This is message number four in the series on Original Sin that we are in the process of doing. The whole series was broken down into Three parts. The pattern of the sin, the punishments of the sin, and the product or the consequences of the first sin. This message is a slight departure, however, from last week where we took up the punishments of sin as they dealt directly with Eve. because I thought it necessary to deal with one of the themes that had been continuously coming up since we started this series in all the messages, and that is the theme of the covenant. Last week in particular, we spoke much about the covenant, as well as dealing with the punishments of Eve. This message is going to be on the significance of the covenant concept. It is an interruption of the series in that it is not a continuation of the punishments of Eve and its effect on today's culture, as we originally said it was to be for this Sunday. But we will be taking that up, if not next Sunday, depending on how far we get today, then the Sunday thereafter. And what that will consist of is the relationship between the man and the woman, the husband, the wife, and their appropriate position and function in the family, in the church, and in society as a whole. Rather, this is a sermon on the essence of the covenant that God made with man successively, if you remember. We noted last week that the covenant started with Adam, went to Noah, went to Moses, Abraham, David, and finally in the New Covenant. And we said that we believe in the progress of revelation. That is to say that God has communicated His truth to man within each of the successive covenants, each time expanding more and giving more information as to the coming King and His Kingdom, and dealing with the subjects of the Kingdom and our relationship to the Kingdom itself. The most significant characteristic And the reason why the covenant concept is so significant is because it's within covenant that we experience what in Hebrew is called the chesed, or God's mercy. It's variously translated. For our purposes right now, we will call it God's mercy to his people. I think that as we move along, that if it wasn't for His mercy, you will see, and His loving kindness. Sometimes it's translated, His loyal love dispensed to only His people. It's dispensed only to His people. and his people is defined as that group, community of people, who are in covenant with him, we would be simply snuffed out of existence as just desserts for our sin. You see, understanding the concept of covenant is fundamental and essential to understanding our faith. If you don't understand the covenant concept, you don't understand federal headship. And it is impossible for you to explain how we all fell in Adam, and how many were saved in our federal head, the second Adam, who is Christ. So many of the things that we take for granted and talk about and sing about, as a matter of fact, have to do with covenant. I was rather amazed this morning, the first song that we sang, the fourth verse of Hymn 101, For Him my mercy shall endure, My covenant made with Him is sure. His throne and race I will maintain forever while the heavens remain." That's because of the Covenant. We sing about the Covenant. We talk about the Covenant. In Presbyterian circles, we have seminaries named after the Covenant. Covenant Seminary, the PCA Seminary. And after Christ Presbyterian Church, probably the most used name for Presbyterian churches, Covenant Presbyterian Church is second. So the covenant concept and the name covenant, the term covenant, is used in our language, in our churchese, if you will, particularly being Presbyterian, all the time, and we need to understand the significance of what it is. Our Westminster Confession of Faith. Let me just read section 7, paragraph 1, line 1. The distance between God and the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures do obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have fruition of Him as their blessedness and reward. but by some voluntary condescension on God's part." Here we're already seeing this idea of God's mercy to His people. Voluntary condescension on God's part, which He has been pleased to express by way of covenant. I believe that when we're finished, you should have a new and perhaps overwhelming appreciation for what this contract is that you are a non-obligated partner to, whose duty to fulfill it and all its promises is entirely God's. And by the way, that fact that the fulfillment of the covenant and all its promises is God's obligation is particularly Reformed. After all, it's God's glory that is at stake. And so its fulfillment must lie in Him alone. Because if it depended on us to fulfill it, for God to give glory, it would never, ever come to pass. Gerhardus Voss in his Doctrine of the Covenants says this, The obtaining of eternal life thus comes to lie in God as a work that is His alone, in which His glory shines and of which nothing, without detracting from that glory, can be attributed to the creature. And furthermore, he says, the fact that redemption is God's work by which he wills to be glorified can in no wise be more strongly expressed than by thus exposing its emergence from out of the depths of the divine being himself. In other words, what he's saying here is that salvation is God's idea alone and therefore its execution lies entirely in God's responsibility. Here it is God who wishes the requirement of redemption as God the Father. Again, it is God who for the fulfillment of that requirement becomes the guarantor as God the Son. And once again, it is God to whom belongs the application of redemption as God the Holy Spirit. The Father demanded and devised the plan. The Son executed the plan. And the Holy Spirit applies the benefits of atonement to the believer. Applies the benefits of the plan. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, your redemption is all of the triune God and none of you. In the clear light of eternity where God alone dwells, The economy of salvation is drawn up for us with pure outlines and not darkened by the assistance of any human hand," Voss says. It is a creation of the Triune One from whom, through whom, and to whom are all things. The work of grace in the life of a sinner is simply a mirror for the glory of God. Another particularly Reformed idea. Salvation is all of God for God's glory. Remember last week we said the covenant promises are to last into a thousand generations. There will always be the seed of the woman to whom his promises will be kept forever. What about these promises? I've said we are the recipients of these promises. What promises? And how are we beneficiaries of them? Theologian David Preston, all the way back in 1639. That's how far back this goes. This concept of the covenant, which is the reason why it was included in the Westminster Confession of Faith. There was nothing new for them. It is said, the promise is made to the seed, yet the promise is made to us. And yet again, the covenant is made with Abraham. How can all these things stand together? Here's the answer. The promises that are made to the seed, that is to Christ himself, which Paul gives us in Galatians, are these, Thou shalt be a priest forever. I will give thee the kingdom of David. Thou shalt sit on that throne. Thou shalt be a prince of peace and the government shall be upon thy shoulders. Likewise, Thou shalt be a prophet to my people. These are the promises that are made to the seed. The promises that are made to us, though they be of the same covenant, nevertheless differ in this respect. The active part is committed to the Messiah, to the King, to the seed Himself. But the passive part consists of the promises made to us. You shall be taught. You shall be made prophets. You shall have your sins forgiven. So, the promise is made to us. How is the promise made to Abraham? It reads, in thee all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. The meaning is that they are derivative promises. The primary and original promises were made unto Christ. Well, the eternality of the covenant, which we spoke some of last week, has as its heart the idea we're going to explore this morning. The clearest explication of the essence of this covenant, the essence of the covenant, which as we have said is this chesed, this mercy, is Psalm 136. Psalm 136. We're going to read the whole psalm, so if you turn there. And if you have never read Psalm 136, you're going to be delighted this morning because in all the 66 books of the Bible, there is no psalm quite like this in terms of its structure, its meaning, its intent. Psalm 136 verses 1 to 26. And I want you to bear in mind this idea of covenant, the chesed, covenantal love. It's repeated over and over and over in this psalm. Psalm 136, verses 1-26, Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. That's the word, chesed. Sometimes translated mercy, sometimes translated loyal love. Verse 2, Give thanks to the God of gods, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. To Him who alone does great wonders, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. To Him who made the heavens with skill, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. To Him who spread out the earth above the waters, His lovingkindness is everlasting. To Him who made the great lights, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. The sun to rule by day, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. The moon and the stars to rule by night, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. To Him who smote the Egyptians in their firstborn, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. And brought Israel out from their midst, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. To Him who divided the Red Sea asunder, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. And made Israel pass through the midst of it, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. But he overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his lovingkindness is everlasting. To him who led his people through the wilderness, for his lovingkindness is everlasting. To him who smoked great kings, for his lovingkindness is everlasting. And slew mighty kings, for his lovingkindness is everlasting. Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his lovingkindness is everlasting. and Og king of Bashan, for his loving kindness is everlasting. And gave their land as a heritage, for his loving kindness is everlasting. Even a heritage to Israel his servant, for his loving kindness is everlasting. Who remembered us in our low estate, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. And has rescued us from our adversaries, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. Who gives food to all flesh, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the God of heaven, for His lovingkindness is everlasting." That's Psalm Psalm. Remember, last week we discussed how this covenant spoke of grace by virtue of it being the vehicle whereby God calls, communicates, and preserves His people for Himself. This is all about God, praise the Lord. It's His covenant to secure His people for His glory. That's why we talk about all things being worked out after the counsel of His own will. And by the way, this covenant, which these 26 verses talk about over and over, and we're going to get into some of the details. His loving kindness is everlasting. This covenant is not part of God's plan. It is the whole plan. It's important for us to understand that. The whole plan and nothing but the plan. God does not and cannot deal with people outside of His covenant as though they were in it. He does not and cannot deal with His people as though they were outside of it. Not two plans. Not one for the believer and one plan for the unbeliever. One plan, but two people. Those in it and those out of it. sheep and the goats, seed of the woman, seed of the serpent, in Adam, in Christ, those who love me, those who hate me. Forgive the repetition of that. You're going to hear that every Sunday while we're in this series. Stephen Alford, who was a Southern Baptist preacher and meant a great deal to Sherri and I, said this, a good preacher doesn't say ten things one time. He says one important thing ten times. The one important thing to get is that there is one people of God, and by virtue of covenant, all the rest are His enemies. And the enemies of God are the enemies of God's people. As to this one plan, Ephesians 1, verses 9-12, He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him, with a view to an administration, we're going to look at that phrase, suitable to the fullness of the times. That is, the summing up of all things in Christ things in the heavens and things upon the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His own will. To the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory." He has a plan. His plan is the covenant. And in this verse, Ephesians 1, verse 10, with a view to an administration suitable, that phrase is variously translated, in the dispensation of the fullness of time, the King James has it, for the administration of the fullness of time, Young's Literal has it, as a plan for the fullness of time, the revised standard, has it. What that word actually means, it's translated administration, is the management of a household or someone who manages household affairs. Specifically, it is the management of, the oversight of, the administration of one's property. It speaks of organization and carrying out in steps a plan, a managed, decreed plan. It speaks of an ordered organized, methodical blueprint that everything is executed according to. The covenant is the blueprint that everything that happens in this life is ordered to. In other words, we can rejoice and celebrate the fact that not one grain of sand is outside of this plan. This covenant, this contract, this blueprint, which is to be worked out in time, is called history. Somebody said that history is rightly said to be His story. All things are for His glory. And so all things are absolutely ordered by an Almighty God who does all things according to His good pleasure. Let's take a moment and see exactly how arbitrary, how left to chance things are, especially when it comes to salvation, which is, after all, what the covenant is all about. In this passage we just looked at, Ephesians 1, verses 3 and 4 following, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessings, for He chose us in Him. He chose us. Nothing arbitrary about that. You're not in covenant and in relationship with God. You're not blood-bought, born-again and saved and Spirit-filled by chance. He chose you before the foundation of the world with a purpose to be holy and blameless in His sight. That's what it says here. He chose you with a purpose to be holy. In verse 5, in love, He predestined us. There's obvious, deliberate action here. He predestined us to be adopted more purpose as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will. Well, totally, there's no plan that's evident here. Everything that we've read so far, in accordance with His pleasure and will, to the praise of the glory of His grace. More purpose, which He has freely given us in the one He loves. Verse 7, in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance More evidence of that plan again, in accordance with what? In accordance with some plan, and here we have it spelled out for us, with the riches of God's grace. The New Testament equivalent of chesed, mercy. that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." Totally capricious, arbitrary, and at random. No, with all wisdom and understanding. This plan decreed from before the foundation of the world in the councils of eternity past. With all wisdom and understanding. He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ again, deliberate action, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment, which is our word here, the administration of the times, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head. More purpose, even Christ. Verse 11 is the summary verse where we have all of these ideas. In Him we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan, who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of His glory. And herein lies the whole point of Reformed theology. His glory. Unlike Armenian theology, or Pelagianism, or any other concoction that man has come up with, anything that steps and tramples on one fraction of God's glory is outside of biblical truth, as far as I'm concerned. All of this, the choosing, the predestining, working according to His plan, bringing everything in conformity with His will, is for the express purpose of His glory, and that by virtue of covenant. Nothing, nothing, nothing is done as a random act of an arbitrary or capricious will, but by design." Now listen, on behalf of the seed of the woman, His covenant people, as we discovered last week, All of this, this whole plan, all of this choosing, predestining, planning, bringing to fulfillment, according to His will, in all wisdom and understanding, is for His covenant people. In time and space, all history, all of history is moved according to this plan. And this plan is so inclusive and big that it does include the entrance of sin into the world, the chaos that it creates, It includes the cosmic battle between good and evil that is the evidence of the enmity that God sovereignly placed between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman in Genesis 3.15. It does include personal crises like cancer and global catastrophes like earthquakes, hurricanes, and man's monuments built to himself like twin towers crumbling down. And on the other hand, the plan is so detailed It has numbered the hairs on your head and goes beyond that. It even drills down into your invisible parts to expose the heart's thoughts and intents and divides your very soul and spirit. This plan, this covenant into which you were called to have relationship with God every The detail is engineered and explicitly decreed. We just read in this passage in Ephesians 1, in these 13 verses, there are 15 expressions of deliberate, willful purpose to accomplish a predetermined end. Two times the word chose. He chose you is used. There are five purpose clauses, twice the Holy Spirit said that we were predestined, and six times we are told it is according to a plan. You tell me if God is in control of history or not. And it is a history that revolves around you and me as His covenant people. All of history revolves around this plan. And this plan is about bringing a covenant people to Himself for His glory. He will get glory from redeeming a people. His plan in time and His purpose in time is to preserve His people through time for all eternity. Voss says, it, the covenant, provides the guarantee that the glory of God's work of redemption shall be impressed upon the consciousness of the elect and be actively expressed through their lives. This can happen only when the application of Christ in its entirety occurs because of and in union with Christ. Now listen, only when the believer understands how he has to receive and has received everything from the Mediator, and how God in no way whatsoever deals with him except through Christ, only then does a picture of the glorious work that God wrought through Christ emerge in his consciousness, and the magnificent idea of grace begin to dominate and to form in his life. For the Reformed, therefore, the entire Ordo Salutis, which we find in Romans chapter 8, Those who are predestined are called. Those who are called are justified. Those who are justified are sanctified and glorified. That whole process is all of God. Explain to me what you had to do with any of those steps. Did you have anything to do with your predestining? With your calling? With your justification? A forensic act of God done outside of the body where He declared you not guilty. Someday you will be glorified in a glorified body. You had nothing to do with it. It is all of God, beginning with regeneration as His first stage is bound to the mystical union with Christ for its fulfillment. That union with Christ, that union with the body of Christ is only in covenant. There is no gift that has not been earned by Him, neither is there a gift that is not bestowed by Him that does not elevate God's glory through His bestowal. All that we have, all that we want to be, all of our desires, all of our wants, all of the inherited blessings that we stand to reap one day is because of being in covenant with God, thereby being put in Christ. The basis for this order lies in none other than the covenant of salvation with Christ. In this covenant, those chosen by the Father are given to Christ. In it, he became the guarantor so that they would be planted into his body in order to live in the thought world of grace through faith. If that doesn't get you excited, I'm not so sure that anything can. He became the guarantor in covenant. You see, our assurance of salvation, the guarantee of the perseverance of the saints, is because of being in covenant. God guarantees those in covenant will persevere. God guarantees that those in covenant will, in fact, be the inheritors of all the promises that we just read about given to Adam. God guarantees it because He's the only one obligated to discharge it. We are recipients of His chesed, His mercy, His grace, His loyal love. And we're going to see this in a minute. Back to Psalm 136, which is where I want to spend a little time. Psalm 136. Let's get into some of the details of this psalm. First of all, you note that there are only four verbs in all 26 verses. Four verbs in all 26 verses. Verses 1, verse 2, verse 3, and verse 26. Look at what they say in R. They are imperatives, giving us a command to do something. In this case, it's to give thanks. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love and kindness is everlasting. Verse 2, give thanks to the God of gods. for His lovingkindness, chesed is everlasting. Give thanks to the Lord of Lords for His lovingkindness is everlasting. In verse 26, give thanks to the God of heaven for His lovingkindness is everlasting." The first one, give thanks, this word for God is Yahweh, the traditional covenant name of God. Interesting that Psalm 136 starts out this way. Of course it has to start out this way. All it's talking about is the chesed, the covenant love of God in all 26 verses, so of course it's going to start out with the covenant name of God. This was the name that God gave to Moses in Exodus chapter 3, in the burning bush. Tell them, Yahweh, Hebrew, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, the unpronounceable name, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh. Tell them that this God sent you. Exodus 3, 13-15, Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me to you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Listen, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. How is that possible? Because of covenant. The God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob has sent me unto you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations, as the King James has it. This is my memorial. God also said to Moses, say this to the people of Israel. The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham has sent me to you. This is the name forever. The RSV has it. Thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. The NIV has it, this is the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. His name is to serve as a memorial, like the Passover feast, for example, was a memorial to cause them to remember, to bring to mind their captivity and miraculous deliverance. So too, God's name is to serve to cause Moses and the nation of Israel to bring to mind the covenant, to bring to mind the promises He made with their forefathers, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's all about covenant. Here, God is giving His covenantal name. The name that when used is to bring to memory the One using it, the promises God made to His people, which will last forever. From generation to generation to generation to generation for a thousand generations, we learned last week, and a thousand generations If each generation is 30 years, it's at least 30,000 years. Abraham was 4,000 years ago. We've got 26,000 more to go. We know that this is talking about eternal succession. Forever the covenant promises will stand. Therefore, your perseverance forever is guaranteed if you are in covenant. Our assurance, the very foundation of our faith, your perseverance, the assurance of your faith, once saved, always saved, I don't care what you call it, is guaranteed because of your being in covenant. Because it's God who is going to bring you through. It's God who is going to cause you to persevere. It's God who is going to bring you along. It's God who is going to sanctify you and, in fact, glorify you, according to the Ordo Salutis. The name that when used is to bring to memory and the one using it the promises of God made to His people which will last forever. And how did He make promises to them? And in what way? Don't forget. By covenant. By the expression of the covenant culturally. Recall Genesis 15. Act of covenanting with the smoke passing between the halved animals. We won't take time to go into that again. But the very first expression in this psalm is to give thanks to Yahweh, to Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, the covenant God, for He is good. The covenant God is good. Give thanks to the God of gods in verse 2. In Hebrew, it's Elo-Heh of Elohim. Another name for God. And we'll, in verse 3, give thanks to the Lord of lords. That's Adonai of Adonim. A word I'm sure you're familiar with for a name of God. The difference between verse 2 and verse 3. Verse 2, give thanks to the God of gods. Let's just say this is the supreme ruler of the invisible world. Elohim. The supreme ruler of the invisible world. Verse 3, give thanks to the Lord of lords, the supreme ruler of the material world, or the visible world. This is important because between verse 3 and the last verb about giving thanks, we have the intervening verses which review the history of Israel for which they are giving thanks. And it's going to tell us some things about this covenantal God. So, verse 1, Give thanks to the covenant God, Yahweh. Verse 2, give thanks to the supreme ruler of the invisible world. Verse 3, give thanks to the Lord of Lords, the ruler of the material world. And verse 4, most interesting, this is a name of God that's hardly ever used, give thanks in Hebrew, it's to El Hashemayim, the God of all the heavens. This is the highest ruler, the highest ruler of the Canaanite pantheon. Can you imagine? The name of the highest ruler of the Canaanite gods being used of our God. It's as if he's saying that just in case you don't know who this covenant God is, just in case somehow it has slipped your mind, He is the ruler of both the material universe, He is the ruler of the immaterial universe. Oh, and by the way, He is the highest God of all the heavens. He is the unknown God. References Acts chapter 17 where Paul says, I passed by and beheld your devotions. I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you." Listen, God that made the world, there's the God of the material world, and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord, there it is, the Lord of the invisible world, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worship made with men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He give it to all life and breath in all things. Give thanks to the Covenant God. Give thanks to the Ruler of the Invisible World. Give thanks to the Ruler of the Material World. And give thanks to the Highest God. Even if you don't know Him, give thanks to the Highest God of Gods. So, we're to give thanks. Why? For His love and kindness, His Chassad. Do you get the significance of this? We are to give thanks. for His loving kindness, His mercy is everlasting. Thousands upon thousands of generations. That's why your salvation is secure. Because His mercy will go for thousands of generations and is everlasting. We are specifically told why we are to give thanks. And the reason frames all the events that are listed here as we're going to see. Here we are at that word, chesed. Powerful word. It's used 250 times in the Old Testament. It's used in this specific clause structure. His chesed is everlasting. It's used 41 times in the Old Testament. 26 of them right here. 26 of them right here. How many times does the Word of God have to say something to you before you realize it's important? Well, we say, well, the Word of God only has to say something one time. Well, you know, that clause in Genesis, one of them that we looked at, that the man shall leave his father, mother, and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh, that's used four times in Scripture. We say, man, four times. It's pretty important. It must be significant. Here, 26 times, His mercy, His chesed is everlasting. 26 times. Do you think that the Holy Spirit wants to get a point across to us? I think so. That His mercy will never, ever run out. And that's the basis for His action towards us. If that's the basis for His action towards us, what have I got to fear? His chesed is everlasting. By the way, what is Thanksgiving? We're supposed to give thanks. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. What is Thanksgiving? The best definition I've heard is that it is an acknowledgment of our dependence on another for something. I think that's good as far as it goes. That's actually right out of the dictionary. To make this definition biblical, I would add that it is a public or communal acknowledgement of our dependence on God. For what? A laundry list of things is possible, of course. But here, in the context of this psalm, we are to make a public declaration, a communal acknowledgment that it is the everlasting nature of Chazhad, His mercy, from which stems everything else that we may get from Him forever. It's because of His mercy that I draw my next breath. It's because of His mercy that I'm going to eat my next meal. It's because of His mercy that my kids aren't in jail. It's because of His mercy that your kids may be in jail. I'm going to tell you one thing. All things operate according to His will and to His covenant people. All things are a result of His chesed to you. His mercy. And it is everlasting. So what is the definition of this chesed? Which is the essence of His covenant. Used 26 times here. Dissertations have been written on what this word means. We don't have time to get into any of that stuff. When all else fails, you turn to the Bible for a definition. Interestingly enough. Lamentations 3.22. Here is the definition of chesed. And this is variously translated, but for the sake of time, since I'm out of it, I'm going to give you a literal translation of Lamentations 3.22. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. That's a typical translation. The Chesed. The covenantal love of Yahweh. Here is a literal translation. This chesed is, the verse tells us, is that we have not perished because His mercy never runs out. This verse is telling us what the chesed is. Right here, the Bible is explaining. The chesed is, it is, the word is there, that we have not perished. The essence of this chesed is that the Lord does not treat us as our sins deserve. Do you have that? The essence of chesed. is that He does not treat us as our sins deserve. He is bound by His covenant to do so. That is to treat us mercifully. Do you understand now why this covenant is so important? He is bound by covenant to treat us mercifully. And listen, that is the reason why both His covenantal love and His covenantal people will never cease. That's the reason. His covenantal love, this chesed, will never cease. And His people will never cease. Because the object of His covenantal love will never cease. Are we getting this? His chesed does not exist apart from the object to which it is directed. That's us. when his chesed stops existing, his covenantal people stop existing, because at that point he will have broken his covenant which he has sworn to uphold forever. If Lamentations 3.22 is the definition of covenantal love, Judges 2 verses 1-3 gives us an illustration of it. Judges 2, 1-3, "...And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bacchium and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt and I have brought you onto the land which I swore unto your fathers. And I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And he shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land. You shall throw down their altars. But you have not obeyed my voice." Why have you done this? They fall into idolatry. They disobey. They take idols to themselves. And God, because He will never break His covenant with them, delivers them. They fall back into idolatry again. And God delivers them again. They fall back into idolatry and disobey again. And God delivers them again and again and again and again. Remember Lamentations 3.22, the covenantal love of Yahweh is that we have not perished because of His mercy. Israel, illustrated here, had not perished because of His mercy. Again and again and again, God had delivered them. They fell and God delivered. They fell and God delivered. They fell and God delivered because of His mercy. And we experience the same exact same thing. My sin deserves death. But what do I get instead? Mercy forever. I will never experience what my sin deserves forever. That is death. Because His mercy is unto me forever. I cannot experience the withholding of God's mercy ever in my life because He is bound by covenant to give it to me forever. And as long as I am reaping the benefits of His mercy forever, I will never die. Never pay the punishment, the penalty for my sin. Perseverance of the saints. Call it once saved, always saved. It doesn't matter. Do you see how important this whole covenant idea is? We should be sobbing for tears of joy for being in the covenant, being in the seed of the woman. Likewise, we should be sobbing tears of sorrow for those who are not. His plan and purpose, decreed from eternity past, was to predestine a people for himself Forever! I can only live forever if His mercy endures towards me forever. When His mercy stops, I die, and there is no forever. But as long as His chesed is in force, I will live. His chesed will last forever, so I will live forever. and His chesed is only to those in covenant with Him. His verse in Judges demonstrates, I'm going to close with this, His eternal hold on His people is based on an irrevocable mercy. His hold on you is based on an irrevocable mercy that He can never not give you. He's committed to giving it. But it's always against the backdrop of my sin in your sin. My unfaithfulness in your unfaithfulness. My infidelity, your infidelity. I should shout that as loud as I can. and you should soak it in, embrace it, meditate on it, cling to it, pray over it, and cry for joy over it. So give thanks to God, for He is good. He doesn't treat us, His covenant people, as our sins deserve. The chesed, the covenantal love of Yahweh, is that we have not perished because His mercy never runs out. Next week we'll continue in Psalm 136. Let's pray. Father, we're thankful for this word, for the fact that you have been so explicit about your mercy towards us, and the fact that all that we have, all that we are, all that we aspire to be, and all that we're going to inherit of the riches of Christ is because we are in covenant with you. A plan devised from before the foundation of the world and executed in time by the triune God. Father, the best we can do is say thank You. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.