Let us turn again to God's Word
in that text that we were considering this morning in Hebrews chapter
13 and verses 20 and 21. Hebrews chapter 13 verses
20 and 21. Now the God of peace brought again from the dead Our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working
in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. One of those benedictions
that we find in the Scriptures, referred to There are several
of them. This morning we made some reference
to others of these benedictions, that great Aaronic blessing or
benediction at the end of Numbers chapter 6. But then several here
in the New Testament. The most familiar of all, that
Trinitarian benediction at the end of 2nd Corinthians. Then also we observed that There
is another at the end of the epistle to Jude, and also of
course those words that we read earlier at the end of the epistle
to the Romans could be described as yet another benediction. But this great covenantal benediction,
the blessings of the New Covenant, the God of peace brought again
from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in
every good work to do his will working in you that which is
while pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. This morning then we sought
to say something with regards to this particular covenant spoken
of as the everlasting or the eternal covenant There are two
covenants, or two principal covenants, you might say, that are revealed
to us in Holy Scripture. There are other covenants, but
there are these two principal covenants. The First Testament,
the Old Covenant, which we have expressed in terms of the Law
of Moses. But then, in the fullness of
the time, The eternal covenant is revealed through the Lord
Jesus. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And now the Apostle speaks
of these things here, writing to the Hebrews, back in chapter 9 and verse 11.
But Christ being come, an high priest of good things, to come
by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands
that is to say not of this building neither by the blood of goats
and calves but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place having obtained eternal redemption for us and then at
verse 15 for this cause for this cause he is the mediator of the
New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the
transgressions that were under the First Testament they which
are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. This is that new covenant and
yet it is the eternal covenant what God had purpose from eternity
that was to be revealed in the fullness of the time. What a
blessed permanence we observe with regards to this covenant
of grace spoken of there in the 54th chapter of the prophecy
of Isaiah. In chapter 54 verse 10 we read,
"...the mountain shall depart and the hills be removed, but
my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the
covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy
on thee." All this is the covenant of God's peace that endures that
stands and is forever. There is a blessed permanency
with regards to this covenant. Whereas that old covenant has
passed away. As we see at the end of the 8th
chapter. in that he saith a new covenant,
he hath made the first old, now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. Our believers are no more under
that old covenant, that law of God. which stops the mouth of
all sinners, brings them in guilty before God, but when there is
a blessed deliverance, how the child of God is now not under
that law of the old covenant, but under the blessed covenant
of the grace of God. And it's that that is being spoken
of, as we said this morning. with regards to the text, the
everlasting covenant. It's the covenant of the grace
of God. It's that that brings peace,
the covenant of peace. It's the God of peace, as we
read at the beginning of verse 20. And we see it of course in
what Christ accomplished by His work, His obedience unto death,
even the death of the cross. writing in his first general
epistle John says of that work concerning Christ that he is
the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, not for
us Jews only but also for the sins of the whole world. Here in his love, not that we
love God but that he loved us and sent his Son. to be the propitiation
for our sins, or to make peace through the blood of His cross. In that portion that we read,
those verses in the end of the epistle to the Romans, we have
there at the end of chapter 15, there the God of peace, be with
you all, says the Apostle, the God of peace. And again in chapter
16 he says, the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your
feet shortly. And so I want us tonight to more
especially think of this new covenant in terms of that peace. It's a covenant of peace, peace
with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who were in a state
of enmity and alienation reconciled. This is the great work that Christ
has accomplished, reconciling sinners unto God, bearing in
his own person all that holy wrath of God, making the propitiatory
sacrifice for sins. To consider then this covenant
in terms of peace and I want us to examine it in a twofold
way. First of all, what we might say
is the objective consideration of it. It is a revelation to
us of peace. And then, in the second place,
to consider it subjectively. And to examine it, therefore,
in terms of the experience of peace. What it means to have
an interest. in this covenant. First of all,
the revelation, the doctrinal aspect as it were. And it is
revealed to us in the Lord Jesus. He of course is that one who
is the mediator of the new covenant. And so he is spoken of there
in chapter Nine, the mediator of the new covenant. But remember,
in the last book of the Old Testament, in the book of Malachi, he is
spoken of as the messenger of the covenant. He is the one through
whom the revelation is made. God who at sundry times and in
diverse manner spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets as in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. Those
are the opening words of this very epistle to the Hebrews.
The revelation is in Christ and in him we have the revelation
of this glorious covenant It's spoken of, remember, and we refer
to the words this morning in Zechariah 6.13, it's spoken of
as the Council of Peace. The Council of Peace shall be
between them both. The Council of Peace between
the Father and the Son, by the witness of the Blessed Spirit
of God Himself. And again in Malachi, Malachi
2 and verse 5, we have this statement, My covenant was with him of life
and peace. Now, if you look at that second
chapter in Malachi, you'll see that in the context, those words
are being spoken with regards to Levi. In verse 4, Levi is
made mention of. Levi was the priestly tribe. Moses and his brother Aaron were
of that tribe of Levi and it was Aaron of course and Aaron's
sons who were to serve in the office of the of the priesthood
so the tribe of Levi in the Old Testament is is clearly the priestly
tribe. They are those who are to serve
God about the tabernacle. And God says, My covenant was
with Him of life and peace. But those Levitical priests were
all wonderful types of the Lord Jesus. We are to see beyond the
type to the anti-type. Beyond the shadow we are to discern
the substance, they are pointing us to Christ. The covenant was
with the Lord Jesus and it was a covenant of life, it was a
covenant of peace and we see it both in the person and in
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now these are things that are
familiar with us but now we need to remember these basic truths. there is peace for the sinner
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ." Importance of the doctrine
of the person of the Lord Jesus. Micah chapter 5 and verse 5 declares,
"...this man shall be the peace." The God of peace brought again
from the dead our Lord Jesus that great shepherd of the sheep
through the blood of the everlasting covenant. This man, the mediator
of the covenant, this man shall be the peace. We are familiar
with that great statement of Isaiah 9.6 concerning His coming
into the world, the incarnation unto us, a child is born unto
us, a son is given and the government shall be upon His shoulder, His
name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor of the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. His name is the Prince
of Peace. And who is this one that is being
spoken of? Well there we are reminded of
the person of the Lord Jesus and the mystery of the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. How that the child is born unto
us, the child is born, but the Son is not spoken of as being
born unto us, the Son is given. Why? He is the eternal Son of
God. the Eternal Son of God. And there
in that great mystery of godliness, when God was manifest in the
flesh, He takes to Himself as God's Eternal Son, He takes to
Himself a human nature, that that is conceived by the Holy
Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And so there are those
natures, he is divine, he is God, the eternal son of God,
never anything less than that. And yet there he is also seen
to be a man, a real man. And those two natures distinct,
but one person. the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the God-man. And there in his very person there, his peace, he comes
between heaven and earth, as it were. The language of Job
when he cries out in chapter 9, neither is there any daysman
betwixt us that may lay his hand upon us both. He wants one to
stand as Job between himself and his God. He wants one who
can put his hand upon God and one who can put his hand upon
poor Job. And there is one. And that is
the person of the Lord Jesus because he is God, he is equal
to the Father. and yet he is a man and he is
touched with all the feelings of our sinless humanity who is
tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin. Or the person of Christ. Here is the revelation of that
piece. It comes in his blessed person. We read of God sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. Now He comes
where His people are. Now He comes to reconcile them
to God. In the doctrine then we are to
take account of the person, the God-man. And then of course we
must also take account of the work. There is a work. These
two things come together. Our salvation is in Christ, in
His person. and also in the work, that work
that he had engaged to undertake in the Covenant. As we have said
so many times in terms of his eternal sonship, when we think
of the doctrine of God, he is equal to the Father. There is no disputing of that
fact. He is the Eternal Son. If there
is an Eternal Son, well, there is also the Eternal Father. And
if you deny the Eternal Son, you deny the Father also, whosoever
transgresseth and abides not in the doctrine of Christ, hath
not God. If you don't abide in the doctrine
of Christ, you don't have God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. What a statement
is that of John's there in verse 9 of his second epistle. When we think in terms of God
then, He is clearly equal to the Father. And yet in the Covenant,
he willingly becomes the servant of God. Behold my servant, says
God. He comes to serve the will of
the Father. He comes not to do his own will,
he says, but he comes to do the will of Him who has sent him.
He comes to finish that work that the Father has given him
to do. This is the Covenant. All that he engaged to undertake.
and it is a blessed work of peace, he comes to reconcile sinners
to God and so it's not surprising that when he appears at his birth
what is the song of the angels in Luke chapter 2 and verse 14
they sing on earth peace on earth peace, good will toward men,
this is the angels rejoicing in that work that they have no
interest in. He has not taken upon him the
nature of angels. He is made a little lower than
the angels, it says, for the suffering of death. And you know
the angels rejoice at what he is about to accomplish on earth,
peace, goodwill, towards men. And that peace, as you know,
it's not some political peace. There are those who like to speak
of a social gospel, a political gospel. That was not what Christ
came to accomplish when Christ was born. There was, in very
real terms, a great peace in the earth. Yes, there were conflicts,
there were warfares, But there was the great Pax Romana, there
was a great peace of Rome. The legionaries of Rome throughout
the empire ensuring that there was order. A great measure of
peace. At the very time that he was
born, he comes not to establish some sort of political peace,
it's a spiritual peace. It's that that is accomplished
in the souls of sinners. And we have it here, do we not?
Paul says in verse 21, make you perfect in every good work to
do His will, working in you, working in you, that which is
well pleasing in His sight. Working in the hearts of those
who in their very righteous, were sinners. Those who were
in that state of enmity against God, highly anointed from God.
Those who were dead in trespasses and sins, He comes to establish
in the hearts of sinners that blessed rain of His grace. And how has He done it? He has
done it by submitting himself to that holy, righteous, just
law of God. He was made of a woman. He was
made under the law. He's under the law of God in
every part of his life. Under the law of God as he lives,
under the law of God as he dies. Honouring the law. Though it's
there upon the cross, of course. We really see him making peace. We've already referred to the
language of John in his first general epistle and his use of
that particular word, propitiation. Here in his love, not that we
love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. I know the word is a technical
word, it's a theological word, but it's a biblical word. It's
a biblical word, it's the word of God. And we need therefore
to take account of it, and to apply our minds to it. And there
is a difference between what Christ did when He made propitiation,
and what Christ did when He made expiation. These two technical
words, but very interesting to see the distinction between these
words. Expiation has to do with the
guilt of sin. Those who transgress God's law,
they're guilty. And they are therefore to be
condemned by that law. And what has Christ done? He's
dealt with the guilt aspect of the sins of his people. That
guilt that attaches to the sinner's own person and he blocks it out. They are no longer guilty because
Christ himself has paid the price. and as there is that blessed
application of his work so their consciences are purged, are purged
by that precious blood that he shed. When we think of expiation
we are to think in that sense of the man-wood aspect of sin. Sin makes us guilty before God,
guilty before the law of God. Propitiation really deals with
the God-wood aspect of our sins. God, you see, is a holy God,
and a righteous God, and a just God. And God can by no means
clear the guilt. And God is angry, it says. God
is angry with the wicked every day. And that great work of the
Lord Jesus upon the cross, it is dealt also with that Godward
aspect. He is the propitiation for our
sins. Oh, it's that pacifying aspect
of his blessed work. He's made peace. He's made peace
by the shedding of his precious blood. It's the language that
Paul uses when he writes in his epistle to the Colossians. There
in Colossians chapter 1 verse 20, having made peace. through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto
himself by him I say whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight. always the work of the Lord Jesus.
And what God has done by sending His only begotten Son into this
world, made of a woman, made under the law, He hath made Him
to be sin for us, says Paul. Who knew no sin? He knew no sin
and yet He was made sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. and how this glorious work of
Christ is completed. How this covenant that was made from all eternity, the eternal
covenant, how it is all now at its blessed accomplishment, and
it's all sealed, and it's sealed with His precious blood. God
is at peace with the sinner, the God of peace. through the
blood of the everlasting covenant. Can we not see the connection
between the opening words of this 20th verse and the closing
words? He's the God of peace and it's
all through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Oh, how
that blood speaks of peace between the sinner and God. The work
of the Lord Jesus is that that has been completed. This is what
Paul says in this epistle, there in chapter 9, the work is done. The mediator of the New Covenant,
the testator of the New Testament has died. We refer to this fact
this morning. There at verse 15 in chapter
9, for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, or covenant. The same word is used, sometimes
rendered testament, sometimes rendered covenant. For this cause he is the mediator
of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption
of the transgressions that were under the first testament, They
which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
He has answered, you see, all that was demanded of that first
covenant, that Old Testament, that Lord of Gods. He was made
under the law and He has fulfilled the law. and he has magnified
the law by his obedience in life and by the great sacrifice, the
oblation that he made when he died and he speaks of the testament
here in verse 16 where a testament is there must also of necessity
be the death of the testatel for a testament is a force after
men are dead Otherwise it is of no strength at all while the
testator liveth. For the testament to stand, to
come, to be brought in, the testator must die. The person writes his
last will and testament and it's when that person dies that the
inheritance comes to those who have an interest. in that person's
last will and testament only when he dies and so it is with
Christ he has died and his testament stands and the blessing therefore
comes to those sinners who have an interest in the great covenant
of grace for them there is peace with God reconciliation through
the blood of the Lord Jesus and how How God has owned and acknowledged
all this. How the Lord Jesus is that One
who is vindicated. Why He is risen again from the
dead. It's the God of peace we read
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd
of the sheep. Yes, He is the Shepherd who gave
His life for the sheep, but He has been raised from the dead.
And the Father has received Him into heaven. He is declared to
be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. And there in heaven He
dispenses His grace. On the day of Pentecost He sheds
abroad the Holy Spirit. He comes as the Spirit of Christ.
He comes to reveal to sinners the things of Christ. Where is the great doctrine then
of the covenant of peace it all centers in the person and the
work of the Lord Jesus but then secondly let me say something
with regards to the experience of this peace as we have it in
verse 21 make you perfect in every good work to do his will
working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through
Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. There is experience here.
There is that peace that is personal. He comes. He comes to the sinner. What is sin? Sin is confusion. Sin is enmity against God. We're
told, are we not, in Isaiah 57, that 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. Wickedness is nothing but confusion,
nothing of peace there. And this is what the sinner's
condition is by nature. This is the condition that you
were born in, I was born in, we were all born dead in trespasses
and in sins having the understanding dark and alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that was in us because of the
blindness of our hearts that's how we were by nature or the
condition of the sinner it's an awful condition when that
poor sinner's eyes are opened when he's made to see and feel
something of his natural state when he's taught by the Spirit
of God in his soul's experience a terrible doctrine of total
depravity made to feel how he is utterly impotent he can do
nothing he cannot save himself He's undone. He's dead. Strange paradox, this Christian
experience, is it not? God makes us feel our deadness.
The dead feel nothing at all. But when the Spirit of God comes
into the soul of the sinner, oh, it's God working, you see.
God working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight.
Why, then, we feel what we are. We feel our sinnership. We have those who are such poor
physicians. Remember how Jeremiah in the
course of his ministry speaks against those false prophets
who were coming and saying to the Jews that there would be
peace. God's judgments were about to
come God was going to visit upon them the punishment of their
sins because they had been gross idolaters and he would deal with
them in terms of the Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar would come, Jerusalem
would fall, the temple would be destroyed, they'd be taken
away into exile, and yet there were those false prophets And they were not facing up to
the truth. Jeremiah speaks of them, they
have healed the daughter of my people slightly, he says, saying
peace, peace, when there is no peace. And the people were saying
as they looked about them, oh the temple of the Lord, the temple
of the Lord, the temple of the Lord of these, we've got the
temple of the Lord, we've got God in our midst. Jerusalem cannot
fall. but alas, they were but false
prophets. Here is Jeremiah, he is the true
prophet of the Lord and what a ministry that man has to exercise. How there was such a negative
aspect initially to his ministry. And there is that that is negative
where there is a faithful ministry of the Word of God. And we see
it very strikingly, really, with regards to the ministry of Jeremiah. God tells him, verse 9 of chapter 1, The Lord
said unto me, Behold, I have put my word in thy mouth. See,
I have this day sent thee over the nations and over the kingdoms
to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down,
to build and to plant. Four negatives, followed by two
positives. It's not wrong, you see, to have
a negative emphasis. There is a negative emphasis
in the Word of God. The sinner has to know that he's
a sinner. The Lord Jesus comes not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance. It is the experiencing. They
must know what they are. They must feel the confusion
of their sins. They must feel what it is to
be those who are very far off from God. There is a ministry
to those who are far off spoken of there in Ephesians chapter
2. I know that the context is speaking
of the The calling of Gentiles as well as the calling of Jews.
This is what he's dealing with. Here in Ephesians chapter 2 in
Christ Jesus he says, Ye who sometimes were afar off are made
nigh by the blood of Christ. That's the Gentiles afar off.
He is our priest who hath made both one. That is Jew and Gentile
have broken down the middle wall of perdition between us. having
abolished in his flesh the enmity even the law of commandment contained
in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain of two, of the
Jew and the Gentile one new man, so making peace. and that he
might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having
slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you
which were afar off, and to them that were nigh." The Jews were
not. It was to them that pertained the giving of the law and so
forth. The Gentiles were those who were
afar off. That is the context, that's what
he's speaking of, but is there not a spiritual significance
also in these words there is a preaching of peace to those
who are afar off those who feel themselves to be afar off, alienated
and enemies there is that that must come
into the soul of the sinner, he must know what it is to be
reconciled to God, to be at peace with God to know that his sins
are forgiven even for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ But
there is that that is also paradoxical in the experiences of the people
of God. Why when His pardon is signed
and His peace is procured, from that moment His conflict begins.
The Lord Jesus says, these things have I spoken unto you, that
in me ye might have peace, in the world ye shall have tribulation.
But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Well, the
believer is this strange amalgam really. He's at peace with God
and yet he's involved in a terrible conflict. Daily he's in warfare
with sin and with Satan, with the world. He's in warfare oftentimes
with himself. He feels it, the good that he
would, he does not. There has to be this experience
of peace. In the midst of all his conflict
with sin, yet to know that God is his God. Be of good cheer,
says Christ, I have overcome the world. He must be constantly
learning what it is to look to Christ and to trust in Christ.
The only way he can overcome is through Christ. Our experience
of Christ, friends, it's got to be a daily experience. It's
not enough to have an experience so many years ago when the Lord
was pleased, first of all, to deal with us and to call us to
Himself. People give their testimony,
all they speak of is what happened when they were converted. That's
not testimony, is it? Or surely our testimony must
be a living testimony. We have a daily experience of
the peace of God, I trust. Well, there is doctrine. The
doctrine is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, there's
the experience of these things, there's God working in you, that
which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, and
then there is also the practice. Doctrine, experience, practice. We are to practice peace. We
are to be men and women of peace. And there are many exhortations
that we find in scripture to that end. Here in Hebrews, chapter
12, the previous chapter at verse 14, follow peace with all men
and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Are we those who are followers
of peace? He says, does Paul writing in
Romans 12, 18, if it be possible, if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live
at peace with all men. That's what we should desire.
As much as it lies in us, we want to be at peace with men. Again he says, Romans 14, 19,
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace,
and things wherewith one may edify another. This is the Christian's
calling, this is the way he is to live his life, is to follow
after the things which make for peace. Now interestingly, the
word follow there, follow after the things which make for peace
as this idea of pursuing and taking. It's a strong verb really. Taking with violence. That's how we are to pursue.
Let us therefore pursue after the things which make for peace. The Christians calling, there
are these exhortations multitudes of them. We can but refer to
a small number of them, but they're there. We are called to practice
peace as we experience the peace of God. Ephesians 4.3, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the spirits in the bond of peace. And that
to be the mark of the New Testament Church the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace, how Christians are to live at peace one with
the other in the midst of a world that's in that state of alienation
and enmity against God. Again, a familiar word in 1 Corinthians
14, God is not the author of confusion but of peace as in all the churches
of Christ. All we want is peace in the church.
Believers, you see, they are to imitate God Himself. And we
need to ask God that He would come and work that peace within
us. He is the God of peace. And we
want that God would make us His true subjects. Again, look at
the language of Paul writing to the Thessalonians in the first
epistle. 1 Thessalonians 5.23, he says,
the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. He's the God of peace. Again, in 2 Thessalonians 3.16,
now the Lord of peace himself give you peace, always, by all
means. And really isn't this The text
that we've considered today, it's a benediction. We sometimes
use it as a benediction, but it's a prayer. It's addressed to God. It's asking
God to do something. It's asking God for this blessing.
Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of
the everlasting covenant, make you perfect. in every good work
to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in
His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen." Or can we not add our
Amen? This is not what we desire. We
want the glory of Christ. We want to see Christ glorified
in our lives. We want to see Christ glorified
in the life, the testimony, the witness of the Church. We want people to know that we
are those who are subjects to Him who is the God of Peace. Or that great doctrine then of
the person and the work of our Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Or that God would grant us that
grace whereby we might know these things in our soul's experience
and that we might be those who are diligent in seeking that
these things might be worked out and walked out in the way
in which we conduct ourselves, the way in which we live our
lives. The Lord's grant that we might
give evidence in that we have an interest in this great covenant,
the everlasting covenant of the grace of God, this blessed covenant
of peace. The Lord bless his world.