First Chronicles chapter 16, a covenant minded people. He
says in verse 15, be ye always, be ye mindful always of his covenant. And what I want us to understand
today, how this applies to us, God tells us too, to always be
mindful, to set our minds and our hearts, our thoughts, our
meditations on His covenant. Now, what covenant is He talking
about? Well, let's see. Now, as I told you in the reading,
the occasion of this is David, King David, bringing back the
Ark to Jerusalem. It had been gone for several
years, having been stolen by the Philistines, And that was
God's judgment upon Israel under King Saul who greatly disobeyed
the Lord. And that Ark had been gone, the
Ark of the Covenant. You know, the Ark of the Covenant,
you know what it is. It's that box that was made of
Shittim wood and overlaid with gold, that box. They placed it in the Holy of
Holies, the very center part of the tabernacle. later on the
temple. And that was a picture of the
foundation of God's relationship with sinners in salvation. It
was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, gold representing his
deity, that wood representing his perfect, pure humanity. He is God-man. And you remember
inside that ark, inside that box, was the Ten Commandments.
And that's the law of God that brings all men and women in guilty
before God based on their best efforts to keep the law. That's
what the Ten Commandments was really for. It is a moral guide
and a moral code. It was a moral guide and a moral
code for Israel under the Old Covenant. But the main issue
of that law was to show them their sinfulness, their depravity,
their disobedience, and to drive home this point that it is impossible
for any sinner to be saved from sin, to be blessed of God, accepted
with God, based on their best efforts to keep that law. That's
the main reason it was given. We see that several times in
the New Testament commentary on it. The Ten Commandments was
never given to Israel to be a way of salvation. How do you know
that? Because salvation can never be
by the works of man. It's of grace. And inside that
box, the Ark of the Covenant was the Ten Commandments. And
then on top of that box was a lid. Again, it was wood overlaid with
gold representing Christ. But that lid was called the Mercy
Seat. And you remember it had the two
cherubims on each side. And that lid covered the law,
the broken law. And that's a picture of Christ,
the surety and substitute of His people. Christ is our Mercy
Seat. You see, all those, that arc
was a type, it was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
it was set within the holiest of all, where only one man, the
high priest of Israel, could go in behind that curtain, one
time a year on the day of atonement, with the blood of a lamb. And
he sprinkled that blood inside that holiest of all, above that
mercy seat. That sprinkling of the blood.
And all of that, every bit of it was a picture of Christ as
the Savior of His people. His blood, His blood, our sins
are washed away by the blood of Christ. You see, our works
cannot wash away our sins. Our tears of remorse, we can
cry all night, we can cry a river. Our tears cannot wash away our
sins. You know, I had a fellow argue
with me about that one time when I said it, and I said, well,
don't ever sing that hymn again. He said, what hymn? What can
wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. You know, people sing hymns like
that, and they don't even know what they mean. They don't even
apply them. And it's sad, isn't it? It's kind of like we're mind-numbed
religiously. We just go through the motion.
But it means something. And that's what that was a picture
of, that priest. Christ is our high priest. Christ
is our mercy seat. Christ blood is the blood that
washes away my sins. And all of that was a picture
of how the only way a sinner can approach God is on the basis
of justice and mercy coming together in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that ark's about.
Well, it had been missing. And it says here that David brought
it back, and he put it in a tent that he pitched for that ark.
The tabernacle had not been rebuilt, and the temple wasn't built.
It wasn't built till Solomon. But that's where they put it.
And notice in verse 1 of 1 Chronicles 16, it says they offered burnt
sacrifices and peace offerings before God. Those burnt sacrifices,
those were all peace offerings. They're pictures of Christ who
is the burnt offering for his people. When the tabernacle was
up, when you entered into the court, the outer court, the first
thing you come to was the brazen altar where the burnt offering
was slain. and it was burnt, and the blood
was caught in a basin, and it was given to the high priest,
and he would take it into the Holy of Holies, all that. Upon
what basis, upon what ground can a sinner like me approach
God and find salvation, find peace, find blessing? It's not
on the basis of what I do for God. It's not on the basis of
what you do for God. It's on the basis of what Jesus
Christ, the Lord of Glory, has already done by His obedience
unto death. Having my sins charged to Him,
the debt of my sin charged to Him, and His righteousness established
by His obedience unto death. That's the basis. That's the
ground of salvation. There's no other ground. Our
faith is not the ground of our salvation. God doesn't save you
on the basis of your believing. If you're saved, you do believe,
but that's not the basis. The basis is the blood of Jesus
Christ, His righteousness imputed. We believe in Him. What am I
saying? I'm saying this, we don't have
faith in our faith. We have faith in Jesus Christ.
There's a difference, and it's a vital difference. Well, that's
what was being testified of here. He burnt the burnt offering.
He knew. David knew. There's no approach to God without
law and justice satisfied. Yes, there's mercy with God.
Yes, there's grace from God. Yes, there's love from God. But
not at the expense of His justice. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. The wages of sin is death. Isn't that what it says? But
the gift of God, not the wages of God, the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Well, He burnt the burnt
offering. And then it says in verse 3,
He delivered to every one of Israel, both man and woman, a
loaf of bread. That's a picture of Christ, the
bread of life. Out of His sacrifice comes life
and spiritual nourishment. That's what that Christ is, the
bread of life. and a good piece of flesh, the meat. Christ, we
feed upon Jesus Christ, and a flagon of wine, that's representative
of the power and joy of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. The reason any of us, if we're
born again, the reason that we're born again is because of the
death of the Son of God. Died, buried, and rose. He said
in John chapter 12, he said, if I be lifted up, that's on
the cross, if he dies first, he said, I will draw all unto
me, all for whom he died will be drawn to him by the Spirit.
And then they engaged in worship, and that's where they mention
all the names here. You see, you had the tribe of
Levi, they were attendants to the tabernacle, and then you
had the direct descendants of Aaron, who were the priest, and
they conducted the worship. And it says, and David on that
occasion, he wrote this psalm, verse 8, give thanks unto the
Lord, call upon His name. Thank you Lord for saving my
soul. Thank you Lord for making me
whole. And when you talk, what are you going to talk about?
What you've done for God? I used to be in testimonial meetings
all the time, and that's what people do. They'd stand up and
brag about what they've done for the Lord. That's not what
they talked about here. Talk ye of all His wondrous works,
what God has done. That's what He's saying. Glory
in His name. I'm not here to promote my name.
I'm not here to promote your name. I'm here to promote His
name, His glory, who He is. That's what we're concerned.
We're here to identify and distinguish Him. That's His name. And He
says, let the heart of them that rejoice seek the Lord. Seek the
Lord. How are you going to seek Him?
Seek Him as He is, not as you think Him to be. Seek Him as
He reveals Himself in His words. Seek Him through Christ. Verse
11, Seek the Lord in His strength. It's His power, not mine, not
yours. His face, that's His glory. Remember His marvelous works
that He hath done, His wonders, the judgments of His mouth. In
other words, that means if you're going to worship Him, you're
going to accept what He says is law. I was preaching on the television
program about interpretation of the scripture, and I used
the rule of simplicity, and it means simply this. If God says
it, it's true. Now, you may not understand it,
and you may not even agree with it, but it's still true if God
says it. I told you about the church in
a particular town where I saw their sign on the outside that
said, God said it, I believe it, that settles it. That's not
right. Here's what it should say, God says it, that settles
it. Whether you believe it or not.
It's settled in the court of heaven. The judgments of His
mouth. Verse 13, O ye seed of Israel,
His servant, ye children of Jacob, His chosen ones. Now he's talking
about Israel there as a nation, but they're a picture of God's
elect chosen before the foundation of the world, whose names were
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. He says, He is the Lord,
verse 14, His judgments are in all the earth, not just in Israel,
but in all the earth. And then he says, Be ye mindful
always of His covenant. His covenant. What is His covenant? The word which He commanded to
a thousand generations. The number thousand in the Old
Testament, in what they call the Hebrew idiom, is a way of
stating an unspecified innumerable number, company of people here.
And the Bible tells us that God has an elect people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation which we cannot number. It's
useless for us to try to number them. And then this is talking
about time to a thousand generations, not just to one nation for a
temporary period of time, but to all generations. And this covenant, what is this
covenant? I want to show you here that this covenant is the
gospel covenant. The gospel of God's free sovereign
grace in the salvation of sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's a command from God for His true people to be always mindful
of that gospel, how God saves sinners. how God can be just
and justify the ungodly. Always be mindful of His grace.
And that means this, if you're one of God's people, if you're
a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, always be mindful of
this, that what you have in Jesus Christ, what you have from God,
you didn't earn it and you don't deserve it. You're a sinner saved
by grace. And it's a travesty for any of
us to walk around this earth and to speak as if we do deserve
it, because we don't. Everything I have in the way
of salvation, in the way of spiritual life, I'm gonna tell you something,
I didn't deserve one inch of it and haven't earned any of
it. It's all a free gift from God.
Always be mindful of that. And then ultimately, here's where
it lies. To be always mindful of His covenant is to always
be mindful of Jesus Christ crucified and raised from the dead. That
my whole salvation, my whole eternal life, my security, my
glory is not in me, by me, from me. It's in Jesus Christ alone. My hope is built on nothing less.
Now, how do you get that out of this? Well, look at what it
says. Which covenant is he talking
about? Well, many commentators will go to this and they'll say,
well, he's talking about the covenant of Sinai made with Israel
through Moses on Mount Sinai. That's not the covenant he's
talking about. How do you know? Look at it. Verse 15, Be ye mindful
always of his covenant, the word which he commanded to a thousand
generations, even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac. God swore an oath. Now you know
what that means? That means God engaged himself,
his reputation, in the fulfillment of this covenant. And verse 17,
and hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law. This is the
record, the law. This is God's law from the beginning. And he says, and to Israel for
an everlasting covenant. He stated it to Israel. And then it says in verse 18,
saying unto thee will I give the land of Canaan the lot of
your inheritance. Now that's why a lot of commentators
say this is the lost Sinai because of the mention of Canaan there
in the land. But my friend, this is not talking
about Sinai. This is not talking about the
old covenant God made with the nation Israel through Moses.
First of all, he tells us plainly it's the covenant he made with
Abraham. Now that covenant God made with Abraham was 400 years
before Sinai. And you remember the book of
Galatians tells us that. Turn over to Galatians chapter
3. In the book of Galatians chapter
3, you see the Bible makes a clear distinction between the covenant
made at Sinai and the covenant made with Abraham. Here in Galatians chapter 3 he
talks about the covenant that God made with Abraham is fulfilled
to the people of God through Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory.
He had already said that. He says in verse 11 of Galatians
3, listen to this, but that no man is justified. What is it
to be justified? It is to be not guilty. It's
to be righteous before God. Well, no man is declared not
guilty and righteous before God in the sight of God. It's evident
by the law in the sight of God, it's evident. The just shall
live by faith. Now, what is it to live by faith?
It means looking to Jesus Christ as our substitute, our surety,
our righteousness. And he says the law is not a
faith. What does that mean? The law covenant made from Sinai
to the nation Israel did not say believe. You know what it
said? It said do. Do it. Look back up in verse
10 of Galatians 3. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them." It doesn't say to believe
them, it says to do them. You see that covenant made with
Israel was a conditional covenant. You do this and God will do that. You keep this and God will bless
you. Did Israel do it? Did Israel
keep it? No. Neither would you. Neither
would me. You see, that was a glaring testimony
that if salvation or any part of it were ever conditioned on
me or you, we would fail. The law is not of faith. The
man that doeth them shall live in them. But verse 13 says, Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. You see, salvation
is not by your doing or your dying, it's by His doing and
His dying. Being made a curse for us, that's
substitution. Christ stood in the place of
His sheep, His church, His people. Our sins were charged to Him,
imputed to Him. He was made sin. His righteousness
was imputed to us. He was made a curse for us, being
made a curse for us, for it's written, Cursed is everyone that
hangeth on a tree. Look at verse 14, that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. What's the blessing of
Abraham? It's salvation by God's grace
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Look down at verse 17, or verse
16 rather. He says, now to Abraham and his
seed were the promises made. He saith, and to seeds, not and
to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is
Christ. What did God ultimately promise? What was the main promise
that God made in the covenant of Abraham? It was the promise
of Jesus Christ, the Messiah to come. And salvation by his
obedience unto death. And that was stated throughout
the Old Testament, stated in the New Testament. Jesus Christ
Himself said in John chapter 8, I think it's verse 56, He
told the Pharisees who thought they were children of Abraham
spiritually, but they weren't. He says, your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and he was glad. And we'll look at some more passages
in just a moment. But you see, that's the covenant
that he's talking about back here in 1 Chronicles 16. It's
the covenant of promise given to Abraham of the coming of Jesus
Christ. And it's not just to the nation
Israel. It's to anyone and everyone who
believes in Him. His judgments are in all the
earth, it says. You remember back in Genesis
chapter 12 when God first made promise to Abraham. He makes
this statement. The very opening of Genesis 12
verse 1, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house,
unto a land that I will show thee. I'll make of thee a great
nation. I'll bless thee, and make thy
name great. Thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless
thee, curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families
of the earth be blessed. Now how was that fulfilled? Not
just through the giving of a piece of land, it was fulfilled in
Jesus Christ, who is the salvation of all of God's people out of
every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. That's how it was
fulfilled. And we could go on and on with
that. I could show you a number of scriptures, but we don't have
time. The word which he commanded in 1 Chronicles 16-15, the word
which he commanded to a thousand generations, not just for one
people at one time, but through all generations. How did God
save sinners before Mount Sinai? By grace, through Jesus Christ,
who was at that time the promised Messiah to come. Noah found what? grace in the
eyes of the Lord. You ever read that in Genesis
chapter 6 about Noah? You think about that. Here he
talks about how bad the world is. It's bad, you know. Everybody's doing what's right
in their own eyes. God took a survey and there it
is. It's all bad, all sin. But he says in verse 8, and it's
the first thing you see about Noah, but Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. Now what does that tell you about
Noah? It tells you this, that when
God looked and saw that the whole world was in sin and depravity,
Noah wasn't just some guy who rose above the rest of the group
and was better than everybody else. Because if that was the
case, he wouldn't have needed grace. I told you I didn't write
poems, but that did rhyme, didn't it? If that was the case, he
didn't need grace. Who needs grace? Sinners. That's who needs grace. You see,
righteous people don't need grace. That's why Christ told the Pharisees,
I didn't come to save the righteous. The whole need not a physician. He shall save his people from
their sins. His name shall be called Jesus.
Paul said that this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation
that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom
I am chief. Noah found grace. The scripture
says in Genesis chapter 7 that God saw Noah as righteous in
his sight. How did he see Noah as righteous?
Because Noah was such a good guy? No. He was righteous based
upon the merits of one who was promised to come. That was before
Abraham. How did God save sinners before
Sinai? By grace through the righteousness
of His Son. How did God save Abraham? Romans
chapter 4 tells us very plainly how God saved Abraham. Paul was
using this as an example. To show, in verse 2, if Abraham
were justified by works, he hath wear of the glory, but not before
God. What's the Bible say? Abraham believed God and it was
counted, imputed unto him for righteousness. What did Abraham
believe? He believed that God would send
Christ into the world to establish righteousness for him. And that's what he talks about.
David, he says in verse 6. Also, describe the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth, charges, accounts righteousness
without works, without David's works. Whose works? Christ's works. That's how God
justified Abraham. How were sinners saved during
the time of the Old Covenant? If any of them were saved, and
some were, it was by grace. And that was pictured in all
the elements of the ark and the tabernacle and the priesthood,
the sacrifices. The blood of bulls and goats
couldn't take away sin. But the one who was to come,
behold the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. When David says here,
by inspiration of the Spirit in 1 Chronicles 1650, be ye mindful
always of his covenant, he's talking about the covenant of
promise, the covenant of grace. That was the main thrust of the
covenant with Abraham. The main thrust was spiritual,
not physical. But you know, for the accomplishment
of the spiritual promises that were given to Abraham, there
were also given temporal, physical promises with inferior privileges
to be enjoyed by the nation Israel. For example, the promise of the
land. I go back here, 1 Chronicles 16-15. He gave this promise to
Abraham. confirmed it in Isaac and Jacob,
and then stated it to Israel for an everlasting covenant,
saying unto thee, Will I give the land of Canaan the lot of
your inheritance? You see, the promises of the
covenant to Abraham were of a mixed kind, both natural and spiritual. And it was necessary because
the preservation of the natural seed, the nation Israel, meant
the bringing in of His spiritual seed, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ Jesus and all who are saved by and in Him. You see,
Christ had to have a human body. He had to be made flesh. The
Word was made flesh. Why did He have to have a human
body? Because He had to die. You see, God can't die. You can't
kill God. But this person who is God, He
did die. And that's attributed to his
humanity. And it says he was made of the seed of David according
to the flesh. And it was through this nation
that God determined that he would bring Messiah through. And in
order to give that land, the promise of that physical land
was God's means, a vehicle to preserve them as a nation for
this one purpose, to bring Christ into this world. If they're going
to be a nation, they had to have a home. They had to have a land.
The giving of that land and the possession of that land was never
an end in and of itself. The giving of that land and the
possession of that land was never the salvation of that nation. Their possession, you know the
land was not promised at Sinai. The land was promised to Abraham
430 years before. And it was an unconditional promise
to the nation. They were going to get the land
no matter what. God determined it. But the covenant of Sinai
was a different covenant that set down conditions for them
to enjoy it, to be peaceful in it, to be prosperous in it. Did
they meet the conditions? No. Why? Because they're sinners. Would we meet the conditions? No, because we're sinners. So
why did God do all that? For one purpose. To bring Jesus
Christ into the world. to save his people, not just
Jews, but Jew and Gentile, all of his elect, all who come to
believe in him, from their sins. You see, for Israel in David's
time to be mindful of that covenant would be the same as keeping
in mind God's promise to send Christ into the world to save
his people from sin and establish the only righteousness whereupon
God could be just and justifier. And for us to be mindful of that
covenant is the keeping in mind of God's fulfillment of that
promise already in Jesus Christ, the Lord our righteousness, the
gospel, his grace. Ever be mindful, keep this ever
in your minds, that God saves us, keeps us, blesses us, rewards
us, and will bring us to glory by his grace through Christ.
That's what that's all about.