Good Works Are Empowered by an Eternal Covenant

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

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Please turn your Bible to Hebrews chapter 13. This can be found on page 1010 of your pew

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Bible Preaching will be particularly on verse 20 in the first half of verse 21

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Please stand when you have that for the reading of God's Word Now may the

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God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus the great shepherd of sheep By the blood of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good that you may do his will

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Working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Christ Jesus to whom be glory forever and ever.

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Amen Amen, you may be seated Dearly father. We thank you this day for your word.

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We ask that you would Open it up to us that we might understand it more. This is a passage that we

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Use often in our benedictions here at church. We pray that its significance would not be

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Something that is beyond us But something that we are able to embrace fully knowing that you have equipped us with everything necessary in order to do your will knowing that you have

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Equipped us by the blood of an eternal covenant in Jesus name. Amen well this past Nine weeks we've gone through how salvation in different ways equips us for good works

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This right here this notion of a covenant really sums up all of it together

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Because it's through God's covenant with his people that he grants us the blessing of the salvation

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By which we are equipped for good works So I've pointed out each previous time many people struggle in Pursuing the sincere obedience that God has called them to struggle and dealing with the trials that they have to deal with Struggle and resisting temptation struggle and achieving any higher calling because they are not aware of The blessings of God in salvation on one hand it is theirs as their own birthright

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They have that salvation from God and yet apart from an understanding of it cannot be fully taken advantage of So this is all true most especially with and in a summary way

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With the notion of God's covenant the new covenant Made through Jesus Christ to save his people from their sins those who understand the covenant of God are able to Obey God's will in a way beyond those who only have a cursory understanding of this truth something that we ought to Dedicate ourselves to understanding in order that we might be more equipped to God's will now

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It is not just understanding this that equips us. It is the covenant itself that equips us but yet so many

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Do not have the full weight of the blessing because though they have the covenant they do not have a greater understanding of that covenant

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So as we look at this passage A brief overview of what I'd like to cover today is the old covenant that the new covenant contrasts with nature of the new covenant and Then how this equips us for good work work simply put the old covenant the new covenant how this equips us for good works

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But first simply to go over this passage here now may the God of peace

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Speaks of God being God of peace. This is a theme that has appeared in this book a couple of times before Bible spoke of or the author of Hebrews spoke of Melchizedek Prefiguring Jesus Christ as being the king of peace since he was the king of Salem It also told us in the previous chapter in verse in verse 14 that we should

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Strive for peace with everyone We should pursue peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the

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Lord Peace is something that ought to be struck strive for Yet, this is all

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Given to us in a guaranteed way because we have a God of peace over us. He is a

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God who? Does not merely make war with his enemies, but he makes peace with his people through him.

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You can have peace with him And how can you have peace with him? Well because he has brought again from the dead our

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Lord Jesus the great shepherd of sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant By the blood of this covenant by the shed blood of Jesus Christ he is established peace with his people

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Even prior to the death of Christ. He loved his people and that is why he sent Jesus Christ But before he sent

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Jesus Christ We were children of wrath as it says in Ephesians 2 before we are personally justified before God having trust in Jesus Christ We are children of wrath yet Those who have trusted in Jesus Christ who have his

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Blood his atonement applied to them have peace with God This verse alludes to in part

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Zechariah chapter 9 Zechariah 9 9 says the following Rejoice greatly a daughter of Zion shout aloud a daughter of Jerusalem Behold your king is coming to you righteous and having salvation is he

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Humble and mounted on a donkey on a colt the foal of a donkey I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem and the battle bow shall be cut off and he shall

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Speak peace to the nations his rule shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth

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Now you may recognize all this is speaking of the Messiah the Messiah who will come and reign in Zion Jesus Christ and then it says in verse 11 as for you also because of the blood of my covenant with you

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I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit return to your stronghold of prisoners of hope today

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I declare that I will restore to you double Because of the blood of the covenant

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God will restore us because the blood of the covenant will have peace. What is this all promising?

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This is promising the blood of an eternal covenant. It's promising the blood of Jesus Christ by which we have peace with God We have been raised from the dead because he has been raised from the dead earlier in Hebrews Explained that the priests of the

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Old Testament were not able to guarantee salvation because their lives were not eternal Eternal and so they were not able to eternally pray for intercede for mediate for the people of God, but Jesus whose priesthood is an eternal priesthood living forever is able to mediate for us forever there were any moment that were to go by that he would

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Cease to stand as our mediator. We would no longer have standing before God Well, our sins have been washed away with his blood.

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This does not change the fact that we are still In and of ourselves apart from him sinners

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He has not washed us so that we no longer stand in need of him rather the way you are to think of washing is uh

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Is of something that while it transform us and while it gives us a legal standing it does not change the reality

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Of the history itself such that we would not need him continually interceding for us as a priest

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So this peace is accomplished by his life by the blood the eternal covenant

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And it speaks of him Uh, it speaks of this covenant as eternal.

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It's something that lasts forever Uh, we've seen the word eternal a number of times in hebrews

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We've seen eternal salvation mentioned a number of times eternal judgment the eternal spirit an eternal inheritance

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Inheritance And here how are all these things eternal because the covenant is eternal this covenant this promise of god

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Something that is perpetual lasts forever Now he speaks of the shepherd of sheep

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As I studied this passage, I found that very uh surprising Because there's very little in the context of hebrews that would make this theme of a shepherd very relevant now

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Just before it has talked about Leaders remember your leaders follow your leaders a couple of times and so maybe

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Uh, maybe that is the focus maybe it is on uh, maybe it has something to do with the the blood of the lamb, but The notion of a shepherd really doesn't have to do with him being the sheep

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It has to do with him being a shepherd. So why would it speak of him being a shepherd here? I don't believe the primary point

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Is about him leading us so that is certainly Included here in this idea of him being a shepherd

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What is primarily going on here as an allusion to another old testament passage not zechariah?

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but isaiah isaiah 63 and isaiah 63 verse 10 it says but they rebelled and grieved his holy spirit

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Therefore he turned to be their enemy and himself fought against them Okay, so here it's describing how because the people disobeyed god god is at war with his people

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Okay, this is the opposite of peace. He is at war with his people And so what's the hope?

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What's the hope? Isaiah laments he says then he remembered the days of old of moses and his people

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Where is he who brought them up out of the sea? Where is the shepherd of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his holy spirit?

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So isaiah is calling out. Where is the one who brought the people up out of the red sea? now

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You might see some similarity here with this passage in hebrews

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Talks about a shepherd Talks about bringing up out of the sea Just like it says raising to life

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Now however if you were to read this in the greek Translation of scripture known as the septuagint you would see much more similarity

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And if you ever do a deep study of hebrews, you'll find that this is an important thing is not just reading the uh

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Your old testament which is translated from hebrew But reading an old testament either greek directly or even english translated from greek to see

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Why the author of hebrews makes the illusions he makes he's speaking to a people who are primarily reading from a greek translation of scripture

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And so he's making illusions that will sound familiar to their ears So here we're in hebrews 13 20 it says that he brought again from the dead.

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Lord. Jesus the great shepherd of sheep by the blood of the covenant Or more literally, uh raised him from the dead this passage in isaiah 63 11 says in In the septuagint in the greek translation of the old testament says something

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Instead of where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock says something more like Where is he who raised up out of the sea the shepherd of sheep?

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So this phrase raising up the shepherd of sheep is a phrase that comes directly from here in isaiah 63

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So the focus is not so much on him being a shepherd and Though it is in part.

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He is a leader that is greater than moses Who's leading the people in the old covenant? We have a leader the new covenant who is greater but also this contrast between war and peace that is through Jesus christ that we have this fulfillment this answer to isaiah's lament isaiah laments

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Where is the god who saved them up out of who raised them up with their leader up out of the sea?

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the answer is That has been accomplished this raising up of the shepherd of sheep that isaiah is calling for Has been fulfilled in jesus christ

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He is the one who raises the people up So this focus on the shepherd of sheep

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Has to do with isaiah's lament being answered With a savior who god raises up And raises up the people with him

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Out of the depths out of the pit of the sea out of death itself.

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If you recall that passage in uh, zechariah That's also being alluded to spoke of the people being in the depths

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And needing to be raised out of the depths by the blood of the covenant So this is the promise that is being given here

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Also that they will be equipped with everything good that they may do his will

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Equip you with everything good that you may do his will The word for equip is the same word that's used elsewhere for prepare here in hebrews

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When it says that you have prepared for me a body you might be familiar with that phrase from hebrews 9 It's the same word and when it says that the universe was made by god and 11 verse 3

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Same word again. This is that kind of divine preparation for things.

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He is equipping us. He is preparing us by the blood of the eternal covenant To do his will

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What is his will? Well as we have defined good works in the past To be sincere obedience.

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That is his will he is equipping us For good works. He is equipping us to do all that he has declared in his law

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To both Resist those temptations that would draw us to sins of commission where we transgress his law and also to resist those sins of omission

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Such that we would not fulfill the things that his law requires All these are included

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So this is an overview of the passage now that we've gone over the passage

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It's worth considering what is a covenant what is a covenant and particularly what is this covenant?

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A covenant is a sworn commitment between two parties. Okay sworn commitment between two parties

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Now there are uh many different views of the covenants in scripture there are a number of covenants in scripture and they're

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Um as many different covenants there are there are probably, you know, five times as many views On what those covenants are.

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So this is a notably a difficult Uh issue in scripture and yet it is one that is notably important because it is by This covenant that god gives us

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Guarantees of peace with him in order that we may be able to do his will and so even though it is difficult something worth understanding now there are

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Two primary covenants that it's important to understand in scripture The first is the covenant of works.

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This is the covenant that was made with adam in the garden adam in the garden was Uh was under probation

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He was being tested if he had eaten the tree of life scripture explains that he would have lived forever

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And so there was some testing By which if there had been success He would have achieved the kind of glory that christ has achieved on our behalf

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We were in adam if adam had succeeded. We would have been raised up to glory with adam

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But adam failed and so we instead are brought down into the depths with adam

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We are we are fallen in adam. We are dead in adam Now a lot of people don't consider, uh, the covenant of works to be a true covenant as because a lot of the covenants in scripture

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You see all the narrative with the pomp and fanfare. You see the signs of the covenant, etc

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You don't have a lot of that given in the narratives of genesis and yet all the same

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You do see that adam is being tested. You do see that there's a promise of life You do see in first corinthians 15 that if there's a natural body

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So also is there a spiritual body meaning a resurrection body? There was some hope set out for adam that he may accomplish things

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And be raised up to a higher form of life to a glorification

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And then on top of all that you have hosea 6 7 that says Like adam the people of israel transgressed the covenant

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That lets you know that adam was under a covenant There was some covenant that was made with adam that he transgressed this is known as the covenant of works now

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There's also another covenant which many speak of the covenant of grace. This is the covenant that through jesus christ

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Perfectly fulfilling the will of god. We are given life So it is not through our own obedience that we are raised to life and jesus christ is just like With adam that was something that it was through Mere man.

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It was through the power of man that people would have been raised up to something Yet with jesus christ in this covenant of grace.

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It is through his perfect obedience That we are given life It is through his

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Fulfillment the terms of the covenant that we are given life this is first promised in genesis 3 15 which says

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I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.

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He shall bruise your head And you shall bruise his heel now this verse does not establish the covenant as though It was made at that time.

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The new covenant is made in the blood of jesus christ The covenant of grace is established through the blood of jesus christ.

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However, this promises the giving of this covenant And so the people have this assurance that this covenant will come this covenant is prophesied throughout scripture and then it is finally it's finally given it is given in jesus christ, so these are the

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Two primary covenants. There's many other covenants. We're speaking of but these are the two primary covenants that you must know.

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It's a covenant of works Where it's through man's fulfillment that he has Right standing with god is through man's fulfillment that he would be glorified

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And then the covenant of grace is through christ fulfillment that man is glorified that man has standing with god now throughout

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Hebrews, there's a comparison between covenants called the old covenant and the new covenant

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This eternal covenant that is spoken of here is clearly the new covenant So we must understand what is the old covenant in order to understand the contrast

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Contrast made with the new covenant. So what is the old covenant? Well, some people say that the old covenant is the covenant of works you see in the old testament

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You see in the covenant made with moses. That is particular what the old covenant is referring to It's the covenant made with moses.

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This is the old covenant You see this a number of times where it speaks of moses here even in this allusion to the shepherd of sheep raising him up Right is a is a comparison of christ to moses as we saw in Isaiah 63 that moses was the one who was raised up out of the sea now christ is raised up from the dead

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So this covenant made with moses, what is it? Some people have said it's a covenant of works You see all the statements in the law of moses.

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They must do this and then live Just like the passage that we read in deuteronomy 10 and 7 if you do this, then you will live

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So some people said well, it's a covenant of works Other people see all these all the mercy of god in the old covenant all the promises of salvation the

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Sacrifices that provide forgiveness from sins. They say well know the the old covenant is the covenant of grace

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It's just a different administration the covenant of grace so you have These two views of course, like I said, there are many other views but some have observed one thing and said well

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This is to be identified with or considered somewhat in alignment with the covenant of works. Some say covenant of grace

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If both of these things are true, then neither of them can be true Rather you are to see it as an illustration of both of them

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The old covenant is a temporal covenant meaning having to do with temporal things in this realm

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I don't just mean temporary mean temporal right not not heavenly But rather earthly has to do with the people living in the land

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And having prosperity in the land and a long life in the land It's not talking about an eternal heavenly kind of forgiveness or anything like that.

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Is it a temporal life in the land? And so and as much as the people are required to obey god in order to maintain this

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It's illustrating that covenant of works that man was unable to keep And as much as it is providing forgiveness

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It is illustrating the covenant of grace that we have in jesus christ So there's a temporal covenant that is illustrating both the covenant of works and the covenant of grace

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But it itself is neither the covenant of works or the covenant of grace Now consider all these aspects of this of this passage the blood of the covenant

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It said in hebrews 10 4 that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins It's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins

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Many people when they're reading scripture are very confused by this I know that I was for a long time in my christian life confused by this because you see so many passages in the old testament

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And just to give you one leviticus 4 20 that says the priest shall make atonement for their sins and they will be forgiven

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Talks about blood being shed and the people being forgiven but then hebrews 10 4

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Says that the blood of bulls and goats Can't take away sins it can't forgive sins. So how can both of these be true?

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Well, they are true if we are talking about different kinds of forgiveness One is talking about a temporal forgiveness

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So in the terms of that old covenant the people are forgiven of their sins and permitted to continue living in the land

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But the blood of bulls and goats do not give a heavenly kind of forgiveness so that in that final court where you will stand

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You will be washed free of sins So that you can live forever in the promised land of heaven is forgiveness so that you can live in the promised land of canaan

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So these two bloods provide entirely different forgivenesses It's not that one provides forgiveness and the other doesn't or that they both provide forgiveness

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It's rather they both provide different kinds of forgiveness one a temporal forgiveness one an eternal or heavenly

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Forgiveness And this is uh critical to understanding how the old testament is

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Illustrating that salvation, you know, many people were saved Under or while they were under the old covenant, right many people were saved

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They would look to these sacrifices and they would see this promise of the messiah and trusting in him

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They would have that eternal salvation, but it was not by virtue of the blood of those sacrifices

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That they had that salvation. It was by virtue of looking at them in seeing the promise of jesus christ

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That they would have the salvation that they have So there were many who were forgiven in a temporal way and only some who in looking at those sacrifices

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Grasping on to that trust in the messiah who received an eternal a heavenly salvation

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Now consider the peace that was available in the old covenant Once again It was only a temporal kind of peace so long that they were in the land that they were not chased away by enemies as the passage we read in deuteronomy

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In the previous chapter hebrews 12 verse 18 it speaks of the kind of Lack of peace that people had with god under the old covenant

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It says in verse 18 for you have not come To what may be touched a blazing fire and darkness and gloom

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And a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further message be spoken to them

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For they could not endure the order that was given if even a beast touches the mountain it shall be stoned

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Indeed so terrifying was the sight that moses said I tremble with fear As he's describing the giving of the old covenant moses went up on sinai he received the ten commandments

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God gave him the rest of the terms of the covenant there And there was smoke and there was fire.

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There was thunder. There was a trumpet blast that just sounded and continued for for hours for days all the people were ready to go up to the

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Go up to the mountain And These things all Represented the terms before which they were coming to god.

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He was giving his law They cannot perfectly fulfill that law. And so it is terrifying to the one who cannot fulfill his law

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It is terrifying while they might have had some kind of temporal peace in the land of land of canaan

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There is no kind of eternal peace This is a terrifying thing

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That was given to them this covenant these terms that required their obedience before god

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Now, what about the eternality? of that covenant Once again many people are confused because it says

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Repeatedly it speaks of covenants in the old testaments old testament as being eternal covenants

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Right it speaks of the promise given to abraham as being an everlasting covenant promise given to david being an everlasting covenant, etc

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Even to the levites that the offerings that would be given to them are a covenant of salt meaning a lasting covenant now

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Oh, how can we say? That these things that that was not Eternal.

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Well, first of all many of those covenants had an end clearly in view The promise given to david that one would come and sit on that throne

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Clearly had an end in view where one comes and sits on the throne the promise given to abraham that He threw his seed all the nations would be blessed as galatians explains has an end clearly in mind

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That one particular offspring jesus christ through whom the nations would be blessed then these other covenants that illustrate the nature

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Of jesus's salvation through the sacrifices, etc Find their fulfillment in jesus christ and so are obsoleted

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And not everlasting. So when the bible speaks of those covenants as being everlasting that Is in the sense that they will not be?

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uh They will not be destroyed and not have their effect rather. It was they would have their effect finally

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And so they have everlasting consequences they have Everlasting impact they are everlasting in that They will be fulfilled and not the terms of the covenant will not be

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Undone, but that does not mean they will not be obsoleted by the fulfillment of those covenants

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It says in hebrews Eight about the old covenant. Hebrews 8 13 and speaking of a new covenant

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He makes the first one obsolete and what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish so this

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Old covenant is obsoleted by jesus christ He speaks of it being ready to vanish at the time that the author is writing

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The temple still stands the priests are still sacrificing in the temple, etc uh yet There's going to come a time where that is going to go away

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Eventually it does after the authorship of hebrews the temple is destroyed and that covenant is obsoleted now uh

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In the old testament jeremiah ezekiel uh other prophets

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Speak of the need for an eternal covenant It explains the weakness of the old covenant and explains that god will make with his people an everlasting covenant

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So even in the old testament you have this anticipation That that covenant will will find its end will find its fulfillment in a greater covenant

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So this is not just what the new testament says even the old testament is anticipating an obsoleting of the old covenant

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So the old covenant is insufficient to give any kind of eternal life it illustrates

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The covenant works it illustrates the covenant of grace The salvation that we have in jesus christ, but it does not provide

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That salvation is a difference between an architect's diagram and a building Right, it might describe the building, but it is not the building.

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It cannot provide real salvation. It can only illustrate it Now what about the new covenant

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The new covenant that is made in the blood of christ is the covenant of grace.

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It's not merely another Administration to use the word some people use of the covenant grace. It is the covenant of grace

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It is through this that we have true peace with god is through this the blood of the covenant produces perfect effect

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Jesus christ has died his death Perfectly atones for his people. He stands in our place in order that we would uh

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Not have to bear the wrath of sin that is due to us The wages of sin is death because we have transgressed against god's law.

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We owe him our very lives But christ has died in our place. And so therefore his blood forgives us not just so we can live long in some

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Earthly land but so that we can live forever with god in heaven and in eternal promised land

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And this is something that produces real peace consider again that passage in hebrews 12 that was

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Speaking of moses trembling with fear because the people were not at A complete peace with god

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Says in verse 22 But you have come to mount zion to the city of the living god the heavenly jerusalem and to innumerable angels and festal gathering

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And to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to god the judge of all and to the spirits of the

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Righteous made perfect and to jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word

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Than the blood of abel the blood of abel crying out for vengeance The blood of jesus crying out for mercy

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This is describing peace with god. So the old covenant is not producing any kind of heavenly lasting peace the new covenant providing

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A lasting peace and it is an eternal covenant. There's no anticipation that there will be some other covenant

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That will obsolete it. There's no anticipation that its terms will find their fulfillment.

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And so It will have finally been executed. It is a guarantee that forever christ will mediate for us

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Forever, we will have his leadership forever. He will be our king and we will be his people.

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This is something that continues forever He is the shepherd of sheep.

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He is the great leader who has been raised up from the dead bring us with him

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And he has provided a a perfect sufficient salvation now

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As you consider this, how does this apply to the equipping that god has done?

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the equipping for good works he has He has equipped us with all the promises of this covenant

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This covenant entails all the things that we've spoken of in previous weeks The communion that we have with the father the communion that we have with the son the gift of the spirit by which we have

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That communion the communion with the saints on earth the communion with the saints in heaven the communion that we have with the angels

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All of those things are provided by this covenant He has equipped us with every grace necessary and there are even things that I haven't covered even a whole category of things.

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I haven't covered regarding the Revelation of god to us our access to him in prayer

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Uh There are there are more ways even that this has been granted to us

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And consider how it is that this blood of the covenant this peace that we would have with god guarantees

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On equipping for good works apart from that. We would not be qualified for good works We would not be holy to do god's will we would not be fit instruments for him

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But having been purified by the blood of christ we are having peace with god not being at war with him

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We are able to move forward Without any kind of fear of failure any kind of worry about disqualification from past failure

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We are free to serve god in whatever way that he calls us And he has given us the variety of blessings that he has given us for our confidence any one aspect of that salvation

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Would be sufficient but he has Incandescending to us as frail creatures given us

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Numerous confirmations of these truths through communion not only with the father but with the son but with the spirit but with Saints with the angels etc.

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He has given us numerous confirmations if you had

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A friend who wanted you to demonstrate something to him or maybe He wanted evidence that something had happened and he would given him evidence, right?

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Maybe you gave him video evidence and he said yeah, but I don't know That seems all right But do you have any more evidence and he gave more evidence and more you would get pretty tired of it

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Because any one of those pieces of evidence would probably be in and of itself sufficient if you gave video evidence that something took place

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That would be sufficient if you gave more video evidence that would be sufficient if you gave

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Other kinds of evidence if they're good evidence, it'd be sufficient And you might think well, you only need one thing you get just one thing and that's it

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I'm, not gonna spend more time explaining all this to you. God could have treated us in that way

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Okay, god could have said. All right. I'm making an oath. I'm gonna confirm this with an oath and that's all you're getting but no, he

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Explains to us the multifaceted aspect of our salvation in order to encourage us

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Last week we looked at the angels. Why? Answered the question. Why would he give angels if the spirit is enough?

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Why would he watch over us with angels if the spirit is enough? Are we saying the spirit is not sufficient? Are we saying the spirit is not powerful enough?

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Certainly not but god condescending to our frailness to our weakness

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Gives us many confirmations of his working in us Including things like angels including things with the various forms of communion that we have

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With god with the saints, etc. These are these are all um

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Blessed blessed confirmations that god gives us and he gives us this in Through this covenant through this confirmation

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Consider what hebrews describes about the nature of a covenant The nature of a covenant is to confirm god could have said it god never lies

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And so what he says would have already been true apart from having sworn it And yet he swears it it says in verse 6 16 it says for people swear by something greater than themselves and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation

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So when god desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose

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He guaranteed it with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for god to lie

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We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us

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Now god never lies his word would have been good enough, but he chose to swear he chose to make the oath final for confirmation

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Likewise, he chose to reveal to us not just one aspect of our salvation, which would have been sufficient

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But many aspects of our salvation that are all included in this covenant And so he has given us

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The the promise of this covenant having sworn it all the various blessings of the covenant

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With in mind our frailness our weakness our need for Such confirmations if you don't think you're weak and need confirmations, you are weak and you do need confirmations so many people believe

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Sin is wrong God is good And yet they sin why is it that they sin?

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They are weak people who need more confirmations, okay, you are a weak person who needs more confirmations

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Don't think that a bare understanding of the truth is going to be enough for you. You are not that strong You need you need much more

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Uh than that And he has given us this covenant with covenant institutions

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So this covenant is true. Someone can be a member of the new covenant apart from uh Participation apart from strict participation in the institution though that ought to be very rare But he has given this to us with a particular institution the church christ has instituted the church.

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It is through this that we have Additional encouragements he's given us baptism

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As a sign of this covenant. He has given us the lord's supper to Regularly confirm us in this covenant.

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He has given membership by which we confirm each other affirming each other as members and then one that undergoes

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Regulation so that those who do not Do not fit the description of one who has been saved by god are removed so that those who are part of it

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Can have a sense of confidence from their membership that not only do I have the promises in scripture, etc

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But god has given to me this additional confirmation of brothers and sisters who are continuing to affirm me as a fellow believer

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That is another that is another Means that we have of confidence. He's given us the lord's day where we are to come together and gather here on sunday and worship that is a

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That is a way that we are to be encouraged in this covenant as part of the covenant institution that he has given and so it is not just the um,

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Not just the The promise of salvation is not just all the different blessings of salvation

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But it's also the institutional aspects of this covenant are confirmation from us now consider else how

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The covenant relates to revelation from god god Reveals things in his covenants covenants are matters of revelation

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In fact, this is very obvious with one simple illustration the old testament Refers to the old covenant.

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Okay, the old old testament and covenant are similar terms, right? Testament is like a will It's a certain kind of covenant so when we talk about the old testament, we are describing, uh the first The first set of books in the bible the first 39 books in the bible as being primarily about This old covenant when we call the new testament the new testament.

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We're saying that these Later 27 books are primarily about the new covenant

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Because god is revealing himself with these covenants If you want to understand who he is if you want to understand how he has equipped you and be uh better able to take access, um, take advantage of that equipping you must know his word because he is

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Revealing himself through this covenant and he has revealed himself richly

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In the new testament. He's revealed the terms of the covenant those things that he has required from man now

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It is a unilateral covenant. It's fulfilled completely by jesus christ It is not fulfilled by us in a way where our obedience, uh merits anything where our obedience guarantees us

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Membership is christ obedience that guarantees us membership at the same time The new covenant does not abrogate

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Uh moral law god's very character so that it would no longer be Uh wrong to lie or wrong to steal or wrong to murder rather It includes these notions to the bible speaking of of a law of christ a law of love and so to understand

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The terms of this covenant is to understand what god's will is if it says that he equips us to do his will

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You must know what the will is. How do you know the will through the covenant? So it's not just that the covenant is equipping us to do his will us already knowing what his will is

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But is additionally telling us about what his will is and you see this all throughout the pages of scripture

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What the will of god is? and so he has revealed he has revealed his

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Uh his law and he has likewise revealed his promises his precious and very great promises as it says that we might grasp onto them and hold on to them and Be encouraged to hold fast

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So you must go to the word of god to know not only what his will is But to know those things those promises that equip you for that will this is also why it's important to understand

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Not just god's word in general, but his covenants more specifically a lot of people will look at the covenants they think that this is kind of High and heady stuff and difficult to understand god would not put it in his word if it were not for you to understand

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This is important. This is important to understand There are many views of covenant theology that end up undermining those things that would equip right if God has given his covenants

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In part to reveal his law Consider that there are many versions of or at least several versions of covenant theology or variations thereof that essentially

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Undermine the moral law of god the moral law of god, uh referring to the ten commandments so if you um

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Every christian has to answer. Why is it that we obey some of the law in the old testament, but the not other law?

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Why is it that we're okay wearing mixed fabrics eating shellfish, etc? To answer that a lot of people

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Misunderstanding the covenants simply say all of it was done away with All of it was done away with it's not just the ceremonial regulations it's also

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Lying was done away with etc. The command not to murder was done away with and it was re -established In the new covenant and so it's through that re -establishment that we're not supposed to lie that we're not supposed to steal etc

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And so then you need a repeat of every Of every law if it is to be obeyed it's got to be written somewhere in the new testament

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And so someone will say where's that written in scripture? And even if you have an old testament verse it says something is an abomination

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That wouldn't be you know showing the heart of god is against it that wouldn't be good enough because it's got to be repeated in the old and the new covenant and then the fact that the

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Old testament is so much longer than the new testament becomes it becomes Relatively useless in a lot of ways so it's important to uh

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Understand how god's covenant how god's covenant works so that you aren't throwing out incredibly

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Useful Useful information consider those who would do that the example I always give Is what about bestiality, you know, where's bestiality forbidden in the new testament?

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Um, it's very clearly forbidden in the old testament. Where is it forbidden the new testament? Maybe it's okay for uh, if if that's the

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Point of view we're going to take but no that's not the point of view we should take You must rightly understand god's law so that the moral law is eternal.

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It's not something that Is not something that fails the ten commandments are not something that fail Now moreover you must um

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There are other so that's that's one example of how A different view of covenant theology can undermine your ability to do god's will because you don't understand god's will rightly

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Well, you can also undermine with a wrong understanding of the covenants the promises that god has given

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There are many people who would make A membership in the new covenant primarily institutional

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Such that church membership is new covenant membership and therefore it is a conditional thing and so to benefit from the new covenant

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Is a matter that relies partially on christ but partially on you now those people who believe that they would often have um a lot of reasons that they would

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Have a category for the for eternal salvation as not coming from you But the way the covenant is supposed to encourage you being unilateral having been accomplished

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Completely by jesus christ and not accomplished by us is undermined and making covenant membership itself

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Something conditional that someone can be a member of the covenant later be removed when they don't meet its requirements, etc

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So this is not um, this is not a matter that should just be um tossed off as being for People with more intellect or headier rather This is something that every christian should seek to understand is how?

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The new covenant operates in order that you would be fully equipped to do god's will

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And not just partially equipped fully equipped to do god's will So, what should you do first of all, you must believe in jesus christ apart from his blood you have no

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Membership in this covenant apart from his blood. You do not have these promises. You do not have peace with god You are at war with him.

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You do not have any kind of equipping to do his will You must trust in the lord. Jesus christ if you trust in him

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His sacrifice is applied to you And you are atoned for your sin. You are forgiven eternally in heavenly sense.

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You are perfectly equipped to do god's will Now if you already have trust in the lord jesus christ

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You must trust him further continue to learn about these various aspects of the blessings of salvation

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Do not think that you are strong enough to know about some small aspects of the gospel

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The bible repeatedly tells us about the promises of god Both the promises themselves and then speaking

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At a higher level of the goodness of the promises and the importance of knowing the promises That's true

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You ought to be collecting these promises for yourself that you would be able to grasp onto them that you would have the encouragements

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Necessary those aspects of the new covenant in order to be fully encouraged in the good works that god has called you to You are not yeah, you are not sufficiently strong to do this with With some details god knew our weakness

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He swore it with an oath to abraham and he gives us revelation of many aspects of salvation

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Not just one or two aspects of salvation. That is not just uh an over abundance of his mercy as something that's not needed

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But rather it is an abundance of his mercy. That's something that is needed by us who are weak and frail weak and frail creatures

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Uh Yeah, do not uh engage in some kind of anti -intellectualism That would uh reserve this task for someone else part of the point in hebrews one of the main points in hebrews is that you should be uh, that You must move on to maturity not just understanding the milk

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But understanding the meat of the word that you would be fully equipped to know god's know god's purposes

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What is that meat? I would argue and I believe I could argue pretty well from hebrews five and six

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That the meat he is referring to is a greater understanding of this covenant is a greater understanding

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Of the gospel that is the meat. It's not obscure. Uh A lot of people think the meat is anything that's difficult or obscure That is not that is not it is a deeper understanding of the covenant.

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So the details themselves That are uh that might be obscure might be difficult Those themselves have no purpose in your life apart from working them together in the notion of this covenant

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Of grace this new covenant of salvation Because it is in that covenant that they have power now to be an encouragement to you

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To save you from the snares of the enemy that that the author of hebrews is warning us against And you should learn particularly with a view toward not just understanding for yourself, but with teaching others

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Many people ask me. How can I study the bible better? and my go -to answer has become

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With variations on this theme to Study in a way that you would be able to teach others

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This might mean writing out notes for yourself in a way that would that you would be able to communicate to others

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But write not just so that uh, but study not just so that you have some sense of it Because you'll find when trying to communicate it

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Whatever the truth in scripture is that you might not really have a full understanding of it and it is through Trying to learn in order to teach that you have you see that you have that understanding or that you

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Do have that understanding? um I knew that it was only when I began to learn in order to teach that I Really began learning the bible a lot of people will point that out that that was a

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A difference in trajectory of their learning. The bible was when they were learning not for themselves, but for the sake of others

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This is what Hebrews 5 says hebrews 5 says about this We have much to say and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing

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For though by this time you ought to be teachers You need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracle of god oracles of god

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You need milk not solid food. He's saying for though by this time you ought to be teachers

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Now god has not called everyone to be a teacher in an official sense. He has called everyone to be a teacher

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To share god's truth with others. There are others in this church You could be sharing god's truth with you should be learning not just to have the knowledge for yourself

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But you should be learning to have this knowledge for others if there is a way in your study that you can

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Equip yourself further to teach do that even if it is just thinking. Okay. I think i've got it

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How would I explain that to someone else? It's a very good question to ask to make sure that you are truly learning

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God's word learning the uh, the goodness of his covenant that he's made with us Okay, so you should

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Should learn you should understand you should trust in this covenant Now god has given us institutional aspects of this covenant for that confirmation

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Okay, he has given an oath but then he has created this institution of the church

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He has made church membership. He's made baptism the lord's supper He's given us the lord's day.

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These are all things that ought to be participated in If you are not a member of a church You will not have the full confirmation of what god has spoken apart from baptism apart from church membership this

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Institution that he has made that uh has a relationship with this covenant Uh, moreover if you are not participating in the lord's supper on a regular basis, you will not have the confirmation he's given

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He has said that this is the new covenant in my blood held the cup up and he said that now if you want confirmation the new covenant, but you are not enjoying the

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The new covenant that's made in his blood. Uh, how are how are you supposed to do that? Now? I know in some sense.

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It's a It's a synecdoche, right it's like representing the whole covenant but if you

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If this is the means that he has given to encourage us to feed us and you are not taking advantage of that How do you believe that you will have the encouragement you're supposed to have from this covenant?

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And then if he has given us the lord's day to gather celebrate together This is not something small.

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This is something Significant that god has given us once again knowing that we are weak creatures now

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I know in some sense i'm preaching to the choir because everyone here is here on the lord's day This is something you're already being obedient to But remember this fact if you were to bring this forever other bring this to others

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This is part of what god has given to encourage us and that apart from that We should not expect to be to have the full equipment for the works that god has called us to So that person who thinks that They should just be the measure of or that they should measure the situation say well

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I don't feel that equipped from sunday. I feel like i'm more equipped on my own just studying god's word on my own, etc

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Point them to what the word of god says that we are to be well We looked at this before ephesians 10 24 to 25 that we're to be encouraging one another

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Um through gathering together and this is part of that covenant institution that god has given

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All right Now participating in that institution in addition

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You want to do good works fearlessly knowing that you are equipped There's no need for fear of your past failures

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He has made if he has justified you if you have had your sins washed away by his blood You are not disqualified from serving the lord in whatever ways he would call you now

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There may be certain ways that he would not call you But he has called all of his people to serve him and these are things that he is he has if he has purified you with the blood of christ you are

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You are equipped to do now Furthermore, there should not be fear of failure in the future

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If this is an eternal covenant, there's a guaranteed peace through the blood of christ There doesn't have to be fear of what if I what if I mess up Uh, what if I sin against god because this will be a difficult road to travel no go forward fearlessly knowing that knowing that christ has

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Accomplished everything necessary for your continued forgiveness everything necessary for your continued

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Holding if you are worried that you will not have enough strength He has provided in his covenant all the means

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For you to have sufficient strength with all the blessings that we've looked at in previous weeks

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And don't worry about danger no danger in the future even if it is something as as significant as death

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There are a lot of people who are afraid of death But christ has set us free from the fear of death so that we do not need to fear it

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Now the obvious thing that might come to mind is if god were to call you to be a martyr You can serve him knowing that there is an eternal life that awaits you however, so many people operate in a way that is

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Really akin to the fear of death and ultimately is the fear of death a lot of um for example, um many

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Women will because they are afraid of what will happen if Their husband were to divorce them or if something bad were to happen at the husband.

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They will they will hold back in um Love to their husband. They will hold back in the way that they would serve their home trying to hedge their bets

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Maybe pursuing their own independence in a certain way because of these kinds of fears because they're afraid what will happen if then um

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You know if I if I lose the stability in my life, then I will face death and I cannot face that So I must

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I must hedge my bets many people do this in all kinds of ways There are all kinds of ways people choose not to serve god because they think it will cost too much of them

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And they will put be put in too precarious of a circumstance That is somewhat of a proxy for death, right?

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If you have less resources then uh, you're threatened with with an end of life and in theory and this is how people operate they they operate out of a love for money because they uh,

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Because they do not sufficiently fear god But if he has provided everything you need in the covenant He has provided even eternal life having raised up the great shepherd of sheep and us with him

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There's no need for fear God has given us an eternal covenant. He has equipped us by the blood of an eternal covenant to do his will

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With everything good to do his will he is the god of peace He has taken away all his wrath or that you may be at peace with him and have everything good to do his will amen

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Dear heavenly father We thank you for this Eternal covenant we pray that you would deepen our understanding of it

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We ask that we would uh, not be ill -equipped by our own negligence in studying your word that we would not be

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That we would uh, we pray that we would benefit from these promises fully We ask that we would understand the nature of our salvation.

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We confess that we are a frail people who are in need of uh such things and so we ask that you would you would

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Reveal these things to us. That's just having a full understanding Having many anchors to hold ourselves to the to the truth in jesus name.