Good evening. Let's open up tonight's
service with your hardback number 36. Number 36, a mighty fortress
is our God. If you could please stand, number
36. A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing. Our helper, he amid the flood
of mortal ill prevailing. For still our ancient foe doth
seek to work us woe. His craft and power are great. and armed with cruel fate, on
earth is not his equal. Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing. We're not the right men on our
side, the men of God's own choosing. Thus hath whom they may be, Christ
Jesus it is ye. Lord Sabaoth is his name. from age to age the same, and
he must win the battle. And though this world with devil's
filth should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath
whipped His truth to triumph through us. The Prince of Darkness grim,
we tremble not for Him. His rage we can endure, For lo,
His doom is sure, One little word shall fail Him, That word
above all earthly powers, No thanks to them abideth. The Spirit and the gifts are
ours, through Him who with us sided. Let goods and kindred go, This
mortal life also The body they may kill God's truth abideth
still His kingdom is forever. Good evening. I think Psalm 84
is becoming one of my favorite passages. I'd like to read it
again tonight for our call to worship. We looked at it last
Wednesday and then again this past Sunday. Lauren, so good to have you with
us tonight. Lauren's from from Clay's Church
up in New Jersey. Just two minutes before we started
the service, I got a phone call from Treva, Tricia's sister in
law, and Daryl had an emergency appendectomy on Monday and now
he has a blood infection and she's rushing him back to the
hospital right now. They said they needed to get
him on some kind of antibiotic to treat that so. We're going
to pray for Daryl. There was baptized here about.
I don't know. January 6th, OK, alright. Alright. Psalm 84 How amiable? How? Beautiful. How? Attractive are thy tabernacles,
O Lord of Hosts. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh crieth
out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found a
house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay
her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and
my God. Blessed are they that dwell in
thy house. they will be still praising thee. Selah. Blessed is the man whose
strength is in thee, in whose heart are the ways of them, who
passeth through the valley of Baca and make it a well. The rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength.
Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. Oh, Lord, God of hosts, hear
my prayer. Give ear. Oh, God of Jacob. See law. Behold, oh God, our
shield. And look upon the face of thine
anointed. That's our prayer tonight, isn't
it? Asking the father to look upon the face of the anointed
one. The Lord Jesus Christ. for all
of our acceptance and all of our righteousness. For a day
in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a
doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents
of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and
shield. The Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will
he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed
is the man that trusteth in thee. Now, the Lord's not saying you
trust in me and I'll bless you. If you trust in me, it's because
I blessed you. Let's ask the Lord's blessings
on our time here. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we come before thy throne of grace. Pleading. The blood and
righteousness of thy dear son. And asking Lord that you would
look upon the face of thine anointed one. On our behalf. Lord, what hope and what peace
and what comfort we have in knowing? That in Christ. We have not only
a perfect righteousness and acceptance before the Lord, even as you
love him. You love us. Beyond our understanding,
our comprehension, but oh Lord, what hope and what comfort we
have. And knowing that. All that are
in Christ are as he is. Father, we do pray for Daryl
right now and we ask that your hand of strength and healing
would be upon him. We pray that you would give the.
The medical professionals the the wisdom that they need to
be able to treat him well and. We know Lord that. Our physical
strength and our spiritual strength as we've just read from thy word.
Is from you and so Lord we pray for your hand of strength and
healing to be upon our brother. We pray that you would use this
time to draw him. Near to thyself and comfort his
heart in Christ. But we ask it all in Christ's
name, Amen. Let us sing together now hymn
185 and the Blue Hymnals and you may remain seated. Number
185, glorious things of thee are spoken. Number 185. ? Glorious things of thee are spoken
? ? Zion, city of our God ? ? He whose word cannot be broken ?
? Form thee for his own abode ? On the rock of ages founded,
What can shake thy sure repose? With salvation's walls surrounded,
Thou mayest smile at all thy foes. See the streams of living
waters, Stringing from eternal love, Well supply thy sons and
daughters, And all fear of want remove. Who can faint while such
a river Ever flows their thirst to swage? Grace which, like the
Lord, the Giver, Never fails from age to age. ? Round each habitation covering
? ? See the cloud and fire appear ? ? For a glory and a covering
? ? Showing that the Lord is near ? ? Glorious things of thee
are spoken ? ? Thy own city of our God ? ? Be whose work cannot
be broken ? ? Form thee for His own abode ? We're gonna need that music.
Will you open your Bibles with me to Zechariah chapter 9, Zechariah
chapter 9. There's a phrase in verse 11
that we kind of skipped over, made a brief comment about Sunday
morning, and I want to spend this next 30-40 minutes on this
subject. It's called the covenant of blood. the covenant of blood. You'll
find it in verse 11, as for thee also, yes, even for thee, by
the blood of thy covenant or whose blood, whose covenant is
by blood. That's the literal translation
of that phrase. As for thee, whose covenant is
by blood. This is the covenant of blood
as the scripture refers to it. I have sent forth thy prisoners
out of the pit wherein there is no water. Now, a covenant is an agreement
between two parties. We have covenants. A marriage
is a covenant. It's an agreement between two
people to love one another and remain faithful to one another. Abraham made a covenant with
Abimelech in Genesis chapter 31, Genesis chapter 21, when
they promised each other that they would not attack one another's
territory and they give each other space and they would respect
one another. David made a covenant with Jonathan
and Mephibosheth was the benefactor of that covenant, wasn't he?
And the covenant was that David would be gracious and kind towards
the descendants of Jonathan as he was. The scripture speaks
of the gospel as an eternal covenant. This is an agreement. This is
a promise that God the Father made with the Son and with the
Spirit to save a particular people. Now, sometimes in human covenants,
in human agreements, we fail to follow through with our promises.
With God, it is impossible for him to lie. And so the hope of
our salvation is established in this covenant of blood that
he made with himself before the foundation of the world. The
Lord Jesus Christ is called the lamb that was slain before the
foundation of the world. And so what Christ did 2000 years
ago was full ordained and purposed of God in the covenant of blood. whereby the father gave to the
son his elect people. The son entered into that covenant
promise and agreed to pay the ransom price, which was nothing
less than his own blood. And the Holy Spirit entered into
that covenant. It's an eternal covenant. And
I was thinking, the Holy Spirit agreed to come in God's perfect
time and to make all those whom the Father chose in that covenant,
that eternal covenant of blood, Everyone that Christ died for
in the eternal covenant of blood, the Spirit of God would come
and make them willing and open the eyes of their understanding
and give them faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that
this agreement that God made with God must be accomplished. It must be accomplished. And
then he causes us to enter into that covenant. when he calls
us out of darkness into his marvelous light and reveals his glory to
us. But here again, he takes responsibility
for the whole covenant. He says, I will and you shall. The free will religion says,
I will believe on God and he shall save me. And God says,
I will save you and you shall believe on me. I'm going to make
you believe on me. I'm going to be responsible for
both sides of the covenant. I'm going to make sure this agreement
is fulfilled. The unbelieving world says, I
will repent and God will forgive me. And God says, no, I'm going
to forgive you in the covenant of blood. And as a result of
that, you shall repent. I'm going to make sure of it.
I'm going to bring you into this covenant. I'm going to take responsibility
for both sides of the promise so that it's sure, as David said,
and steadfast. This covenant can't be changed.
It's eternal. It's ordered in all things and
sure. It's based on the person and
the work and the obedience and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a sure covenant. It's a
sure promise. It's everlasting. It's changeless. There's no possibility for error
in this covenant. There's no possibility for a
breach in this covenant. The word testament is the same
as the word covenant. So we have the Old Testament
and we have the New Testament. Now here's the glorious truth
of the Old and New Testament or the Old and New Covenant.
The New Covenant or the New Testament is infinitely older than the
Old Testament. You say, well, how can that be?
How can that be? Well, because the new covenant
is the fulfillment of that eternal covenant of blood that God made. Everything God does is eternal.
Everything he does is eternal. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter one. Here's the difference. And you know the key word to
understanding the book of Hebrews is the word better, better. And
so the Lord is comparing that old covenant to the new covenant.
There's only ever been one covenant whereby God's people are saved,
and that's the eternal covenant of blood. That's the one that
Zechariah was talking about, this covenant of yours which
is made by blood. But Hebrews chapter one begins
by showing us the difference between the Old Testament and
the New Testament. And it's not new because it's
different, it's new because it's been revealed more fully and
completely. God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners, through all these types and shadows of the
Old Testament. Had in times past spoken to our
fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto
us by his son. So the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the new revelation of the covenant. The covenant
was only revealed through types and shadows, through regulations
and laws, whether they were ceremonial laws or dietary laws or civil
laws or moral laws. Those were all types and shadows
pointing to the one who would come and fulfill the covenant. And now the Lord says, here's
the new covenant. And Hebrews chapter nine calls
it the reformation. It's the old covenant's been
made straight. That's what Reformation means.
Let the world talk about the Protestant Reformation that took
place 500 years ago. Luther's original thought was
that he could reform the Catholic Church. You don't reform error. Uh, so when the scripture speaks
of the new covenant being a reformation of the old, it's not that it's,
that it's reforming something. It's that it's, it's making it
clear. It's making it, it's making that
old covenant, those old covenant types more clear to us. And so
he says in verse, in verse two, half in these last days spoken
unto us by his son, whom he at the pointed air of all things
by whom also he'd made the world. Nothing that has been made was
made without Him. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word spoke. Let there be light. There was
light. The Lord Jesus Christ was the instrument of creation
who the Lord Jesus Christ be in the brightness of his glory
and the express image of his person upholds all things by
the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins
he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. You know there's one piece of
furniture that's that's missing in that we looked last Wednesday
night, we looked at that Old Testament tabernacle, how amiable
are thy tabernacles and all the different things in that tabernacle
and the table and the labor and the ark and the mercy seat and
all those things. There's no chair, there's no
chair. And yet when we read the scriptures, there's only one
piece of furniture that's mentioned in heaven. Only one piece of
furniture mentioned in heaven. We assume there must be a table.
We're going to be sitting at the Lamb's wedding feast, but
it doesn't say there's a table, but it does say there's a chair.
There's one chair. It's His throne, isn't it? Why,
He has sat down. He's finished the work. He's put away our sin once and
for all by the sacrifice of Himself. He ratified, if you will, or
fulfilled all the things necessary for that covenant of blood to
be made effectual for us. He sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high. Turn with me over to Hebrews
chapter eight. Hebrews chapter 8. This is the
hope of our salvation, brethren. That our salvation is not determined
by our promises or our faithfulness. It's His faithfulness. It's His
promises. He's put away our sins. All of
our failures, all of our faults, all of our sins and rebellions
against God have been put away. In Hebrews chapter 8, beginning
at verse 10, for this is the covenant that I will make with
the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. So something
had to happen for this new covenant to be made manifest. After those
days, after what days? After the sacrifice that the
Lord Jesus Christ made of himself on Calvary's cross. After he
ascended back into glory and took his rightful place at the
right hand of the majesty on high, he sent the Holy Spirit. That's what this is a reference
to. So I'm going to send my spirit after those days. And I'm going to put my laws
in their mind and I'm going to write them on their hearts and
I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people. Not only am I going to be their
God, but I'm going to make sure that they're my people. I'm going
to make them willing. They're going to come. They're
going to believe. They're going to rest all the
hope of their salvation in the covenant of blood that I established
in eternity past and completed in the sacrifice of my own son. Here's the difference, they shall
not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying,
know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of
them, even unto the greatest. That Old Testament covenant was
made with a, there were very few believers in Israel in the
Old Testament. In any period of time during
the Old Testament history, there was just a remnant. Most of the
Jews, most of the Israelites, they didn't believe it, but they
were still under that, they were under that national covenant.
They were accountable for the laws and the ceremonies and the
types, and yet they didn't believe. But now in the new covenant,
what's the difference? The new Israel. is made up of all believers. You see, you don't get into the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ without the new birth. That's
why we don't, you know, we, we baptize believers. That's how,
that's how you, you, you make that confession that, that you've
trusted Christ for your salvation. And so he says, He says, you're
not gonna have to do like he did in the Old Testament, go
around all these unbelieving Israelites and telling them to
believe, because they're all gonna believe, from the least
of them even unto the greatest. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities, will I
remember no more, no more. All those Old Testament sacrifices
that were made, we're gonna see, never put away sin. But in this
covenant, this covenant, God in these last days has spoken
unto us by his son. Blood has been shed. Sin's been
put away by the sacrifice of himself once and for all. There's
our hope. We can come before the throne
of grace with confidence, knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ has
put his blood on the mercy seat and God satisfied. What did God
say to Moses and Aaron? He said, you put the blood right
there and here I will meet with you. Here I'll meet with you. In that, verse 13, and in that
he saith, a new covenant he hath made the first old. Now that which is decaying and
waxing old is ready to vanish away. So all those types and
shadows, all those ceremonies, all those rules and regulations
that the children of Israel were put under as a picture of Christ
has now been fulfilled in Christ. And the old, as we said, the
new is infinitely older than the old. The old was a temporary
covenant that God gave to Israel. And it was, it was just given
to that, to, it started with Abraham and, and it ended. The Lord gave, the Lord gave
the children of Israel one generation in Jewish reckonings, 40 years.
And the Lord gave the children of Israel 40 years to repent
after the, after the, after the sacrifice that he made of himself.
And then after that, what happened to that tabernacle? What happened
to that temple? Not one stone was left upon another. The Romans came in and completely
destroyed it. Never been rebuilt since. Matter
of fact, in its place is a Muslim mosque right now. Right now as
we stand, as we are here tonight. They talk about rebuilding the
Solomon's temple. It's not going to happen. Not
going to happen. They talk about re-establishing
the sacrificial system. It's not going to happen. It's
finished. 70 AD, that was done away with. We have a covenant of blood that's
been established by that precious blood of Christ, the Lamb without
spot and without blemish. Look at chapter nine. This is
that, this matter of blood, life is in the blood. That's what
the scripture says. It's not that blood in and of itself has
any value, it's the life that was in the blood. What did the
Lord say to Cain after he killed his brother Abel? He said, your
brother's blood cries out from the ground against you. And oftentimes
the Lord told the children, you've got blood on your hands. You're guilty of murder. And God forbid the eating of
blood because the life was in the blood. Even in Acts chapter
15, when the disciples got together at the Jerusalem council and
they were trying to decide What are we going to do with the Gentiles?
They all agreed that this matter of eating blood was something
that they were to forbid the Gentiles even from doing as believers. Why? Because there's something
very precious about this blood. This blood is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ and it's the, it's the, well, it's what makes
the covenant sure and steadfast. And so he says, Zechariah chapter 13. Turn with
me there. Back with me to Zechariah chapter
13. Verse one. In that day, what
day? The day that the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ was shed. The day that sin was put away.
The day that righteousness was established on behalf of God's
people. In that day, there shall be a fountain open to the house
of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness. That fountain is a fountain of
blood and it puts away our sin. By the sacrifice of himself,
he's put away our sin. He did it by himself. There's
a fountain opened. Common drink, we don't eat the
blood physically, but spiritually we do. The Lord said, unless
you drink of my blood and eat of my flesh, you have no part
with me. All right, go back with me to Hebrews chapter nine. Without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. And 1 John chapter 1 verse 7
says the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, all
sin. Every sin is put away through
the shed blood of this is the covenant of blood. This is God
fulfilling his promise. Chapter 9 of Hebrews verse 1,
then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine
service and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made,
the first, wherein was made a candlestick and a table and a showbread,
which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the
tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all. which had the
golden censer, the ark of the covenant overlaid round about
with gold, wherein was a golden pot of manna, and Aaron's rod
that budded, and the tablets in the tables of the covenant. the law, the testimony of God. So here we have the Lord's telling
us in that Old Testament tabernacle in the Holies of Holies where
the Ark of the Covenant was, there's a mercy seat inside the
tabernacle, inside that box, inside that Ark was Aaron's rod
showing us that Christ is our priest. He's our intercessor. There was the manna showing us
that Christ is our prophet. He is the word of God. He's the
one who came and brought us, not just the word of God, brought
us himself. I am the word. And the 10 commandments, the
tablets showing us that he's our king, prophet, priest, and
king. And so now, Lord says, those
things were in the old covenant. And over it, verse five, the
cherubims of glory shattering the mercy seat, of which we cannot
now speak particularly, said, there's so much to be said about
this. We're not gonna get into all the details of it, except
that we are hid under the shadow of his wings. Those wings overshadowed
that mercy seat. And that's where God's people
are. And when these things were thus
ordained, the priest went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing
the service of God. So the priests were constantly
making sacrifice in the first tabernacle and shedding blood. But into the second went the
high priest only once a year, not without blood. Once a year,
the high priest went into the Holies of Holies, but he dare
not go there without blood. It had to be the blood of a lamb.
This covenant of blood starts all the way back in the garden. A lamb had to be slain in order
to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness. It continues with the very first
murder that took place with Cain and Abel was because of Cain's
jealousy over the fact that Abel's sacrifice was pleasing to God.
Why was it pleasing? Because it was a blood sacrifice.
It was a blood sacrifice. And over and over again the Lord
makes it clear without the blood there's no remission of sins.
This covenant has to be secured with blood. But this blood that
was shed in the Old Testament which he offered for himself,
the last part of verse 7, and the errors of the people. Now,
I looked up that word errors. I thought, you know, why would
God call our sin errors? And this word is a little different
from sin. It literally translated, it means
sins that we're ignorant of. And I got to thinking about it.
That's pretty much most of my sins. You know, we're convicted by
the things that, you know, that we're aware of, but my goodness,
we've got so much error and so much sin that we're not even
aware of. So, you know, it's not just the stuff that we feel
bad about that needs to be forgiven. It's all that stuff that we don't
even know about that needs to be forgiven. got to be put away. So the priest went in and made
a blood sacrifice for the errors of the people the Holy Ghost
this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not
yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.
Now there's the difference between the old and the new. It's not
the new doesn't change anything the new makes it makes it manifest. It's the revelation of the blood
of Christ. Verse 9, which was a figure for
the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices
that could not make him that did the surface perfect as pertaining
to the conscience. Now, I've got to have a clear
conscience if I'm going to come before the presence of God. If
I'm going to be bold enough to come into the presence of a holy
God, I better know that I'm without sin. And all those Old Testament rituals
never cleared the conscience. It never put away our sin. That could only be done through
the lamb that was slain. Well, before the foundation of
the world and then on Calvary's cross, look at verse 10, which
stood only in meats and drinks and divers, washings and carnal
ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. Reformation. To be made straight, to be made
clear, to be finished, to be made sure and steadfast, to fulfill
everything that the eternal covenant of blood was purposed to do,
the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished when he reformed the old covenant
to the new covenant. That's the only place the word
reformation needs to be used. What happened in the 17th century
was not a reformation. The 16th century was not a reformation. Maybe it was a revival. Some
of that's questionable, but you don't reform error. But here's
a reformation. Here's the reforming of that
old covenant and making it clear But Christ, being come a high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of bulls and goats, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained, having
obtained, having obtained eternal redemption for us. There's our hope. Eternal redemption
was obtained by the sacrifice that Christ made of himself,
by himself, through the shedding of his blood. He went in spiritually
and put his blood on that mercy seat. That's the reason the veil
was rent. That's the reason that God no
longer says stay away, but rather come. The blood's been put there, the
sin's been put away, eternal redemption has been obtained. For if the blood of bulls and
goats and the ashes of heifer sprinkled, the unclean sanctified
to the purifying of the flesh, that symbolism of the Old Testament,
God said, satisfied the sanctifying of the flesh. It cleansed things
in the sight of God. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works? Now, what is
it to have your conscience purged of dead works? I've been at the
bedside of a few people in my life who died fearing whether
or not they had done enough. To have your conscience, they
were, they had dead works that they were trying to present to
God, but their conscience was convicting them that perhaps
their works weren't enough. And to have your conscience purged
of dead works is not to be looking to your works at all for the
hope of your salvation. There's a clear conscience. A clear conscience is to know
that I have an advocate. I've got a sin bearer. I've got a perfect savior who
has accomplished everything on my behalf. I've got a clear conscience. So it's the Spirit of God that
purged your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And for this cause, for this
cause, He is the mediator of the New Covenant, the New Testament,
that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions
that were under the First Testament, They which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance. So in this passage of scripture,
the Lord tells us what he did. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. The Lord tells us how he did
it. He did it by the sacrifice of
himself, by putting his own precious blood on the mercy seat, not
a mercy seat made with hands. And the Lord tells us why he
did it. procure for us the promise, the
promise of eternal inheritance, eternal life. There's our hope. This is a covenant of blood for
where a covenant is, this word covenant and testament is the
same word, where a testament is. where a will is. You make an agreement with your
heirs. You write out your covenant,
your testament, your last will and testimony. For where a testament
is, there must also, of necessity, be the death of the testator.
As long as you're alive, nobody can take your things from you.
For a testator is A testament or a covenant or a will is a
force of force after men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength
at all while the testator liveth. You have a will, that will doesn't
mean anything to anybody as long as you're alive. Whereupon, verse 18, neither the first testament
was dedicated or purified without blood, without blood. It's a covenant of blood. For when Moses had spoken every
precept to all the people, according to the law, he took the blood
of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and
sprinkled both the book and all the people. saying, this is the
blood of the covenant, the Testament, which God hath enjoined unto
you. Moreover, the sprinkling with
blood, both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry,
and almost all things are by law purged with blood, and without
the shedding of blood is no remission. Without the shedding of God,
this covenant's got to be ratified by blood. It has to be the death
of the testator in order for the benefits to be to the benefactors. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in heaven should be purified with these,
but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. These were all just patterns.
There was always a covenant, an eternal covenant of blood
in the heavens. God gave a temporary covenant
to point to that covenant. And we call it the old covenant,
but really it was the new covenant. And then when the new covenant
comes, the new covenant points to the eternal covenant of blood.
For Christ is not entered into the holy place made with hands,
which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself
now to appear in the presence of God for us." What hope! We have a mediator. We've got
the Lord Jesus Christ who has presented himself to the Father
on our behalf and by The covenant of blood he has put away all
the sins of all of his people once and for all. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entered into the holy place every
year with the blood of others. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. Those Old Testament sacrifices
were made over and over and over and over again. But now, but
now, once in the end of the world. Now when the scripture speaks
of the end of the world, when it speaks of the end times, it's
talking about that period of time between the first and second
coming of Christ. And we've been in the end of
the world for the last 2,000 years. But now once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. And as it is appointed unto man
once to die, but after this, the judgment, so Christ once
offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him,
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. I hear some people who claim
to believe in grace explain the covenant of blood like this. They say Christ died for everyone
that believes. And the reason they phrase it
that way is because it takes the offense out of the gospel.
It gives men the impression that the death of Christ is dependent
upon them believing. And we know that's not true.
Christ died for everyone that God chose in the covenant of
blood, the eternal covenant of blood before the foundation of
the world. The Spirit of God will apply that blood to the
hearts of everyone for whom Christ died, everyone that God chose.
Now, that having been said, I want you to go back with me to this
last verse we just read. Verse 28 so Christ once. Offered. To bear the sins of
many. He offered himself up to the
father and he bore the sins of his people. And unto them that
look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. What I'm saying to you, is that
if you're not looking for his coming with hopeful anticipation,
you have no reason to comfort yourself in believing that he's
died for you. Everyone that he died for and
that he calls to himself, they're, you know, we get caught up in
things of this world, there's no question about that, But in
our heart of hearts, the one thing we long for more than anything
else. Is for the eastern sky to split?
The Trump of God to sound. The dead in Christ to be raised.
Those of us which are alive to be caught up together with them
in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. That's that's
our longing. The coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's our it's our hearts desire. And it's the evidence. It's the
evidence, if we're anticipating his coming, that's pretty good
indication that the Lord's done something for us in the covenant
of blood. Brother Byrd, I asked if we could
sing a hymn, number 21, in our spiral hymnal. Let's stand together,
Byrd's gonna lead us in number 21. Yeah. God the Father and the Son and
the Spirit three in one in eternal ages past made a covenant sure
and fast God my Father chose his own in the person of its
Son, and ordained that I should be one with it eternally. God the Son agreed to come in
the flesh to bring me home. He would keep God's holy law
And retreat me from the fall Christ in love so willingly Stood
as my great surety For my price he offered blood to appease the
wrath of God. God the Spirit, heavily dug,
promised to come down in love. Bringing life and peace and grace
to the chosen purchased grace. He seeks the lost, heals the
lame, and He brings us to the Lamb. By His mighty sovereign
call, God's elect are gathered all. This poor sinner is secure,
for God's covenant will endure. It is sealed by God's own word,
by His Spirit and His blood. Blessed Holy Covenant God, I
am yours by ties of blood. Ties of grace and ties of love. Hold me to my God above. Amen.