I'll say it again, I bet the
covenant has given all of us problems as we study it in our
Christian life. So today, Jeremiah 31, 31 through
34, for those on the Internet, the CDs, and such like. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the
hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they broke, although I was an husband unto them, saith the
Lord. But 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 write
it in their hearts." Now that's one of the great differences
right there of the Old and the New Covenant. They had the law
written basically on tables of stone. But he said, I will put
my law in their inward parts, write it in their hearts, and
will be their God, and they shall be my people. They shall teach
no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for the least of them unto the greatest of
them saith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I
will remember their sin no more. Now before we come to actually
settle in to this matter of the relationship of the covenants
and the text that we have taken this morning, let us come to
settle our mind about a particular matter of the covenants and come
at the subject as it were rather slowly and deliberately today. I dare say, if a poll were taken
among those who name the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, it
would show that many of them number themselves among the children
of God and they confess to some confusion about the matter of
the covenants old and new. In that, Some are of the view
that the Old Covenant and the New Covenants are completely
and absolutely separate one from the other and have no connection
or relationship at all. And some there are who have even
seen different ways of being saved from the Old Testament
into the New Testament. Others there are who have a concept
of that eternal salvation is connected to a covenant, none
whatsoever. Some never see that the salvation
in Christ has the closest connection unto this covenant, that salvation
is only dispensed to sinners. in the framework of a divine
covenant. The thought has never entered
into their minds at all that salvation flows from a covenant
arrangement made between the holy three before the world ever
began, ordained of God a covenant. Now concerning covenants, the
scriptures will teach us, I think, two things concerning covenants,
and we ought to catch them both. Number one, we often find that
it is common with men to deal with one another by way of a
covenant. Men make covenants between themselves
as to this matter or unto that matter to stipulate what each
one of them was to do and was to perform. You find this kind
of covenants in the Scripture, particularly in the Old Testament. In 1 Samuel chapter 18, verses
1 through 3, there was a covenant struck between David and Jonathan. They made a covenant between
themselves. how they would deal and treat
with each other. You see that again in 1 Samuel
20 and verse 16. Also mentioned again in chapter
23 and verse 18 of that same 1 Samuel chapter 18 of that book of the
Old Testament. 1 Kings 20 and verse 34, you
will find that King Ahab and King Benedad also made a covenant
between themselves. they entered into covenant concerning
their relation and such like. 2 Kings 11 and verse 4, when
King Jehoiada made a covenant with the captains and with the
priests of the land concerning the restoration. But men, you
remember, are covenant breakers. according to Romans 1 and verse
31. Yes, they make covenants off
and on. They make covenants again and
again. But men are covenant breakers. That's one of the aspects of
their depravity. So, men do make covenants between
themselves regarding matters and their dealings one with the
other. But the second rises even higher and is more important,
and that is that God The Almighty God commonly deals with a human
family by way of a covenant. Most who are of the Calvinistic
persuasion consider that Adam himself was placed under a covenant
by God when he was created and placed in the garden. And of
course he broke that covenant and it ruined Adam's standing
in his original state. However, we are not to think
that the covenant of works under which Adam was placed in the
garden is one and the same with that called the first or the
old covenant in the scripture. It is not that one that is mentioned
in Jeremiah chapter 31 that is our text today. Now, to expand
upon the point that God commonly and ordinarily deals with the
human family by way of a covenant. And that is true, especially
if they are the head of a race or a great movement. such as
Genesis chapter 9 verse 11 through verse 15, that God did make a
covenant with Noah after the flood. God made a covenant with
that man, Noah, and the world. The earth was no more to be destroyed
by a flood of water. The covenant was made with God
and Abraham. After that, God made a covenant
with Abraham, the friend of the faithful. Genesis chapter 17,
verses 1 and 2, God made a covenant with Abraham. It concerned his
seed that should flow out of him by the Promised One. A covenant was made with the
Jews at Mount Sinai. You'll find that in Exodus chapter
19 and verse 20. And a covenant was made with
David in Psalm 89 and verse 3. David made covenant, or God made
covenant, twixt him and David. So as Thomas Brooks wrote in
his book, The Covenants Opened and Proved, all men, he said,
are under some covenant or another, unquote. And a couple of points
on the subject of these covenants between God and men. A, as A.W. Pink wrote in his book, The Divine
Covenants is the name of that. The covenants in the Old Testament,
if we study them out, mark the stages of advancement in the
development and the unfolding of God's purpose of mercy towards
an elect people and a fallen race. God trimmed the light of
Revelation brighter and brighter in each generation with each
covenant and with each new giving of Revelation to give them more
and more light to trim the light of revelation in the Old Testament. But then B, the second thing,
in most major covenants, you study this out, you will find
that it pleased God to give some pledge, some seal, some earnest,
or some token or sign as a pledge of God's faithfulness to His
covenant and His promise, and as an earnest that He would make
good on the covenant that He had established between Him and
men. To His covenant with Noah, what
was the sign or the token? God put a rainbow in the cloud. And that was the seal or the
token that it would not be destroyed anymore by water. when God made
a covenant with Abraham. He gave him a token, a sign,
a seal, a pledge as well. And with Abraham, we find that
the token or the pledge or the seal was that fleshly circumcision. You'll see that. Genesis 17,
11. Paul mentions it in Romans chapter
4 and verse 11. And Stephen in Acts 7 and verse
8 referred to this as the covenant of circumcision. Now while the
seal of the new covenant is not outward, the seal of the new
covenant is the very Holy Spirit of God. Ephesians 1 and verse
13, by which we are sealed unto the day of redemption. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse
30, as the Spirit of God is both the earnest and the seal of our
inheritance, according to Paul, in 2 Corinthians 1 and verse
22. He has given us the earnest or
He has given us the seal of the Spirit as the token or the seal
of the new covenant. Now today We focus on what is
called by some the covenant of redemption and by others the
covenant of grace, which distinction John Gill rejected, that they
are not two distinct covenants. Those that hold such a distinction
say that the covenant of redemption is between God the Son and God
the Father, and that the covenant of grace is between God and the
elect through Christ. Now the first thing to establish
is that this covenant, which has its prime object, the salvation
of sinners, this is the heart, the core, the substance of the
covenant, the salvation of the elect. and the establishing of
the glory of God, of course, as it is, therefore, called in
Hebrews 13 and verse 20, the everlasting covenant. He brought Christ to life again
through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Not only that, but
we have said it. The blood of Jesus is the blood
of the everlasting covenant. Or you might find the word testament
translated in some versions of the Bible. The word covenant
and the word testament being from the same word so often in
our New Testament. Now this covenant was ordered
in all things and sure. It was ordered before the world
ever began. It was ordered and established
between the holy three. before the creation of the world,
before the creation of man, and before the fall of Adam. And this covenant is the result
of nothing but the sovereign good pleasure of Almighty God. He made this covenant simply
because it pleased Him and was His kind intention. It's what He purposed in Himself,
Ephesians 1 and verse 9. It is called a decree in Psalms
chapter 2 and verse 7. The good pleasure of His will
in Ephesians 1 verse 13. and Philippians 2 and 13. He
calls it his determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God in Acts
2 and verse 23. And in Romans 9 and 11, the purpose
of God according to election might stand. The purpose of God
in connection with election. One of the main components of
this covenant, this eternal covenant, is the election of some in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ. the eternal and heavenly glory. It is called an election of grace
in Romans 11 and verse 5. We will not at this time consider
the question of whether the elect were chosen out of the pure unfallen
mass or out of the fallen mass. Sovereignty comes to one and
the same thing. They were chosen simply by the
good pleasure of God. Just that they were chosen in
Christ from the foundation of the world, from the beginning
they were chosen to salvation, 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13. All this was done in the framework
of an eternal or everlasting covenant. Now, concerning that
covenant and the Son, we learn that the Son was or is the mediator
of the covenant. Hebrews 8 and 6 and again in
12.24. Not only that, But He has that
all-important office of surety of the covenant, Hebrews 7 and
22. It is He that must pay the debt
that is owed. He has made Himself surety for
His people or for the elect. Not only that, but He is the
testator of the covenant. We read that in Hebrews chapter
9. verse 16 and 17. That means that He is the one
whose death is necessary for the passing of the inheritance
upon the heirs. The one who has made the will,
there must be the death of the testator for the inheritance
to pass into the hands of the appointed heir. This requires
the death of the testator, the one who has made the will and
bequeathed his great riches, who has a valid last will and
testament, and it is upon his death that the inheritance then
passes unto the heir. Now be all of that as it may,
our inquiry today is particularly along this line, the relationship
of the old and the new covenant. Are they totally separate? Have they no connection or relation
or function one with the other? Have they nothing at all in common? Were sinners really saved in
a different way under the old or the first covenant under the
Mosaic economy? Or at what point then was the
covenant of grace activated in the saving of sinners? At what
point as we look back in history was it activated that sinners
began to be saved by the covenant of grace? are they two parts
making up the whole? Are they separate, having no
connection, antagonistic to one another, or are they two parts
of the whole? Two different administrations
of the one covenant of grace, the one comprehensive covenant
of grace. I will seek to prove that the
latter is indeed the case. that what we call the old and
the new or the first and the second is but the same covenant
only differently administered in periods of time. Now, in Genesis
chapter 3 is a record of the sin, the rebellion, and the fall
of Adam. And so soon as man fell, right
there in Genesis 3, there was made what theologians call a
long and fancy word, protilvangelium, meaning the first promise of
a Redeemer. Genesis 3.15 is the first promise
of a Redeemer who would bruise the head of the serpent. He would be a seed of the woman. It is considered here the first
dawning of gospel light in the world. And it's like the sun
is barely breaking over the horizon. Not much light is yet given. It is the first dawning of it
in the world. It is the first declaration there
of the judgment upon the wicked one. But also the first mention
of the death of Messiah. in that while the serpent would
bruise his heel, which is a temporary wound from which he would recover,
he would bruise the head of the serpent, which is indeed a death
blow. Now granted, this prophecy, Genesis
3.15, is both the farthest from its fulfillment, also it is the
most indefinite, and it has the least details of any of the prophets,
perhaps, concerning Messiah that was to come. And Jonathan Edwards,
in his work on it, called it, quote, an obscure revelation
of the gospel, unquote. There is an oddity about it in
that this prophecy in Genesis 3.15 was not made directly to
Adam, nor was it made directly to the woman Eve, but it was
made unto the serpent." Now, if this prophecy stood alone,
if there were no more to come in upon it and there were no
more revelations of Messiah, then the knowledge among the
Old Testament saints would have been severely limited. We grant
that. But then this question, did God
begin saving sinners according to the covenant of grace at the
fall or was it much later in history? We answer, yes, God
began saving sinners by the covenant of grace immediately after the
fall. Look at Abel. look at Enoch,
look at Noah, all are portrayed as saved by our New Testament
Scripture. So then the question becomes,
how were they saved? How were these people saved in
this early period of the history of mankind? What was the way
that they were saved? Was it by works? Was it by following
the light of creation? Was it by following after the
convictions of their conscience? Was it by the law of nature as
they simply acted out what was written in their heart by nature? by doing the best that they could
with the light that they had in that day? Well, I think the
answer is, by faith Abel offered a sacrifice to God. Hebrews 11
and verse 4. By faith Abel offered a more
excellent sacrifice unto God. We also read there that it was
by faith that Enoch was translated to heaven, that he should not
see death. Hebrews 11 and verse 5. Noah found grace. in the eyes
of the Lord. Genesis 6 and verse 8. And by faith Noah built the ark
to the condemning of the world. Hebrews 11 and verse 7. Abraham believed God and righteousness
was imputed or reckoned unto him. Genesis 15 and 6 and the
fourth chapter of the book of Romans. Let us not fail to see
that all of these were prior to the formal establishment of
what we call the First or the Old Covenant or Testament. Soon as man fell, soon as they
began to multiply and to increase, God began to save the souls of
sinners even in that day. covenant blessing began to be
bestowed upon the sons and the daughters of men even in this
early period of history. Who doubts that Noah was saved?
Or Enoch? Or Noah? Those great men of God
of old. Sacrifices were instituted. They began to be offered. Men
began to worship God by means of those sacrifices. And these
sacrifices are among perhaps the clearest types of Christ
to be found anywhere in the Old Testament. And they taught the
people a valuable lesson. They taught the people that a
propituary sacrifice was necessary to appease the wrath of God against
their sin. It taught them that an offended
deity required a propitiation. Edwards put it this way, the
Old Testament sacrifices were the main of all of the types
of Christ and His redemption. But we quickly remind ourselves
that the animal sacrifices, whose blood was shed again and again,
were not an end in themselves, They were a type of Christ's
blood and of His death, not an end. They were shadows of good
things that were to come. Just as Aaron was not our great
high priest before our God, Moses though a mediator was a typical
mediator and not that one of the everlasting covenant. Great
High Priest of the Church is Jesus Christ, God's only Son,
and He is the mediator as well of that covenant. So then, let's
jump into it and raise the question. When did the Son of God enter
upon His mediatorial work? When did the Son of God... Oh,
He was appointed before the world began. But when did He begin
the formal administration as the mediator of the covenant? Was it before or after? His incarnation, His death and
His ascension. Was He a mediator and an intercessor? Not, until He was glorified yonder
at the right hand of God after death and resurrection. Now before
we answer that, let us remember there is no reconciliation of
sinners unto God except through a mediator. Since man fell, there
must be a mediator between God and men. Paul tells Timothy in
1 Timothy 2 and verse 5, there is one mediator between God and
man, the man Christ Jesus. One and only one mediator. Listen to something amazing to
the question, when was Jesus formally introduced as the mediator
of the covenant? We find the Lord telling the
apostle Peter before the Lord died. before the Lord died the
death of the cross and was put in the grave, resurrected and
ascended back to heaven. We find him telling the Apostle
Peter in the 22nd chapter of the Gospel of Luke and verse
31 and verse 32 that he had prayed for the Apostle, that he had
entreated for this weak disciple that his faith fail not." Simon,
I have prayed for you. Satan has asked repeatedly, over
and over, but I have prayed that your faith fail not. There's another example in John
17, in that great, great prayer that our Lord prayed on that
night, on the eve of His death. He made intercession for His
apostles and for those who should afterward believe on Him through
their word, whether spoken or whether written, of the apostle. Christ, therefore, stood engaged
as mediator of the covenant of grace from the foundation of
the world. So the question comes down to
this. Was Jesus a mediator in regard
to the Old Testament before He came, incarnate in the flesh,
and died and rose and ascended? Or was He not a mediator at all
until after He was raised, ascended, glorified, and at the right hand
of God? He was one then, but the question
is, was he one before. If not, it would leave the Old
Testament saints without an interceding mediator between them and God. Moses only mediated temporal
things and temporal judgments. Now as to our question, when
did the Son first enter upon the work as a mediator? I didn't want to be out on the
limb by myself with this, saying these things, so I consulted
some others. Jonathan Edwards wrote, quote,
as soon as ever man fell, Christ entered on His mediatorial work. Christ began to do the part of
an intercessor so soon as man fell." Well, I thought I'd run
the question then by John Gill in his Body of Divinity, and
sure enough, found these words, quote, Christ is mediator both
of the Old and the New Testament saints as there is but one mediator,
unquote. Again, Gill said, quote, Christ
is an everlasting mediator, and acted as such throughout the
whole Old Testament dispensation and still continues to do so."
This is in harmony with Revelation 13 and verse 8. that Christ was
slain before the foundation of the world. That is, in the purpose,
in the decree of Almighty God. You see, God is able to call
those things which are not yet as though they were. Romans 4
and verse 17. He did that with Abraham. Before
there was ever a son, He said, I have made thee a father of
many nations. It's the opinion of some good
exegetes that I have read that the covenant is one. It is one
covenant, albeit, under two administrations, two large administrations of
it, called the Old and the New, the First and the Second. That as to substance, the two
covenants are one and the same. or consider, number one, that
the same salvation and the same eternal life is bestowed, life
beyond the grave is granted, immortality, coming blessedness
under both of them. Number two, that said salvation
was to be in and through and by Messiah, that a mighty deliverer
would come from God, one sent from the Father. The Savior of
sinners is the same under both administrations of the covenant,
as there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. It is Jesus Christ. Acts chapter
4 and verse 12. And Abraham saw Christ's day. He looked ahead and he saw it
and rejoiced. Thirdly, as for the means or
manner of embracing or apprehending this great salvation through
Christ, it is by faith. under both administrations of
the covenant. Under both administrations or
manifestation of the covenant, it is by faith that the elect
embrace God's so great salvation and belief. to the saving of
their soul. These things caused Hermann Wittzius,
who's written the greatest volumes I've seen outside of the Bible
on the covenants. Hermann Wittzius did write this,
quote, if the salvation be the same, and the author be the same,
and the manner of communion be the same, then it is certain
that the covenant itself cannot be more than one." And now let
us see if we can make a definite link or connection between the
two manifestations of the covenant that God has made. First of all,
I would ask you to consider the case of Abraham. Get Abraham
in our mind now, and Romans 4 and Galatians chapter 3 are the proof
texts. how Paul uses this man, Abraham,
to prove to the Jew that justification is by faith. He had been saying
in Romans 3, not of works, not by the law, not anything that
men do. And then he brings in the case
of Abraham. How was Abraham justified is
Paul's argument. Not through the law and not through
his circumcision. How then was Abraham just? By
faith. Genesis 15 and verse 6. And two points to be made here.
Number one, Scripture declares in Genesis 15 and verse 6 that
Abraham believed God and that righteousness was reckoned or
imputed or accredited unto him. Paul says the same in Romans
4 and Galatians chapter 3. Number two, Abraham was justified. Listen, this is important, particularly
to those Jews of that day. That Abraham was a justified
man, justified before God, before the law was even given. And when he was yet in uncircumcision,
Abraham was then a justified man. When Paul wanted to prove
the nature of justification to the Jews, where did he go? What
was his proof text? What were his examples? His model
was Abraham and his proof text was Genesis 15 and verse 6. He brings the doctrine of the
imputation of righteousness and Abraham is his prototype, is
the father of them that believe. And Paul even tells the Galatians
chapter 3 and verse 9 that it is believers who are the children
of Abraham. It is believers who are blessed
with faithful Abraham. Proving that justification by
faith was in force in Abraham's time. so that the true and the
only true children of Abraham are believers. The spiritual
children of Abraham are believers. And they that believe are therefore
the children of Him that believe. One of the strongest ties, I
believe, for me at least, between the two covenants is this, and
that is that Christ is the sacrifice for the sins of the elect under
both the old and the new covenant. Christ is the sacrifice for the
sin of the elect under both administrations of the covenant. His blood is
the blood of the everlasting covenant. Remember that the blood
of animals could not expiate sin, then would they have ceased
to be offered. Now, there are two decisive passages,
I think, that make the link between the two covenants by the death
of our Lord Jesus Christ. They're both in the New Testament
for us to consider, and they are Romans 3 and verse 25, and
Hebrews chapter 9, and verse 15 concerning the sins
of those under the First Testament. Now, the Levitical sacrifices
were inefficient to take away their sin. That's clear. We grant that, okay? Hebrews
chapter 10 is very clear. But God had many elect. living under the old or earlier
administration of the covenant. And as in Hebrews 9 and verse
15, that by means of Christ's death, for the redemption of
the transgressions that pass through the forbearance of God,
which until Christ's death remain unexpiated under the first covenant. And those two verses, Romans
3.25, Hebrews 9 and verse 15, both speak of the sins of those
under the old covenant that had passed through the forbearance
of God. They had not been justly expiated. Nevertheless, they were saved
upon the credit. of the coming expiation of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now in Hebrews 9, 15, by means
of Christ's death for the transgressions under the first covenant, they
who are called might receive the promise eternal inheritance,
not a portion of Canaan, not a piece or partial of ground
in the land of Canaan, but eternal life. heavenly glory and eternal
inheritance. It was not just the fact of sins
committed under or against the first covenant, but it was that
the sins even of the Old Testament saints, such as Noah, Abel, Enoch,
Abraham, Sarah, Rahab yonder in Jericho, David, and such like,
were not yet expiated when they died. Their sins had not had
the great sacrifice of Christ when these believing saints of
the Old Testament died, yet they were not condemned. Now, if they were under another
covenant other than the covenant of grace, they would have had
no profit from the death of Jesus Christ, none at all. They could have had no profit
from his death unless they are under that covenant of which
he is the mediator, the surety, and the testitator. It is not
so unreasonable that Christ died for their sins long after they
were committed, even after they themselves were dead. Not so
unreasonable when we remember something about ourself and our
time, that He died for our sins before they had ever been committed. Even before we had our being,
even before we existed to commit those sins, Christ died for them
at that time in His death, in that any and every sin that will
ever be forgiven was laid upon Christ. He bore it away. He endured its punishment. God
hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. Not only that, but
every sin that was laid upon Christ Every sin that he bore
in his body unto the cross will be forgiven. That's the justice
and the righteousness of God. And then let's close by saying
that this so great salvation flows by covenant arrangement. Let's repeat that. A covenant
made between the Holy Three before the world ever was spoken into
existence by the power of God's Word. And that a main aspect
of that covenant is the election of a great number in Jesus Christ
and given unto Him by way of charge and by way of reward. Therefore, whom Christ died to
redeem because they were given to Him by the Father, that they
might be with Him where He is. Now these are everlastingly loved
by the Father and by the whole Godhead. And the covenant arrangement,
therefore, has made salvation sure. How is it sure? It is made
between the Trinity, The Son is the mediator, the surety,
the testitator and the great high priest of this covenant. It therefore cannot miscarry
and it cannot fail. So we rejoice then to know that
salvation is by a covenant arrangement between the Holy Three and that
it is by covenant that we have the great salvation that is in
Christ Jesus our Lord. Hebrews 13 and 20, He was raised
from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of
the everlasting covenant. Thank God. Praise God.