If you would, let's open our
Bibles, begin our service to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians,
the third chapter. In our message this evening,
we're going to look at the covenant that God established with Noah,
and I thought in our two scripture readings I'd read a couple passages
of New Testament commentary on that covenant. The first one
is Galatians chapter 3, beginning in verse 10. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse, for it's written, cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law
in the sight of God, it's evident, for the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth in shall live in thee. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For
it's written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men. Though it
be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth
or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not into seeds as of
many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. In this
I say that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in
Christ, the law, which is 430 years after, cannot disannul,
that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance
be of the law, it's no more promise. It's no more the covenant, it's
no more of grace, it's no more of promise. but God gave it to
Abraham by promise. We'll end our reading there.
All right, Sean. Okay, if you would turn to song
number 84, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus. Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set thy people free. From our fears and sins release
us, Let us find our rest in thee. Israel, strength and consolation, Thou art, dear desire of every
nation, joy of every longing heart. Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a king. Born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring. By thine own eternal spirit rule
in all our hearts alone. By thine all-sufficient merit
raise us to thy glorious throne. And if you would, turn to song
number 351, Near the Cross. Jesus, keep me near the cross. There a precious fountain, free
to all a healing stream, flows from Calvary's mountain. In the cross, in the cross, be
my glory ever. Till my raptured soul shall find
rest beyond the river. Near the cross a trembling soul,
love and mercy found me. There the bright and morning
star sheds its beams around me. In the cross, in the cross, be
my glory ever, till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the
river. Near the cross, O Lamb of God,
bring its scenes before me. Help me walk from day to day,
with its shadows o'er me. In the cross, in the cross, be
my glory ever. Till my raptured soul shall find
rest beyond the river. Near the cross I'll watch and
wait, hoping, trusting, till I reach the golden strand
just beyond the river. In the cross, in the cross be
my glory ever. ? Till my raptured soul shall
find ? Rest beyond the river All right, now if you would,
open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter eight. Hebrews, the eighth chapter. Now of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum. We have such an high priest who
sat on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which
the Lord pitched and not man. For every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices. Wherefore, it is of necessity
that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth,
he should not be a priest. seeing that there are priests
that offer gifts according to the law, who serve under the
example and shadow of heavenly things. As Moses was admonished
of God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for see, saith
he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed
to thee in the mount. But now hath he obtained a more
excellent ministry. By how much more also he is the
mediator of a better covenant. which was established upon better
promises. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second. For finding fault with them, he saith, behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, when I'll 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 when
I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,
because they continue not in my covenant, And I regarded them
not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I'll put my laws into their mind
and write them in their hearts. And I'll be to them a God, and
they should be to me a people. And they should not teach every
man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, know the
Lord. For also know me from the least
to the greatest. For I will be merciful. to their
unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more. And that he sayeth a new covenant,
he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our Father, we humbly bow before
you this evening. We bow in reverence awe and wonder
at bowing before the throne of grace of God Almighty. Father,
how thankful we are that in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we can come before a throne of grace, not a throne of justice,
but of grace, and have our prayers, our praise, our petition, our
thanksgiving be heard. And we know, Father, it's all
because of Christ. It's for his sake and his sake
alone and how thankful we are. How thankful we are for a perfect
Savior. We thank you for your mercy and
your grace and your love. We thank you that all of salvation
is dependent upon our Lord Jesus Christ. How thankful we are that
none of it is dependent upon us. For it would surely fail. We would surely not have it.
But in Christ, it's sure and certain. Father, we're thankful.
And Father, I pray that this evening, as we look into your
word, that you would bless us, that you would enable us to see
Christ the Savior, that you enable us to believe and have our hearts
thrilled at hearing one more time what a sufficient Savior
your people have. Father, enable us to hear and
believe. What we ask for ourselves, we
ask for your people who are meeting all around this country tonight
to worship. Father, bless your word, we pray.
And Father, we pray for our country, our world at this time. We would
be very, very worried if we didn't know that you're on the throne,
that you're ruling and reigning, that everything that's happening
is happening exactly according to your eternal will and purpose.
And Father, we pray peace for our world. We pray that you give
peace and stability, that your people I may be able to worship
in peace. Father, we ask you to forgive
us of our many sins, who and what we are, that you'd see us
and hear us only in our Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his blessed
name we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, now if you turn
back to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter six. I didn't read my text earlier
because it's just two verses and I'll read it now. The title
of the message is God Establishes His Covenant. Our text begins
in verse 17 of Genesis chapter 6. And behold, I, even I do bring
a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh wherein
is the breath of life from under heaven and everything that is
in the earth shall die. But with thee, will I establish
my covenant. And thou shalt come into the
ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife, thy wife and thy son's
wives with thee. Now this is the first time that
the word covenant is used in scripture. I will establish,
but with thee will I establish my covenant. Now the word covenant
must be very important. It's used in the Bible 280 times,
the word covenant. And you can't understand the
gospel unless you understand God's covenant. You can't understand
how it is God saves sinners unless you understand God's covenant.
Now you've heard preachers say many times, God is a covenant
God. And that's a real good doctrinal
religious preacher sounding saying, isn't it? God's a covenant God.
Let me tell you what that means. God is a covenant God. It means
that everything that God does is what he purposed, what he
promised to do, before time began. You wonder what is going on,
all the events in the world today. You know what that is? It's what
God promised to do, what he purposed to do before time began. Today
just happened to be the day in history that he did it. God always
does what he purposed to do before he created anything. God never
does something reacting to what men are doing. Well, men are
doing this. Well, I better do this, you know, to keep it on
the straight and narrow. I've heard about pilots. Bob can tell us about this. The
autopilot thing, whatever the planes have, you know. And you
know, that autopilot is constantly correcting that plane. That plane's
up there and winds are blowing it this way and it's just constantly
correcting to keep it on course. That's not what God's doing.
He's not constantly correcting things. God is always doing what
He promised to do. What He purposed to do in eternity. This word covenant has to do
with a promise, promise. Now there are two covenants given
to us in scripture. There's a covenant of works and
a covenant of grace. Now we read, I know about other
covenants. I was reading some of the writers
saying there's seven, eight, nine covenants, whatever. There's
only two. I know that it does talk about
other covenants. There's this covenant God established with
Moses. We read about a covenant that God had with Abraham, a
covenant that God had with David, But each of those covenants are
all pictures of the covenant of grace. There's two covenants,
the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. Now the first covenant man knew
anything about, the first covenant that God ever gave to man was
the covenant of works. Look back at Genesis chapter
two. Here's that covenant. It's a very simple covenant,
very simple thing to understand. This was a covenant God made
with Adam. The covenant said this, obey
and live, disobey and die. That's the covenant of works.
Genesis 2, verse 16. And 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 that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now there's absolutely no doubt
Adam would have lived forever if he did not eat that fruit.
Absolutely no doubt. But Adam died, didn't he? The
covenant of works failed. And it failed not because God
did something wrong, not because there was something inherently
wrong with the covenant. The covenant of works failed because
of man's sin, because of man's weakness, of man's inability
to obey God. The covenant of works can only
bring death. Yes, if you obey perfectly, always,
at all times, in thought, word, and deed, yes, you'll live. Yes, you'll have life. But we
can't do that. We can't obey for a nanosecond. So the covenant
of works can only bring death. You'll notice God left no doubt
here. He knew Adam would sin. He said, in the day you eat thereof.
God knew it. He knew it was gonna happen.
In the day you eat thereof, not if you eat, when you do, when
you do. But you know what? Even man's
sin, even Adam's rebellion in breaking this covenant of works,
even that was part of God's eternal purpose. Eternal covenant of
grace, that he would save his people by his grace. God never
did intend to save anybody by their own personal obedience
to the law. God's purpose, his covenant,
was always to save his people by the doing and the dying of
his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the covenant of works was
the first covenant that men knew anything about. That's the first
covenant that God revealed to man. But the covenant of works
is not the first covenant. No, the first covenant is the
covenant of grace. The first covenant is God's eternal
purpose, God's eternal promise to save His people by grace. God's going to save His people,
not through their obedience, through the obedience of His
Son. God's going to put away the sin of His people through
the sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only
reason God gave the law is so we'd sin and have need of a Savior.
But the covenant of grace is the eternal, that's the one that
came first. And I have four points I want
us to see tonight about God's covenant of grace. And it is
my prayer that after considering these four things, that we'll
be able to leave here tonight with complete confidence to trust
our soul to the Lord Jesus Christ, to this covenant, the surety
of this covenant. Now, the first point is this. God's covenant
is a covenant between God and God. It's not a covenant between
God and man. It's a covenant between God and
God. Verse 18, look again how it says this, but with thee will
I establish my covenant and thou shalt come into the ark. Now
this is God's covenant that he established with Noah. You'll
notice it's not a covenant with Noah. He established it. I shall,
and I will, and you shall. That's the, I will, and you shall. God says, Noah, I'm going to
destroy the world with a flood. but you found grace in my sight.
So I will deliver you in the ark. I've purposed grace for
you. I'll be gracious to you. I promise
grace and you shall and you shall enter into the ark. See, this
is not a covenant where God does one thing. If no one does another
thing, this is a covenant where God does it all. God says, I
will, and you shall. He's just doing it. I will and
you shall. And that's given to us as a picture
of God's covenant of grace, which is between God and God. The covenant of grace, by definition,
cannot be a covenant between God and men, can it? The covenant
of grace can't be. God says, well, if you do this,
I'll do this. That's a covenant of works. That
goes back to the covenant that God gave with Adam. Adam broke
right away. If God would tell you, I'll save you if you just
be moral. I'll save you if you just do
more good than bad. I mean, you don't have to be
perfect. You just do more good than bad. If you fill in the
blank, you got a covenant of works. Works. It's something
that's dependent on us. But God's saying, I will do this
and you shall be saved. That is a covenant of grace.
And that covenant is a covenant between the Godhead It's a covenant
promises made by all three of the Godhead to one another. The
father promised he would elect a people under salvation. He
would choose a people out of Adam's fallen race under salvation.
They wouldn't deserve it. They just, the last people in
this world you'd think God would say, but that's who he's going
to choose. And he did it. The father did that. The son
promised to redeem those people from their sin by his sacrifice,
his blood, Him dying as their substitute would put away their
sin, satisfy justice for them. The son promised he'd do that.
In the fullness of time, that's exactly what he did. And the
Holy Spirit promised that he would come through the preaching
of the gospel and he'd give those people life and faith. He'd call
them to Christ and they'd come running to Christ. The Holy Spirit
promised he'd do that. And that's exactly what he's
doing right now. That's the only reason God had
wrapped up this creation. It's waxing old, isn't it? But
God's not done with it yet. You know why? The Holy Spirit's
still calling out God's people. That's what he's doing right
now. This is a covenant between God and God. And that covenant
concerns God's elect. That's not a covenant with God's
elect. It's a covenant that concerns God's elect. Just like this covenant
that God established with Noah. He didn't make it with Noah.
He established it, didn't he? It was concerning Noah. In this
covenant that was between God and God, you notice Noah benefited
from it, didn't he? Noah's sons, Noah's wife and
his daughter-in-laws, they all benefited from this covenant.
See, this covenant is concerning Noah, but it's a covenant God
made with God. Matter of fact, all of creation,
At least some of all of creation benefited from this covenant.
All those animals were saved alive, weren't they? Because
God was being gracious to Noah. See, all of creation benefited
from this covenant that was between God and God. Now here's the good
news that comes from this. I mean, this is, that's good
doctrine, that's good scripture. But now here's the good news
that we have from this covenant that's between God and God. God
doesn't require a single thing of sinner to make this covenant
effectual. God doesn't require a single
thing for the sinner to do in order for God to save them. God
does it all. This is the message of the gospel.
I will, and you shall. I will save you, and you shall
be saved. See, man has no part in making
that covenant, do they? None whatsoever. Noah didn't
know anything about this covenant till God came and told him about
it. You and I didn't know one thing about God's grace. We thought
salvation was by our works, by us being good, by, you know,
whatever. We didn't know one thing about God's grace till
God came and told us about it through the preaching of the
gospel. We didn't know anything about a covenant of grace. We
didn't know what that was till God came and told us about it.
You see, God is the one who ratifies and establishes this covenant.
Now, this is good news. Since man didn't do anything
to ratify the covenant, we can't do anything that's so sinful.
We'll make the covenant null and void either. See, we can't
break the covenant because it's not as if we didn't ratify it.
God did. God did. He's never going to
break his word. See, God says, I will choose you and you shall
be saved. God says, I will redeem you and
you shall be redeemed. God says, I'll give you life
and you'll have it. It'll be eternal life. See, I
will, and you shall. That's the covenant of grace.
It's a covenant made between God and God, and it concerns
God's elect. Now, if you look at 1 Samuel
chapter 20, this is the best example that I could think of,
of this covenant that's between God and God, but it concerns
God's people. It's the covenant made between
David and Jonathan. First Samuel chapter 20. Verse 11, these two good friends,
David and Jonathan, they go out in the field talking and they
make this covenant. First Samuel 20 verse 11. And Jonathan said
unto David, come and let us go out into the field. And they
went out, both of them, into the field. And Jonathan said
unto David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father
about tomorrow anytime or the third day and behold, if there
be good toward David and I then send not unto thee and show it
thee, the Lord do so and much more to Jonathan. But if it please
my father to do the evil, then I'll show it thee and send thee
away that thou mayest go in peace and the Lord be with thee as
he had been with my father. And thou should not only yet,
or not only while yet I live, show me the kindness of the Lord
that I die not, but also thou should not cut off thy kindness
from my house forever. No, not when the Lord has cut
off the enemies of David, every one of them from the face of
the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David saying,
let the Lord even require it at the hand of David's enemies.
And Jonathan caused David to swear again because he loved
him. For he loved him as he loved
his own soul. And Jonathan said to David, or we'll end there,
verse 17, for he loved him as he loved his own soul. Now that's
the covenant between David and Jonathan. Jonathan says, David,
I'll tell you my father's intended to kill you so you can escape.
But now you show the kindness of the Lord to me. When you become
kingdom, don't put me to death and don't put my children to
death. That's the, that's the covenant that they made. All
right, now look at second Samuel chapter nine. Now some time has
passed and David has come to power. David has taken the throne
and normally what would happen when a new king takes the throne,
he'd kill all the old king's sons and grandsons. So there'd
be no other threats to his throne. But what's that now? What's David
going to do? Is he going to kill all these, these sons of Saul,
grandsons of Saul. So he solidifies his rule on
power. What's David going to do now?
Jonathan's gone. Who's going to hold him to this?
What's David going to do? Second Samuel nine verse one.
And David said, is there yet any that's left of the house
of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake, not for
their sake, not because of what they've done, not because for
Jonathan's sake. And there was of the house of
Saul, a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they called him
unto David, the king said unto him, art thou Ziba? And he said,
thy servant is he. And the king said, is there not
yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness
of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. And the
king said unto him, where is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he's in the house of Makar, the son of Amiel and Lodabar. Then king David sent and fetched
him. David didn't invite him. David
didn't save him. David fetched him out of the
house of Makar, the son of Amiel from Lodabar. Now Wim of Phibosheth,
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul was come unto David,
He fell on his face and did reference. And David said, Mephibosheth.
And he answered, behold thy servant. And you know poor old Mephibosheth
was expecting David to say, now go ahead and cut your head off.
And David said unto him, fear not. Mephibosheth was shaked
down there, bowing before David, just shaking like a leaf. And
David said unto him, fear not. For I will surely show thee kindness
for Jonathan thy father's sake. And will restore thee all the
land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table
continually. Old Mephibosheth thought he was
being fetched to David's palace. He thought he was a goner. He
knew what was normally done. He thought he was a goner, and
David was kind to Mephibosheth. You'll notice not only did David
spare his life, he didn't leave Mephibosheth the poor old dirty
beggar living in a house with no bread, did he? He restored unto him everything
his father lost, everything his grandfather lost, and he told
him, you're one of my sons. You're gonna eat continually
at my table. See, the covenant was between
David and Jonathan, wasn't it? But it was concerning poor, old,
lame, dirty Mephibosheth. The covenant was between David
and Jonathan, but Mephibosheth was blessed by it. That's the
covenant of grace. The covenant between God and
God and God's elect is concerning them. They get all the benefits
of God's grace for Christ's sake. The father looks at it, is there
any left that I might show mercy to them for my son's sake? That's
the covenant of grace. All right, number two, look back
at Genesis again, chapter eight. God's covenant is sealed. It's
ratified by the blood of Christ. Now, this is when after the flood
waters have receded and Noah and his family and all the animals
come off the ark, And in Genesis 8 verse 21 or verse 20, Noah
built an altar under the Lord and took of every clean beast
and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Now the very first thing Noah did as soon as he set foot back
on dry ground is he offered a sacrifice to the Lord. Verse 21, and the
Lord smelled a sweet savor and the Lord said in his heart, I
will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake. For the
imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither
will I again smite anymore everything living as I've done. While the
earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, cold and heat and summer
and winter and day and night shall not cease. Now all that
was done as a picture of God's covenant of grace being ratified
by the blood of Christ's sacrifice. See, God made a covenant of grace
and that covenant of grace is a promise. He's going to save
his sinful people by his grace. But as I tell you so many times,
justice still has to be satisfied. God can never show grace and
mercy at the expense of his justice. Justice still must be satisfied
for the sin of those people. God's going to be gracious to
him, but justice must be satisfied. There's got to be death for sin.
How on earth can that happen? That's why God sent his son in
the flesh. So he can be the center substitute.
So he could die in their place. Christ came and took the place
of his people and he died so they could live. He took their
sins. It became his sins and justice killed him. So the center
can go free. God's elect live not because
God ignores our sin, but because the death of Christ satisfied
God's justice against their sin. And the blood doesn't just say
somebody suffered, the blood says somebody died. God sees the blood and he knows
the sinner substitute has died, his justice is satisfied. Now
God is free to show mercy and not violate his holiness or his
justice. And here's the way we know that
the blood of Christ satisfied God's justice against the sin
of God's elect. God caused the blood of his son. A sweet smelling savor. Now you parents, that's hard
to imagine, isn't it? But God is holy. God calls the
blood of His Son, the death of His Son, the slaughter of His
Son, a sweet smelling savor. It's a sweet savor because that
blood satisfies God's character. It satisfies His whole character.
That blood enables God to be merciful to sinners. while his
justice is satisfied. That's a sweet savor to God.
That's what's pictured in Noah's sacrifice. After Noah offered
this sacrifice, God said he's pleased. And the picture just
gets so much better. This blood sacrifice that Noah
offered removed the curse of sin from the earth. Now, God
destroyed the world with a flood. We looked at that in the past
couple of weeks. And that flood, God, that drowning, just every
living thing except for what was on the ark. That's a picture
of the curse of sin. It brings death. That's a picture
of God's wrath against sin. But after the sacrifices that
Noah offered, God said, I'll never do that again. I'll never
destroy the world with the flood again. I'll never curse the ground
again for man's sin. Man's going to keep sinning,
but I'll never curse the ground again. I'll never kill every
living thing by water for it again. The sacrifice made God
say that. God promised he would never destroy
the earth. He promised that with the flood,
he promised that there's going to be seasons, summer and winter
and spring and fall, just going to keep rolling, day and night,
just going to all keep rolling in their time. Somebody asked
me recently about global warming and I don't know, maybe it's
real, maybe it's not. I mean, you know, take care of
the earth. We're squatters on God's property. Take care of the earth. This thing's not going to get
so bad, it's perennial summer. You know how I know that? God's
promise. He promised, it's not going to
happen. It's just not going to happen. All that's a picture
of the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ completely
removed the curse of sin from God's people. So God will never
destroy them. Never destroy. They cannot die
eternally. Because since Christ died for
them, they have eternal life. It's because the blood of Christ
satisfied the Father. Now the earth is going to be
destroyed one more time. Not by a flood, never, because
God promised. By fire. But you know what? God's people
don't have to worry about that. They don't have to worry about
that at all. You know why? No believer is
going to be destroyed in that fire that burns up this creation
because Christ our substitute already endured that He already
endured the fire of God's wrath against the sin of his people,
and that curse is completely removed from God's people. God
said, I'll never destroy them, never in any way. All of that
is made sure, ratified by the blood of Christ. All right, here's
the third thing. Christ is the surety of God's
covenant of grace. Now, this covenant God established
with Noah, who's the surety of this covenant? Well, God is. The character of God is the surety
of this covenant. How do you know this covenant
is established? It's the character of God. God will do what he promised
to do. I will, and you shall. And the
ark is a picture of that surety. The ark is the picture, is the
surety of God's promise. Noah, I'm gonna deliver you from
the flood. I'm gonna deliver you from drowning. You found
grace in my eyes. The ark is a picture of that
surety. Do you know why Noah and his family and all those
animals lived when every other breathing thing on earth died?
Because that ark did exactly what it was supposed to do. That's
why he survived that. Now I know you see the picture.
God's elect live. We have eternal life. We're redeemed
from our sin because Christ, the surety of the covenant of
grace, did exactly what he was supposed to do. He did and he
came and he did exactly what he intended to do. He made his
people righteous by his obedience to the law. We became disobedient
or we became sinners by the disobedience of Adam. God's elect become righteous
by the obedience of another, by the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Christ took the sins of his people and he put them away by his sacrifice
for them and their sins are gone. Now remember, the covenant of
grace is made between God and God, but it concerns God's elect. God's elect live. God's elect
enjoy every rich promise of grace that God ever made. There are too many to number.
What about the riches of the forgiveness of your sins? What
about the riches of being made righteous? What about the riches
of Almighty God being able to look at you and smile? What about
the riches of poor wretches like us being able to come before
the throne of God and have our prayers heard? What about the
riches of this promise? One day you're gonna awake in
glory made just exactly like the Lord Jesus Christ. That is
so rich I would not dare say it if it wasn't found in God's
Word. The riches of those promises. You know why all that belongs
to you who believe? Because Christ our surety did everything He's
supposed to do. That's why. Now if you'll turn to Genesis
chapter 42, Judah, one of Jacob's sons, Judah, gives us a good
picture of Christ our surety. You know the story here leading
up to this passage in Genesis, there was a famine over the whole
earth. Jacob didn't know it. He thought his son Joseph was
dead, but what he didn't know was his son Joseph was living. And not only was he still alive,
he was ruler in Egypt. Joseph, Jacob's favorite son,
was in charge of the only food store in all of the earth. Jacob
didn't know that, but he sent his sons there to buy food, because
that's the only place any food was. And when the brothers got
there, They saw Joseph. Now, they didn't know Joseph.
Joseph made himself strange to them, didn't let them know who
he was. But Joseph started asking them about their father. Do you
have another brother? He wanted to know about Benjamin.
He wanted to know how his father was. And he dealt roughly with
them. He told them, don't you dare
come back here. I think you're spies. I think
you're lying. I'm going to keep one of you
here in jail. And don't you come back here
without your younger brother. Prove to me that you're not lying.
And then he sent them back home. You know old Jacob was not letting
Benjamin go. Last time he let his son go with
them boys, they came back and told him the animal laid him.
He said, I'm not letting Benjamin go with you. Look now, Genesis
42 verse 36. And Jacob their father, this
is when they told me, God take Benjamin with us, said unto them,
Me, have you bereaved of my children? Joseph is not. Simeon is not. That man's got Simeon down there
in jail. And you'll take Benjamin away? All these things are against
me. And Reuben spake unto his father,
saying, slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee. Deliver
him into my hand, and I'll bring him to thee again. And he said,
my son's not going down there with you. For his brother is
dead, and he's left alone. If mischief befall him by the
way in which you go, then shall you bring down gray hairs with
sorrow to the grave." This is what Jacob's saying. I'm not
trusting my son to you, Reuben. Before Jacob died, you know what
he said about Reuben? He said, Reuben, you're as unstable as
water. I'm not trusting my son to you. Well, they're getting
hungry. The food's running out. There's
only one place to go get it. Back there with that man who
dealt so rough with them. Luke Genesis 43 verse 8. And
Judah, not Reuben, Judah, said unto Israel his father, send
a lad with me, and we'll rise and go, that we may live and
not die, both we and thou, and also our little ones. I'll be
surety for him. At my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee,
let me bear the blame forever. And Jacob trusted Benjamin's
life to Judah. You know why? Judah's a picture
of Christ. Christ is coming through Judah,
from the tribe of Judah. And Judah is going to bring Benjamin
back safely, just as surely as the Lord Jesus Christ is going
to bring all his people safely to glory. Can't you imagine this
conversation between the father and the son? The son says, father,
send him with me. Send him with me. I'll be surety
for them. Of my hand shall you require
all those people that you give me If I bring Him not unto thee,
and set Him before all those people, if I don't bring Him
and set Him before them, let me bear the blame forever. He said all the responsibility
is on me. And you know what? Christ cannot
fail. He can't fail. And that makes
Him the surety we can trust. I promise you this on the authority
of God's Word, you're going to safely arrive in glory if you
trust Christ to do all the safety. You will, because he's the surety
of this covenant. All right, here's the fourth
thing. God's covenant of grace gives good hope to sinners. Now,
God established this covenant with Noah, just like God said
he would. He saved Noah and his family
alive in that ark. Now, God gave that ark to Noah.
He gave him the instructions, told him how to build it as part
of his covenant, because Noah found grace in the eyes of the
Lord. The Lord provided a way for Noah to be delivered. Noah
built that ark, and God called him in, shut the door, and the
rains came, the fountains of heaven opened, the fountains
of the deep, I mean, just water, just, I mean, can you imagine?
I mean, I just try to imagine being in that, can you imagine?
I mean, I just, it's just, I just can't even imagine it. They're
in the dark, and just the, oh, the destruction, the sounds going
around them. But you know what? Noah was just
as safe in that ark as he was on dry ground before the rains
ever came. Before God ever came to Noah
and told Noah, you know, Noah, I'm going to destroy the earth
with the flood. Noah was just walking around
on dry ground doing what he did. He wasn't worried a bit. He wasn't
worried a bit. Well, God told Noah what he was
going to do. Told him to build an ark. Called Noah into that
ark. Put him in that ark. There that ark is. Noah can't
even steer the thing. Remember, it's just like a shoebox.
Noah can't even steer it. It's just floating around without
Noah controlling one thing that's going on. And there he sits in
that ark. That thing's rocking and just
waves. I just can't even imagine. Noah
was just as safe in that ark as he ever had been, as he ever
had been. See, that ark gave Noah a good
hope. It was absolutely impossible
for Noah to perish in that ark because of the promise of God.
I'm just sure of this, human beings being what they are, Noah
and his family from time to time got alarmed during all that time,
11 months or something they were in that ark. I bet you they even
got scared a time or two. I bet they did. But you know
what? They could have been alarmed.
They could have been scared. But their life was never in danger.
Never, never. They had a good hope. They had
an expectation of walking off that ark and thriving again on
dry land because God promised them that they would. The ark
was God's provision and it couldn't fail. It's impossible. It's a
picture of Christ who cannot fail. Now God's people have a
good hope. They have an expectation of glory. God's people have an expectation
one day of thriving. I mean thriving like you and
I can't even imagine right now. Thriving in a new creation once
God's done with this old one. We have that expectation. You
know why? Because of God's covenant. Because
his promise that's been ratified in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 23.
2 Samuel chapter 23. Here's a very
good illustration of what I'm talking about. We have a good
hope because of this covenant. 2 Samuel 23 verse one. Now these be the last words of
David. David, the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised
up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist
of Israel said, The spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his
word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the rock
of Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over men must
be just, ruling in the fear of God, and he should be as the
light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without
clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made with me everlasting covenant. It's ordered
in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my
desire. Although he make it not to grow.
Now when David here talks about his house, he's not talking about
his family. A lot of times people that they,
like Jonathan, he said, you know, be merciful to my house. He meant
his descendants, but that's not what David's talking about. His
descendants, his families in shambles, just utter shambles,
but that's not what he's talking about. David here, the house
he's talking about is his body, this fleshly body. It's dead
and dying. It just don't look like much.
David's talking about what he'd done for God in this body. David laying there on his deathbed
at that time of thing, didn't he? He thought back over his
life. I would reckon David is like a lot of us. David had a
lot of victories, a lot of wonderful things. I just bet you he thought
about all his tragedies. He thought about how faithless
he was. He didn't think about how fearless
he was going out there to fight Goliath. He thought about the
times that he was faithless. He thought about the times he
was disobedient. He numbered Israel and the plague that that
brought from God on Israel. He thought about how sinful he'd
been. He thought about the mistakes that he'd made. how those things
had hurt so many people. David looked back over the course
of his life and, much like Noah on that ark, reckon there were
times David was scared. Scared out of his wits. He pretended
like he was crazy one time. He was hiding in caves and just
afraid, you know. He prayed to the Lord and said,
it's all going to take my life at any moment. Yeah, David was afraid. But his soul was never one time
in danger. Not once. He had a good hope
because of the covenant of God. David, thinking back over, I
wish I had that to do over again. Wish I had that to do over again.
Wish I had that to do over again. David just couldn't think of
one thing he'd done right, yet he still expected to be satisfied
when he awoke with Christ's likeness in glory. He expected it. Now why could David expect something? Why can you expect, why can I
expect something like that? Well, it's not based on anything
we've done, is it? The only way we can expect something like
that, that glory, is God's covenant. His promise of grace to his people.
See, our expectation is purely based upon God's promise and
what Christ, not what we've done, but what Christ has done. If
your hope of glory, your hope of eternal life is the Lord Jesus
Christ and God's promise of grace, brother, you got a good hope.
Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for your covenant of grace. How we thank you for your promise
of mercy and grace to your people that's in our Lord Jesus Christ.
How fully and freely that you redeemed us from our sin by the
blood and the righteousness of Christ our Savior. Father, how
we thank you. Father, I pray you'd apply your
word to our hearts that you would cause us to see Christ believe
on him, rest in him, have our hearts thrilled at the thought
that sinful men and women such as we are can have an expectation
of glory because of your promise, because you ratified your promise
in the blood of your darling son. Father, how we thank you.
Bless us, we pray, for your great namesake. It's in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ. For his sake and his glory, we
pray. Amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would stand and
turn to song number 204, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. O soul, are you wearied and troubled? No light in the darkness you
see. There's a light for a look at
the Savior, and life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow
straightly dim in the light of His glory and grace. He passed, and we follow Him
there. Over us then no more hath dominion,
for more than conquerors we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow
strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. His word shall not fail you,
He promised. Believe Him and all will be well. Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow
strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.