We turn to 2 Kings chapter 13.
Verse 22, 2 Kings chapter 13. But Hazael, king of Syria, oppressed
Israel all the days of Jehoahaz, the king of Israel. And the Lord was gracious unto
them, even though they were being oppressed by this king, He made
life miserable for them. And the Lord was gracious unto
them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, because
of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not
destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence, as yet. I've entitled this message, The
Cause of the Covenant. Hazel, Haziel, as every earthly
king was and is, was raised up by God. As a matter of fact,
when Elijah is giving Elisha his final orders, he says Regarding
this man, Hazel, I don't believe he had been born yet, but he
said you're going to anoint him king of Syria. And this happened
many years before it took place. And you know, something that's
very comforting about that is that every earthly ruler has
been put in place by God. for his purpose. There's nothing
outside of his sovereign hand. Everything, every earthly ruler,
wherever country we're talking about, this country or some other
country, God has put that person in place, and he's in control
of every event. Now, turn with me to 2 Kings
8. This is when Elisha does tell
Haziel that he will be king over Syria. Beginning in verse 8, And the king said unto Haziel,
Take a present in thine hand, and go meet the man of God, and
inquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease?
This was the king of Syria at that time, Ben-Hadad. So Haziel,
he was the servant of Ben-Hadad, went to meet him, and took a
present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus. Forty
camels burdened, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy
son Benedad, king of Syria, hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall
I recover of this disease? And Elisha said unto him, Go
say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover. Howbeit, the Lord hath
showed me that he shall surely die." You can tell him what you
want, but this is what's going to happen. And he settled his
countenance. steadfastly, until he was ashamed. And the man of God wept, looking
at this man, Hazel. The man of God wept. Elisha wept,
and Hazel said, Why weepeth my Lord? And he answered, Because
I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel.
Their stronghold wilt thou set on fire, and their young men
wilt thou slay with the sword. and will dash their children
and rip up the women with child. And Hazel said, But what is thy
servant, a dog, that he should do this great thing? Hazel didn't
believe he could do anything like that. And Elisha answered,
The Lord has showed me that thou shalt be king over Syria. So
he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him,
What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, He told me that
thou should surely recover. He lied to him. and came to pass
on to-morrow, that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water,
and spread it on his face, so that he died. And Hazel reigned
in his stead. And it was a cruel reign, and
he oppressed Israel terribly." Back to 2 Kings chapter 13, he
did all those things that Elisha said he would do. Verse 22, But Hazel, king of Syria, oppressed
Israel all the days of Jehoahaz and ripping up women with children
and so on. I mean, it was a cruel, monstrous
reign. However, verse 23, the Lord was
gracious unto them and had compassion on them and had respect unto
them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, there is no real understanding
of the gospel or the scriptures without some understanding of
the covenant. God is a covenant God. The word covenant comes from
the word which means fetters. There is a binding nature in
the covenant. When God makes covenant, he binds
himself to keep that covenant. Thank God for that. And the first
time this word covenant is used is with Noah. When you turn to
Genesis chapter 6, Genesis chapter 6, 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, but with thee, Noah,
will I establish my covenant. And you know, he says that to
every believer. With thee, I will establish my covenant. And thou shalt come into the
ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife, and thy son's wife with
thee. Now remember who Noah was. He's described In Genesis chapter
6 verse 5, 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. Noah was in that bunch, but because
of that covenant, we read in verse 8, But Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. He found favor. Look in chapter
7 verse 1, And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all
thy house into the ark for thee. Have I seen righteous before
me in this generation? And that's precisely how he sees
every believer, righteous in his generation because of this
covenant. Look in chapter 9, beginning in verse 8. And God spake unto Noah and to
his sons. You see how early in the scriptures
this thing of the covenant is revealed. And God spake unto
Noah and to his sons with him, saying, And behold, I establish
my covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with
every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the
cattle, of every beast of the earth, with you from all that
go out of the ark to every beast of the earth, and I will establish
my covenant, my binding covenant. I'm binding myself to this covenant
with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut
off any more by waters of the flood. Neither shall there any
more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, this is
the token of the covenant, which I make between me and you and
every living creature that's with you for perpetual generations.
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of
the covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass,
when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be
seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is
between me and you and every living creature of all flesh,
and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy." all
flesh, and the bow shall be in the cloud, and I look upon it,
that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every
creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said
unto Noah, this is the token of the covenant which I have
established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
Now, the covenant, this is so important, and there's no way
I can understand the scriptures or the Bible or the gospel without
some understanding of this covenant that he's speaking of. Now, God
made two covenants. Two covenants. Now let me back
that up with scripture. Turn to Galatians chapter four. Galatians chapter four. What
is a covenant? Well, it's what God says he's
going to do. And he binds himself to it. I
hate to use the word contract, but it is a contract. It's an
agreement. It's something that God says I'm going to do, and
he binds himself to it. A covenant. Now, look in Galatians
chapter four. This is the story of Hagar and Ishmael. And Paul
tells us in Galatians 4.24, which things are an allegory, for these
are the two covenants. The one from Mount Sinai, law,
which genders to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount
Sinai. Now, he talks about the covenant.
Hagar represents the covenant of works. Ishmael represents
the covenant of works. Sarah and Isaac represent the
covenant of grace. These are the two covenants.
Now, they work like this. God made a promise to Abraham
and to Sarah. You're going to have a child.
Sarah had already gone through menopause. Abraham was an old
man. It was impossible. But God said,
you're going to have a child. So some 15 or 20 years pass. And Sarah says, well, we haven't
had a child yet. Evidently, we haven't done our
part. And God's promise won't come
to pass unless we do our part. She was the first one to say
that, I bet. We need to do our part. And so she said, now what
you need to do is go into Hagar. Hagar can have a child and in
us doing our part, then we will have a child and God's promise
can be fulfilled by us doing our part. God's promise is conditioned
upon us doing something. Now you go into Hagar and everything
will be okay. So Abraham said, okay, he went
into Hagar and they had a child. And Paul tells us that Hagar
is Mount Sinai. This is God's promise being conditioned
upon humans doing their part. Now, do you think of what we
hear preached? God loves everybody. Christ died
for everybody. God wants to save everybody. That's preached in
99% of the pulpits in America right now. That's the message.
God loves everybody. Christ died for everybody. God wants to save
everybody. But it's up to you to do your part to make what
he did work for you. Now that is the covenant of works. You might say the Ten Commandments
are the covenant of works, or you may say general redemption
is the covenant of works, but it's the covenant of works any
way you look at it. Any aspect of salvation dependent upon me
or you for it to come to pass is the covenant of works. That's
the first covenant. Remember, he said there's two
covenants. The second covenant is the covenant of grace. He
said, at this time I'll come and Sarah shall have a son. something
that was beyond human possibility. She'd already gone through menopause,
yet she has this baby supernaturally. It's because God caused it to
happen. It wasn't her doing her part.
It was simply God's promise. Now, that's the covenant of grace. Now, anything that's conditioned
upon man doing his part is doomed for failure. Isn't that so? If anything is dependent upon
me, it's going to fail. If anything is dependent upon
you, it's going to fail. The covenant of works won't do
any of us any good. The only thing that will help
us is the covenant of grace. This is God's binding agreement
that He made with His Son. I'm going to save them. I'm going
to take away their sins. I'm going to do something for
them. Now, this covenant is a covenant that was made before we were
ever born. I love what David said. Look
at 2 Samuel 23. This is a very familiar passage
of Scripture. I think it's very precious to every believer. 2
Samuel 23, verse 5. David says, and these are his
dying words, if you read this passage of Scripture. He's on
his deathbed. He doesn't assume he's going to die. Verse 1 says, Now these be the
last words of David. Now look in verse 5, Although
my house be not so with God. Now, I don't know whether he
was talking about his children. He may have been. His house was
a mess. And it was a mess ever since
that time with Bathsheba. God said the sword will never
depart from your house. And he had his children going
against him. He had Absalom revolting. He
had one problem after another. We may have problems. We don't
have many problems that David had. I mean, he had problems.
He said, although my house be not so with God. And I think
he also meant this house. My house. My tabernacle. It ain't what it ought to be.
Is that an understatement? Contradictory? Sinful? I can't... Although my house
be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant, one that never had a beginning, and it'll never
have an end. And it's ordered in all things,
and it's sure. It's sure, because the only sure
thing is what he does. Isn't that so? The only sure
thing is what he does. It's ordered in all things, and
it's sure. And David goes on to say, this
is all my salvation. And you know what? It's all my
salvation, too. As God is my witness, this is
all my salvation. I'm not looking anywhere outside
of this covenant he made with his son. That's all my salvation.
I'm not looking anywhere else. Not only is it all my salvation,
it's all my desire. It's the only thing I want. I
want to be simply included in this covenant, this covenant
that God made with Christ, where, where he said, you pay for their
sins. You keep the law for them. You
pay for the sins, their sins, and they're yours forever. That's
the covenant of grace. That's the gospel. And this is
the covenant that he's speaking of. It's everlasting. It never
had a beginning and it will never have an end. And this has something
to do with eternal union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this
covenant that I'm trying to speak of, I feel a loss for words in
some respects, because when we think of a covenant, sometimes
we'll think of a document or a contract or something like
that in words. But the covenant is not a document.
It's a person. He said, I'll give thee for a
covenant. Christ Jesus is the covenant. It's a person. I'm
included in him. Twice in the book of Isaiah,
he said, I'll give thee for a covenant to the people. According as he
hath chosen us in him. before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the Beloved. Now, that's the covenant. That's
all my salvation. That is all my desire. Christ is the eternal God and
His people are eternally in Him. Therefore, David called it an
everlasting covenant. All my salvation and all my desire. And because this covenant is
everlasting, it will be remembered forever. Psalm 105, verse 9,
He hath remembered His covenant forever. And that's why my sins
are not remembered, because He's remembered His covenant, because
His covenant I just read it, is to take away my sin. That's the covenant he made,
to take away my sin, my sin that grieves me so much, my sin that
presses me down. He takes it away. It's the promise
of the covenant. I repeat, this is all my salvation. And this is all my desire, though
he make it not to grow. There's never a time when he's
not mindful of it. Turn to Psalm 111. Psalm 111. Verse 4. He hath made his wonderful works
to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion. He hath given meat unto them
that fear him. He will ever be mindful of his
covenant. And this covenant is called a
holy covenant in Luke 172 because it makes sinners holy. It's called
the covenant of peace because it gives peace. You get peace
from knowing that everything that God requires of you is found
in that covenant. That gives sinners peace. Let
me show you some scriptures. Turn to Jeremiah 32. The book of Jeremiah, chapter 32. Beginning in verse thirty nine. And 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. that I will not turn
away from them to do them good, but I'll put my fear in their
hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice
over them to do them good, and I'll plant them in this land
assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul." Look
in Jeremiah 31. Beginning in verse 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, 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 my covenant
they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord." They
broke it. See, in this covenant, they had
to hold on, and they didn't do it, and neither will you or I. But this shall be the covenant
that I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my law 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
the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them
unto the greatest of them. Sayeth the Lord, for I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." What a glorious
covenant. Now, because of this covenant,
let's go back to our text in 2 Kings chapter 13. There are
three things that God promises he will do because of this covenant. Now, Hazel oppressed him all
his days, verse 23, and the Lord was gracious unto
them. And the Lord had compassion on
them. And the Lord had respect to them. Now those are the three benefits
of this covenant. Now I want you to think of the
magnitude of these things. The Lord was gracious to them.
The Lord was compassionate toward them. He had compassion on them. And the Lord had respect to them. The Lord was gracious to them.
He gave them favor. Even though they were in this
awful condition, He gave them favor. He said, I will be gracious
to them. I will be gracious, but I will
be gracious. God is gracious. He gives grace because He's gracious.
That's His nature. He delights in showing mercy. He delights in giving grace.
That's His nature. You know, He must be gracious
because He is gracious. He doesn't owe us grace, but
this is His nature. He delights in mercy. God delights
in saving sinners. It's His favor, His grace. And here's what's so glorious
about His grace. He doesn't have to find a reason in me or you
to be gracious. He does it because He is gracious.
He does it for Christ's sake. To these people, He was gracious. But understand this. His grace
is a righteous grace. It's very important. His grace
doesn't just overlook sin. In His grace, sin is judged and
sin is punished. It's a righteous grace. It's
not a grace that winks at sin and just overlooks it. All sin
is punished in the gracious one, the Lord Jesus Christ. My sin
became His. His righteousness becomes mine.
So it's a righteous grace. It's altogether righteous. Somebody
says, well, how can it be righteous for a sinner to be declared righteous?
Well, if God does it, that's enough for me. And He does it.
He justifies sinners by His grace, being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. And God
doesn't have to look for a reason to me to give me grace. He does
it because He is gracious. It's in His covenant. It's the
covenant of grace. And next, He says, because of that covenant, I'll
have compassion toward thee. Now that word compassion, I looked
it up, and it comes out of the primitive root which means to
fondle with love. This is a term of love. God, because of that covenant,
He has compassion and He has love. He sees me. He sees every
one of His children. I'm just talking about me right
now. I'm talking about all of us, but I'm thinking about me. He sees me and He loves
me. Now, here's what I feel. Here's
what I think. Here's what is in my mind every
day. I make God sick. He's disgusted
by me. And He tolerates me for Christ's
sake. He endures me for Christ's sake. Now, that's the way I feel. That's
the way I feel. But, beloved, that's not the
way things are. He looks at me and he says, look
how lovely he is. Look how perfect he is. Look
how holy he is. And this love is not an unconditional
love. There's no such thing. He loves
me because I'm lovely in Christ. Is Christ lovely? Does Christ
draw out the love of the Father? Is there something in Christ
that makes the Father say, Oh, I love Him. This is the Son of
my love in whom I'm well pleased. That is how He sees every believer. A compassion of love. That's my son. That's my daughter. I love Him. I love her. That compassion. And here's the thing that I think
is perhaps the most amazing. All of it's amazing. He's gracious
because of the covenant. He loves because of the covenant. But look what it says next. Verse
23. And he had respect unto thee. He had respect unto thee. Now this is what this covenant
does. It makes the holy triune God
respect us. Can you imagine God respecting
you? He does. Does he respect his
son? Then he respects you. It says this, doesn't it? He
was gracious. He had compassion and he had
respect for them. Now, what this does, this tells
us how real union with Christ is. It causes God to actually
respect me. God can't love somebody who's
not lovely. God can't respect someone who
doesn't deserve to be respected. Now, union with Christ is so
real, so true, so genuine that as he respects his son, he respects
me because I'm united to him. Whoever he is, I am. Whatever
he does, I do. And he actually respects me. Now, there cannot be a good relationship
between two people without mutual respect, can there? You can't
really have a good relationship with someone that you don't respect.
And respect is not an entitlement. It's something that's deserved.
When you respect somebody, they've given you a reason to respect
them. You respect their integrity. You respect their faithfulness.
You respect various things about them. And there can't be a good
relationship without a mutual respect. You can't really have
a good relationship with somebody you don't respect. Now, I respect the Lord, don't you? I respect Him. I fear Him. I
respect him, but you know what? He respects me. And it's real. And it's because
of union with the Lord Jesus Christ. As He is. I guess I quote this at least
once a week. 1 John 4, 17. As He is. Is He worthy of God's
respect? Isn't that wonderful? Is He worthy of God's respect?
As he is, so are we in this world. And I, believer, God looks at
you and he respects you. And it's not that he looks at
you and says, I don't respect him, but for Christ's sake, I'll
alter it. No, in Christ, you're beautiful, you're lovely, you're
holy, you're without sin, you're justified. worthy of the love
of God, and he respects you. Isn't that incredible? Isn't
that glorious? The gospel is so glorious that it can cause
God to be gracious. And that's what I need, complete
unmerited favor. But not only is he gracious,
he actually loves me. He has compassion for me. His
inner bowels are moved by me, by every believer. He loves. Oh, I wish we could talk about
the love of God the way we ought to. Regarding every truth of Scripture,
everything I talk about, I fall so far short. I wish I could
talk about God's love the way it ought to be talked about.
But, oh, He loves His people. and he has respect to me and if you're a believer
he respects you and it's not phony it's real because in Christ
you're respectable to the God of glory now this is what this
covenant does all can you see why David said this is all my
salvation and all my desire this covenant This contract that God
made with himself, binding. Christ is the covenant. I give
thee for a covenant of the people. It's the covenant of grace. It's
called the covenant of peace. And what peace we derive from
knowing that our peace is in Him, that He is our peace. Now,
this covenant makes it to where God gives me His favor. I'm looking
at the chosen of God right now. That's very special. People make
fun of it. Oh, you're part of the chosen,
huh? Yeah, I am. I am the chosen of God. I'm God's
choice. Every believer is. He's gracious. He loves. And he respects. How great, how infinite, how
unsearchable, how glorious, how saving is the grace of God That's
why the psalmist said in Psalm 7410, here was his plea. And
this is a plea you and I can make. Have respect unto the covenant. Lord, have respect to the covenant. He does. Let's pray.