Go to Genesis chapter 17. Genesis chapter 17. Title of the message, The Covenant
of Grace. Covenant of Grace. You know, I made a profession
when I was about 20 years of age. I was about 23 before I
heard the gospel, heard Henry preaching the gospel. You know,
in those three years, I never heard of a covenant. I cannot
remember ever hearing of a covenant that God made with His Son concerning
a multitude of sinners that was given to Him. I don't know how
you could know the gospel and miss the covenant. This covenant
of grace. I don't know. Somewhere along
the line, it's got to leak out. The Bible, the Bible, the word
of God, you go from Genesis and it's so clearly taught here in
Genesis and then you go all the way through Revelation. That
covenant, it keeps coming up. I forget, I read today how many
times, how many hundreds of times this word covenant is brought
up in the scriptures. There is a covenant. of grace. Actually, it's between the whole
Godhead. It's made with the whole Godhead. But it's made with the
Lord Jesus Christ concerning the people. And it only stands to reason that God, who is infinite
in wisdom and knowledge, would order all things in a covenant
and make them sure. Now, doesn't that stand to reason?
God, who is infinite in wisdom and knowledge and understanding,
that He would leave this thing up to men finally? That's not infinite wisdom, is
it? No, infinite wisdom orders all things. As David said, he'd
made a covenant with me, ordered in all things and sure, Sure, this gave David great comfort
in his last hours on this earth was this covenant that God had
made with him in his son. He knew it and he found great
comfort in it in his dying hour. And I want us to hopefully tonight
to find some comfort in this covenant of grace that God has
made with his son. And we get a glimpse of it here
Paul said we know in part, and we preach in part, and we have
a part of it here tonight in these first eight verses. Now
for thirteen years, thirteen years, it appears that God was
silent. Thirteen years has passed between
the last verse of chapter 16 and the first verse of chapter
17. We don't hear anything of God. between those 13 years. And as you know, we looked at
this the last time, Abraham went in to Hagar with Sarah's consent,
with her prodding. It was her idea. And Abraham
went along with it. They were going to try to move
along with the promise of God concerning this promised seed,
concerning this heir, instead of waiting on the Lord. And of
course, this was nothing but sin. Nothing but sin, that's
all it was. And things seemed to be silent
for 13 years. And this was probably the chastening
hand of God on Abraham for hearkening to his wife, Sarah, and going
into Hagar. Not all chastening is over with
in a day. Not all chastening is over with
in a day. Sometimes it lasts for a good while. Sometimes it
takes us a good while to learn a lesson. Sometimes. However, because of the covenant
of grace that was made between the Father and the Son before
the world began, Almighty God appears again in grace to Abraham. He appears to Abraham. It says
over in Psalm 103, 9, He will not chide. He'll keep his anger
forever. He'll not do that. He pities
us like a father pities his children. And when it's time to appear,
when the lesson has been learned to some degree, He will appear. And He will reveal Himself as
He is. Listen, the Lord, it says, appeared. He appeared to Abraham. And He
appeared to Abram as the Almighty God. The Almighty God. We went over this a little bit
last time. God All-Sufficient. That's how He appeared to Abraham. And I think this is one of the
first lessons that we learn concerning the attribute of God, is that
He is all-sufficient. Our God is all-sufficient. The
king cried to Daniel, Is thy God able, is He sufficient to
deliver thee? Yes, He is. He is. He's all-sufficient in Himself,
of Himself. He's sufficient in His power.
to do as He promised. If God has promised it, He has
sufficient power to make it happen. He has sufficient power to rule
all things. He has sufficient power to make
providence work to our good. He is sufficient. And He is sufficient
to keep us, who is able to keep you from falling. He is sufficient. He is sufficient to keep us from
falling. And this is His true character. This is God's true
character. God all-sufficient. In every
attribute, He's all-sufficient. Never doubt, never doubt the
sufficiency of God to save us in His Son. Never doubt it. He's
sufficient. And He appeared to Abram, the
one with whom He made the covenant with, He appeared to him. God will reveal Himself to all
whom He has made a covenant with in Christ sooner or later. Sooner or later, God will appear
to His elect. No matter where they are, no
matter how far down they've fallen, no matter what mess they're in,
sooner or later, Almighty God will appear. He will appear just
like He did to Abraham. And He commands Abram To walk
before Him and say, Be thou perfect. He can demand. God demands no
less than He is. When the Lord saves sinners,
you know, in the Gospels, there's that adulterous woman. Does any
man condemn thee? No. He said neither do I. Go. Listen, what does He say?
Sin no more. You know what? He meant that. He meant it. When He said, Go
and sin no more, He meant it. He meant for them to go and sin
no more. He can never demand less than
He is. But thank God He provides everything
that He is in Christ. He provides us with everything.
He provides us with that perfection that we need to stand in His
presence. He hath made us accepted. That's the reason I read Ephesians
1. It has to do with His company.
Chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. He hath
made us accepted, not just acceptable. Something can be acceptable,
but I don't have to accept it. I may not want it. He hath made
us accepted. That means He's received us.
He has made us accepted in the Beloved. And He says to him,
walk before Me and be thou perfect. Walk in the Spirit and not in
the flesh. Let me read you over here in
Romans chapter 8. So familiar. Romans chapter 8. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
the life of Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
sin and death. He tells Abraham, walk before me. Walk in faith,
in the spirit of faith. Walk before me. And notice here as we go through
now these verses. Notice the I wills of God. I marked, I marked, went down
through there and marked all those down through there. The
I wills of God. Sounds like Ezekiel 36. If you're
going to read that, I will, I will, you shall, I will, and you shall.
That's a covenant of grace. Covenant of works is if you will,
then I will. You will, I will, you will, no.
He said, I will, you shall. That's a covenant of grace. So
you notice that. The covenant of grace is not
established on if you will, I will. Now, if it was established on
that, not one, not one person would be saved. Not one. Adam
proved that. Adam was created in innocence
and he couldn't do it. He could not keep the commandment.
He could not walk before God in perfect obedience. Couldn't
do it in innocence. Why in the world would anyone
think that in sinfulness that we could do it? Well, we can't. We can't. We cannot do that. Now, first here, he says, I will.
And I will has to do with Almighty God making His covenant with
Abraham. I will make a covenant and I
will establish this covenant. You can't break it, Abraham.
You cannot mess up this covenant. He said, well, you talk like
that, that'll give people a license to sin. If that's the way you
are, go ahead. You're going through anyway.
Actually, thinking like that is more sinful than going out
and doing anything. No, he said, I will. I will. This covenant is mine. Notice
this also. Not only that I will, but how
many times God says, my covenant, my covenant. It's my covenant. And so He's going to establish
this covenant. And on a higher order, this covenant
is made with His Son, Jesus Christ, before the world ever began.
But He says, My covenant, not our covenant. It's not a covenant
that you, Abraham, that you and I are going to sit down and hash
out like an agreement that two parties, two opposing parties,
and we're going to sit down and we're going to work this covenant
out. No, we're not, Abraham. It's my covenant, and these are
the terms. And you know what the terms are? Grace. Grace. Grace. Now, for Christ, it was
a work. It was a work he had to perform.
But for you and I, it's grace. The grace of God. That's why
it's a covenant of grace. It is a covenant also of the
triune God. It's a covenant of the Trinity.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all three are involved
in this covenant. All three of them. God purposed it before the world
ever began. In infinite wisdom, in the council
halls of God, He purposed it. He will establish it. He will
see it through. That's why He said, My servant
shall not fail. He's not going to fail. This
covenant is not going to be broken. No way. Now we know that the
covenant of grace was made with our Lord. We know that. Look over in John 17. This has something to do with
this covenant. John chapter 17. In verse 6, this is what happened. This happened before the world
began. In verse 6, our Lord says in John 17, I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were. Father, they were yours. The whole elect, they were yours.
And you gave them to me as a mediator, as the surety, as the redeemer. You gave them to me. Thou gavest
them to me. And they have kept thy word.
Now look in verse 12. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Who? Who did He keep? Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept. When did this happen? At what
time did this happen? It happened before the world
began. It happened before God ever created the first angel,
before He ever created the first of anything. He said, You gave
them to Me. Thou gavest them to Me to be
their surety. I'm their surety. I'm their mediator.
I'm their Redeemer. I'm their Savior. Christ is our
all-in-all in this covenant of grace. He's all-in-all in it.
The Father promised to multiply His seed exceedingly. As He says
to Abraham here, You're going to multiply His seed exceedingly.
He did multiply Abraham's seed exceedingly. I mean, there's
a multitude of people over there that are descendants of Abraham.
Probably more descendants from that one man than of any one
particular man ever since. But on a higher order, this covenant
is made with the Lord Jesus Christ. That new heaven and new earth
will be populated with the people redeemed by the blood of the
Son of God. A number which He says no man
can number. And to think, I had to think
about this today, to think that I am included, as Mike is saying,
that I am included, that you are included in that number.
That you are included to dwell on that new earth. Sometimes,
sometimes I sit on the front porch and I try to visualize
what a new earth would be without sin. that I'll actually walk
in this flesh without sin. On an earth solid. A new earth. That's a promise to God's Son
and to us in His Son. That's beyond our comprehension,
but it's so. But He's going to multiply His
seed exceedingly. And they're going to dwell in
that new earth. This covenant that God made with Abraham goes
beyond His natural seed over there in Palestine. Arabia, in
that area over there. It extends to that spiritual
seed. That spiritual seed, which are born by the Spirit of God
in Christ. That's who it extends to. Abraham
is called the father of the faithful. In Christ shall all families
of the earth be blessed. You know, back over in chapter
12, that's what God promised Abraham. But Abraham knew that
he was speaking of Christ. You know He's speaking of the
Lord Jesus Christ. In Him shall all families of
the earth be blessed. Now when God revealed this covenant
of grace to Abraham, Abraham fell on his face. That's the effect. That is the
effect the Gospel has when it comes in power. Paul said the
Gospel came to Thessalonians, not in word only, but in power
and in demonstration of the Spirit, when the gospel is revealed,
it makes a man bow down in his heart, to bow down before God
Almighty, to bow down at the feet of Christ and worship Him
and reverence Him and say, Who am I? A worm. A worm. Thou worm, Jacob, That's
what God called him. And to think that I have a part
in that covenant. In His Son, we do. Now notice
who's doing the speaking here. God says in verse 4, As for me,
behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of
many nations. The one doing all of the speaking
here is God. Almighty God. Abraham, you notice
one thing here, Abraham hasn't said a word. All he's doing is listening.
Just like what you're doing now. Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth.
He's listening. God is speaking. And God is revealing
this covenant to him. As you sit there and I stand
here and we read this, God's revealing that covenant to us
too. That covenant's being revealed to somebody. The covenant of
grace. God's doing all the speaking
and Abraham's doing all the listening. God's revealing to Abraham what
he's going to do. You see, salvation is what God
is going to do. What He's done, what He's doing,
what He's going to do. That salvation is not what He
does and what I do. He does what I do. Never, never
at any time. It's all His. And the promise
is sure. In verse 5, neither shall thy
name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham.
For a father of many nations have I made thee. That's past
tense. Abraham, this is settled. This
is settled. When was that? When was it settled? Before creation. Back in eternity. Back when God purposed all this. It was settled. Abraham, I've
made you a father of many nations. Many people. Many people. This promise is so sure that
God changes Abram's name to Abraham. He said, I've made you father
of many nations. That's what Abraham means, father
of many nations. He went ahead and changed his
name. Well, don't you think you ought to wait and see? You think we ought to wait and
see if it happens and then change his name? No, that's what you
and I need to do. That's what you and I do. But
God changed His name before it ever happened. He said, this
is as good as done. It's as good as done. Listen.
The covenant of grace between the Father and the Son is so
sure, it is so certain, that He caused those things with Benot
as though they were. It's done. With God, all this
is done. You and I are going through the
experience of it, but with him it's done. It's settled. David said it. He said that it
was ordered in all things and sure. Look over in Romans chapter
8. In Romans 8, listen to this in
verse 29. For whom He did foreknow, and
when did that happen? That happened before the world
was in the covenant of grace. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. And whom He called, then He also
justified. And whom He justified, then He also glorified. All that
is past tense. That's done. It's settled. It's
settled. It is so sure with God that it's
already complete. Now, this covenant of grace is
sure because it was made not with just an ordinary man. Not
with just someone like Abraham. We've already seen how many times
He stumbled. It was made with the God-man.
It was made with God's Son. The covenant of grace was made
with God. Therefore, He cannot fail. He
cannot fail. And notice the promise. I will
make thee exceeding fruitful. Fruitfulness comes through this
covenant of grace. If a man is not fruitful, it's
because he's not born of God. Now, if there's life, there's
going to be fruit. And if there's no fruit, there's
no life. There's no life. Fruitfulness
is a promise of this covenant. This is a promise in this covenant
of grace. Fruitfulness. God the Father
promised to bless the work of His Son with fruitfulness. You'll
be fruitful. All who believe are the fruit
of Christ. Look over in Isaiah 53.10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall what? See his
seed. Christ shall see His seed. He'll
see the fruit of His sufferings. I'm looking at some of the fruit,
the fruitfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. His person, His
work, His death, His resurrection. I'm looking at the fruit of it.
You and I are fruits of it. God said, I will multiply thee
and make thee fruitful. And all who believe shall be
fruitful. They shall bear the fruit of
the Holy Spirit. And everyone in Christ who's
brought to faith in Christ, given life in Christ, I promise you,
every one of them will be fruitful. They'll bear the fruit of the
Spirit of God. Love, joy, peace. And then listen, he says here
in verse, let me get back over here. In verse 6, I will make the exceeding
fruitful, I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come
out of thee. The Scripture says, He hath made
us what? Kings and priests unto God. Kings shall come out of
thee. He hath made us kings and priests
unto God. And I'll establish My covenant
here in verse 7. I will establish My covenant
there again. He calls it My covenant. It's
God's covenant between Me and thee. And we know on a higher order
that's with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I seek after thee and their
generation for an everlasting covenant. He said I will establish
My covenant and it's going to be an everlasting covenant. It
is an everlasting covenant. And this covenant of grace was settled
before the world began. That's why it's called everlasting. There's no end to it. Adam don't
eat of that fruit. That covenant ended when he ate
of the fruit. He broke it. He broke the covenant.
That covenant was broken. But this covenant of grace that
the Father made with the Son will never be broken. His obedience
was perfect. And he sits now at the right
hand of the Father to enforce this covenant. He sits there
to enforce it. It will never be broken. It's
an everlasting covenant. He fulfilled all its demands.
Listen. He truly, the man Christ Jesus
truly walked before God perfectly. walk before me and be thou perfect."
You know what? In all reality, he did in Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ, I have
walked before God perfectly. That's how real substitution
is. That's how real our union to the Lord Jesus Christ is.
As He is, so are we in this world. Tell River this. And therefore
all the promises are sure to all the seed because of His perfect
obedience. And then He promises eternal
glory here. I'll wind this down. I will give thee, here in verse
8, I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land
wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan. And you
know Canaan represented heaven. I give you the land of Canaan
for an everlasting possession, and I'll be their God. I'll be their God. I'll give
thee and thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger."
Christ, along with His seed, shall possess that new heaven
and new earth that Canaan represented. But Christ shall possess it,
and we shall possess it in Him and through Him. And in time,
we'll walk on it. In time, we will walk on it.
And He says, wherein you are a stranger. Well, I haven't been
there yet. In that sense, I'm a stranger because I haven't
been on it yet. The Maltesers, when they made this promise before
the world was, none of us had been on it yet. It's ours now. It's ours. In Christ it's ours. And this possession of that new
earth, this land of Canaan, is everlasting. It'll never be dissolved. You know, the one thing about
this earth that the Scripture makes very clear is that there's
an end to it. We don't know when, but we know
this. There is an end to this earth.
There is an end to all that our eyes see. There is an end to
it. But this new heaven and new earth
wherein dwells righteousness that we are going to possess
in our substitute because of Him and through Him. It'll never be dissolved. We
won't have to worry about the end of time. Not that the believers
are not worried about that anyway. But we'll never have to talk
about it. We'll never have to talk about the end. We'll never
have to talk about dying. Never have to preach. I remember
Henry said to me one time, we was at a funeral, walking away
from the grave, and he looked at me and he said, I'll be glad
when we quit dying. We won't do that anymore. All
because the Father loved a people. And I mean a rotten bunch of
people. Not a good one in the lot. None
good, no not one. He loved them. His Son loved
them. The Holy Spirit loved them. The
whole Godhead loved them. And He gave His Son a multitude
of sinners. And to think that He included
me. Isn't that something? That ought
to make you fall down on your face and worship Him. The blessings
of this covenant are established upon the righteous obedience
of the Son of God. Not ours. Never at any time. Never, ever, ever at any time. Does it depend on any obedience
on my part? Never. You say, well, you've
got to believe it. Well, faith is a gift of God.
He demands faith and then He gives faith. He works that faith
in us. He enables us to believe the
gospel. But it is established on the
righteous obedience of the Son of God And it is established
upon justice satisfied by the sin-atoning death of our Lord. There is a covenant. There is
a real covenant of grace that exists. For three years, I heard
a man preach for three years and never heard anything about
that covenant. Never heard anything about it.
I guess he was afraid people wouldn't come up to the altar
if he preached that. Well, there is a covenant of
grace between the Father and Son, and it will never be broken. We can't break it. Isn't that
good news? As stupid as I am, I can't break it. Can't do it. It was established on him, not
me. Okay, bye.