Well, I don't remember if I explicitly said last week whether or not that was the final installment of our series on the Covenant of Communicant Membership, but I decided after reflection this week to add one more. I thought that we've covered now the covenant of communicant membership, and I think it's appropriate for us to conclude this series on this particular covenant as the church has taught us to confess it with a song, with a song that bubbles up in our hearts, that is shouted forth by our mouths, and it's a song about God's grace. So today you'll see that I'm quoting not from the covenant of communicant membership, but from the Reformed Presbyterian testimony. I'd like to ask you to read the introduction there in your notes today with me, and we'll be considering today how the steadfast love of God is the foundation of the entire covenant of grace that God has made with us. So let's read together this simple statement here. By the covenant of grace, God brings the elect into fellowship with himself. This fellowship begins in this life, when man repents and believes in Jesus Christ. It is a fuller fellowship when at death men depart to be with Christ, and it will be made perfect when believers shall be raised up in glory. Thank you very much. This is a glorious statement from our testimony regarding this matter of fellowship with Christ. All of the things that we've read, all of the meditations of recent weeks have dealt in two main categories. One is in the area of doctrine, or what we are to believe, and the other is in the area of holiness, or what we are to live and to practice. And today I'd like us to note that all of this comes to doxology. It comes to full resolution and full joy when we understand that the thing that this entire covenant is built on is a covenant of grace. That the covenant of communicant membership maybe is like the house. And the house is built upon the foundation of God's covenant of grace. Psalm 103 is a psalm of the covenant. It's a psalm that stirs us once again to consider the mighty acts of God and the character of God as He displays it in the gospel. Four times in this psalm, it speaks of the steadfast love of the Lord, and we'll be looking at that in just a moment. The ESV Study Bible makes these comments on Psalm 103. This psalm reflects on God's dealings with His people from creation to the exile. It considers Israel's survival in the time of Moses was due to God's steadfast love. It lists the benefits that souls should be careful not to forget. The crowning benefit is God's enduring love to the descendants of the faithful. Christians enter into the joy of this psalm as they celebrate how the biblical story that has developed has displayed even more of God's goodness and kindness. So today we want to think about these four occurrences of the word steadfast love and to see how they come in the context of this psalm. So look with me once again at Psalm 103. This is a Psalm that you can speak to yourself. I don't know if you do this much, but do you ever say, self, now listen, I hope you do. I'm persuaded that it's an important discipline for the Christian to be able to, in a sense, hold their soul out in their hand. Because we are self-conscious creatures, We can talk to ourselves. We can think and we can, in our minds, address our hearts, that mysterious place where our mind and our affections come together, where our identity resides. And notice today, this psalm teaches us to speak to our souls. ourselves individually. Notice also that when we sing this song, we're calling one another to address our souls. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits. This is a key word at the end of verse two, as now the psalmist rehearses for us either five or maybe six of these benefits. Notice what they are. Who forgives all your iniquity. who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit. Now, number four, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy. Number five, who satisfies you with good so that maybe a sixth benefit, your youth is renewed like the eagles. Who of us has not seen an eagle or some other huge bird soaring endlessly through the sky? Remember not too long ago being on a trip, actually going out I-70 and seeing way up a motionless bird, probably using the updrafts from the asphalt of I-70 and was using those drafts to come in and then would just circle. And as he circled, he went higher, even though his wings weren't moving. Think of the picture of strength of power that's on display in that eagle soaring in the sky. Notice that this is one of the benefits that comes. Now, we need to be careful. This does not necessarily come physically. The psalmist is not speaking of our youth being renewed as in the gray hair disappearing. Or, you know, I always think maybe my eyes will go bad the other way and they'll get better, but they don't. They keep getting stronger glasses. Consider that the benefits of God that come to our souls renew our souls so that, as the Apostle Paul says, though our outward body is wasting away, our inner man is being renewed. beautiful thing, to remember the benefits that God gives to us. I'm going to focus today, for the sake of our theme, only on verse four. Notice what it says there in the second part of the verse, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy. Here we see the first pointless point, that we are crowned with Christ's steadfast love. In the covenant of grace, God promised and then sent his only begotten son into the world. In Genesis 3.15, God promised he would do this, that the seed of the woman would crush the head of serpent. In the covenant of grace, God brings the elect to fellowship with himself. How does he do this? He does this through the ordinances of the gospel, Our family has some experience in the crown. When I was 14, my little brother was born. Many of you have met my brother Stephen. I ask for permission to share this illustration with you. My brother Stephen was born. One of the first things that my parents noticed was that he had this glorious head of blonde hair. My mom had a dream, our family joked about this many times, she had a dream actually on her honeymoon that she had two sons. The first was named Bradley, so they named me Bradley and laughed about the dream and all of that. The second son was named Steven. My mom and dad were very concerned that my sister not be left out. But as we talked as a family, we decided this is a great name. There's Stephen in the Bible. We looked up the word, and the word Stephanos in Greek actually means crowned one. So that was a name that we had kind of selected and talked about as a family. And so when Stephen was born with a very shockingly blonde head of hair, My parents said it's appropriate to name him Crown. My brother, Crown, is a steadfast father. My brother knows pride. That's my brother. I've thought about how is God going to give him an extra chromosome, or I'm sorry, take away that extra chromosome in every cell in his heart. How is it that Stephen is going to stand whole and complete in the new heavens and new earth? I want you to notice today that all of us are promised a crown. Indeed, it is one of the benefits that this psalm calls upon us to remember. That our God, that the God of mercy, the God of all power, he is the one who crowns us with steadfast love and mercy. that this is due to the covenant of grace, that God has eyes, that God shows his steadfast love to people, and that God, through the wondrous works of providence, opens the eyes of people who are in spiritual need. We talk a lot about fellowship among believers. You are a fellowship. You knew you had a fellowship. Is that what he's calling you? Because of this steadfast love that you have in place before your head is a water fountain. Not only do you have life, but you have fellowship with them. Go to your mom and dad and see if you have a fellowship kind of gesture, maybe like this one. And go and just enjoy being a dad, a son, or a mother, a daughter. Consider, we are crowned with Christ. This song goes on. Look at verse 6. It says, The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. And then here it is again, now in the context of Moses, verse 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Now here, clearly in the context The psalmist is calling to mind that fascinating story in Exodus 34. Remember when Moses had gone up on the mountain and he had received the tablets and he came back down and there was Israel behaving in idolatrous ways before the Lord, spurning him and his word. And Moses had stood in the breach, he had prayed, and God had had mercy upon the people of Israel. Moses played the role of a mediator. And then God had commanded him to cut two new tablets, like the first, and he would write upon them the words of the covenant once again. And so Moses goes up, he goes to Mount Sinai, and then it says this, Exodus 34, 5. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him. And so here imagine Moses on the top of Mount Sinai and the Lord passing before him. And this is what the Lord proclaimed. The Lord. The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands. It's almost exactly what our psalm says here today. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. So the second point this morning is that we're not only crowned with Christ's steadfast love, we're called in Christ's steadfast love. That it's because God has a steadfast love because He's faithful to His promises, because He remembered the promises that He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that through you all the families of the earth shall be blessed, that God has called out for Himself a people. It's Christ's steadfast love that led Him to come into the world to faithfully proclaim the gospel, to call those disciples to himself, to fall in Christ's steadfast love. Let us continue. It continues in a marvelous way, verse 9. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him." Now notice that there's an additional thing here. That in fact what this psalm is doing is developing the doctrine of God's steadfast love. And it's tremendously important for us to see that God does not love everybody. God's steadfast love is often used by the wicked to excuse their sin. God always loves his people, but God never excuses sin. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not count his iniquity. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Friends, we need to see that there are those in this world who live in rebellion against God and God is holding every one of their sins against them. Romans chapter 2 speaks of how of how wicked men are storing up God's wrath for the day of wrath. The same way that a dam built across the valley, there's a massive lake that slowly builds up behind it. But woe if that dam breaks, and in a moment, all of that pent-up energy is released in the valley below and goes swirling and destroying as it rushes to the sea. God's wrath is being stored up against those who are outside of Christ, against those who are in rebellion against their creator. He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our, and notice it's the people of God, according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. Why? In a word, because of His steadfast love. So point number three, not only are we crowned with Christ's steadfast love and called in Christ's steadfast love, but we are cleansed by Christ's steadfast love. He takes our iniquities away. Instead of His anger, we face His smile. I know some of you have recently studied about the Aaronic Blessing, where it speaks of God causing His face to shine upon us. Friends, God smiles toward His people. Those who are in union with Christ, the wrath of God is taken away. And it's the love of a father. It's the care of a friend. Jesus says, I call you friends because everything that I've heard from my father I've made known to you. You're not merely my servants, you're my friends. I love to be in friendship with you. And all of this is possible because we are cleansed by Christ's steadfast love. And so we can, in hope, commit ourselves to do in the covenant of communicant membership, to perform, to faithfully perform our whole duty as a true servant of Jesus Christ. We can do that not because we will attain to that high calling, but because our sins are covered. that obedience always flows from a heart that has been changed, that an ethical life comes forth from knowing who you are in fellowship with God. And friends, I think many of us have seen the alternative when it's simply that you must do this and you must do this because you'll get in trouble if you don't. There's a pharisaical focus on external behavior that neglects the heart. The result is hypocrisy. We do yet drag around with us our old nature. There are times when we see that old nature rise up in us, perhaps in anger, perhaps in fear, perhaps even in unbelief. It's for this reason that I have been burdened recently to encourage us and remind us. The elders of the church play an important role in our lives in shepherding us. Remember that sheep are prone to go astray. and to turn to their own way. One of the tasks that God gives to shepherds of the sheep is to go after them when they wander. When they're apart from the shepherd, they're in danger. Friends, we need to see that our hearts have been cleansed. We need to live out who we are. as new creatures in Christ. As Romans chapter 6 says, we need to reckon ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. We need to see the reality of the gospel as all that we feel stands between us and God has in fact been taken away We need to look upon his fatherly face. We need to see his smile. We need to stop running from him, and we need to run to him. We need to rest in his love and in his fellowship. Great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him. Notice that the word here is used. I'm reminded of a woman that I met one time who read about this call to fear God. And she said. I am afraid of God. And I don't want to talk about verses. That this same phrase is repeated. The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him. I think this is a critical element of this today. That even as the psalm is extolling this steadfast love of God, it's a steadfast love that is given. to the Israel of God, that even within the national Israel of the Old Testament, God is already drawing a distinction. Okay, you may be a son of Abraham, but if you don't fear God, if you don't live according to His standards, You say you love God, but you walk in darkness, as John says. You're a liar. The truth is not in you. But we walk in the light as he is in the light. We have fellowship with God, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Steadfast love. It's a crown upon our head. It's a call drawing us to Christ. It's a dishrag cleansing us from our sin. And finally, number four, steadfast love gives us confidence in God, confident in Christ's steadfast love. Look down at verse 15. As for man, his days are like grass. He flourishes like a flower of the field, for the wind passes over it and it is gone. This place knows it no more. The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him. A few weeks ago, I had a very rich opportunity, I've shared this with some of you, to go up to Holton, Kansas, to go into the Holton Cemetery with some numbers and be able, it looked like I knew what I was doing, to walk right to the grave of my great, great, great, great grandfather, Ephraim Collins. I've been working on our family's genealogy recently. As far as I knew, everyone was out east. Lo and behold, this grandfather of mine had moved later in life to Holton and had lived actually about probably three or four miles from the Denison RP Church. And I had an opportunity just a couple weeks ago to be there on my knees. pulling back the shrubbery and looking at this gravestone of my ancestor. And the rock was largely defaced. I can make out what was said there. But to think about how long, he died in 1877. To think about the years and the decades and centuries that have come and gone. as that gravestone sat there. Think about what everlasting means. Children, let me just tell you, you have no idea how long forever is. Don't promise to do very many things forever because you can't, because you will constantly change and grow You will grow old and you will die and generations will come and generations will go. But what does it mean when it says the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting? That's everlasting in the past to everlasting. That's everlasting in the future on those who fear him. Notice that it goes on and his righteousness to children's children. So moms and dads, think about your children. My children are 12 to 5. Sometimes I'll sit across the table from them, and I'll think about, and I wonder what Peter's grandchildren are going to be like. And his great-grandchildren, and his great-great-grandchildren. And they sort of look at me a little cross-eyed, because that's not even a thought that they can really entertain. And then we remember the everlasting promises of God. Notice, children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments, the Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all. We can be confident because God has set his king to reign over all the nations of the earth. It's been a theme in my own mind and in my own study recently, that when Christ ascended into heaven, He fulfilled, that there were events that occurred in heaven that fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel chapter 7. As Christ is given a kingdom that all peoples and nations and languages might serve Him, His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom which shall not be destroyed. And so the King has been installed. And the citizens have been called. Those whom the Father loved in Christ before the foundation of the world are being called by the King. And they are being given royal promises that will endure from generation to generation. And oh friends, this is where it becomes so important that we as covenant families are knowing the one true God. that we're reading his word and we're singing his praise and we're praying and conversing about life together as families. We're calling you grandparents. Take some time. Call up your grandchildren. Tell them the steadfast love of the Lord, which is from everlasting to everlasting. One of the hardest things, I know this is the case, is when we have children who wander from the Lord, don't be afraid to remind your children of the steadfast love on those who fear Him. Call them to repent of their sin, to return to Christ, the Christ in whose name they were baptized, in whose church they learned to worship, where their consciences were formed. Oh, friends, we need this love of the Lord. Well, as we come to conclusion, let us simply remember this steadfast love. I told you there's one Hebrew word here. It's the Hebrew word chesed. And I would encourage you to do a word study, go through using a concordance or using an online Bible and do a word study in the English standard version, at least on this word, steadfast love, and see that this is one of, if not the most celebrated attribute of our God. His love is steadfast. Some translations have said a loyal love. That he is loyal. He's loyal to himself above all. He's loyal to the promises that he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's loyal to his word. His word will stand firm throughout all generations. And he's loyal to his people. He will move heaven and earth to draw his elect people to himself.