And I want to direct you today
to words that we find in chapter 55 of the prophecy of Isaiah,
that portion that we concluded our reading with at the beginning
of the chapter, Isaiah chapter 55, and for our text, the words
that we find in verses three, four, and five. Isaiah 55, three, four, and five. Incline your ear and come unto
me here, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have
given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander
to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run
unto thee. because of the Lord thy God,
and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. And the subject matter that I
want to concentrate on this morning is that of the everlasting covenant,
or as we have it here at the end of verse 3, the sure mercies
of David. The sure mercies of David, and
I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies
of David." And the subject matter divides itself, I would say,
quite naturally into some three parts. To say something then
with regards to the parties of this covenant, and then secondly,
the properties of the covenant and finally that provision that
God makes in the covenant. First of all, the parties. Surely the one who speaks, God
himself, is evidently on one side of the covenant and on the
other side we must initially acknowledge David. It's an everlasting
covenant, even the sure mercies of David. And it reminds us,
of course, of those words that David uttered at the end of his
days. The last words of David that
we were reading there in 2 Samuel 23. He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, says David, ordered in all things and sure. And remember how this idea is
evidently taken up in the book of Psalms, I think of the language
that we find there in the 89th Psalm. At verse 3, I have made
a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,
Again, at verse 34, my covenant will I not break nor alter the
thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I swore by my
holiness that I will not lie unto David. Well, these are the
sure mercies of David. Again, that same psalm, verse
19, Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst,
I have laid out upon one that is mighty I have exalted one
chosen out of the people I have found David my servant with my
holy oil have I anointed him and so when we consider the language
that we have here in the Old Testament evidently there was
that covenant made with David but of course when we examine
matters somewhat more carefully and closely we recognize that
this covenant is here being spoken of as an everlasting covenant. And therefore, the parties, the
two parties entering into that covenant must each of them be
eternal. And so we recognize that David
really is a typical character. And he is, of course, a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Christ, when he comes into this
world in the fullness of time, he is made of the seed of David. He comes of the line of David. And you can think about Christ
is spoken of in prophecy. I think of the words that we
find in Ezekiel 34, verses 23 and 24 and again. in chapter 37 and verses 24,
25, and 26, where we have Ezekiel many years after the days of
King David prophesying concerning one whom he calls David, but
that one is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And I said
in times past that we have to recognize in Holy Scripture the
importance of proper names, personal names, and that name, David. How significant when we think
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What does David mean? He literally
means the Beloved. The Beloved. And David, therefore,
directs us to Him who is truly the Beloved of God, the Eternal
Son of God, the Son of the Father in truth and in love, as John
says there in his second epistle. And then we have the language
that the Father himself spoke from heaven on two occasions
in the Gospels, at the baptizing of the Lord Jesus, and then again
on the Mount of Transfiguration. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye, hear. But when we think
of Christ and that position that he occupies in the covenant,
We often refer you to the words that we have there at the beginning
of this 42nd chapter in the prophecy of Isaiah, Behold my servant,
mine elect, and so forth. Now those words, as I'm sure
many of you are well aware, are quoted in the New Testament.
The Lord Jesus Christ himself refers to them in Matthew chapter
12 and verse 18, and it's interesting to observe the difference in
the wording in that quotation that we have in the New Testament
when we compare it with what is said back in the Old Testament
here in Isaiah 42. In Matthew 12, 18 it reads, Behold
my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, my beloved, in whom
my soul is well pleased. have put my spirit upon him,
for the Lord Jesus Christ is that one who is David. He is
the Beloved. And the words that we have here,
at the end of this third verse, I will make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David. You may recall that
in the New Testament those words are taken up and they are applied
to Christ directly by Paul in his great sermon at Antioch in
Pisidia. There, preaching on that particular
occasion, look at the language that we find in Acts 13, at verse
32 following. He is asserting this, Paul, the
truth of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, as that
he saw no corruption in the in the tomb. He says, We declare
unto you glad tidings, and that the promise which was made unto
the fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children,
in that he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written
in the second Psalm, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. And as concerning that he raised
him up from the dead, ne'er no more to return to corruption,
he said, On this wise I will give you the sure mercies of
David. Paul makes it clear then that
the ones spoken of here back in Isaiah 55, the words of our
text this morning, they refer to the Lord Jesus Christ. There
are other parties of this everlasting covenant, the sure mercies of
David. The parties are God, the Father,
and God, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, together with God the
Holy Ghost. And of course when we think of
that covenant we see Christ there representing the whole company
of the elect, all those that the Father gave to Him in that
covenant. He is the mediator of a better
covenant that we read in Hebrews 8. The mediator is one who is
representing. And who is he representing? He's
representing believers. For the covenant really is made
with believers, those that were given to Christ in that covenant.
And all the promises of God were told in him, i.e., and in him
are meant to the glory of God by us. The covenant was made
with Christ in eternity. It is an eternal covenant And
it is that that is manifested in time to his people when they
come to experience the blessings of it. They show them that they
have an interest in that covenant. And how is it that God reveals
these things to his people? Well, he makes them to understand
something of their need. He awakens them. and they become
aware of what they are and where they are. And isn't this the
language that we have here in the Context? How that being addressed,
O everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that
hath no money, come ye by and eat ye. Come by wine and milk
without money and without price. Wherefore Do ye spend money for
that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfies
not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
teach ye that which is good. Then let your soul delight itself
in fatness, incline your ear, and come unto me. Herein your
soul shall live. This is the language of the gospel.
Now does faith come? Faith cometh by hearing. And
see here, who are the ones that are being addressed at the end? of that second verse. We read
of labour which satisfieth not, labour that satisfieth not, spending money for that which
is not bread, fruitless labours, misspent life. These are the
things that we're reading of and it's all indicating to us
something of the terrible restlessness of sin in the heart of men. Or doesn't the prophet go on
to speak of these things? There, at the end of chapter
57, the wicked are like the troubled
sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God,
to the wicked. Or the restlessness of the wicked
heart, seeking satisfaction, finding none, spending money
for that which is really useless, labouring in vain. Again, we can think of the experience
of King Solomon, how he lived to prove the validity of the
things of this world, that they can never satisfy the soul of
any man. They only bring vexation of spirit,
All things, he says, are full of labour. Man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with
seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. All the rivers run into
the sea, yet the sea is not filled. You know something of the content
of that remarkable book of Ecclesiastes. It shows us the vanity of life,
how God really has made men for himself. The men can only find
their satisfaction near man's chief end in the language of
the Geordie Catechism, is to know God, to glorify God,
to enjoy God, and that forever. For every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye, buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and
without price. Are we those who know something
of that restlessness of sin and brought to cry to God and to
seek Him because we feel the awful burden of it? Or look at
the language of David. Time and again, how does this
man after God's own heart speak there in the book of Psalms?
Psalm 63, O God, he says, O my God, early will I seek My soul
thirsteth for them, my flesh longeth for them in a dry and
thirsty land where no water is. So are we those who, like David,
then are thirsty and hungry after righteousness. Here is the covenant. Here are the parties of the covenant.
David, a type of Christ, but really Christ himself and Christ
the mediator. Christ, that one who will bring
all that the Father has given to him into the experience of
the blessings of this covenant. Well, let us turn in the second
place to consider something of those blessings. What are the
properties of this covenant? Well, it's an everlasting covenant. Even the sure mercies of David,
or the way in which it is described the stability of the covenant.
It's the covenant of grace. And what do we see here? I mentioned
four things with regards to the properties. Firstly, it is an
everlasting covenant. And that reminds us again of
the parties. And the parties really are God's.
It's a Unitarian covenant. Moses in In Psalm 90 it says,
even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God. Who is the everlasting
God? It is that God who is the greatest
of all mysteries. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Ghost. And it is that inter-trinitarian
covenant then that is being spoken of. Oh, what a property it is. In Zechariah we read, the council
of peace shall be between them both, between the father and
the son. That eternal council, that great
purpose of salvation, or that covenant wherein the father making
choice of a people, chose them in his son, committed them to
his son. And Christ can say, therefore, behold I and the children
which God has given. It's eternal, it's everlasting.
But then also here, we see that it is sure. It's a sure covenant. If you go and think of the language
that we have in Hebrews chapter 6 concerning Abraham and the
promise that God gave to Abraham in the covenant, when God made
promise to Abraham, He swore by himself, saying, Blessing, I will bless
them. All these two unchangeable things, as Paul describes them
later in that chapter. Two immutable things in which
it is impossible to lie. We should have strong consolation
to have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before
us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast, and which enters into that which is in the veil.
an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast. Oh, this is the covenant. It enters into that within the
vow where God is, where the Lord Jesus Christ has gone now having
accomplished and fulfilled all the conditions of that everlasting
covenant by his obedience unto death, even the death of the
cross. And there are all those promises
of God in him as we've already seeing they're all yea and they're
all amen. That's the covenant. It's not
yea and nay. Oh no, it's sure, it's certain.
It's all yea and amen, sealed in the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But then when we think of it
in terms of David, it's not only everlasting but sure. What did
we read? There in 2 Samuel 23. Why? It's ordered. It's ordered in
all things. Dear old Sidney Norton, and of
course many will recall how in his last days he was a member
at Salem Chapel there in Portsmouth, and how many times he'd say to
us, all things are in the covenant. Everything that comes into the
life of the child of God is in that covenant order in all things. And so Paul says we know that
all things work together for good to them that know God, to
them who are called according to his purpose. All the events
that are taking place in these strange days, and they are strange
days, days that we've never really known before and yet nothing
comes by mere chance. No, the fictitious powers of
chance And fortune I defy, my life's minutest circumstance
is subject to his eye, says the hymn writer. All things work
together for good. Think also of the language that
Ralph Erskine uses in his gospel sonnets. Strange words, and yet
how true. He says this, sin for my good,
not work and win. Yet it is not good that I should
sin, We don't make any excuse for our sins, we must never do
that. We're to hate our sin, to abhor our sin. And yet, how
true are the words of dear Ralph Erskine. All things work together
for good. And think of David, and the language
that we have there in 2 Samuel 23 5. He says, although my house
be not so with God. And then at the end, although
he make it not to grow, But in the middle of that remarkable
verse, the last sayings of David, Although my 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, although he make it not to grow. What is he saying
at the beginning and at the end of that verse? Well, here he
is, a dying man, and he looks upon his own family, he looks
upon the situation amongst his own children? Does he not see
something of the consequence of his sins? The sword didn't depart out of
his house, just as the prophet had said to him. Although my
house, that is family, be not so with God. Or think of what
had happened previously. You can read it there in 2 Samuel
13. The whole business of Amnon and
his half-sister Tamar, they were children of David. And how Amnon
lusted after his half-sister and forced himself upon her,
professed his great love for her, and then hated her. And his hatred for her was greater
than any love that he ever professed to her. And she's with child. And how her brother Absalom is
so enraged These are the children of King David. And Absalom arranges
for Amnon to be killed. Absalom flees. And Absalom subsequently
rebels against his father, steals the hearts of the children of
Israel, takes Jerusalem. David has to flee for his life.
Read there in chapters 15 to 18 of 2 Samuel. And even after David has died. We still see trouble in his family.
Solomon was the one who was to be king after David, but now,
at the beginning of the first book of Kings, Adonijah seizes
the throne, rebounds against the wishes of his father. Although
my house be not so with God, although he make it not to grow,
yet, here is David's comfort, yet hath he made with me the
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. Oh, it's an ordered
covenant. All things are in it. And we
see it so wonderfully when we come to consider the Lord Jesus
Christ and how he executes all the conditions of that eternal
covenant. What does Peter say on the day
of Pentecost, preaching to those Jews and those proselytes? He
speaks of Christ being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God he hath taken, and by wicked hands of
crucified and slain. Oh, what a crime was that. What
an unjust event it was that Christ should die, that innocent man.
And yet it's all what God himself has decreed. It must be so. Christ must die for just, for
the unjust. to bring sinners to God, it's
all ordered. Here is a covenant then, it's everlasting, it's
sure, it's ordered. But what do we also read here?
We also read of mercies, they're sure mercies. Now this is a wonderful
word, you know, this word mercy. All this Hebrew word that's so
rendered is such a remarkable word. I think it's one of the
few Hebrew words that has been really impressed upon my own
mind, because it speaks of God's covenant faithfulness. It speaks
of God's sovereign grace. And oftentimes in our Authorized
Version, it's translated loving-kindness. Not always translated the same
way. Here we have it, sure mercy. But more often it's translated
as covenant faithfulness. Now I've referred to Psalm 89,
but I want to direct you to it again. It's that Psalm that speaks
of David, and he speaks of David in terms of the covenant. And
look at what we have there at verse 33, where we find this
particular word, nevertheless, my loving kindness. We're reading
it in context from verse 33. God says, or it's said concerning
God, if His children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments,
if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then
will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity
with stripes. Nevertheless, that's another
great word, is it not, that we find in the Scriptures, the nevertheless. Nevertheless, says God, my loving
kindness, or the sure mercies of David. Will I not utterly
take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail? My covenant
will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my
lips? Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie
unto David. Oh, what a God is this, the God
that we are so favored to have dealings with, because He condescends
to have dealings with us. Here then we see something of
the properties of this covenant, these sure mercies of David.
And then finally this morning, to say something with regards
to the provisions that are set before us in this covenant. What
does David say? This is all my desire and all
my salvation. Oh, it's David's salvation. It's
all he could ever desire. Now it's spoken of as goodness
and gladness and glory. Think again of the language that
we find in the lips or on the lips of the Psalmist. There in the 106th Psalm, verse 4, Remember me, O Lord,
with the favor that thou bearest unto thy people. Oh, visit me
with thy salvation, that I might see the good of thy chosen, that
I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory
with thy inheritance. Goodness, gladness, glory, God's
inheritance. And again, coming back to Isaiah
and what we read there in chapter 54 this morning. The end of that
chapter. This is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. There
is an inheritance. There is an heritage. And what is it? What is it? It is that that is really fivefold. It's fivefold. It's God's promise,
it's God's call, it's God's teaching, it's God's invitation, it's God's
covenant. And we have it, you know, here
in the context. That's why I read chapter 54.
Initially I was thinking, well, I'll read through chapter 55
as our lesson. But then, no, I thought, Look
at the context. What do we see here in the previous
chapter? Well, we see a number of things.
We see, for example, God's promise in verse 5. For thy maker is thy husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel, God of the whole earth shall he be called. Oh, what a promise is this. The God will be to his children
as an husband. He is their Redeemer. And the
word, of course, is that lovely word again, the Hebrew word,
go'el, the one that Job speaks of, I know that my Redeemer liveth,
the kinsman redeemed. the kinsman-redeemer. It's what
Boaz was to Ruth, the kinsman-redeemer. It's the promise of Christ and
that great salvation that is in him. But then also, in chapter
54, we have the call of God. Verse 6, the Lord hath called
me as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit and a wife of you,
when thou wast refused, saith thy God, or the Lord's call. Look at what he says at the end
of verse 7 there, with great mercies will I gather thee, as
God calls his people, so he gathers his people. There's a promise
also of God's teaching. We see it subsequently in verse
13, all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great
shall be the peace of thy children. Why that teaching is what the
Lord Jesus Christ himself refers to in John 6. It is written in
the prophets. They shall all be taught of God,
every one therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father
cometh unto them. That's the teaching of God. And
here is the promise that God will be the teacher, the instructor
of his children. There's the invitation when we
come into chapter 55. For everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, he that hath no money, come ye, buy and
eat, and come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. What a gracious invitation it
is that the Lord issues to his people. And isn't that what the
Gospel is when we come to the very end of Scripture? Do we
not see it in the language of Revelation 22 17 the Spirit and
the Bride say come and let him that heareth say come and let
him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take of
the water of life freely oh this is the gospel you see it's God's
invitation and ultimately all of these things the promise the
call the teaching the invitation aren't they all summed up in
the covenant The words then we have here at the end of verse
three, I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of thy people. And now God does remember his
covenant. Oh, God remembers his covenant.
The guy, look at the language of the Psalmist. Going back to
the 105th Psalm. In Psalm 105, And there at verse 8, he has
remembered his covenant forever. The word which he commanded to
a thousand generations. Which covenant? He made with
Abraham and his oath unto Isaac and confirmed the same unto Jacob
for a law and to Israel for an everlasting covenant. All the covenants you see. Again,
speaking of Oliver Cromwell's deathbed, we've said much with
regards to the last words of David, who was king in Israel. Well, Oliver Cromwell, the godliest
ruler that our land has ever known, nor that we should be
favoured to have another like unto that man. I still contend
he was the greatest Englishman that has ever lived. What does
he say to his children as he leaves them on his dying bed?
I leave you the covenant to feed on. I leave you the covenant
to feed on. Or do we feed on the covenant? How can we feed on the covenant? Well, we feed on it by praying
over it, by pleading And again, the language of the Psalmist,
Psalm 74, 20, have respect unto the covenant. For the dark places
of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. Though
there are many dark places in the earth, we are aware of it
at this time. This terrible event that has come to pass, this pandemic
that stretches over all the nations of the earth. And though the
dark Faces of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
What cruelty is still practiced in this foreign world? Still
abortions are regularly taking place. Awful things still continue. All this rebellion against God.
Oh, how we need then to come and to plead with Him concerning
His covenant. And what is that everlasting
covenant It's the sure mercies of David. We want God, in the
midst of all his judgment, to remember his mercy and come and
to visit this evil world again. Strange as it is, yet this planet
Earth is the place where God does all his greatest works.
And the greatest of all those works is that that Christ accomplished
when he fulfilled that great covenant of redemption. who brought
to us that blessed covenant of the grace of our God. May the
Lord be pleased to bless His word to us today. Amen.