God's Gift of Covenants (Romans 9:4-5)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:05.639 Well, let us hear again, if you've been with us for the last 2 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:12.630 few weeks, from Romans nine versus four and five. Romans nine versus four 3 00:00:12.710 --> 00:00:18.030 and five. Here I'm Paul, gives this list of things that belong to 4 00:00:18.269 --> 00:00:23.899 Israel, things that are especially given to them, these various lists, that 5 00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:30.420 this very list of various things that are given to Israel but also belong to 6 00:00:30.620 --> 00:00:36.049 us. I'm now that we belong to them. So let's hear God's word. 7 00:00:36.090 --> 00:00:41.250 Romans nine, verses four and five. They are Israelites and to them 8 00:00:41.409 --> 00:00:46.450 belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, 9 00:00:47.009 --> 00:00:52.039 the worship and the promises. To Them Belong the Patriarchs and from their 10 00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:56.240 race, according to the Flesh, is the Christ, who is God over 11 00:00:56.439 --> 00:01:03.119 all, blessed forever. Amen, please be seated well, as we continue 12 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:08.670 to go through these verses, I hope and am praying that each week that 13 00:01:08.829 --> 00:01:14.150 you hear this, these couple verses each wish, each week that you hear 14 00:01:14.269 --> 00:01:19.900 this list that God gives us of these things, that he is given to 15 00:01:19.099 --> 00:01:23.500 Israel and given to us as well in Christ, that it will become, 16 00:01:23.620 --> 00:01:27.060 week by week, more and more meaningful to you, that each word is, 17 00:01:27.140 --> 00:01:32.379 we've discussed it and cover word it, thought about it, according to 18 00:01:32.420 --> 00:01:38.250 the scriptures, will become weighty in a way, perhaps that it wasn't before, 19 00:01:38.090 --> 00:01:42.930 that the content of your faith and the one whom you put your faith 20 00:01:42.969 --> 00:01:49.879 in, even Jesus, would become clearer to you, that the sight by 21 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:55.120 which we see, that faith by which we see, would become stronger, 22 00:01:56.439 --> 00:02:00.599 that he would be more visible to you as you understand what it means that 23 00:02:00.760 --> 00:02:06.590 God gave to Israel the adoption and that we too have been adopted in Christ, 24 00:02:07.430 --> 00:02:12.069 that he gave to Israel the glory and to us as well, who 25 00:02:12.189 --> 00:02:16.659 have been shown the glory of grace in the face of Jesus Christ. And 26 00:02:16.860 --> 00:02:23.939 now today the covenants, another particular gift that God gave exclusively to Israel among 27 00:02:23.979 --> 00:02:30.250 all the nations in the world, but which we gentiles now belong to as 28 00:02:30.330 --> 00:02:35.090 well and can praise God and thank him for it and understand who he is. 29 00:02:35.729 --> 00:02:43.129 I'm all the more the covenants, this word that God that Paul uses, 30 00:02:43.250 --> 00:02:49.280 that God uses in his servants, is a very important word. Many 31 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:53.400 people who read the Bible don't think very much about the covenants of the Bible, 32 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:59.030 but Paul singles them out here. He says this is something worth highlighting. 33 00:02:59.069 --> 00:03:05.430 If we're going to talk about why Israel is special, what special things 34 00:03:05.590 --> 00:03:09.629 God has given to them, you've got to talk about the covenants. It's 35 00:03:09.830 --> 00:03:14.379 central to who they are at central to who that what the Bible is and 36 00:03:14.500 --> 00:03:17.340 that's why it's a shame that so many people, when they read the Bible, 37 00:03:17.379 --> 00:03:23.139 aren't thinking about the covenants. Now this is I think, mostly do 38 00:03:23.340 --> 00:03:30.370 because mostly because they haven't been trained to think about it, they haven't learned 39 00:03:30.449 --> 00:03:35.889 about these things, they don't know. There's a really excellent to volume work 40 00:03:35.969 --> 00:03:42.319 called the economy of the covenants between God and man by Herman Witsius, a 41 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:47.120 Dutch reformer were living around the time of the PURITANS. In that too, 42 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:53.000 in that two volumes he covers in various very detailed ways the various covenants that 43 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:59.430 God makes. Well, the introduction to the most recently published translation of that 44 00:03:59.590 --> 00:04:04.389 work, Ji Packer, provides a healthful explanation of why people often struggle with 45 00:04:04.509 --> 00:04:10.419 this. As I said, that they haven't really been trained to. Ji 46 00:04:10.620 --> 00:04:14.819 Packer writes that if you're hunting on a map of the Pacific for a particular 47 00:04:14.979 --> 00:04:20.459 Polynesian Island, you're going to likely notice dozens of all kinds of little names. 48 00:04:20.819 --> 00:04:25.930 You'll be you'll search for all these various that you may be searching for 49 00:04:26.050 --> 00:04:30.970 one island but see all of these others meanwhile, while you'll never notice these 50 00:04:30.649 --> 00:04:36.370 giant letters stretching all across the map that say Pacific Ocean. Have you ever 51 00:04:36.449 --> 00:04:41.160 had that experience where you sort of Zoom your perspective out you go, Oh, 52 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:44.800 this is a continent and it's called this where you didn't really see it 53 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:49.680 before? It's like that with the covenants of God. We focus on all 54 00:04:49.800 --> 00:04:56.990 kinds of very important biblical things, justification, sanctification, church, government, 55 00:04:57.149 --> 00:05:00.589 baptism, the Lord Supper. We can think about God's will, we can 56 00:05:00.670 --> 00:05:03.870 think about how we ought to pray, we can think about how we give 57 00:05:03.990 --> 00:05:10.259 money and on and on and on. But all of those are held together 58 00:05:10.660 --> 00:05:16.459 by a kind of superstructure, a covenantal superstructure. It's like the architecture of 59 00:05:16.579 --> 00:05:20.300 a building. You may not always be a paying attention to it, but 60 00:05:20.569 --> 00:05:25.850 boy it's important. It's the thing that's holding it all together. It's the 61 00:05:25.970 --> 00:05:30.810 thing that's holding it up. But there's a great advantage in paying attention to 62 00:05:31.050 --> 00:05:38.360 it. In coming to understand the the bigger context of all of these things 63 00:05:38.439 --> 00:05:45.079 that we discuss, of every single verse and chapter in the Bible, in 64 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:48.800 coming to understand the covenants, you begin to see his packer says that. 65 00:05:49.149 --> 00:05:55.350 S Packer says that everything is anchored in God's resolve to relate to his human 66 00:05:55.470 --> 00:06:00.829 creatures and to have US relate to him. In Covenant, everything is anchored 67 00:06:00.910 --> 00:06:04.660 to that. At all is attached to that, belongs to that, and 68 00:06:04.779 --> 00:06:09.660 so that means that in coming to understand the covenance of the Bible, it'll 69 00:06:09.740 --> 00:06:15.339 make a big difference in both the way you read God's Word and in the 70 00:06:15.379 --> 00:06:19.649 way you worship the god of the word. It makes a difference and how 71 00:06:19.769 --> 00:06:26.569 you read the Bible and how you worship the God of the Bible. In 72 00:06:26.689 --> 00:06:30.129 terms of reading the Bible, for example, we of course will be babled 73 00:06:30.129 --> 00:06:34.240 to be able to better understand what Paul means when he says the Covenant, 74 00:06:34.839 --> 00:06:39.120 at the very least this one verse. Will be able to understand what he's 75 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:44.079 talking about and why he's highlighting this. But it'll also make you a better 76 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:49.829 exeget a better student of God's word by a hundred times. The scripture is 77 00:06:49.990 --> 00:06:55.990 always talking in the New Testament about how there's this one people of God. 78 00:06:56.949 --> 00:07:02.980 We're called children of Abraham. How can that be? That'sus. Answered by 79 00:07:03.819 --> 00:07:09.740 covenant. How is it that there can be one mediator? How is it 80 00:07:09.819 --> 00:07:15.220 that Jesus can be the savior of both all the people after him and before 81 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:20.810 him? The answer is covenant. How is it that there is this kind 82 00:07:20.889 --> 00:07:28.290 of similarity or sameness in the piety of the Old Testament and New Testament? 83 00:07:28.769 --> 00:07:32.720 Faith, repentance, good works, worship of God according to his word, 84 00:07:32.759 --> 00:07:36.639 all of these things. Why is it so similar between the old and the 85 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:45.189 new? Covenant Answer the questions. What about the great differences? Why don't 86 00:07:45.189 --> 00:07:48.389 we sacrifice animals anymore? Why don't we go and worship at then the temple? 87 00:07:49.069 --> 00:07:55.189 Why is the Kingdom of God separated and spread out all across the world 88 00:07:55.269 --> 00:08:03.420 instead of concentrated in one particular geographic area? Covenant again answers these questions. 89 00:08:03.459 --> 00:08:09.579 Understanding the ways, these legal relationships that God has made with his people answers 90 00:08:09.660 --> 00:08:13.329 all these questions. So that means when you go to your Bible and you're 91 00:08:13.370 --> 00:08:18.329 looking at a particular verse or particular chapter, we always talk about context. 92 00:08:18.410 --> 00:08:22.290 Right, you've got to let pay attention to the context if you're going to 93 00:08:22.410 --> 00:08:26.639 understand the passage well. Don't forget about the context of the whole Bible. 94 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:31.960 The covenantal context in the ways in which God is dealing with his people. 95 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:39.720 Understanding the Bible and better through covenant also means that you'll understand the gospel better. 96 00:08:41.789 --> 00:08:46.070 The central message of Jesus coming to save sinners from the lost is explained 97 00:08:46.149 --> 00:08:54.629 and undegraded in so many ways by these covenants that God has made and, 98 00:08:54.710 --> 00:08:58.580 as I say, it'll help us not only understand our reading of the evinance 99 00:08:58.659 --> 00:09:03.740 of the Bible, but also our worship of God. If you want to 100 00:09:03.899 --> 00:09:11.529 deepen your relationship with God, it makes sense to understand that relationship. Let 101 00:09:11.610 --> 00:09:16.769 me give you an example. Imagine that you fell into a coma and you 102 00:09:16.889 --> 00:09:20.610 woke up in your memory wasn't quite there, but there was this person by 103 00:09:20.690 --> 00:09:26.720 your bedside loving you, caring for you, doing all kinds of Nice things. 104 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:28.960 They were there all the time. You were kind of going in and 105 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:33.159 out of sleep, but there they were and you recognize that. Well, 106 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:35.360 that would be a wonderful thing, right. You would meet, you would 107 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:41.029 know and you would love and you would appreciate this person who is desiring to 108 00:09:41.110 --> 00:09:45.509 help you. But what if, after a certain amount of time, somebody 109 00:09:45.629 --> 00:09:50.909 came in and said Hey, Christopher, that's your wife? It changes things, 110 00:09:52.029 --> 00:09:56.700 doesn't it? Right now this person is not just the person who's showing 111 00:09:56.940 --> 00:10:01.700 love to you, who's caring for you. There is something else going on 112 00:10:01.820 --> 00:10:05.580 there. There's a kind of relationship. To know that you're married to this 113 00:10:05.820 --> 00:10:11.649 person kind of changes everything, doesn't it? It's like that with God. 114 00:10:11.970 --> 00:10:16.169 To Know God in terms of the grace that he gives, the faith in 115 00:10:16.250 --> 00:10:22.679 which we believe, the repentance which we which we offer to him, all 116 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:28.840 these things. This kind of relationship is good. But to understand the kind 117 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:33.519 kind of relationship it is the covenants that he set up. What is it? 118 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:37.549 What are the parties? What are the obligations? How do we make 119 00:10:37.590 --> 00:10:46.269 sense of that relationship? It adds depth to our understanding of God, which 120 00:10:46.309 --> 00:10:50.860 in turn, should affect our hearts and move our wills. It will affect 121 00:10:50.860 --> 00:10:54.419 the way we believe in worship. It will affect what how we live our 122 00:10:54.460 --> 00:11:01.899 lives. So all this to say, understanding the covenants is very, very 123 00:11:03.539 --> 00:11:07.250 important. It's critical if you're going to understand who god is, if you're 124 00:11:07.289 --> 00:11:13.889 going going to understand the Bible, if you're going to answer basically every exegetical 125 00:11:13.929 --> 00:11:18.840 question there is, you have to understand the covenants. You have to understand 126 00:11:18.919 --> 00:11:30.000 the way in which God himself has unified his word. So let's get to 127 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:37.750 it. Paul has said that God has given to them the covenant. Now 128 00:11:37.870 --> 00:11:43.750 I am going to very briefly, in the very briefest way that I can, 129 00:11:43.990 --> 00:11:50.860 at least this morning, try to explain and show what this means and 130 00:11:50.980 --> 00:11:56.340 what he means by this. But if you want something that explains more and 131 00:11:56.419 --> 00:12:01.450 aren't quite ready for Whitsius has to volumes and the thousand pages, let me 132 00:12:01.610 --> 00:12:05.090 recommend to you a book that was written by a former pastor of mine and 133 00:12:05.730 --> 00:12:11.009 another friend and colleague, Zack Keel and Michael Brown. The book is called 134 00:12:11.049 --> 00:12:18.440 Sacred Bond, covenant, Covenant Theology explored. I believe there's a copy on 135 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:22.080 the back table. If not, will try to get one there. But 136 00:12:22.279 --> 00:12:26.399 sacred bond it's called by Zach Keel and Mike Brown and here in that book 137 00:12:26.519 --> 00:12:28.200 they go through, as I'm going to do in a very brief way, 138 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:33.309 each of the covenants and explain how they relate to one another why they should 139 00:12:33.350 --> 00:12:37.269 matter to us as Christians. It's a very helpful book if these things are 140 00:12:37.470 --> 00:12:43.909 new to you. The first covenant that we have in the Bible is actually 141 00:12:43.070 --> 00:12:48.340 not given to Israel. In particular, I don't think it's exactly what Paul 142 00:12:48.379 --> 00:12:52.179 has in mind when he says to Israel belong the covenants, but nevertheless we 143 00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:58.330 have to start there because it explains why covenants were given to Israel. The 144 00:12:58.450 --> 00:13:03.889 first covenant we have in the Bible is a covenant that God made with Adam 145 00:13:03.929 --> 00:13:09.529 and Eve and all of us, with all of humanity. There's a very 146 00:13:09.610 --> 00:13:13.799 clear covenant in terms of what was required. Do not eat this tree. 147 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:20.279 You don't eat it, you obey me, you live. You Eat it, 148 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:26.720 you disobey me and you will die. Adam was given other commands to 149 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:30.230 to work and keep the garden, to expand it, to grow, to 150 00:13:30.350 --> 00:13:35.110 be fruitful and multiply, but there was this particular stipulation which God but is 151 00:13:35.230 --> 00:13:39.549 very clear about, and it was on that particular stipulation that those of you 152 00:13:39.629 --> 00:13:45.179 who know the story, you remember what happened. Satan comes and he questions 153 00:13:45.340 --> 00:13:50.259 God, he questions Adam and Eve on this point and they fall. They 154 00:13:50.379 --> 00:13:54.460 fall into sin. You know what way to describe it covenantally is, is 155 00:13:54.929 --> 00:14:00.570 they broke the covenant. God said, I am the king, I am 156 00:14:00.649 --> 00:14:05.049 the Lord, this you will do. This is tells us something about covenants. 157 00:14:05.330 --> 00:14:09.799 Sometimes they're mutually arranged equal parties, or close to it at least, 158 00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:15.639 like in a business partnership or in a marriage. You come together and you 159 00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:20.879 agree to do this thing, to enter into this covenant relationship with one another. 160 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:24.470 That's not what happened and with Adam and Eve, and rightfully so. 161 00:14:26.029 --> 00:14:31.710 God Creates Adam and says this you will do. Children and parents are as 162 00:14:31.750 --> 00:14:37.669 a sort of similar example. They have a certain covenantal relationship between the two. 163 00:14:37.230 --> 00:14:41.100 It's not one that was come to by agreement, but it isn't a 164 00:14:41.139 --> 00:14:46.500 measure imposed, and rightfully so. Children must obey their parents because parents are 165 00:14:46.620 --> 00:14:52.370 parents, and humans must obey God, because God is God, and this 166 00:14:52.529 --> 00:14:56.289 is what he did with Adam. But Adam and Eve did not obey. 167 00:14:56.409 --> 00:15:03.690 They broke the Covenant, and then the Covenant stipulations turned into Covenant Curses. 168 00:15:03.809 --> 00:15:07.399 The effect happened. God said do this and do disobey me, and you 169 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:11.039 will die, and that is what happened. They were cursed, they were 170 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:16.240 sent out of the guard and they were told to dust, you will return. 171 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:20.240 This is the situation then, that all of humanity, Israel and non 172 00:15:20.470 --> 00:15:26.389 Israel, finds themselves in. But God says to humanity, God says to 173 00:15:26.509 --> 00:15:31.029 Adam and Eve, in the context of the curse, as the Covenant has 174 00:15:31.070 --> 00:15:35.230 been broken, as the curses of the Covenant are coming down hard upon them, 175 00:15:35.899 --> 00:15:41.940 he gives them this seed of a promise and he says to them of 176 00:15:43.259 --> 00:15:50.570 you will be born a child who will essentially set these things right. It's 177 00:15:50.610 --> 00:15:54.570 put in terms of crushing the head of the servant, but as scripture develops, 178 00:15:54.690 --> 00:15:58.730 will see that this seed promise begins to flower and we understand more and 179 00:15:58.889 --> 00:16:04.200 more what that means. The next big event that we see in scripture, 180 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:10.879 I'm skipping over God's covenant with Noah for the moment, is the covenant with 181 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:15.559 Abraham. And I mentioned God's covenant with Abraham in particular because this is the 182 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:22.710 first covenant that God makes with Israel in particular, or more specifically with Israel's 183 00:16:22.789 --> 00:16:30.389 father, Abraham. God says to Abraham that he is going to do something 184 00:16:30.830 --> 00:16:37.980 special for him that this seed that was promised to all humanity is now being 185 00:16:37.139 --> 00:16:44.539 promised to him in particular, and that through him, all the nations of 186 00:16:44.700 --> 00:16:49.370 the world humanity as a whole would be blessed. Listen to what God says 187 00:16:49.450 --> 00:16:55.169 to Abraham, his name at this point in our history. Abram, in 188 00:16:55.330 --> 00:17:00.809 Genesis twelve now, you always said to Abram, go from your country and 189 00:17:00.929 --> 00:17:04.039 your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 190 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:08.839 So God gives him a command, and then he adds, and I will 191 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:15.240 make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great 192 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:18.910 so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, 193 00:17:18.069 --> 00:17:22.509 and him who, Him who dishonors you, I will curse, and 194 00:17:22.869 --> 00:17:29.990 in you all the families of the Earth shall be blessed. All the families 195 00:17:30.019 --> 00:17:33.500 on the earth do not deserve to be blessed. There should be no expectation 196 00:17:33.779 --> 00:17:41.500 on humanity's part that blessings coming, except for that seed promise. Remember that 197 00:17:41.819 --> 00:17:47.089 seed promise back in Genesis Three fifteen. There is an expectation and a hope 198 00:17:47.170 --> 00:17:52.769 for that, and here it's becoming realized. God Calls Abram and his wife 199 00:17:52.849 --> 00:18:00.000 and says to them and to their children he will give this promise and God 200 00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:06.279 will bless them and all the families on the earth through them. This promise 201 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:12.029 that's given to Abraham is then made even more formally in Genesis fifteen. I'm 202 00:18:12.109 --> 00:18:18.950 with a covenant. He does this. I'm first with promises, but he 203 00:18:19.069 --> 00:18:25.390 also does this with a particular ceremony. In verse seven of Genesis Fifteen we 204 00:18:25.509 --> 00:18:29.779 read I am the Lord who brought you out of the Earth of Chaldee'Z to 205 00:18:29.900 --> 00:18:33.900 give you this land of promise. If that sounds a little bit familiar, 206 00:18:33.980 --> 00:18:37.059 it's because God's going to say a similar thing to Israel when he says I 207 00:18:37.220 --> 00:18:41.769 brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you this land of promise. 208 00:18:42.089 --> 00:18:48.569 That's not an accident. It's covenantal things holding that together. So he 209 00:18:48.650 --> 00:18:52.450 says this to Abraham and he says Abraham says, but Oh, Lord, 210 00:18:52.490 --> 00:18:56.680 yeah, way. How am I to know that? I shall possess it? 211 00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:00.480 He said to him bring me a half or three years old, a 212 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:03.960 female got three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle, 213 00:19:03.079 --> 00:19:07.000 dove and a young pigeon, and he brought all of these, cut them 214 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:12.789 in half and laid each half over against another. Then, as the sun 215 00:19:12.910 --> 00:19:17.789 goes down, God puts Abram into a deep sleep and then he has this 216 00:19:17.950 --> 00:19:22.390 vision where God passes through those animals. Well, if you don't understand covenance, 217 00:19:22.470 --> 00:19:26.819 this is all very weird. Why is Abraham cutting animals? Why is 218 00:19:26.900 --> 00:19:32.900 God moving through them in this way, in this smoking fire, pot and 219 00:19:32.980 --> 00:19:37.779 all these kinds of things? Well, what he's doing is he's enacting something 220 00:19:37.859 --> 00:19:41.650 that Abraham would understand very well, that everyone in the ancient world would understand. 221 00:19:41.690 --> 00:19:45.769 God's making a covenant. This is what you do. So, for 222 00:19:45.890 --> 00:19:52.410 example, if I told you that to people yesterday stood together and the front 223 00:19:52.410 --> 00:19:56.160 of a church or before a judge and said with this ring, Ivy wed 224 00:19:56.359 --> 00:19:59.960 and exchange, these value got high, I know what that is. It's 225 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.119 a marriage right. Well, that's what Israel does when they hear these passages, 226 00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:07.750 this cutting of the animals that's moving through. This is a covenant and 227 00:20:08.549 --> 00:20:14.230 this is symbolism in which God is saying, may the curse, the blood 228 00:20:14.430 --> 00:20:18.789 that is represented by these animals, this death that is happening, fall upon 229 00:20:18.990 --> 00:20:26.539 me, if I do not keep my promise to you, Abram, if 230 00:20:26.579 --> 00:20:32.299 I do not keep these things to you. We read this in verse eighteen. 231 00:20:32.579 --> 00:20:37.730 After this vision. On that day, Jehovah made a covenant with Abrams, 232 00:20:37.809 --> 00:20:42.130 saying to you or to your offspring, I give this land from the 233 00:20:42.170 --> 00:20:47.130 river of Egypt to the Great River Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, 234 00:20:47.170 --> 00:20:51.200 the Kennazites, the Catamites, the Hittites, the parasites, the rethiame, 235 00:20:51.319 --> 00:20:56.559 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Geergashites and the jebusites. This was somebody 236 00:20:56.559 --> 00:21:00.759 else's land, but of course it's ultimately God's land and he can do with 237 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:03.750 it as he pleases, and ask he what he pleases to do is to 238 00:21:03.869 --> 00:21:10.670 give one person among all the people in the world, one person Abraham and 239 00:21:11.509 --> 00:21:17.150 his children, this land. Oh God has all kinds of reasons for this 240 00:21:17.269 --> 00:21:19.259 and there's all kinds of ways in which this happens, which will have to 241 00:21:19.420 --> 00:21:26.059 think about another time. But this is what Paul means when he says to 242 00:21:26.259 --> 00:21:30.940 Israel, God gave you the covenants. God didn't go to the CANITES or 243 00:21:30.940 --> 00:21:34.369 the Kennaesites or the catmites or the hittites or the parasites or the AMMONITES, 244 00:21:34.410 --> 00:21:38.250 even go to them and say to you, I give this land. He 245 00:21:38.410 --> 00:21:45.369 says, you're out of here, I'm giving it to Abraham. You see 246 00:21:45.450 --> 00:21:48.839 why Paul says is making a big deal out of this. You see why 247 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:53.559 Paul is saying to Israel and to US overhearing this, this is special, 248 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:57.720 this is a big deal. God has made a covenant in which he has 249 00:21:57.920 --> 00:22:04.269 granted to you, Abraham, and to your offspring after you, this land. 250 00:22:06.710 --> 00:22:10.589 But it's more than the land. We might sum it all up in 251 00:22:10.710 --> 00:22:15.630 this promise that is repeated throughout scripture and is given to Abraham. I will 252 00:22:15.740 --> 00:22:21.380 be your God. So much is meant by that, similar to the phrase 253 00:22:21.420 --> 00:22:26.420 at the beginning of the Lord's prayer, our father. So much is meant 254 00:22:26.460 --> 00:22:30.490 by that. It means aim and his children had to have protection, provision, 255 00:22:32.250 --> 00:22:37.809 rest, forgiveness of sins, blessing, all kinds of things and many 256 00:22:37.890 --> 00:22:44.720 things within fulfilled within that. Well, I need to move on. This 257 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:48.720 is what the promise God gave to Abraham and it was partially fulfilled. It's 258 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:55.640 first fulfillment we see when Israel comes into the Promised Land and Deuteronomy one hundred 259 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:59.750 and ten says, look at yourselves, you're as many as the stars in 260 00:22:59.869 --> 00:23:04.910 the heavens. It's a promise that's been fulfilled, but, as we will 261 00:23:04.950 --> 00:23:11.630 read later on in scripture and consider at the end of the sermon, that's 262 00:23:11.670 --> 00:23:15.740 a promise that was fulfilled in even greater degrees in Christ but, as I 263 00:23:15.779 --> 00:23:19.019 say, we need to move on. God makes this promise to Abraham and 264 00:23:19.380 --> 00:23:26.700 this is these children. These are children that he essentially adopts. Right he 265 00:23:26.859 --> 00:23:30.210 goes among all the people of the world and he says you are mine here, 266 00:23:30.609 --> 00:23:33.210 I belong to you, I am your God, I am your father, 267 00:23:33.369 --> 00:23:37.529 I will keep you and protect you. Well, if he adopts Israel 268 00:23:37.769 --> 00:23:45.839 in Abraham, then he disciplines them under Moses, under his care and to 269 00:23:47.079 --> 00:23:53.839 show them his love, it's time to teach them the law under Moses, 270 00:23:53.960 --> 00:24:00.869 under this covenant that God makes with them. He says this is going to 271 00:24:00.990 --> 00:24:03.910 be hard, this is going to be difficult. In fact, there are 272 00:24:04.029 --> 00:24:10.500 prophecies, even as he's making a covenant with them at Mount Sinai, that 273 00:24:10.660 --> 00:24:18.380 they will not keep the covenant, that, like Adam, they will break 274 00:24:18.819 --> 00:24:23.059 this covenant. And indeed that this is what happens. God, in all 275 00:24:23.180 --> 00:24:27.849 the laws and all the sacrificial system God gives to Moses and he teaches them. 276 00:24:29.369 --> 00:24:34.289 He teaches them that the righteousness that he requires is not the righteousness that 277 00:24:34.529 --> 00:24:40.880 we think he requires. We often think God wants perfection, and then we 278 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:48.240 redefine perfection as trying our best or having good intentions. No, God's perfection 279 00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:57.230 is perfection with no qualifications. God Is Holy, not in his intentions or 280 00:24:57.430 --> 00:25:03.670 to the best of his ability. God is holy in every part of him. 281 00:25:03.950 --> 00:25:07.819 Not that he even has parts. He is holy. This is our 282 00:25:07.940 --> 00:25:11.859 God and he wants this for his people. If he's going to have communion 283 00:25:12.019 --> 00:25:17.019 with us, then we must be holy as he is holy. And so 284 00:25:17.220 --> 00:25:21.019 there is law after law, after law after law, demanding this, and 285 00:25:21.140 --> 00:25:26.490 there's purification, ritual after ritual after ritual, dealing with all these aspects of 286 00:25:26.529 --> 00:25:32.930 life when people become unholy. Throughout the rest of these first five books of 287 00:25:33.009 --> 00:25:37.680 the Bible, particularly in the latter ones, we read of all of these 288 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:45.039 requirements. The weight of the law comes upon God's child so that Israel will 289 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:52.190 learn the holiness that God requires and the holiness that they are not able to 290 00:25:52.309 --> 00:25:57.069 give. This is the great message of the Old Testament. You can't do 291 00:25:57.589 --> 00:26:04.059 it, despite the fact that I've rescued you saved you, given you promises, 292 00:26:04.180 --> 00:26:07.259 given you my law. I've said it all up perfectly for you. 293 00:26:08.180 --> 00:26:15.339 Not just go and do it. What's holding you back? There's sinful nature. 294 00:26:18.059 --> 00:26:21.250 The sins that are in them are holding them back. They cannot meet 295 00:26:21.289 --> 00:26:25.690 the law. And you know what happens with that covenant? As I said, 296 00:26:25.809 --> 00:26:30.970 they break it and God does exactly to them what he did to all 297 00:26:30.049 --> 00:26:34.319 those peoples we read about before. He kicks them out of the land, 298 00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:37.880 just like he kicked Adam and eve out of the garden. He sends them 299 00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:45.039 into exile for breaking his covenant. But this covenant was not only to teach 300 00:26:45.079 --> 00:26:49.589 them of the obedience that was required and although obedience that they could not give. 301 00:26:51.269 --> 00:26:55.190 God wasn't just trying to shame his children. He was teaching them, 302 00:26:55.269 --> 00:27:00.069 he was training them, he is pointing them to the salvation that he offers, 303 00:27:00.980 --> 00:27:07.420 to the righteous requirements of the law that he would provide. And that's 304 00:27:07.420 --> 00:27:12.460 what he does in Jesus. Before we get to the new covenant in Jesus, 305 00:27:12.500 --> 00:27:15.769 will add one more covenant that Paul has in mind. He has in 306 00:27:15.930 --> 00:27:19.809 mind the covenant with Abraham. He has in mind the covenant that with Israel 307 00:27:19.849 --> 00:27:25.369 under Moses, and he also has in mind the covenant with David. All 308 00:27:25.529 --> 00:27:29.730 of these fit together under this great covenant of Grace, we might call it, 309 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:36.119 in which God is bringing his people to salvation and the enlargement of this 310 00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:44.039 program of salvation in Jesus. What does he do under David? Here God 311 00:27:44.279 --> 00:27:47.549 gives his people not just a law, as he does under Moses, but 312 00:27:47.670 --> 00:27:52.589 he gives them a king, a king who will point them to that law, 313 00:27:52.630 --> 00:27:57.390 a king who will obey that law and show them obedience, a king 314 00:27:57.430 --> 00:28:02.500 who will, all, be all about leading them in worship, particularly through 315 00:28:02.700 --> 00:28:08.059 the building of the temple. God says to David, Israel's great king, 316 00:28:08.099 --> 00:28:14.210 after Saul's great failure. He says to David and second Samuel seven and in 317 00:28:14.329 --> 00:28:18.289 first chronicles seventeen, I will give you a son. You hear that language 318 00:28:18.289 --> 00:28:22.490 again, the offspring right. I will give you a son who will straign 319 00:28:22.690 --> 00:28:29.839 on my throne forever, ruling over a people and bringing about a time of 320 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:36.319 rest. We all know, though, I'm particularly if you've been listening to 321 00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:41.509 the sermon series in First Chronicles, that Solomon fulfills this in a measure, 322 00:28:42.789 --> 00:28:48.509 but not completely. God gives to them this great king which in many ways 323 00:28:48.670 --> 00:28:55.269 builds the anticipation, helps them to understand the kind of thing that was required, 324 00:28:55.390 --> 00:29:00.299 but in the end ultimately fails, not because God fails, of course, 325 00:29:00.339 --> 00:29:04.019 but because Solomon Fails, because Solomon is just like every other Israelite. 326 00:29:04.740 --> 00:29:11.609 He's just like you, it's like me. He has sin in him, 327 00:29:11.130 --> 00:29:17.809 he's born in original sin. He cannot obey the law of God like God 328 00:29:17.930 --> 00:29:23.089 requires. But nevertheless, in all of these things, God is holding his 329 00:29:23.289 --> 00:29:26.799 people together. We don't have this people and that people in one part, 330 00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:33.119 one kingdom and another kingdom. It's all one people moving forward in history under 331 00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:38.549 God's Covenantal Care Failing, yes, but being preserved by God as well. 332 00:29:41.509 --> 00:29:45.269 So when Paul has in mind the covenants, he says he's sang to them. 333 00:29:45.910 --> 00:29:51.829 To No other nation did God call out of the world and give them 334 00:29:51.869 --> 00:29:56.579 a promised lamd to no other nation did God meet with on a mountain with 335 00:29:56.140 --> 00:30:03.619 eightning and thunder and clouds and darkness and give them his own special law to 336 00:30:03.779 --> 00:30:08.410 know whether nation did he promise a king that would rule over them forever and 337 00:30:08.529 --> 00:30:18.730 ever. Israel, you have something good. God is being gracious to them 338 00:30:18.809 --> 00:30:27.519 and he continues that graciousness under Jesus. But before we get to that, 339 00:30:29.799 --> 00:30:34.240 I want you to imagine yourself if you're not a Jew. As a Jew, 340 00:30:36.710 --> 00:30:41.950 how should you receive this kind of news? If you are being told 341 00:30:42.029 --> 00:30:48.829 and reminded that you God has poured out His grace on you and your people 342 00:30:48.309 --> 00:30:55.019 throughout all of history, has elected you specially among all the peoples of the 343 00:30:55.099 --> 00:31:00.259 world, to bless you forever and ever, how should you receive that? 344 00:31:00.819 --> 00:31:06.410 By saying, well, I'm done with you, I don't care anymore. 345 00:31:06.529 --> 00:31:08.250 I don't want to hear your word, I don't want to follow it. 346 00:31:08.369 --> 00:31:11.930 I don't want to know about the Messiah who's come. I don't want to 347 00:31:12.089 --> 00:31:18.640 know about these fulfilled, fulfilled promises. I don't want to worship the one 348 00:31:18.759 --> 00:31:22.680 who has come as the offspring of Abraham. I don't want to worship the 349 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:29.000 one who was given as king under as Dave Son. Does that make any 350 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:33.029 sense? God is giving these things, he's reminding the Jews of these things 351 00:31:33.069 --> 00:31:40.710 through Paul to say believe all of this has been given to you. receive 352 00:31:40.910 --> 00:31:47.859 it by faith in the one who has come. Now imagine yourself as a 353 00:31:48.019 --> 00:31:52.339 gentile, is one who hasn't been given all of these things. Imagine Yourself, 354 00:31:52.539 --> 00:31:57.740 like ruth, standing outside of Israel, living. She was a Moabidus, 355 00:31:59.259 --> 00:32:04.170 living outside of the promise, this promise to Abraham, not hers, 356 00:32:04.490 --> 00:32:07.289 the giving all of the Lat of Moses, not hers. The promise to 357 00:32:07.329 --> 00:32:12.490 David and a great king over the people, not her king. None of 358 00:32:12.529 --> 00:32:16.839 that had anything to do with her. But she looks and sees in Naomi 359 00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:22.759 this bitter woman, she calls herself that, a bitter woman who's angry with 360 00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:30.150 God, who is fleet God's judgment and problem and providence with her husband. 361 00:32:30.869 --> 00:32:35.950 She sees in Naomi something. I don't really know how, but she sees 362 00:32:36.029 --> 00:32:42.869 in Naomi something and says your God will be my God. I wonder if 363 00:32:43.190 --> 00:32:53.059 ruth can do that before the promise to David, before Jesus came, if 364 00:32:53.140 --> 00:32:58.809 Ruth can stand outside the Covenant as a gentle say that's what I need. 365 00:32:59.329 --> 00:33:01.569 Your God will be my people, your people will might be my people. 366 00:33:01.690 --> 00:33:07.490 She wants to change everything. She's saying, let me in, I want 367 00:33:07.529 --> 00:33:13.440 to belong. Should that not be our promise or are our response? Rather, 368 00:33:13.519 --> 00:33:17.200 when we hear of these things, when we are listening to this list, 369 00:33:19.079 --> 00:33:23.079 this list of gifts, when Paul says, going back to Romans Nine, 370 00:33:23.160 --> 00:33:28.309 when Paul says to the to Israel, says they are the Israelites, 371 00:33:28.390 --> 00:33:30.470 to them belong, the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving 372 00:33:30.509 --> 00:33:34.750 of the law, the worship, the promises, the Patriarchs. You should 373 00:33:34.750 --> 00:33:40.349 be one step away from jealousy, full throned jealousy. You should be going, 374 00:33:40.980 --> 00:33:46.299 ah, I wish I had that, I wish that could be mine. 375 00:33:46.380 --> 00:33:52.460 Isn't that a wonderful thing that God has given? As a gentile who 376 00:33:52.700 --> 00:34:00.490 separated from these promises, that's a bad thing. But you know what, 377 00:34:02.250 --> 00:34:06.450 we don't have to be as gentiles. You don't have to be angry at 378 00:34:06.529 --> 00:34:08.329 God, we don't have to be upset at God, we don't have to 379 00:34:08.449 --> 00:34:15.920 be frustrated with him, because he is not. Sent us a bitter woman 380 00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:22.039 a once in a lifetime opportunity to tell us a little something about what it's 381 00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:25.590 like in the place that she just left, like meeting a disgruntled Church member 382 00:34:27.510 --> 00:34:32.949 and somehow coming coming to become a member of her church. He sends profits 383 00:34:34.070 --> 00:34:37.579 and apostles out into the world. He Sends Preachers of the Gospel all over 384 00:34:37.739 --> 00:34:44.300 so that we, thousands of miles away from the original land of promise, 385 00:34:44.619 --> 00:34:49.699 can hear the gospel of God, can hear it in this sort of full 386 00:34:49.860 --> 00:34:55.650 throated happiness and joy and openness that says come and believe. And instead of 387 00:34:55.730 --> 00:35:00.090 the preacher like Naomi pushing us off and saying now you don't want to come, 388 00:35:00.250 --> 00:35:01.489 don't bother, stay where you are, all these kinds of things, 389 00:35:01.690 --> 00:35:05.530 you have people like me saying come on, come on, come on, 390 00:35:05.690 --> 00:35:08.280 come on, come in, come in, come in, because the promise 391 00:35:08.320 --> 00:35:13.840 is no longer limited to Israel in this way that it always has been. 392 00:35:15.039 --> 00:35:19.079 This is the great hope for gentiles like us. God has thrown open the 393 00:35:19.159 --> 00:35:24.269 doors in Jesus and says come on in. The blessings that were promised to 394 00:35:24.349 --> 00:35:31.909 Abraham and all the people's on the earth in him are being fulfilled as God, 395 00:35:32.190 --> 00:35:37.179 through his spirit, sends out the preaching all throughout the world and calls 396 00:35:37.219 --> 00:35:45.300 us to believe. So don't just stand outside, longing to belong, wishing 397 00:35:45.500 --> 00:35:51.650 that you could be a part of God's great plan. Believe in the offer 398 00:35:51.730 --> 00:35:55.730 of salvation that he's giving to you. And that offer of salvation comes to 399 00:35:55.809 --> 00:36:01.889 us in Jesus, who, I will finally make explicit to you. Jesus 400 00:36:02.090 --> 00:36:06.760 comes, he the author of Hebrews, says, to establish a new and 401 00:36:07.079 --> 00:36:10.599 better covenant, a new and better covenant than the One with Moses, than 402 00:36:10.639 --> 00:36:15.039 the one with David, the fulfillment of the one with Abraham and all these 403 00:36:15.119 --> 00:36:22.630 things. He fulfills these things and he establishes something that takes away the heavy 404 00:36:22.670 --> 00:36:28.309 weight and burden of the law. He says, you are no longer obligated 405 00:36:28.670 --> 00:36:34.099 to obey the law in order to live. That's it. I release you 406 00:36:34.139 --> 00:36:38.780 from it. I will fulfill it for you. Jesus says an he does 407 00:36:39.420 --> 00:36:45.219 unlike David, unlike Solomon, unlike Abraham, unlike Moses, unlike Aaron and 408 00:36:45.260 --> 00:36:54.090 Joshua and all the rest. Jesus comes in humanity and divinity and he perfectly 409 00:36:54.730 --> 00:37:01.440 obeys the law of God. He fulfills the stipulations of the Covenant. He's 410 00:37:01.559 --> 00:37:07.000 the one person in all of history who stands up and says I am the 411 00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:13.480 righteous man, and he's not pretending, he's not full of himself, he's 412 00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:19.110 not lying. He stands up and he says I am the righteous man, 413 00:37:19.389 --> 00:37:23.710 because he is the righteous man. And just like all of these other covenant 414 00:37:23.750 --> 00:37:30.619 mediators, he comes to fulfill the promise, not just or to fulfill the 415 00:37:30.659 --> 00:37:35.619 law, not just for himself but for those under him. As the king 416 00:37:35.739 --> 00:37:39.340 goes, so goes the people, and it's true with Jesus. He goes 417 00:37:40.380 --> 00:37:45.570 not only into this world to fulfill the law, but also to die for 418 00:37:45.769 --> 00:37:52.210 us who haven't fulfilled the law. He takes away all of the wrath and 419 00:37:52.489 --> 00:37:58.599 curse that was promised to Adam, that was shown in the cutting of the 420 00:37:58.719 --> 00:38:05.159 animals, that was threatened and fulfilled on the mountain of Sinai and in the 421 00:38:05.199 --> 00:38:08.880 kicking out of the people from the land, in the exile, in the 422 00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:15.989 removal of kings from the throne, all of those curses that were just shadows 423 00:38:16.030 --> 00:38:22.269 of the greater curse of Hell itself. Jesus takes on himself on the cross, 424 00:38:22.309 --> 00:38:27.619 as we read earlier from Second Corinthians, he who knew no sin, 425 00:38:28.820 --> 00:38:37.380 became sin so that we might be freed and forgiven of our sin. So 426 00:38:37.539 --> 00:38:42.929 this is what Jesus does. He establishes this new covenant with us and with 427 00:38:43.130 --> 00:38:46.250 us in him, with him as Lord and King, with us in a 428 00:38:46.409 --> 00:38:54.760 new position of freedom and grace. He gives us rest now and promises it 429 00:38:54.880 --> 00:39:00.840 for ever in the heavenly places, we will enter into a better land than 430 00:39:00.920 --> 00:39:07.679 Abraham or his children ever experienced here on this earth. And Abraham himself knew 431 00:39:07.760 --> 00:39:12.150 that, because the author of Hebrew says that Abraham was hoping not just for 432 00:39:12.269 --> 00:39:15.829 something in this world, but he looked forward to a heavenly city, the 433 00:39:15.989 --> 00:39:22.309 one which is promised to all who believe in Jesus Christ. So when Paul 434 00:39:22.429 --> 00:39:29.260 says that he gives to Israel the Covenant, this is what he has in 435 00:39:29.420 --> 00:39:37.980 mind, the covenant of Salvation That followed upon the covenant of Death in Adam, 436 00:39:38.610 --> 00:39:49.809 Abraham, Moses, David and finally Jesus, a once and final covenant 437 00:39:49.889 --> 00:39:55.639 with a once and perfect sacrifice forever and ever. This is the marriage that 438 00:39:55.760 --> 00:40:01.599 we are in. If you are waking up from a coma and beginning to 439 00:40:01.679 --> 00:40:09.590 realize who it is that sits at your bedside, rejoice, give praise to 440 00:40:09.710 --> 00:40:16.909 God, embrace your husband and say I love you, and go forward and 441 00:40:17.230 --> 00:40:24.179 serve God in Covenant Life and in obedience to him. Let us pray