The Covenant of Grace in the Old Testament (Remastered)

now we continue this evening you remember with our consideration of the biblical doctrine of redemption or the biblical doctrine of salvation we reminded one another last week that uh men having failed to keep God's La commandment had fallen and had become the slave of Satan and dead in trespasses and in sins and that had he been left to himself his condition would have been entirely hopeless but God in his infinite grace and love and mercy had looked upon men in pity and had informed him of this great plan and purpose of Salvation and of redemption

and last Friday evening we considered the characters and characteristics of this great Plan of Redemption in general I ended by saying that God had revealed this plan of Redemption and of Salvation to men in the form of a a covenant that he had made with men and this is commonly called The Covenant of redemption or the Covenant of Salvation and that is to be our special theme this evening the way in which God has made known to men and has revealed to men this gracious purpose of his to save men from his guilt and from

his pollution which have resulted from Men's listening to the suggestion of Satan and thereby leading to the fall now the great word we've got to consider tonight is this word covenant you noticed that God used it in his speaking to Abram as we found it there in the 17th chapter of the Book of Genesis what is a covenant well a covenant can be defined as a an agreement or a PCT which is entered into by two parties uh the two parties being more or less on an equal footing that is the normal customary definition of

a covenant you can make a covenant today people do make covenants they make Covenants with respect to giving gifts towards good causes there's such a thing as the Covenant of the League of Nations the Covenant of the United Nations it means an agreement or a PCT entered into by two parties which normally and generally are more or less on an equal footing and of an equal standing a covenant is generally confirmed by some kind of solemn ceremony as in the presence of God you either take a earth or there is a religious service or something

to that effect it is confirmed in some shape or form in this most solemn way in the presence of God and in the Covenant each party of course binds himself to the Fulfillment of certain promises on the basis of certain conditions that's a good Rough and Ready definition of a covenant but obviously when you come to speak of a covenant between God and man you uh have to realize that there are certain modifications of that customary idea of the word covenant now in the Bible you will find covenants made between men David and Jonathan you

remember made a covenant and they were doing it on this basis of equality but when you come to God and Men C there is of necessity a difference and this difference appears especially in the authorized version of the Bible in this way that the word is sometimes translated as Testament and not as Covenant so you find out talking about the Old Testament and the New Testament and in other places you will find the word testament you will find it here for instance in The Second Epistle to the Corinthians and in the third chapter now it

is generally agreed that this word which stands for this idea should always be translated as Covenant except in one instance and the one exception is Hebrews 9 uh: 16 and 17 where clearly it must be translated as Testament for it refers to a person dying and as it were making a will it's last it is his last will and testament but apart from that one instance uh in Hebrews 9:16 and 17 you will find that the other translations the this uh much advertised revised Standard Version does translated always as Covenant rather than as Testament except

in this one instance but in the authorized version you will find Testament sometimes Covenant at other times now I'm referring to that for this reason the translators of the authorized version had a very definite object in view when they used this word testament they did so of course to emphasize the priority of God when God makes a covenant with men it isn't to equal Partners meeting it is God giving as it were his Covenant to men so they thought well now that's more like a testament than a covenant so they chose to use the word

testament strictly speaking they were wrong in doing so but they certainly did emphasize this idea of the priority of God as over against men as an equal they did it also of course because they could see very clearly that in that case in Hebrews 9 it is a testament and as it can be argued that ultimately all the blessings that do come to us under God's Covenant of Grace with men come as the result of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ there is a sense in which we do inherit everything as the result of

his last Testament so there was that much A din it to be said for them and then no doubt they were partly influenced by the fact that the Latin word for all this is testimonial and they were dependent partly upon the Latin translation of the scriptures however the thing then that we must keep in mind is that the priority of God is to be emphasized it is a gift from God which has been ushered in by the death of Christ and because it comes from God it is something which is certain and inviolable and unbreakable

and yet we must hold on to this idea of a covenant because God in his wonderful love and grace and condescension has chosen to reveal his purposes in this particular way he calls men to him and he chooses to make an agreement with men God needn't have done that but he has done so in spite of man's rebellion and his sin and his arrogance God as it where us called him in and have said I want to make an agreement with you there is nothing therefore in a way that ch displays the wonderful love and

grace and kindness and condescension of God so much as this teaching in the Bible with regard to his making covenants with men now we've already seen that God originally made a covenant with Adam you remember that he put him in the garden and he told him that if he did certain things he would have a certain reward now that is called the Covenant of works because Adam's inheritance of This Promise God made to him was entirely dependent upon his Works upon what he did but you remember we've seen that Adam broke the Covenant he fell

and landed himself and his posterity in the terrible plight that we have been describing now from there on God has made a new covenant and it is this Covenant of Grace clearly God could not make another Covenant of works with men if men in an ideal position and while perfect couldn't keep the Covenant of Works what is the object of making another Covenant of works with men it's clearly Impossible by definition and the Bible tells us that God has not made another Covenant of works but he has made what is called this Covenant of Grace

and yet in the Covenant of Grace God has introduced certain conditions he has made his promises he has told us what he is making possible for us but he does make a demand upon us he tells us that we are only going to receive and enjoy these promises un certain condition and that is the condition of faith and men has to accept these conditions voluntarily before he will enjoy the blessings but furthermore God has also told us in the Covenant of Grace that he himself is going to do something which makes it possible for us

to derive these benefits and that is why it is called the Covenant of Grace now then let me divide that up a little God is say has made certain promises what is the Great Central promise that God has made to men in the Covenant of Grace well you know it really can be put in this way he has promised to be a god unto men that's the great promise I will be a god unto thee now you see the importance and the significance of this God had been the god of Adam but here Adam sins

against him and Falls becomes the slave of Satan breaks the connection with God and the remarkable and astounding thing is that God turns to men and assures him in the Covenant of Grace that he is going to find a way that he has a way whereby he can still be a God to men I will be to thee a God and they shall be to me a people now make a note of that because as you go through your scriptures you will find that that is the great promise that is repeated time and time and

time again you'll find it in Jeremiah 31 you'll find it again in Jeremiah 32 you'll find it in Ezekiel 34 and 36 you'll find it in 2 Corinthians 6 you'll find it in Hebrews 8 and in verse 10 and in the most marvelous way in Revelations 21 and the 3rd verse you read read this the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them that's in the final state so you see that that is the very essence of God's promise to men in the Covenant of Grace that what had become broken by

sin and the fall is going to be restored and the Supreme blessing therefore the ultimate blessing the blessing of blessings is that God is my God and that I have a right to say my God now the whole of Salvation is included in that I mustn't turn aside to emphasize that tonight but how often do we forget that how often do we tend to Define salvation in other terms rather than that but the greatest thing a human being can ever say since the fall is this God is my God my God and that you know

for certain that God is saying to you I am thy God I will be to thee a God there is nothing greater than that it is the greatest blessing of all that is what God has promised but it also includes certain other things God has promised certain temporal blessings as well well as spiritual blessings he promised those especially under the old dispensation and let us never forget that the temporal blessings are meant to be pictures of and to symbolize the spiritual blessings he has also promised obviously a way of justification God cannot be my God

and I cannot say my God unless I'm Justified unless my sin is Forgiven unless my sin is removed unless I am adopted and made a child of God it's all implicit in the promise that God is to be my God indeed it includes the promise of life eternal it obviously includes the giving of the spirit and the full application and working out of redemption in me in the matter of sanctification and my ultimate glorification so that the promises you see in the Covenant of Grace rarely include everything and man is called upon to respond to

this by Faith by the desire for all this and by his faithfulness and obedience to God in these new conditions shall I try to give you an Omnibus definition of what we mean then by the Covenant of Grace we can put it like this the Covenant of Grace is that Arrangement between the Triune God and his people whereby God carries out his eternal purpose and decree of redemption by promising his friendship hence he promises full and free salvation to his people upon the basis of the vicarious atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ Christ who is

the mediator of the Covenant and his people accept this salvation by faith that's it it includes all that it is the promise of God's friendship is being our God that we can enter into intimate relationships with him and know him and it is all made possible by Jesus Christ who is the mediator of this Covenant and we enter into it by faith now that's the Covenant of Grace the Covenant if you like of redemption as worked out for men now the thing I want to spend my time on tonight is this this great Covenant which

God has made with men this Covenant of Grace can be divided up into two dispensations or if you prefer it two administrations this one great Covenant of Grace is administered and has been administered in two main different ways the way that is described in the Old Testament the way that is described in the New Testament you notice what I'm saying I am saying that there is only one Covenant of Grace I hope before I finish tonight to prove that to you I'm simply saying it at the moment there is only one Covenant of Grace but

it has been administered in two main ways two main dispensations of the one Covenant the old and the new now let us glance at these what are the ways in which the Covenant of Grace has been dispensed under the old dispensation well you've go first of all to Genesis 3150 I mentioned it last Friday evening if you're interested in the technical term it is generally called the pro Evangel p r o t Evangel one word the pro Evangel in other words there is a kind of uh foreshadowing of the whole gospel in Genesis 3:15 now

this really is to me one of the most fascinating and thrilling things a men can ever encounter here's this great book which we divide up and we call it the Old Testament and the New Testament well we all know what we mean by that but you know if we were to be strictly accurate we would not describe it in that way the real division of the Bible is this everything you get from Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 314 that's one division of the Bible from Genesis 3:15 to the very end is the remainder that's the true

division what you've got up until Genesis 3:14 is the account of the creation and of God's original Covenant of works with men and of how that failed because men broke it beginning with Genesis 3:15 you get the announcement of the Gospel the Covenant of Grace the way of Salvation and it's the whole theme of The Bible until you come to the last verse of the Book of Revelations that in a sense is the real division of the Bible but of course we to talk about Old Testament and New Testament because we want to emphasize the

two main different ways in which this one great Covenant of Grace has been administered but here it is beginning in Genesis 3:15 and I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between uh her thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thy it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heat now the whole of the Gospel is there it's there in this almost cryptic form in this very immature form but the whole of the Gospel is there let me work it out with you what does that tell us

well God tells us first of all that he's going to put enity between The Serpent and the woman and her se you see hither to there had been no enmity between them but the serpent had beguiled Eve and they were very friendly together and the woman was now under the Dominion of the devil and had God done nothing that would have been the remainder of the store but God comes in and he says no I'm going to break that friendship you were meant for friendship with me not with the devil so I'm going to put

enmity between you and the devil and between the devil and you that's the first announcement of Salvation because man can't be saved while he's a Friend of the Devil and an enemy of God he must be a friend of God therefore he must become an enemy of the devil God says he's going to do that the the second thing therefore that is implied is this that God is going to give men power and Grace to fight the Devil he's already been defeated by him and he is his slave he must have help and strength God

promises it indeed God obviously promises to be on man's side in this fight and in this quarrel against the enemy he applies the promise also to the sea to thee and to thy sea that is most important it wasn't a temporary promise given there in Eden it is to continue until it has achieved its ultimate purpose you notice also that he says that the quarrel is to go on not only between the woman and her seed and the devil but also between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent in other words

mankind is here divided into two sections those who do not belong to Christ belong to the devil they are the children of the devil they are the seed of the devil so Humanity can be divided into the seed of Garden of Christ and the seed of the devil and there is a fight and a quarrel between them all announced in Genesis 3:15 then you notice that we are given the promise there of the certainty of the Triumph of God and his way the serpent is going to be bruised his head is going to be bruised

he's going to be destroyed can't you see there a prefiguring of Calvary it was there he was put to an open shame it was there he was defeated all promised in the Pro Evangel and ultimately there is this idea which we can see so clearly in the light of subsequent scripture that the real seed of the woman is none other finally than the Lord Jesus Christ himself now there is the first announcement of this Covenant he doesn't call it a covenant at that point but it is a foreshadowing of the Covenant that later was made

more explicit but let us come secondly to the covenant made with no you'll find that described in the ninth chapter of the Book of Genesis After the flood what do we find here well God promises here that he will never destroy the Earth again and All Flesh by means of water he promises there will never be a return of such a flood which will destroy the earth and its peoples he furthermore guarantees and promises that there shall always be a succession of seed time and harvest cold and heat summer and winter day and night God

promised that that should continue come what may he also there promised that the forces of nature should be brighted and controlled in other words the effects and results of sin and the fall are are given a certain check they're held in in the promise in the covenant made with Noah in the same way the powers of evil are put under a greater restraint man uh is not allowed to be as violent as he had been and as he'd like to be against other men man is protected against the violence both of men himself and of

beasts you read it for yourselves in Genesis 9 and it was all confirmed and sealed by the sign of the rainbow in the cloud now the thing I want to emphasize here is this the covenant made with Noah is not a New Covenant of Grace the Covenant of Grace is there adumbrated in Genesis 3:15 this doesn't interfere with it at all it simply introduces certain subsidiary promises and legisl it isn't a New Covenant in the ultimate sense of Grace and of redemption it is simply a temporary legislation what is sometimes called even common Grace as

distinct from the special Grace which ures our spiritual salvation but let me hurry on to the third which is the Covenant as made with Abraham now that's what you find in Genesis 17 and which we read at the beginning now it is here that God first explicitly and clearly states his purposes of redemption in the exact form of a covenant he made that Covenant with Abram what do we find here well we find that here for the first time in any definite manner you get the beginning of a kind of church there is a separation

as between the church the people who belong to God and those who belong to the world there had been a kind of family worship before and in men's house houses and so on but there's something new introduced in the Covenant with Abram he chooses a particular man a particular family and he makes a promise to Abram and his descendants in particular and to nobody else there is this separation there is the formation of a unique body as special people of God most important you noticed also the emphasis that was placed upon Abraham's faith upon his

response it is by his faith he enters into the Covenant and begins to receive the benefits and the blessings and you notice the spiritual character of the blessings that were promised him over and above the promise concerning the land Etc there is this great promise of a spiritual seed that all the nations of the world are finally going to be blessed in him now if you want to work that out you just read Romans chapters 3 4 and 5 the epistle to the Romans chapters 3 4 and 5 and the third chapter of the epistle

to the Galatians which I'm going to quote in a moment you see that there God was really giving Abram justification we are told in the epistle to the Romans that Abram was justified by his faith justified in a spiritual sense and became the father of all the faithful and the father of all believers he was justified from sin he was forgiven he was adopted into God's family and thus he becomes the father of all who believe all was there promised to him by Covenant and then I say that in addition there were those temporal blessings

also now we can never place too much emphasis upon the covenant made with Abram you keep your eye on the references back to that in the subsequent parts of the Bible you'll find that it's absolutely crucial it is the great explicit original promise which God made hinted at Adam brated in Genesis 3 and 15 but here stated explicitly in Covenant form then I must hurry on of course to the Covenant which was made of sin the sintic Covenant the Covenant that was made through Moses which you will find in Exodus chapters 19 and following now

this is most important what do we find here well here the emphasis is placed especially upon the fact that this Covenant is a national Covenant from here on the church and the nation become one and to belong to the nation of Israel means to belong to the church and you couldn't be put out of the church without be putting out of the nation a man who transgressed the law was put to death he wasn't merely punished in a spiritual sense he was literally put out of put to death put out of existence put out of

the nation as well then of course great prominence is given here to the giving of the law but I do want to make this very plain and clear that the giving of the Lord does not mean in any sense whatsoever that God is establishing a covenant of works with men again I've already pointed out to you that that becomes a sure impossibility what is the point I ask again of making a covenant of works of telling a man that he can save himself if he does certain things when men had failed to do that in

Paradise no the giving of the Lord La does not mean a return to a covenant of works the children of Israel made the terrible mistake of thinking it did but that was their error it doesn't mean that it was simply given in order that the life of the nation should be regulated in certain respects and also for certain other reasons which I'm about to mention we had introduced here also the ceremonial and all the typical sacrifices and is in connection with the temple the burnt offerings and the various other offerings the appointment of a separated

priesthood certain people set apart as priests and we have also the uh promulgation of the fact that the gospel the great Covenant of Grace is to be preached now in symbols and in types and these are meant to show us the demands of God upon us and also at the same time to remind us of God's Great promise of forgiveness and of Salvation and the law is a rule of life you can divide in a three-fold manner the moral law the civil law and the ceremonial law the certain great fixed principles of morality the special

legislation for the life of the nation and the laws governing the ceremonies and the ritual now here's the thing I want to emphasize the making of This subsidiary Covenant with Moses on behalf of the children of Israel at sin in no way whatsoever interferes with the Covenant of Grace that had already been given to Abram and that had previously been hinted at in the Garden of Eden now let me prove that because there are some people who regard this as an entirely New Covenant but it isn't and I prove it in this way listen to

Romans 413 for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not made to Abram or to his seed through the law but through the righteousness of Faith most important Romans 4:13 it wasn't made through the law but through faith listen to Galatians 3:17 Galatians 3:17 and this I say that the Covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ the law which was 430 years after cannot dis anel that it should make the promise of none effect in other words Paul's great great argument in Romans and Galatians is this that the

covenant made the subsidiary covenant made with Moses at Mount sin doesn't interfere in any way or to the slightest extent with the great Covenant of promise and of Grace that God had made with Abraham that's the fundamental thing this doesn't change it in any way at all but ask say someone what about Galatians 4:21 where we read this tell me ye that desire to be under the law do we not hear the law for it is written that Abram had two sons the one by a bond made the other by a free woman and where

he goes on to say that this is an allegory for these are two covenants Etc doesn't there teach there someone that there is a subsidiary Covenant to which the answer is this it cannot mean that because if it did it would mean that Paul in chapter 4 was contradicting his own great argument in chapter 3 and what he' said in the epistle to the Romans in chapter 4 but quite apart from that the context surely makes it quite clear his only purpose in Galatians 4 is to differentiate between the natural Israel and the spiritual Israel

it's his way of denouncing this wrong understanding of the Jew who argued that to belong to Israel in the flesh meant that of necessity you belong to the true seed of Abram no it doesn't there is a kind of Earth the agreement there is a Heavenly agreement and it is the Heavenly part of the agreement that said after all the promise God made to Abram in a sense included ishma didn't it Esau was in a sense included all these people were circumcised yes but they're not the children of Faith they're not the true Children Of

Promise they belong to the realm of the flesh God explains that to Abram you remember even in Genesis 17 very well then I say the made through Moses when the law was given does not in any way interfere with the Covenant of Grace it simply was meant to do two things here here they are the first is it was meant to increase the consciousness of sin it wasn't meant primarily to do that moreover says Paul the promise entered that the offense might abound that's what he says in Romans 5 and 20 he's argued the same

in Romans 4:15 listen to him in Galatians 3:17 which reads like this and this I say that the Covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ the law which was 430 years after cannot disel that it should make the promise of none effect and then he puts it like this wherefore or this this is subsequent now that's the first great argument that the law is given in order to show the exceeding sinfulness of sin in order to convict the nation and all others of the utter hopelessness of a men dealing with his own sinfulness

so the second purpose of the law we can put as Galatians 3:24 puts it which is this wherefor the law was our school Master to bring us an Christ that we might be justified by faith you see the original Covenant is the Covenant which teaches justification by faith that is the Covenant God made with Abraham and he seated that's the fundamental thing what's the point of the law well the point of the law is to bring us to that to act as a kind of teacher to act as a pedagog to act as a coach

a teacher something that shows us our absolute need of Christ the utter necessity of Christ it was never meant to save people the law was never given in order that people might be saved you noticed that I'm emphasizing this and speaking with considerable feeling about it and I do so for this reason that you will find certain Bibles and certain books on the Bible which um would teach you that God told the children of Israel that they could save themselves if they kept the law that he gave them the law in order to give them

another way of saving themselves which is an utter contradiction of the teaching of scripture the law is not meant to interfere in any way with the fundamental Covenant of Grace the promise given to AB the law was added 430 years afterwards in reality in order to make the people realize their sinfulness the utter impossibility of their saving themselves and the absolute need of God providing a way of Salvation himself which he did ultimately in and through the Lord Jesus Christ very well now there we've been dealing with the ways in which the great Covenant of

Grace was administered and revealed and shown to the people under the old dispensation that is an account of the old dispensation of the Covenant of Grace and that leads on of course to the new dispensation which is the way that God has revealed and perfected and reified and fulfilled the promise and all that is contained in the Covenant of Grace in and through his son our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ my time has gone I'd thought of going on also to tell you tonight something of the New Covenant of the new Administration the new dispensation

of the Covenant and also to show you how there is indeed only one Covenant and to show you the differences between the two administrations but I can't do that it would be very wrong I think you'll all agree to rush it in a last few final moments shall we then hold that over until God willing we meet together next Friday evening when I hope to commence our consideration of this great matter by dealing with that let me try to summarize for you therefore what we've been looking at tonight look at it like this first of

all God made with men men perfect men made in the image and likeness of God a covenant of Works he was to inherit that eternal life without possibility of end with God if he kept the Commandment the law man fa broke it sin and the fall and the pollution and the degradation follow now the thing I want to emphasize is that God since them has only made one fundamental Covenant with with men it is the Covenant of Grace and he has revealed that great Covenant of Grace in the ways that I've been describing in the

Old Testament you see having stated the thing itself he makes it explicit in his Covenant with Abram and then he goes on to show it still more fully by the Covenant that he uh makes with Moses but the Covenant with Moses in no way modifies the Covenant of Grace it simply shows men is not our absolute need of the Covenant of Grace the law was our school Master to bring us to Christ it wasn't meant to do more than that it wasn't the way of Salvation in and of itself it never was that it isn't

that it never can be that there is only one way of salvation and I hope to give you the proofs of that contention and of that statement next Friday night now I think we've all probably learned one thing and I trust have seen it more clearly than we've ever seen it before Christian people have often expressed surprise that um the early church decided to incorporate the Old Testament with its new literature and they say I don't see really as a Christian why I need to be bothered about the Old Testament well if anybody goes out

of this service still feeling that I have failed and failed lamentably because I've tried to show you that the same great fundamental in the old as in the new that there it is in the old as in the new that there is this great unity and if we want to know about God's Great purpose we must Delight in tracing it from the very beginning In the Garden of Eden right away through until we come to our Lord the Old Testament the New Testament the old administration of the Covenant of Grace the new administration of the

same Covenant of Grace The Marvelous plan of God unfolded the gospel begins not in Matthew 1:1 but in Genesis 3:15 let's never forget that so let us go to our Old Testaments and look for the gospel in it you will find it there almost everywhere in a most amazing and astounding Manner and it is your business and mind as well as our privilege to seek it and to rejoice in it as we find it in the Old Testament