Would you turn back to Genesis
chapter 6? While you're turning there, tonight
I'm going to be preaching from the 14th chapter of the book
of Acts, verses 21 through 28. And we're looking at what gospel
preaching does. Notice I didn't say what preaching
does, but what gospel preaching does. All the difference in the
world. I've entitled this message, The
Covenant God Established. The Covenant God Established. Now, in that passage of scripture
I just read is where we are INTRODUCED to this word, Covenant. It's found over 300 times in
the Bible. Now, you've heard of the New Testament and the
Old Testament? Of course you have. Well, it's
the same word, the New Covenant and the Old Covenant. Now, let's see the circumstances
that were taking place that made this word appear. Look in verse
5 of Genesis chapter 6. 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. And it repented the Lord that
he'd made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I've created from the
face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping things
and the fowls of the air for it repented me that I've made
them. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Verse 11, the earth also was
corrupt before God. And the earth was filled with
violence. And God looked upon the earth
and behold, it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted his way
upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, the end
of all flesh has come before me for the earth is filled with
violence through them. And behold, I will destroy them
with the earth. Look in verse 17, 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.
Men, women, boys, girls, animals, insects, anything that had breath,
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. Now, I love the way this is said
to Noah. And you know, he said this to
you, if you're a believer, You were included in this just as
much as Noah was. Behold, I will establish my covenant
and you shall come into the ark. This is no different than what
the Lord said in John chapter six, verse 37, all that the father
giveth me shall come to me. This is the term of this covenant
that God made, I will and thou shalt. Does that sound attractive
to you? I will and thou shalt. Not I will if you will, but I
will and you shall. Now, the gospel of God cannot
be understood apart from an understanding of the covenant God made. You see, God is a covenant-making,
covenant-keeping God. This is who He is. He's a covenant
God. Now, I'm going to try to preach
on the covenant. Please pray for me. There's nothing
more important than this. This is the gospel. This is the
gospel as simply as I know how to state it, found in the covenant. God said, I'm going to drown
every man, woman, boy, and girl as an act of my judgment against
sin. But with thee, Noah, his family,
and nobody else, is not generic. You know Peter tells us, few,
eight souls were saved by water. Eight. The rest of the population
of the earth was sent to hell, were drowned. I mean this is
the scriptural testimony. This is not what the preacher
is saying. This is the scriptural testimony. God's grace is not
generic. With thee, will I establish my
covenant? Now, there are two covenants
that God has made in the scripture. Let's look at them. Genesis chapter
2, here's the first. I've read of the covenant God
made with Noah, the covenant God made with Abraham, the covenant
God made with David, the covenant God made with Solomon. Well,
those were aspects of the one covenant, there's only two covenants. Here's the first one, Genesis
chapter two, verse 16, 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
eat of it, For in the day thou is thereof, thou shalt surely
die. Now there's the first covenant.
It's called the covenant of works. You're given a commandment. If
you don't keep the commandment, you will die. Now that is the covenant of works. And the second covenant is what
we just read in verse 18 of Genesis chapter six. But with thee, Noah, with thee, every one of the elect,
with thee, every believer, with thee, everyone for whom Christ
died, with thee, will I establish my covenant. And thou shalt come
in to the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives
with thee." Now, the Father gave His Son a people before time
began. Ephesians 1 verse 4 says, according
as He hath chosen us. You didn't choose God, He chose
you. you're a believer don't dare think that it's because
you did anything and if you're a believer you know that's the
truth you know yourself enough to know that that's the truth
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world God gave his son a people and his son stood as
the surety for those people. This is the New Testament. This
is what New Testament Christianity is. This is, if you like the
word, I don't even like the term Christianity. I hesitate to use
it, but this is the gospel. The father gave the son a people,
the son agreed to take full responsibility for their salvation. Before time
began. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 22 he's
called the surety of a better testament. Let me, you know the
Bible is filled with illustrations to teach us the gospel. Now turn
to Genesis 43. We're going to look at several
Old Testament passages that teach us of this covenant. Now Jacob would not send Benjamin with Reuben. Reuben said, I'll
take responsibility for him. Jacob said, no way, I know you,
no way. Verse eight, and Judah said unto
Israel, his father. Now Reuben has already been rejected. Who's Judah? Where did Christ
come from? The line of Judah. And Judah
said unto Israel, his father, send the lad with me and we will
arise and go that we may live and not die, both we and thou
and also all our little ones, I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. And that is exactly what Jesus
Christ said for all of his people, I will be surety for them. Of my hand, he says to his father,
of my hand, you're gonna require of him. Everything you require
of him, you're to look to my hand for. you're to look to me
for. And if I don't bring him before
thee in eternal glory, let me bear the blame forever. The reason he could say to Noah,
I will and you shall is because it was accomplished in the eternal
covenant. And like I said, the Bible gives
many stories to cause us to understand this thing of covenant the covenant
with thee will I establish my covenant turn with me for a moment
to 2nd Samuel chapter 9 2nd Samuel chapter 9 now this
is about a covenant that David and Jonathan made And this is
given to illustrate the covenant of grace. Have God save sinners
by his grace in this eternal covenant. Verse one, 2 Samuel
chapter nine. And David said, is there yet
any that has left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? Now let me give you the background. Years before this, many years
before this, Jonathan and David. Jonathan was Saul's son. Saul
was David's enemy. Jonathan loved David. David loved
Jonathan. And the Lord had revealed to
Jonathan that David was God's anointed. Oh, he's the sweet
psalmist of Israel. Christ is the son of David. He
had this revealed to him, and he knew that God was gonna destroy
all of David's enemies. If you have an enemy, God's gonna
get rid of him. He knew this. He said, now, and
they entered into a covenant. John said, here's what I want
you to do for me. After I'm dead and gone, I want
you to continue to show mercy to my descendants. A covenant
was made and David agreed to do that. Now, years passed and
David, as Jonathan prophesied, all of his enemies had been destroyed.
At this time, he was the most powerful man upon earth. He had the greatest military
upon the earth. At this time, the scripture even
says the fear of David came upon every nation. Now that's quite
a testimony. You don't wanna mess with David. You don't wanna mess with his
armies. It's sure defeat. He was speaking, you read the
chapter eight of all the conquests of David, and when he says this
in chapter nine, verse one, he's speaking as the most powerful
man in the world. He didn't have anybody to fear.
And look what he says. And David said, is there yet
any that's left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? And God says, is there any of
the house of Adam that I can show him kindness for Christ's
sake? And let's go on reading. And
there was at the house of Saul, a servant whose name was Ziba.
And when they called him unto David, the king said unto him,
art thou Ziba? He said, thy servant is he. And
the king said, is there not yet any of the house of Saul that
I may show him the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto
the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, but he's lame on his feet. You know what that means? This
young man can't do a thing for you. He's lame on his feet. He can't walk. He can't work
for you. He can't fight your battles.
All he can be is carried. That's it. There's nothing he
can do for you. Interestingly, he was lame through
a fall. His nurse dropped him when they
were running to get away from David. They thought he was coming
to kill King Saul. And she came, she ran, dropped
him, became lame in both of his feet. Verse four, and the king said
unto him, where is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
behold, he's in the house of Maker, the son of Ameliel in
Lodabar. Then King David sent and fetched
him. I love that. He didn't ask him
if he'd come, he couldn't get there. He sent and fetched him. Irresistible, invincible, almighty
grace. If you're his, he's gonna get
you, and he's gonna fetch you, and he's gonna bring you to himself.
Aren't you thankful for that? Now, verse six, now when Mephibosheth,
and I think it's very important to point this out, his name means
shameful thing. What a name. Why would somebody
name their kid something? Come here, shameful thing. Shameful
thing. Wow. He dealt with that all his
life. Shameful thing. That's his name.
God's got a purpose in moving Jonathan to name him that. Now when shameful thing, the
son of Jonathan, the son of Saul was coming to David, he fell
on his face and did reverence. You see, he didn't know what
was going to happen to him. He didn't know if he's going to have mercy.
He was scared to death. He knew he was the house of David's
enemies. HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WAS GOING
TO TAKE PLACE. HE KNEW ALL HE COULD DO IS HIT THE DIRT AND
DO REVERENCE. NOW, UNDERSTAND THIS, GOD IN
CHRIST IS TO BE WORSHIPED, WHATEVER HE DOES WITH ME OR YOU. HE IS
TO BE REVERENCED. AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THIS
YOUNG MAN DID He fell on his face and did reverence, and David
said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold, thy
servant. And David said unto him, Fear not. Now here's the
covenant. If you want to understand the
covenant, here it is. Fear not, for I will surely show
thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake. Not for your sake. God says to every believing sinner,
I will surely show you kindness for Christ's sake. And I will restore thee all the
land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table
continually. And he bowed himself and said,
what is thy servant that thou should look upon such a dead
dog as I am? He didn't say, well, how come
you're not having mercy on more people? How come you're not?
He didn't start calling God into question. He said, why would
you do this for one in his own mind as worthless, as sinful,
as dead as me? Now, if you can get ahold of
that, and you can't and I can't apart from God's grace, but if
you can get ahold of that, you can understand something about
Now, let me give you another story. Turn to Galatians chapter
4. Now, remember how I said there
are only two covenants? Galatians chapter 4. Paul says in verse 21 of Galatians
chapter 4, Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, Tell me
ye that have a desire to have salvation in some way dependent
upon what you do. That's what that means. Tell
me you that desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? And then he gives a story that
took place in Genesis chapter 16. This is once again, one of
the most important verses in the scripture, because this gives
us the understanding of what all the Old Testament is all
about. Verse 22, for it is written that Abraham had two sons, the
one by bondmaid, the other by free woman, but he who was of
the bond woman was born after the flesh, but he that of the
free woman was by promise, which things are an allegory. And you know, everything in the
Old Testament is an allegory. It's a true story. It all took
place literally, they really happened. But he says this is
an allegory to teach us of how many covenants? The two covenants. The covenant of works and the
covenant of grace. The Old Covenant, the Old Testament,
and the New Testament. Now in that story in Genesis
chapter six, I would have never guessed that that's a gospel
message, not just reading it. I would have just thought this
was one of those weird things that happened in the Old Testament and go on to something
else. I would have never dreamed that this is given to teach law
and grace. But Paul tells us it is. It's
an allegory. It's an allegory to teach us
of the two covenants. Now, here's the story. God makes
a promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 and Genesis 15, you're going
to have many descendants as the stars of the heaven. That's how
your seed is going to be. Years pass, nothing takes place. God said you're going to have
descendants. He still doesn't have any. Well, Sarah comes up
with an idea. She says, Abraham, we need to
do our part in order for God's promise to come to pass. Do you
hear how stupid that is? We need to do our part or God's
promise will never come to pass. Now, obviously, I'm not having
any kids. I haven't had any. Go into Hagar. Abraham went into
Hagar, a young woman, in childbearing years, and they had Ishmael. There was nothing supernatural
about this birth. He went into a young woman and they had Ishmael. 13 years later. Sarah has already gone through
menopause, and it is impossible to have a child if you've already
gone through menopause. This was a supernatural birth.
Sarah had a son. Now, the one was man doing his
part, covenant of works. The other was God doing it all,
the covenant of grace. These are the two. One, man doing
his part. And Paul tells us in this passage
of scripture, that's male Sinai, that's law, that's salvation
dependent upon what you do. And the other, God doing everything,
a miracle. Him doing it all. These are the
two covenants. Now look what David said in 2
Samuel 23. Would you turn with me there?
This is David, the man after God's own heart. Look at verse one to set this
up. Now, these be the last words of David. David's dying. What are you going to be thinking
about when you know you're going to die real soon? Are you going
to think about the land you've amassed and all the stuff you
have? Are you going to think about how much money is in your
bank account? Are you going to think about how successful your
life has been or how even what a failure life has been? You're
not going to be thinking about stuff like that. You're going
to be thinking about meeting God. That's all, nothing else
is important, is it? Really, nothing else is important.
But meeting God, how's it gonna go for you? And look what David
says in verse five. Although my house be not so with
God. And his house was a mess. I mean,
it was a mess. His children were rebellious.
His wives, that he shouldn't have had in the first place,
were rebellious. There was nothing but trouble in his house. He
had his kids trying to kill him on several different occasions.
I mean, it was a mess. And he's also, and I think this
is it, what he's talking about more than anything else, although
this house, this house, Be not so with God, this sinful, corrupt
man. That's what I am. When God said
that he looked and saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually, that's me, that's me. Although this
house, be not so with God, yet. In spite of all that, yet hath
he made with me an everlasting covenant. Now there's the word. It was a covenant made before
time began, and look how he describes it, ordered in all things. You see, there's nothing I can
do to mess it up. It's ordered in all things, it was all made
before time began and it is sure. And what did he say about this
covenant? This is all my salvation. Not 99% of it, all of it. And it's all my desire. I don't
want it to be any other way. Though he maketh it not to grow. God says, I'm going to destroy
this wicked world with a flood as my judgment against sin, but
with thee shall I establish my covenant and you shall come into
the ark. All that the father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Now one final scripture turned
to Hebrews chapter eight. We have a passage regarding the
two covenants. Hebrews chapter eight. Verse six. But now hath he, the Lord Jesus,
obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator
of a better covenant, established upon better promises. Now, here we have the two covenants,
and the writer of Hebrews says one is better. It's established
upon better promises. Verse 7, For if that first covenant
The covenant works. Now, he is talking about the
10 commandments. Yes, he's talking about everything
in the law. He's also talking about that covenant God made
with Adam. No need of the fruit. The law,
all those laws is just a part of that covenant. For if the
first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been
sought for the second. Now let me tell you three things
that the covenant of works will not do, why it's faulty. Number one, it gives no power
to obey. Number two, it cannot save. Number three, it never produces
love. It cannot produce love. It can give no power to obey.
It cannot save, and no one has ever loved God if salvation is
by works in any way, only resentment. That's it, no true love. Now
let's go on reading, verse eight. For finding fault with them,
he saith, this is God speaking. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, when I make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Jesus. Now this new covenant, let me
tell you this about this new covenant. It's a whole lot older
than the old. It was made before time began,
but it's called new because it's always new. It's always fresh. It's always powerful. It's always
new. You know, it's not like these
songs that are number one and nobody's ever heard of them a
few years later. They just forgot about it, don't
think about it. Boy, it was really popular for
a while, but it gets old. As a matter of fact, the more
you hear it, you start to think, I can't stand to hear that anymore. I
wish they'd get that off, and they do. Now, that's the old
covenant. It's old, it gets old. The new
covenant's like a, it's a whole lot better than a number one
hit that never gets old. It's always new, it's always fresh,
it's always powerful. It's the new covenant. It's older
than the old, but it's always new. For finding fault with them,
behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I'll make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day when I took them by the hand. to lead them out of
the land of Egypt. Now God's very powerful. He's
omnipotent. No problem for him. He could
take the children of Israel by the hand and lead them out of
Egypt. What did it do for their heart? Absolutely nothing. God can take you by the hand
and lead you out. He can put you in places where
you look pretty good. He can do that. He can take you
by the hand and lead you around any way He wants, but what's
that do for you? If all He has is your hand, what does that
do for your heart? No different. And that's what
He says. And it says, They continued not
in my covenant, and I regard 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. Not just taking them
by the hand. Something's done to the heart.
And notice he says, I'll put my laws. That means he puts the
10 commandments in your heart. No, it doesn't. Doesn't mean
that at all. You were born into this world with some knowledge
of the 10 commandments, even though you might've never heard
of those 10 commandments. Romans 2 16 says the law's written
in everybody's heart. Everybody knows it's wrong to
lie. Everybody knows it's wrong to murder. Everybody knows it's
wrong to steal. Everybody knows it's just the
law is written in the heart and everybody knows that. Somebody
says, well, we need to teach people how to live. They already
know how to live. Everybody does. Everybody has
the law written in their heart. You know it's wrong to commit
sexual sin. You know it's wrong to murder.
Go on and on. We know that. We need to teach
our kids that. Sure, teach your kids that. You
should. But they already know. You need to teach them again
because they'll forget. I realize that. But they already know.
The law is written in everybody's heart. So when he's speaking
of these laws, He's talking about this new heart he gives. Now,
I find six laws in the New Testament that are in the heart of every
believer that are not in the heart of the unbeliever. You
can read about the law of sin in Romans chapter seven. You
see, if God has given you a new nature, you know that everything
about your flesh is sin. Everything. Nothing but sin. You know that. And you can't
believe anything else about yourself. It's a law. And then we also
have the law of faith. Romans chapter 3, the law of
faith. You can't not believe. Oh, you always have unbelief
in your old nature, but your new nature always believes. You
always believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. You can't
not believe that. You've got The law of sin, you've
got the law of faith, you've got the law of righteousness
where you can't be satisfied. This is in Romans nine, the law
of righteousness. You can't be satisfied with anything
short of perfect righteousness. If it's not perfectly righteous,
you can't really find any satisfaction in your conscience or soul for
it. That's why you can only be satisfied with the gospel, how
he makes you perfectly righteous. In the book of James, we read
of the law of love and the law of liberty, both in James chapter
two. If you have a new nature, you love God for who He is. You
really do. You love all of His attributes.
You love Him just as He is. You wouldn't change Him if you
could. And we read of the law of liberty. If you're a believer,
you have to have freedom. You can't be put under law. It
just ruins everything for you. You have to be set free. Your
debts, you have to owe nothing. It's a law in a believer's heart,
liberty. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ is made free.
And be not entangled in that yoke of bondage, of works, of
law. And then I love Galatians chapter
six, verse one. If a man be overtaken in a fault,
you which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness,
considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens.
put up with one another, and so fulfill the law of Christ. That's the law of Christ. And
look what else he goes on to say. He says, I'll put my laws
in their minds, I'll write them in their hearts, and I will be
to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. What's that
look like? If God be for us, who can be
against us? whom he did foreknow, then 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, then he also called, whom he called,
then he also justified, whom he justified, then he also glorified. What shall we say to these things
if God be for us? Who can be against us? In the new covenant, I'll be
to them a God. They'll be to me a people, 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. You
see, in this new covenant, God's the teacher. And if God teaches
you, you're taught. I hate it when people say, God's
trying to teach me something. He ain't doing, he don't try
to do anything. He doesn't try to do anything.
If he teaches, and they shall all be taught of God. Every man
therefore that has heard and learned of the Father cometh
to me. Oh, you're not dependent on me
being your teacher. You'd be in trouble if you'd been on me,
but God is the teacher. Verse 12, for I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness. That word merciful is propitious.
It's translated merciful, but it's propitious. I will be propitious. What does propitiation mean?
It means I will be a sin removing sacrifice. You know what that
means? If Jesus Christ died for you,
your sin has been removed. It is gone, it is not. And here's the proof of that.
Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. I don't know how many times in
a week's time Lynn will tell me to do things, and I have every
intention of doing them. Happened just yesterday. She
said, empty the trash. I will. I forgot. God never forgets. He never forgets. He never forgets. How is it that he can say there's
sins and iniquities I will remember no more? There's nothing there
to remember. Christ put the sin away. It is not. It never happened. That's what justification is.
It's not just simply being forgiven. It means you stand before God
having never sinned. You stand before God having kept
God's law perfectly. That's the gospel. That's the
new covenant. Verse 13, in that he sayeth a
new covenant, he made the first old. That covenant of works,
it's old and rotten and decaying, throw her away. Now that which
decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. Now in closing,
God says, I'm going to destroy the world with a flood as a demonstration
of my justice against sin. God's holy, God's holy. Whatever he does is right. God's
holy, God's righteous. He says, I'm going to destroy
the world with a flood how desperately evil man is, but he said to Noah,
with thee, and he says it to every believer, with thee, with
thee. He said it to me, with thee,
will I establish my covenant, and you shall enter in to the
ark. God will meet you on the ground
you want. Do you want to meet him on the
ground of works? Go for it. Do you want to meet him on the
ground of pure, free grace? He'll meet you there. Now, one
thing you can't do, you can't mix them. It's either pure grace or pure works. What covenant do you desire to
meet God in? The Old Testament or the New
Testament? Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name,
that name that's above every name, the name at which every
knee is gonna bow and every tongue is gonna confess. The name of
which there's no other name given under heaven whereby we must
be saved. We ask in his name that you would
give each person here the grace to come to you only in the name
of your son and the covenant of your grace. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In His name we pray. Amen.