New Covenant- the First Body of Christ -Part 1

We were looking at the New Covenant, how God introduces it in the first chapters of Matthew. You know, we call the second part of our Bible the New Testament or the New Covenant. And it's very interesting when you look at what we've been looking at, how, as it were, hidden in these early chapters are truths about the New Covenant for those who want to see.

We saw in Chapter 1 itself the first promise that He will save His people from their sins. And we saw in our last study about the baptism in the Holy Spirit in Matthew 3.11, which, by the way, is the second promise in the New Testament. And these two are connected.

He will save His people from their sins, and He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. Remember all your life that these are the first two promises in the New Testament. And these are things which we can experience only in the New Covenant.

They experienced an anointing of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Many people experienced it. But that's not similar to this baptism in the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives us, because Jesus referred to this as something that starts from the innermost being.

When Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit, He said in John 7.37-39, the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is this will be from the inside, from your innermost being, rivers of living water will flow. And there it says in John 7.39, the Spirit could not be given like this, because Jesus was not glorified. So the Spirit was given in Old Covenant times, but not like this, not from the innermost being.

And we see the example, lots of examples in the Old Testament of, you know, Samson who could kill lions on the outside, but not the lusts inside. Gideon who could have the Spirit upon him and could kill the Midianites, but then he went and worshipped idols. So, or David who could kill Goliath, but was defeated by Bathsheba.

So, this is the difference. If we don't understand this, we will not understand the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And in fact, the very first reference to the Holy Spirit in Matthew 1, you know, right in Matthew 1, you read about the Holy Spirit, and it's referring to the child Jesus being born within the womb of Mary, Matthew 1, verse 18.

She was found to be a child of the Holy Spirit, and the angel told Joseph, don't be afraid, because the child that is being conceived in her, verse 20, is of the Holy Spirit. So the first reference to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is for what? It's to produce Jesus' body inside Mary's womb. And that is the purpose of the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant, to build the body of Christ today.

Just like there. There it was done in Mary's womb, now it's being done in the church. And also, just like Jesus was born in Mary, the Holy Spirit comes in us so that the life of Jesus is born in us individually.

That's how he makes us part of the body. See, that creation, that body being formed inside Mary's womb, was the work of the Holy Spirit. But it wasn't entirely the Holy Spirit, it was the Holy Spirit plus Mary.

Mary had a part in the body of Jesus. And so also, today, the building of the body of Christ is not something which the Holy Spirit does entirely on his own. It's with us.

The church today is the mother through which this body is built. And so each of us has a part in that. See, just like in the Old Testament you read in Genesis 1, the very first reference to the Holy Spirit in verse 2 is, like a mother, the Spirit of God brooded over the waters.

It's like a hen brooding over its chicken. And what did that Holy Spirit brood over that earth for? Because the earth was so dark and corrupt and empty, the Holy Spirit brooded to bring light and fullness and shape into that dark earth. So we see the first chapter in the Old Testament, the first chapter in the New Testament, you see the emphasis on the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

And that's why we must recognize that the Bible begins in Old Testament and New Testament by teaching us that the Holy Spirit can do anything. That shapeless, useless earth in Genesis 1-2 became so beautiful by the end of Genesis 1. And that was just impossible for a woman to have a child without a man. You know what Gabriel told Mary in Luke chapter 1 when she said, how can this be? How can this be? When you hear about the beauty of the life of Jesus and you see that your calling is to reflect that purity and that humility all your life and to live in love and forgiveness and overcome all anger and all lust and all bitterness and all love of money and all jealousy and to live a life where we have complete control over our tongue and our thoughts, what do you say? You say what Mary said.

How can this be? I mean, just like she says, no woman ever produced a child as a virgin. And you say, this is impossible for a man to live this life. The Holy Spirit says, that's right.

What's the answer? What the angel told Mary was, nothing shall be impossible with God. So that's very important to remember that. Luke chapter 1, let's look at that verse.

We see it's connection to the Holy Spirit. Luke chapter 1, what did the angel tell Mary in verse 35 when she said, how can this be? Verse 34, since I'm a virgin, it's never heard of that a virgin has a child. And we say the same thing.

How can this be? How can a man overcome all his dirty thoughts and his anger and control his tongue? Such a thing has never happened in the human race. And the answer is the Holy Spirit will come upon you. Verse 35, the power of the most high will overshadow you.

And therefore, the Son of God will be born through you. That's the same word to us. The Holy Spirit comes upon us and fills us.

And the power of the most high will overshadow us. You know, this is the shadow spoken of in Psalm 91. Blessed is the man who dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.

That's the Holy Spirit, you know, like a shadow over us and it is power. Notice the connection between the Holy Spirit and power. In the birth of Jesus, in Acts 10.38, it says, God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power.

And before He died,