You know, I started on the covenants
last week, and I've just had an introduction to them, and
then I'm going to bring a message tonight on the covenants, and
then we're going to start next week dealing with the person
of our Lord Jesus Christ. But it says there in verse 20,
it says this, This is the blood of the testament which God hath
enjoined unto you, or commanded you, or given to you. And this
talking about the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that eternal
blood, that everlasting blood, that blood that He entered into
the holiest of holies with, that blood that He put on the altar
in heaven. Now, I told you about all the
covenants last week, but yet there's only one covenant. All
the other covenants just spoke of Him, showed of this one covenant. And this covenant was made between
the Father and the Son. And man, having fallen, surely
wasn't able to make a covenant with God. Couldn't possibly do
it. And all the other covenants pointed
to him. When God pronounced the curse
upon the serpent, he made the promise of the Redeemer. Now,
that promise of the Redeemer, the promise of the God-man, came
from that curse pronounced upon him, on Adam and on the serpent. But yet, beloved, Christ stood
as a lamp flame from the foundation of the world. And when Abraham,
God gave the covenant to him, it was appointed to Christ the
seed of Abraham. He made the covenant with David
that he would be a king forever after David had some more set
on his throne. That was the seed of David according
to the flesh. And then the law, everything
about the law, was appointed to Christ. Everything about every
sacrifice, tabernacle, priesthood, everything all pointed to this
one covenant and to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I want to
talk about this tonight if I can. And you know, God, whenever you
find the mention of blood, look what it says there in verse 22.
Almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without
shedding of blood is no remission. And so without this blood, Without
this eternal blood, without this electing blood, without this
sanctifying blood, without this redeeming blood, there would
not be one sin ever put away. All the blood of all the sacrifices
offered through all the ages and the ones that are being offered
now does not put away one sin, never has and never will. And
that's why God said He gave this as the blood of the Testament
and the blood of the covenant. And that's what's the name given
here, the blood of Christ, the blood of the testament. And the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is the blood of the covenant.
I told you last week in Hebrews 13.20, now the God of peace that
brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ through the
blood of the everlasting covenant. And so you know when this covenant
was. This covenant was made in eternity.
This covenant was made before the world was ever made. This
covenant was made before the foundation of the world, before
God ever hung the earth upon nothing, before the sons of God
ever shouted for joy. And why it was? Because God,
in His purpose, and this is the only way you can deal with it,
God knocked off the author of sin, but there would not have
been a fall of Adam had not God, before the foundation of the
world, purpose that it happened so that he could bring glory
to himself in the redemption of sinners by his Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now you think God couldn't have
kept Adam from falling? Of course he could have. And
then who it was for. I'll tell you who it was for.
Look here in verse 15. This is who it was for. It says, For
this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament. The New
Testament being after the law and the covenant of grace and
Christ's coming. That by means of death, that
by his death he would pay for the transgressions of those that
were under the law, under the first testament, under the old
covenant. Now those transgressions wasn't paid for everybody. They
were paid for those who looked by faith to Christ who would
come. And not only those that were under the first testament,
but that they also, which is us, that they which are called
might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. So he's
the mediator of a covenant from Adam before Adam ever fell, and
for all the transgressions of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,
and David, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and everybody else that's ever
believed in Christ in the Old Testament, and for those of us
that are called now. And beloved, then I'll show you
something. You keep this and look in Noma chapter 9 with me
just a moment. This covenant, and bless God
it does it, this covenant does not rest with man. It does not
rest with man. The covenant is between God and
His Son. And there's not a word about
our works, about our worth, about our merit, about our will, about
our cooperating with it. It's between God and His Son.
But all the other, listen, this covenant doesn't rest with man,
and bless God it don't. Romans 9, 16. So it is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For
the scripture saith unto Sabal, Even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, that my
name be declared throughout all the earth. Oh, listen now. Therefore, therefore hath he
mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he ardent. Now see, he
can He can save a man or damn a man. He raised a man up to
damn him or raise him up to save him. And that's why, beloved,
the purpose of man, the works of man don't enter into this.
And you know, it's as if we weren't. It's as if we weren't except
as we stood in the Lord Jesus Christ. We were parties in the
covenant as only we were in the loins of our Lord Jesus Christ
as we were his seed, chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Grace given us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. God said he shall see his seed. See his seed. And oh, in Hebrews
2.16 it says this, It says, for he verily took not
on him the nature of angels. He didn't take on him the nature
of an angel like someone who is eternal come here to have
the nature of an angel, be eternal, not able to suffer. No, but he
took on him what? The seed of Abraham. He joined
himself to flesh, took upon him human nature, joined himself
to Abraham and his children. And let me tell you something
else. So the name given to the blood of Christ, the blood of
the testament. And let me tell you this, in a covenant, pledges
are given. You know, when you enter into
a covenant, you make a pledge, you receive a pledge, everybody
makes their promises. And what keeps that covenant
right? Well, the Father placed His honor.
The Father placed His words. The Father placed His own oath.
He says, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself.
And you go through this whole test, you go through the scriptures,
and how many times does God say, I've sworn by my own name, I
swear by my name, I swear by my own name, I swear by my power,
I swear by my covenant. How many times did he say, I've
sworn? And here he puts it, what God's
done here in this covenant is he has put all his eggs in one
basket. All of them in one basket, that's
His blessed Son. God made the whole of the salvation
of His elect to depend upon one person. One person. And that's
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why it says, this is the
blood of the Testament which He hath commanded you, enjoined
you, given to you, made covenant through Him for you. And all
He pledged you would be true to the Son. that he'd see his
seed, see the travail of his soul, he'd see the agony of his
soul, he'd see the travail of his soul, he would see the seed
that he was going to die for, he'd see all of his elect, and
that he would be satisfied with him. If he promised him, beloved,
by the knowledge of him, he says, by the knowledge of him, by him
giving the knowledge of him, that God, that He would justify
many. It's not our knowledge of Him
that justifies us. I'm telling you, it's His knowledge
of us. God knew us. And who before knew
what to say? Paul. Who before knew what to
say? He justified. Now, does that
mean we're justified before we... How long has He known us? We've
been justified as long as He's known us. That's right. And so you see,
by the knowledge of Him, by Him give us the knowledge of Himself.
And the justification that we see that He accomplished for
us is what brings peace to our heart. And thirdly, a covenant
must have a seal. As I said, God swore it by His
own hand. He said that in the fullness
of time, the Lord Jesus would come. And here's the seal that
he set. And everybody knows what a seal
is. A seal is, ratifies something. Makes it legal. Makes it permanent. Establishes it. Secures it. Can't
be broken now. And so a seal, this covenant
must have a seal. And the Lord Jesus Christ set
the seal by pouring out His own life's blood. Life's blood down
on the cross. And in doing that, He made this
covenant valid. He made it secure. He made it
effectual. Once for all. Ain't that right? Look what it says there in Hebrews
9.12. When our Lord Jesus Christ, when those priests went into
the tabernacle, they went in with the blood of bulls and goats.
But our Lord Jesus Christ didn't go in by the blood of bulls and
goats. No, no, but by His own blood. He entered in once into
the holy place. What holy place? That place in
glory. That place is just a pattern of the things here on earth,
that these things are in heaven. And He entered in once into the
holy place, and, O Beloved, He obtained eternal redemption for
us. He didn't say He tried to. He
hoped to. Maybe He did. He made it possible
for us. He said He obtained it. God is
for us. And there's no default in this
covenant. You know, there ain't no way
in the world you can default this covenant. People are defaulting
covenants all the time. Scripture said in the last days
men would be truce breakers, liars, and that's why they're
truce breakers. They're truce breakers. No default
in this covenant. The Lord Jesus' payment, the
Lord Jesus' blood was payment for His part of the covenant.
And by His blood, the covenant is sure as God Himself. Now that's
how sure this covenant is. You know, look what it says there
in verse 14 here after Hebrews 9. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, you're talking about sure as God himself, how much
more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God. He offered himself without
spot to God. Purge your conscience Purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Every soul,
every soul whose name was in that covenant must be saved. The Lord Jesus is going to have
everyone whom He died for. There ain't no ifs, ands, or
buts about it. And that's why you know it says
He took the book. He prevailed and He took the
book. And He loosed the seals. He opened the seals. And I'll
tell you another thing about this covenant. This covenant
is sure. God said, I'll give you the sure mercies of David.
What's the sure mercies of David? He said, I'll make an everlasting
covenant, the Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and sure. Now, if God was ever going to
break a covenant with anybody, he'd have broke it with David.
When David sinned, committed adultery, when David committed
murder, when David told all them lies, oh my, If God's ever going to forsake
a man, cut him out of the covenant, you'd have thought for sure that's
what had been done. But instead, He said, I'm going
to give you the same thing I gave David. I'm going to give you
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things. You know, David,
when he sinned, my mercies were still sure. David, when he was
looking at Bathsheba, my mercies were still sure. David, when he was having Joab
slain, Uriah slain, he says, no. He
said, my mercies are still sure. That's what he said. Oh, beloved,
the sureness, the sureness of this covenant lies in the blood
of Christ, because all the promises of God in Him are yea and amen.
Well, what in the world would be the purpose of teaching something
like this, this blessed doctrine? Well, the first thing is that
the mercies of the covenant are sure to those who believed in
the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't believe in Christ,
the mercies, you don't even know if there's such a thing as a
mercy for you. But the mercies are sure to all those who believed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not because of our frames of
mind. You know, when you really start reading people's biographies,
top ladies, David Brainards and some of these guys, you'd think
that those fellows I mean, boy, they'd wake up in the middle
of the night and get in these men alive. Have you ever had
a dull frame of mind? Have you had an indifferent frame
of mind? Have you had a dead mind? Have you ever had a mind
that wouldn't even think? Boy, wouldn't us, being real spiritual
minds all the time, have thought, if this covenant rested upon
us doing that, what would happen to us? What about our feelings? It's your own opinion on our
feelings. Oh, but I'll tell you what it
depends on. The precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. You know, different
days bring different feelings. You know, sometimes I say, what
in the world, what have you got to be in your mind about? You
know, folks get upset, and then other days they just, Meek as
a lamb, but our feelings change from different days, but the
covenant doesn't ever change. No matter what frame of mind
we're in, what feelings we have, what day brings forth, what feelings
the day brings forth, what emotions the day brings forth, the covenant
does not change. The great transaction was not
made by us and can't be unmade by us. Our salvation and security
is not in ourselves, but in the Lord Jesus Christ. If the Father
gave you and gave me to Christ, Christ bought you. Christ was
a surety for you. The old hymn writer said, Nor
death nor hell shall ever remove his favorite from his breast.
In the dear bosom of his love they must, must forever rest. And that's true. And let me tell
you something else about this. blood of the testament, this
blood of the covenant. This salvation comes to us as a matter of will.
It comes to us, this salvation that we have. We got it as a
matter of will. Look back up here in verse 16. The word testament is, there
must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a
testament is a force after men are dead, otherwise it is no
strength at all while the testator liveth. As long as a man's alive, his
will has no power whatsoever. It's just a piece of paper. Mary
was telling me just yesterday, she was up at the election, she
was telling me about somebody who got left out of the wills. Said he didn't get nothing, said
he didn't get a Dollar bill, he didn't get a how do you do,
he didn't get a boo. And I mean a pretty substantial
will too. Didn't get nothing. I guess his mom and dad didn't
want him to have it. But oh beloved, when Christ died, the will is good. And what did he leave us in his
will? You know, we receive this salvation by will. And you know,
in inheritance, a will is for those who are heirs. A will is
for those who are children. The will is for those who the
Father, or whoever has the will, means to leave you something. And how good is the will of Christ?
How good is the will of God? Well, it's good. When Christ
died, you reckon His will will be carried out in effect? Will
it be carried out in force? What did He leave us in His will?
Everything that's pertaining to eternal life, everything that's
pertaining to salvation in this world and the world to come,
from the day we're brought into this world to the day we go out
of it, everything we need for time and eternity is provided
in the will of Christ in this blood of the Testament. And not
to know only that, But now he lives, sits at God's right hand,
to ensure that his will is carried out perfectly. Now somebody made
you know you can contest wills, get caught up in court, and the
more money, the more people's after it. But beloved, when Christ
left his will, he sits at the right hand of God and he says,
this will, that will, and I mean his will is carried out to the
T. for everyone for whom he died. And now when you read a promise
in God's blessed word, you say that's a clause in my Redeemer's
will. He'd say, yeah, the righteous fall seven times, but yeah, I'll
pick him up. I'll never leave you and I'll
never forsake you. Yeah, I'll bury you from your
mother's womb all the way down through your hoary hands. Yea,
when thou goest through the water, it will not flood you. When you
go through the fire, it shall not kindle upon you. And you
can go on and on and on. And I'll promise that I'm coming
to get you. Father, I will that the glory
which you give me, that they may see that glory and enjoy
that glory. Oh, beloved, I'm telling you,
nothing, nothing, nothing makes this world void. I know the free
willers and the Armenians want to say, yes, we can make it will
by our sin, we can make it void by our sin, we can make it void
by the things that we do. I'm telling you something, there's
nothing we can do possibly to make this will void. We didn't
have anything to do with making it, and we didn't have anything
to do with unmaking it. You can't be left out. You say,
well, I've disgraced myself awful bad. But Christ took care of
all your disgraces. He carried all your grief and
all your sorrow, all your sin. Are you poor? He was rich and he became poor.
And he who makes the will puts his name to it. He makes the
will valid, not the one who inherits it. I mean, the person who comes
in there and they read the will to him, he has nothing to do
with that will, but take what's given to him out of it. Look
over here in Hebrews 10. Talking about the will. He says, By the which will we
are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. And let me tell you something.
Look back over here to Hebrews 9. I'll tell you this. The blood of the
covenant, the blood of the testament, was of the utmost importance
in the ministry of the tabernacle. It was sprinkled everywhere by
Him. It says there, you know, even
the first testament, the law was dedicated without blood. Neither the law was dedicated
without blood. It says this, For when Moses
hath spoken every precept, nineteen, to all the people according to
the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water
and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and
all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament,
which God hath enjoined you. And moreover he sprinkled with
blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. First thing I want you to notice,
he sprinkled the book. What was the book? God's law,
God's word. God sprinkled this book. It's
called the Holy Bible, God's holy word. His blood, this book
has the blood, the stained, the blood of Christ all the way through
it. It has the testimony of a covenant all the way through it. And all,
beloved, is a crimson stain on every page. And without the blood
of Christ, all this book is here is a book of judgment and condemnation.
But you take Christ out of this, and that's all you've got. You
ain't got a book worth reading, take Christ and the blood out
of it. But with Christ and the blood on every page, I mean,
beloved, we can come with boldness into the presence of God. Not
only that, but the blood was sprinkled upon the mercy seat
itself. You know, He sprinkled with blood, verse 21, both the
tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And oh, beloved,
that's what the blood does. It pleads before the throne.
Christ entered once into the holy place. What did He go in
there for? To sprinkle that mercy seed.
Watch what it says here in verse 23 and 24. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in heaven should be purified with these.
With what? With blood. These are just the patterns.
The things on earth were patterns of the things in heaven. But
the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
You can't take no blood of bulls and goats up there into glory.
For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands.
They were just typical of the true. But into heaven itself
now, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Bless this holy
name right now. What did he go in there with? He went in there with blood.
And I'm telling you this, how do I know it? Blood on the mercy
seat. Before you ever committed sin,
Christ carried it. Before it ever came out of your
heart, it already weighed upon His. And beloved, every sin that
every saint of God has ever committed before they ever existed, and
as long as they will, Christ doesn't hold it away. That's
how powerful and cleansing and precious and glorious. And it's
not based upon us. It's on this covenant between
the Father and the Son. And then look what it says there
in verse 21, the blood. Moreover, he sprinkled with blood
both the tabernacle and every vessel and all the vessels of
the ministry. And what was the vessels of the
ministry? Well, the altar and the labor and the table Spoons,
and here we're the vessels of the sanctuary. See, you and I,
we're the vessels of the ministry. Vessels of the sanctuary. Now, because the blood's been
sprinkled on us, we worship through the power. All those things have
to be sprinkled with blood to be used of God. And we have to
be sprinkled with blood. We have to be washed in the blood
before we can worship God. And we worship Him through the
power and the merit of His blood. Our praise, how can it be acceptable
if it wasn't for the blood of Christ? Our praying, how can
it be acceptable? So feeble. How can it only... Oh, listen, our sins and our
prayers and our praise and our tears and everything we have
has been washed in the blood of His blessed Son and this covenant. And blessed of all, best of all,
look here in verse 19. For when Moses hath spoken every
precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood
of calves and goats, and watered scarlet wool and hyssop, and
sprinkled both the book and his word in all the people." He went
among the people, sprinkling blood on the people. That tells
us two things. First of all, you identify with
the death. You identify with the death.
You're partaken of that death. If you get blood sprinkled on
you now from somebody you know, the first thing you want to do
is go get tested for some kind of disease. But you know, they
took blood and they sprinkled it all over you. First of all,
you're partaken of that death. And the second thing is, is it
pronounced you clean, guiltless of all your sin. Because when
God seen that blood, He said, sins are gone. And then when
he cries, the Holy Spirit... Let me show you that over here
in 2 Peter chapter 1. Excuse me, 1 Peter chapter 1
verse 2. You know, and that's what he
said, you know, the blood of Christ sprinkles our conscience
from dead works. Dead works. And here he says,
verse 2, "...elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." Oh my, what does
that mean? I think it means that the Holy
Spirit takes the blood of Christ in a mysterious way. He's known
only to God in regeneration. He sprinkles our conscience.
and takes all the guilt, all the shame, everything that we've
ever, and the dead works that we committed, the dead works
he's talking about, all our works in religion. All our works in
religion. And it's by the sprinkling of
the blood that we've been saved. If we don't have the blood upon
us to save it, it'll be upon us to destroy us. And now I know
this about it. Also, wherever this blood, wherever
this blood's applied, Wherever this person is in this covenant
of grace, in this covenant of blood, wherever and upon whoever
the blood's applied, that man's made a new creature. He's made
a new creature. Guilt and condemnation's gone.
He's cleansed. He feels the weight is gone.
He has peace of heart and soul. He has joy. And how can that
be? It's the power of that blood.
The precious blood of our Lord Jesus has, in this covenant,
has the power in it that if you've lost your peace, you can even
come to that fountain of blood and it'll be restored just like
that. Just like that. And the blood, this blood of
the covenant, gives us access to God Himself, to God Himself. We only had access to a priest
under the law. Now, through the blood of this
covenant, we have access to God through this blood. And would you be free from sin?
There's power, power, wonder-working power in the blood, in the blood
of the Lamb. And I tell you, if a person would
be saved, you'd only have to look to Him. The blood's already
been shed. Sin's been put away. God's done
been satisfied. Christ sets in God's right hand.
What do I need to do, preacher? Get to Christ. Come to Christ. John Donne said this, As the
first Adam's sweat surrounds my face, may the last Adam's
blood my soul embrace. Our Father, in the precious name
of Christ our Lord, thank you for the night, for the truth
as it is in Christ. Lord, cleanse the message in
the blessed blood of the Son of God. Cause it to be a blessing. Lord, we look to you. We need
you. You are our strength. You are
our stay. You are our comfort. You are our assurance. God bless
these dear saints as they go to their homes. And again, I
pray for those among us who are sick, that you would restore
their health according to your will. In Christ's name I pray. Amen. Amen.