Psalm chapter 25, and my text will be found in verse
14. The secret of the Lord is with
them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. The title of the message is,
The Secret Covenant. The secret covenant. As David here says, the secret
of the Lord, and at the end of the verse he says the covenant,
these two are the same thing. The secret of the Lord and His
covenant are one and the same. Or what we would term the gospel. the gospel of Jesus Christ. It could read, the gospel of
the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His
covenant. So, that is my subject this evening,
the secret covenant. Now, modern religion, modern
perception of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is that everyone in the
civilized world knows the gospel. That is the modern perception. Is that everyone knows the gospel
of Jesus Christ already. Now, the only people, according
to them, that do not know the gospel are probably people in
some jungle somewhere, or Muslims, or somebody in third world countries.
And this is why they send their missionaries out to those places,
because everybody here already knows it. According to all the surveys,
about 70-80% of this nation profess to be Christians in some form
or fashion. Either by their religious devotion
to some church or denomination, they say they're Christian. Or
because they were raised by someone who professes to be Christian,
they call themselves Christian. Therefore, most places, so-called
churches, see no need then of preaching the gospel. They see
no need of preaching the person of Jesus Christ, no need of preaching
His death, burial, and resurrection, even because they perceive it
to be common knowledge. And listen, even if these people
who believe this mention the gospel, mention the person of
Christ, mention the death of Christ, they only use it in relationship
to you, as an example of what you should be doing. They use
it as a means of motivation. They use it as a means of an
example or How men ought to live. And others
believe that this gospel is so common that Jesus Christ died
for everyone. And so when they're mentioning
that Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, they perceive it
to be so common that it is left up to man to make a decision
as to whether to accept it or reject it, to make it effectual.
But what sayeth the Scriptures? What says the Word of God concerning
this Gospel? Is the Gospel of Jesus Christ
common to men? Is it something known by everyone? What does the Word of God say
regarding the Gospel and men's knowledge of it? Well, our text says it's a secret. The secret of the Lord. The secret of the Lord. The secret of the Lord, the covenant
of the Lord belongs only to a certain people. Them that fear Him and
to those that God shows the covenant. That's to whom this gospel is
known and belongs. Let's go over to see this in
the New Testament. Go to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And we'll see what Paul calls
it. Paul says in verse 7, we speak the wisdom of God in what? A mystery. A mystery. Even the hidden wisdom. In the previous chapter, the
apostle establishes, first of all, the truth and necessity
of preaching. Preaching is necessary. It's
necessary because God ordained it. He says that God, in the
previous chapter, he says that God made or ordained the foolishness
of the wisdom of this world. He made foolish the wisdom of
the world. Four, this is the evidence of
it, man by wisdom knew not God. Man by wisdom knew not God. How is God then pleased to reveal
Himself to men? How is God revealing Himself
to man? If the wisdom of man, the best
wisdom of man cannot perceive or understand or know God, how
then does God ordain that men should know Him? It says, by
the foolishness of preaching, God chose to save them that believe. How can men know that Jesus is
the only Savior? How do men know that He is the
only mediator between God and men? How do men believe on Him
for the salvation of their souls? Listen, I want you to really
meditate on this. The Lord Jesus Christ, and this
was so offensive that many of His disciples did not follow
Him after He said it. He said, no man can come unto
Me. No man can come unto Me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him." The Lord Jesus Christ
made it very clear that no man can come except they be taught
of God. And so then it pleased God. God ordained, decreed, and purposed
the means by which sinners may know Him in a saving way. that sinners may know Christ
and believe on Him by the foolishness of preaching. He chose to save
them that believe. So seeing preaching of the gospel
of Christ is necessary. Yet, to those who think preaching
the gospel is unnecessary, to those who think the gospel is
common knowledge, The Scripture declares they are perishing.
Perishing. This includes the modern so-called
church who believes the gospel is common knowledge. They are
perishing. God declares they're perishing.
For the preaching, verse 18 of chapter 1, for the preaching
of the cross, Why preach the cross? Why do you always preach
the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ? Why are you always
preaching the same message? How many people have left this
church because we preach the same message over and over and
over again? To them, the preaching of the
cross is foolishness. Why? Everybody knows it. I know
that. Go on. Do something else. Nope. Nope. Because your perishing
is the reason why you don't like it. Them that are perishing. The preaching of the cross is
to them that are perishing foolishness. But unto us, but unto us who
are saved by the grace of God, the preaching of the cross is
necessary. Necessary. We must have it. And
seeing then God has ordained preaching to call His people
and save them, what should we be preaching? If preaching is
the means by which God saves, then what should we be preaching? In chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians,
Paul said, verse 2, For I determined on purpose, I willingly determined
not to know anything among you, save this, Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. That's what Paul's determination
was. He didn't come with enticing words of man's wisdom. He didn't
come in excellency of speech. He didn't come preaching psychology,
philosophy, sociology. He didn't come preaching self-help
or self-righteousness. He did not come preaching law. He came preaching Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. This is the message of Paul,
and this is the message of everyone who is called by God to preach
Christ, Christ, and more Christ. Paul's message was not of works,
religion, nor of free will. Works merit religion, what they
call, I guess, work-duty religion. Now, I don't know what they...
They change the name so often, I don't keep up with them. But whatever they're saying,
we're not preaching anything like meriting God's favor by
our obedience or religious ceremony or duty. Paul's message was Christ
and Him crucified. This should be always, always
the sum, the substance, and the theme of our message. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Jesus is not part of our message. We don't preach a message and
then plug Him in in some measure. No, He is the center. He is the
sum of everything we teach and preach. He is everything. We preach not law or ceremony
or the will of man. We preach Christ and Him crucified. And Paul says of his message,
look what Paul says in verse 7. I just read it to you. But
we speak the wisdom of God. Christ is the wisdom of God and
Him crucified, that's the wisdom of God. But notice, we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery. even the hidden wisdom of God,
which God ordained before the world unto our glory. Paul's gospel was God's wisdom
of salvation, not man's wisdom of salvation. This is man's wisdom. Listen, it's very clear. Man's
wisdom of salvation is works. That is natural. That is a natural
message. You can go to any heathen religion
and they are always doing what? Working. They are always trying
to strive to earn God's favor. So that's a natural thing. It's
always natural in religion for man to put work in to merit his
God's favor. And so what is modern Christianity,
all they are is an offshoot of the heathen pagans. What they
do is say, well, Jesus Christ, we got to have Him, and then
we need to add, what? Our works. Christ did everything
He could do, and so the rest is up to you. That is a pagan
natural religion. That's man's wisdom. But this
wisdom of God, this salvation of God, is not by the merit of
man, but rather the merit of Christ. It's by the merit of
Jesus Christ, by His death. And listen, this is not common
knowledge. It's not common knowledge. Paul
says it's a mystery. It's a mystery. Look what he
says in the next verse. Which none of the princes of
this world knew. For had they known it, they would
have not crucified the Lord of glory. As it is written, I hath
not seen nor ear heard neither entered into the heart of man
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Paul says, no man, no princes. Now this is not just talking
about kings. I want you to understand he's talking about the Jews.
He's talking about the men who have studied the Scriptures the
most. These rulers of the Jews. These
leaders. These who with all their heart
tried to obey the law of God. They did not know Christ, although
they looked for His coming. Not one of these Jewish leaders
did not look for the coming of Christ. But when Christ came,
they could not see Him. They could not know Him. Why? It is written, I have not
seen nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man. It was
written that they should not know. The reason we are sent to preach
Jesus Christ to you is because He is not known or believed or
received by nature. This is why I came to preach
the gospel to you. This is why every man that is
sent of God is to preach the gospel to you. Because man does
not by nature know these things, nor can he know these things. Well, look at what he says in
verse 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, neither..." What? "...neither can he know them."
This is plain language, is it not? Is this not plain language? Can has to do with ability. He cannot know. He cannot receive. He will not receive. Those things
are foolishness to Him, and He cannot receive these things. Why? Because He is spiritually
judged, discerned, dead in trespasses and sins. Therefore, the gospel
is a mystery. Though it is preached with such
clarity and plainness of speech, you cannot know it. You cannot know it except God
reveal it to you. what he tells us in verse 10,
"...but God hath revealed them to us." How did Paul know this?
Paul was just like them. He was a Pharisee. He was a studied
man and yet he did not know Christ. He persecuted Christ. He persecuted
those who followed Christ. How then does he now know? How
does he know? "...but God revealed this to
us." This was a mystery to me. And to you who believe now, was
it not a mystery to you? It was a mystery! Wrapped in
an enigma. It was a mystery! You couldn't
understand it. You couldn't figure it out. The
more you tried to learn it, the bigger it got. You couldn't figure
it out. Couldn't learn it. In Matthew chapter 13, the Lord
Jesus Christ was preaching in parables. And his disciples said,
why do you preach to them in parables? You know what he said?
Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of God. But to them it is not given. Not given. And in Matthew 11, Jesus even
thanked God for that. He said, Father, I thank you
that you have not revealed this unto the wise and the prudent,
the men of worldly wisdom. This is not revealed, but unto
babes, the ignorant, They're helpless. That's who this gospel
is revealed to. Not to the mighty in knowledge,
but to the ignorant and low in understanding. To babes it's
revealed. Why? So that all the glory belong
to God. How is it that you know this
and others do not? Do you excel in knowledge? Who in this congregation can
say we excel in knowledge? None of us. We're low. We're babes. Not mighty in this
world. Not mighty in worldly wisdom. God reveals this to babes. And
so what in is the secret, this mystery that we are to preach?
It is the gospel of Christ. Here it is. The salvation of
God. The salvation of God. That salvation
belongs to God. And God gives salvation to whomsoever
He will. This is it. Salvations of the
Lord. We preach that God purposed salvation. It's just not different than
modern religion. Modern religion believes salvation is accidental. As though God just threw it in
the air. And if you get it, or if you don't, you catch it like
a cold, I guess. Some people get it, some people
don't. No, that's not the way God designed this. The salvation
of God is something purposed. You know, if you ever understand
that, you'll understand salvation. If a man never understands that
salvation is on purpose, he doesn't understand salvation at all.
Salvation is on purpose. God purposed salvation. Well,
who did He purpose it for? The Scriptures tell us plainly,
for the elect. The elect. These elect are people
chosen of God before the foundation of the world, and it was to them
God ordained salvation. He said, this mystery which none
of the princes knew was a hidden wisdom, listen, which God ordained
before the world began for our glory. Who? The elect. The elect. The gospel of Jesus
Christ, friends, is not a gospel of time. It is a gospel of eternity. It's a gospel. that though it
is manifest and preached in time, existed long before there was
ever time. That God, in ancient time of
eternity, purposed to save a people. He set His love upon a people
before the world began. This is the word that, this is
what the word of God calls it. In Romans 11 and 5 it says it
is the election of grace. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 1
and verse 4, it is said to be the election of God. It is the
election of God in grace toward objects of love. Toward His objects
of love, what He calls His children. And this is plainly manifest
in Romans 9, the clearest passage of Scripture. I was reading. I had a book in my library. I've
been cleaning my books out. I had a book in this library,
and I didn't know anything about this book. I picked up this book,
and it was a book about Romans. And I go, well, man, I never
heard of this guy before. I'll just, I'll tell you what,
I'll go to Romans 9. And if I could see the gospel
in Romans 9, and sure enough, that guy didn't know the gospel
from a hole in the ground. I threw it away. It was a horrible
book. I don't even know where it came
from. I'm glad it's gone. Glad nobody even saw it in my
library. It was horrible. But the Gospel
is plainly clear that God chose and loved a people not based
on any good in them. But the Scripture saith that
the children, not yet being born, neither having done good or evil,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand. It is said to her, the elder shall
serve the younger. I'm sorry, according to the lecture
of my stand, not of works, but of him that has called it, that
said to her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." God chose one and not the other. God loved one and hated the other. What shall we say then to this?
Is God unrighteous? God forbid you should say anything
like that, Paul said. For he told you already, I will
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy. Election,
God loved and chose a people before the world began, and had
by grace given them to Christ. Ephesians chapter 1, it says
he put us in Christ. Make sure I read it correctly
to you, but Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, where? In Christ. In Christ when? According as
He chosen us before the foundation of the world. For what purpose? That we should be holy and without
blame before Him. In love, having predestinated
us according to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein, wherein he hath made
us accepted. Where? In the Beloved. In the Beloved. So, He had given
all of the elect, this is the Gospel, that He had given all
of His elect to Christ and purposed in a covenant of grace. I told
you these two things are synonymous with one another. The Gospel
and a covenant. It is a covenant that God made with His Son, made
with Himself. The Scripture says that He being
the surety of a better covenant, Not the one of works, not the
one of law, but one of grace. Surety. What is a surety? It is a guarantee. It is one who has become responsible
for another. That's a surety. And Jesus Christ
became a surety. He became responsible for the
salvation of all those the Father gave Him. And this was His mission. He said, Lo, I come in the volume
of the book it is written of Me. To do what? To do Thy will,
O God. Christ came to do the will of
God. And what was the will of God?
Paul said, By the witch will. By the will of God, we are sanctified. That simply means that we are
made holy. How? Through the body of Jesus
Christ. Through the offering, through
the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. How often? Once
forever. Once for all. Once for all. Behold the mystery which was
kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest." How? By the Scriptures we preach.
Did I not just declare it to you? That's a mystery that was
hid from ancient eternity. And now God has opened His Word. He's sent His men to preach this
gospel to you. And yet I tell you, this gospel
is just a shut up to you. If God will not come in power
and demonstration of His Holy Spirit and give you life and
breath in your very soul, you'll never understand what I've just
said to you. You'll never know it for yourself. You can know
all about the election of God and the redemption of Christ,
but unless the Spirit of God makes you to know your election,
what good is it? What good is it to know all the
doctrine, but know not Christ yourself? This is the all-important
thing. The Spirit of God has got to
reveal it to you. And this was the immutable will
of God, that Christ should suffer and die in the stead of his people. Listen, if a man does not preach
Christ, if he does not exalt Christ as all the sum and substance
of his message, he's not preaching the gospel. And you know what? You shouldn't
listen to him. You should run as fast as you
can from a man who won't preach Christ. Therefore, the whole
of preaching of God's saints and servants is to abase man. That's what we do. When I preach
Christ, I cannot exalt you and Christ. Can't do it. Can't be
done. If you are exalting man to the
level of Christ, you are obviously bringing down Christ to the level
of man. You can't preach and exalt both.
Therefore, by the gospel, we abase you and exalt Him. That's it. Can't have it both
ways. Can't exalt you and exalt Christ
at the same time. Only one will be exalted. And
it ain't gonna be us. God says, that's my son. 7,000 years of history and all
this time God has only exalted his son. Do you suppose now we are at
an academic level enough to where we can stop preaching his son?
Never. We exalt Christ and we abase
man. The whole of preaching is to
preach and declare the absolute, total depravity and inability
of man to come to Christ. The absolute rebellion of man
and hatred of man for the sovereign Lord God. Scripture says that
the kings of this world, in Psalm chapter 2, It says, Why do the heathen rage
and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth
have lifted themselves up against the Lord and against His anointed,
saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast their cords.
That's natural man. In every way, he desires nothing
more than to cast off God's cords and said, I'll have it my way.
You know what the Lord of heaven is going to do? Laugh. That's
what he'll do. And he'll have them in derision.
We abase man. The truth is no man can come
to Christ except Christ, except the Spirit draw him. The Holy
Spirit must show your utter dependence and need of God in order to save
you. See, it's a secret. The utter, complete, absolute
depravity of man is just a secret. Nobody knows it. Nobody but those
that have experienced it themselves by the power of God. You've experienced
it? You know who you are? You know
who you are? You know what you can do? Nothing! And this is only by the grace
of God. You know anything of your own
depravity. It's a grace, it's a mercy that
you're exposed. If you don't ever have a need
of Christ, you'll never come to Christ. If you can do something,
you'll never come to Christ. It's only when God's taken that
last thing away from you that you can do. That's the only time
you'll come to Christ. And we preach to them. I only
preach to sinners. Not to self-righteous folks,
not to religious folks. I preach to absolute sinners
in absolute need. I tell you, look to Christ. Look
to Christ with all your heart and soul. Listen for His voice,
because He's the only one who can give you life and faith.
The Scripture declares to us to look to Christ, who God has
decreed to be the only Savior for sinners. Go to Acts chapter
4. Look at Acts chapter 4 with me. Acts chapter 4 and verse 10.
Be it known to you. To you all. Oh, I love this. It's like as though the apostle
Peter was washing his hands of their blood. And I'm going to
wash my hands of your blood this evening. And I'm going to say,
listen to this, all of you. All of you. Be it known unto you all. What
is he going to know? What is he going to make known?
I'm going to make known to you the secret and mystery of God's
gospel. that by the name or by the authority
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God
raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand before
you. Listen, be it known unto you
that by the authority, by the name and power of Jesus Christ,
this man stands before you. This man has been raised from
the dead. This man who was lame now walks. This man who was ignorant of
the mystery of God, now I understand the mystery of God. Be it known
unto you that this man stands before you whole. How? By the authority of Christ,
by the will of God. Be it known unto you that this
is the stone which is said it not of you builders, which is
become the head of the corner." This stone that God laid for
the foundation of His church, this stone that Jesus said of
Himself, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it, this sure stone for the elect. What did we do by nature? You
set it. as nothing. You counted it as
nothing. That's what we did to Christ.
We counted Him as nothing. But now, we see We see the secret
that was once hidden from our eyes, that this stone, we set
it not. God has set it to be the cornerstone. We see that. And not only do
we see it, we lay our very souls on it. I lay my soul on Christ
alone as the foundation of my standing before God. He has set
it the corner by God. And we to whom know this mystery
of Christ has been revealed to us, it's been revealed to us
that salvation is not in us. Salvation is not in our parents. Salvation is not in our country.
Salvation is not in our race or religion or dead works. Salvation
is found only in Jesus Christ alone. That's the mystery that's
not known to the world. That's the secret thing that
God has hid from the wise and prudent. But we know. We know. That salvation is founded
only in Christ, for there is none other name, none other name,
none other name given among men, whereby we must be saved. Isn't that how you feel about
salvation? I must be saved. Salvation is not an option for
me. I must be saved. I must be found in Christ, not
having mine own righteousness. I must have Him. And you know
what? I must be saved because the very glory of God depends
on it. Do you get this? That if one
of the elect were to fail to come, if one of the elect were
not to be redeemed by the blood of Christ, then the glory of
God would fall to the ground. That's not going to happen. He
did it for the praise of the glory of His grace. How many
times do you say that? I think at least four times in
Ephesians chapter 1. For the glory of His grace. For
the glory of His grace. Why are we called elected, chosen,
redeemed, raised from the dead, and now walk by faith? What for?
The glory of God. The praise of His glory. Can
you not see that if one were to fall, one were to fail, the
glory of God. Therefore, we must be saved.
Because the glory of God depends on it. Oh man, that's sure. That's something to stand on,
friends. That's something to lay your
soul on and go to sleep and rest. You can rest tonight. You're
in Christ, you can lay your head down and you can rest. You can
rest knowing even if you don't wake up, everything's alright. Everything's alright. Why? You
know the secret. God's revealed to you His covenant.
He showed to you the secret things. Salvation belongs to the Lord.
And the Scriptures are clear that He shall save His people
from their sins. The Scriptures are clear, He
shall not fail nor be discouraged. Therefore, by the Holy Spirit
is sent forth for the express mission of calling the redeemed. Calling them. We are bound always to give thanks
to you, God for you, beloved of the Lord. We have chosen you
before the foundation of the world through, to salvation,
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth
by our gospel. Again, it comes back to preaching
this gospel of Christ. This is the power of God. And
now listen again to your text. Go back to your text and listen
to it. To whom is this secret revealed? The secret of the Lord,
election, redemption, salvation by grace through faith in Christ
alone is to whom? Them that fear Him. What does
this mean? To them that reverence God. This is not a work. When will you ever reverence
God enough? You can't. What is this talking
about? To them that reverence God, to
them that fear God, the only way you reverence God is through
faith in Christ. That's it. Faith, believing on
the Son of God, honors God. It's the only way we have redemption. It's the only way we have righteousness
enough to be accepted by God. It's through faith in His Son. This is to fear Him, to believe
on Him. And if you've not believed, it's
because you've not been taught of God. And except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the most wise and prudent, the Pharisees,
scribes, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven.
How can we be righteous? Even through faith in Christ.
The righteousness of God is imputed and imparted to you who believe. This is it, to fear the Lord.
It is to believe on His Son. To believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. To fear and reverence Him is
to believe. And notice the comfort then that
you who believe. He will show them His covenant. Now I'll tell you this, He's
shown me His covenant. He's revealed the secret to me. But I've not
yet fully understood it. I've not yet fully grasped it,
nor have I fully experienced it. So what is He can do continually? He continually reminds me and
shows me His covenant. That's what He's doing now by
the preaching of this gospel. This stuff is not new to you, yet it is refreshing to you. Because the covenant is all my
hope. The covenant of grace is all
my hope. And listen what he says. Look back in the text and look
above this. Listen. He says God's good and upright
and He'll teach sinners in the way. The meek He will guide in
judgment, the meek He will teach His way. All the paths of the
Lord are mercy and truth, and to such as keep His covenant,
His testimonies. For Thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon mine iniquity, for it's great. What man is he that feareth
the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way
that he shall choose." Who's doing the choosing? God's way. He chooses the way. And you know
what He does? He teaches you in the way. All these paths and ways, these
things that the Lord is moving in His providence, isn't He teaching
you Christ is all? Well, He's teaching me. Showing
me Christ is all. He's showing me those things
that I think are important aren't so important. Christ is all. He's teaching me to trust in
Christ. That's what He's teaching me
in the way that He's leading me. And you know who chooses
my path? God does. I don't know what's next. God
does. And you know the only thing I
do know? He'll lead me in the way. Christ. He'll teach me. Christ. And then He gives me
this comfort. His soul shall dwell at ease. Him that feareth the Lord and
is taught in God's way, his soul, say you to the righteous, it
is well with him. So what does this secret covenant
do to me? It comforts me. It sets all my
troubles at ease. So no matter which way God leads
me, My soul is at ease. Rest. Did our Lord say my yoke is easy
and my burden light? If you've got a burden, most
likely you've put it on yourself. You've just put it on yourself. Most likely all of our troubles
are self-inflicted wounds. He says, you're at ease who fear
me. Why? I've taught you the secret
that I've kept hid from the foundation of the world. I chose you, I
redeemed you, I called you, I'll keep you, and I'll bring you
to myself. There's a secret. Nobody knows
but His people. You know that secret? Blessed. You are blessed. May God ever give you comfort,
peace in Christ. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.