Seeing to the End

Q: What does the Bible say about the covenant of grace?

The covenant of grace reveals God's promise to save His people through Christ, contrasting the old covenant of works. The covenant of grace signifies God's unwavering commitment to His chosen people, established even before the foundation of the world. This covenant is distinctly different from the covenant of works, where the law required perfect obedience. In grace, God fulfills the demands of the law through Christ, assuring that those whom He has chosen are justified and made righteous through faith in Him. The new heart given to believers reflects this everlasting covenant, enabling them to serve God not out of obligation but from a heart transformed by grace.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to understand the law and the gospel?

Understanding the law highlights our need for grace, while the gospel assures us of God's complete redemption in Christ. The law serves as a mirror, revealing our sinfulness and need for a Savior. It pronounces us guilty and helpless, illustrating that by our own efforts, we cannot achieve righteousness. The gospel, in contrast, is the good news of God's grace and mercy, revealing how Christ has fulfilled the law on our behalf. This understanding empowers believers to worship God in spirit and truth, knowing they are saved not by works but by grace, leading to a life transformed and dedicated to Christ. By both acknowledging the law and embracing the gospel, Christians find their true identity and purpose in Christ.

Q: How do we know Christ fulfilled the law for us?

Christ fulfilled the law by living a sinless life, perfectly obeying every commandment, and offering Himself as a sacrifice. The fulfillment of the law by Christ is foundational to the Christian faith. He lived a life devoid of sin, embodying the righteousness that the law demands. His obedience stood in stark contrast to Adam's disobedience, which brought sin into the world for all humanity. Furthermore, Christ's sacrificial death satisfied the law's demands by taking upon Himself the punishment due to sinners. This means that through faith in Him, believers are not only counted righteous but also receive the promise of eternal life. Therefore, our assurance lies in the completed work of Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Q: Why is grace essential for salvation?

Grace is essential for salvation because it alone brings us to Christ, who saves us from our sins. Grace is the unmerited favor of God towards sinners. It is essential for salvation because it acknowledges that we are incapable of saving ourselves; our righteousness is like filthy rags before a holy God. By grace, God calls His elect, revealing their desperate state and showing them the sufficiency of Christ. This grace effectually works in the hearts of God's people, transforming them and enabling them to respond in faith. Salvation, therefore, is fully a work of God, guaranteeing that He receives all the glory and honor for redeeming a people for Himself. Grace empowers believers to live in newness of life, no longer under condemnation but as children of God.

I'm going to ask you to turn
to two Scriptures, 2 Corinthians 3 and Exodus 34. 2 Corinthians 3 and Exodus 34. We'll go back and forth between
these two passages this morning. I'm going to begin in Exodus
34 and actually just try to go through the chapter and use 2
Corinthians as our commentary on it. Let me just read a few verses
here in Exodus 34. Exodus 34 verse 1, And the Lord
said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the
first. And I will write upon these tables
the words that were in the first tables, which thou breakest.
And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto
Mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the
mount. And no man shall come up with
thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount,
neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. And he
hewed two tables of stone like unto the first. And Moses rose
up early in the morning, and went up unto Mount Sinai, as
the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables
of stone. And the Lord descended in the
cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the
Lord." Now, this is the second giving of the law. And in this
giving of the Law of Moses, we have a beautiful illustration
of the Lord Jesus Christ who fulfilled the Law for His people,
who by the Spirit of God, through the Gospel, shows us His glory
in the face of Christ Jesus, creates us with a new heart,
and makes His covenant of grace in our heart whereby we walk
by faith which works by love. That's when we truly begin worshipping
and serving God in newness of life. Now this is illustrated
for us by what happened before Exodus 34 and what happens right
after Exodus 34. Right before this, in the first
giving of the law, Moses delivered the law to the children of Israel.
It was thundering. The mountain was on smoke and
fire and thundering when he came down. And all that the Lord,
they said, all that the Lord has commanded we will do and
we'll obey. Well, this whole covenant here
represents the old covenant of works, but we're going to look
at a picture here now, and I want you to see that that in itself
was a picture of that legal covenant of works that God gave. God fully
proved by that, by what happened there, that we're sinners, that
we died in Adam. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. And by the obedience of one,
shall many be made righteous. This thing is by the disobedience
of Adam that we became sinners. It's by the obedience of Christ
that we're going to be made righteous. Okay, now what we see here is
Moses went back after he gave the law, they said we're going
to keep it, we're going to obey it. Moses went back up into the mount
with the Lord and he was receiving the pattern for the temple which
typified Christ and as he was receiving that pattern for the
temple, less than two months had passed from him giving the
law and them saying we're going to do everything that it said.
Less than two months had passed, and Moses didn't come out of
that mountain when they thought he should. And they said, up
Aaron, make us a golden calf. God's up there giving Moses instruction
that Aaron's going to be his high priest. Aaron's going to
be the one that's going to serve him in his temple. And while
he's doing it, Aaron's down there and he said, all right, he made
it. Break off your earrings. And he made a golden calf. And
they all said, this is our God that delivered us out of Egypt.
And they went, they stripped their clothes off and went to
dancing around naked and putting on a big show and calling it
worship of God. And it was idolatry. And God
said, they're all gone out of the way. that together become
unprofitable. There's none that do us good,
no not one. And that's me, and you, and every
other sinner in this world. That's us, right there. We're
without strength, we're coming to this world ungodly, enmity
against God, not on trial, we're not on trial, we're not on probation.
We already failed in Adam. We come forth under condemnation. The sentence has been passed.
And when Christ brings the gospel to us, that's where He finds
us, dead in trespasses and sin. You see, get this and don't miss
anything. If you don't get anything else,
get this. Salvation is not of you and me. Salvation is not
of the sinner. The man that's out swimming and
can swim to shore, he don't need saving. It's the man who has
gone under to the point where his lungs are filled up with
water and he's sinking to the bottom. That's the man that needs
saving. That's what salvation is. That's
you. You and me. We need God to save
us. Salvation is of the Lord and
God's going to get the glory for it. We're not going to get
the glory for it. He is. Well, after that, after this
chapter in Exodus 34, then we're going to find that the children
of Israel willingly come and they're bringing offerings and
they go to work in the service of building the tabernacle of
the Lord. And the picture there is of a new covenant being made,
of a believer being made willing in his heart by the power of
God to rest in Christ by faith and to to serve God with this
new law of faith and love written on our hearts rejoicing that
the work is finished, that we've been made the building of God,
the living temple of God. That's the picture there after
this. So that's what every sinner that's saved by grace experiences.
First we experience that law coming and pronouncing us dead. And then we have to have this
new covenant made in our heart wherein we're made willing to
serve God in newness of life. So how did that come about? Well,
we have a picture here of Christ preparing his people by fulfilling
the commandment of God on our behalf. And we have it here pictured
in Moses. Let's look at Exodus 34 1. And
the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like
unto the first. And I'll write upon these tables
the words that were in the first tables which thou breakest. Now
I want you to notice here that the first time that the law was
given, The tables were the work of God and the writings were
the writing of God. He made the tables and he wrote
on them. And here he tells Moses, you hew the tables. You hew the
tables out and bring them up to me. And God says, and I'll
write on them. I'll write my word on those tables. Now turn over with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 3. Hold your place here in Exodus
30 and look at 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Paul compares those tablets to
the new heart that Christ gives, where he writes his everlasting
covenant of grace. The covenant of grace says it's
done. You're alive now. Now you can serve me. The old
covenant said do and live. If you can do everything, and
it's law required, then you can live. The new covenant, the everlasting
covenant, where God makes it in our heart, says it's all done.
It's all done. You're righteous. Now serve me.
And that's what makes a person truly willing to serve, really.
So in 2 Corinthians 3, Paul compares this to the heart, those tables.
He said, You are our epistle, our letter, written in our hearts. Some copies read, written in
your hearts. Known in red of all men, for as much as you are
manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered
by us. written not with ink, but with
the Spirit of the living God. Not in tables of stone, but in
fleshly tables of the heart." You see, he's talking about a
covenant written in the heart. A covenant written in the heart.
Alright, let's go back over here to Moses. Exodus 34. Just like Moses hewed those tablets
in the earth himself as a man, and then went up there and God
wrote on them, Christ is the God-man. He's God the Son who
came down and took human flesh. So He's God and He's man. And
in the earth, as a man serving God, He prepared His children
by the work He finished in this earth. And then read with me
here too. Verse 2. Be ready in the morning,
come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai, and present thyself there
to Me in the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with
thee, before he let Aaron come to the mount. But here he said,
now you're doing this by yourself. No man shall come up with thee,
neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount, neither let the
flocks nor herds feed before that mount. And he hewed two
tables of stone like unto the first. Now like those tables
had to be made new, our hearts had to be made new. God's children
had to be made new. And just like Moses hewed them
in the earth, God, and then in God in the mount wrote on them,
Christ the God-man prepared his people by his work in the earth. And then from Mount Zion, not
Mount Sinai, from Mount Zion, He creates in us a new heart
through the Gospel, and He writes His everlasting covenant of grace
in our hearts. Paul said, You're the epistle
of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with
the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in
fleshly tables of the heart. Alright, verse 4. And it says
there, He hewed those two tables of stone, and Moses rose up early
in the morning and went up unto Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded
him. God had said there, you be ready
in the morning. Christ Jesus finished the work before the
morning of the third day when He arose from the grave. He finished
the whole work. The third day He rose up early
in the morning. Christ rose from the dead early
in the morning, presenting Himself to God, not in Mount Sinai, in
Mount Zion, in heavenly Jerusalem. just as the Father commanded
Him to do. Verse 4 says, And He took in His hand the two tables
of stone. Just like Moses carried up those
tablets, Christ carried His people up with Him as He presented Himself
to God. That's what God told Him to do.
Alright? So we see a picture of Christ
here in Moses. Now secondly, God showed Moses
His glory. Christ is in that mount showing
His glory to Moses. Christ is the glory. He is the
glory. Christ Jesus is the glory of
God. Now let's look at this glory.
Verse 5. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him
there. There's a picture of Christ our
Lord. He stood with God the Father. Christ stood with God the Father,
friend to friend, because God satisfied with Him. And proclaimed
the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord is proclaimed
in Christ. That's where we see the name
of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before Moses and proclaimed
the Lord. The Lord God. Moses had asked
to see His glory and he's seeing it. Christ is that glory. Who's
Christ? He's the Lord. Who's Christ? He's the Lord God. He's the covenant
God. Who's Christ? He's the one in
whom we see God's merciful and gracious. If it weren't for Christ
Jesus, God's Son, you and I would have died when Adam sinned in
the garden. The whole race would have ended
right there. But it was because God chose a people and put them
in Christ before the world began that He accepted that people
in Christ from the very beginning. That's where we see the mercy
and the grace of God in Christ. When you look at Calvary's tree
and you see that bleeding, dying, wounded Christ Jesus who's bearing
the wrath of God in His body on that tree, you see the mercy
and grace of God towards His people. He's with mercy, He's
withholding from His children what we deserve. And His grace,
He's given to us what we didn't deserve. Abundant in goodness
and truth. God doesn't save in a way that's
not good and not true. He saves in righteousness and
holiness, and He abounds in goodness and truth toward His people.
Keeps mercy for thousands. That's what He keeps, mercy for
thousands. Why didn't it say He keeps mercy
for everybody? Because He don't keep mercy for
everybody. You see, God's mercy saves. God's
mercy saves His people. And the fact that people perish
in unbelief is declaring that God doesn't keep mercy for everybody.
You say, I don't like that. You will if God keeps mercy for
you. If He shows you what He's done for you, you'll say, thank
you, Father, for saving me by your grace. He's showing you
not everybody deserves grace, including you and me, sinner. He keeps mercy for thousands.
Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Oh, there's forgiveness
with God that He might be feared. Where do I see that forgiveness?
It's manifest, it's declared in Christ Jesus the Lord. God's
Spirit, He can't be seen. He manifests Himself in the fullness
of the Godhead in that man Christ Jesus who is God who walked this
earth. forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin. And look at this now, and that
will by no means clear the guilty. Are you guilty? Are you guilty? Let me ask you a question. If
a man's guilty and he gets sentenced to death, that's what the law
demands, the wages of sin is death. He gets sentenced to death
and he goes to the, do the, whatever form of execution it is, and
he's executed. Does the law demand anything
else of him? Nothing. It's done. Law is satisfied. If we dug that man up and went
and tried to punish him more, people would say that is a cruel
and unusual punishment. That's ridiculous to try to keep
charging somebody that's dead. The law has executed a full sentence
upon them. Christ died for somebody. He died for the people given
to Him. And when He died, let's just
say He died for one person. When He died, that person's sentence
of execution, the wages they owed to God's law was satisfied. It was completely satisfied when
Christ died. So it would be unjust now for
God to punish that sinner again when Christ has already paid
his debt. Christ already paid it. It would be unjust and unrighteous. It would be double jeopardy.
He would be an unjust judge to do that. An unholy God. An unrighteous
God. And He's not. He's holy and righteous.
So if He died for everybody, then that means God's unjust
if there's one man in hell. If there's one man in hell, God's
unjust. Because Christ paid the debt.
Either Christ succeeded, and was triumphant in what he came
to do, and accomplished the work, and put an end to transgressions,
and put away sin, and satisfied the law and justice. Either he
did it, and saved all his people from their sins, or he is a complete
and utter failure. Christ completed the work. He
finished the work. God will by no means clear the
guilty. That's where we're seeing this and that's where God shows
you His glory. This is His glory, the righteousness
of God, that God is just and He's the justifier of all that
believes in the Lord. And then He says, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's
children and to the third and to the fourth generation. And
Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped."
Now you see in Moses here a picture of the faithful. Christ is the
faithful. And everything he did when he
manifest the glory of God when he walked this earth, fulfilling
the law on behalf of his people, he was worshipping the Father.
Even though he's God and need not worship the Father, he's
equal with the Father. Yet Philippians 2 tells us, he
made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant. And he came forth and he served God in obedience
to the Father, worshiping the Father and trusting the Father.
You see, we not only need somebody to fulfill the precepts of the
Ten Commandments for us, we need somebody to worship God perfectly
for us, so that God will receive our worship. So that it's perfect
worship, because it's perfect in Christ. He perfectly worshiped
the Father. Well, just like Moses desired
to see the glory of God, look at John 17. John 17. I wasn't going to have you turn
to much, but you've got to see this. John 17. Just like Moses
desired to see the glory of God, the glory of Christ Jesus, Christ
Jesus prayed to be glorified with the Father's own self. which
is the glory that was his own, the glory he had with the Father
from the beginning. And he was glorified. Look at
John 17, 4. This is what he prayed right
as he was going to the cross. He said, I have glorified thee
on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. You know why Moses was shown
that glory? Because he asked God to see it.
He said, show me your glory. Now Christ Jesus, as that perfect
man serving the Father, he prayed, Father, I desire to be glorified
with your own self, with the glory that I had with you before
the world was ever made. This desire in Moses to behold
God's glory, it was the result of having sweet fellowship and
communion with our God. Much more it was with Christ
who never left the bosom of the Father, though He walked this
earth. And just like Moses made intercession for His people,
so the Lord makes intercession with the Father for all His people.
Now let me show you here, hold your place in John 17, look back
at Exodus 34. Look at Exodus 34. As soon as
Moses asked to see God's glory, he saw it. But Moses asked for
something else too. Look, verse 9. And he said, If
now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I
pray thee, go among us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and
pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. You see what He's doing? He's
making intercession for the people, for the people He represents.
He's making intercession for them. Look back at John 17 now
and see Christ in that. John 17, verse 9. He says, I
pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast
given Me, for they are Thine. And all mine are thine, and thine
are mine. And I am glorified in them. And
now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. And
I am come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine
own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one
as we are. Verse 15. I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keepeth them from the evil. Verse 21, that they all may be
one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they
also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast
sent me. And the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one,
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one,
in Christ, that the world may know that thou hast sent me,
and has loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that
they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou
lovest me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father,
the world hath not known thee, But I have known thee, and these
have known that thou hast sent me, and I have declared unto
them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. So do you see,
as we see Moses in this mountain, Seeing the glory of God, we see
Christ who is the glory of God. And as we see Moses interceding
for the people, we see Christ who interceded for the people.
Now let's talk about these two covenants. Let's look at 2 Corinthians
3 just a minute. Now the covenant that God made
here with Moses and the people differs in many ways from the
everlasting covenant of grace. But I don't want you to get confused
here. That was the covenant of works God was given. I'm just
showing you a picture in it. that it foreshadowed the everlasting
covenant. But let me just show you this,
how it differs. This covenant that Moses is receiving,
it was from Mount Sinai. And it's the law, it's the covenant
of works. But the everlasting covenant
is from Mount Zion. It's the gospel, it's the covenant
of grace, not works. Look at verse six. 2 Corinthians
3 verse 6, Christ also hath made us able ministers of the new
testament, the new covenant. You see that? The covenant of
works that Moses was being given is the old testament, the old
covenant. Alright, look at verse 6 again,
not of the letter. You see, we don't worship God
in the letter. You see, but of the Spirit. He's made us ministers
not of the letter of the law, but the Spirit of the law. The
Spirit of the law is love. The Spirit of the law shows us
how Christ fulfilled it. We see Christ in the law and
we use it lawfully. The laws give us to shut our
mouths and declare all the world guilty before God. And Romans
3 says, because by the law shall no flesh be justified in God's
sight. But through the law and the prophets,
the righteousness of God is manifest. by the faithfulness of Christ
Jesus. And so in that law, we see Christ
Jesus in that law. This is the spirit of the law.
We see Christ in it. And we see that I, through the
law, am dead to the law. I, through the body of Christ,
have become dead to the law, that I might live unto God. This
is what we learn from the law, so that we can truly say as believers,
I delight in the law of God. It showed me what a sinner I
am. And it showed me my need for Christ. And it was my schoolmaster
to bring me to Christ. And then it showed me Christ
and showed me my... I see my righteousness. I see
the Lord who is so righteous because He kept this law that
I could never keep. I see Him in it. And so I delight
in the law of God. And I see how good it is, how
just it is, how holy it is now by His Spirit working in me.
But this is why we don't preach the letter, verse 6, the letter
kills, but the Spirit gives life. You see the differences in these?
Verse 7, it's called the ministration of death, but the gospel is called
the ministration of life. One's ministering death, one's
ministering life. Look at verse 7, the old was
written and engraven in stones. The new covenant is written on
fleshly tables of the heart. You see there? Verse 7, the Old
Testament was glorious so that the children of Israel could
not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his
countenance, which glory was to be done away. It was glorious. It was glorious in revealing
our sin and pronouncing us dead. But it was to be done away with. But the glory of the Gospel is
permanent. It's permanent. All right? Verse
8, when compared with the Gospel, the covenant of works doesn't
even have any glory at all. Look at verse 8. How shall not
the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the
ministration of the condemnation be glory, that was that first
covenant, much more doth the ministration of righteousness
exceed in glory. For even that which was made
glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory
that excels. For if that which is done away
was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
Now the gospel's been revealed so that we speak plainly the
truth of God now. We see Christ in this so we can
preach Christ from the law. Look at verse 12. Seeing then
that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. But
Moses, when he comes down out of that mount, he had to cover
his face. Verse 13. And not as Moses which put a
veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not
steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. Now
I've titled this message, Seeing to the End. Moses saw that glory
and he had that glory in his face. You know where we see the
glory of God? In the face of Christ Jesus. Look across the
page. Across the page there, 2 Corinthians
4. Verse 6, God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. That's where we see him. When
Moses saw his glory, he came down, his face was all aglow,
but he put a veil on his face. And Paul says here, this is why
he did it. It was a picture of them not
being able to see what the end of that law meant. They couldn't
see who that law was talking about, who it was typifying,
who it was picturing. He says here, look at it in verse 13, Not as Moses, which
put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could
not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. Alright? Here's another difference. The
law didn't have any ability to give spiritual sight. None at
all. Verse 14, 2 Corinthians 3, 14, their minds were blinded. Their minds were blinded. For
until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the
reading of the Old Testament. But Christ removes that veil.
Look, which veil is done away in Christ. Verse 15, But even
unto this day, when Moses read the veils upon their heart, nevertheless,
when it shall turn to the Lord, the veils shall be taken away.
Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. Without the Spirit is only the
killing letter and only bondage. But where the Spirit of the Lord
is teaching us what this book says, what God's Word says, He
kills us, slays us of all our righteousnesses, the commandment
comes and sin revives and comes alive to us and we die. We die. Then we realize, I've got to
have Christ or I'll perish. But then he makes us alive. He
ministers this spirit to us and shows us he was made a curse
for us and he redeemed his children from the curse. And so he sets
us free. Verse 18. And so that we all,
all the elect children of God that are called, this is what
happens. with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord." You see, the veil is taken off the heart. The veil is taken
off the mind. He gives us spiritual eyes and
a spiritual heart to see and to hear and to understand. And
the veil is removed so that like a man with his open face looking
in a mirror, we see the glory of the Lord. in the face of Christ
Jesus. We see the glory of God in the
face of Christ Jesus. We see how God can be just and
justify a hell-deserving sinner. We see why Christ came. We see
why Christ died. Because God would by no means
clear the guilty. When He made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, God spared not His own Son. He poured out
wrath on Him because God will by no means clear the guilty.
but because he did it. Everyone for whom he died, he
makes the righteousness of God in him. That's what we've got
to be. We've come short of the glory of God. What's the glory
of God? Well, it's Christ. And we see
the glory of God in the face of Christ. We've got to be righteous.
We've got to be as righteous as God is righteous. You've got
to be as right as God is right to be accepted with God. All
right? Now let's Let's go back to Exodus
34. Now Paul said that when reading
the Old Testament, the veil's done away in Christ. The veil's
done away. That's where I start out, I'm
showing you Christ in here, because some of you sitting here got
spiritual eyes, you can see it. You can see Christ. Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness. He's the end of that law. We're
seeing to the end of it. We're seeing Christ in it. That's
the end for which it was given. So let's go back here and let's
look at the rest of this chapter and let's see Christ in it. We're
going to use great plainness of speech right here. Here's
the fourth thing we see. This whole covenant is fulfilled
by Christ for his people. And when he writes his law in
our hearts, he makes an everlasting covenant in our hearts. It's
ordered in all things and sure, because it's done. He doesn't
make this covenant in our hearts and say, as he did here, now
if you do this, you'll be my people. He doesn't do that. He
makes it in our heart and he says, child, I've done it all
for you. Here it is, free gift of eternal
life, robed in my righteousness, it's done. And man, you come
out of that yoke of bondage and that tormenting fear of death
and that plague of the guilt of your sin, and you say, it's
too good to be true. You mean this is true that you've
done all this for me? Let's see it. Verse 10. He said,
Behold, I make a covenant. This is the Lord speaking with
him. As the Lord made a covenant with
Moses, so the Father made an everlasting covenant with the
Son before the world ever began. With His Son. When Christ arose
to the Father, and He finished that whole work that God gave
Him to do, and He sat down at the right hand of the Father,
the Scripture says, let's read this, Hebrews 11. We want to
see this. I'm sorry, Hebrews 10. We want
to see this. We want to be sure to get this
word right here now. God, just like when Moses went
up into that mountain, the Lord said, I'm making a covenant with
you. Psalm 2, the Lord said, sit here. He said, ask of me
the heathen for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth.
He said, the Lord said to me, I'll break them in with a rod
like a potter's vessel. There he is. Now look here in
Hebrews 10. It's what he said. Verse 11. Every priest standeth
daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices."
What they're trying to do? Trying to put away sin. Trying
to absolve your sin. There ain't a man on the face
of this planet that can do that. Christ the Lord is the only man
that can totally, thoroughly absolve you of your sin. And
Him only. Him only. And it's not by a sacrifice
a man makes, it's by His sacrifice. Look, they offer the same sacrifices
which can never take away sin. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he has perfected forever them
that are sanctified." And when he went up into that mound again,
Christ the Father, he said that covenant to him all over again.
He was so pleased with his son, he said, I'm making a covenant
with you, my son. Ask of me, I'll give you anything. I'm going
to make all your enemies your footstool. And because God the
Father made that covenant with His Son, and His Son made the
covenant with the Father, and they both have fulfilled their
covenant, whatever God the Father does for His Son, He's doing
it for me and you who are in Him. He's doing it for us. Our
enemies are going to be made our footstool too, because they're
His enemies. Verse 10, He says, I'm doing
this before all thy people. He said, I'll do this before
all thy people. I will do marvels such as have
not been done in all the earth nor in any nation. God's elect
are Christ's people. Before all thy people, I will
do marvels. Before us, God reveals the marvel
of his grace toward us in Christ Jesus. righteousness, justification,
perfect pardon, completion in Christ. There's no work that's
ever been performed in all the earth like the work of redemption,
the work of regeneration. Nothing, nothing. The Hoover
Dam, I've never seen it. I've flown over it one time.
I hear it's amazing. Nothing, nothing. That big giant
skyscraper they got over there in Dubai or whatever it's however
you pronounce it now, nothing, absolutely nothing. Take the
greatest marvel, the greatest wonders of this world, nothing,
absolutely nothing. This is the marvel, this is the
marvel, the work of redemption, the work of regeneration, the
work of God saving his people. Verse 10, he says, and all the
people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord. You
see, there was a whole lot of people on the earth besides Moses
and Israel. There was a bunch of other nations
all around there. But he said, I'm not doing this
for them. I'm not doing this for them.
I'm doing this for the people among whom thou art, Moses. For those people, those are the
ones I'm gonna show this work. And in the end of this world,
everybody's gonna see this wonderful work God's done. But right now,
this work's being shown to those among whom Christ dwells, those
where Christ walks. Verse 10, he says, for it's a
terrible thing that I'll do with thee. He does this astonishing
thing with Christ, our mighty Savior. One who was not sin,
never did sin, never thought sin, never did anything evil
at all. The only sinless, perfect man
that walked this earth. since Adam. He was made sin. We can't do that. We can't, we
can, we can charge somebody with sin, but wherever God charged,
wherever God imputes sin, sin's, sin's there. He doesn't just
charge them falsely. It's there. He was made sin for
his people. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And He's taken away all our sins.
And the work He's done with Christ is terrible. It's astonishing.
It's a marvel. It's a wonder. He has and He
promises He's going to destroy all our enemies. Verse 11, Observe
thou that which I command thee this day. Behold, I drive out
before thee the Amorite and the Canaanite. These are all those
nations around them. I'm driving them out, He said,
the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite,
the Jebusite. I'm driving them all out, the
Lord said. And when the Lord writes this law in our hearts,
Paul said Christ is writing this letter, he's writing it not in
tables of stone, he's writing it in the fleshly tables of that
new heart he's made by the Spirit of God. And when he does that,
this is what he writes in our heart. He makes us no longer
desire to join with men in the worship of imaginary, idle, fictitious,
man-made, worthless gods. Verse 12, take heed to thyself,
lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither
thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. We've got
to associate with people in the world. We've got to live, work,
do those things in the world. It's not talking about associating
with wicked folks. It's talking about joining with
them in their religion. Look at the next verse. Verse
13, but you shall destroy their altars and break their images
and cut down their groves. We don't do this by law. We don't
do this by physical force. We're not trying to pass legislation
and make Christianity the only religion in the world. And we're
not trying to take up our torches and go out and burn every temple
and mosque and stump and everything else that men set up to worship
false gods. We preach the gospel. we preach
the gospel, and by the gospel, we got a weapon that's greater
than any other weapon in this world. This weapon breaks down
all the images, it breaks down all the false gods, it cuts down
all the groves. This gospel is able to pull down
all strongholds and bring all of his elect people into the
obedience of faith. Verse 14, for thou shalt worship
no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous
God. You know what the constraint
of this new heart is? The love of God for us. When God says
He's a jealous God, it means that Christ our husband is jealous
over His bride, just like a husband is jealous over his bride. Just
not, he loves his bride. He's not going to have somebody
else taking his bride. And God the Father is jealous
over Christ's bride because it belongs to his son. And he's
not going to have anybody taking his son's bride. He arranged
this marriage. He elected his people unto salvation. He's not going to have them take
his bride, his son's bride. And God's people are jealous,
constrained by this lover, jealous over Christ's bride. Apostle
Paul said, I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I
have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtleties, so your minds
should be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ."
That's why he puts this law in our hearts. Verse 15. lest thou
make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land. And they go whoring
after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods. And one call
thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice. And thou take of their daughters
unto thy sons, and their daughters go whoring after their gods,
and make thy sons go whoring after their gods. Thou shalt
make thee no molten gods, don't have anything to do with them.
Don't have not only don't join with them in their worship You
don't even in your own camp make anything that resembles a God
because that just make you a little more Accepting of their gods. That's what he tell you telling
them but by God's grace It's not possible because his elect
can't be to see they hear the voice of Christ and they follow
him because he writes this law in our heart I'll never get through
this. I'm gonna have to come back to
this show you the rest of it. I Every one of these feasts,
everything about this shows the grace of God towards us. Christ writes His law in our
heart and He reveals He's redeemed us and we start feeding and living
upon Him alone by faith. This is pictured in the Feast
of Unleavened Bread. Look at verse 18. He says, And
the Feast of Unleavened Bread shalt thou keep seven days Thou
shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time
of the month of Bibb, for in the month of Bibb thou camest
out from Egypt." Does that mean we start eating unleavened bread
and start observing the Passover and observing the Feast of Weeks?
No, we worship God not in the letter, but in the Spirit, because
we see what this means. You know what it means? The Passover
pictured Christ our Passover. who redeemed, whereby the children
of Israel were redeemed out of Egypt. And the Feast of Unleavened
Bread that he says you observe here, it began the day after
the Passover Feast began. And it ended, and it continued
for seven days. The number of perfection, a perfect
week-long feast. And it was to be observed at
an appointed time. And here's what it pictured.
all of Christ's redeemed shall be made alive and given faith
at God's appointed time, at which time we experience the redemption
and liberty that's been given us by Christ's finished work,
so that we continue from then on living and eating upon Christ
by faith and we don't ever stop till the full perfect week of
time is up and we go to be with our Savior in glory. Verse 19, when He writes His
law in our heart, we behold our redemption accomplished by Christ,
and Christ becomes preeminent in our hearts, and we give to
God the firstborn which He's given to us. The firstborn that
He requires. The only firstborn that He'll
receive. That's Christ the firstborn. That's what's pictured here in
verse 19. All that openeth the matric is mine. Every firstling
among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. The firstling
of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb. If thou redeem him not,
then thou shalt break his neck. And all the firstborn of thy
sons thou shalt redeem. None shall appear before me empty.
They all gotta be redeemed. They all gotta be redeemed. Every
one of them. The firstborn would come to God with nothing but
the firstborn he will receive. That's his, that belongs to him.
That's his own son. That's worshiping him in faith.
When these Gospels reveal in our heart, we stop working and
we rest in God. Completely believe in the work's
finished and He's satisfied. Verse 21, six days thou shalt
work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest. Whether it's
earing time or harvest time, whether it's the most busiest
times, whenever it is, you still trust in God, resting in Him.
Resting. Not working for salvation. Resting.
That's what Sabbath rest means. God rested on the seventh day
because there was nothing else to be done. That's what resting
in Christ is. When he writes this law in our
hearts, we believe Christ that he shall lose none of his elect,
but he'll call every one of them. Look at verse 22. Thou shalt
observe the feast of weeks. of the first fruits of wheat
harvest and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. This is what
keeps us from turning from Christ to our own methods and trying
to come up with some other way to entice people in, because
we believe what this feast typifies. The Feast of Weeks was the Feast
of Harvest, and it was held 50 weeks after the Feast of First
Fruits. The Feast of First Fruits was
when you got those first fruits out of the ground, brought them
to the Lord, because He's the one that did it. He's did all
the work. Well, after that first fruit is gone to be with the
Lord, then comes the harvest. And this was the picture of the
harvest. It's called Pentecost because
it was held on the 50th day. The harvest feast speaks of in-gathering
of all God's elect, all of those Christ's redeemed. So as the
feast of harvest followed the feast of first fruits, so after
Christ the first fruit was risen, the salvation of all God's elect
follows. The harvest follows. And on the
day of Pentecost, He showed it. The first fruit had gone to heaven,
He poured out His Spirit upon all flesh, and He saved 3,000
right there that day. And that's what he, and so we
see here, we don't have to fear. He's going to bring his seed
from the east and the west and north and the south because he
created them for his glory. And because he's the first fruit
that's going to be with the father, all the fruitful harvest is coming
in, all of his elect. So we don't have to turn from
it. We don't have to turn to our hands and our works and our
wisdom and say, well, now we can figure out a little better
way to gather in this harvest. Just trust him, believe him. When Christ writes his law in
our heart, we worship him. We worship him publicly as he
commands, and we do so with his promise to protect us from all
our enemies. Christ is our shield and our
defender. We don't ever lose by leaving that which is dearest
to us. to go publicly worship Christ,
never. We never lose. If we don't go
publicly worship Him because something else is more dear to
us, we're the loser. We're the loser, always. Look
at verse 23. He commanded them three times
in the year, shall all your men children appear before the Lord
God, the God of Israel. That means three times in a year
they left their wife and their children and their land and everything
behind. And the men went up all the way
to Jerusalem from the country and went and worshipped God.
They left all those things that were dearest to them, that meant
their livelihood, that meant everything that would sustain
them. They left all that and went and worshipped God. How
could they do that? They believed God. They believed
God. How can you do it? If you believe
God, look. For I'll cast out the nations
before thee and enlarge thy borders, neither shall any man desire
thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy
God three times in a year. He said, I'm gonna make it so
while you're up there worshiping, they're hard to be on something
over here. I'll distract them. They're hard to be over here
on something else, piddling around and they won't even look at your
land, your wife, your kids, your cattle. When He writes His law
in our hearts, we honor Christ but worship Him just like He
commands. We don't add anything to His finished work. Verse 25,
Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven.
We don't add anything to His finished work. We don't add any
leaven to it. Secondly, we despise nothing
Christ has done or commanded us. We rejoice in it. He says,
Neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be
left until the morning. We eat only Him and all of Him.
And we give to Christ the first and the best and everything that
He's given to us. The first of the firstfruits
of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy
God. That means the first and the
best. If it hadn't cost us something, if we hadn't had to sacrifice
something, we ain't given anything. We haven't done anything. We
haven't given the first or the best. We've given the lame and
the halt and the main. His grace in our heart makes
us really serve Him. And we don't add any of this
world's superstition. Thou shall not see the kid in
his mother's milk. That was one of those throwback
things from Egypt. I'm not going all the way through
this, by the way. I'll stay with me just a few more minutes. I
got a couple more things I want to show you. Verse 27, the Lord
said, Write down these words, for after the tenor of these
words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. And
he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He did
neither eat bread nor drink water, and he wrote upon the tables
the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. Now Moses fasted
forty days and forty nights, and our Savior fasted forty days
and forty nights when he started his public ministry. And he never
did, Moses didn't come down out of that mountain till everything
was written. Everything that God commanded
was written. Christ didn't ascend to Mount Zion till he had fully
accomplished everything that was written. And then he went
to the Father. Moses took tables of stone, and
the Lord wrote the Ten Commandments on those tables of stone. And
Moses came down, he put it in the Ark of the Covenant. That
ark is a picture of Christ. That mercy seat that was over
the top where the blood was shed is a picture of Christ. That
broken law being fulfilled and justice being satisfied by the
blood of Christ, that's all pictured there in that ark. He's that
mercy seat. He fulfilled the law, satisfied
the law, made an end of the law, and he's the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believes. So in all of this,
we seek to the end. We seek to the end. everything
this law pitches, because the veil's been taken off of our
heart. You who believe, the veil's been
taken off your heart to see Him. There's some sitting here right
now who's reading this old covenant, and the veil's on their heart.
They don't see Him there anymore than they see Him in the new
covenant. When we read 2 Corinthians 3, they explained it all. They
don't believe Him. Don't see Him. Don't rejoice
in Him. Don't have any need of being
saved. Don't know that they're at the
bottom of the ocean, and their lungs are filled up with water,
and they can't take another breath, and the sentence has already
been pronounced. Don't know it. Don't know until
God comes and thinks they're righteous. Little row boat, wrapped
up in a life jacket, floating along on a sunny day and having
a big time. And all right. When the commandment
comes, He's going to sink that boat. He's going to sink that
righteousness. He's going to sink it to the
bottom and make you a crowd for righteousness and holiness, true
mercy, true righteousness. And that's found only in Christ.
And then He writes this law in the heart and He says, it's all
done. It's all finished. It's all finished. He's the perfection of our law
keeping and He's the perfection of our worship. The end of all
the lawful righteousness. You remember how Paul said this
thing's written? It's written on our hearts. It's
not written in the fleshly tables of stone, it's written in the
heart. The kingdom of God is within you, the Lord said. The
kingdom of God's within His people. That's His house. I started this
message out and I was wanting to look at that fact that when
the next chapter, when the Lord comes to him to start building
the temple, before he does anything, he gives him the law of the Sabbath
to rest. And I went back to this and I
was looking at this because what it's showing is before you can
start doing anything, before you make any offering God's going
to accept, before you can do anything to add a finger to the
work God gives us the privilege to work on, you gotta be already
built. Already built completely by God,
already inhabited by God the Holy Spirit, already resting
in Christ and satisfied and knowing you can't give God anything. That's the only time we'll give
anything to God. When we realize everything we have, God already
gave it to us. He already gave it to us. And
our giving's not us giving anything to God, it's God giving something
to us. That's what it is. Because we're delighting Him.
It's my privilege. It's an honor to do whatever. That He would let me do something.
That He would let me do anything. Don't need us to do anything. But that He would let us. How
amazing. How amazing. Amen.

Seeing to the End

What does the Bible say about the covenant of grace?

Why is it important for Christians to understand the law and the gospel?

How do we know Christ fulfilled the law for us?

Why is grace essential for salvation?

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Seeing to the End

What does the Bible say about the covenant of grace?

Why is it important for Christians to understand the law and the gospel?

How do we know Christ fulfilled the law for us?

Why is grace essential for salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Clay Curtis

Comments

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