Subject tonight is God's covenant
with Levi. Our text will be Malachi chapter
2 verses 4 through 7 God's covenant with Levi Nothing in all the
world is sweeter to the soul than a realization a confident
realization of covenant grace covenant grace. This is what
sustained and comforted and rejoiced David's heart when he lay on
his dying bed. He said, although my house be
not so with God, I take that to mean nothing is
as I wanted it to be. Nothing I planned, nothing I
did turned out the way I hoped it would. My house was another
mess. My sons kill each other. My wives
hate me. Although my house be not so with
God, yet the Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things insure, and this is all my salvation and all my
desire, though he make it not to grow. I can die all right
now. God's covenant grace is that
by which the Lord God braced and sustained his church in the
days of Malachi as he warned them of his sure judgment upon
a disobedient people to whom he had given his word, his ordinances,
his priesthood, his sacrifices. But a people who had despised
his name and dealt treacherously with him and dealt treacherously
with one another, profaning his holiness. Let's read about this
covenant and pray that God, the Holy Spirit, whose word we now
read, will teach us the blessedness of God's covenant with Levi.
And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment. Now look
up verses two and three just above the text and you'll see
the commandment. I'm going to curse your blessings.
I've already cursed them It's not a commandment of obedience.
It's a decree of judgment You shall know that I have sent this
commandment to you To you the house of Israel and the house
of Judah to you priest who have profaned my name to you who wear
my name and Pretend to worship at my altar, but have dealt treacherousness
This commandment that I will take these things, your sacrifices
you bring to me, and I will spread the dung of these sacrifices
on your faces and send you to hell with it. You shall know
that I sent this commandment unto you for this purpose, that
my covenant, I've sent this commandment to you to cast off the physical
nation. to destroy the physical nation
of Israel for this purpose, that my covenant might stand with
Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him of life
and peace, and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he
feared me and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was
in his mouth, Iniquity was not found in his lips He walked with
me in peace and equity and did turn many away from iniquity
for the priest lips should keep knowledge and They should seek
the law at his mouth That is the people should seek God's
Word in God's will the knowledge of God at the mouth of their
priest for he the priest is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. Now, everything that's said here
concerning Levi must be understood only as Levi was typical of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing spoken in this passage
can be properly interpreted with regard to Levi as a man, the
physical man Levi. Everything here speaks of him
only as he is typical of the Lord Jesus. No man, let alone
Levi, could have this word given as a description of him. Iniquity
was not found in his lips. That's a dead sure giveaway.
This is not talking about just the man Levi. It's talking about
someone greater than Levi. It's talking about the God-man,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Now everything here that is spoken
is that which is spoken of as being in the past. Well, how can this be? That shouldn't
surprise you at all. That shouldn't surprise you at
all. Turn back to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. It's not at all uncommon
for us to read of the person and work of our Redeemer. Both
his person and his work in the past tense. And to read of those
things, his person and his work hundreds of years before he ever
came into this world. But it's spoken of in the past
tense Isaiah spoke of our Savior by the spirit of prophecy as
a man despised and rejected of men and as our sin atoning substitute
Ages before he ever came into the world if you read through
Isaiah 53 or as we read through it Notice carefully how that
the verb tenses move from past to present to future, to future
to present to past, and are used almost interchangeably. As a
matter of fact, you could read the whole of Isaiah 53 and read
any of these verb tenses, past, present, or future, and it wouldn't
change anything as far as the structure of Isaiah 53 is concerned.
What are you saying? That which God does in time,
God did in the past, and God will do in the future. God lives
in eternity. Boy, that's a poor way of saying
it. God lives in eternity. He inhabits eternity. He inhabits
eternity. We are here experiencing things
in time, but we experience nothing in time that wasn't done by God
in eternity. You see, for God to will it is
for God to do it. And if it's been willed of God,
it's been done of God. All right, let's read Isaiah
53, beginning at verse 3. The Lord Jesus Christ, this one who
grew up as a root out of dry ground, he is despised and rejected
of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. We hid as it were our faces from
him. He was despised, and we esteemed him not. That is, he
was despised, and when he was despised, we thought he ought
to be despised. He hath borne our griefs. Now,
wait a minute. He's not coming for hundreds
of years. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes, we are healed. And this is talking
about something that was done in the past or something that's
going to be done in the future. Yes, that's what it's talking
about. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised
for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes, Isaiah
says to God's believing people in his day, we are healed. Larry Chris, he said he said
this is true right now and it's still true right now And it was
true before Isaiah wrote it read on all we like sheep have gone
astray We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all He was oppressed He was afflicted
yet. He opened not his mouth He is
brought as a lamb to the slaughter How can he say this? Listen carefully. He was oppressed. He was afflicted.
He opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dug, so he openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. And who should declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living. Well, he
hadn't got here yet, but he was cut off out of the land of the
living. For the transgression of my people was he stricken,
and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his
death, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit
in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. Now watch this. When thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin. He bruised him. Past tense. He put him to grief,
past tense. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. How can both be true? Because
we're dealing with God, we're not dealing with men. Isaiah
is speaking of the work of God Almighty, not the work of a man.
Read on. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. The Apostle John tells us that
our Lord Jesus Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. As we read this blessed account
of our great Levi here in Malachi chapter two, this one who is
our great high priest, the Lord Jesus, we read all that's here
revealed concerning God's covenant of life and peace with him. how
we ought to rejoice. We ought to leap and dance before
the Ark of God like David of old, if we understand the things
here spoken. It is a covenant made with Him,
our Savior. It is a covenant Jehovah declares
of life and peace. Indeed, in Isaiah chapter 49,
we'll look at it in just a little bit, our Lord Jesus, we're told,
is the covenant. The covenants made with him it
was made with him a covenant of life and peace, but he is
the covenant He's the whole of it. It is a covenant that was
made with him and all together with him He's the fulfiller of
it. He's the administrator of it. He's the preserver of it.
He is the covenant What can we say concerning this covenant?
I'm not going to say much. I'm just going to read scripture
to you several years ago I remember it well, Brother Mahan tired. He preached on Sunday morning
and came in Sunday night and sat down in the office at the
church and he told the fellows, he said, you all pray for me.
I'm tired. I just, it's so hard to preach and have some liberty
to preach and get up to preach again in the evenings. I just
don't feel like I can do anything. One of the fellows asked him,
he said, well, Brother Henry, what are you going to preach
from tonight? And he said, Hebrews 10. He said, just read it. Just read
it. I want to just read it tonight.
I want to read to you about the covenant. God help you to hear
it. Here's the first thing. Our text opens by our Lord's
own declaration that his covenant is with Levi. He said, you shall
know that I have sent this commandment to you, this commandment of judgment,
this commandment of judgment. We read about it being fulfilled
in Romans chapter 11. God cast off the natural branches. God destroyed that physical nation
of Israel. God turned everything that should
have been a blessing to them into a curse upon them. And he
said, I'm going to do this, that my covenant might be with Levi,
saith the Lord of hosts. We might have expected him to
say, my law shall be with Levi. The Levitical priesthood, after
all, was altogether a legal thing. But our Lord Jesus here is spoken
of as that one with whom his covenant is, not the one with
whom his law is. So certainly he fulfilled the
law, but the Lord Jesus came here fulfilling the law to be
the end of the law. He came to be the termination
of the law, not to destroy the law, but to finish the law. There's
a difference. There's a difference. Folks all
the time accuse us of being antinomian against the laws. You preach
that Christ destroyed the law. No, he didn't destroy it. He
fulfilled it. And he ended it. And when something
has, you finish with its surface, you don't need it anymore. You
know, just don't ever need it anymore. I, after a while, my
wife will hang on to, clothes that I had, you know, back when
I was just the size of two men. And the prospect is that one
of these days, I might be able to wear them again. But once
they've passed through about 15 years of being out of style,
and I haven't reached down there to put one of them on, she'll
set it aside. Well, you despise that. No, I
don't have any more use for it. It's no longer of any value to
me. I have no use for it whatsoever. I can't wear it. It's taking
up space in my closet. Let's just get rid of it. You'll
get rid of it. That's a poor illustration, but a pretty good
illustration of what I'm saying. The law was our schoolmaster
unto Christ. Christ is the end, the finishing
of the law. And God's covenant stands fast
with him. Look here in Romans chapter 8.
Let me show you. He made his covenant with Levi,
with Christ, of whom Levi was typical. David said, Thou hast
laid help upon one that is mighty. Thou hast exalted one chosen
out of the people. Romans 8 verse 1. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, Read that after the law. They don't walk
after the rudiments and the commandments of the law. They don't walk after
the carnal ordinances of the law, but after the spirit. For
the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law of sin and death. For what the law, the
carnal ordinances and commandments of the law, what the law could
not do In that it was weak through the flesh weak because we couldn't
fulfill it God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful
flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh That the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh but after the spirit the urim and thummim The lights and
perfections of God are with our great covenant, Levi, who's called
him back in Deuteronomy chapter 33, verse eight, Levi's holy
one. This is the holy one with whom
Levi strove at Meribah. He said, the law of the lights
and perfections, the Urim and Thummim shall be with him and
only with him. Now, look at verse five. Here's
the second thing. God's covenant is for us. It's all together for His elect. It is that covenant of which
we alone are the beneficiaries. Everything God ordered in the
covenant, He ordered for us. Everything God did in the covenant,
He did for us. Everything God established in
the covenant, He established for us. If you care to read back
in Psalm 138, I believe it is. Yeah, Psalm 138. The psalmist
repeats over and over and over again, for his mercy endureth
forever, for his mercy endureth forever. I just read it again
just a little bit ago. He said he overthrew Pharaoh
for his mercy endureth forever. He overthrew Egypt for his mercy
endureth forever. He destroyed the firstborn in
Egypt for his mercy endureth forever. He set judgment and
hail and fire and death for his mercy endureth forever. How can that be? Does the psalmist
tell us that everything God does in the exercise of judgment in
this world, he does for his elect because his mercy endures forever. You got it. That's just exactly
what he does. You go through the Psalms and
read them. underscore or write down, just put a number. Keep
one of those pad by your desk or by your nightstand and just
put a mark every time you read a word telling us to praise God
for his judgments. His judgments in there. All the
way through the Psalms. We'll call on to praise him for
his judgments. Praise him for his judgments. For his mercy
endureth forever. These judgments are as much the
act of his mercy toward his elect as redemption itself, while they
are judgments upon the reprobate. This covenant was made for us,
but it is all together between the triune God and our blessed
surety, the Lord Jesus Christ, our mediator. Not one thing in
the covenant If you can get hold of this,
I promise you, I promise you it'll rejoice your heart. Not
one thing in the covenant, not one thing promised to us, not
one thing given to us, not one thing ordered for us, depends
in any way upon us. It's made for us, but it's all
together with our surety. Turn to Isaiah 49 now, let me
show you. We read here in verse 5 Malachi 2 my covenant was with
him Not them with him with him Psalm 89 my covenant will stand
fast with him If his children do this or that my covenant still
will stand fast with him if his children Abandonment my covenant
still stands fast with him He's my covenant shall be with him
Isaiah 49 verse 8 Thus saith the Lord In an acceptable
time have I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped
thee, and I will preserve thee and give thee for a covenant
of the people. The Lord God speaks to his son,
his servant, called here his servant. He says, I'm going to
give you for covenant to the people for this purpose, to establish
the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages. that
thou mayest say to the prisoners, go forth. To them that are in
darkness, show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways and
their pastures shall be in all high places. These who are prisoners,
these who are in desolate places, they're going to feed as they're
going along the way. Their pastures, they will be
in the high places. Verse 10, they shall not hunger
nor thirst. Neither shall the heat nor the
sun smite them. For he that hath mercy on them
shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide
them. And I will make all my mountains
away, and my highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall
come from far, and lo, these from the north, and from the
west, and these from the land of Sinai. Verse 16. Behold, I
have graven thee upon the palms of my hand. Thy walls are continually
before me. Verse 22. Thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lift up mine hand to the Gentiles and set up my
standard to the people. I'll stretch out my hand over
the Gentile nations. to the fullness of Gentiles be
brought in. I'll set up my standard, my ensign.
You know who that is, don't you? Read Isaiah chapter 11. The banner
is Christ Jesus the Lord. I'll set up my standard to the
people and they shall bring thy sons. Whose sons? The sons of
the covenant. Thy sons, the sons of God. Thy
sons, the sons of Christ. They, the Gentiles, shall bring
thy sons. in their arms, and thy daughters
shall be carried upon their shoulders. All the Gentile nations, they're
going to carry my elect to you. Read on. Read on. Verse 23, and
kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing
mothers. That includes Mr. Obama. Like it or not, that includes
him. They shall be your nursing fathers, your nursing mothers.
Read on. They shall bow down to thee with their face toward
the earth and lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know
that I am the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed that wait
on me. Verse 24, shall the prey be taken
from the mighty or the lawful captive deliver? Who's going
to do that? But thus saith the Lord, even
the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of
the terrible shall be delivered. For I will contend with him that
contended with thee, and I will save thy children. Let's read
another word about this covenant in Jeremiah 31. The old writers used to talk about
God's shalls and wills. Read about it here. I will. I
will. I shall. This is sure to happen. Jeremiah 31, verse 31. Now, this
is the same covenant that is referred to in Hebrews 8 and
in Hebrews 10. It is the covenant God made for
us, the true Israel of God. Jeremiah 31, 31. Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. But John
thought it was an everlasting covenant. It is. But it's always
new. And it's newly revealed and newly
experienced day by day. The first covenant, the old covenant,
was revealed first. But really, this new covenant
was the first covenant. For instance, an everlasting
covenant. Not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them
out of the land of Egypt, which by covenant they break, Although
I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord." In other words, I'm
not going to make another covenant like I did at Sinai. It's not
going to be a covenant of law and works. But this shall be
the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward
parts. I'll create in you a new nature. I'll put Christ in you. You'll
be born again, made new creatures in Christ Jesus. I'll put my
law in their hearts, in their inward parts, and write it in
their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, know
you the Lord. That doesn't mean they're not going to teach each
other. It means they're all going to know me. How do you know that's
what it means? The next word says so. For they shall all know
me everyone taught of God knows him from the least of them unto
the greatest of them saith the Lord for I Will forgive their
iniquity and I will remember their sin no more But it goes
on talking about the covenant chapter 32 Jeremiah 32 verse
36 Now therefore thus saith the Lord the God of Israel concerning
this city this city Jerusalem This city of which Jerusalem
is but a type. Wherefore, you say it shall be
delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword
and by famine and by the pestilence. Behold, I will gather them out
of all countries, whether I have driven them in mine anger and
in my fury and in my great wrath. And I will bring them into under
this place and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be
my people and I will be their God and I will give them I will
give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever
for the good of them and of their children after them and I will
make an everlasting covenant with them watch it that I will
not Turn away from them to do them good Mmm the blessing of the Lord
it maketh rich and And he addeth no sorrow to it. I will not turn
away from them to do them good. God teach me to remember your
promise. But I will put my fear in their hearts. Well, he won't turn away from
you, but you might turn away from him. Not if you're his,
you won't. I put my fear in their hearts
that they shall not depart from me. I won't forsake them, and I won't
let them forsake me. Yea, I will rejoice over them
to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with
my whole heart and with my whole soul. God says I'm in this thing
with all my being to do them good. For thus saith the Lord,
like as I have brought all this evil upon this people, Scattered
them in judgment they fell in Adam and they went astray with
their fathers and went astray from the mother's womb They lived
in rebate and I scattered them. I sent judgment, but all this
evil I brought upon them So will I bring them all the good? That I have promised them back
in our text Malachi 2 here's the third thing This covenant Made with the Lord
Jesus is covenant of life. My covenant was with him of life. This covenant God has ordained
to be with our Levi is in the future. He declares, however,
that it was with him. Because it is an eternal covenant
an everlasting covenant a covenant made with christ before the world
was So that we were blessed in christ with all the blessings
of life and grace from old eternity By this covenant made with him
of life. It was with him of life The covenant
made with christ from everlasting is called this covenant of life
because it was made with christ the word of life Who is the father? who is with the Father from all
eternity, who comes and brings life to chosen sinners. He's
the Word made flesh in time that he might save his people from
their sins. The life was promised to us and
given to us in him before ever he came into this world in the
flesh. It's a covenant of life. God
hath saved us and called us with an holy calling. not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And then
the apostle goes on to say that Christ brought life and immortality
to light by the gospel. What on earth is that talking
about? It's obvious there's a nose on your face if you just get
your nose out of the way. He's telling us that this life and
immortality was ours from the time that we had our being with
our surety before the world began. It's everlasting, eternal life. Ours with Christ Jesus, who is
life. And it is brought to light by
the gospel. It's been now 43 years. 43 blessed years since the life
that God gave me in Christ was brought to light to my soul.
And that was brought to light by Christ who is the life coming
into me by the spirit of his grace in the new birth. Life
brought to light It's not life that begins when you believe,
or even life that begins when you're born again. It begins
in you, in your body then, but it's just brought to light. It's
life that was ours with Christ from old eternity. Here's the
fourth thing. My covenant was with Him of life
and peace. This covenant's with Christ.
was a covenant of peace. Why is it called covenant of
peace? In the covenant, God's terms of peace were set forth. By mercy and by truth, iniquity
is purged. The Lord Jesus stands forth as
our surety. And the triune God says, all
right, I'll accept you. in their stead, but if they would
have peace with me, their sins must be punished to the full
satisfaction of justice. They must obey me perfectly in
the full age of a man, every one of them. They must be perfectly
righteous. They must have a righteousness
in them, created in them, and their flesh must be destroyed. And the Lord Jesus said, I'll
do it. And the God of glory said, deliver him from going down to
the pit, for I have found a ransom. The Son of God was appointed
to be the peacemaker in the eternal covenant. And in time, in consequence
of his covenant engagements, he was sent to procure peace.
He said, lo, I come to do thy will, O my God, by the which
will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. And he made peace by his blood
on the cross. The covenant, we're told, was
with him because it was made with him from all eternity. The
head and representative of his people God made the covenant
with him all the blessings and promises of it were put into
his hands and All of it stands with him forever number five
Now watch this and I will give them to him Give what to him
Give what to him? I will give them to him. Give my people to him. All right.
But he says here, I will make with him, I made with him, my
covenant with him was a covenant of life and peace. He said, now
I will give them to him. I gave him to be the covenant
and I've given life and peace to him to give to my people. Let's see if I can make good
on that. Turn to John 17. John 17. The triune God gave life and
peace to Christ, our covenant surety in eternity, that he might
give life and peace to chosen, redeemed sinners in time. John
17, verse one. These words speak Jesus. He's
wrapping up his service on this earth. He's about to finish it.
Lifted up his eyes to heaven and said father the hour is come
the hour for which this world was made Glorify thy son that
thy son also may glorify thee What's he talking about? We don't
as thou has given him power authority dominion might over all flesh
and He's been given the right to rule and dispose of all flesh
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Now
watch this. And now, O Father, Glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. God said, I gave life and peace
to him. Back here in the covenant. And
now the Son of God says, Father, Give me that glory openly and
manifestly that I had with you as my people's covenant surety
before the world was. And when the father raised up
the son from the dead and he ascended on high, the Lord God
Almighty manifestly gave all things into his hands, life and
peace to give to his people as he had done back in old eternity
when Christ Jesus stood as our surety and God created the earth,
the heavens and the earth. You remember who created them?
Well, God did. Yeah, he did. through a mediator,
through a surety, through a representative person, through his son. Without him was not anything
made that was made. Everything that has ever been
done has been done by our covenant surety, our God-man mediator,
who in time assumed our flesh and became one of us. But all
this was given him as our covenant surety before the world began.
He asked life of thee, the psalmist said, and thou gavest it him,
even length of days forever and ever. His glory is great in thy
salvation. Honor and majesty hast thou laid
upon him. He has given us life promised
by God from eternity. Then the Lord God gives us seven
reasons for trusting Christ as our surety. He said, my covenant
stands with him who feared me. and was afraid before me." Our
Lord Jesus bowed himself in Gethsemane prostrate, bleeding through the
pores of his skin, crushed with the anticipation of being made
sin for us. And he cried unto God and was
heard in that he feared, Hebrews 5, 7 tells us. And yet for the
joy of saving us, for the joy of fulfilling the covenant He said, what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,
for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. And he braced himself, and he
rose up and said to his disciples, let's go. Let's go from Gethsemane
to Gabbatha to Golgotha. The hour has come. Then we're
told in verse six again, the law of truth was in his mouth. Listen to this. My heart is indicting
a good matter. I speak of things which I had
made touching the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready
writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men. Grace is
poured into thy lips. Therefore, God hath blessed thee
forever. All truth is in his mouth. flows from Him, and we are taught
truth by the Spirit of His grace. Iniquity was not found in His
lips. There was none in His nature,
none in His heart, none in His lips, none in His life. Men sought
to find some, but there was none. Satan came to find some, but
there was none. Devils sought to find some, but
there was none. There was no falsehood in him,
none in his doctrine, no deceit in his promises, no dissimulation
in his expressions of love and mercy to poor sinners. And fourth,
he walked with me in peace and equity. He walked with God
as a man in perfect obedience, fulfilling all his will and all
his law. He walked with him unto death
in complete peace, never quarreling, never repining. And therefore,
by his willing obedience unto death, he accomplished righteousness
and redemption for us. And for his obedience, already
accepted from eternity, the Lord God put life and peace
in his hands to give to us. That's what it said in John chapter
10. And then we read in verse 6 again, he turned away, turned
many away from iniquity. He did it in eternity when he
accomplished redemption for us as the land slain from the foundation
of the world. He did it in time when they died
in our stead at Calvary and took away the iniquity of the land
in one day. And he does it in grace when
he comes and conquers us by his omnipotent mercy. His lips, we're
told in verse 7, kept knowledge. The priest's lips should keep
knowledge. The priest, he ought to have
knowledge for the people. So when people come and seek
knowledge from him, he's got it to give. And our great Levi
kept knowledge, the knowledge of God and his will and his lips,
and he pours it forth into the ears and hearts of men. He still
does. Verse seven, again, he is the
messenger of the Lord of Hosts. He's the message, and he's the
messenger. He's the message, and he carries
the message to those to whom he comes. He's the messenger
of the Lord of hosts. He is the one in and by whom
God reveals himself to needy sinners. Now, turn to Ephesians
chapter 1 for just a minute. Ephesians 1. The triune God, this glorious
messenger of the covenant, has placed in his hands all things. He placed in his hands life and
peace for us. He placed us in his hands. He gives life to as many as thou
hast given him. He placed all his glory, all
his will, all his purpose in the hands of Christ, the Mediator,
and trusted him, trusted him, trusted him, committed everything
to him, trusted him. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
trust the God-man Mediator. Trust him. Isn't that a marvelous
thing? Isn't that a marvelous thing? There's never been a man
God could or would trust but the God-man. There'd never been another. And
he trusted him with everything, with everything. Ephesians 1
verse 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he
might gather together in one all things in Christ. That's
the reason he trusted him. Both which are in heaven and
which are in earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained,
not shall obtain, have obtained an inheritance. being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Now watch this. That we should
be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. God did all this that we might
praise him by trusting in Christ. Read on. in whom ye also trusted. After that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after
that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
all this covenant sealed to you, which is the earnest of our inheritance,
until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of
his glory. Now I've said all that to you.
And I said all that to me. And I pray that God says it to
you and to me. To say this. You can trust Him. You can trust this Mediator.
You can trust this Levi. If God, the triune God, has put
in His hands everything and trust Him. Life and peace
and salvation and His glory and the rule of the world and the
disposition of the world. God's trusted Him. He said, my
covenant of life and peace was with Him. It was with Him. It looks to me like David, the
Lord saying, I did this. and never really gave it another
thought. I did this and never had a suspicion
that it wouldn't come to pass. I trusted Him with my people
and never dreamed He wouldn't save them. I trusted Him with
my glory and never thought for a second He would fail me. I
trusted Him to fulfill my will. and never imagined he might deal
treacherously with me against my holiness that I've loved. I trusted him. You can trust
him too. You can trust him too. Just, oh, would to God I could
trust him like this. Lord, here I am. Here's my wife,
my daughter, my son-in-law, my grandchildren, these people. dearer to me than any people
in the world. Here they are. Here's everything. Here's everything.
Take care of it. Oh, God, give me grace to trust
you that way. Amen.