from Romans 4, beginning in Romans 4. And I'd like to begin by reading verse, let's begin at verse 13. And this is teaching us from the Apostle Paul's perspective on the post cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this is his inspired interpretation of the promise made to Abraham. And I think so that makes it very valuable because it's the word of God. And particularly as we look at the covenants and particularly the Abrahamic covenant that we consider the inspired interpretation of what what was happening in that covenant. Verse 13. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring, or his seed, that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring, not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. In the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist, in hope, he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, so shall your offspring be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb, No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God. But he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. But the words it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also, It will be counted to us who believe in him, who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Thus ends the reading of God's word. This is the interpretation really of the Abrahamic covenant and the primary focus that God makes through Paul. I want you to note a couple of things. And this is where you should have your Bibles out if you're if it's possible and if you don't have a Bible There's a there's a bookshelf in there in the kitchen where you can grab your Bible and follow along But you want to look at the Word of God with me. Okay. That's why we're here to learn the Old Testament In verse 13, notice that the promise is made to Abraham and his offspring. That's very important. When you see that word offspring in your Bibles, you can remember that offspring is his seed. And you can remember that that connects back to the promise of Genesis 3.15, the seed of the woman. And you can also remember that it's both singular and collective, all right? That it's speaking of Israel as a collective people It's also speaking of one. who is Jesus Christ, okay? So when you see that word offspring or seed, always remember that you're talking about Jesus and his people, Jesus and his people, Jesus and his people, Jesus and his people. And so what Paul's emphasizing here is the importance of faith in God's promises, faith or believing God's promises. And he's showing us that justification by faith alone was not a New Testament concept, but it was an Old Testament one. that Abraham was counted righteousness through his faith. Notice how he puts that in verse 22. His faith was counted to him as righteousness. So, Abraham was justified, or declared righteous, or reckoned righteous, or counted righteous, or logizomied through the instrumentation of faith. So he received the promises of God, and that's how all the children of Abraham received the promise of God in Christ, whether in the Old Testament or the New. So it's very important to emphasize that up front. So at least two things are here that we want to remember as we look at covenant is, number one, that the promises to Abraham and his seed Israel and Christ or to Christ and his people very simply you can put it that way the promise that was made is to Christ and his people Okay, and the second thing to emphasize is that it's through faith alone that we receive these promises There's so much more we could say but that's what we need to say up front that the same way of salvation has always been the same from Paul saying he's digging back to the beginning of the Abrahamic Covenant from where God called Abraham out of darkness and made a people for himself. And he says, even back then, folks were saved by grace alone, through faith alone. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Absolutely. He didn't have faith on his own. No, that was granted to him. And the faith was just an instrument of him receiving the righteousness of God. It was not the righteousness itself. When I'm talking about Israel, I mean the people of God, all those in Christ, both in Israel and in the church. So let's put it that way. That's even better, is when we're looking at seed, say Jesus and his people, comma, whether believing Israel or believing church, okay? Jesus and his people, comma, whether believing Israel or believing church. Thank you. That keeps me on my toes and making the right distinctions and emphases. Okay, all right, let's pray. And we'll look at the main theme of cycle two that we'll be looking at the next few weeks. And we'll look at that together. And then we'll go over a few things that are quite important with covenant, with understanding covenant. And then we'll begin looking at the Abrahamic covenant by God's grace today. OK? All right. Let's pray. Our Father, our God, we thank you for this opportunity. What a privilege to study your word. Help us, Lord, to come to you through the Lord Jesus, by your Holy Spirit, to learn, to understand. Father, you've promised to work in believers. That which you have started, you've promised to complete, to finish. Lord, we pray for that today, even today, that this class would bring greater clarity deeper knowledge of you and your love for your people, for sinners in Christ, and that we'd have a deeper knowledge and understanding of your love, particularly for us, and what it is you've called us, how it is you've called us to live. Father, Warm our hearts by your Holy Spirit. Let us remember that biblical knowledge is is with an eye toward knowing you better and knowing What you've done for us in Jesus Christ and knowing Him better through the Spirit father. We pray that you would warm our cold hearts that you would give a zeal where there is none for your word and that you'd give us great relish and affection and appetite to hunger and thirst for righteousness, even through this class. Father, we pray and ask you to forgive us for our sins in Jesus Christ. Thank you that the snow reminds us of that purity and whiteness and holiness that you possess alone in and of yourself. That's unstained, unpolluted. That's pure and white and holy and bright. And we thank you for that perfect righteousness that we've been given in Christ. And thank you that you wash us white and snow through his blood. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, if you'll take this time, if you don't have a Bible, go grab one and have it before you so that when we get to the part on Abrahamic covenant, we can look at it together, okay? All right, so what we're going to do is I've got a handout. Let's look at this handout together today. So I'm not going to write perhaps as much on the board or have two boards. I just want you to see the main theme. So if you're coming in, grab a couple of handouts and we'll look at it together. The main theme of cycle two is simply this. God's principle, he progressively pursues with the purpose of purchasing a people for his own possession. Maybe that's too many Ps, but I think that gets at what covenant is about. And let's just stop for a second and look at each one of those clauses there. God's principle, God's principle, that principle is the main thesis or the main promise of the Bible. What is that main promise, beloved? What's the main promise that God makes in the Bible? What's the promise He makes over and over that is really the substance of all the covenants? Yes, I will be your God and you will be my people. So, in other words, it's the Emmanuel principle. I am with you. I am with you. That what was true in Eden, in paradise, will be true again by His grace and mercy. That I will be with you. So the Emmanuel principle is God with us. God with us. So when we talk about the covenant, let's emphasize that up front. It's God's principle promise that I will be with you and you shall be my people. Okay? Now, the second thing he progressively pursues, very important, because the way the covenants work is when you look at the different covenants, they're not replacing one another. They are not supplanting one another. They are successively supplementing and expanding as the time for fulfillment draws nearer. So the covenants that we're going to look at throughout the Bible are not replacing, they're not supplanting the covenants that were before, but they are supplementing and even expanding the previous covenants as the time of fulfillment draws nearer. So that's why I put he progressively pursues. And the way he pursues is how? How does God administer his pursuit of a people? Someone. How does God progressively pursue a people? What's the means he uses? It's on you. It's on you. It's right there. The covenant. The covenant is the administrative means by which God binds himself to a people. Okay? So when you think of covenant, you think first of the Emmanuel principle or God's principle. You think of second, a progressive pursuit, which is always through the means of covenant. And then you think of the purpose of the covenant. The purpose is purchasing a people for his own possession. purchasing of people for his own possession. Now, it's interesting that that's actually the language of what Bible verse. Does someone know what that Bible verse is right there? You heard that Bible verse before? Purchase for himself a people for his own possession. You've heard it though? It's from Titus 2.14 that summarizes the gospel. So the main theme of cycle two that we'll be looking at the next three weeks or so, Lord willing, that you want to take to heart is that God's principle He progressively pursues with the purpose of purchasing a people for His own possession. Let's try to say that together. God's principle He progressively pursues with the purpose of purchasing a people for him own possession All right Now that's a lot of peas but it does help to know that what you're going to do then is you're going to say to yourself I got immediate meditate on this I got to think about it and it's God's principle. What is that principle? Say it loudly God with us God with us. I will be your God and you will be my He progressively pursues, emphasizes that the way that he pursues his people is through, loud, okay, good, good, with the purpose of what? Purchasing of people for his own possession. And he does that ultimately through his promise, and it's fulfilled in Jesus Christ. So what you've got emphasized there, beloved, notice, God's principle is the Emmanuel principle or a promise. You see that? Progressively pursues, remember, reminds us that the means he pursues us with progressively is through relationship and obligations. And third, it's with the purpose of purchasing a people for his own possession, which is sovereign grace. It's emphasizing sovereign grace, that it's all because of God's grace. So we're going to put God's principle here. He progressively pursues with the purpose. of purchasing a people for his own possession. And guess what? At the end of the Bible, what you find is in Revelation 21, you have God dwelling with man. The Emmanuel principle promise has been fulfilled. I am your God and his people dwell with him. And what's wonderful at the end of the Bible, right at the last chapter, the church and the spirit together, as the people purchased for his own possession, cry out, Maranatha, come Lord Jesus. So, at the end of the Bible, you have the people who are purchased, whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, who cry out to God, Come, Jesus, and be with us. So, in other words, they are confessing with the Spirit, at the end of the Bible, the Emmanuel principle, through the power of the Holy Spirit. They're saying, Come, Lord Jesus. And the Emmanuel principle is our prayer. When we say, Maranatha, when we say, Come, Lord Jesus, we're saying, come and be fulfilled out of manual principle of being God with us in the flesh. OK, any questions about that so far? Because that's mighty important for the next three weeks. Let's keep looking at that. OK, why don't you do this? Commit that that went to memory. I think that's helpful because what you're looking at is you're looking at the promise. You're looking at the means and you're looking at the purpose. And that's always helpful when you're defining something, isn't it? Well, covenant defined, well, let's leave this as a definition also, but let's just add, very importantly, when we're talking about a covenant, we're talking about a relationship with God, okay, that has both, both, very important, okay, benefits and obligations. Okay, benefits and obligations. And we'll look at this more fully as we go on. We're not going to look as fully at what that means today, but what we could say very briefly is that the main theme of covenant is God pursues for a relationship with sinners, with sinners, with those who should be condemned because they failed to keep his covenant of words in the garden. But he pursues, and he gives benefits, all of his grace, but also obligations to respond in faith. Now, the quick and dirty answer to this that I'll tell you now that we'll look at more fully later is that whatever God commands, he also gives. but how that works itself out and how we avoid legalism and other bad things like antinomianism, I will talk more in detail, okay? But the truth is there, that whatever God commands, he also gives by his grace. But he does command. And he also gives. So the covenant principle is simply a promise of Christ. You see that? It's what we talked about with Abraham, right? That Abraham and his seed. When we're talking about Abraham and his seed as heirs to the promise, what does that seed mean again? Let's say it together. The seed means all the promises to Christ and his people. both Israel and the church, both believing Israel and the church. So when we say that, let's say it together, you ready? Okay, when any promise of Abraham and his seed is ultimately to Christ and his people, both believing Israel and believing church. Let me show you a scripture for that in Galatians 3.16 that we'll look at further next week when we show the link between the Mosaic covenant and the Abrahamic covenant. We'll hopefully begin with this. Well, not next week, but the week after. But listen to Galatians 3.16. You ready? The promises, speaking of the promises of the covenant, were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one and to your offspring, who is Christ. All right, so that's why we say Christ. And of course it means, and his people, because he's the second Adam, the covenant representative, right? So he purchases for himself through his precious blood, a people for his own possession. But the ultimate reason for the promise is Christ and his people, both believing Israel and believing church, okay? That's the promise of Christ. That's the covenant principle is promising Christ God with us. And that's why, beloved, he's called what by what name at Christmastime? And which means God with us, which is the Emmanuel principle that's promised. God will be with his people. So you see the Emmanuel principles all over the place. It's the Christmas begins at Genesis 315. Christmas begins at Genesis 315. Doesn't stop. A world without end. All right. Under Christ. Absolutely. And that's where he received Yes. To answer your question, in Hebrews 11, for instance, verses 8 to 16, we're told that Abraham was believing in Christ. Abraham believed in the promise of Christ Jesus. In Romans that we read earlier, Romans 4.13, we're told that Abraham was justified because of his faith in Christ. We're told that he was justified because he believed in Christ, that against hope he believed. He was fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised, and we're told that he was heir of the world. So the scope of Abraham's understanding of his promise was much more than literal. It was much more than a land, for instance. Though the land was part of the promise, the land represented for Abraham the world. That's why in Romans 4.13 it says that Abraham was heir of the world. That's why Jesus will say, blessed are the meat for they shall inherit the earth, which is the land in Psalm 37. That's good. Thank you. Did that answer? So in the next two classes, we'd like to focus on three things. Look at the bottom of your outline, and I've put it here just so we can keep our focus on what we'd like to do. The first is a covenant overview that we're about to do, where we see the redemptive historical context of the covenants with Abraham and Moses. In other words, we just want to look at the big picture again, with particular plugging in the covenants, OK? The big picture of the story, all right? Number two, we're going to look at genealogies. See, the genealogies, beloved, link the story together. You see, I'll say more, but let me say this. The Bible begins in Genesis with 10 genealogies. Now, when the Bible does 10, it's a complete number. When it uses that number. There are 10 genealogies that link the book of Genesis. Isn't that wonderful? So there's 10 genealogies that tell us that the author, under the inspiration of the Spirit, wanted to show us that genealogies are important. Okay? Because there's 10 of them. And they link together the book and advance the storyline. Okay. Now, the end of the Hebrew Bible, the end of our Old Testament, okay, is what book? Chronicles. And how does Chronicles begin the end of the Old Testament story? Long nine chapters of genealogies. And if you read these aloud with your family, you know how hard some of these names can be. But notice the beginning of the Bible, Genesis, and the end of the Hebrew Bible begin and end with genealogies. All right? Now, you ready? How does Matthew begin the New Testament as a good, faithful, believing Jew? With a genealogy. And how does the Bible end in the book of Revelation with regard to the people of God? How are they described? There is not specific genealogy, but there is this phrase that's used. that those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. There's genealogies. There's genealogies. So, from the beginning to the end of Scripture, you have genealogies. And what I'd like you to see, just in brief right now, and more in detail perhaps later, is the genealogies link the Bible together. Why? Why would you think, in light of this main theme, God's principle He progressively pursues with the purpose of purchasing a people for His own possession, what would that have to do with genealogies? Ah, there's one people of God, whether it's Old or New Testament. There's one people. There's one story line. There's one people. They're all part of the same covenant of grace. OK, you got that? That's so important. This also shows you that a people are important to God, right? That it's important that he loves sinners in Christ. and he wants to display his covenant promises as he's created this people by his grace, that he's preserved this people by his grace, and he's given them sovereign grace to believe. Now, in that, some of David's children, okay, so there's gonna be an electing principle that we'll look at later, okay? But the truth, the very important truth is that the Bible begins and ends with genealogies to emphasize the importance of God's people and that there is a Lamb's Book of Life that we want our names to be written in. And how do we get our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life? By believing the promises made to Abraham, by believing that God is with us in Christ Jesus and receiving him. So covenant administration, we've already looked at that. Isn't that cool? How do you think the covenant is administered? through covenants. It is, it's through successive covenants, right? Through promises. But let's just put it in the plural, and I'll get back to why I answered it like that. Covenants, promises. There'll be these, in a moment we'll look at, but there'll be these symbols of each covenant. Isn't that cool? Covenant eschatology, look, we're just plugging this in, progressively pursues. Covenant eschatology. All right, so someone says to you, Meaning the covenants are progressively revealed. Okay? That's what eschatology means. It just means that they're progressively revealed. Now let me ask you, let me say this. Say you're looking at the covenants with somebody and they say to you, but doesn't the Abrahamic covenant supplant the Noahic covenant? The covenant with Noah? And doesn't Moses supplant the Abrahamic covenant? What are you going to tell them? It expands it. It builds on it. It doesn't supplant it. It supplements it. That's what we're talking about when we're talking about covenant eschatology is one story. It doesn't change. God never changes. He doesn't change. He doesn't change his affection for a people. Yes, sir. Yes. You see everything. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's that's wonderful. Whoever said that, that was good. That was good, whoever told you that. You know, it's funny, we teach things and we forget, so that was helpful to be reminded of that. But that's it, is that we're not, the covenants, successive covenants are not supplanting, they're not replacing. Oh, you know, when people criticize Reformed Theology as Replacement Theology, you tell them, you've misunderstood Reformed Theology. It's not Replacement Theology, it's Fulfillment Theology. It's Expanded Theology. Just go through the book of Hebrews. Everything's better in Christ. Everything's better in Christ. Everything's better in Christ. That's all Reformed Theology is, is saying that the Old Testament just wasn't as good. Why? Because Christ hadn't come. That's why. Because it wasn't fulfilled. That's why. But there's no replacement. Theology is fulfillment. It's supplemental. It's expansive. It's better. That's what covenant theology is. And by the way, some people would just say reformed theology is covenant theology. Sure, just very briefly, and I'm trying to do everything I can to show biblically what's here, and then do a little critical analysis at another point, because I think all this kind of would, well, I think it teaches us the truth, so that then we look at the other and we say, that's counterfeit. But very simply, if I was to plug this in, that the dispensationalist would say that he's purchasing a people, the Gentiles, rather than seeing them all in Christ Jesus. And some who are radical, and there's not as many thankfully around as much anymore, but the radical ones who wrote like the Ryrie Study Bible, the Schofield Study Bible, the big influential theologians, dispensationalist theologians of the early 20th century, would have also said there were different ways of salvation. through Moses and Abraham. So you got to be really careful. They're not so much around today, thankfully, at Dallas Theological Seminary. But Dallas Theological Seminary is still the place where premillennial dispensationalism is taught as biblical. And it's just not. It's not. So there's a lot more I could say, but it believes in two peoples with two destinies, one earthly and one heavenly. Two tracks. Their hermeneutic is that they, with us, avoid allegory, but they don't see typology as part of an inspired teaching of Scripture. They'll look at every prophecy as literal. So their hermeneutic that they're bringing into the Bible rather than drawing out is a hermeneutic of literalism that will damn them just as much as allegorism if they believe that stuff consistently. It will hurt their interpretation because what they're looking at is when they get to a typology, they insist that it can't be Christ because that spiritualizes things. See? So they've already told you what it doesn't mean. That's very dangerous. And so they say it must be taken literally. And if it must be taken literally, then it's usually, if it's like a prophetic narrative, it's going to have a earthly fulfillment. See, Calvin's really good on this. He caught premillennial dispensationalism before it reared its ugly head. He said, and with all respect to anyone, I'm a recovering premillennial dispensationalist, OK? I've been in therapy for years. Just kidding. That's a joke. But I have. I have been recovering from it. And it's hard. Covenant theology will help you to get more biblical. But Calvin put it like this, when we're trying to literalize the prophets because they're talking about images of the land or images that were relevant to Israel at the time, we shouldn't literalize, he said, we should just understand that God is accommodating himself as a kind father to show us heavenly realities through earthly things. And that's why when you go to Hebrews 11 and you see that Abraham's faith was not in a land, it was in a heavenly city that the land pointed to. So that should tell you right there that the reason why typology is correct is because at least the author of Hebrews uses it. But I would say that all the New Testament authors use it. And I'll try to continue to prove that. Does that help you at this point? Are you sure? Yep. Well, why would God do that? I'm not sure. Well, the way I always answer it is that he likes to tell a good story, just like we do. There's something about us as storytellers. Anybody who's got a good story, we'll listen to them. And the truth is that he's telling a good story over time. I think it also, very importantly, to emphasize that it's not just a religion that just dropped out of heaven as a systematic theology. There's a beauty of biblical theology and a distinction. It works alongside systematics, but systematics just tries to arrange everything logically. Well, that's not how God gave it to us. He gave it to us as biblical theology. He gave it to us as a story, as a drama, right, with four acts. And so he progressively pursues it, I think, to emphasize the historical reality of it all. Because anybody could get a you know, a revelation from an angel in some desert in the 18th century, 19th century, and say that they've got a book that came complete from God. But it takes a lot more of God's, it shows a lot more of God's glory and his passion for history and story. It also emphasizes, I think, a God who preserves, has to have the power to preserve all of these writings, not just to give them through inspiration, but to preserve them over time. And that we have them today is such a wonderful thing. So I would say that's getting at the answer, but ultimately the secret things belong to the Lord. Yep, we do. Absolutely. So many more deep things. Well, merciful. Yeah, gracious, very gracious. All right. Excellent. Excellent. So does that answer a few questions about dispensationalism? And does that answer a few questions about the... Does that get at why we're going to look at genealogies more fully? The genealogies link the Bible together and the genealogies emphasize the one people of God, the one people of God. All right. And so number three, we're gonna look at the revelation of God, the next two classes, the substance of the covenants with Abraham and Moses, okay? So those are the three things we're gonna do, and hopefully by today, we're gonna begin with the Abrahamic covenant, get it started. All right, where are we at? So right now we wanna look at the major covenants. Look at this handout that I've given you, and look at the side that's drawn by J.P. Whitmore, if you will. The other side is very good too, but I'm just used to looking at the one by J.P. Thank you for your excellent questions. I want you to note that from Genesis 315, that's the seed, right? Remember the great war, the enmity that God puts between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent? Remember, it's a hostility that God puts there. Now, you can imagine the kind of grace there. Girls, let's not talk, okay? And if you don't have Bibles right now with you, you need to get your Bibles. Make sure you have your Bibles, okay? All right. I want you to understand that we have to see the unity here between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent throughout Scripture. That's Genesis 3.15. And when we see those two things, it's most important to remember it's God who's brought the hostility or the enmity. Now, think about this grace. He could have left us to our own desires to follow the devil. And yet he places, through his sovereign grace, a hostility there so that by grace we could be released from slavery to the evil one and become his children. So it's very important. And so that, Genesis 315, is a major, most important foundational promise of the one story of Scripture. Now, and then look at next. There's the covenant with Noah. There's the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, the Davidic covenant, and the New Covenant. So, here's what I want you to memorize for next time. This is the covenantal overview. These are the major covenants of the Old Testament. All right? Now, are you ready? We're going to go over cycle one real quick, and you're going to tell me what you learned. What is the metanarrative of Holy Scripture? It begins with creation. Very loud. Creation. fall, redemption, consummation, new creation. Everybody got it? All right, let's say it again. Creation, fall, redemption, consummation, new creation. Okay. Now we're going to learn in cycle two a new pattern that's still part of the metanarrative, but a different way, a more covenantal way of looking at things. You ready? We're going to say Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, New. So we're going to remember Adam, we're going to remember Noah, we're going to remember Abraham, we're going to remember Moses, we're going to remember David, and we're going to remember the New. And so I want you to memorize those covenants. And here's what I want you to remember as you're memorizing them. You ready? Remember as you look at these that there's unity. That is, there's one story. Okay, you see that? And while there are differing covenants, these covenants never ever replace or supplant the one before. They always supplement and expand. Let's say it again. You see, I'm focused on having you remember that, because that is most important. Supplemental expansion of the covenants. You ready? So, if you get to Noah, then he's going to give us more than Adam. God's going to reveal more. When we get to Abraham, he's going to reveal more than he did at Noah, but he's not going to replace Noah's covenant. When he gets to Moses, he's not going to replace Abraham's covenant. In fact, it's linked together, as we'll learn in the next class, Lord willing. we're going to learn that it expands on it. Okay? So, you see that expansion is given in that there are, it goes from a little, a thin promise there in Genesis 3.15 to expanding to the new covenant. You see that? Yep. Everybody got the handout? All right. So, there's an expansion and a supplementing. All right. Everybody know what that means? Why would I say that that's most important? that there's a supplementing and expansion. Why would I say that? Why would I be emphasizing that? Continuity? Excellent. Yes, ma'am? Never a plan B. Never. There's no two tracks of salvation, one for Israel, one for the church. Never. There's not two destinies, one for Israel, one for the church. No. It's all one. All right. one story. Now let's look at, on the back of your outline, the primary covenants, the promises, and their symbols. And I'll let you do a lot of this at home, but on the back of your outline today, I have put on there some things that are most important for remembering. This is going to show you the overview. Everybody get out your handout if you will. Be looking at this. These are the primary covenants the promises and their symbols. Okay. All right All right, if you notice at the top there's covenant Promises symbols in Scripture and I would encourage you just to look that up now Does everybody have a handout go go get you one if you don't you need to look at it. This is a class Come on Come on go get your hand up All right, it's not embarrassing, I forget things too, but make sure you're following along, you'll doze off on me. And then you'll say, Pastor Bates, can you tell me about the primary covenants, promises and symbols? And I'll say, no, I won't. All right, covenant, promises, symbols and scripture, you ready? Got it right here, don't even have to write it down. All right, the first covenant that we wanna look at, and the ones that I don't stop to look at, I would ask you to look up in your Bibles, the eternal covenant. Now, these promises are made to the Triune God. These are promises made from the Father, to the Son, to the Spirit. And I wish I could go into more detail, but that's what I've got right now. And the symbol of this covenant pact, sometimes called the Covenant of Peace, is a covenant which is given in Scripture. So the symbol of this covenant is Holy Scripture. Some people actually say that Scripture itself is a covenant document, and I think that's correct. In other words, the covenant document that's given to us is because there is this eternal covenant or this covenant of peace made between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All right, the scripture for that is Hebrews 13, 20 and 21. And then look up any references to the covenant of peace. There's one in Zechariah chapter six that's helpful as well. The second covenant is the covenant with creation. And the promises there are the promises of the new creation. And what's the symbol of that covenant, beloved? The tree, the tree of life. All right, and you can look up the scripture for that at home. The next covenant is Noah's covenant, and that's the promise of place. Now, the thing I want to emphasize about Noah's covenant is that God promises that he will never, ever allow the earth again to be flooded. He won't decreate the earth. He won't destroy the earth again. What happens is, we find out in scripture, is that he will ultimately restore everything and he will cause the earth to be renewed through fire. But it's important to note that with Noah's covenant, what's happening there is that God's providing a promise of place of the earth, of real history to work out his other covenants. So he's given us this promise that he will give us the earth so that his covenants will come to pass, so that Emmanuel will eventually come. Does that make sense? That Emmanuel will eventually come. Absolutely. Yeah, good. All right. So everybody clear on that? Okay. So Noah's covenant is a promise of place. It's a promise of the earth so that history will progressively, that the promises made to Abraham and to his people will progressively be revealed on the earth. Okay. So it's the context in which all the other covenants happen. And so the symbol there, what symbol is of Noah's covenant? The rainbow. Very good. And that's found in Genesis 6 through 9. The next covenant is Abraham. That's a promise of a people and a place. And this is the first time we actually have God now supplementing the former covenants by building on them and showing very particularly he's going to give a people. All right? He's going to make a people for himself. And this is the promise of a people and place. And what's the symbol of Abraham's covenant? circumcision. And you can see that in Genesis 12, 15, and 17. The next covenant is Moses. And that's the promise of law. That's the promise of law. Now, we don't often think of this. And when we get to the Mosaic covenant, we'll emphasize this. But it's always linked to the Abrahamic covenant. And the Mosaic promise is that God was forming a people to be able to live righteous lives that would be attractive to the world. So in other words, they were given the law so that they would live the life that we were created to live. So the world would see and would be drawn to that kind of life. You see, it failed miserably. We fail miserably. So thanks be to God for Christ. David is the... Oh, I'm sorry. What's the covenant sign of the Mosaic covenant? The Sabbath. Yep. And then you can look in Exodus 19 to 24. We're going to look at this more fully at the next class. Then the next covenant is David. And this is the promise now of a king or a ruler. A king or a ruler. And what is the symbol here? The throne. Very good. And you can see that in 2 Samuel 7. And then ultimately, the New Covenant. The New Covenant are where the promises are consummated and fulfilled in Christ. And what's the sign or the symbol of the New Covenant? The cup. In Jeremiah 31, we're told of the new covenant in Luke 22. And again, we'll look further when we get to these covenants. But for now, does this provide a helpful overview for you? All right. Are there any questions about this overview? All right. Now, let's do the main theme again, now that you just went over all the covenants. It's God's principle. Let's say it together. God's principle he progressively pursues with the purpose of purchasing a people for his own possession. That's what covenant means. All right. Now, what's God's principle, beloved? I will be your God, you will be my people. Or you could summarize it, Immanuel principle, God with us. What's God's principle? God with us. God with us forever and ever. What do we sing when we say, glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, world without end, amen. As it was in the beginning, so now and forever shall be, world without end, amen, amen. We're returning to paradise. That's the most eschatological song you could ever sing. And I'm sure every one of you gets excited when you sing it because of the eschatology driving it. Oh, it's wonderful. He's progressively pursuing you with the purpose of purchasing a people for his own possession. World without end. Amen. Amen. So I'd like you to take this second part and memorize the covenantal overview. Look up the scriptures as you have the time, but just You don't have to memorize all these details. I think it would be helpful to do it when you get a chance. But just memorize for now, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, New Covenant. Okay? So just like you did Creation, Fall, Redemption, New Creation, Consummation, you're going to now go, ready? Say it. You got it? You got it. You've already got your homework done. All right. So that's why we're doing that is to see that there's one story. Now, at the bottom, I want you to remember a few truths about in this cycle two part. You ready? Some truths I'd have you remember is that there's one story with two epochs or ages. One story with two epochs or ages, okay? And there's all the scripture to look at the present age and the age to come that we looked at last week, all right? Then the second thing I would have you remember is that there's one covenant of grace, all right, that's made up of these successive expansive covenants, okay? But there's still one covenant. I want to emphasize that there's one people of God. both Israel, believing Israel, and believing church. What was our saying earlier? That when we see seed in the Bible, okay, the promises were made to Abraham and his seed means Abraham and Jesus Christ and his people both believing Israel and the church. Every time you read seed or offspring in the Bible, that's what's going to go through your head now, by God's grace, is when you say, Abraham and his seed, you're going to say, that means Jesus Christ and his people, both believing Israel and believing church. Let's say it. What are you going to say? Abraham and his seed means what, class? One people of God. Okay, good, good. And then you're going to look at the similarities between the old and the new covenant administrations. There's similarities. Number one, there's the same hope and promises. See, the Emmanuel promise of Jesus. All right. Two, there's the same salvation by grace in Christ alone through faith. And there's the same mediator. Now in the old covenant, the mediator is given in types and shadows and sacrifices, right? But he's revealed. You have prophets, priests, and kings, but He's revealed, right? In the New Covenant, you have the consummated, where Jesus Christ is the true and final sacrifice. Jesus Christ is the true temple. Jesus Christ is the true prophet. Jesus Christ is the true and final High Priest, the Eternal One, according to the order of Melchizedek. And Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the greater Son of David. Isn't that wonderful? And that's what you learn. So three things, similarities between old and new covenant administration, same hope and promises, same salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and the same mediator. And then covenant eschatology, I've said it already, but I'll say it again. It's on here. Might as well. Remember, that's talking about the purpose plan of God. There's no supplanting, but a supplementing and further realizing God's great promises of the eternal covenant that's made between the father, son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen? All right. Now, that's a lot of good stuff. A lot of good stuff. And what we want to do is now turn to Genesis 12, and we're just going to seek to begin looking at Abraham. We're only going to take like 10 minutes today because we've looked at so much, but we're going to begin to look at Abraham, and then we'll look at Abraham and Moses together. Now, beloved, there's a lot we could say about the covenant with Noah. We just won't do that in this class. It's with Abraham that the covenant of grace is really it's been called the headwaters, the headwaters of the covenant of grace. And I think that's that's with good reason, because here we have the expansion of the promise of Genesis 315. Here we have the seat of the woman will actually be the seat of Abraham. OK. And Abraham will have three promises given to him. So let's just look at chapter 12 of Genesis together, and we'll read verses one through three, all right? And that will be where we end today, Lord willing. All right? Genesis 12, verses one through three. Now, the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Amen. In verse 7, he says, the Lord appeared to Abram and said, to your offspring, I will give this land. Okay, now there's a lot that we can say, but there are three things that we want to ask, or four actually, that we want to ask about the Abrahamic covenant as we begin. Beloved, what two covenants came before the Abrahamic covenant? Where's your mind going to go right away when you come to Abraham? What came before? Okay, and one more? Okay, yep. What's that? Okay. Yeah, or you could say Eternal Covenant, Adam, Noah. Okay, all right, good, excellent. Some people call it different things, the Covenant of Works, Covenant of Creation, Covenant of Commencement, there are different names for it. So that's why I thought it'd be easier for us all to learn the names because they do have, you know, people will use different descriptions of them, but Eternal Covenant, Adam, Noah, and you're going to say, OK, now it's Abraham. And so this is where you take your Bible and you say, OK, I'm going to expect for God to give me more information, to teach me more, because he progressively reveals himself. And so there's going to be something that supplements what we already know and we'll expand on it. And that's what happens. So where are we? We're after eternal covenant. Adam, covenant made with Adam and the covenant made with Noah, OK? And again, I apologize, we're not having a lot of time to go into the covenant with Noah. It is an important one. But I would emphasize that that covenant is one of place and history where God's going to work out his covenant promises through history. And that's the main point, I think, of the covenant of Noah that's helpful. When, so where was, I actually wanted to put those separately, sorry about that, let me change that. When, I'm meaning eschatology, where, I'm asking the question of where Abraham was when he was called. Where was Abraham when he was called? He was in Haran. What kind of person was he? He was a pagan. How do we know that? Just from our knowledge of Haran? If you look in Joshua 24, it tells us what kind of family he was from. And it shows God's great sovereign grace, doesn't it? Where was he at? He was in Haran locally, but where was he as a covenant servant when the covenant Lord came calling? You remember in Eden after the fall, the covenant Lord says, where are you? And I said that that's a great example of what it means to be image bearers is that we're able to respond to that question. Where am I? Oh, here am I or hide. Abraham, by God's sovereign grace, said, here I am. So he's the covenant servant of the covenant of grace who says, here am I. He doesn't hide. The reason he doesn't hide is, of course, God initiates sovereign grace to him and calls him by his spirit, right? But where is he? The answer to the question is spiritually. What's that? Yes, he's in Ur of the Chaldeans. Yes, that's correct. That's the geographical location where spiritually Joshua 24 tells us. Listen to this. Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, long ago your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor, and they served other gods. So he's from an idolatrous family. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac. So God found Abraham. Abraham, where is he? Joshua, he's an idolater. He's in darkness. And God calls him into his marvelous light. Okay. He's in Ur of the Chaldees. So he's an idolater that God gives his grace to. Isn't that wonderful? And this is going to be the pattern and model for all of redemptive history, is God's going to call sinners out of darkness, out of idolatry, into his marvelous light by his grace, and he's going to give us promises. And ultimately, all the promises he makes are that He will be our God and He will be with us. That's why over and over in the Bible you have, I am with you, fear not, I am with you, fear not, I am with you. That's the Emmanuel principle. All right. And so what does He promise? There's three things. We could say that there's a lot to unpack in chapters 12, 15, 17 of Genesis, but what we want to focus on are three things that we're going to try to keep our eye on for this entire cycle. So these three things seek to keep your eye on. You ready? The three things that God promises him are the seed, the seed, the land, and the blessing to all, or the blessing to the world. Okay? The seed, the land, and the blessing. Okay? Those are the three things. And we're going to see how in each covenant, you ready? Each covenant is going to expand on that. We're going to see that expand. We're going to see the seed becoming more clear that we're talking about one Israelite named Jesus Christ. for instance. We're going to see that the land as it developed is not just about Canaan, but it's about heavenly Zion. It's about the city of God. It's about paradise regained. And three, the blessing to all will be through a king who rules and reigns as king of kings and lord of lords over the world. And his glory will extend to the nations. So all three of those promises we will see in every covenant, we'll see them expanded upon and focused. And we'll do that as we go through cycle two. To whom are the promises made? This is not a trick question anymore, because we answered it earlier. Who are the promises made to? To whom are the promises made? Ready? To Jesus Christ, His people, both believing Jews and Gentiles, or both believing Israel and church. Everybody got that? So to whom are the promises made? You ready? Jesus Christ. That's who. Who is the one who has the right to all the blessings and benefits of God the Father? Jesus. And who gets to share in those blessings and benefits? Believers. We do. So Jesus Christ, His people, both believing Israel and church. Most important to put believing, right? Believing. Let me close with a verse here. Actually, let me say one thing before I close. Maybe I missed. Maybe I didn't. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. Open to Galatians 3.16 and let me say one more thing about the Abrahamic covenant, if I may. And I'll read Galatians 3, 16 as we close. The Abrahamic covenant, like I said, is the headwaters of God's covenant with man, okay? There are four parts of this Abrahamic covenant that are revealed in Genesis. And I'll just put this up on the board, and maybe we'll start here in our next class, because I don't want to overload. There's four aspects. So I think the covenant with Abraham, it's helpful to at least have the scriptures for that. Genesis 12, 15, 17, and 22. And what we see in these four parts is we see the covenant inaugurated in Genesis 12. We see the covenant ratified In Genesis 15, we see the fullness of it revealed. The fullness is revealed in chapter 17, and in 22, the fruits of faith are revealed. Okay? I think that's worth knowing, and that's just an extra take-home. When you're thinking about the covenant of Abraham, you're thinking about the four chapters primarily give us four aspects of this covenant. The inauguration that we just read, the ratification service that should send holy chills down your spine. And then 17, the fullness of the Abrahamic covenant revealed. And then 22, the fruits of faith revealed where Abraham believes God. based on his promises and shows the fruit of his faith by being willing to sacrifice Isaac because he believes God is the resurrection and the life. Let's read Galatians to end today. Galatians 3. Let's begin in verse 7 and end in verse 16. Very important, all right? Listen carefully. Galatians 3, 7 through 16. Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham. May I stop for a second? I think it's very important to comment on these things. What we just looked at as the Abrahamic covenant is the gospel preached. Seed, land, blessing to all, all in Jesus Christ. Seed, land, blessing to all, all in Jesus Christ. Seed, land, blessing to all, all in Jesus Christ. That's the gospel. Saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed. Verse nine, so then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. But the law is not a faith, rather the one who does them shall live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith." That's interesting, isn't it? Not only is the Abrahamic covenant one of the gospel promise, but it is the promise of the Holy Spirit for the whole world to possess. Thus, the reason for Pentecost. There's another aspect of the Abrahamic covenant we often miss. Verse 15. Let's go to verse 16 and then close. Now, the promises, listen, were made to Abraham and to his offspring or seed. It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one and to your offspring, who is Christ. That's wonderful, isn't it? That's why all the promises are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. You know what the Westminster Shorter Catechism says about that? There's a trick question in there that you probably memorized, but it's question and answer 31. You know what it says? With whom was the covenant of grace made? Is that interesting, what I ask right here? The catechized ones will know why that might be a trick question. You think, to whom? You'd say, oh, to Abraham. The Catechism says, the covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam and in him with all the elect as his seed. Isn't that what we said earlier? Isn't that wonderful? Abraham's seed is Jesus Christ, his people, both believing Israel and believing church. So basically, that's another nod to say thank you to our forefathers in the Westminster Confession of Faith for giving us such a succinct catechism that you could have read and memorized question 31 and missed this class completely. Just kidding. All right, so let's say it again. With whom was the covenant of grace made? The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam and in him with all the elect as his seed. So every time you read seed, or offspring, you're gonna read Jesus Christ and his people. All right, let's go to the Lord and thank him for his grace. The privilege of prayer is because of the Abrahamic covenant. Father, thank you that we can come and pray to you today because of the promises made to Abraham and his seed, Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, that you fulfilled all the demands and obligations of the covenant of grace on our behalf, by your grace. We thank you that you promise all your blessings to us, including the power of the Holy Spirit. Now we ask that you give us the Holy Spirit in his fullness so that we can obey you. For there are obligations in the covenant of grace that you promise to give in Christ And those are the faith to believe and the faith to live godly lives before you. For if we don't live godly lives, Master, we know we're not of faith. We're not those who are the children of Abraham. And so we pray that you'd forgive us for our ungodliness and our lack of faith and build our faith. Help us remember that while Jesus has done everything we need for a right standing, he's also given us the Holy Spirit for a right walk before you. And so we pray we'd be holy, humble, and honest, that we'd live happy lives without hypocrisy. We pray in Jesus' name and all the church said, amen. All right, so next week we will, no, not next week, but the week after next, we'll do more. And take this home, and if you would, memorize that covenantal overview. I think that will help you. Thank you for coming.