Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyvert. I'm reading from the sixth chapter
of Genesis, and I'm going to read verses 17 and 18. I've entitled
this message, The Covenant God Established. The Covenant God
Established. This is God speaking in verse
17. 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's
in the earth shall die. Now the Lord Jesus spoke of this
as a literal event. Peter spoke of it as a literal
event. It was a literal event. God destroyed the earth with
the flood. The entire planet was covered
with water, and everything that had breath died. This was God's
judgment against sin. Earlier in this chapter, we read,
and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. Now that was the state of man
and God brought the flood in judgment against man and his
sin. All men equally guilty, equally
sinful. Look in verse 18, he's speaking
to Noah and he says, but with thee, will I establish my covenant. And thou shalt come into the
ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons' wives with
thee. The covenant that God established. I could very easily entitled
this message, The Gospel of the Covenant, because this is the
gospel. Now, this is the first time the
word covenant is mentioned in the scripture, and it's mentioned
over 300 times, both Old Testament and New Testament. And when we
talk about the Old Testament and the New Testament, it's the
same word, the old covenant and the new covenant. Now, because
of human sinfulness, God is bringing a flood upon the earth in his
judgment against sin. And this flood covered the entire
earth. The scripture says 15 cubits
above the highest mountain peak. No one survived this, but God
said to Noah, with thee will I establish my covenant. If you look earlier in this chapter,
God said, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Just Noah and his family. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And this is how this covenant
works. I will establish my covenant with you and you shall enter
the ark, not I'll establish my covenant with you if you do this. No, it goes like this. I will. This is God speaking. I will. and you shall. The New Testament's
counterpart is in John 6, verse 37, when the Lord Jesus said,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Now, the gospel of God cannot
be understood apart from the covenant God made. God is a covenant-making, covenant-keeping
God. That's who he is. And there really
is no understanding of the gospel apart from the covenant God made. Now, he said, I'm gonna drown
every man, woman, boy, and girl as an act of my judgment against
sin. You see, God's holy. Sin must be punished. God would cease to be God. He
would cease to be just. He would cease to be righteous
if he could just let sin go unpunished. God must punish sin. And God is going to send a flood,
but he says to Noah, but with thee will I establish my covenant. and you shall go into the ark.
That's that ark that Noah had spent 120 years in making under
God's command. The long-suffering of God had
120-year construction project. Noah was a preacher of righteousness,
the scripture says. And that is not saying that he
was saying you all need to live righteously or God's gonna drown
you. No, he was a preacher of the
one righteousness, the righteousness of Christ, the only righteousness
that a sinner can be clothed in and be acceptable before God. Noah believed the gospel. just
like any other believer believes the gospel. And for 120 years,
he'd been building this ark exactly according to God's instruction. And the time of the flood has
come, and God says, with thee have I established my covenant,
and thou shall enter into the ark, you, your wife, your sons,
and your sons' wives. Actually, Peter tells us only
eight souls were saved at that time. In all the world, only
eight souls were saved. Now, God's grace is not generic. It's not just thrown out there.
It actually saves, and it saved Noah. It saved his wife, his
sons, and his son's wife, these eight souls that were saved who
were in this ark. Noah was singled out by God,
and Noah's family was singled out by God for God to give his
grace to. With thee have I established
my covenant. Now, let's talk about this thing
of covenants for just a moment. In the scripture, I've read where
there are six and seven covenants, the covenant God made with Adam,
the covenant God made with Noah, the covenant God made with Abraham,
the covenant God made with David and so on. He did make covenants
with these men, but they can all be brought to this one covenant. There are two covenants, the
covenant of works and the covenant of grace. That's so important,
there are only two covenants. Paul said in Galatians 4, these
be the two covenants. There are only two covenants,
the covenant where salvation is conditioned upon human obedience
and the covenant where salvation is conditioned upon Christ's
obedience. Salvation contingent upon what
you do or salvation contingent upon what Christ has done. These
be the two covenants. Now the first covenant was made
with Adam in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2, beginning in verse
16. We read, and the 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 even eat of it, for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou
shalt surely die. Now here's the first covenant.
Don't eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. That's the one commandment. You're standing before God as
conditioned upon your ability to not eat. of the fruit of the
tree, of the knowledge of good and evil. And we know that Adam
did eat of the fruit and he brought our race into spiritual death
through that. And here is the second covenant.
I've just read it. It's what God made with Adam,
but it's actually the covenant God made with Christ. He said,
but with thee will I establish my covenant. Now you see God
made a covenant with Christ and everyone in him before the foundation
of the world. We read in Ephesians 1, 4, according
as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the
world. Now in this covenant, Christ
agreed to take full responsibility of the salvation of everybody
that the Father gave him. You know, he spoke six times
in the Lord's Prayer in John chapter 17 of those the Father
gave him. He said in verse nine, I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. You
see, Christ stood as a surety, as a guarantee, as a representative
of all these people the Father gave him. And this is illustrated
so beautifully in Genesis 43, verse nine, where Judah says
regarding Benjamin, and this is what Christ says regarding
all of his people, I will be surety for him. of my hand shalt
thou require of him. If I bring him not back before
thee and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. And that's what Christ did for
his people in this covenant. He said, I will be surety for
them. of my hand shalt thou require
of him. He stood as the surety of the
elect of the better Testament, the better covenant before time
began. And in time, he came and he came
as an us, he came representing all those people the father gave
him. and he kept the law for them. He said to John the Baptist,
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. And he died
for them and put away their sins and he was raised again for them. This is the great covenant of
grace. And the reason God could say
this to Noah, I will and you shall, is because of the covenant
he made before time began. Now, the Bible is filled with
illustrations of this covenant. That's what the Old Testament
is all about. It's not just weird stories. It's stories given to
illustrate the covenant of grace and the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, when I was thinking of this
thing of covenants and how the Bible illustrates this, I thought
about David's covenant with Jonathan. Now, David and Jonathan were
dear friends. And Jonathan, the son of Saul,
who hated David, Saul hated him, but Jonathan loved him. And Jonathan
knew he was the Lord's anointed. He knew that God was going to
destroy all of his enemies. And he made a covenant with David. He said, here's the covenant
I want to enter in with you. When the Lord destroys all your
enemies, and I know he is, I know you're the Lord's anointed and
nobody can stand before you, not my father or not anybody
else. Remember Saul was always trying to kill David, but he
couldn't do it because David was the Lord's anointed. Now,
Jonathan said, I want you to remember my children after I'm
dead and gone, to have mercy on them. Now there's the covenant.
And David said, I'll do it. Now you can read about this in
2 Samuel 9. Years pass from the time that
David made this covenant with Jonathan. And when David makes
this statement, he is at that time the most powerful man in
the world. Israel was at its height as far
as their power as a nation. And the scripture says, the fear
of David came upon every nation. I mean, people were afraid of
David. They didn't wanna mess with David. They didn't wanna
fight with David and his armies because it was sure defeat. So
when David makes this statement, he's making this statement from
power. And he says in 2 Samuel 9, verse
one, is there any of the house of Saul that I can show kindness
to for Jonathan's sake." He remembered that covenant. And he calls upon
a servant by the name of Ziba. And he says, is there any left
of the house of Saul that I can show kindness to for Jonathan's
sake? And Ziba says, yeah, there's one. But he isn't worth much. He's lame on both his feet. He can't work for you. He can't
fight for you. All he can be. All that can be
done for him is you're going to have to carry him. He can't
contribute anything to you. His name was Mephibosheth. And David said, go fetch him.
Fetch him, grace. Go fetch him. And he brought
that boy, Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan. who was at the house
of Saul, David's enemies, the one who tried to kill Saul. And
he made him to sit at his table for the rest of his life, even
though he was lame on his feet, to sit at the king's table and
eat. And he did it because of this
covenant that he made. And God the Father says, is there
any of the house of Adam? that I can show kindness to for
Christ's sake. Now, once again, this scripture
is filled with illustrations of this. I'd like to read this passage
from Galatians chapter four, where Paul talks about the two
covenants, and this is a very, very important passage of scripture.
It teaches us how to interpret the Old Testament. In Galatians
chapter four, verse 19, Paul said, my little children of whom
I travail and birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire
to be present with you now and to change my voice for I stand
in doubt of you. Tell me you the desire to be
under the law. Do you not hear the law? Now, what do you think of when
you think of the law? I think of the 10 commandments. But listen
to what Paul says. For it is written that Abraham
had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But
he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he
of the free woman was by promise, which things are an allegory,
for these are the two covenants. Now he tells that story from
Genesis chapter 16, where God had promised Abraham children.
He waited and that didn't take place. His wife, Sarah, comes
up with an idea. Now, we need to do our part. God's promise won't come to pass
unless we do our part. You know, that's really very
stupid to think something like that. God's promise is gonna
come to pass, no matter what. I mean, it's gonna happen. But
she said, it's not gonna come to pass unless we do our part.
You go into my servant, Hagar, a young, childbearing woman,
and she'll bear us a child, and then we'll help God out with
his promise. And he did it, and they had Ishmael. Nothing supernatural about that.
13 years later, after Sarah has already gone through menopause
and childbearing was impossible, She had Isaac through Abraham,
the old man. Now here we have man doing his
part. So God's promise can come to
pass. And that is with Abraham and
Hagar and Ishmael, but with Abraham and Sarah and Isaac, we have
a supernatural work of God's grace. God's promise coming to
pass because God willed it, not without human help, but simply
because he willed it. And Paul says, these are the
two covenants. Remember, there's only two covenants, salvation
dependent upon you doing your part, or salvation dependent
upon God doing it all. Now, here's what David said about
this covenant. In 2 Samuel 23, verse five, he
was dying. He was dying. And these were
his last words. And he said in 2 Samuel 23, verse
five, although my house be not so with God, Now he was dying
and he was looking at his family, his extended family, he was in
trouble. He had children who tried to
kill him and who tried to get him off the throne. He had wives
that he shouldn't have had in the first place who were against
him and his house was a mess. He couldn't look at it, it wasn't
leave it to a beaver kind of house. I mean, it was a mess. And he was talking about himself.
He was looking at his own house. And I have no doubt that he saw
the sinfulness of himself. David knew he was a sinner. And
he said, although my house be not so with God, yet hath he
made with me an everlasting covenant. Ordered in all things and sure. Now this covenant that he's speaking
of is the same covenant God made with Noah. Ordered in all things
and sure. And look what David said about
this. He said he's made with me an everlasting covenant. That's
a covenant that never had a beginning. This covenant was made before
time began. He's made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things. There's nothing left to chance.
There's nothing left to human works. And it's sure. And David
says regarding this covenant, this is all my salvation. And this is all my desire. All my salvation is found in
this covenant. God said to Noah, with thee shall
I establish my covenant and you shall enter the ark. I mean,
it's an I will and you shall. And it's the same thing with
David. He said, this is all my salvation. It's all my desire.
I don't want anything else. The only thing I want is to be
found in Christ for him to enter into this covenant with me. That
is all my salvation. the two covenants, the covenant
of works and the covenant of grace. Now in closing, I'd like
to read a passage of scripture out of Hebrews chapter eight
that speaks of both of these covenants. Now this is, you could
call this new Testament Christianity, new covenant Christianity. This
is, this is the significance of the covenant or the Testament. Now we read in verse six of Hebrews
chapter eight, But now hath he, the Lord Jesus Christ, obtained
a more excellent ministry, more excellent than the law, more
excellent than the ministry of Moses. Now hath he obtained a
more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator
of a better covenant, which is established upon better promises. For if the first covenant, the
covenant of works, had been faultless, then should no place have been
sought for the second. Now, the first covenant, the
covenant of works, was faulty. As a matter of fact, if you look
in chapter seven, he says it's unprofitable, it's weak, and
he's talking about the law, the 10 commandments. It is faulty. Now let me tell you how it's
faulty. The problem isn't with the law. The problem is with
us. The law gives no power to obey. If salvation is conditioned
upon me or you in any way for us to do something, we do not
have the power to do it. Secondly, the law cannot save. You can't be saved by your works. It's impossible. Thirdly, the
law never produces love. If salvation is dependent upon
you in some way, you will never love God as he is. Oh, you may love yourself, you
may love religion, but you won't love God for who he is as long
as salvation's dependent upon you. Actually, you'll have a
resentment for him. Oh, it's only in the covenant
of grace that there is true love for God, love for his gospel,
love for his people. Now he says verse seven, for
the first covenant had been faultless, then should have no place been
sought for the second, the covenant of grace, the saving covenant.
This is the one he made with Noah and the one he made with
David and the one he made with Abraham. Now look what he says. For finding fault with them,
he saith, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I 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. Now in this first covenant, God
took the hand and God's all powerful. He can bring anybody anywhere
he wants to, but he didn't have their heart. You see, he took
their hand, but the heart remained unchanged. And he says, they
continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith
the Lord. For this is the covenant that
I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their
hearts. Now this is not talking about
the Ten Commandments. Everybody by nature knows the Ten Commandments
in their heart. Everybody that is able to think
knows it's wrong to kill. It's wrong to steal. It's wrong
to lie. Everybody already has that written
in their heart. This is talking about the laws
of the new nature, where he gives a new heart. And you have a new
nature. It's only this new nature that
understands why the old nature is so sinful. He says, I'll put
my new nature, my laws, in their heart. And he says, next, I will
be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. Here's what
that looks like. If God be for us, who can be
against us? It means God's for you. For whom
He did foreknow, them 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. Whom He called, them He also
justified. Whom He justified, them He also glorified. What
shall we say to these things if God be for us? Who can be
against us? I will be to them a God. Here's the I will and they shall.
I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people. Now let's go on reading verse
11. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every
man his brother saying, know the Lord for all shall know me
from the least to the greatest. Now, In this thing of the gospel,
the new covenant, God does the teaching. Somebody, I've heard
people say this, God's trying to teach me something. No, he's
not. God never tries to do anything. If he teaches you, you're taught. Every man therefore that hath
heard and learned of the Father cometh to me. Every one of my
people are gonna know me from the least to the greatest. Not
just know about me, they're gonna know me. This is eternal life
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. God says, for I will, verse 12,
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. Now listen to that. He says,
I will be, I will be, not I will be if, I will be merciful. And that word is actually propitious. You say, what's that mean? A
propitiation, it's even hard to say, it's not a word we use
very often, but it's in the New Testament. A propitiation is
a sin-removing sacrifice. The Lord said, I'm gonna remove
their sins. That's how I'm gonna be merciful
to their unrighteousness. I'm gonna remove them through
the sacrifice of my Son, and because of that, their sins and
their iniquities, I will remember no more. Now, I have committed
sins since I can remember, but God doesn't remember them. How
is that? Can God forget something? No,
he's got a perfect memory, but my sin is gone. I do not have
any sin. And the reason God says with
regard to all of his people, their sins and their iniquities,
I'll remember no more is because there's nothing there to remember. Now, this is the covenant that
God made with Noah. but with thee will I establish
my covenant, and thou shalt enter into the ark." Now, this is the
New Testament. This is the old covenant. Actually, it's older than the
old because it was made before time began but it's always new,
it's always fresh, it's always powerful, the covenant. Now,
God'll meet you on the ground you want. If you wanna come in
works, he'll meet you on that ground. If you wanna come pure,
free grace, he'll meet you on that ground. But one thing you
can't do is mix the two of them. It's all of one or all of the
other, covenant of works or covenant of grace. To receive a copy of
the sermon you have just heard, send your request to todd.neibert
at gmail.com. or you may write or call the
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