“And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Matthew 26:27-28

Introduction

The promise to be forgiven of our failures and sins is a foreign concept for most. It’s not uncommon for people introduced to Christ to think they cannot be forgiven for their sins once they come to grieve them. When someone is raised with an expectation that what is needed for pardon is to degrade yourself until the offended feels better or continually apologize and grovel until you’ve learned your lesson, it's difficult to see how forgiveness can be so easy and free, or that someone would really desire to forgive you. So, those who hear of Christ and his blood may ask, “you mean, all I have to do is drink this cup and I’ll be forgiven? All my sins will be wiped away?” And of course, the answer is “Yes! Only in this blood can God and man come and live together.”

The Workup

Christ was born with the express purpose of dying. Despite the horror of what he knew was going to happen, he became a man to glorify his Father for one expressed purpose, “to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15) which necessarily required his death (John 12:27). 

But he took it on the chin and was delighted to do this for his people, his bride, the church, because of his great love for her. However, this plan to pour out his blood wasn’t novel. Jesus was playing the long game and had been planning this surprise for his wife for millennia (Ephesians 1:4), and for that time he had been leaving hints and clues for her to be comforted until the big reveal.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel [His bride] after those days…I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Jeremiah 31:33-34

Here we see the difference between the forgiveness granted in the Old Testament and the forgiveness in the New Testament: Remembering. Jesus, being the faithful bridegroom, was like the cool dad in the neighborhood who had to go even bigger and better on the birthday surprise the next year. He had always been willing to wash his people clean from sin, but now, through his own blood, he would even remove the memory of sin. The cleansing would be permanent because no blood is of greater value than his own. 

The Promise

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 1:9

Jesus became a sacrifice on your behalf and offered himself on the altar and died. And now he offers you the cup with his blood and says “drink and your sins will be forgiven” and if you drink you will abide in him and he will abide in you, and he will give you eternal life (John 6:54,56). 

To our modern ears, this sounds impossible - even too good to be true. In our world what is a promise anyway? Just another opportunity for you to get your hopes us and be let down again. But this feeling is only because we’ve so seldom seen a good man sacrificing himself for others. We’ve so rarely encountered a selfless, godly man to whom we can set our eyes. This is why superhero and John Wayne movies are so captivating - they depict selfless sacrifice. But this simply means we need new eyes. And these new eyes, these eyes of faith, are given to us when we believe, eat and drink. Because in this eating and drinking, we are given a taste of the faithfulness of Christ and we are reminded of how sweet and joyous it was for him to die for our sake (Hebrews 12:2).  

(It must be noted briefly, however, that we do not eat and drink the actual body and blood of Christ. But here Jesus conveys the necessity of accepting by faith Jesus’ sacrificial death to receive eternal life.)

But we must not miss a crucial stipulation, “if we confess.” Forgiveness is a vacuous proposition if we don’t know why we need it. Our Savior wants us to know the horror from which we have been redeemed: the wrath of God (Romans 5:9). And so we are promised that if we confess our sins, the God who not only has promised to forgive and will do it, but also has the moral and judicial right to forgive - he has the authority to do it. And in this forgiveness, we are cleansed from all unrighteousness!

Conclusion

Because Christ promises to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, this means your adultery, abortion, hatred, homosexuality, bitterness, anger, jealousy, fear, murder, idolatry, fornication, and all other sins you believe are unforgivable, can indeed be forgiven! So, drink the cup of forgiveness, clothe yourself with Christ, confess your sins to him and he will draw you into himself as he cleanses you, and makes you white as snow. You can kiss condemnation goodbye! Thank you, Jesus!