Heavenly Father, we thank you for this Lord's Day. Lord, thank you for everyone that's here and that's on their way. Lord, please bless this gathering. Lord, may you be glorified and honored, and please teach us and instruct us, Lord God, through the teaching, through your word. Please bless our pastor as he preaches your word later in the ministry at Brookdale. Lord, please bless it, Lord God, and may you be glorified. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, so We are pretty much finishing up the Old Testament and then getting into the new. I'm going to skip a lot of these. So we finished up. The Davidic covenants are talked about that, and the purpose of that, and what that contributed to the revelation of God's redemption. And not only that, the revelation, but the accomplishment of God's redemption. OK. But before we like finish it, finish it, I just want to go back a little bit and then summarize just everything that we've been seeing, just like the main points, the things that we've been kind of emphasizing. and then we will move into the New Testament, particularly the New Covenant, because as you've noticed, we've been going through the major covenants in scripture, because as I mentioned way, way, way back some time ago, when we first started this series, when we were talking about the various principles of biblical theology, we mentioned that revelation is revealed in various ways. I think the word was used, multiformity. So one of those ways that revelation is given to God's people is by way of covenants. Those are events in history, in redemptive history, that are significant, where God is doing something significant. And so He's revealing, recording that event for us, and then revealing to us what He's doing and what He's going to do next. Um, and so we've kind of, so we've been tracing biblical theology or redemptive history through these covenants. Uh, again, we, we looked at the Adamic covenant. Then we looked at, uh, the Abrahamic and Mosaic, the Davidic and, uh, spoke a little bit briefly about the prophets. Um, and then we're going to get into the new covenant, uh, and then, and then after today, hopefully next week, start seeing how Christ then fulfills. the covenant of works, how he fulfills all those types, the major types that we've been focusing on, because again, there's so many types in scripture, but how he fulfills those major types. So let's begin. So we begin again with Adam all the way in the garden in the fall. And we saw there the key themes that I wanted to convey was his role as prophet, priest, and king, that this was his task. By nature, he was to obey God, to resemble his character. But there was nothing promised to him by mere nature, by his the fact that He's an image-bearer, He simply was to obey, and that's it. But the blessing of eternal life then, or any blessing, then comes in when God condescends, when in His goodness He enters into covenant with mankind. So we saw that in the Adamic covenant of works in Genesis 2, 15-17, Um, and then right after that, what did we see if he didn't, he didn't, uh, do a good job. He failed. He failed that as, as tasked as prophet, priest, and King, he failed in his task in the covenant of works. And so we saw the effects of that, uh, fall of that, uh, breaking of that covenant. Uh, and it's, we see that in Romans chapter five, we've gone through that several times, uh, versus 12 through 21. talks about the entrance of sin because of that. And then because of that, then there's death that spreads to all mankind. And then Paul there is displaying for us, describing for us these two heads of humanity. We have Adam and all those that are in him, which is all humanity. But then we see Christ and all those that are in him by faith. So these two heads of humanity, they're representing a people. Christ represents the elect. and then Adam, all his physical descendants. But then, seeing the fall and the great tragedy of that we saw in Genesis 3.15, what did we see in Genesis 3.15? What is that called? Yes, exactly. So it's the first pronouncements, the first announcement of the gospel, right? And so we see that when the Lord is pronouncing judgment on the serpent, and he says to him, he speaks to him about the seed of the woman, and we saw that seed there had this reference to a singular seed, but also to a plurality, so many descendants of the woman. We saw that there was going to be enmity between the serpent seed and the woman seed, but then that one seed that was going to crush the head of the serpent That's the Protoevangelium, the announcement that God is going to do something. He's not going to just leave humanity in its misery, but he's going to redeem at least a portion of mankind through this one seed. And again, historically and contextually, we see the immediate effects of the fall. We see Cain and Abel. We see that Cain kills his brother. because his works were wicked and Abel's were righteous. And we see that enmity there between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. We see the corruption in one of Cain's descendants, Lamech, Genesis 4, 19-24. We see the corruption of the marriage institution. We see the abuse and corruption of justice that was given to man. But then also in Genesis 5, we see the drumbeat of death. We see, I mentioned that briefly, but we keep seeing this when we're seeing the genealogy of Adam, there's this, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died. So there's this constant kind of reminder of death because of the fall. But in the midst of that, we see grace. We see God's common grace as well as his special salvific grace. The common grace is in both because Even though we can speak of the godly line of Seth, we can't assume that every single person in that line was saved. God did preserve, as He did with Israel, He preserved the people to be relatively righteous. Though within that line, we do see people like Enosh in Genesis 4.25 and 26, where it says that people began to call upon the name of the Lord. So we see people worshiping the Lord, and then we see Enoch, who walked with God, and then Enoch was not, because God took him. So we see God preserving that godly line, and within that, we're seeing His special saving grace through that. Then we see the culmination of sin and rebellion in Genesis 6-8, when even the godly line of Seth and his intermixing with the daughters of men. So we see just total corruption, the way it's described there for us, depravity, what we would call total depravity. And then again, we see God's mercy in preserving Noah and his family. And so at the end of this event, we still have the seed, we have the effects of the fall, and we see God working through it. So we see redemption moving forward, but at this point, we have this promise, this hope of the seed, and that's all we really have. With Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant, we see the parties, God and Abraham, but we see him as a federal head, so again, we're introduced to this idea of federal headship, which Adam was. Um, we see then now the, the idea, the concept of the seed. Now we see it here as again, still, we see that the many in that, in that Abraham would be, would have many, many descendants as the stars of heaven is a sense of the sea, the center of the sea. Um, he would have many descendants, but we also see the one seed, uh, uh, typified in his son, Isaac, that he was the son of the promise. God, uh, remember, remember Abraham was, was concerned that all his inheritance was going to be left to his servant. Uh, but God says, no, he will not be your heir. And then he promised Abraham. an heir, one heir who would receive all his inheritance. And here we see a great type of the father giving the inheritance to his one and only son. So we see the idea of the seed here now getting expanded a little bit more. We see the idea, again, of inheritance. Adam was to receive an inheritance, although, if you remember after the Fall, any kind of inheritance, works principle, is now on the typological level, because man is fallen, we cannot ever enter into a covenant of works like the one that Adam entered with God. So we see that in the Abrahamic Covenant. God would provide a land for the land of Canaan for his descendants, and again, typifying the heavenly kingdom. We see kings that would come from him, blessings to the nation, so the seed is not kind of taking on a royal form. And then again, we see the land, so we're starting to see kind of what God had promised to Adam. We're starting to kind of now see it's being unveiled and folded for us. We're seeing this in typological form, the land, the people of the kingdom, and the king who would eventually come, which is the seed. In the Mosaic Covenant, we see these themes again, now expanded a lot more. We see the holy people, the royal people of God, the people of Israel. We see the Holy Kingdom now being formed. It's constituted formally with the Mosaic Covenant. We see the holy priesthood. And then with Moses and his prophecy that God would raise a prophet like himself, we see then the idea again of prophet in the Mosaic Covenant. And after that, we're left with a kingdom people, kingdom lands, but we still have no king. And then we saw immediately after Moses' death and Joshua's conquest, we see the people of Israel fall into those cycles of sin and rebellion. And we see that's during the time of the judges. That forms the context of the Davidic king. We saw that in 2 Samuel 7, the Davidic covenant. Again, God promising David that one from his line would be king, and he would establish his throne forever. So again, now we're narrowing down the seed down to one of David's descendants. But then, of course, we saw in Deuteronomy 30, verses 1-14, we saw that the people of Israel would eventually rebel, though they all said in one voice that everything that God had told them they would do uh... they didn't do that and uh... that sadly the the history of israel that there's rebellion idolatry are going after other gods god warning the people chasing them uh... and then work warning them of upcoming judgments that that they would be exiled and so we see that uh... then the theme of exile, exodus, and restoration. So the people are exiled out of the land, then from that land where they are exiled to, where they are scattered to, then they are delivered out of and restored back to the land. But we actually see that all the way back in the garden. We see, first and foremost, there's the Garden of Eden with a special presence of God. And because of sin, they are exiled, they are expelled. And we're going to see a connection between that and in the Gospels when we get there. But Adam and Eve, they're cast out of the garden. They're thrown out of the garden. That's their exile. So God's people are now in exile. And then we see them in Egypt. And then they are brought into the land. But then those themes of exodus, of exile, are repeated or even alluded to. Isaiah does a lot of that. He'll allude back to the exodus in Egypt. to refer to the restoration of God's people that were in Babylon. And so we see those themes in Deuteronomy, we see it in Hosea, the restoration. And remember, we also talked about prophetic idiom and how the prophets are describing future realities within their given context or language, what they were accustomed to, what they knew. So they're prophesying of these new covenant realities, looking forward to a time when God would restore His people. And we know that because, well, what is the state of Israel at the end of the New Testament Scriptures? Let me move this. of the Old Testament Scriptures. When they are brought back in Ezra and Nehemiah, we see when the people are starting to come back to the land, do we see all the glorious promises come to fulfillment that the prophets, even Moses and the prophets all prophesied, when God would restore His people? No, we don't. We don't see that. In Malachi, he's indicting the priests for their corruption and their idolatry, their wickedness. And throughout the Old Testament, we see this moral decay in God's people, even after the return from Babylonian exile. So that is not that we don't see that although it is a fulfillment of the restoration, it's not a full, complete fulfillment of those scriptures. So So that's kind of how we end the Old Testament, with Israel being warned, Israel being indicted for their sin, there's corruption, there's no peace, there's no safety, even though they're back in the land. So then the question then is asked, why did the covenant fail? Why was this a failure? And we see, actually, in Hebrews, Chapter 8, that it was, fault was found with the people, because, I mean, the covenant itself was good, it was glorious, and the Scriptures testify to this. The law is good. So what was wrong? It was the people. It was the people, because people are sinful. By nature, we are rebellious against God, and we rebel against His commands. And so, The problem was that this covenant didn't, though it commanded righteousness, God even warned them and told them to circumcise their hearts, called them to faith, yet they couldn't. So whatever it commanded of them, the covenant itself didn't provide any means to achieve that. It just gave the commands and said, here you go, obey them. And they said, okay, we'll obey them. So the Mosaic covenant itself did not give them the ability or the things they needed, that the people needed to obey faithfully. I forgot the T here. They sought righteousness on the basis of works, not faith. This is Romans 10, 30 through 33 and 8-3. Why didn't they achieve their righteousness? Because they sought it by works. And by works, nobody can be righteous before God. So then what is the solution then? What does God do? I'm sorry? Yes, but let me keep it in terms of what we've been, how we've been seeing redemptive, the redemption, the progress of redemption. We saw it, yes. There's a problem with the people and the ability to do righteousness that take that away from us. Okay, that's good, we're getting closer. So we saw that the covenant itself wasn't bad, but the people, so the covenant was broken, so now, so what's the solution then to a new covenant? Yeah, we need a new covenant. The covenant is broken, and that covenant, again, no covenant that is based on our performance can ever, ever bring in the righteousness that God requires. After the fall, that's impossible. And so because remember, again, the promise was there to Adam when he was righteous. He failed. And after that, so now in order for God then to fulfill his original promise of bringing in the eternal kingdom, having a people, a holy people, he first has to now deal with redemption. He has to deal with the sin issue. And so that's what we do. So where do we find this new covenant? Okay, how about Jeremiah, yes. It isn't Hebrews, Hebrews goes to Jeremiah, but yes. So let's go to Jeremiah. Oh, did I? I think I did. Accidentally. Okay, so yeah, Jeremiah 31. So let's go to Jeremiah 31. So Jeremiah is, obviously, you know, a prophet in the Old Testament. He's prophesying against Israel and their wickedness and warning them of impending doom, of judgment. And so in the context of this, obviously knowing that what's going to happen, he prophesies of a new covenant that God will establish. So let's look at this covenant briefly. Let's kind of make some observations of the nature, the blessings, the kind of covenant that this is. Let's begin in verse 31. So, Jeremiah 31, 31. Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them, and on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. They will not teach again each man his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." We also have, in Jeremiah 32, we can read that briefly, we see another mention of this, beginning in verse 37, Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands which I have driven them in my anger, in my wrath and great indignation, And I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. They shall be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and one way, and that they may fear me always for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from me. I will rejoice over them, to do good to them, and will faithfully plant them in this land with all my heart and with all my soul." So, what are the differences that we can see from this covenant and the Mosaic covenant? Because although we've mentioned, hopefully we've seen that the Mosaic is founded upon on the Abrahamic Promises. So the Abrahamic Covenant is the foundation for the Mosaic. So we can see all those covenants together. The same thing with the Vedic, they're kind of building upon each other. But here, he's specifically mentioning the Mosaic Covenant. And what are some differences that we can see from what we've read about this new covenant? the Mosaic Covenant. Maybe even just one main difference, but yes. The Mosaic Covenant, well, rather in the Old Covenant, God wrote His law on pallets of stone. In this New Covenant, He will write it on hearts. Exactly, that's perfect. That's one good observation. The difference between the Mosaic and the New Covenant, anything else? The New Covenant is breakable. Yes, that's true. It's a big one. He says, I'll write my heart or my law in their hearts so that they will not turn away from me. So yeah, I mean, but so yeah, anything else, any differences, any other differences that we can see? Yes. Well, when he says, I'll be their God and they shall be my people, that will be you know, God was giving them over, almost in a sense, to the false gods that they were going to go after, and then retrieving them again along the way. Yeah. Yeah. And so in all this, yes, we can see one kind of overarching kind of major kind of difference. And that is, so you said God would write his law in their hearts, not on a tablet of stone, and the covenant is not breakable. Yes. Maybe you're going to say this, but in the New Covenant, it's God will God. Yes, exactly. That's what I was going to say. It's I will, I will. He says I will. So I will do it. So why isn't it breakable? Because it's not upon us. We can't break it because it's not dependent upon our performance. It's what God will do. God will do these things. I will make a covenant. I will write my law in their hearts. All these things God is doing. He's the one that's acting, and we are receiving that action. So yeah, that's one of the main differences. I just wanted to highlight that, yes, that's the main difference. Because remember, what was the fault? The fault in the mosaic that was found was in the people, because they couldn't perform the works that God required. They kept rebelling. They kept going after other gods. But in this one, God is promising, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to make my people. I'm going to circumcise their hearts. I'm going to put my spirit in them. They will not turn away from me. They will all know me from the least to the greatest. And I was very tempted to go through an article that I've mentioned before about somebody trying to refute or respond to our argument that everyone, from what the text says, all people in this covenant will know the Lord from the least to the greatest. But I decided against that. I'm not going to. Maybe at another time. But yeah, the point here is that all the people in this covenant will know the Lord because it is God who's revealed, making Himself known to them. God is doing these things in His people, whereas in the Mosaic covenant, again, it was based upon the people's performance, And yes, we saw believers within that covenant, but it was because they were looking outside, they were looking to the types that pointed to Christ, that pointed to His work. And because of that, yes, they received that grace. So we can say in that sense that the covenant of grace, which we're going to get to, is operative, it's working. God is saving His people, even in the Old Testament, in the same way as He does in the New. but it's not because of these companies covenants were pointing to uh... the covenant of grace they were pointing to christ in his work uh... and when a believer it or not one of god's people in the old testament uh... apprehended that then they would be be safe and then maybe part of uh... god's true israel so uh... so yes that that's uh... okay so now What does this covenant promise? We've already kind of been mentioning it. It promises, again, we see regeneration, forgiveness of sins, knowledge of the Lord, and again, God will do this. So, with that, I kind of want to give a brief refresher on the covenant of grace, because I want to get into the New Covenant. So, I'm pretty sure we Now I'm doubting myself. Did we go to the Covenant of Grace when I went through the covenants? Or did I just do Covenant of Redemption? I think you kind of put it all. Oh, I did. OK. Or no. Well, we'll just, yeah. So here are a few quotes defining the Covenant of Grace. This is theologically and in form circles, this is what people, how we define the Covenant of Grace. You know, I think we did. Okay. Yeah, yeah, exactly. We didn't. Yeah, that's why I remembered because some Okay, so Herman, what's this? Okay, the covenant of grace is a compact agreement. Oh, sorry. What's his purpose? Yes. The covenant of grace is a compact or agreements between God and the elect sinner. God on his part on his part, declaring his free goodwill concerning eternal salvation and everything relative there to freely to be given to those in covenant by and for the Mediator Christ, and man on his part consenting to that good will by a sincere faith." So that was Sermon on Vitias, basically saying that it's a compact between God and the elect sinner, He also says, I might have taken this part out, but that it's also, or it's between God and Christ. So he's kind of, and this is why I remember that we did mention it, because there is debate as to whether it's with God and the elect, or is it with God and Christ, and then the elect being represented by Christ. Francis Turretin says, The covenant of grace is a gratuitous pact entered into in Christ between God offended and man offending. In it, God promises remission of sins and salvation to man gratuitously on account of Christ. Man, however, relying upon the same promises of faith and obedience, uh... and then actually it was to return to this or it is a gratuitous agreement between god and offended man offending concerning the bestowal of grace and glory in christ upon the center of our condition of faith so basically what we're seeing here is that that there's god if then there's a pending senator so there's a uh... sin fallen man is in mind uh... defendants uh... center but it's in christ uh... lewis brokaw says, that gracious agreement between the offended God and the offending but elect sinner in which God promises salvation through faith in Christ and the sinner accepts this believingly promising of life of faith and obedience. And I think it's Hodge. Hodge is the one that says, I didn't have his quote. I think I took it off because I was trying to Anyway, but he's the one that says that it's better to see it as Christ as head and mediator of elect sinners. Because the ones that we just saw mostly have God and the elect sinner, and yes, and I did show that, yeah. So it's better to see, especially as we're contrasting Christ and Adam, that we see God the Father, so God making a covenant with Adam and all those he represents. And then on the other hand, God making a covenant with Christ and all those he represents in the covenant of grace. So it is made with elect sinners, but it's directly made with Christ as our federal head because he is the one that performs the duties on our behalf. So those are the two parties. And again, we see What do we see in the covenant of grace? There's forgiveness of sins, that God freely bestows forgiveness of sins to the elect by faith in Christ Jesus. So pretty much the same blessings that we're seeing with Jeremiah. The testimony of the confessions. So in the Westminster Confession of Faith, it says, man, by his fall, having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, The Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace. And I did this because in our Baptist Confession, that first section is a little bit different. R says, moreover, man having brought himself under the curse of the law by this fall, it pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace. and here they agree, wherein He freely offers unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved, and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life His Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe. So, again, what's the main the main idea here in the covenant of grace is that God is doing something. He is going to provide salvation in Christ Jesus. He's going to provide salvation for his elect, for his people, through faith in Christ. So again, it's God doing this for his people. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, did God leave all mankind Question 20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the state of sin and misery? Answer, God, having out of His mere good pleasure from all eternity elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery and to bring them into a state of salvation by a Redeemer. Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 31, with whom was the covenant of grace made? And this is a little more clear on—so, the covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in Him all the elect as His seed. OK, so what are the blessings then of this covenant, of the covenant of grace? We see that there's remission of sins, salvation on account of Christ, there's bestowal of grace, salvation through faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit, and that those that are members of this covenant are made willing and able to believe by the Holy Spirit. So all these things, again, actions of God upon the people. Are there any curses? Yes. Yeah, no, yes, there's no, there's no, there's no, there's none. He takes upon our curse because of the fall of Adam and all that. Yes, but, and we can talk more about it, but yeah, it's also the ratification of the covenant and also the oath, the maledictory oath that he's taken. But anyway, so yeah. OK, so there's no curses. So again, where do we see this covenant? So out of the covenants that we've seen so far, is there any covenant up to the one that we've seen so far, which covenant is the one where we can say, that's where I see this covenant of grace? I don't see this in any of them, because again, the one that's closest is the Abrahamic, because yes, God is promising, but again, it's what God is going to do in the future. It's not something that He's doing in that covenant to those people, but something that He's going to bring about through His people, and then eventually the Mosaic and the Davidic, as He brings in the Messiah. But we don't see the covenant of grace. So again, yes, just because there are people saved in these covenants doesn't mean that it's an administration of the covenant of grace. It's the covenant of grace, yes, working retroactively back on those people that when they apprehended Christ and His work, they were saved. But the covenant themselves, the terms of the covenants are not what we see defined here in the covenant of grace. Because in the Mosaic, it was, you do this, and I will do this. So if you obey, this is how I will bless you. If you disobey, this is how I will punish you. So there was blessings, we saw curses. And so we don't see any of that in the Mosaic especially. So where do we find this covenant? We saw a hint of that, a kind of, not a hint of it, we saw it prophesied. It's in Jeremiah 31, right? So it's in Jeremiah 31. There's no question mark there. It's just a, So it's prophesied in Jeremiah 31. Sorry about that. It's prophesied in Jeremiah 31. So what covenant are we looking for? We're looking for the New Covenant, as we see in the New Testament. So let us, in the last few minutes, let us look at a few New Testament verses. concerning the new covenant. Okay, so first one, Matthew 26, 27-29. Matthew 26, 27-29. I'll just start in verse 26. So this is during the Lord's Supper. So Matthew 26, Verse 26 says, While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after blessing, He broke it and gave it to His disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And we had taken a cup, and giving thanks, He gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. So here we see forgiveness of sins, we see the blood, and this is the blood of the covenant, but let's see what Mark and Luke tell us. So let's go over to Mark 14, verses 24 and 25. Mark 14, 24 and 25. And He said to them, again this is the Lord's Supper, and He said to them, or the Last Supper, this is My blood of the covenant which is poured out for many. Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it in you in the kingdom of God. So again, the blood of the covenant, it's poured out for many, so we see here the idea of atonement, as we also saw this same idea in Matthew. But then Luke is a little more clear. If we go to Luke 2220, Luke 2220. Luke 22, 20, and in the same way, He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of the one betraying me is with mine on the table. And then it goes on. So what is this covenant that we are speaking of? It's the new covenant. So here It's being inaugurated. The new covenant is being inaugurated. We will see the ratification of that covenant on the cross. But yeah, this is the new covenant. It's in Christ's blood. So then we're seeing here Christ as the mediator, and it's through Him that we will have this forgiveness of sins, through His blood. So we see the idea of atonement, and the blood given for you for many, which you will see is God's elect, which is throughout all Scripture. So let's look at a few of these blessings that we see of the New Covenant. I'm sorry, so this is going to be some of the blessings that we saw of the covenant of grace. Do we find these in the New Covenant? So we saw remission of sins, we just talked about forgiveness of sins, but let's go to Acts 13, 38. So again, in preaching the new covenant, it says this in verse 38, Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through him, that is Christ, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you." So we see here forgiveness of sins, there's forgiveness of sins, Romans Chapter 4, verses 1-8. Paul has been arguing that all are guilty before God. In chapter 3, he begins to argue his case for justification by faith alone, apart from the works of the law. In chapter 4, he says, verse 1, What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about. but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Not to the one who works his wage is not credited as a favor, but what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. Verse 7, blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. So here Paul is talking about imputation of righteousness, talking about justification. And what we see here is by faith our sins are forgiven, apart from the works of the law. Our works can never provide that righteousness. Our words can never be accepted before God apart from faith, because, again, it is by faith that we apprehend the work of Christ, that we receive that, that is imputed to us, and thus our sins are forgiven, and our sin is not taken into account. So there's forgiveness of sins. Ephesians 1-7. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished on us all. And then 1 John 2. I'll start from verse 1. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. Again, here's forgiveness of sins, speaking in terms of propitiation. Next, we saw a bestowal of grace, that God bestows grace on elect sinners, John 1, 16-17. For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. And then second Timothy one nine. I'll begin in verse 8, "...therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which he granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity." So, there's bestowal of grace to God's people. Salvation through faith in Christ, we see that in Romans 3. Romans chapter 3, verses 21-25. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. So salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2.8, for by grace you have been saved through faith. The Holy Spirit. Okay, so we're given the Holy Spirit. Is that part of the New Covenant? So let's go to 1 Corinthians 3.16. 1 Corinthians 3 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you? 2 Corinthians 6 16 Similar passage Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. Just as God said, I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you." So again, we are temples of God. Because of that, the Holy Spirit, as we saw, His presence resides in temples and sanctuaries. We are His temple. How about being made willing and able to believe? That was the language that was used. Let's go to Romans 8.14. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. So again, here's the idea of being led by the Spirit of God. John 6, 44 and 45. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Though the spirit is not explicitly mentioned here, we know that's the agency that God uses to draw people. So no one is able to come to God. No one can believe unless God draws them by His Holy Spirit. Let's go to one last one, Psalm 110.3. It says, your people will volunteer freely in the day of your power in holy array from the womb of the dawn. Your youth are to you as the doom. Again, just taking into consideration the fallen state of mankind, that men don't come to God as we saw in John 6. It is by the Holy Spirit that we freely, voluntarily come to Jesus Christ, to God. A couple more, and we saw regeneration, giving them a new heart. We saw that in Jeremiah 31, 1 Corinthians 3, verse 3, It's actually 2 Corinthians 3. Beginning in verse 2, You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifested, that You are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Brother Hussein. So yeah, it's regeneration. God is writing his word in our heart. He's giving us that heart of flesh. We see that also in Philippians chapter three, verse three. For we are the true circumcision who worship in the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. And then lastly, Colossians 2, 11, it says, I'll begin a little further up in verse 10, he is the head over all rule and authority, verse 11, and in him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. So, again, within the context of the New Covenant, we see pretty much all the blessings that were spoken of in Jeremiah 31, we see in the definition of the covenant of grace by both Reformed Presbyterian and Reformed Baptist, we see these blessings of the covenant of grace, and so where do we find, and only do we find these blessings, but in the New Covenant? And so our conclusion then is that the the new covenant then is the only administration of the covenant of grace in time and history. Again, although people are saved in the Old Testament covenants, it is by virtue of Christ's work and God applying that to those saints as they saw that same work in types and shadows in the Old Testament. But the only—we see the New Covenant being inaugurated, being established in time and history, and this New Covenant, then, as we see compare the definition of the covenant of grace and what this New Covenant—the blessings are in this New Covenant that we see in Scripture, we see that it's the only administration and that the New Covenant is then that realization of God's covenant of grace, of His redemption that He had planned from eternity. And one thing that I again want to remind us is that then this covenant is founded upon which other covenant? Farther than that. Way farther than that. Way, way farther. Way farther. The covenant of grace is founded upon or flows out of covenant of redemption, yes, eternity. Covenant of redemption. So we see the covenant of redemption being fully realized in time and history in Christ and his ministry and what he's done. So I think, is there any questions so far? So again, we're going to Kind of just seeing the blessing scene, arguing that the New Covenant is that final covenant, all the covenants, we're kind of moving towards this. Next week, we will see Christ's work and how He accomplishes those things that we saw in the Old Testament, specifically priesthood, temple, all that, the kingship, prophet. But right now, is there any questions? Oh, sorry. Okay, let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this time. Thank you so much for this glorious, glorious new covenant, Lord God, that you have made us partakers of because of Christ and his work on our behalf. Lord, thank you and help us, Lord God, to strive, to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. Lord, help us to walk according to your word. that we may glorify you and honor you in all that we do. Again, bless the rest of this day and the preaching. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.