We did the first part of this probably, I don't know, six weeks ago, so you may not remember anything about it. So let me just refresh you just a little bit, but we talked about the covenant in the first time and how that this chapter doesn't really plunge the depths of study that one could do in thinking about the way that God relates to his people in a covenant way. We talk about a covenant, something that is formal, a binding agreement between two parties. In this case, this is a covenant that God makes with himself, an agreement that God made before time ever began, a settled mindset that God had before time began to accomplish something in time that would be entirely of grace. So God's covenant was the agreement, if you will, between the Godhead, between the Father, Son, Spirit, to do a work in time that would bring sinners to receive the full benefits and blessings of being in a family relationship with God. And there's a whole lot more we can say about that and the way that God shows his covenant and the different facets of the covenant throughout history, the covenant that God made with Noah and with Abraham and David. And that's a great study, but that's not the point of this chapter here. So we're not going to go into that right now. We've done it in the past and probably do it again in the future because the covenant is how God relates to you and it's important that you understand how God relates to you. But what this chapter does, and I really love it, what this chapter does in this approach is it really talks about the covenant just in these terms. In terms of why it must be a covenant of grace. Why it must be a covenant of grace. And so in the very first part of this chapter, we looked at this the time before, we really just stopped, and I hope you really reflected and rejoiced in this thought, that if sin were never part of the equation, if sin were never occurred, if there had not been the first sin by Adam and Eve If there had not been the first murder by Cain, if there had not been the first lie told, if there had not been the first act of rebellion against God, if Eve had not been drawn to the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, as we have been throughout history, if that had never happened, God still would have had to condescend or step down an infinite step An infinitely long step in order to receive us into his family, in order to make us his children. You see, we think about this only in terms of sin because that's what we know. But what we're talking about here is not just the depravity of man. We're talking about the glory of God. We're talking about the beauty of God, the majesty of God. We're talking about one who is exalted above heaven and earth. And I know even as I say those words to you that I don't fully even grasp what they mean. One of my favorite psalms, I think it's Psalm 113, and I've probably quoted this psalm here a hundred times. But in that psalm, it tells us that God condescends to behold the things that are on the earth. And nobody is shocked by that statement. Nobody's probably moved deeply by that statement, although that is a great condescension and act that God would do that. It's an act of mercy that God would condescend to behold the things that are on earth. And by the way, scripture goes on to give the details of that, of how God doesn't just behold things that are on earth, but God is present. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. He that keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth. He's always about us. He's a very present presence and a very present help. The lilies of the field are sown and cared for by the Father. So God doesn't just condescend, but God condescends, and He remains, and He gives of Himself to behold the things and deal with things that are on earth. And that's not that shocking, though, because we know that God would have to condescend to behold the things that are on earth. But the shocking part of that psalm, Psalm 113, is that God condescends to behold the things that are in heaven. That's what it says. He condescends to behold the things that are in heaven and he condescends to behold the things that are on earth. And so it's just a, it's just a statement there that, that, that, that, that reminds us of how elevated that God truly is, how lofty he is, how holy he is, how different that he is. As we looked at Psalm 50 and we glanced at Isaiah 40 and remember Isaiah 40, Is this statement that starts off with comfort, comfort you, my people mentions that he's going to pardon Israel of their sins. But then he says, listen, just stop, stop, rest and behold your God. He begins to describe God in this language. That's just amazing language. You know, the, you know, the language that he describes in Isaiah 40 talks about God's hand or God's hand and God's arm. Um, and how that he, he holds the oceans and the span of his hand. All the, I can't remember all the different analogies, but all the, all the mountains are held just in the palm of his hand. All the nations of the earth was like, uh, the drop in a bucket or as the, or as a grasshopper, right? They're tiny compared to God. Yeah. Isaiah 40 in that really God exalting statement. is seeking to draw a reaction from us. And the reaction that he would draw from us is that, listen, if God is this big and God is this able, do you, and if God knows the stars of heaven by name and he cast them forth by name, do you really think that you might escape God's notice? Now, he's not speaking there in a rebuking way as if somebody is hiding from God. He's speaking to those who feel very exposed and very vulnerable and very small, very feeble. And he says, listen, have you not considered the Lord, the king of the earth, he fainteth not, neither is weary. The youth faint and they lose their strength, but not God. And so he says, therefore, they that wait upon the Lord, that are looking to the Lord. They're the ones that will renew their strength. They'll find strength in looking at the Lord. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint, not because they're so strong and so capable of flying, but because their eyes are on God and he is Lord above all. And so as we close out this year and reflect upon the last year and the coming year, Don't, don't begin to try to understand your, your last year or look to the future without understanding this glorious God who has condescended to behold the things that are on earth. So God would have to condescend some way. We can never, never, never attain all the blessing and salvation unless God reached out to us in a covenant way. Isn't that amazing? So we could take the time to do that again. I don't want to do that again. So, but the next point, let me just read it to you. Number two, this is where I want to spend our time tonight. It says, moreover, man, having brought himself under the curse of the law by his fall, it pleased the Lord. to make a covenant of grace, wherein he freely offereth 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 I want to talk about this in a general way, and then I want to mention one specific or one detail in this writing that I want to bring attention to. So here's what number two says. Number two just says this, that sin is in the equation. Number one says, if sin were not in the equation, then God was up to condescend and act in a covenant way towards us. God would have to voluntarily, with no coercion, agree to love man. But sin is in the equation. And so within God's dealings with man, Of course, man is, we said Sunday, man is not at peace with God, there's not peace, there's conflict, because man has sinned against God. Adam took of the fruit and did eat, and his wife Eve, she partook and she ate, and so all of mankind being represented in Adam has therefore come into this world as an active offending party against God. And as God has established penalties for sin, A curse. For breaking his laws, man lives under a curse. Galatians 3 mentions this curse. Galatians 3. I'm just going to read verse 10. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. So if you're born You are under the law of God. Now, Israel was particularly under the law of God because God had given Israel a law, but we all live, Jew and Gentile alike, we all live with the law of God, not written upon our hearts in a saving way, but we all live with the law of God in our cognitive knowledge. We know to some degree, everybody knows to some degree, the difference between right and wrong. Scripture's clear about that. The Gentiles, they know. They have this law written in their hearts. They know. So everyone is born created by God, responsible to God. So everyone is born cursed in Adam because We're cursed under the punishment for not keeping God's law. Listen to what it says in verse 10 again. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Notice just how stringent this law is. the lack of escape ability. There is no factor, there is no degree, there is no avenue of escape here. Listen to what it says. Cursed is everyone that continueth not in what? In all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. The next verse is, listen to what the next verse says. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident." Would you agree with that? In all things, including being born without a depraved nature, being born outside of Adam's already having thrown us into his cursed state. And so he says, no man can be justified before God. by the law on the side of God. So in other words, no man can enjoy the relationship as a family member of God, as God who is holy cannot be touched with evil. He cannot associate with evil. He cannot fellowship with unrighteousness. So therefore, no one could hope to enjoy the blessings of living in a pure, unadulterated, sinless, Existence with God, no one can hope for this. Sin is in the equation. So therefore, since it is, this chapter says, since it is, the covenant is necessary. Now what do we mean by that? What we mean by that is that God had no other way of receiving people into his presence because they'd already blown it. from the moment they came into existence. So God knowing that, the wisdom of God, it pleased God to make this covenant, to make this binding agreement upon himself, to devise the way that man could live with God as a child of God, an heir and a joint heir with Christ. He had to do it all on his own. That's the point. And what the shepherd doesn't say is this, that this salvation could only come through a covenant. And this covenant must be a covenant of grace, of grace, free, voluntary grace. It pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace, wherein he freely, that's the word freely grace voluntary. It pleased the Lord. to make a covenant of grace. Now, this is stuff that you have heard all your life, most likely, and you're very familiar with. And yet, I don't think there's a better thought that we can leave this year with and approach the next year with than understanding that everything that we do in relation to God and everything we enjoy in relation to God and every hope that we rest upon and every thought towards the future, it all is under the umbrella of God acting in grace toward me, faithful to his covenant. And that's why I can have confidence as we face tomorrow because God's a covenant God and this covenant is a covenant of free voluntary grace on God's part. Now, Grace is a familiar term, and we're going to look through some of the ways that God's grace is seen in this covenant or acted out in this covenant love towards his people. But just the word grace for a minute. What does grace entail? What does grace mean? When you think of the word grace, is there a definition that pops into your mind or a thought that pops into your mind or some words that you associate with grace? What does it mean when it says that God must act in grace for us to enjoy a family relationship? What does it mean that salvation must be by grace, that God's covenant is a covenant of grace? What does that mean? Grace. Undeserved favor. Okay. Undeserved favor. Anything else? Thoughts that come into your mind? It covers the sinfulness. Right. Something that covers sinfulness. When you say covered, you don't mean just hides, but you mean covered with grace. Okay. Unearned, deserved, unearned, right? Anything else? Let me ask it this way. And you all have given great answers. The answers I would have given if I hadn't asked before. What does grace mean from God's perspective? When we think of grace in regards to us, we think of something that is unearned, and so it's free, right? We didn't pay for it. We didn't earn it. We didn't deserve it. Undeserved, unearned. I think the other word you use is blessing or benefit, right? Undeserved blessing, undeserved favor, undeserved blessing. So from our part, it is that we get to enjoy something. We get to receive something that we did not earn, that we did not work for, that we did not acquire, we did not merit. But what does grace mean from God's perspective? Mercy shown. Let me ask it this way. What does grace cost God? So if there's no cost to us, we didn't earn it. We didn't have to dip into the bank account to buy it. What does grace cost God? Yeah. Grace costs God the blood of the Lord Jesus, very God in the flesh. And so I guess that's what I want us to think about as we think of this tonight from both sides is that grace is extraordinarily costly. It's not just some meaningless thing that God had in, you know, I heard some people complain, and I don't blame them for complaining. Some people saw this opportunity, these storms, as a way to bless others with goods that they needed, they didn't have anymore. And then some thought of it as a way to clean out their junk drawers, right? They bring the nastiest stuff they have, their old oily stuff and hair all over it. Here, I care about you. Well, that wasn't very meaningful, right? Now, if you're naked, that would be meaningful. But friends, God wasn't just wasn't dipping into his drunk junk drawer to act in grace towards centers. Wasn't a, a throwaway. Wasn't a paper plate. God was, God was in, in, in, in, in grace. God was costing himself everything. He gave of his very best, he gave of himself, in order that we might freely receive that which we did not earn. Now, my children receive that which they do not earn all the time. But that's not grace. That's me doing, providing for my children what I need to do. When we talk about something that's not earned, I think the word undeserved should come in there as well, right? Because not only is it not earned, as in we didn't do a full day's work, but the nature of sin is such to where we're not working for the same goal. We're working against God's goal. That's what sin is, right? Sin is transgression. It's rebellion. It's running in the opposite path that God's running in. It's running past God's boundaries, God's stop signs, on purpose, with impunity. And I know only God can drive these truths into our hearts, right? Because I know these are sentences that we're all so familiar with. Words, grace, and sin, and transgression, and running stop signs, and running the opposite direction. My friends, it's really true. It's really true. This is exactly your story and my story. And God knew all this before the world began. And God voluntarily, that means He gladly, it was found that the scripture uses words like His good pleasure all the time, out of His own purpose and His own good pleasure, God acted this way. It's grace. Grace in the beginning, We'll look at some of these in a few minutes. Grace at the cross, grace in the new birth, grace in believing, grace for endurance. That's where we are right now, right? It's all going to be there because God has promised it. His covenant love to his people. You see, the word grace and the word covenant are both precious words. Because a covenant says that God's not going back on this based upon your faithfulness or lack thereof. A covenant says that the covenant that God has made, a covenant of grace, it's a binding thing, something that God's going to see through to the end. So it's not contingent upon your act of belief or unbelief. I appreciate Brother Steve's comments many times, and I've heard it from others as well, that coming out of the system of Arminianism, the great blessing to him was that he had been carrying around this extremely heavy burden that was too heavy for him to carry. And that was the thought that if I don't do this right, my children may not see glory. If I don't teach them right, if I don't evangelize right, if I don't train them right, The word covenant says that God is going to be faithful to see that everyone he has placed his love upon will live with him with all the bounty of being a full heir with Jesus Christ. And of course grace is a lovely word because it is through this unearned costly gift of God that we receive freely Salvation in life and eternal life. So let's just look at a few of these, uh, these areas in which the covenant of grace has worked out in time. Turn to Ephesians one, this would be, should be very familiar to you tonight, but Ephesians one, just want to show this. It sounds great, but how does one get to be in the, in the family of God? Is it a certain race? Is it a certain creed? Is it a certain DNA? What is it that enables one to be found in this wonderful family of God? And we're going to see that it's of grace. Paul, in writing to the Ephesians here, this very familiar passage, starting in verse 3, says, blessed, eulogize, say good things about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because he has blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ. There was, there are no spiritual blessings that we lack. Why is that? Because God and his covenant arrangement and his covenant promise acting in grace towards his people saw fit to ensure from the very beginning that we would not lack in any spiritual blessing we need. I don't mean just a good sermon. I mean, in foreseeing and working out the means, the ends, that we would be chosen in Christ, that Christ would die for our sins, for my sins. The Spirit would have an appointment with me to give me new life in Christ. He would bring me to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He would carry me. Brother Lewis just wrote an article. I'm looking forward to coming out in the Baptist Witness on this song, Amazing Grace. And I've just lost, what's the verse? Through many dangers, tolls, and snares, I have already come. God seemed fit to, before he turned you to place, before my line Every danger, every toil, every snare, and every provision through every danger, toil, and snare to conform me to the image of Jesus Christ. That's a wonderful thought. David would say in Psalm 16, the lions are fallen unto me in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage, he would say, because the Lord is my portion. All spiritual blessings in Christ. And then he talks about them in verse four. According as he has chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, where he hath made us accepted in the beloved. And there Paul lays out how does one find himself in the family of God, because he hath chosen us before the foundation of the world and placed us in Christ. Verse five tells us why he would do that, according to the good pleasure of his will. Verse six just elaborates why he would do that, to the praise of the glory of his grace. It's through his grace, he has made us accepted in the beloved. So election to the covenant family of God is by the covenant of grace. Verse seven says that the payment of a sin debt is by grace. Verse seven says in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Now, again, in thinking about this verse today, I thought to myself, God, please, please, please, please awake my heart to the glory of that verse. The Lord blessed that in a small way today. Let me just think about the words here, redemption, the blood of Christ, forgiveness of sins. Are there any more familiar words of Christians than those? Any more, any words that roll off our tongue in prayer and yet have so little meaning to us much of the time? I'll confess it's true of me. I said, Lord, please show me what it means to have sins forgiven. See, my personality is such that I can take offense pretty quickly. And I can hold on to it pretty hard for about 30 seconds. And that 30 seconds usually is pretty ugly. It reveals my depravity. But I have a terrible memory. And it can go off pretty fast. I mean, it can just fade from memory pretty quickly. So forgiveness is, I don't even know if I know what forgiveness means sometimes. I just forget. Let's forget, I can't hold on to it very long. This is a God, friends, who doesn't forget anything. It's all present. Time is not God. We are creatures of time. God's not a creature of time. It's all present before Him all the time. Everything, all of history, all of time, all of eternity is all present before God all the time. Time is only a way that God relates to us. He is not a creature that is infinite. And part of His infinity means that He is not bound by time or space. It's all right in front of Him. And yet, scripture also would speak of God with language that we love to sing about. He has cast our sins as far as the east is from the west and not be remembered again. And then he's cast it into the sea, I think it is, of forgetfulness. He's forgotten. He's cast it away. So today, I was trying to appreciate this, and I was reading a book. is a book about prophecy, about the prophecies of the resurrection, the prophecies of the crucifixion. And all of a sudden, you see, I've tried to get away in my ministry from just getting people emotional about, you know, painting some gory scene at the cross. Because after all, you know, the worst that Christ endured was the wrath of God being poured out upon him. And that's all true. But I got to thinking today as I was reading this book, it was describing some of the prophecies and just the depiction of the sufferings of Christ. I just found myself there for a few minutes. I cannot imagine, I cannot imagine hating anyone badly enough to get in their face and spit at them. I mean, I'm sure I could in a rash moment, I cannot imagine getting somebody's face and ripping the hair out of their face. I can't imagine getting somebody's face and plunging thorns into their brow. I can't imagine those things. And yet, we could probably paint some scenario where some awful criminal did something awful to your family and you were getting retribution. Friends, this really was What we've preached the last two Sundays is not just some pretty story. This truly was the creator of the universe. The best thing this world has ever seen. The only pure, holy, harmless being who has ever lived on this earth. My creator. endured that very awful, gory, unjust things. All that, I might receive forgiveness. What wondrous love is this, oh my soul, right? Now, that has to be by grace, right? Because it's my sins, not my merits, but my sins that are forcing him into this place. He has the power to walk away. He has the power to destroy. And yet he stands there. He takes the flogging. He takes the mocking. I just thought today, for a while, about, can you imagine? You have already endured the worst injustice imaginable, and then they put on this scarlet robe on him, not to praise him, just to make a fool of him. Again, I've made a fool of some people before, and show myself to be the fool, but they're talking about the Lord of creation. They're making a fool of the Lord of creation. All that, I might receive the forgiveness of sins. It's grace, grace alone. John 3, we'll turn there, we're out of time, but John 3 goes into detail as to why regeneration, being born again, must be entirely of grace. John 3 also, John 6 also described for us why believing on Jesus Christ must be entirely by grace. Your own struggles this past year tell why preservation must be entirely by grace. And so the only word that I would quibble with in this chapter is the word offer, he freely offereth. I don't think that the writers, in fact I know the writers did not intend the word offer the way that we use the word offer today because the rest of their writing and even their talking in John 3 would speak of the word offer in a different way than what some would use today. So in our current theological climate, the word offer is sort of a controversial word. We think of offer as somebody making out an appeal or putting out some candies that you want some candy. Um, and so the, the, the controversy is, is, does God offer freely in the gospel? Does God offer salvation to all? Is there a, is there in the gospel, a, a, uh, uh, a well-meant sincere offer of salvation to all men? Maybe we're going to spend more time on this later, but I think the answer to that is no. No. So I think scripture would make that clear. The answer to that is no. There is not a sincere, by sincere meaning you can have this if you want it. And yet God fully intending to not give it to those whom he has not loved in all eternity. God wouldn't do that. God's not a capricious God or a duplicitous God. There is an offer in the gospel. The gospel is a declaration of what Jesus Christ has done for sinners. And then there is an offer. It's an offer to those who find themselves guilty, to those who find themselves thirsty. to those who find themselves empty, to those who find themselves bankrupt, and there absolutely is in the gospel an offer to those people. You come, whosoever believes, whosoever believes, whosoever is hungry, whosoever is thirsty, whosoever is needy, you come to the living waters, and you find in the living waters fountains that will never run dry and that will never leave you quenched. So in this passage here, in this chapter here, I don't think they mean offer as in there's an offer to make that God is not intending to give. I think the word offer really means to give. It's what God gives in salvation. It's what God promises in salvation. God promises to sinners life and salvation in Jesus Christ. Sinners who found themselves to be sinners, sinners who have looked up to the serpent in John 3, the brazen serpent and see, and the one on the cross and see, I am needy, I am dying, and there is a salvation. So we can talk about that more later if you want to. But I just wanted to mention that because that word offer is kind of a um, buzzword in today's theological controversies. And I wanted to mention that, um, I don't think the author's meant an offer in the term that's meant in today. So we just close the service out again with a simple message of sovereign grace. It is grace that you stand in need of this coming year. And it is through grace that God will provide for your needs, according not to his depleting bank account, but according to his riches in glory through Christ Jesus. So may God bless us to find in him grace for all our needs. And may we find a happy new year, not in what may or may not happen to us this year, but we found a happy new year and the God of all comfort and the God through which we enjoy all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ. By the way, the third point in that chapter just said this, it just said that The covenant of grace is hinted at in the Old Testament, it's prompted in the Old Testament, and it comes to full light in Jesus Christ in the New Testament. So from the very beginning, from the very beginning of human history, God has manifested his love to his people through terms of the covenant of grace. May God bless you. Thank you for listening to this message. Our prayer is that you've been blessed by the messages and the daily devotional blog on sermon audio from Ripley Primitive Baptist Church. We would love the opportunity to be of greater service to you and your walk with Christ. In other words, we would like to get to know you better. Do you have need of counsel, of a home church, or can we just pray for you? Please feel free to contact us by phone at 662 837-8590 or visit our website at www.ripleypbc.com