All right, well, good evening, everyone. If you would take your Bibles and turn to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter one, Hebrews chapter one. And as Pastor Mike pointed out, we are going to be We're going to be going to Chapter 7 of God's Covenant tonight. And with the Lord's help, we trust that this will be a blessing to all of us, perhaps a reminder to many of you. Pastor Mike spoke on the Covenant's wonderful series actually this past year, which I'm sure we were all able to benefit from. What I miss out tonight, which I'm surely will do so you can resource back you can resource back to that Well, if you have a copy of God's Word Hebrews chapter 1 we're gonna read verses 1 through 2 for and I want you to be thinking here as you read this text that God has spoken at various times in the Old Testament and in the New Testament by his son he has spoken and This is what we will read here verse number 1 1 2 4 Hebrews chapter Chapter 1. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, who, being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high having become so much better than the angels as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Well here we can see in this text that God comes to his sinful people in the Old Testament and he speaks to them and he reveals a covenant. He reveals a covenant of grace and these covenants are in the Old Testament are not actually the covenant of grace but the promise of it and these covenant promises They're fulfilled in the New Testament. They're fulfilled in the New Covenant when Christ comes and he accomplishes all for his people. And that's what chapter 7 is about. And so where we start here, we're hopefully going to traffic here as we go through chapter 7. Let's pray again if we could and ask the Lord to help us as we come to this chapter. Dear God in heaven, we come to some wonderful doctrines. Doctrines, O Lord, that enter into the very nature and pervade the doctrines of grace. And Lord, we need your help tonight. I don't want to just bring a bunch of words to the brethren here or anyone who may be listening who does not know you. We desire, oh God, that your Holy Spirit comes and feeds us through your word. We thank you for the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. It is not the scripture, Lord, but it points us to it. And we thank you for the man, O Lord, who framed it, and who knew God and walked with you, and who encouraged us even now as we come into these deep things and these wonderful things. Thank you, dear Lord, that these wonderful doctrines, O God, can impact us in our life today. And we pray, Lord, that they would cause us to worship you, that they would cause us, O Lord, to recognize afresh that you are a sovereign God, that you are over all things, but you're moving history for your purposes and for your ends, and that is for your glory and the good of your people, for us, and for a great multitude that cannot be numbered, from every tribe and from every tongue and every nation. Lord, these are the realities with which we wake up to every day, and we go to bed at night as we rest our head upon our pillow, and yet so often we do not consider them. But tonight we would just stop and we would come to this and we pray that you would aid and help Please be with us now, we ask, O God, in Christ's precious name. Amen. Amen. Well, just before I get you to turn to chapter 7, I want you to hear from C.H. Spurgeon. And he said this concerning the doctrine of the covenant. He says it lies at the root of all true theology. I'm persuaded, Spurgeon says, that most of the mistakes which men make concerning the doctrines of Scripture are based upon fundamental errors with regard to the covenants of law and grace. We might say with regards to what we are going to be studying here tonight. R. B. C. Howell in 1855, he said this, these covenants enter into the very nature and pervade the whole system of divine grace. This is an important subject that we're coming here to this evening, a very important subject. If you would turn then to chapter seven, if you have a confession, a London Baptist Confession of Faith, if you would turn to Chapter 7 of God's Covenant. And Dr. Renahan actually refers to this chapter as the Covenant Defined. The Covenant Defined, I think that's a good title as well. But let us go through this, and I'm not going to read all three paragraphs. I'm just going to start one paragraph at a time, and hopefully each one will build upon itself. Paragraph 1 then of Chapter 7 of God's Covenant, or the Covenant defined. The distance between God and the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience to him as their creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of life but by some voluntary condescension on God's part which he has been pleased to express by way of covenant. The thing I'd like to point out first is for us to recognize that there is an absolute need of something here. There is an absolute need of a covenant. It's not something that is optional. It is a requisite thing. It is a need. And we need to recognize that right off the bat. And the framers do this. Notice here in the very first paragraph, the distance between God and the creature is so great. That is a really good place to start. Starts with the holiness of God. It recognizes that there is a great distance between the creator and the creature. a great distance between a holy God and between us. He is wholly other. I'm going to be referencing a number of scriptures tonight. I won't get you to turn to all of them. but I will get you to turn to this. Isaiah chapter 57, if you would turn there. Isaiah 57, and we're just gonna look at 15a. The whole verse is wonderful, but for our purposes this evening, I want us to be thinking about this absolute necessity of a covenant, a covenant of grace, of God's covenant, and it is based in this great distance between the creator and the creator. Note here in 57, 15a of Isaiah, for thus says the high and lofty one, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place." Does this echo for you Revelation 4? You've all read that, haven't you? When the elders and those in heaven are saying, Holy, holy. And then as you go down through that chapter, there's that verse that says, how that the Lord is worthy to receive all glory and honor and power for he's created all things. And then into chapter five, it brings reflection upon the sun. This is who God is, and the confession tells us who God is in his divine essence, that he is a spirit, that he's infinite and eternal, and that he's unchangeable. He's not like us. We change. And in his being, he's wisdom and power, and he's holiness and justice, and he's abundant in goodness and truth. He's a gracious and a merciful God. He's a God that keeps mercy. He's a God that forgives sin. This is the God who is the creator, and this is why there's this absolute necessity that God have relationship with us through covenant. It's an absolute necessity. But it gets worse for us in this context, because we are in a state of total depravity outside of Christ. Romans 3.23, you need not turn there, I think you probably all know it, but Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, I don't think we really appreciate the gravity of what that really means, next to a holy God. We will one day, when we fall before the Lord. But here, there is this great distance between the creator and the creature. Notice in chapter seven, paragraph one, the second part here, that although reasonable creatures I do owe obedience to him as their creator. That's a reasonable thing. But did Adam continue to obey God? He did not, did he? Instead, he disobeyed and that led to what? That led to spiritual death. That led to physical death. And we in Adam experienced the same thing. I don't know if you've noticed cemeteries recently or hospitals. Look at the history of the world. There's death everywhere, and that's because of sin. But we also die spiritually, don't we? And this is our state in Adam. Quite frankly, there's no hope in ourselves. Ephesians 2, 1 speaks of this, how that we are dead in our trespasses and sins. We are in a terrible, terrible situation. Pastor Kirkpatrick said this, and I think he summed it up well, man really is nothing and should just obey God. because he is God. Isn't that so very true? But we don't seek God, do we? In Romans 3, verse 10-11, it says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Think about that for a moment. None of us are righteous. We kind of just jet over that, but nobody is righteous in God's sight, and he is a holy God, and we cannot stand before him. There's none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. We're not even seeking him. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good. No, not one. The question perhaps becomes, do we have any hope? Is there any hope? I mean, God is holy other and here we are. We've sinned. We're in Adam. We die spiritually and physically. What hope do we have in this life? Note paragraph one again, yet they could never have attained. We're just consecutively going through this, so you'll just have to kind of follow with me. Yet they could never have attained the reward of life, but by some voluntary condescension on God's part. I hope you just went, ah, when you read that, this voluntary condescension of a holy God. who's perfect and righteous and all of those things that we have just attributed to him, well, those are his attributes, which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant. So I said, is there any hope? That, by the way, is a good witnessing question to ask. If you're talking to people, it might be a good first question to ask, do you have any hope? Very often it can surprise a person, a question like that, and it gets, the person thinking. And very often it's my experience that, well, if there is a God, I hope that my good outweighs my bad. That's not Bible, is it? We then can introduce the Gospel to them. But here, is there any hope? The reward of life could never be attained except by God's condescension, by way of an unmerited covenant, something that is gracious, covenant of grace. Let's just pause here just for a moment and we're going to be going through a number of covenantal terms here tonight and I don't know if you're anything like me, I tend to in the past have got these covenantal terms mixed up and try to kind of keep them in their proper order and covenant of works and redemption and all these different covenantal names and And I want us to just start with, what is a covenant? You say, wow, that's really basic, but if you stop and think about it, it's kind of a hard question. What actually is a covenant, a true, accurate definition of it? And Pastor Mike supplied me with a wonderful quote from Meredith Klein. And Meredith Klein says this, he says, a covenant is an oath-bound commitment with divine sanctions of blessings and or curses. I'm gonna say that again. So let's just start right at the beginning. What is a covenant? It's this oath-bound commitment made by God that has divine sanctions of blessings and or curses. That's what a covenant is. And so as we talk about covenant, keep this in the back of your mind. You can be thinking about this and considering what that is. Nehemiah Cox, and I think Pastor Mike has his book here tonight, and he will present that to us later, I think. Nehemiah Cox said this, in it concerning a covenant. And Cox talks about a stipulation. God is the one who stipulates. And the re-stipulation, Cox continues, requires, required rather, is a humble receiving or hearty believing of those gratuitous promises on which the covenant is established. Cox then quotes Thomas Adams, and I like this, and Adams says, if he covenant with us, I will be your God, We must restipulate, then we will rest upon you. Isn't that wonderful? God comes, I will be your God. He stipulates that. We don't set the terms. God comes and says, I will be your God. And we restipulate, then I will rest upon you. What a gracious God, what a gracious gospel we have. And that leads us to say this, it pleased God. It pleased him in his divine, sovereign pleasure to make a covenant. It pleased the Lord to make a covenant. Let's go to chapter, paragraph two rather, of chapter seven now, and we'll go through this section. Moreover, man having brought himself under the curse of the law by his fall." Well, here we have the fall, the result of the fall. Before the fall, we have a covenant of works. It's referred to as the Adamic Covenant. And I have a confession to make here. I taught my family for many years that the Adamic Covenant was actually Genesis 3.15. And fortunately, Mike has corrected me on that. I get it now, it took me a while to, so when we think of the covenant of works, you wanna think of the Adamic covenant in Genesis 3, 15, we'll get there. That was a promise, a promise of the seed who would come. In any event, the Adamic covenant, the covenant of works, Genesis 2, 16 and 17, why don't we turn there actually, right now, Genesis 2, verse 16 and 17. Genesis 2, 16 and 17. So this covenant that God made was conditional. So Adam, if you obey, there's life. If you disobey, there's death. It's really not that complicated, is it? So here in Genesis 2, 16 and 17, God so clearly says, the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree, the garden, you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. I don't know if you notice here, here's the presence of a promise, there's a presence of a threat, and there's also here a commandment. that equals a covenant. That's why we know that this is covenantal language. It doesn't say covenant, but it's got all the pieces of covenant, which makes it a covenant. And so here we have the covenant of works. So if you're ever wondering what the covenant of works was, or is, was, and the Adamic covenant, here you need to turn and look at this passage of scripture. But the covenant of works was broken, wasn't it? It was broken by Adam, but here's the Here's the thing to consider. It still remains in effect after the fall. The covenant of works still remains in effect after the fall, but because of sin, it's not able to give life anymore. It once used to be able to give life in the garden, but it's no longer able to give life anymore. Instead, we are all now under the curse of the law, and we're under the curse of death. You can read about that in Galatians chapter three. Well, I'm gonna read from, the London Baptist Confession of Faith, again, in chapter 20. And this is where the framers really deal with the covenant of works. It's in chapter 20. It's just a wonderful statement concerning it. So if you're not sure about the covenant of works and the Adamic covenant, go back first to Genesis 2, verse 16 and 17, and then drive over to chapter 20 of the Confession. You may turn there if you like. I'm going to read this to us. The covenant of works being broken by sin and made unprofitable unto life, God was pleased to give forth the promise of Christ, the seed of the woman, as a means of calling the elect, and begetting in them faith and repentance. In this promise of the gospel, as to the substance of it, was revealed, and is therein effectual for the conversion and salvation of Well, there we have it, and in terms of the need of a covenant then, it must now be of what? It must be of grace. It's the only way out, isn't it? It must be of grace. Again, relying on Cox here, he says this, he says, it was from the design of love and mercy that when the Lord God came to fallen man and found him filled with consciousness of his own guilt, He did not execute the rigor of the law on him. Instead, he held a treaty with him, which issued into discovery of grace. Isn't that wonderful? It's exactly what God did. Well, the covenant of grace is the Lord's pleasure. It's his sovereign doing. Again, if you would turn to Isaiah 46, Isaiah 46. I want us to continually just be thinking about the holiness and the sovereignty of God. in salvation. Salvation doesn't rest in us, does it? Isaiah 46, 9 and 10. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none other. I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. That's what I want to bring out here in this text, is that God is the one who has the first hand in it, and he is the one, I think that's a Cox statement as well, I start to lose track of, who's saying what here in these things. But God is the first hand in it. God is sovereign. God is the one who orchestrates this, who plans it, even in eternity past. We can praise God for that. And by the way, that's where our security and our assurance of salvation rests. Well, let's carry on. Paragraph two. Paragraph two. I'll just start at the top here, because I've kind of lost track of where I am in paragraph two. So God acts for the salvation of man. He freely offers salvation, freely offers life, and he does so by the Lord Jesus Christ. fulfills all the conditions. It's Christ who does this. Sam Ranahan says, and I like this very much, the covenant of grace is the covenant of works kept for us by Christ. Did you get that? The covenant of grace is the covenant of works kept for us by Christ. It's good, isn't it? That really explains it. That's exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did. Well, in about halfway down paragraph two, it says here, requiring of them faith in him that they may be saved. This is the universal element. There's this indiscriminate call of the gospel to those who are sinners. But note here, requiring of them faith That's what's required. Faith in the Lord. Let's carry on. We're going to do another ha and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life is Holy Spirit. to make them willing and able to believe. This is the particular element. This speaks of a determining or a promising to give the Holy Spirit in regeneration. I've got to get you to turn to Ezekiel. Ezekiel, if you could, verse, chapter 36, Ezekiel 36, and Ezekiel 36, verse 26 and 27. You see the offer, the free offer of life and salvation is given, but we need to be made willing and able to believe these things. And this is what this text speaks of. Verse 26 and 27 of 36 of Ezekiel. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues. excuse me, and you will keep my judgments and do them." So what a wonderful thing that it's the Holy Spirit, the living God, who in His Godhead, in His divine nature, His Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in His divine essence, and the Holy Spirit is given and dwells us and comes into the dead sinner and makes them willing and able to believe, makes us willing and able to believe. Now some people kind of get off the rails at this point. And if they haven't perhaps digested it, or haven't really studied God's word perhaps at this point, they begin to think something along this line. Well, what's the point of praying for anybody? What's the point of praying? After all, who's going to be saved is who God is going to save, so we don't really need to do anything. Well, nothing could be further from the truth than that. God uses means, of course. He commands us to pray. were to seek him. And one brother says this. I'm going to read it to you because I think it's wonderful and spot on how to plead. for unbelievers. We must rid it out of our minds and out of any kind of thinking that it is a futile thing to pray for those that are lost. To the contrary, we must pray and not faint. And the Lord commands us to do that, doesn't he? Well, this is what this brother says. He says, Paul prays that God would convert Israel. He prays for her salvation. He does not pray for ineffectual influences, but for effectual influences. And that is how we should pray, too. We should take the new covenant promises of God and plead with God to bring them to pass in our children, in our families, and our neighbors, and all the mission fields of the world. We might pray something like this. God, take out of their flesh the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Circumcise their hearts so that they love you. Father, put your spirit within them and cause them to walk in your statues. grant them repentance and a knowledge of the truth that they may escape from the snare of the devil, open their hearts so that they may believe the gospel." Beside each of those statements are scripture verses from the Old Testament and from the New Testament. When we believe in the sovereignty of God, the right and power of God to elect and then bring hardened sinners to faith and salvation, then we will be able to pray with no inconsistency and with great biblical promises for the conversion of the lost." Isn't it wonderful that salvation does not rest in us, that God calls us to pray and to herald, and to speak, and to talk, and to preach, as Pastor Mike does Sunday by Sunday. And this is how God moves history, and this is how God saves his people from their sin. So be encouraged, brethren. Don't faint in prayers. Perhaps you've been praying for somebody for a great length of time, and you've begun to consider, confess I have at times, begun to consider, is there really any point to this? Perhaps it's, I've gone too long in praying for them. No, the Lord instructs us, don't faint. continue on to pray and to pray that the Lord would give opportunity. So, where have we gone here so far? We've talked so far about the absolute necessity of God's covenant because of the great distinction with the Creator. and between the creator and the creature, how that it pleased the Lord to make a covenant that the free offer of salvation is given, but how ultimately we need the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds and give us life so that we might believe on him. Praise God, salvation does not rest in us, but let us pray on. It is a mystery, but God uses the prayers of his saints to move the redemption narrative, the redemption story, the redemption reality. Well, let's go to paragraph three now, the revelation, the revelation of the covenant. This covenant is revealed in the gospel. First of all, to Adam in the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman and afterwards by farther steps until the full discovery thereof. was completed in the New Testament. So we've touched on this lightly already. First of all, it was given to Adam, the first promise of the gospel. As soon as the gospel was needed, Genesis 3.15, we read about the seed of the woman who will come and crush the head of the serpent. And this seed, of course, is Christ. And we see this begin to progressively unfold throughout the scriptures. But then notice here that it also speaks of farther steps. And this is very distinctive to the London Baptist confession of faith, and it's very impactful. It has consequences of how we view other things connected to covenant. by farther steps. And I want you to think now just for a moment, and then in the end we're going to kind of summarize this all up and put it into some sense here, if you will. I want you to think now of these farther steps in three groupings. So the first grouping is creation, a creation covenant. And then the next grouping is a historical, historical covenants. And then the third grouping is what we can refer to as the eternal or the new covenant. So three groupings, creation, historical and eternal or new covenant just kind of keep that in your mind now and let's just Open up that that that first that first I like to talk in silos like in a field heard me say this before Right. I imagine this big green field a farm field and there's this granary and it's got this lettering on it and it says creation covenant And that is the noaic covenant You can read about that, we won't turn there just now because of time, but you can read about that in Genesis 8 and also Genesis 9. And Pastor Kirkpatrick, again, just beautifully sums this up. He says, in the Noahic covenant, the ark passes through judgment as a type of Christ. And this present evil age is the platform for redemption to come. I think that is an excellent, succinct definition of the Noahic Covenant, and I think it says it wonderfully. The promise is here of the maintenance of a stable world, and to the end that God is moving history for His purposes, for His glory, and to save a great multitude of people. And the Lord is not willing that any should perish. That's 2 Peter 3, 9. But if you jump to 2 Peter 3, verse 1, You know that the apostle Peter is talking to the brethren. And so he's not willing that, God is not willing that any should perish, that the brethren, I believe, will not perish and should not perish. He's not willing that any should be plucked out of God's hand. And that's why this rope continues to spin. When you got up this morning, it was predictable, wasn't it? The sun would appear, and tonight, it's dark outside. This is all Naoic covenant stuff, and it's because God is faithful, and God promises that he will save his people. You see, we entered in around, what, 1950, 60, 70, 80, right? The 2000s, we came into history, and then God saved us through Christ, and he applied the virtues of Christ to us in time, didn't he? And so there may be a great multitude yet to come onto the earth for whom Christ has actually died. And so God continues this maintenance of a stable world as he moves history. We might say it like this, we still abide under the Noahic covenant today. And when I see the despicable use of the rainbow on a flag that waves or painted, on a crossway that you may be walking along. I want you to do this next time you see that. I want you to consider the irony of it. That God, in fact, is restraining. You shouldn't laugh. It's not funny. He's restraining judgment. But judgment will come. He is restraining judgment, and it's right in front of their face, and they're rebelling against the God they don't even believe in. But it's announcing, you see? God is faithful. God is doing exactly what He said He would do. Covenant faithfulness today, in our day. So when you flip the TV on, or you're watching the internet, or whatever, When you see that flag, spin it around and consider that. We were driving out to Abbotsford yesterday and as we went east and looked north, we saw this amazing rainbow and it just announces God's covenant faithfulness. Not only to his people but also his common grace as he moves history for his ends and purposes Don't ever forget the creation covenant because we're under it. We're under it Today we abide under it today and the sign of the rainbow is a beautiful sign and don't associate wickedness with it associate the glory of God to it and Okay, so there's our first silo in the field. Now we're gonna go to the next silo, and these are historic covenants, and we're gonna go through these quite quickly. Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic. So the Abrahamic covenant, you can read about that in Genesis 12. And chiefly, this is a promise of a seed. Abraham, you will have an ethnic seed. That ethnic seed will be Isaac, and through Isaac will come Messiah. And also, those who are in Christ, they're saving faith in Christ. Blessings will also come, of course, through Christ when we are in Him. And by the way, that's the only way into the covenant of grace, is by faith. It's the only way in. And so, it's a promise of seed, this Abrahamic covenant, and it's a promise of land. Ethnically speaking, if I could use that term, geographically speaking, it's Canaan. But what's it pointing to? It's pointing to what Christ will eternally purchase, our eternal rest, namely, heaven. So this is a wonderful covenant. Again, Pastor Mike unpacked this beautifully in our studies last year. So look that up. Mosaic, Exodus 19, five and six. On Sunday, Mike drew attention to this and I wrote it down. If you want to see what the Mosaic covenant is, just go here to Exodus 19, verse five and six. Here, the terms of the covenant of works. They're repeated, but they're not salvific. They're repeated, but they're not unto salvation. Codification of the law, covenant of works repeated, but what do they do? They point to the Lord Jesus Christ. Israel puts their hand up and say, we will do this. We will keep this covenant. We will obey it. We will do all what you say. And on their wedding night, what do they do? They break it, don't they? What does this point to? Then there's Moses, the mediator of the old covenant type of Christ comes in and he mediates for the people of Israel. And then we know how that this all points to the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, Pastor Kirkpatrick, It is a platform for Christ. That's what the Mosaic Covenant is, a platform for the Lord Jesus Christ. All those sacrifices, have you ever wondered what was all this about? All these sacrifices, it's all pointing to Christ. It's all pointing to our Savior who will come. Then we go to the Davidic covenant. God promises David in 2 Samuel 7 that there would always be one to sit on David's throne. This refers, of course, to Christ. This refers to David's greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ. David was a great king, wasn't he? He was an amazing man. I mean, he was an incredible warrior and conqueror and king. He was wise. He, under the inspiration of God, penned the Psalms, many of them, and he did amazing things. But he was also a sinful man. He committed adultery, and then he tried to hide it, and he murdered a man by proxy, and these were terrible things that he did. But Christ, the greater David, he is the one who is the root of David and has prevailed. He's prevailed perfectly for us, for his people. You've got to turn here, Revelation 5, if you could just go there quickly, it's just wonderful. Revelation chapter 5, this greater David, in Revelation 5 verse 5, but one of the elders said to me, do not weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed. Revelation 5, 5. And then you can read the text in your own time, how that we've been redeemed to God by his blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Remember, Judah fails. Remember, David fails. But covenant faithfulness remains. And the Lord Jesus Christ, He will come on behalf of His sinful people. And that promise way back there in Genesis 3.15, it's not forgotten. All of redemptive history, all of the Old Testament, all of the things that are taking place, it's all coming, coming to this moment. While He is our Lord, the King of Kings, and the Lord of lords." Notice here that there is this term, until the full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament. So, the covenant of grace is the promise of the new covenant fulfilled. Think about that for a minute. The covenant of grace is the promise of the new covenant fulfilled. I have to kind of think about that for a minute. We're going to come back to that. At a website called 1689federalism.com, which I highly commend to you, there are a number of videos and various writings on there by Dr. Richard Barcelos and Dr. James Renahan and a number of other men who are well qualified in this subject of covenants. And they have some videos, and it's very worthwhile to go to. And I pulled out a quote from Dr. Renahan because I thought it was so good concerning this, the new covenant. We're now in that third silo, right? The eternal covenant. Okay, the new covenant, and he says this, all of the previous covenants were a precursor, an indication of promise of the coming of the covenant of grace. But when the new covenant comes, that covenant of grace comes into historical reality by Jesus Christ. Renahan continues and says, so the new covenant is the covenant of grace brought into historical reality. Again, 1689federalism.com is a great site to go to and to check out some of those videos there. So the covenant of grace, it's sealed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's ratified in the new covenant. And it is the covenant of works kept for all the redeemed in all time. Well, let's continue on in paragraph three as we swiftly move along here. And it is founded in that eternal covenant transaction That was between the father and the son about the redemption of the elect. In Ephesians 1 and in Titus 1, we read about this eternal nature of God predestinating his people and this council that took place. It's not quite the words, but you can't escape it. that there is this intra-Trinitarian covenant between the parties of the Godhead that takes place pre-temporally, so before time begins. The Father, what does He do? He covenants to the Son. He says, I will give you a people for no cause in them, and the Son will come, and He will assume human nature. His divine nature and human nature, the hypostatic union, united in one. And He will come and He will live an active, obedient, perfect life. A life that we could never live. And then He will be punished for the sins of all those that I will give you. And this covenant was between the parties of the Godhead, between the Father and between the Son. And again, this is where our security is, brethren. It's not in how well we do. It's not in how much we try and how hard we try. It's based in what God has done for us in covenant with His Son. And this is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did. Again, Sam Ranahan, by the way, Dr. James Ranahan and Sam Ranahan are related. Dr. James Ranahan is the father and Sam Ranahan is the son. I think, did he just finish his doctorate, Pastor Mike? And I think Mike is going to show us a book that was recently written by him. He says this concerning the eternal foundation of the covenant of grace. He says, the covenant of redemption is God's commissioning Christ to redeem his people. The covenant of grace is Christ bringing his people whom he has won into covenant with himself. Which means the covenant of grace is simply the accomplishment of the covenant of redemption in time and space. Are you getting these linkages here? For me, anyways, I have to really digest this and go away and let it percolate and come back to it, and I still didn't get it. But as you kind of immerse yourself into it, it just begins to just form this wonderful linkage that God has done, and it really is beautiful. Well, we're right here on the last part of paragraph three, and I can't believe that I'm actually reasonably on time right now. Okay, paragraph three, and it is alone, I shouldn't say it too soon, should I? And it is alone by the grace of this covenant that all the posterity of fallen Adam that ever were saved did obtain life and blessed immortality man being now utterly incapable of acceptance with God upon those terms on which Adam stood in his state of innocence. I want to bring attention here to perpetual exclusivity. That's what we're reading here in this last section of paragraph three of chapter seven. Salvation of any person, whether it's in the past, whether it's in the present, whether it's in the future, is by way of the covenant of grace. There's no other way. The Lord said in John 14, six, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the father, but by me. And then in Titus three, you know that passage, right? That, that, that it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but it's according to his mercy that he saved us by the washing of regeneration. renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Christ Jesus our Lord that being justified by grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So the question becomes well how do we become a party to the covenant of grace. There's only one way. And it is by faith, by believing in Christ through grace. And this is the gospel. It's not by birth. It's not by being born into a family. It's not by being baptized. It's none of those things at all. It's not through your parents. and it is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in that to the core, don't we? That we're saved by grace through faith by Christ on the authority of God's word. We bring your attention, we don't have time to go there, but it's a wonderful passage in Romans 4, dipping into Romans 5. And it speaks, in verse 16 of chapter 4, it speaks, it kind of almost asks the question, why would it be of faith? Like, why? It's a faith that it might be of grace. That's why. And furthermore, there is no other means by which we can have access into the covenant of grace, no other acceptance, because we're utterly incapable of coming to the Lord God. So that's the reason for such exclusivity. So I want to just summarize here. Can somebody tell me how long I have been Roughly? How long have I actually been? We've got till nine, right? So another five minutes or so. Can you hang on for another five? Bear, you with me? Okay, just to tie this up, so what I like to do is I'm kind of, I like to do, you know, like little spreadsheet things and diagrams so that I can kind of visualize things. And what I do, maybe this is helpful to you, but I just kind of put the covenant of redemption right at the top here. And if I'm off here, Mike can correct me in Q&A, but And then kind of below that, so it'd be like a little square in my mind, and then below that there'd be a line and another little box, and that would be covenant of works. And then there'd be kind of like a box rectangular, and it would be promise, Genesis 3.15, promise of the gospel, promise of the seed. And then there would be another long box, and it would be the revelation of the covenant. It's important to recognize that this is not the covenant of grace. Okay, and below that one, I would have these little, little lines going this way off to the side. And that's where I would put all those, remember the creation covenant and the historic covenants, the eternal covenant, remember that? That's where I would put those. So Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, eternal. Okay, and then underscoring all that is the new covenant equals or is the covenant of grace, and the only way that we enter into that covenant of grace is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. So hopefully that little diagram, if we had time we could draw it up here, but it kind of helps me. Maybe it'll help you as well. So by way of summary again, so what is the covenant of grace? Meredith Klein, an oath-bound commitment with divine sanctions that has blessings and or curses attached to it. It's an oath-bound commitment. And the covenant of works The covenant of grace is the covenant of works kept for us by Christ. If that's kind of one thing that you really remember, that was very helpful to me. That's what it is. Christ has done this for us, wholly unmerited, and that's why it's called the covenant of grace. And God loves his people, he sends his son to live and to die for them, and this is what he does. So in the new covenant, the covenant of grace is ratified by Christ's blood, and it comes into historical reality. Isn't that why the Lord said on the cross, it is finished? Those are big words, aren't they? It is finished, and they have a great deal of significance to it. So, who can be in this covenant of grace? We've got to receive the terms of the covenant in order to be in that covenant of grace. We must believe on Christ. There is no other way into the covenant of grace, but by grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what makes you a Christian. and part of the church. And that alone is what makes you a Christian and part of the church. Well, just in conclusion, I want to be very personal now and offer three applications which are really, really, really important. I mean, what do we do with this? I hope it causes you to worship God more. And this is what Dr. Ranahan said on the 1689 federalism. He says, I think he did he write his his doctoral thesis on the covenants or no? I know he put together the cox and john owen book. Is that right? Um, but he said and it really impressed me or made an impression on me And he said my study of this has just caused me to to worship god more and that's it That's a good thing when we worship him in spirit and truth. So what do we do with this? I trust that this little study tonight and Mike will come up next week and flesh things out even further. But here's a number of things to consider. Have you recently considered, it's very personal this, I'm going to say, and it's to me too, have we recently really just paused and meditated on the amazing reality That god chose his people. That's you that's me for the lords. He actually chose us before this world even was That doesn't that just blow you away before the foundation of the world hebrews 1 4 Does that even register? Before the foundation of this world god chose us in christ. His love for his people is eternal in time Get that eternal in time i'll put parentheses around time and infinite in measure. And so I would just encourage you, if you're writing notes, Psalm 46.10 and 1 John 3.1, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. When was the last time you were still? in this hectic life with so much going on. And I am such a hypocrite when I say that. I'm incredibly busy right now. I'm in a super busy time. And you gotta drag yourself away sometimes, haven't you? And be still and know that God is God and get back to these important things and consider all what Christ has accomplished. Secondly, When you see evil advance in society, if you're honest with yourself, if I'm honest with myself, do you get discouraged in that sometimes? Do you almost kind of have a sense of despair? Even perhaps, this is when we need to remember the Noahic Covenant. We need to remember that God is faithful and that all what Christ has accomplished, he has done it. And he is sovereign. He's sovereign over every single detail of your life, every single detail of your life and the life span details of this world, of this universe. You get that? He's over every deed. That's how great God is. He's over our little minutia and the important things to us. And he's over those really big things too. Of course, he's over everything. He's transcended to time. This is how great God is. Isaiah 40 verse 15 and 27 to 31. It's a wonderful place to park for that. And then last but not least, we're kind of back where we started considering God's attributes and who he is. This ought to cause us to worship. Mike places a great deal. And I'm so thankful he does. A great deal of emphasis in our church on the holiness of God. If we get that wrong, we're going to get everything else wrong. Consider God's covenant promises in light of who He is, in light of His attributes and who we are. And this leads me to ask this question. Are you fearful or anxious about anything? Are you? I've got to confess, sometimes I am. We ought not be. We ought not be. Is anything too difficult for God? Nothing's too difficult for God. So we ought to roll our cares upon the Lord. That's what we ought to do. I'm not very good at that. I tend to try to do it myself. That the Lord would have us to roll our cares upon Him in prayer. 1 Peter 5, verse 7. Oh, that's close. Dear God in heaven, we come before you this evening and we have dipped into this wonderful study on covenants. Lord, it is a subject that is for me, Lord, a very weighty subject. It's hard to lift because there's so much there. And I just thank you, Lord, for the guidance and the teaching that has helped me along here for Pastor Mike's instruction, and for various good books that I've been able to read, and of course the scriptures and the confession. Thank you for these things, Lord, that open up these wonderful truths concerning your word. And thank you, Lord, that these doctrines, Lord, they do matter. Of course they do. But, Lord, they impact us right here on a Tuesday evening in South Surrey, British Columbia. And I pray, Lord, that we would remember, oh God, that we have been chosen in Christ before the world even began. That is how great your love is toward us. May we be still and know that you are God. May we worship you and praise you for your gracious love that you have toward us, rebellious sinners. You've done so for no cause in us. And Lord, when we see evil advancing in society, may we remember the Noahic covenant. May we reflect upon the true meaning of the rainbow. And it is glorious, and we ought to not allow any other thoughts to enter our mind but that. And thank you, Lord, that you're sovereign over every detail of our lives and the lifespan details of the entire universe. And Lord, lastly, we praise you for who you are, for your attributes. Lord, we confess, oh Lord, that we do not think about these things as much as we ought. And yet, O Lord, when we do, we begin to recognize just how great you are, how that our days are fashioned for us before in continuance they are, how that you know our down-sitting and our uprising, and you know our thoughts afar off. And Lord, your thoughts toward us are precious, so we might well ask, is anything too difficult for God? Help us to roll our cares upon you, even in this week, as the week continues on. We all have different challenges, and oh, Lord, as the little hymn goes, oh, what needless pain we often bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. How guilty I am of that. Forgive me, Lord, help me, help us to be more prayerful, and to worship you, oh, God, and to honor you, and to esteem you, and to love you, and to glorify you. And we thank you for this time now, in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, amen.