I'm just a dead dog and here
I find myself eating at the king's table. We're the beneficiaries
of the free grace of God given to us, given to us before he
ever made the world. That's the language of the new
covenant, the new covenant, the covenant of grace. It's a covenant
fully dependent upon our God. It isn't dependent upon you. It isn't conditioned upon anything
that you must do. It's salvation by grace. You
see, that's what we have here in Hebrews chapter eight. Look
at verse 10. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel. This is spiritual Israel. You need to understand that.
This is spiritual Israel. the true people of God, after
those days saith the Lord. And this is taken right out of
Jeremiah chapter 31. Now watch it. I will. You see this unilateral covenant. It uses this kind of language. God says, I will. I will. Notice how many times it says
that. I will put my laws in their mind. I'll put my word in their
mind. I'll put my gospel in their mind. They're going to know how I can
be just and justify the ungodly. I'll put it in their mind. I'll
write it on their hearts. And nobody else can do that.
Nobody else can write the word of God on our hearts, but him
who is our life. Watch it. I will be to them a
God, and therefore they shall be to me a people. I will, they shall. That's the
language of this unilateral covenant or contract. That's the language
of the new covenant. God says, I will, they shall. It isn't I will if you will. That's a different kind of covenant.
No, this is the covenant of grace. I will, they shall. Look at verse 11. And they shall
not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying,
Know the Lord. Why not? He says, they'll all
know me. Who are they all? All of my people. All the Father gave me in covenant
grace, in election. They shall all know me from the
least to the greatest. He continues, for I will be,
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness
and their, as far as their sins and their iniquities. Will I
remember no more? I will not remember them anymore. That's what God says. No conditions
are laid down. It isn't if you will, then I
won't remember your sins anymore. God says, this is the new covenant
law of God. I will not remember their sins
anymore. Isn't that wonderful? It's not
conditioned upon anything you do. There are no stipulations
in this that you must meet. Because salvation is all of God
and all in Christ Jesus. It originated with God and it'll
finish up with God. And then he says again in verse
13, in that he saith a new covenant, he's made the first old. Now
that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
This new covenant then is not dependent to any degree upon
sinners. Maybe you're thinking, but preacher,
doesn't a sinner have to repent? Yes. Doesn't a sinner have to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? After all, did not the apostle
say to that Philippian jailer in response to his inquiry, What
must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. And thy house, if they
believe, they'll be saved too. So isn't that what we, isn't
that a condition of our salvation? No, that's a result of what God
purposed to do before the world began. Because you see, even
your faith, even your repentance, they're gifts of God. If God
left you alone, if God just said, now you've got to believe in
and of yourself, you wouldn't believe, neither would anybody
else. Your faith, my faith, your repentance,
my repentance, that was all ordained in the covenant of grace. God
took care of that. So we don't even contribute that.
That's not our part. So this idea, when you hear some
preachers say on the radio or television or whatever, you know,
God's done his part, then you do your part, that's not right.
Because this is a contract dependent only upon God. The covenant of
grace is. And I'll tell you, I run faithfulness.
Even our disobedience will not invalidate the covenant of grace. You remember what was it, 2 Timothy,
the second chapter, I believe it is, where Paul says, if we
believe not, yet he abided faithful still. That's what it says. If
we believe not, or if we're disobedient, he abided faithful still. You
see, this is not dependent upon us holding out to the end. It's
not dependent upon our faithfulness. This salvation is fully dependent
upon the faithfulness of our God. And hallelujah, He'll never
be unfaithful to His covenant promise. That's the first meaning
in the word covenant. It's a will, His will. And as I said, I use the word
unilateral covenant, one-sided. But then there is also the covenant
of works. So covenant can also refer to
an agreement or legal binding contract between two or more
parties, which involves active participation by both parties,
by both members. They both had to fulfill the
terms of the covenant. I'll give you an illustration
for that. In a marriage ceremony. Here's a man and a woman. I give
them vows to recite. Exchange their vows. This is
a mutual covenant that they make. And they both, they pledge their
faithfulness. They're both involved. They're
both active. In order for this contract to
last and to benefit them both, they both got to be faithful
to their promises. Faithful to their promises. This
is also called a bilateral covenant. Bilateral too. And we exercise
bilateral covenants every day. You go down here to the grocery
store and you need a gallon of milk. And so you go in, here's
my money, $2 and whatever, 19 cents, I think it is now. And
OK, I'm active in it because I'm giving you money. And I tell
you, you better be active, Mr. Grocery Store Man or Woman, in
giving me my gallon of milk. That's a mutual contract there. That's both of us. Well, that
wouldn't be fair if I give them $2.19, and then they don't give
me my gallon of milk. I'm going to be upset. It don't
work that way, because they'd be breaking the contract. They'd
be breaking the covenant. They have advertised, if you
give us X number of money, we give you that which you want.
That's a bilateral covenant. That's a contract. So in the Word of God, oft times
when we read about a covenant, It is this kind of covenant that
God makes with people or with a nation. I will do this for
you if you do this for me. That's a bilateral contract or
covenant. Now, as you look through the
scriptures, you'll find that God always deals with people
through a covenant. He covenanted with Adam. He covenanted with Noah. He covenanted with Abraham. God covenanted with Israel at
Mount Sinai. God covenanted with David. And each of those covenants,
while they were individual covenants, they represent one of the two
covenants we're talking about. The new covenant or the old covenant. Now, go to Genesis, the second chapter. Let's talk about the covenant
of works for just a few minutes. The Covenant of Works is well
illustrated by the covenant God made with Adam. This picture
is the Old Covenant of Works, a bilateral covenant. And I'll tell you right now about
the two covenants. The New Covenant never had a
beginning, and it'll never have an end. The old covenant, it
had a beginning. And thank God it has an end.
Okay? Now here in Genesis chapter two, look at verse 15. The Lord God
took the man, put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and
to keep it, And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of
every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat
of it. For in the day thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die. The essence of this covenant
that God made with Adam is this, and this is certainly implied. As long as you obey me, you'll
live. As long as you don't eat of the
fruit of that tree right there. And that was the symbol of the
sovereign authority of God. That reminded Adam, listen Adam,
I'm over you, I made you, I make the rules, I'm the sovereign. and you will live. I will keep
you alive, God said. I will actively keep you alive
if you obey me. But if you disobey me, and actually
God said, he didn't say if, but when, when you disobey me, because
it didn't shock God. It didn't take God off guard.
When you disobey me, you're going to die. You're going to die. Here's a bilateral covenant.
This is a covenant God entered into with Adam. Obey me and live. Disobey me and die. On God's part, he said, I've
given you life. I'll maintain that life. On Adam's
part, don't eat the fruit of that forbidden tree. Everything be all right. Because we know God's gonna honor
his part of the covenant. Because of the veracity of God,
the truthfulness of God, the faithfulness of God, God can't
lie. The question is, will Adam live
up to his obligation? And we know that he did not.
He did not. And something very serious, very
solemn in Adam's disobedience. We understand when he sinned
against God, it wasn't as a private individual, but it was as a representative
man. He was, as it were, the spokesman
for all of our race. He acted on our behalf. He was
our representative. And when he died, Something awful
happened to all of us. We all die. You see, God demands, and rightfully
so, obedience. You would agree with that, wouldn't
you? It's right for God to demand obedience. And it's rightful for God to
punish disobedience. I don't have a problem with that.
That's just justice. God is fair. Obey me, live, disobey
me, and die. I understand that. And you do
too. But you see, Adam disobeyed and
we've been disobeying ever since. His sin, Adam's sin, has been
imputed to all of us. That's the reason we're born
sinners. You don't become a sinner when you sin. You sin because
you're a sinner. You're born a sinner. We are
sin. We eat, drink, live, think, imagine
sin. That's all we are. We're just
a mass of sin. And we got it from our father
Adam who was our representative in that covenant. And God demands sinlessness. But you see, sinful people cannot
perform sinless acts. That's not possible. In fact,
even a child of God can't perform a sinless act. If you can perform a good work,
good enough for God, Well, you don't even need a mediator. I got news for all the children
of God. We're still sinners. New nature, don't have a problem
with that. But I'm not divine. I have a
new life. But I'm a polluted man. And anything that I do, pray,
read the Word of God, worship, whatever it is that's good in
the thought, looks good on paper, it's contaminated, it's polluted
by me. Because in me, that is in my
flesh, dwelleth no good thing. That's why everything the people
of God, everything we do has got to go through Christ Jesus. He's got to, could I put it this
way? He's got to clean it up. He's
got to make it presentable to the Father, which is what he
does. We can't meet the demands of
God. And then let me tell you this,
go over to Exodus chapter 19. Here's the second thing. So Adam's,
that covenant God entered to with Adam, it's a picture of
the old covenant. It's bilateral, it's dependent
upon two persons living up to their promises as it were. And Adam failed. Man always fails. Man was created on the sixth
day. Six is a number of failure. It
isn't seven. Seven's a number of perfection.
Six is a number of failure. I hear people talk about six,
six, six. Whoa, what is that? I'll tell
you what that is. Failure, failure, failure, that's us. That's what
man is. We're just big failures. There's
nothing you can do to make yourself acceptable in God's sight. And then God entered into a covenant
with Israel, Exodus chapter 19. Read just a little bit here,
Exodus chapter 19. The third month, verse one, when
the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt,
the same day that they came into the wilderness of Sinai, Exodus
chapter 19 now. For they were departed from Rephidim,
They were come to the desert of Sinai, which means thorny,
and had pitched in the wilderness, and there Israel camped before
the mount. Moses went up to God, and the
Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt
thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel,
You see what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagles'
wings, and I brought you unto myself? Therefore if, Oh, he's
laying down a condition. So we immediately know what kind
of contract this is gonna be. We know what kind of covenant
this is gonna be. Because whenever God puts an
if, I will if, you know it's a covenant of works. He says, now therefore, if you
will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, I'm making
a covenant with you, and you keep this covenant, then you'll
be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the
earth is mine. I'll raise you up above every
nation, and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a
holy nation, a separated nation unto me. These are the words,
Moses, that you'll speak to the children of Israel, so verse
17. Moses came, called for the elders of the people. He laid
before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded
him and all the people answered together and said, all that the
Lord has spoken we will do. We agree. Moses returned the
words of the people unto the Lord. The Lord said unto Moses,
lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud that the people may hear
when I speak with thee. and believe thee forever. And
Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord. This was a contract. This is a covenant, a legal binding
agreement between two parties, between God and Israel. It was
reasonable. There was certainly nothing unreasonable,
nothing unjust, nothing unfair about the conditions that God
laid down in the covenant. You do what I tell you to do
and everything be all right. You'll be a kingdom of priests
to me, and you'll be a very special nation. Look with me in Leviticus 26.
I don't have the time, I don't
think, to read all of this, but I'm gonna read a little bit of
it to you. Leviticus 26, here's God, he promises blessings for
obedience. That's a condition. Blessings
for obedience, Leviticus 26. Verse one, you shall make no
idols, nor grave an image, nor rear you up a standing image,
neither shall you set up any image of stone in your land to
bow down unto it. Why not? I'm the Lord your God. You shall keep my Sabbaths, reverence
my sanctuary. Why you say that? Because I'm
the Lord. You shall walk in my statutes and keep my commandments
and do them. Then, if you do this, I'll give
you rain in due season. The land shall yield her increase.
The trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing
shall reach into the vintage. and the vintage shall reach into
the sowing time. He shall eat your bread to the
full and dwell in your land safely. And I'll give you peace in the
land. And you shall lie down and none shall make you afraid.
I'll rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword
go through your land. You shall chase your enemies.
They shall fall before you by the sword. In fact, five of you
shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put 10,000 to flight,
and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. For I'll have
respect unto you. I'll make you fruitful. I'll
multiply you. I'll establish my covenant with
you. You shall eat old store and bring
forth the old because of the new. I will set my tabernacle
among you, my soul shall not abhor you, and I'll walk among
you and I'll be your God and you'll be my people. I'm the
Lord your God which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt
that you should not be bondsmen. And I have broken the bands of
your yoke and made you upright. Look at verse 14, but, but, if you will not hearken
unto me and will not do all these commandments, and if you despise
my statutes, or if your soul shall abhor my judgments, so
that you will not do all my commandments, but you break my covenant, That's
the issue. You break my covenant. You don't
fulfill your part. Well, this is what I'm gonna
do to you. I'll appoint over you terror, consumption, that's
disease, the burning ague, that's a fever that shall consume the
eyes and it'll cause sorrow of heart. You'll sow your seed in
vain for your enemy shall eat it. and I will set my face against
you. And you shall be killed, you'll
be slaughtered and slain before your enemies. They that hate
you shall reign over you. You shall flee when none pursue
with you. And if you will not yet for all
this hearken unto me, then I'll punish you seven times more for
all your sins. And you can read the rest of
it later. But it's obvious what kind of covenant this is. Obey
me, blessings, mercies. Now understand these are temporal
mercies, okay? These are not spiritual blessings.
They're just temporal things. Obey me, things will be fine.
But if you disobey me, I'm gonna make your life so miserable that
you can't hardly stand it. That's what God says. If you
fulfill your part of the covenant, I'll pour out my mercies on you,
which no other nation of the world has ever received. But
if you don't obey me, if you don't keep the covenant, you'll
be in trouble. Obey me and live, disobey me
and die. Disobey me and suffer the consequences. That's the covenant. But you
know, back in Hebrews chapter eight, it says, go back to Hebrews
eight. About this covenant, here's what
the writer says. Here in Hebrews chapter eight.
Look at verse seven. For if that first covenant, that's
what we've been reading about, as illustrated by the covenant
God made with Adam, and as illustrated by the covenant God made with
Israel. If that first covenant had been faultless, wouldn't
need another covenant. For finding fault, verse eight,
with them. It's the people the covenants
were made with. That's the problem. Covenants
made with people who are weak, who are faulty, who are faulty. That's us, we're faulty. Adam
fell and ever since, Every person born into this world as a result
of the union of a man and a woman is faulty. We're weak. We're
weak. We can't live up to what God
demands. What does God demand? Perfection. That's what God demands, and
He's right to demand it. God demands that you love Him
with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And love your neighbor
as yourself. That's only reasonable, it's
only fair, it's only just. And God says, if you don't do
it, I'll damn you. That's fair. That's reasonable. There's nothing unjust about
that. But we break His law. We break
his law. And we continually break it. There better be another covenant,
I can tell you that. Or as old brother Scott used
to say, we're all gone Jesses. And thank God there is another
covenant. It's the new covenant. It's the
covenant of grace. Thank God for this unilateral
contract or covenant, which means salvation is not dependent upon
us. God doesn't say, I will if you
will, when it comes to salvation. He says, I will and you will.
Because he says, my people shall be willing in the day of my power. Now this is illustrated by number
one, the covenant God made with Noah. Let's go back over to Genesis. Go to Genesis 9. Genesis 9. Now here, I'm going to illustrate
in three different ways the covenant of grace. First of all, the covenant
that God made with Noah. It certainly points to the covenant
of grace, but it was a definite promise of God. In Genesis chapter
nine, for the sake of time, look at verse eight, God spake to
Noah and said to his sons with him, I'll establish my covenant
with you, and with your seed after you,
and with every living creature that's with you. Verse 11, I
will establish my covenant with you. And in verse 12, here's
the token of the covenant, The rainbow. I set my bow in the
clouds, he says. And in verse 15, he says, and
I will remember my covenant. It's my covenant. Noah, it wasn't
a conditional covenant. God said, I'll never again destroy
the earth with water. And Noah stood as a representative
really of all the human race then. Because it wasn't anybody
left but Noah and his boys and their wives and that's all it
was. Noah and Mrs. Noah and the boys
and the daughters-in-law. And all of us came from that
man. And God says, now I'm going to make a covenant. But it's
not going to be dependent upon you. You see, the reason, get this,
the reason, All that floodwaters came. It's because of the breaking
of the first covenant. Ultimately, that's the reason.
Sin, wickedness. The Lord looked down from heaven.
He saw the wickedness. Well, let's trace that wickedness
all the way back to that first man, Adam. That's how we got to be sinners. And then that sin multiplies
as the population multiplied. And God said, every imagination
of man's heart's only evil continually. I'm going to wipe man off the
face of the earth. Man broke that covenant. Got
to pay death. I mean, God washed away everybody.
Everybody and everything. That, you see, that first covenant
was a covenant of death. But then God says, but Noah,
I'm gonna establish a covenant of life. That first covenant
resulted in condemnation. This covenant God made with Noah
was a covenant of restoration. That's what it was. And you see,
Noah stands as a figure of our Lord Jesus. Because all of us
were, as it were, in the loins of Noah. We all came forth from
him. And God makes him a promise.
I'll never destroy the earth again like I did this time. Not
in that way. It's a covenant of life. A covenant
of life. And the reason this earth has
not been destroyed by water, God keeps the sea in her bounds. He set a bound that can't pass.
Reason this world hadn't been covered by water is not because
of our obedience, because we're still a disobedient people. Only
reason, and we do, I know floods crop up from time to time. We've
had a massive amount of rain. There are areas that are flooded
even locally. But the earth isn't gonna be,
it will never be flooded by water again. Why not? Is it because
we don't deserve it? Oh, we deserve it. But it's because
of the covenant God made, he declared himself. You see, he's
the promise keeper. Have you ever heard of this supposedly
evangelical Christian group? I use that term broadly now.
It's called the promise keepers. And they're supposed to, a bunch
of men get together and they're supposed to lead people to Christ
Jesus. We're not promise keepers, we're
promise breakers. That's what we are by nature,
we're promise breakers. There is but one promise keeper,
that's the Lord our God. And he keeps his word. He'll
never again destroy this earth with water. And then there's
the covenant God made with Abraham. Look at Genesis chapter 12. Genesis
chapter 12. Verse one, now the Lord had said
unto Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred
and from thy father's house on the land that I will show thee.
And I will, I will. Oh, here comes these I wills
again. I will make of thee a great nation.
I will bless thee. And I will make thy name great,
and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless
thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families
of the earth be blessed. I will, I will, I will. The covenant God made with Abraham
was a unilateral covenant. This is what I'm gonna do. And
you read in another place and then ultimately get to Galatians
chapter three. The Lord talked about Abraham
and his seed. Not seeds as in many, but seed
as in one. Christ Jesus, who it says in
Matthew chapter one and verse one, our Lord Jesus is the seed
of the son of Abraham. And God said to Abraham, in thy
seed, in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed. That's
God's declaration. That's a covenant of grace. In
Christ Jesus, there's a people out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue that will be blessed. They are blessed. They
have been blessed from old eternity in Christ. Go back to, yeah, I read from
Leviticus 26. Go back to Leviticus 26. Let
me show you something here. I read to you what God demanded,
and then he said, but if you won't hearken to me, and then
he started talking about all the terrors, all the evils that
he was going to send. But look deeper into the chapter. Chapter 39, I'm sorry, chapter
26, verse 39. Verse 39. In fact, verse 38 says, and ye shall
perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies will
eat you up. And they that are left of you,
those that are left, you know what that is? A remnant. Whoever is left, that's the remnant. Well, the Lord says, they'll
pine away in their iniquity in your enemy's lands and also in
the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
If they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers
with their trespass, which they trespassed against me, and that
also they have walked contrary to me, and that I also have walked
contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies,
if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and then they accept
to the punishment of their iniquities, then I will remember my covenant."
But not the covenant he made with Israel. Not that covenant. because that was a conditional
covenant. He says, I'm gonna remember the covenant I made
with Jacob, and before him, his father Isaac, and before him,
the covenant with Abraham. Well, I remember. I'll remember
the land, and drop down in verse 45. But I will, for their sakes,
remember the covenant of their ancestors. I'm gonna remember
the covenant of grace, that's what God's saying. I'm gonna
remember the covenant of grace. And then, let me give you one
more. Psalm 89. God made a covenant
with David. God made a covenant with David.
Psalm 89. God promised that the son of
David would rule forever. One would be born and he would
sit upon David's throne. And that's the Lord Jesus, we
know that. The psalmist says here in Psalm
89, my, what a delightful psalm. Verse one, I will sing of the
mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth will I make known
thy faithfulness to all generations. I'm not gonna sing about our
faithfulness. He said, I'm gonna sing about God's faithfulness.
For I have said, mercy shall be built up forever. Thy faithfulness
shalt thou establish in the very heavens. Now watch this. I made
a covenant with my chosen. God says I have sworn unto David,
my servant. And I tell you so often in the
Psalms, when you read the name David, just think of the name
of Christ Jesus. God said, I've made a covenant
with him. Here's the covenant of grace. Thy seed, God says
to Christ, will I establish forever and build up thy throne to all
generations. Selah, lift up your voices. Selah. Look deeper into the passage,
verse 19, deeper into this Psalm. Then thou spakest in a vision
to thy holy one and saidst, I've laid help upon one who is mighty.
Who's that? The very one we read about there
in Hebrews chapter seven this morning. The one who's mighty
to save. I've exalted one chosen out of
the people. Who's that? That's Christ Jesus,
the real man. This man, as we read this morning. I have found David my servant. With my holy oil have I anointed
him. with whom my hand shall be established,
and mine arm also shall strengthen him. Drop down to verse 27 quickly. Also, I will make my firstborn
higher than the kings of the earth. And God did, because he
lived and died for us. He gave his life for us. God
raised him from the dead and put him on the throne. I'll make
my firstborn higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy
will I keep for him." How long? Forever. How long do you think we'll have
mercy from God? Forever. It'll never wear out. I'm telling you, the covenant
of grace never ends. He says, my covenant shall stand
fast with him. because all the stipulations
of the covenant are dependent upon God, not upon us. Watch this verse 29. His seed
also will I make to endure forever, as his throne is the days of
heaven. If his children forsake my law
and walk not in my judgments, and we have and we do. If they
break my statutes and keep not my covenant, my commandments,
then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity
with the stripes, which he has done in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has visited our transgressions
with the rod. He put the rod to the back and
to the heart of the Son of God for us. But watch this, here's the covenant
of grace. Nevertheless, my lovingkindness 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, God says, once have I sworn
by my holiness that I will not lie to David. I'm not gonna lie
to Christ, to the Son. Well, what does he say? His seed shall endure forever. As far as his throne is concerned,
as the Son before me. It shall be established forever
as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah. Say aloha. Think about that. Think about the faithfulness
of God. So here's what I'm saying. This salvation, this covenant
of grace, it's all dependent upon the faithfulness of God.
God keeping His word. And aren't you thankful it isn't
in any way or to any degree dependent upon you? Because if it were, We'd be like
the Israelites. Just take all them mercies away.
No, no, the mercies are ours forever because of God's faithfulness
and because of the faithfulness of our Savior, our representative
who lived and died and arose and who represents us in heaven.
We'll live forever. God never take his mercy away.
And though we fail Him and we do, though we break His commandments
and we have and we will continue to do so, God says, that's not
going to affect my faithfulness. I'm not going to make void of
the covenant. And we're thankful. Get your folders out.