Let's turn to Genesis 17, and I want to read one verse,
verse 19. And this will be the point from which this message
is inspired by, this verse here, 19. And God said, Sarah thy wife
shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name
Isaac. And I will establish my covenant
with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. This verse really blessed my
heart this week as I was reading it and beginning to look at this
passage again. And it's rejoicing to me because
it has its eye upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that seed,
that promised seed. Isaac is but a type of Christ. Isaac's a type of Christ. And
so this passage is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And you
that believe him are his seed that are blessed in him. So that
we rejoice in this word because it speaks of what our God has
done in covenant promise. and He does not break His Word,
this is what He's done for you, to bless you, to comfort your
hearts, to give you peace and joy in the true and living God. And that's beautiful. The Lord
Jesus Christ and what He's done for us, that is a rejoicing to
us, brethren. And so in this we see God's gracious
will and purpose being declared of what He does for His people
to establish His covenant with you. With you that believe Him
and trust Him for all your righteousness, this covenant is for you. It's
what God has done for you in Christ. And so I said it has
an eye toward Christ. If you remember in Genesis 3.15,
the Lord, he's speaking to the serpent here in the hearing of
Adam and Eve. It's to bless our hearts. It's
to comfort us and to encourage us who are fallen and ruined
in sin and in nature's darkness. And he said, I will put enmity
between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed
it shall bruise thy head. He'll crush you, you'll strike
his heel, but he'll crush your head. He'll destroy you and my
people shall be delivered from your rule." And so Christ is
the promise of God. He destroyed The accuser of the
brethren and he destroyed all our enemies, including sin and
death and the grave, so that they have no more power over
us. We're not laboring and struggling and striving because we're fearful
that we won't have done enough for God to save us. No, that's
been settled. It's been settled in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now we labor in joy. And we labor, we rejoice in what
our God has done. We have thankful hearts. We're
happy to labor in the kingdom of our God because he's delivered
us and he gives us an expected and blessed end, everlasting
life. in and by and with our Savior
Jesus Christ now for the purposes of this study we're going to
talk about the covenant because but for the purposes of the study
I have to narrow it down because it's broad and it's it's deep
and there's a lot of things that we could cover in the covenant
but I want to look at three things first we'll look at some of the
names of the covenant because they teach us something about
this covenant. Then we'll look at some of the
distinct acts that the Godhead does, the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, that they do to establish this covenant and to teach us
in our hearts. And then we'll close with a few
of the properties of the covenant, some of the properties of the
covenant. So first, let's consider this covenant under a few names
because it helps us as we contemplate and meditate upon our God and
what he's done for us, and for you in particular that believe
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in Malachi 2.5, our Lord
tells us of a covenant that he's made with Levi. And in this context,
we must see this, we must hear this blessed word in Christ. Otherwise, we fall short of it. And so this covenant he makes
with Levi that he speaks of, it's a type, Levi is a type of
Christ. And here he says, this is all
I'm gonna read for this point, my covenant was with him, was
with him of life. This is a covenant of life, brethren. It's a covenant of life. This
covenant that our God has made with Christ and you His seed
in Christ. This is a covenant of life. That covenant of works under
the Old Testament could not be called a covenant of life for
us. It couldn't be called that because
we are sinners. We are fallen in Adam. We are so ruined, so corrupt,
so spiritually dead in trespasses and sins that we don't love God. We are enmity against the true
and living God by nature. We don't hear His word. His word
is foolishness to us as we heard this morning. 1 Corinthians 2.14
is foolishness to us. We can't discern it. We don't
rightly understand it. We don't apply it to our hearts
rightly because it's spiritually discerned. We need the Spirit
of God because coming from Adam's corrupt seed, defiled seed, there's
no spiritual life. We're dead. We're void of life.
And so we couldn't save ourselves under that covenant of works. We can't keep ourselves pure,
holy, unspotted, and righteous by the things that we do. We
fall short under that covenant of works. We fall short, we come
short of God's glory. So that the commandment, this
is how Paul said it in Romans 7.10, he said, the commandment
which was ordained to life, I found to be death. It was death unto
me. It slew me because I can't do
it. I come short. I deserve the judgment
and wrath of God in my works. That's what I've earned. That's
what I've worked up and earned for me. And so we that are made
alive by Christ, we don't dare approach the true and living
God in our works under a covenant of the law, under a covenant
of works. Because God would slay us. If
we showed up saying, and here I am, and this is what I've done
for you, Lord. This is my righteousness. Receive
me. Give me what thou owest me. Pay
me. I've done all these things, Lord.
This is my righteousness. God would slay us. Because he
would show us how they cannot save us. How these things are
wicked and not righteousness. Wicked works, they're called.
And so Paul, When he was speaking of the covenant of the law under
the Old Testament in 2 Corinthians 3 verse 7 he called it a ministration
of death. And then in 2 Corinthians 3 verse
9 he called it a ministration of condemnation. Because those
who are laboring under it, and thinking this is their righteousness,
they despise the salvation of God. They crucify the Savior,
and they want nothing to do with the salvation of God. They don't
come in Christ, and so it's a ministration of death. It plays on the corruption
that's in this flesh. and it slays us, it cuts us down.
But we're under the new covenant and we're made ministers of Jesus
Christ. He's the one of whom we speak,
we testify of Christ, the righteousness of God, the Savior whom God has
sent. We testify and bear witness to
Him and what He has done for us. It says in 2 Corinthians
3 verse 6, Who also hath made us able ministers of the new
testament, that new covenant, revealed to us by God, not of
the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the
Spirit giveth life. you come to God in that Old Testament
under the law and trying to work for your righteousness and thinking
you're keeping the law of God and that that's your righteousness
and that you're helped and sanctified by your works under the law,
he says, it's death. It'll kill you. You'll be cut
down and slain and thrown out into outer darkness with all
the unbelievers. But you that come in Christ alone
and believe the word of God concerning him, he gives life. There's life
there. You have life already because
you have believed the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a testimony that
God has given you life. You trust Christ. You believe
him. You rest in him. God is testifying,
that's my child. I've done that for them. I've
saved them and delivered them. Look at the faith I've revealed
in them. That's the fruit of the spirit. The fruit of the
spirit, that's not the fruit of the flesh. Well, the flesh
has his works. The Spirit gives faith and bears
fruits of righteousness in the children of God. And so we come
by faith in the blood of Christ, trusting He is all I need. He is everything. Everything
that the Father requires, Christ has given it to Him as my surety. And I'm satisfied in Him by the
grace of God. I'm made to rest in Him because
God the Father is satisfied with His Son. And He's well pleased
in Christ. And all who come to Him in Christ,
He's well pleased. He receives them gladly. Hebrews
9.15 For this cause Christ is the mediator of the new testament,
that new covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption
of the transgressions that were under the first testament, that
old covenant, they which are called might receive the promise
of eternal inheritance. And this inheritance that he
is speaking of is life. It's life by the Spirit of God. It's life that's promised to
us in the covenant of life. Paul, when writing to Titus,
Titus 1-2 said, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie
promised before the world began. And so understand that this Jesus
of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God, who is the mediator
between God and men. He was made that before the foundation
of the world. And when the Father, as we'll
see in a moment, when the Father proposed to the Son, this is
what I'd like you to do, and the Son willingly did it, we're
told that Christ our Savior asked the Father for life. for you
his people. He asked, Father, give them life
in me. It says in Psalm 21 4, He asked
life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for
ever and ever. And so therefore, this is rightly
called a covenant of life. Covenant of life. Additionally,
in Malachi 2 5, we see that it's called a covenant of peace. covenant
of peace he said my covenant was with him of life and peace. We read in Isaiah 54 10 for the
mountains shall depart And the hills be removed. All these things are going to
scatter away. They're going to flee away. The
sky is going to roll up like a scroll. It's all going away.
It's all going to be burned up and destroyed. They'll all be
removed. But my kindness shall not depart
from thee. That's his promise. Neither shall
the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy
on thee. What is the Lord saying to us?
That's a great comfort, isn't it? To know that nothing, though
this world fall apart, nothing is going to alter God's covenant
made with you in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is peace to
the child of God. That gives me great peace and
gives me comfort to rest. You know, my body is getting
older, I feel the pains and the weaknesses of age, and I see
my frailty and mortality and the foolishness of my person,
and yet I have great peace because God has made a covenant with
me, not based on what I have done or not done, but based on
Christ resting completely on the shoulders of my Savior, my
head, my husband, my friend, my God and my Savior. Everything
that I needed, He's given it to me. And so God in counsel
with Himself, as the three in one, has fixed and established
this covenant of peace with you, His child. It's between Him and
Christ and all His chosen seed in Him. Though we fell in Adam,
though we sinned and ruined everything, yet God in grace and mercy has
established His covenant of peace with His people. So Christ is
called the Peacemaker. In Colossians 1 verse 20 and
21 Paul says, And 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," that's what we do, thinking that we're something in dead
religion, by our wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. And so Christ is our peace, and
he's the man of peace. In Micah 5, verse 5, there's
a scripture which says, and this man shall be peace when the Assyrians
shall come into our land. You think of the Assyrian and
all the ways that the Assyrian manifests itself in our life.
And when that Assyrian comes into the land to trouble us,
to burden us, to frighten us, and to take from us, and to pillage
us, and plunder, and take everything that it can from us, Christ is
that man of peace. He's the one that anchors the
soul. in peace and in comfort because nothing can take the
promise of God away from us which he's made for us freely unconditionally
in his son Jesus Christ. And that's good news. Good news
for the sinner. Good news for the weak and the
poor and you that have nothing. You that are rich and have things,
that isn't so good of news. But to you that have nothing,
that's wonderful news. That is great peace. So Christ's
blood has put away that enmity within us, that Assyrian with
us by nature. And he's put it away, he's defeated
him, and he's the one that establishes peace in our hearts. And now
it says in, Isaiah 53, 5, but he was wounded for our transgressions. Christ was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. That chastisement,
we beat ourselves up, we call ourselves names, and I'm often
disappointed with myself, but the truth is, My chastisement
was laid upon Him. And He says, look to Me. Child,
look to Me and rest in Me. Believe Me. I'm all your peace.
I'm all your comfort. He's the one that strengthens
and nourishes us and keeps us coming back to him keeps us looking
to Our God and not ourselves and then lastly this name that
we that will look at here is well men It's a name that men
call it men who are redeemed by the blood of Christ. We call
this the covenant of grace and It's the covenant of grace. And we call it this because it
speaks of God's salvation for sinners graciously. What is given
freely in grace because we could do no works to save ourselves. We could not do this. We couldn't put it together.
We couldn't dispose of the things that were needful in the covenant.
But Christ did. And He came. And He disposed
of the whole thing, ordering it and perfecting it and doing
everything necessary for this covenant to be established unto
you. With all the promises and blessings
of God, He did everything. And so we rejoice in this covenant
of grace. Where Paul says in Ephesians
2,8, for by grace are ye saved through faith. And that, that
faith whereby you believe, that's not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God. And we rejoice, I rejoice in
that, and I know you rejoice in that grace of God who bears
all the fruits of righteousness in you, his child. Again, he
says in Romans 10, verse six and nine, he says, the righteousness
which is of faith speaketh on this wise. This is what the righteousness
of faith says and confesses, that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. You won't be ashamed. You're
saved. You have life. You have life. And that's why the hope you have
is the hope you have in Christ. Because he's given you life.
He that hath the Son hath life. And it's a testimony that God
has saved you when you believe in Christ and rest in him only.
That's the testimony of God in you. And so our salvation, it's
all of grace. Everything needed was transacted
for us in that covenant by Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the will
and purpose, that gracious will and purpose of our God, made
with Him before the foundation of the world. Paul said to Timothy,
it's according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Now next, I want to briefly
highlight the actions that God the Father and His Son took to
establish this covenant, to fulfill all this covenant of grace and
the promises of it to us. Now, when we look at these, we'll
just take them together. Understand, this is what the
father proposed to the son, and what the son said, yes, father,
I'll do it. I'll do it for my people. I'll
do it. So first, God the father gave
his son a people. He chose the people whom he would
save in Christ, and he gave them to his son. And think about this. You that believe, we that were
sinners, and enmity against God, Christ said, I love them, I love
them, thank you, Father, they're mine. And he took us to himself
to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, to be everything
for us, brethren. Ephesians 1.4, it's according,
as he hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love. And so before any actions were
disposed and executed, the father chose his people and gave them
to the care of his son to be kept, to be provided for, to
be delivered safely to himself when all was said and done. And so here's all the proposals
of the Father made to the Son and what the Son agreed to do. He willingly sacrificed Himself
for us. He didn't go unwillingly. He
did this willingly because He loves you, whom the Father chose
for Him. He loves you. He loves you. So first, the father
gave the care of his elect into the care and keeping of his son. He committed everything. He first, Paul says it, He first
trusted Christ. The Father is the one who first
trusted Christ. Before you or I ever trusted
Christ, the Father trusted Christ in laying everything upon Him. The whole care for His people,
the whole deliverance for His people, He gave it to Christ. When Christ was speaking of the
Father's will, he said, that all which he hath given me, I
should lose nothing. I have lost nothing, and God
gave them to me. And praying his high priestly prayer for
his people, Christ said, those that thou gavest me, I have kept,
and none is lost. Everyone you gave me, I've kept
them, and none is lost. And so the Father chose a people,
put them into the care of his Son, And so, that's a rejoicing. You that think that your salvation
depends on what you do and what you have done or don't do, no,
look to Christ. When you look at what you do,
when I look at what I do, it's a terrifying thing. It's a terrifying
thing because I can't do it. If it rests on me even for one
thing, Fail I come short and that's what he's saying. He's
declaring it to us over and over in the scriptures Behold my sir
whom I've sent you look to him. That's what he says to us in
Isaiah 42 1 look to my sir second Because we would fall in Adam
because we would fall in in Adam and we would sin unto death and
condemnation and The Father sent His Son to redeem His people
from their fall and ruin. And Christ agreed, I'll go and
I'll redeem them. I'll lay down my life for my
people. I'll shed my blood for them. So it says in Isaiah 49.6, we're
told that He came to restore the preserved in Israel. And
he came for a light to the Gentiles, and he came to be God's salvation
unto the end of the earth. He is the one Savior whom God
has sent. There's not many avenues to God.
There's not many saviors. There's one Savior. There's one
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. If we're saved, it's by Jesus
Christ and Jesus Christ alone. He's the one savior. Ye who are
sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. That's
our redemption. The purchase price was his blood
for us. Third, to accomplish this, the
father proposed to his son, take on a human nature. You'll need
to be made like unto your brethren. You'll need to bear their flesh,
the weakness of their flesh. And our loving savior said, I'll
do it. I'll bear that weak flesh, and
then I'll come in humility for them. And so he said, a body
hast thou prepared me. Fourth, while he was here in
that weak, the weakness of the flesh, just like you and I, except
without sin, while he was here, he obeyed the law perfectly. He fulfilled the law and all
our righteousness for us. He did it in the room instead
of his people. because we can, if there was
a law that was given, that could be given, that would have given
us life, God would have gave it, he said in Galatians. He
would have given it to us, but there is no law that we can keep
that gives us life, so Christ came and he fulfilled all the
law of God perfectly in the room instead of his people, saying,
I delight to do thy law, oh my God, yea, thy law is within my
heart. And fifth, in the room instead
of his people, Christ suffered their penalty under the law.
Not only did he fulfill the law righteously, whereas we don't,
but he also took our place to suffer our suffering, to bear
our curse, which is death, eternal death under the law. He died
in the place of his people he bore our death the Lord told
Adam and we were in Adam when he sinned he said in the day
thou eatest of the fruit thereof thou shalt surely die and we
all died we all were plunged into death and darkness and so
either I must die or or my shorty must die in my place." And that's
what Christ did. He came. He said, you put their
debts on me and I'll pay their debts. All that they owe, I'll
give it to you. I'll give it to you as their
shorty. That's what it means. He paid all of it off in our
place. And sixth, the son agreed to
be the sacrifice of his people. He laid down his life as the
sacrifice. That's why he's called the Lamb
of God slain before the foundation of the world. Because he agreed
back then that he would do it. And then he came and he did it
as our sacrifice. He died our death. Seventh, he
made an atonement, a covering for us to cover all our sin,
to put it away with the covering of his blood. And eighth, he
brought in an everlasting righteousness. to justify his elect. He has
brought in everlasting righteousness. We are the very righteousness
of God in him, in him. He's everything, brethren, everything
for the sinner. He's our life, our justification. He's our peace. He's our acceptance. He's all the blessings of God
are given to us in him. And so in short, Christ was made
our covenant head. Everything that had to be done,
everything, the disposing of that whole covenant, the whole
ordering of it, the laying out and the accomplishment of every
task was all done by our covenant head, the Lord Jesus Christ.
As Adam is our federal head according to the flesh, and we fell in
him and destroyed ourselves in him, so Christ is our head, our
federal head in whom we have all the blessings of the covenant.
And as we first came forth in Adam as our seminal head, well
now, he's not our inheritance. We come forth of the seed of
Christ, that spiritual seed, so that we stand complete in
him who is our faithful head. And he's accomplished everything
for us. He's secured our righteousness, secured our peace, secures our
joy and our rejoicing. And so as our head and as human
nature The Lord says He's the mediator between God and man.
He's your mediator. You look to Him and He'll speak
to me. And do everything you need. You
look to Him and you come to me in Him and I'll receive you.
And so that's why we glory in Christ. That's why we don't speak
up man and boast of man. And why we find our faces in
the dirt before Him. Because what do we have to boast
of? All our boasting. All our joy. All our acceptance
is Christ. And so we glory in Christ. And that's why I did it. That
God hath made him unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. That according as it's written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. So that's what he's
done. Now, I don't want to exclude
the Holy Spirit either because He agreed to this covenant as
well. And what does He do? He takes of these things and
communicates them to the hearts of God's people. He seeks out
the lost and He gives us life. hearing and an understanding
and he opens our hearts and our minds to hear what God has done
to believe these things. He gives faith in the hearts
of his people and and his spirit so that these things which are
spiritually discerned, they're discerned by us by the grace
of God. The Holy Spirit does that. He
makes us to know what our God and Savior has done for us and
he gives us that faith and grace and joy in Christ. Now in closing,
Let me just speak to a few of the properties of this covenant
because I want you to understand this is excellent. This is an
excellent covenant. This is a perfect covenant. This
is a sure thing which is made unto us in Christ, pictured in
Isaac there, and his seed in him, that's Christ and us in
him. So first, this is an eternal
covenant. Now we're going to close with
it being an everlasting covenant, but it's an eternal covenant.
What do I mean by that is that this thing was made in eternity
past. God established this and determined
to do this in eternity past, and that's where it began. And
so God, from eternity, is declaring his love, his mercy, His grace
toward you that are His people, that this day believe Christ,
that believe Him. It's all established in our Lord. And so we have this understanding
that before the world began, before I had time to do any evil
or good, the Lord had already worked out this covenant. Just
like with Jacob and Esau, one he loved and one he hated. One
he did everything needed for, and the other one he passed by
and let them to do it himself. And we can't do it. That's what
he's shown us. And second, it's a covenant of
free grace. Free grace. It's all freely given
to those chosen of God. And it's been established for
us by the three persons of the Godhead. It's been accomplished
for us by Christ, who came and did all this work, which He and
the Father and the Spirit agreed to do. And so, nothing is done
by us. It's all done because Christ
has done it. Everything needed, He's done
it all for us. Third, God places no conditions upon us so that
this is an unconditional covenant. There's no conditions left for
us to fulfill. Everything that's needed for
us, He gives it and brings it forth. He says, I will and you
shall. We must believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. We confess Christ and we believe
Him and we walk by faith in Him. All those are fruits of righteousness
which He bears in us. We need them. And He gives it. He provides it all to His people. And so, Lord, ever give us these
things. Ever keep us, Lord. Ever give
us Your grace to keep us walking in the truth and in the Spirit
and life. And so all these blessings and
promises of the covenant are fulfilled unto us and given to
us because of Christ. He says in Jeremiah 31-33, This
shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward
parts, and I will write it in their hearts, and will be their
God, and they shall be my people. And so God says, I will, and
you shall. Everything you need to do. He
brings it forth from you. He gives it and draws it forth
from you because Christ is our righteousness. And it's all fulfilled. Fourth, this covenant is complete,
meaning it's perfect. It wants nothing from weak, puny,
small-minded sinners. The Lord isn't leaving it to
your flesh because your flesh cannot do it. The believer in
Christ, we stand in need of nothing. It's all complete. It's finished.
It's perfect. It's done. God is satisfied in
His Son. And fifth, because it's entirely
established by God, it's rightly called a holy covenant. If it
requires something of our flesh, if it took something from this
dead, weak flesh, then it wouldn't be called holy. But because He's
done it all, and this flesh is still corrupt and sinful, it's
a holy covenant. And then sixth, he tells us it's
a sure covenant, meaning it cannot be changed, it cannot be altered,
it is sure, it is fixed, it is certain. David said it this way
in 2 Samuel 23 5, he said, although my house be not so with God,
though when you look at my house, it's a mess. There's problems,
there's holes, there's weaknesses all over. You could find fault
with me in my house. Though my house is not so with
God yet, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant. With me? Why me? That's what
David's saying. Why me, Lord? Though everything
I've touched and done doesn't work out the way I thought it
would, but Lord, you've made a covenant with me, an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things and sure. for this is all my
salvation. What you've done is all my salvation,
not what I've done or not done. You are all my salvation and
all my desire. So I delight in this and I rejoice
in what you've done for me, although we maketh it not to grow. And
then seventh, it's an everlasting covenant. That's because it stands
forever in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's everlasting. As he is life
and has life, everlasting, he's not dead now. He died in the
flesh to put away our sin, but he rose again and he lives eternally,
evermore. And we in him, Jeremiah 32, 40,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. that I will
not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my
fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me." He's
keeping you. We don't want to depart from
the Lord. And we see the weakness of this flesh. We see the waywardness
of our hearts and minds. But the Lord, we trust not in
what we do, but the Lord says, you won't depart from me. And
so we cry out, Lord, keep me. Keep my wandering heart. Seal
it for thy courts above, Lord. Keep me. Don't let me go away
as I've seen other people do. We see Demas in the scriptures. We pray, Lord, don't let me be
a Demas. Keep me. Keep me. Now this is
the covenant that God made with Abraham and Isaac, the son of
promise. In this covenant, all the eternal
blessings are given to us graciously, freely, unconditionally by God
established in the Lord Jesus Christ. So Genesis 17, 19, And
God said, Sower thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou
shalt call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant
with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him. And so Christ is that promised
seed, and all those chosen by God and given to Him, they are
a blessed seed, blessed in the Lord Jesus Christ, because He
has established it for us graciously, brethren. So I pray the Lord
takes that, and as you meditate on what He's done, He rejoices
your hearts always. Give Him thanks for what He's
done for us, because we didn't do anything. He did it all. He
did it all. Amen.