I'm going to read from three
different places. The title of the message is Keeping
the Covenant and Mercy. Everything that God does for
us is through a covenant. It's through
a covenant with His Son. And he's going to keep that covenant. And the good news is this. I cannot break that covenant. We went through Hebrews and the
old covenant was done away with. It was broken so many times.
But that new covenant has nothing to do with me or
you keeping it. It has everything to do with
one person keeping it, God. God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit, yet one God, keeping the covenant
and mercy. Now, I'm just going to read a
verse and then I'm going to turn to a couple of other verses and
read. It says in Daniel, In Daniel chapter 9, in verse 4, and I prayed unto the Lord my
God and made my confession and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful
God. Did you ever pray like that? He recognized, he recognized who God is. This
is who He is, the great and dreadful God, keeping
the covenant and mercy to them that love Him and to them that
keep His commandments. Now, you turn over to Deuteronomy
chapter 7. Deuteronomy chapter 7, and I'm
going to also read a verse out of Nehemiah. I said Deuteronomy, didn't I? Chapter
7. Look in verse 9. Know therefore that the Lord
thy God, He is God. There is no other God beside
Him. He is God. Our God is God. The
God of this Bible, the God of creation, is God and there is
none beside Him. He's the only one there is. Know
therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God,
which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him. and
keep his commandments to a thousand generations. Now, over here in Nehemiah, I'll
read this to you. Nehemiah 9, 31. Nevertheless, for thy great mercy's
sake thou didst not utterly consume them. Remember what he said in
another place, that he said, I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore, ye sons of Jacob," I heard someone say in a message
one time, ye sons of election, are not consumed. The reason
we are not consumed is because the Lord changes not. Faithful, the faithful God keeps
the covenant of mercy. He says, Thou didst not utterly
consume them, nor forsake them, for Thou art a gracious and merciful
God. Now therefore, our God, the great,
the mighty, and the terrible God, what language they used,
who keepeth covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem
little before thee. The prophets of old knew the
God of heaven and earth, not only to be a God of covenant and mercy,
but to be the great and dreadful God." That's how they addressed
him. It does not sound like the preaching
we hear today, does it? If you turn on television or
radio, you do not hear this God. You don't hear this, God. You don't hear about a God who
is great and dreadful, who keeps covenant and mercy, who's faithful. The God I hear preached today,
His will is subject to our will, subject to the creature's will.
God wants this. God wants that. He wants this
in your life. Never refer to God with the term
of want. God wants nothing. God has a will, absolute will,
and a purpose, and it shall be done. God's will shall be done. He doesn't want this from me
or want that. He has no wants. I assure you whatever God has
willed for me and you will happen. It will come to pass. It will
come to pass. He will perform his will for
his people. I want to know when did God quit
being the great and dreadful God and become the man upstairs
or my co-pilot? Do you know what a co-pilot is?
It's someone sitting on the right side assisting the pilot. Like we are the pilot, we are
the ones flying this thing, and when we need assistance, God
will help us. I don't know. That's a God that does not even
exist. He's still the great and dreadful
God. God has not changed. He is still
great and dreadful. He's still the one who commands. He commands every day. He commands every moment. He
commands every event. He commands it. This is who God is. When did God quit
being the light that no man can approach? When did he quit that? He's still that God. He's still
that God. No man outside of Christ can
approach God. We need to make that loud and
clear. Loud and clear. Our Lord said, No man cometh
unto the Father but by Me. We looked in Hebrews. A couple
of weeks ago, at the end of chapter 12, our God is a consuming fire. Outside of Christ now, outside
of Christ he is. Such a change is not found in
the Word of God. The God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of the Apostles, the God
of the Church is still a great and dreadful God. He's still that way. That's who
He is. Now, we know that the Word of
God declares God to be the God of all grace. Apart from Him,
there is no grace. He's the God of all comfort. And we preach Him as such. We preach Him as such. That's
who He is. But we do not preach one truth
at the expense of another. God is who he is. You know, God's
not, and you know, we heard our pastor say this, God's not who
I think he is. God is who he is. Find out who
he is. For me, find out who he is. You, find out who he is. And I tell you what, we'll spend
eternity doing that. We will spend eternity finding
out who He is, amazed, awed. Hall said in Acts 20, 27, I have
not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. I find so much preaching in our
day. that belittles God to the point where no one needs to fear
Him. No one needs to fear Him. But the God of the Bible is to
be had in awe and reverence at all times. Turn over to Psalm
89. Psalm 89. My pages are stuck together. In Psalm
89, look in verse 7. is greatly to be feared, and
notice where he's to be greatly feared, in the assembly of the
saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. He's to be had in fear and reverence
in all them that are about him. I don't want anything to do with
any God whose will is frustrated and whose purpose is put in check
by my will. I don't need a God like that.
I need one far greater than me that can get me out of the mess
I'm in. I've borne into and got myself into what I need. Now, we know from the Word of
God that the God of heaven and earth is great and dreadful in
His holiness. Turn over to 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel. In 1 Samuel chapter 6, look in verse 20. Here someone found out that God
is great and dreadful in His holiness. And the men of Bathsheba
said, Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God, and to whom
shall He go up from us? But who is able? Who is able? That's a good question. Who is
able to stand before this holy Lord God? Who's able? I'll answer that question here
in a little while. Turn over to Revelation 15. In Revelation chapter 15, in verse... I'm going to start at verse 3. And
they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God. and the song
of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord
God Almighty. Just and true are thy ways, thou
King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord,
and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy. For all nations shall come and
worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest.
But thou only art holy. God only is independently holy
and righteous. It is not imputed to Him. It
is to us, but not to Him. He is independently holy. God is infinitely holy. There
was never a time He was not holy, and never a time He'll not be
holy. We talk about holiness. We have
to talk about God. Because apart from Him, there
is no such thing as holiness. Thou only art holy. Now, all His children are holy
in Him. They're righteous in Him. But
that's by His work. That's why he is imputation in
his work, but he alone is independently holy. One writer wrote this,
power, I believe it was Stephen Charnock, power is God's arm. Omniscience, his eye. Mercy,
his bowels. Eternity, his duration. Holiness, his beauty. It's His beauty. His holiness
is that which gives beauty to all His attributes. His love
is what? It's a holy love. His power is
a holy power. What would it be without holiness? It would be a tyrant. All His attributes are adorned
with this. Holy. Holy. Listen to these scriptures
in Exodus 15. We won't turn to them. He says
this, Exodus 15, 11. Glorious in holiness, fearful
in praises. Psalm 99, 5. Exalt the Lord our
God, for He is holy. In 1 Peter 1, 16. Be ye holy, for I am holy. God is great and dreadful in
His holiness. You know, in heaven, well, let
me show you, over in Isaiah 6, you know, from time to time in the
Word of God, we get a glimpse into that unseen world through
the Word of God. And here's one of those glimpses
we get. In Isaiah 6, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw
also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train
filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims,
each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face,
and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the
Lord of hosts and the whole earth is full of his glory. Those seraphims who know no sin, perfect, they are perfect. Even they have to cover their
face. as they cry, Holy, Holy, Holy. If this is not so, let's forget
the rest of it. Just forget the rest of it. God is great and dreadful in
His justice. He said, I am a just God and
a Savior. He will not. He will not. Save
anyone at the expense of his justice. Not going to happen. Not going to happen. He will
by no means, it says in the Word of God, clear the guilty. Not
without satisfaction. Not without satisfaction. Don't
let God's longsuffering make you think, make me think, or
anyone think, that he looks upon sin with indifference. We would be sadly mistaken. The fallen angels, he cast them
out. They had no Savior. They're doomed. They have no Savior. The flood. The flood. God drowned this world
one time. Plagues of Egypt. He spared not
the firstborn, it was not under the blood. They felt the hand, the power
of the great and dreadful God. They felt it. But the greatest example of God's
justice is Calvary. God spared not His own Son. When sin was laid upon Him, when
He was made to be our substitute, a sin offering, when He was made
to be sin, God spared Him not. He suffered
the full wrath and anger of the great and terrible God. That's who He is. He says in
Malachi 1 verse 14, My name is dreadful among the heathen. Ask Pharaoh. Ask Nebuchadnezzar. God put him out to pasture for
seven years. Listen to these scriptures. Psalm
135, verse 6, Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in
heaven and earth and the seas and all deep places. Isaiah 46,
verse 10, My counsel shall stand, I will do all my pleasure. In another place, he said in
Isaiah concerning Israel, he said, I gave Egypt and Seba for
I destroyed those nations for you. They had to deal with the
great and dreadful God. These prophets know what they're
talking about. They know who they're talking
about. That's what I should say. They know who they're talking
about. It says in Daniel 4.35, He doeth according to His will,
and the army of heaven, and the inhabitants of the earth, and
none can stay His hand or stand to Him. What doest thou? What
are you doing? Scripture says He gives no account
of any of His matters. He does not answer to us. We
answer to Him. This is who God is. But especially in this matter
of salvation, over in Romans chapter 9, He's sovereign in
these things, great and dreadful in His sovereignty. In Romans chapter 9, he says in verse 18. Let's go to verse 17. Here's someone who tasted of
God's power. For the Scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will be hardened." He saves whom he will, and he
leaves alone whom he will. When I understood that, I never, ever in my life feared
God with the right fear. But when I heard that, heard
my pastor preaching the gospel on television, when I heard that
for the first time, I feared God. was the first time I realized
that salvation was in His hands, not mine. It was according to
His will, not my peanut will. When I read that, I thought,
He can have mercy? On whom He will have mercy? And whom He will, He'll harden.
He'll leave alone. That's how He hardens. He'll
just leave you alone. That's sovereignty. That's his,
as Spurgeon said, his royal prerogative. That's what that is. And a person
will not worship God until they worship him at his sovereign
throne. It will not happen. Look over in Matthew chapter
11. I'll show you something here
of God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty and salvation. In Matthew chapter 11, look at
verse 20. Then began he to upbraid the
cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they
repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented long ago of sackcloth and ashes." Now, he says they
would have repented. If I had done the works in them that I've
done here, they would have repented. And then look at verse 23, "'And
thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be brought down
to hell. For if the mighty works which have been done in thee
had been done in Sodom, It would remain until this day. Do you hear what the Lord is
saying? If the mighty works, if I had done among them what
I've done among you, they'd still be here. Why didn't He? Why didn't God do that? He's
God, isn't He? Here's a real demonstration of His sovereignty.
He said, if I had done the works there, they would have repented.
Well, why didn't he do it? It was not his will to do so. It was not his will. God saves men and women to the
praise and glory of his grace. Those who perish, perish to the
praise and glory of his justice. Either way, God gives to glory. He gets the glory. Our lives
are in the hands of the sovereign God of heaven and earth. Look
over in John, Matthew, Mark, look over in John 17. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all
flesh. He has power over the heart of
every human being in this world. That's as plain as it can be.
as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should
give," what? "...eternal life to as many as
thou hast given him." Do you know what I say to that?
And I know what every believer here says to that. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You know when in
the book of Revelation it says he cast the great whore into
hell? Do you know what they say then? Hallelujah. His judgments and his ways are
right. They're right. Here's a question. Here's the
question. How can I, a sinful creature,
by birth, by nature, by action, How can I, a sinful creature,
stand before this great and dreadful God? How can I do that and be
accepted? I know how I cannot do it. I
know by the Word of God that I cannot do it by my works. He
said all our righteousness are filthy rags in His sight. Take the best thing you've ever
done in your life, apart from Christ, it's nothing but filthy
rags. I know I cannot stand before
Him by my heritage. They say, we be Abraham's seed. He said, your fathers ate manna
in the desert and are dead. Religion. Religion won't save anybody.
I told that to a man years ago I was working for. He listened to my pastor. I gave
him a tape of my pastor, Henry. He listened to the message. He
came back the next day and he said, well, first he said, was
there anybody in the building? It was, you know how quiet it
is when he's preaching, it's quiet. I said, there's about 400 people
there. You know, they're used to these services where, I mean,
they're just out of control. But we got to talking about the message.
And I said, you know, We're religious by nature. All of us are religious
by nature. I said, but that's not salvation.
He got upset with me. He got upset with me because
I said, because, you know, just because you're religious doesn't
mean you're saved at all. It has nothing to do with it. It has everything to do with
my relationship to Christ. Religion is not salvation. A
man can be sincere, but how many people are sincerely wrong? How
many times have I been sincerely wrong? You've been sincerely
wrong about something. The Jews, go read Romans 10,
sincerely wrong. They have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. It has to do with God keeping
the covenant and mercy that He made with His Son concerning
me and concerning a multitude of sinners that no man can number.
No man. You know, God delights to show
mercy. It says there in Romans 9, it's
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. Let's get it right. Let's get
your order right. It's of God that shows mercy. However, He shows it by way of
a covenant. He's a covenant God. All these
I've read to you has to do with a covenant. And that covenant
has to do with His Son. It has to do with the Lord Jesus
Christ. God is a covenant God and He keeps His covenant. And
there's a real covenant, a covenant of grace between the Father and
the Son. concerning a multitude of sinners,
concerning a multitude of ungodly people by nature. Is there surety in that covenant? You know, I think it's Solomon
that said, he that is surety shall smart for it. Isn't that
what he said? Did not Christ smart for it?
He sure did. He was surety for a multitude
of sinful law breakers, and He smarted for it. He's the surety of it. He's the
mediator of it. He's the embodiment of it. He's
the keeper of it. That's why I said he keeps the
covenant. I'm not keeping it. You're not
keeping it. We broke it today. If you want
to examine our thoughts, if you just examine our thoughts today. But that covenant, rest in the
Lord Jesus Christ. I have laid help upon one that
is mighty. The government is upon his shoulders. His shoulders. Look over in John 10. John chapter
10. This covenant was made between
the Father and the Son Concerning a multitude of sinners that no
man could number, and given to him to redeem. Redemption was
not an attempt. It was an actual redemption.
It was an actual purchase. You are a purchased people. God's going to have what He purchased.
In John 10, 28. Let me see what I need to start reading
here. And look in verse 27, My sheep hear My voice, and I know
them, and they follow Me. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me,
when did that happen? When did that happen? That happened
before creation. God is, listen, God is infinitely
wise. You know, we do things, I do
things, and I hope the outcome's going to be all right. God assures
the outcome's going to be all right. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hands. I and my Father are one." And
then you know what happened? The Jews, these are the ones,
listen, these are the ones who believed election. I mean, they
believed it. They believed they were it. But
when they heard of sovereign mercy, sovereign grace, and Gentiles
being allowed in the house, they hated it. Then the Jews took
up stones again to stone They wanted to kill him. He said back
in verse 36, but you believe not because you're not my sheep. As I said to you, my sheep hear
my voice. Our Lord said in John 17, I have
finished the work thou gavest me to do. What was that work? You know, he says in Isaiah 42,
My servant shall not fail. Then he says, I have finished
the work thou gavest me to do. It's the work of redemption.
It's the work of righteousness. He has produced, brought out
a righteousness that God accepted on our behalf. He is our righteousness. He is the Lord our righteousness. He's my righteousness and He's
the Redeemer of my soul. That's who He is. And He's seated
at God's right hand making intercession for transgressors. Oh, that covenant is sure. That
covenant of grace is sure. It rests in the hand of the man,
Christ Jesus, and it can't be broken. How can I stand before this great
and dreadful God? Let me close with Romans chapter
8. Romans chapter 8, verse 1. No condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. But there's no condemnation to them who are in the Lord Jesus
Christ. How can I stand before this great
and dreadful God? In His Son, and no other way.