to make it sound cute either. They would grunt it out. You know why? They had a revelation of the blood.
The souls-saving blood. The covenant-making blood. The blood that was needed for access to Him. He substituted and died in our place.
In real life, we deserved death, hell, and damnation—to be banished away from His presence, away from all holiness, from all righteousness, from all goodness, from all blessing from Him, from all grace.
And Jesus died on the cross to create a new covenant that we should have eternal life that starts when we come into relationship with Him and goes forever and ever and ever and ever.
You see why you need to feed on the words of Christ? Didn't that encourage your soul when I read that? It wasn't my words. I read the words of Christ.
You mean that Christ didn't even come on His own accord? He came because the Father sent Him. And He said the will of the Father was that all those that come to Him, He would never cast away. And even when I fall asleep—because we don't die, we fall asleep—He's going to raise me up on that day, and I'm going to be with Him forever.
That's the new covenant. That's what you've been called to. That's what He promised you. And Christ don't switch up on us.
Matthew 26:29: "I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day. When I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom."
Now, there is some theological debate on what He meant here. But when He says, "I will not drink," He was very specific. "I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine, speaking of wine, I will not do it again until that day when I will drink it new with you in my father's kingdom."
Some believe that when He rose after He was killed on the third day and appeared to the disciples, He drank then. But I did research. It says, probably one or two places, that Christ did eat to prove that it was really Him. But I see no record where it actually said He drank of the vine. I see no record of that.
Which leads me to believe He's talking about the wedding supper of the Lamb.
Beloved, I don't think we missed it. Pastor does a great communion. I've done a couple myself. We talk about the blood. But I'm talking about we who believe in Him. We are His disciples, the ones that will be raised on the last day.
There will be a time—I believe—where Christ holds the cup up and we take communion with Him.
Let me tell you something. I'll keep it real. My wife will tell you, I don't really drink. Like 950 times out of 960, I'm like, "Nah, I don't really... the wine ain't my thing." Not because I'm trying to be super holy. I really don't like the way it tastes.
But there will be one time. There will at least be one time that I will partake. Right? If you're going to sip on something, let's sip on something with a Savior. When we're in heaven and we have all been called. When we all get together to take communion, to drink of the vine with the Savior.
That's why I land theologically on that day.
He said new in the kingdom. He had already said the kingdom of God is at hand. But He said with you—new in the kingdom—on that day.
And I'm going to tell you something. Listen to me. Y'all know me. Hear my heart. I'm not trying to beat you over the head. If that doesn't stir up something in your soul—the thought of all of us being together and sharing wine in heaven at the wedding feast of the Lamb—beloved, you're missing something.
You're missing something. Something is off. Either we don't believe or we're distracted.
Nothing on this temporal earth will be able to satisfy like being in full communion and presence on that day with our brothers and sisters, those that have gone on and fallen asleep before us, and with our Savior.
Why? Because He made a new covenant with us. And He doubled and tripled down: All that belong to me, I will never cast away. And they now have eternal life. And I will raise them up on that day.
