Genesis chapter 9 please. Perhaps also have your confession open at chapter 7. It's very conveniently numbered. Chapter 6 being the number of man is about the fall of man and sin. And then number 7 of course being that great number of fullness and perfection Chapter seven's all about the covenant, so that might help you just to remember these chapters. So I'm assuming you've read this. I'm not gonna spend much time reading chapter seven tonight, but let's maybe read just the first paragraph, and then we'll have a moment. Well, first of all, we'll pray, and we'll look to the Lord right now. Our heavenly Father and gracious God, we bow before you tonight. Lord, there is no doubt these truths fell our shoulders. Now we are in the covenant, covenant with God. Lord, it astounds me that a thrice holy God would come to send to make a covenant with David Brown, a covenant which would require God to send his own dear son bleed and die, that I might be forgiven at no cost to me. A covenant of great grace and great mercy. Be with us now, tonight. Lord, may this truth sufficiently be presented and reach the depths of our hearts and thrill our souls. For your glory, in Jesus' name we ask. Amen and amen. So chapter 7, paragraph 1, reading the confession, the distance between God and the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their creator, yet they could never have any fruition of him as their blessedness and reward but by some voluntary condescension on God's part. which he hath been pleased to express by way of a covenant. So, if you take your notes there now, thus far, we have looked at the first six chapters. You have an outline before you of chapter four, which was about creation, the reason God made creation, and then the man that was created, okay? Then you have on your notes Chapter five, it was about providence, and that's how God's creation functions. Then chapter six was where we left off about a month ago. In chapter six, we were dealing with the fall of man, a very solemn chapter. We looked at paragraph one, which was the willingness to sin. Adam and Eve are fully responsible for the fall, the consequence of sin. We, as a human race, were totally depraved. dependent on God now for mercy. We also spoke of the hereditary nature of sin, that because Adam sinned, we have inherited that sin. The source of personal sin, we keep on sinning because we are by nature sinners. And then the endurance of sin, that even though we're saved, yet still sin exists in our flesh, which we wrestle with. That's why we should always be just slow, even to criticize believers because of their sin. It still exists. It's a battle. We all have the battle. pray for God that sanctifies us, and then the outcome of sin, all sin brings about the judgment of God. And so we left on a very solemn note. I remember the last time I was with you, I said when we concluded that sermon, I would love to go into chapter seven, because although chapter six is full of gloom and sin and death and misery, chapter seven is full of grace and mercy and love and encouragement. And that's what we just read there in the first paragraph. If you look at the very last line of chapter 7 in the confession, I wrote it to you, the last line says, but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of a covenant. Here we have the necessity of a covenant. Men and women, we need God to take the initiative and to approach you and me. We need God to step into our lives and intervene. Then a woman to say that God is superior to man is a massive understatement, a massive understatement. Think on this. Think on the little insect, the flea. The flea is a horrible, horrible creature. When God made creation, everything was good. And let me tell you, the fall must have hit the flea pretty bad for its one hideous wee thing. Big body, like myself, wee skinny hairy legs. It's got those big, I don't know, like fangs in the front of it. It's a horrible, horrible creature. But anyway, you think on the little flea, all right? A little flea simply does not have the mental capacity to understand me. It cannot even begin to understand that I live in a house, And what I do, I left my house tonight to come to church. That little flea could never conceive the idea of having a vehicle, which I drive in. It couldn't understand that I use money to trade for things, it just can't get those. And so I can say, not being boastful, but I am superior to a flea, and so are you. But that distance between me and the flea, my superiority over the flea does not even begin to compare to the superiority of God over me. That flea cannot do anything to understand me, and we are the same with God. We cannot begin to understand him. We can't even begin to communicate with him. We can do nothing unless God condescends and meets with us. And that's what he did. He did create us, and then he came and entered into, well, a relationship with us upon the basis of a covenant. So if we are to enjoy any relationship with God, God has to come to us, and He has done so. He has made a promise with man. And if you go now to paragraph 2, all right, so the confession, chapter 7, paragraph 2, it's also in the summary there. God says in paragraph 2, the first covenant made with man was a covenant of works, wherein life was promised to Abraham and in him to his posterity upon the condition of perfect and personal obedience. So here's God, and he did condescend, and he came to Adam, and he entered into a contract, a promise, a covenant with Adam. He said, Adam, You will live forever, and you will enjoy me, and you will enjoy your creation as long as you obey me. One simple rule, do not eat of the forbidden fruit. Now, you and I might think of Adam, maybe in our own lifespan, okay? You might think of Adam, all he had to do was to simply not eat of the fruit. That's all he had to do. Well, you think about that. How long would that have went on for? If Adam, you see, Adam wasn't made to die, he was made to live. So if he wouldn't have had the fruit, he would still be alive today. and the tree with the forbidden fruit would still be there, and so he would still be under the test, still under the covenant of works. All right, that's the way it would have been, and we would have entered into that as well. We would have been under that covenant also. Now, this was the covenant of works. If we obey God, if we please God by obedience, we would enjoy life. But let me tell you, men and women, Adam Field, you know that. But that doesn't mean the covenant of works has gone away. This is often misunderstood, and I want you to get this. The covenant of works didn't disappear. It's still there, and we are still under the covenant of works. We are still obliged to obey God, but we are not under the covenant of works as potential keepers of it. We are under that covenant as covenant breakers. That is why every man dies. The covenant which God made with Adam still stands, but not with any potential ability of keeping it, but as a threat. All humanity has broken it, therefore all humanity dies. And that's why, that's why we talk about the inherent Sin, we inherit this. We inherit this problem. But, get this, this is essential. When Jesus Christ came, he was miraculously conceived. Now, don't misunderstand me there. Rome uses that about the Virgin Mary. The Immaculate Conception, that's obviously nonsense. We're talking here about Christ. Christ was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And by such, as God, and conceived in such a manner, he did not inherit the sin that was upon Adam, nor did he sin once in his life. So Christ is the only one who has perfectly kept the covenant of works. He will be the only man in heaven who has kept the covenant of works by his own good works, nobody else. The covenant of works still stands, and we're still under it, that is for sure. So, men and women, the covenant of works has been broken, but the Lord, the Lord graciously made a second covenant, and that's what paragraph three is about. Man, by his fall, having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second. And so God came again to Adam, and he made a second covenant with Adam. Perhaps you can go back with me to chapter 3 of Genesis. I want you to go there. Now, I know you're familiar with this chapter and this verse, but I want to show you this, all right? So turn there. You see, in chapter 2, God made that great covenant with Adam. So you have it there in chapter 2, 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 knowledge, of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And the Lord has made it clear to Adam, you eat the fruit, you will die, and you will lead the human race into the fall. So, chapter three, we know the devil, come on the scene, he deceived Eve and Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. Now, read verse 15 of chapter three, verse 15. This is the Bible now written, the Bible, Genesis 3 verse 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. You see if there was not that promise in verse 15. Let me tell you how the Bible would look today. If God didn't make a second covenant, let me tell you how it would read. It would come down to verse 14 there. And it would say, Do you know what the next verse would then say? It would say what Revelation 20 says, and I'm going to read that verse to you. You can take out the entire Bible. and skip straight to chapter 20, verse 10, which reads, And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. And if I can add this in, and so was Adam and Eve. That's what the Bible should be like. You have two and a half chapters, you take out this big chunk in the middle, and you read about God's judgment upon the devil and Adam and Eve. End of story. But that's not what you read. You see, God made a second covenant, and that's what the whole Bible is about. That's how important this is. The whole Bible is about this covenant that God has made with man. 66 books. about the covenant of grace. Now, what I want to do tonight is just show you how God revealed his covenant in the Bible. I hope you know what I mean now by this covenant. The covenant was this, that he, it's the gospel, all right? He has promised to deliver from the fall. That's what the covenant is. And so I want to show you this covenant, and I'm sure you're familiar with these terms. You have, if you go back there to Genesis 3, here is the first part of God revealing the second covenant. It's called the Adamic covenant. It's called the Adamic covenant because God made it to Adam. And verse 15, that's it. Chapter 3 of Genesis, verse 15. And I'll put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. So I want you to see this. Remember, Adam and Eve do not have the same book of revelation that we do. And all they know right now is that God is going to send a deliverer. And verse 15, all 15 promises them is this, that a human, doesn't even say male or female at this point. Verse 15 just says that the seed of the woman, a human, will come and will bruise the head of the serpent, will bruise the devil's head, and in doing so, he will be bruised himself. And what's he doing? This promised Messiah will undo what the devil has brought about. The devil has led to the fall, and therefore the curse upon man, and God says, I will send a human to undo what the devil has done. And just in passing, that's so often why in the Old Testament, women, especially of Israel, were keen to have a male son. with the hope that this would be the deliverer for sin they did understand that it would be a man all right but anyway there's the first revelation of this great covenant a human who would bruise the head of a servant and undo what satan has brought about then you go to noah which is the passage we read together chapter 9 of genesis and in chapter 9 You have the covenant mentioned seven times, and I emphasized that when we were reading it. You have this reference to covenant. And God makes a fresh covenant with Noah here. Now, it's not a different covenant. It's the same one. I just want to say this as well. You've all heard of dispensationalism, okay? It's what brethren would hold, and I have a lot of respect for men and women and the brethren. They preach the gospel, but when it comes to it, this is the basis of their beliefs and doctrines, which I don't agree with, okay? So they come to Noah, and they see here now a different dispensation, and it's not. It's the exact same covenant which God has giving further revelation on. That's what it is. It's still the covenant of grace. I want to say that. So, verse 8, and God, this is Genesis 9, yeah, in the verse 8, and God spake unto Noah and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you. So, God has promised to Adam that the seed of the woman will bruise the head of the serpent and undo what Satan has done. And now the flood has come and virtually wiped out all of humanity. And here's Noah and his three sons and their three wives, and Noah's wife as well. And he looks around and, well, who's going to fulfill this great covenant? And God comes to him. He says, not just to Noah, but also to his sons, in the four of you, I will establish my covenant. Now, I want you to note something. There is the whole human race represented. There's not a man on earth who isn't related to someone of those three sons, okay? So with humanity, God says, not just with Israel, but with humanity, God says, in you, I will establish my covenant. And God sets a rainbow in the sky. And that rainbow was there as a seal, an engagement ring, if you like, to say that I remember my covenant with man. If you go over then to Moses, sorry, Abraham, I forgot to say that. Abraham, and the very first occasion where we read of him, if you go to, let me just lay my eye on it here. Yeah, chapter 12, Genesis 12. Now, the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee. And in thee shall all the families, not just Israel, not just the Jews, Not even just Abraham's family, but all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So you can see what's happening here. At this point, now Abraham understands that there's going to be a deliverer who is going to be a human, and he is going to bruise the head of the serpent, and in doing so, he's going to be bruised himself. And God will not destroy the earth, because that's what was also in the Noahic covenant. God won't destroy the earth until this Deliverer comes. And when He comes, He is going to deliver all kinds of people from all different families and nations across the earth. God also gave to Abraham a sign, and that was circumcision. And so everyone who is part of the covenant family, everyone who is trusting in God for salvation, will seek to be under this circumcision. And if anybody didn't enter into this circumcision, they are declaring that they are not part of the covenant community of God. Remember Moses? Remember Moses didn't circumcise his son and God was angry at Moses because he failed to do so? You see, he should have, because that was the sign of that day. It's, to be honest, it's like baptism today. It is a sign that we do and perform which qualifies us, not qualifies us, but indicates that we are part of the family of God. So it's a very important thing. So we have the Adamic covenant, the Noahic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, and you have the Mosaic covenant. God is still revealing this covenant to these different men. When you come to Moses, and we'll not go there, but Genesis 19, Exodus 19, right through to the end of Exodus, deals with that covenant, all right? Deals with the covenant that God is now revealing to Moses. You see, Again, we know who the Messiah is going to be. He's going to be a human. We know that he's going to be of the family of Abraham. Also of Shem, that was there as well. But what about how? How is this Messiah going to undo what the devil did? How is this Messiah going to undo the curse? Well, that's what God gave to Moses in the Mosaic covenant. Remember all the rituals. Remember the tabernacle? Remember the high priest that takes a lamb and he checks to see that the lamb has no blemishes. And so that indicates that the Messiah could not be a human, an ordinary human, because every human has blemishes. It had to be a lamb without blemish. It would die, and its blood would be taken in to the Holy of Holies. The high priest would take it in, and when he takes it in, he would sprinkle it on the altar, and the high priest would pray, and it should be accepted of God, and then the high priest would come out and bless the people. And that was God showing the people how the Messiah will deliver them from sin. Messiah will die, his blood will be accepted before God, and he shall come out to bless the people. That's what you have in the Mosaic Covenant. And then you have the Divinic Covenant, where God says to David, if you can recall in chapter 7, 2nd Simon chapter 7 verse 13, he says to David, that I will set up your throne, and he goes on to say, that the one that I set on your throne, his kingdom shall be forever. That's a reference again to the Messiah. And what that shows us, the everlasting nature of the Messiah's work. So think through with me here. those first few chapters, Genesis, were showing who the Messiah would be. And then the people were showing how the Messiah would do His work. And then they were showing to David and so on that the Messiah's work would be permanent. The devil would not. The devil would not come again and take people out of this covenant. It wasn't going to happen. It was forever and ever. Then we come to the New Testament. And in the New Testament, who do we have? Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ, let's think about this. He was from the line of David, from the line of Abraham, he was from the line of Shem. He was supernaturally conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and that meant he did not inherit the sin that the whole race has. And he was without fault his entire life, so he was like the lamb without a blemish. and he went and died on the cross. He was bruised, and in being bruised, he dealt an awful blow to the devil, and he undid what Satan had brought about, the effects of the curse, and now Christ is the deliverer for humanity. His offering is accepted by God, and he rose again from the dead, and he blesses his people. just like the high priest did. And that's what the confession is telling you in chapter 7, paragraph 5, and paragraph 6. Paragraph 5. It says, this covenant was differently administered in the time of the law and in the time of the gospel. Under the law, it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews. And what that's just saying there is simply this, that in the Old Testament, God revealed Himself by prophecies. He revealed this covenant by prophecies and by the rituals and all of those things. But you see when we come into the New Testament, okay, the same covenant is preached by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The same covenant is preached by Paul and Peter so on and so forth, all right? This is one big covenant, but in the Old Testament, they were all looking forward to Christ coming. And so, they need to see who the Messiah would be and how He would do His work, but we are at the other end of this. We have perfect clarity as to who the Messiah is. He is Christ, and He has fulfilled every prophecy. We have perfect clarity as to how he has overcome sin that's by his death and resurrection. And so instead of looking forward, we now look back. And so we don't need the lambs. We don't need everything that's involved in the Old Testament covenant for revealing this to us. In the New Testament, as paragraph 6 says here, under the gospel, when Christ the substance was exhibited, the ordinances in which this covenant is dispensed are the preaching of the word and the administration of the sacraments of baptism in the Lord's Supper. So we have baptism. which is what we do to indicate that we are part of the covenant family of God. I'm not interested right now in what view you take, whether it's baptized a child or an adult, whether you're sprinkled, poured, or immersed, okay? I'm not interested in that right now. It's just the act of baptism. It indicates what we are. We do the Lord's Supper to remember what Christ has done, and we preach. We declare to the world what Christ has accomplished. So, let me say in conclusion here tonight, and you go home and you read that chapter 7 again, and I hope it helps you just to understand, just to understand where we are here. God didn't just condescend to make one covenant with men. He condescended to make two covenants with men. After the first one was broke, we had no right to anything, but God gives a second covenant. That's incredible mercy, incredible patience, incredible longsuffering. And as I said in my opening prayer, it was a covenant which God put Himself under the obligation to die on the cross for me and for my sins. So, let me make three closing applications here, very quickly. Three closing applications because I don't want you to leave here tonight and think, yes, that's all very good about this covenant. I want you to waken up tomorrow morning and see how this covenant actually affects you. And while you're praying tonight, I want you to be motivated to pray because of this covenant. Now, application number one, we must proclaim to humanity, that we are all under the condemnation of breaking God's law. We are the descendants of Adam. We are all guilty of breaking the covenant of works, but God has made a second covenant, and he will deliver all who come to him. That's what the gospel is. If anybody asks you, what is the gospel? The gospel is simply this, that God has made a covenant undo the effects of the curse, and that happens when we come to Christ. We must proclaim this. The second application is we must pray. For men, women, and children are too stupid, foolish, and rebellious to ever ever enter into the covenant of grace. And so we must pray that God will get a hold of men and pull them into the covenant, for man is too foolish and stupid to do it himself. So were you. So was I. But God pulled us in, and that's why we're saved. And then the third application is this. We must rejoice that we are in the covenant. that we are a part of the covenant of grace and we think in everything that it costs God to bring us in. And all we can do is praise God. And how then can we not give our lives to him who has given so much that we might be saved.