Father, we would ask, Father,
that you'd bless me, Father, with whatever I say. You'd give me the grace, Father,
to speak a word in due season, to bring comfort to a grieving
heart, Father, to encourage those in Christ. We ask these things
in Jesus' name. Amen. Don't I look good this morning?
Got my preacher shirt on. I got the same boots I nearly
always preach in. Normally, I would consult six,
maybe eight commentaries to come up with a message that would
impress everyone with how smart I am. I'm not going to do that
this morning. I don't think it would work in
any way. This morning, whatever I say to you comes straight from
the heart and not out of a book. This morning I want to bring
a message on the everlasting covenant. Now, when Donnie Bell
was here, we got to talking and I didn't realize this. But Donnie
Bell and myself both took the same extension courses from Toronto
Baptist Seminary. I didn't know that up till now.
The first one is basic Christianity. And the first question that they
ask is, have you read the whole Bible? Now, most people are like
me. They'll weasel out of that and
they'll say, well, at one time or another, I pretty well read
the whole Bible. The second question is, did you
start in Genesis and read through Revelation? And I realized after
that there's a reason for that because we need to know the Word
of God. The Lord Jesus Christ told the
Pharisees, you do search the scriptures because in them you
think you have eternal life and they are they which speak of
me. If you don't read the scriptures,
you miss out. If the only scripture you hear
is sitting here in this room, then you're losing out on a huge
blessing. You're losing out on coming to
know other children of God. If you don't study the scriptures,
you'll never be close to them. When we read the scriptures,
we should be right there with them. They should be as real
to us as everything is right now. If God blesses us, we will
read the scripture, we'll be right there with Adam and Eve
when they came out of the garden, and there's no one in the whole
world but those two. And we'll be right there with
Noah when he was building the Ark. And everyone laughed at
him. Everyone laughed at him. And we'll see God put him in
the Ark, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, and shut the door and
seal him up. It will seem so real. We'll see the little maid that
told her mistress, would God my Lord, we're in Samaria. where there's a prophet that
would heal him. She talked to the wife of Naaman
the Syrian. We'll see David when he walked
down to the brook and knelt down and picked out five smooth stones. And we'll feel with David that
God will give him the strength to kill this Philistine. If you
don't read it, you're not gonna know it. And then you get into
the New Testament and the picture of the Old Testament is clear. Now you see the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you see him in doing the
work of God, doing the things it takes to save you and to save
me. And there are certain passages
that touch each one of us differently. We can read about the lady that
said, if I could but touch the hem of his garment, I'd be whole. And we would give everything
we have to have that kind of faith. You will stand outside
the tomb when the Lord Jesus Christ raised Lazarus from the
dead. And you will see Lazarus come
out of that tomb bound hand and foot. with grave clothes and
you'll look around at the crowd that is there and they don't
see the son of God and the power of God that does this because
they go away making plans to kill both of them. And we'll see Peter when he was
in the boat and he looked out in a storm and the Lord Jesus
Christ is walking on the water. And Peter said, and the Lord
said, come to me. And Peter steps out of the boat
and takes one or two steps and sinks. And God, the Lord Jesus
Christ saves him. And we know we've got even less
faith than that. I doubt I'd even get one step
away. We need to read the scriptures
for comfort. for instruction in righteousness,
for doctrine, for reproof, that we will be thoroughly furnished
unto every good work. There's one account in a scripture
that comforts me no end. There was a certain rich man
clothed in purple and fine linen who fared sumptuously every day. And a certain beggar named Lazarus
was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed
with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Moreover,
the dogs came and licked his wounds. And it came to pass that
the beggar died. And angels carried Lazarus to
the bosom of Abraham. The rich man died also and was
buried, and in hell he lift up his eyes and seeth Lazarus afar
off in Abraham's bosom. The thing that comforts me is
this. I can sympathize with Lazarus
because I'm a sinner. I'm full of sores. Greg tells
us we're maggots, and that's true. Greg tells us we're mercy
beggars. That offends people, but it's
true. We have that in common with Lazarus. We are despicable
people in the midst of a world that despises us. But when he
died, what happened? God sent angels to bring Lazarus
to him. And I don't think that's an isolated
incident. Now this is not a parable. Parables
never have first names in them. Parables never have any names
of any kind. This is an incident that the
Lord is telling us. And I believe that every child
of God will be carried to angels at their appointed time of death. They'll be carried to be with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, bear my longing soul to him
who bled and died for me, whose blood has cleansed me from all
sin and gives me victory. Oh, come, angel band, come and
around me stand. At my appointed time, I'll be
laying flat on my back in a hospital bed probably. Deanna will be
there, my wife of over 60 years. She would give her life for mine. And I would give my life for
her. But at that time, she can't help
me. At that time, there's nothing
she can do. I will lay in that bed and look
back down over my life, and I'll know that I never did anything
right. Everything I did had a selfish
purpose. The things that I would do, I
couldn't do them. The things I didn't want to do,
I found plenty of time to do them. And I will say in my heart,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body
of death? In the final moments of our lives,
whenever we hear the flutter of the death angel's wings and
we know that they're coming to take me home, there's no one
there but me and God. No one else, no one else can
help us. In the next breath, I'm going
to face God. So what do I say? By the grace of God, by the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ who loves me, by the grace of the
Holy Spirit, I can say that although this house, this body of flesh,
this mud hut that I've lived in all these years, this body
of death, although my house be not so with God, yet he hath
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, ensured
This is all my salvation and all my desire. By the grace of
God, he will give me the strength to say that and mean it. That
was David's last words. These be the last words of David,
the king of Israel. When you come to that time, And
you go on to be with the Lord and your strength, your hope
is in this covenant because it says this is all of my salvation. Why is the covenant of grace
so important? That's the title of this message,
the everlasting covenant. Because we don't have anything
to do with it. Anything we touch turns to sin,
but we don't have anything to do with the eternal covenant.
If we don't have, if any religion does not have a covenant of grace,
what's left? Salvation is a lottery. Salvation's
up to every individual in the whole world. If you want to be
saved, you've got to take the first step. Now, what kind of
a God is that? Who knows that we come from the
womb, unable and unwilling to come to him, and yet he leaves
it up to us to take the first step. The number one thing to
remember about the eternal covenant is this, whatever God demands,
God provides. That's why we can rest all of
our hopes in that covenant that we're going to look at this morning.
Whatever God demands, God provides. The most perfect picture of this
in the Old Testament, the Old Testament is all about Christ,
but some things stand out better than others. There's an old man,
114, maybe 115 years old, carrying a knife and a little censer with
fire in it. And his son is with him, 13,
14, 15 years old. And he's loaded down with firewood. And they're climbing up this
mountain. And Isaac said, my father, he
said, here am I, my son. He said, here is the fire, and
here is the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And he did,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, the lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. So what is this covenant that
we don't have anything to do with? And yet it's all of our
salvation. Turn, if you will, to Ephesians
chapter one. Ephesians chapter one and verse
three. Blessed to be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, according as he hath chosen us
in him, in Christ, in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Now we can't do that on our own. We cannot stand before God on
our own. Even a man as close to God as
Moses could not stand in the presence of God. He got to be
put in a cleft in the rock, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And
God puts his hand over him and walks by. We cannot face God
on our own. There's no way. So whatever it
takes for us to be able to spend an eternity with God, He's going
to have to provide it. According as He has chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us. unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good pleasure
of his will. We're nowhere in there. Our minds,
our decisions, our hopes and dreams have nothing to do with
this. A sovereign God looked over all
of mankind and he picked me out. And he picked you out if you're
a child of God. And he doesn't tell us why or
how, he just did it because he is God. And then he predestinated
us unto the adoption of children. My name was written in the book
of life before he ever created the world. to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted, I am the beloved. Scripture in scripture, Christ
says, I and the children that God has given me, that's us.
That's us. But to say that Christ accepted
us is nothing in comparison to what
it means. When the Lord Jesus Christ accepted
me, when God presented me to him and he accepted me, he became
my surety, he became my days man, he became my substitute. And that is so mind-blowing that we can't even
imagine it because he knew the cost of what he was agreeing
to. He knew that he had to become
man. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under
the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law.
And then it became a reality. Joseph, thou son of David, fear
not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived
in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, because, F-O-R, for, because
he shall save his people from their sin. He had to lead a sinless
life. He had to obey everything in
the law. He had to do all of these things
for me. And then, then he had to face
judgment for me. He went before the very high
priest that should have taken him and led him in the temple
and said, here is God's mercy seat. This is the Lamb of God. This is the only hope we have,
Jesus of Nazareth. And they didn't do it. They brought
him before the Romans and the Romans tried him. And the Lord
Jesus Christ, when He accepted me, He accepted the fact that
He's going to be beaten. Scripture says His face, His
vision was more barred than any man. They slapped Him. They put a crown of thorns on
Him. They whipped Him with whips.
And then they took Him out and nailed Him to a cross and lifted
Him up between heaven and earth and left Him there to die. He
knew this when he accepted me, that it had to be done. And his
own people walked by and wagged their heads and said, why? Others
he saved, himself he cannot save. But he knew that as he hung on
the cross, that God would give him one more child. Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And when he was resurrected,
when he came out of that tomb, I came out with him. I've been
in Christ all this time, ever since he accepted me. I was crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. and the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. His faith is why I'm still alive. He believed God would give me
to him when he came out of the tomb, and he did. When he ascended
back up into heaven, he took me with him. He took my name
back to heaven, and that's not all. That's not all. The Lord himself shall come down
from heaven, shall descend from heaven with a shout. With the
trump of God and the voice of the archangel, and the dead in
Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the air to be with the
Lord. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. Wherefore, comfort ye one another
with these words." I didn't have anything to do with any of that,
none of it. Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. And we know, children of God
know, that all things work together for good for those that love
God, them who are the called according to his purpose. We
are the called according to his purpose. For, F-O-R, it means
because. All things work together for
good to them that love God, them who are thee called according
to his purpose, because whom he did foreknow, them he did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn amongst many brothers. Moreover, more
than this. Whom he did predestinate, them
he also called. Whom he called, them he also
justified. Whom he justified, them he also
glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? Now every free will preacher
in the whole wide world is preaching out of the same book I am, but
what they'll say to these things is that God would not make a
vessel unto dishonor. They don't know who they're talking
about. God does what God wants to do. Deuteronomy 32, 39, see now, That I am he, even he, and there
is no God with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound
and I heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. God does whatever God wants to
do. God determined to save me, and
God will save me. What shall we then say to these
things? Praise God. for calling me, for
sending the Lord Jesus Christ to die in my place, for justifying
me. We were justified when the Lord
Jesus Christ was resurrected. That means it's just like we
had never sinned, like we came forth from the womb innocent
and led perfect lives. That's what justified means,
no sin, no sin of any kind. And he will glorify me, I can
be assured of that. What shall we then say to these
things? If God before us, who can be
against us based on this fact? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, shall he not with him also freely
give us all things? If you feel bad and you pray
to the Lord, give me the grace to get up and fix breakfast for
my children and my husband. And the Lord answers your prayer.
That is nothing because he gave you the Lord Jesus Christ who
died on the cross. He's gonna surely give you the
grace to get up and fix breakfast. He's gonna freely give us all
things. We don't work for nothing. We
don't do anything. We just wait on God. That's what we can do. He shall
also freely give us all things. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies it.
If you don't like what I believe and you tell me I'm a heretic
for believing in predestination, your argument's not with me.
Your argument is with God. Who shall lay anything to my
charge? You're going to charge me, but
God is the one you're really talking about. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again
and is even at the right hand of God and ever liveth to make
intercession for us. Looking at all of these things
that I've just told you that God said, looking at all of the
assurance that is in these verses, after knowing that nobody, nobody
can say anything that will appear before God. And verse 38 is the
answer. I am persuaded because of all
the things I've just told you. I am persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus my Lord. Why? Because all of my salvation
is an eternal covenant that God made with the Lord Jesus Christ
that he would die for the ones God had chosen. And the Holy
Spirit agreed to born again all of those that Christ would die
for. We're not in that equation. We would mess it up if we were.
Someone would have an opinion about one thing, someone about
the other. It would never, ever, ever work
out if we were involved in the covenant of grace. Ephesians chapter two. tells
us almost the whole story of when God calls us until we die. Ephesians chapter two and verse
one, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Only the children of God knows
what that means. They know, I know. that I came forth from the womb
speaking lies as soon as I be born, Psalm 58. I know that I
was conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity, Psalm 51. I know
that there is none good, no, not one. I know that whereby
as one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so that
death passed upon all men, and I'm going to die, therefore I'm
a sinner, or I would not die. Now I know all of these things
because God has given me eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart
to believe. Whatever God demands, God will
provide. The new birth, quickening, raising
us from the dead, bringing us forth as a new creation in Christ
Jesus. We didn't have anything to do
with that either. The Holy Spirit moves. He's like
the wind. You can't see him. You can only
see the effects. I'm looking at the effects of
the Holy Spirit right now. That's why we're here. Because
this is an assembly of the saints and the scripture says, forsake
not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some
is, but doing even more as you see the incoming. We are here
because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in God
because the Holy Spirit has led us to be here. We must be quicken. We must be born again if we're
even going to see the kingdom of God and God provides that. You have the quicken who were
dead in trespasses and sin and then verse two and three tells
us why that is necessary. She tells us who we are. It says we're in. You have the quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins wherein we all walked in times past,
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, verse three, amongst whom we all had
our conversation in time past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, even as others. We're born that way. We're natural. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. We're carnal. The carnal mind
is enmity against God. We cannot pull ourselves out
of that. There's no way we can change
our birth. We came into this world crooked
and we can never make ourselves straight. Only God can born us
again, excuse me. Verse four, but God, that's the
strongest word you will ever hear. All of the bad things that
just said about us, but God who is rich in mercy, for, F-O-R,
because. But God, who is rich in mercy
because of his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
you are saved, in parentheses. and raised us up together and
caused us to sit together in heavenly places right now. The children of God are sitting
in heavenly places in Christ. They're just waiting for me to
get there. But this is all in the past tense. It's already happened. It's over
with. It's done with. It's been taken
care of. excuse me, raise us up together
and cause us to sit together in heavenly places. And then
God gives us the reason that in ages to come, he might show
the riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ
Jesus. That's what it's all about right
there. The next word is for, F-O-R. It means because. Because by
grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast, for, because, We are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus under good works, which were before
ordained that we should walk in them. Show me one thing that I had
to do. Show me one verse that says I
have to come down that aisle and accept Jesus. Show me one
verse that says that I have a will of my own. Everything, everything
God demanded for me to be able to spend an eternity with him,
he provided. That's why, that's why my hope
is in an eternal covenant that he made with me. before the foundation
of the world, which is all of my salvation and all of my desire. This covenant is about Christ. Everything points to Christ. Everything. We cannot believe
the price of our salvation. There's no way we can even imagine
it. The pain and suffering of our
Lord Jesus Christ when they beat him and when they nailed him
to the cross was nothing compared to the fact that he made him
to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. And because of the covenant,
the whole wrath of God fell on the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
stood up under it. He was able to bear the whole
wrath of God until he became sin and then God forsook him. That's where the pain is. Not
that they nailed him to the cross, but the fact that God had to
forsake his son so he wouldn't have to forsake me. That was
where the pain was. But the Lord Jesus Christ did
everything for us. Although this house be not so
with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure, this is all my salvation and all my
desire. Father, we thank you for being
here this morning. We'd ask, Father, that you'd
bring Greg back to us safely, that you'd bless Caleb, Father,
as he brings a message this morning, that you'd give him a word in
due season for us. We ask these things in Jesus'
name. Amen. you