We're doing our series on covenant theology. I think we're in the fifth session in this series this morning. And to recap what we're doing, what we're thinking about, covenant theology seeks to understand the big picture theme of Scripture. Covenant is the way in which God has revealed Himself to us. Covenant is how He relates to us. The covenant is how He defines our relationship with us. That's kind of where we've been going to try to understand Scripture through the lens of the covenant. Our specific kind of application so far, our working application of why this is important, is because it helps us relate the Old Testament to the New Testament. The Old Testament is over 75% of our Bible. What relation does it have to Jesus Christ and the New Testament? Well, my argument is that the covenant helps us see the overall theme and purpose from Old Testament to New Testament. And so we see the motif of Scripture, the plan of God from beginning to end in redemptive history. So last week, after, you know, kind of spent a few weeks defining covenant theology as a whole and why it matters. Last week we considered various other views on how to view redemptive history. We considered dispensationalism. We considered Presbyterian covenant theology with its doctrine of infant baptism. We considered New Covenant theology. We talked about a few of these things just to help, you know, kind of just give us some background on how different traditions approach Scripture in this way. How different traditions work out the relation between Old Testament and New Testament. And, you know, we considered Reformed Baptist covenant theology in contrast, but we're going to return to this, obviously, when I get around to more specifically defining it. So it's going to come back up again, but I did want to just give you some various views so that you know that they're out there. And my wife is signaling that coffee is now ready in the back for a few of you chosen ones. In fact, Courtney, if you would bring me a cup of coffee, that would be greatly appreciated. My wife, ever the servant. I love her. Any questions from last week that are burning with you that you want answered before we move on today? And I mean brief questions. Anything? All right. Alright, there's your chance. It's over. Today, I want us to begin to examine the covenants of Scripture. And this is what we're going to spend the next five weeks on. We're going to begin to look at the specific covenants. You know, I've made the argument for the big picture, right? And covenants are the way in which we see these things. Well, let's now actually look at them in detail in support of my argument. And I want to, at least today, kind of somewhat define what a covenant is. Identify the covenants, the major covenants in Scripture. Thank you. And the first covenant we're going to look at, we're going to begin today, we won't finish it, but it's going to be the covenant of redemption. I'll explain what that is. Where it's taught in scripture and why it matters is what we're really going to focus on next week, but I'm going to introduce it to you at least today. So that's what we're covering today. Basically those two points and the sub points under them. Alright. Who remembers our easy working definition of a covenant? Say what? It entailed a promise, yeah. You guys don't remember the catechism, the kids catechism that I said this is a good one? Yes, thank you Chris. He hasn't even been here. You guys should be ashamed. I like it because it's very basic and it's memorable and it obviously doesn't hit all the intricacies of a covenant, but a covenant is an agreement between two or more persons. It's a good way to begin looking at it right there. But more specifically, the word from the Hebrew, it comes from the word to cut. You cut a covenant. That's where we get the term, you know, let's cut a deal. That's where it comes from. Because a covenant usually involved promise or pledge to do something and oftentimes there was the cutting of animals, which we'll kind of get into a little bit, but that's where it derives. To cut a covenant. And more specifically, we can define it as something like a formal agreement So it's not just hearsay like we're talking, it's a formal agreement. Let's sit down, let's draw up a formal agreement that creates a relationship with legal aspects. An obvious example of this would be a marriage. It's a formal agreement. It creates a new relationship. It doesn't mean that love wasn't present before. Doesn't mean there wasn't a relationship before, but it formalizes that relationship and it adds a legal aspect to it. Another way we could say is, when concerning God, a covenant with divine sanctions. Excuse me, a commitment with divine sanctions. This is Meredith Klein's definition, which I am in favor of. commitment with divine sanctions. So given this, any questions about that? Is that clear? Right? Commitment, sanctions, agreement, relationship, two or more people. What then are the major covenants in Scripture? Just blur them out. Covenant of Works. Covenant of Grace. Covenant of Redemption. That one's pretty easy. I already gave it to you. Other covenants in Scripture. Abrahamic Covenant. Mosaic Covenant. Noahic Covenant. Two more. Davidic Covenant. New Covenant. Proud of you guys. These are the major covenants in Scripture. There are other covenants that appear here and there, but these are the ones particularly, these are the ones that God is involved with in a redemptive sense, we'll put it that way. These are covenants in which God is one of the parties in the covenant. We're going to look at the Covenant of Redemption today. Covenant of Works that's made with Adam. Covenant of Grace is made with Christ and His elect. Of course, the Noahic Covenant, actually we're going to look at that in detail in just a minute, made with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and the New Covenant. This cup is the New Covenant in my blood given for you, Jesus tells the disciples and subsequently the church. But there's a problem here when we look at this. The problem is the covenant of redemption, the covenant of grace, and the covenant of works are not explicitly identified as covenants in Scripture. None of those terms appear. Covenant of works that's made with Adam, at least in the Genesis account, is not called a covenant. And the one passage in scripture that does refer it to a covenant in Hosea is hotly debated whether it refers to that relationship with Adam or not. This has led some people, namely dispensationalism, people of new covenant theology persuasion, even some within the Reformed camp, has led some people to deny that these things are actually covenants. And they will make the argument that Reformed theology, the broader or more central Reformed theology, by calling these things, covenants, have skewed redemptive history in our understanding of Scripture. My goal is to convince you otherwise, but I want to lay that out. It's not like these things are just accepted by everyone. Oh yeah, the covenant of redemption, I know what that is. Arminians particularly will deny the covenant of redemption. But there are some in the Reformed camp who have as well. Covenant of Works, there are some Reformed who have denied the Covenant of Works in that sense. So what's the deal then? If they're not identified as covenants, on what basis can we call them covenants? Now we're going to go through each one of these so that I can show you why we call them covenants. But looking at it broadly, what would be your answer? to those of you who are familiar with these things in some sense. What would be your answer? Sophie? That's a great answer. I love it. Looks like a duck, talks, walks, acts like a duck. Aflac, right? Then it's a duck. And that's essentially not only, you know, a good answer that we see, but we We see that answer in Scripture as well. Let me respond to it this way. Sometimes all the elements of a covenant are present even when the Word is not. It looks like a duck. And Scripture itself sometimes calls an arrangement a covenant even when the Word wasn't originally present. I want to demonstrate this to you. 2 Samuel 7. Could I have someone with a loud and clear voice turn to 2 Samuel chapter 7 and read verses 1 through 17? Thank you, John. The king said to Nathan the prophet, see now, as well in the house of Cedar, that the ark of God dwells in the tent. And Nathan said to the king, go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. Lord, would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedars? Now therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of Hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be friends over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all of your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place, and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly. From the time that I appointed judges over My people Israel, I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you. He shall come from your bodies, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall lead me to be a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of man and with the stripes of the sons of men. Thank you, John. This is the Davidic Covenant. This is when God came to David and basically said, I'm establishing a relationship with you. I'm going to do certain things for you. Here are the terms, the stipulations, the promises. But the word covenant is never used. It looks like a duck, but the word covenant is never used. Not even once. In every account that we have in Scripture, excuse me, of the narrative of God coming and making this covenant with David, the word is not used, even anywhere in the surrounding context. But what do we find in other passages of Scripture that look back on this event? Well, we do find in chapter 23, David himself says, he has made with me an everlasting covenant. David looks back on what happened in his praise to God and recounts that God made a covenant with him. The psalmist as well. God speaking in the Psalms. This isn't just David's interpretation, even though he's filled with the Holy Spirit in 2 Samuel 23. I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant. So, Scripture can present to us a covenant even when the word itself is not there. We must look for the elements that make up a covenant. Primarily, particularly in divine human relationships, when God comes and says, I'm going to do something for you, and you're going to do something for me. And this is important that we do so, to understand the big picture of what's going on in redemption. Because you may be like, okay, what's the big deal whether it's a covenant or not? Well, if God reveals himself through covenant, if that's how we trace out his plan of redemption, then it's important that we recognize when he is advancing redemptive history. In other words, We must notice the covenants in scripture because the covenant is the way in which God has chosen to reveal himself and to relate to us and to accomplish our redemption. If we miss a covenant that's there, our understanding of God's plan of redemption will suffer. Our understanding of what God is doing at that particular point in history and how it relates to us will suffer as well. And I hope to show this to you when we consider things like the Covenant of Works. The Covenant of Works never called a covenant. It's huge. If you miss the Covenant of Works, you're going to miss the gospel. Not entirely as if you won't, you know, you're a heretic or you won't be a true believer, but there will fall, fallout will come. The covenant of works, for example, is just so central to understanding why Jesus Christ had to come and live, and die, and suffer, and rise. And without that background, your understanding of what Christ did is going to be superficial, and it could bear rotten fruit. Any questions? Comments? Chris? Absolutely, yeah. The way this world was originally created has been broken, and the responsibilities that God gave to Adam in creation have not been fulfilled. Thus, the need for a second Adam to come and fulfill those obligations, which is why Paul speaks of Christ as the second Adam. But if you don't look at things that way, you can, to jump ahead, blur law and gospel. Law becomes gospel, you know, and gospel becomes law. And I'm going to break that down when we get to the covenant of works, but it helps us understand the role of the law and the role of the gospel so that we don't think by obeying the law we can receive the gospel. Alright, that's jumping ahead. Any other questions, comments? Let's talk about the elements of a covenant. This is a deep subject, and the covenants are diverse, so I'm looking broadly here. But I've mentioned a few of these before. The clear, explicit covenants in Scripture reveal common elements. This gives us the framework to understand when there's a covenant when the word's not mentioned. It gives us the framework to recognize when something looks like a duck, right? You gotta know what a duck is before you can recognize when something is looking and acting like a duck. So you gotta look at what's clearly, explicitly called a covenant in Scripture to understand where they appear when the word isn't there. So what then are the elements What then are the elements of a covenant? That's what I want to answer here real quickly. Meredith Klein, I think, late OPC pastor and professor at Westminster Seminary, I think has probably done the best scholarly work on the elements of a covenant because he is an ancient Near Eastern scholar. And he's identified how, for example, the covenant with Moses is patterned after many secular treaties and covenants of that period, of that time period. God came down and he used language that the Israelites could understand. You know, like if he came into our age and he drew up a document, right, and had lawyers present, we would know exactly what was going on. We could identify with it. Well, Klein has identified how the covenant elements of a covenant predate Israel. They're part of secular Hittite treaties in ancient Near Eastern culture, and he shows how God adopts those and uses them for his purposes. And here's what he's identified. It always starts, usually starts with a preamble. I am the Lord your God. This kind of identifies who God is, right? His relationship in some sense. And then it moves on to historical prologue. Who brought you out of the land of Egypt? This prologue kind of maybe will hint at how the relationship has already been present in some sense. Maybe how one of the parties, the Lord, was called the vassal I just missed it. The vassal is the under one. Suzerain vassal, yeah, how the suzerain has already blessed the vassal, how the king has already blessed the people that he's entering covenant with. So there's this historical prologue, this is what has happened. From there we see stipulations, there's ethics, there's guide to maintaining this relationship. Right? Here's what you're going to do in this relationship. Here's who I am. Here's what I've done. Now here's what you're going to do. And here's what I'm going to do. There's sanctions after that. If you do this, this is going to happen. If you don't do this, you break the covenant. This cursing is going to happen. And then there are other elements that appear sometimes like, for example, the deposition, which is, you know, you store the treaty itself, like the Ten Commandments on tablets. You store them in Aaron's Ark and they're to be read on a regular basis. Succession arrangements, details about how that covenant will continue to future generations, things of that nature. But this is what he's kind of identified as some of the core issues of a covenant, what makes up a covenant. But more basically, what I want to focus in on, more basic elements to a covenant, is there's at least two parties. It's pretty basic, right? There could be more, but there's at least two parties. There are stipulations. I will do this, you do this. Every covenant has these two things, and sanctions and promises. I will do this, excuse me, if you do this, you will be blessed, if you do this, you will be cursed. And normally in Scripture, there's a ratifying oath, a sign of that oath. There's a formal way in which that oath is made. Like, for example, in the Abrahamic covenant, God cuts animals in two and walks between the pieces. That's a symbolic way of saying, if you break this covenant, whoever breaks this covenant, they will be torn like these animals. We are agreeing to this. It's like, you know, cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. This is what's gonna happen if I break this. I cross my heart. If not, stick me in the eye. It's children's way, but it's a symbolic way of demonstrating I'm serious about this, and if I don't, then this is what's gonna happen to me. So let's look at this from, let's look at the Noahic Covenant. We could look at any of them, but this is really easy. Let's look for these elements in the Noahic Covenant. See if you can help me out here. So that means you have to wake up. I don't care how early you got up for the sunrise service. Who are the parties in the Noahic Covenant? Come on. God and Noah and all creation, animals, heavens and the earth. See that in Genesis 9 verse, should have pulled it up here, 9-9. Yep, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring, so it's Noah's children as well, and with every living creature that is with you, birds, livestock, beasts of the earth, every beast of the earth. He goes on to include all of the physical material world in that as well. What are the stipulations of this covenant? There are a lot of them, but do any stick out to you in your mind? Recall creation. Be fruitful and multiply, Noah. I give to you every moving thing for food. This is part of the covenant. What about the sanctions, the promises? Exactly. Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood. Never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. So really there aren't any sanctions in this covenant. They're just promises. Maybe there's sanctions on God's part because He's the one that's made the promise. Noah doesn't have to do anything. There are stipulations, there's instructions in the covenant, be fruitful and multiply, but the covenant does not depend upon Noah's fulfillment of those things. Does that make sense? It's important. Distinguishing between a covenant of grace and a covenant of works. A covenant of works is if you don't do this, this covenant is broken and you suffer the curse. Classic example is the Mosaic covenant. If you do not obey, you've broken my covenant. What is the ratifying oath or the oath sign? The rainbow. Very easy, right? Rainbow signifies, well, two things. It's debated on whether it's both or whether it's one or the other. The first is in the ancient Near East, a symbol of ceasing of war would be to hang up your bow, like hang it over the fireplace kind of thing. So this is God saying, my bow, my weapon of war is hung up. Not pulling it out anymore. We're not at war anymore. But another aspect to it or another way of looking at it would be, since it appears in the sky like this, that the bow is actually pointed towards God. In the sense that's, you know, stick a needle in my eye kind of thing. If I don't fulfill this, may I be destroyed. God is condescending to talk with us in language we can understand. May I bear the brunt of my bow. So, that's the sign. And again, most people think it's one or the other or a combination of both. So with this, does that make sense, the elements of a covenant? See how those things play out? Think about, for example, the Mosaic Covenant. You know, if you looked at it, It's between God and Moses in Israel. And there's stipulations, just like, you know, the book of Leviticus, Exodus, Numbers, there's, you know, all sorts of stipulations, cleanliness laws, sacrifices, blah, blah, blah. And there's sanctions and promises, Deuteronomy 28 and 29, predominantly are all the blessings and cursings. And the ratifying oath sign was the tablets of the covenant. The tables, the table of the covenant, that was the sign of the covenant. God wrote them with his own finger, gave them to Israel. So you can see these things when we look at relationships between God and people in scripture that have these same things, we ought to call it a covenant because that's what it is. Oh cool, I've got about eight minutes to cover The covenant of redemption. I'm going to introduce it to you. Are there any questions at this point before we conclude by briefly defining what this is? No questions, you guys are tracking. Okay. Why would we begin here? If we're going to look at all the covenants in Scripture, why would we start with this one? After all, Genesis 1 begins with creation. It would make sense to start with the covenant of works made with Adam, or the covenant of creation. We start here because it logically and theologically precedes all the other covenants. And from this covenant flow all other biblical covenants. This is the archetype covenant, put it that way, if you're familiar with that language. The epitome, the ultimate example. In this we see that it is God's blueprint for our salvation. Before the creation of the world, a plan was already in place to send the Son as second Adam to remedy the disastrous results of Adam's sin. That's what we see. As time goes on in Scripture, we realize that Christ coming and dying, representing His people, securing the redemption of His people, is not a reaction. but that it was planned before anything happened, before even God spoke things into existence. Remember, we've spent several weeks reminding you of this passage in Titus 1. Paul speaks of, in hope of eternal life, which God who never lies promised before the ages began. Promised. There's the covenant. Before the ages began. Before anything was created. Who did He promise to if nobody and nothing was created? the Son, Himself, the Spirit. There's no one else around before the ages began. So, I mentioned this already just to recap. The covenant of redemption was not plan B to fix Adam's mess. The incarnation and work of Christ, the salvation of the elect, were the original blueprint, print, and plan of redemption. before creation began. So this is a covenant that gives us the ultimate big picture. That's our goal, right? Let's look at the big picture of what God's doing in Scripture, in all of history. This covenant gives us that ultimate bird's-eye, 30,000 foot, big picture plan. Recall our confession. One area in which the London Baptist is superior to the Westminster Confession that it was drafted from because they add this in where It's not included in the Westminster. This covenant, in this chapter 7-3, this covenant refers to the covenant of grace or the hope of eternal life, God's plan of salvation, is revealed in the gospel and is founded on in that eternal covenant transaction that was between the Father and the Son about the redemption of the elect. It's basically saying the plan of redemption that's being worked out, your salvation, is founded upon the blueprint, founded upon the covenant of redemption, that eternal transaction. It's an outworking of that. Obviously, we've got some work to do to see where does scripture teach this? Is Nathan just coming up with theological tradition or can this be grounded in the text? I hope to show you that it is grounded very, very clearly In the text, not one text, putting Scripture together will reveal this to us. So what is it? I kind of already defined it a little bit. It is eternal before time began. It's a covenant within the Godhead. The purpose of it is to redeem the elect. The role is that the father gives the son to be the redeemer of the elect, and he requires of him the conditions for their redemption. The son voluntarily agrees to fulfill these conditions, that's his part of the covenant, and the spirit voluntarily applies the work of the son to the elect. Those are the roles, that is the definition of what we're talking about. to move through this specifically, and we will conclude. We'll have maybe a couple minutes for questions. The Father, as I mentioned, gives and appoints the Son to become incarnate, to become man, and to live and suffer and die and rise for the elect. That's what He appoints Christ to do, the second person of the Trinity. And in return, He promises to glorify the Son He's given him the name that is above every name. The Father has given him. He promises to do this. And he also promises to give Christ a people, the elect, those predestined and chosen for salvation. That was a love gift from the Father to the Son in return for the Son's obedience to fulfill these conditions. That's why you think about our salvation, it's amazing. It's not just that salvation isn't just about us. Oh, God saved us from hell. When we look back on how God has saved us by His sovereign work, and we look at the doctrine of predestination and we connect it with this, we see that we were in the mind and plan of God before time began. And we are a present, to put it simply, a present that God gives, the Father gives to the Son out of His love for the Son. When you think about your salvation in that terms, it just opens up a whole new world of glory. A present is something that the receiver likes and loves, right? Cherishes. We are a gift from the Father to the Son. This magnifies the love of the Father and the love of the Son for us. Alright, the Son voluntarily agrees to become incarnate, to accomplish redemption. It is a covenant of works for Him. He has to fulfill these obligations. He has to do the work that is set before Him. We see this a lot in the Gospel of John. He takes on the responsibilities of the elect as their federal representative. He takes on their legal responsibilities in this sense to accomplish their redemption. He acts in our place. That's his role in the covenant of redemption. He agrees to this before time began. And then the Spirit agrees to bless and empower Christ in his earthly work. You just think back to the Gospels and how often Jesus works by the Spirit, how much that's emphasized. He works through the Spirit. The Spirit is the one who empowers Jesus Christ, the human, to complete his earthly work. But also the Spirit is promised as a reward for Christ as well. As the triumphant God-man, he receives the Spirit, we're getting to this in John, and then he pours it out on his people on the basis of his ascension. So it's kind of, the Spirit blesses His work, but it also is the reward in which Christ, when conquering, can give that out to His people. Conclusion. In Scripture, we will see that the earthly, explicit covenants that God makes with man reveal to us that they are but a picture of the greater, eternal covenant among the Godhead. Remember I made the argument before That if God relates to Himself by way of covenant, then obviously He's going to relate to us by way of covenant. Or to put it another way, God relating to us by covenant reveals that He also relates to Himself by covenant. Because we're made in the image of God. Part of being made in the image of God is God deals with us, relates to us by covenant. And this is the ultimate blueprint of our salvation. It reveals the great wisdom, the plan, the sovereignty of God, the love and willingness of God as well to plan out and accomplish our redemption. So next week, I'm gonna say, prove it. Let's look at scripture and try to defend these things. And then answer the question, why then is it important? Why would we care? Does it really matter? That's what I hope to answer for you next week. Any questions as we close, as we conclude? Comments? Thoughts? Cody. Does the covenant of redemption force or result in either emperor or superelect, sorry, or do you think that the decrees don't really have a bearing on the covenant of words? I mean the covenant of redemption. Definitely does not force you into one position or the other. Supra versus infralapsarian deal with the order of God's decrees, the logical order, not the temporal order. They don't argue about whether God decreed them. whether God decreed all things, which He did. So this deals more with God's decree. It doesn't enter into the discussion of the logical order of that. I guess the basic question that Cody's asking regarding that question is, We believe and confess that God planned and ordained even the sin of Adam and the fall of mankind, but the question is, when did He do that? And not temporally, like in time, but logically. And why that's an important question, it really relates to how does God view the non-elect, the reprobate, those who do not end up believing? How does God view them? And it is a deep theological issue. But I believe, I take a more infra view, which means that God looked at humanity as fallen and Adam. And that's his order, his decree of election predestination flows out of that. Rather than just looking at humanity as humanity, not sinless. I think that preserves not only the teaching of scripture, but the character of God as well. He's not a cruel and in the sense of arbitrarily picking some for salvation and leaving others. We're all fallen in Adam. He graciously pulls a few of us, a people, a remnant out of the fire. And I left all of that on the recording. It's what our confession teaches, so... Even though that's hotly disputed. All right, let's go ahead and close in prayer.