Knowing God; Understanding God's works through History (2)

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Good morning,
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First Baptist Church. Our scripture reading this morning is Galatians chapter 4, verses 21 through 31.
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Galatians 4, 21 to 31. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
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For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.
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But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise which things are symbolic.
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For these are two covenants, the one for Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is
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Hagar, for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children.
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But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
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For it is written, rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear, break forth and shout, you who are not in labor.
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For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise, but as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, even so it is now.
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Nevertheless, what does the scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
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So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Let's pray.
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Our heavenly father, we thank you so much for the word of God. We thank you so much for the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus.
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We thank you for the spirit of God which resides within us, who convicts us of our sin, who teaches us your truths.
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And, Lord, we thank you for the church. And even though we can't be gathered together, Lord, we're thankful for the blessing that it is to be a part of one another, to be a part of the body of Christ.
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We pray, Lord, that you would grow our church in the midst of our separation from each other. Grow us in the knowledge of your will.
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Grow us in the knowledge of your word. Grow us in the knowledge of your character and your works and the gospel.
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We pray, Lord, that we would spend a lot of time with you in prayer, a lot of time in your word, a lot of time in meditation reflecting upon these wonderful truths.
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And Lord, as we discuss a somewhat difficult topic today, we pray that we would be mindful of its importance.
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Help us, Lord, to understand these things. Help us to apply them. Help us to live them out.
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Lord, we just thank you for this time together. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, good morning.
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We will continue to address today our subject that we began to address last
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Lord's Day. And what we then sought to show and demonstrate is that God has revealed himself to his people through history, whereby they might know more fully what he is doing and why he is doing what he is doing in history.
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And so this is one of two ways that our God has chosen to manifest himself to us.
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We spoke of this last week. First, God reveals who he is to us through our coming to understand his attributes, what he is like.
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His attributes is displayed in his creation and in his word. And so in this way, we come to know what
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God is like. But secondly, God reveals himself through his actions, what he has done and is doing in history.
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This is by what he does. Not only do we know him by what he's like, by what he does as well.
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We underscored last week that God's self -disclosure is always through his full and final complete inerrant word as it's applied and understood through the course of history.
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Through history, however, God has revealed his word more clearly and more fully to his people.
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And he's done this by raising up godly men through history, men mighty in the scriptures who confronted errant, even heretical teaching that had troubled the churches.
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And in their exposure and correction of error, these godly men clarified and declared the truth of God's word and the way our
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God works in history. Now last Lord's Day, we considered the passage of Romans 5, 12 through 21, and how it has been employed through history to reveal and expound biblical doctrines.
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These doctrines had not been formally stated clearly or forthrightly until these words of scripture were applied to error that arose in church history.
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And so we showed how the doctrine of original sin was first set forward in the second century by Irenaeus and more fully early in the fifth century by Augustine.
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Whereas Irenaeus was addressing the error of Gnosticism, Augustine was refuting the errant views of free will of Pelagius or Pelagianism.
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But this same passage of Romans 5, 12 through 21 was also called upon frequently by the early
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Protestant reformers in the 1600s. In their refutation of the errors of Roman Catholicism, they sought to refute and correct the errors of Rome.
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And so one of the leading doctrines of reformed teaching, of Protestant teaching, was that of total depravity, which was argued from Romans 5, the passage we considered.
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But in addition, this passage of Romans 5, 12 through 21 also taught the reformed biblical principles of solus
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Christus, that salvation is through Christ alone, and the doctrine of sola gratia, that salvation is through God's grace alone, and sola fide, which speaks of our justification by God's grace through faith alone.
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And so again, this passage informed Christians later on in church history of what
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God is like and how he works among people within his world. And then toward the end of last
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Lord's Day message, we showed that the English Puritans of the 17th century drew upon this passage of Romans 5, verse 12 and following, as well as many others, in order to articulate what reformed
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Christians, in other words, Protestant Christians, have called covenant theology.
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And we only began to introduce this subject last Lord's Day, but we'll continue to address it today.
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Now, this is a difficult subject, and we want to warn you ahead of time that if you're to understand and benefit from what we say today, you're going to have to give attention to it and ponder these things carefully and prayerfully.
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We would acknowledge it is a difficult subject, but it is a very important subject, as we will argue.
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But instead of employing the same passage of Romans 5, verse 12 and following, rather we want to consider, or we will be considering Galatians 4, the passage that Pastor Jason just read for us,
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Galatians 4, 21 through 31, in which Paul set forth two covenants as exemplified, symbolized by Hagar and her son
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Ishmael and by Sarah and her son Isaac. Now, I want to read the passage again and give a few words of explanation before we move on to begin to address this matter of covenant theology.
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So let's consider the two covenants that are identified and described in Galatians 4, 21 through 31.
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The Apostle Paul is reasoning with these churches in Galatia, tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
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And here he's referring to the books of Moses, the Torah, as the law.
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And then he cites, of course, Genesis and God's dealings with Abraham and Abraham's handmaiden or Sarah's handmaiden,
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Hagar, as well as Sarah herself. For it's written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, that would be
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Hagar, the other by a free woman, that would be Sarah. But he who is of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, that was
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Ishmael. And he, the free woman, through promise, Isaac, was the promised son that God had promised to Abraham.
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And then Paul declares these things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, that would be the
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Mosaic covenant when God gave the Ten Commandments through Moses, and this covenant gives birth to bondage, which is
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Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to Jerusalem, that is earthly Jerusalem, Judaism, in other words, which now is and is in bondage with her children.
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But the Jerusalem above, this would be the heavenly Zion, is free, which is the mother of us all, in other words,
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Christians. And Paul is including himself here as a Jewish believer, along with Gentile believers, many, in fact, maybe most of the
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Christians in these churches of Galatia were Gentile Christians. And then he cited the
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Old Testament, Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear, now this would have been a reference to Sarah, it's prophetic,
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Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear, break forth and shout, you who are not in labor, for the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.
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In other words, the promise was to Sarah, even though she hadn't had children up to this point, she would have many more children than Hagar would have.
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Now in verse 28, Paul begins to draw the conclusion and the implications.
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Now we brethren, that is Christians, as Isaac was our children of promise.
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In other words, if you're a Christian, you're one of the elect, you're one of the ones that God has promised to give to Jesus Christ to redeem.
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You're one of the elect, you're a child of promise, just as Isaac was a child of promise. But as he who was born according to the flesh, that would have been
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Ishmael, who was 12 years older than Isaac, then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, that would have been
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Isaac, born of Sarah, even so it is now. In other words, the apostle was saying, just as it was back then,
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Ishmael persecuting Isaac, so even now there are certain
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Jewish persons that are troubling you as Christians. You ones who are likened unto
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Isaac, you've got your Ishmaels that are troubling you today, even so it is now.
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Nevertheless, what does the scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son. And by implication, what
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Paul is arguing is that you cannot continue in legalism and be true to the grace of God that's in Jesus Christ.
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Cast out the bondwoman and her son. For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.
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You cannot co -mix law and grace, they are separate. You cannot mix the two, a covenant of works according to the law and a covenant of grace that was likened unto
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Isaac being the child of promise. So then brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
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And so Isaac as a promised son of Abraham is compared and shown forth to show forth us as Christians who are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
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And so the apostle Paul was correcting doctrinal error that had been taught and embraced by the churches in the region of Galatia, which is modern day central
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Turkey. Paul had originally founded these churches through the preaching of the gospel that he had conducted in one of his earlier missionary journeys to that region.
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He taught them, of course, they could be saved from their sin through the gospel, that is through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
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They could be saved through faith in Christ alone because of who Christ is and because of what
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Christ did through his life and his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his enthronement as Lord in heaven.
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But after Paul had begun these churches and left that region, false Jewish teachers who also claimed to be
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Christian taught Paul's converts that they were not saved through faith in Christ alone, but through faith in Christ plus through keeping the law of Moses in order to earn
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God's forgiveness of sins and to gain eternal life. And Paul repudiated these false teachers and their teaching.
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He declared that their departure from the gospel was damnable. He opened up his epistle in Galatians 1 with that declaration.
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And so here in Galatians 4, the apostle wrote of two specific covenants.
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The one brought condemnation through Moses. The other brings salvation to believers through Jesus Christ.
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He called upon both Sarah and Hagar, who bore sons to Abraham to illustrate these two covenants.
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Ishmael was the son of Hagar, the bondwoman. Isaac was the promised son of Sarah, the free woman.
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And Paul declared that these two women and their two sons represented two different covenants, even two different kinds of covenants, the covenant of works and the covenant of grace.
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Ishmael was born through Abraham's fleshly effort, that is through Abraham's works, hoping to gain the blessing of God through him, through the birth of Ishmael.
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Isaac was born due to God's supernatural grace, through faith in God, who had promised Abraham a son through Sarah.
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And so here we have two covenants set side by side and over against one another.
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They're opposed to one another and they cannot co -mingle, they cannot mix.
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Having laid this foundation, later we'll consider the implications of this passage as we address the matter of the
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Puritans in the 17th century and the problems that they were seeking to address in which they dealt with this matter of covenant theology.
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And so what were the errors that the Puritans were addressing? What was their great concern?
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Just like Irenaeus had his concern with the Gnostics, Augustine had his concern with Pelagius, the early
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Protestant reformers had their concerns with the heresy of Roman Catholicism. What errors were the
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Puritans addressing? Well they were two major ones. One they were dealing with the matter of the state church in which they were existing there in England and they were also having to address the matter of baptism as a saving ordinance.
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In other words, it was commonly believed that baptism brought about salvation and so the
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Puritans sought to address these two matters clearly and fully. Again we spoke how
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God through history has used error of some in order to raise up godly men to refute and correct that error, resulting in newly discovered and broader understanding of true biblical doctrine.
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So what was it that the English Puritans were addressing? Again there were a number of issues, but the two primary matters included first, the identification and nature of the true church of Jesus Christ.
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This is an important matter. And secondly, the biblical teaching and practice of Christian baptism and how it relates to salvation.
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And the way they addressed these matters was this development and understanding of covenant theology as set forth in the
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Holy Scriptures. Now England at the beginning of the 17th century had a state church, the
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Church of England. This state church had become independent from the Pope and Roman Catholicism in the act of 1532.
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The Church of England then became Protestant, but really Protestant in name only.
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It continued to hold to the faith and practice of Rome, but declared itself a separate
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Protestant church. And during the following decades, the Puritans rose within the
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Church of England in their efforts to correct false doctrine and conform the practice of the church to the
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Bible. The Church of England regarded every citizen within its realm a member of the true church of Jesus Christ.
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All citizens and their infants were required to be baptized, in which sprinkling was the mode of baptism.
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Baptism had been regarded as a saving sacrament. Both the Church of England and Roman Catholicism taught their people that they, along with their infants, were born again or regenerated through the baptism performed by the church.
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The Puritans rejected the concept of a state church in which all citizens were members, and they rejected the idea that baptism, including infant baptism, secured salvation.
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And it was from the study of the Holy Scriptures that the Puritans articulated their understanding of covenant theology that corrected these errors and proclaimed biblical truth.
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The Puritans recovered the truth of the Bible that only those who are in relationship with God and the covenant of grace in Jesus Christ were saved from their sin.
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They further taught that it was through the biblical teachings of a covenant relationship with God that the entire purpose of God in history could be properly understood, that a proper understanding of the covenants was the key to understand rightly and comprehensively the teaching of the entire
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Bible. Now, we hold to covenant theology, and that's basically what
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Reformed theology is, strictly speaking. Of course, most Bible believers today do not hold to covenant theology, but rather they hold to dispensational theology.
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And I had originally hoped to be able to address that, but there's just not time to do so today.
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But covenant theology, we would argue, is the better way or means to interpret the
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Bible, not dispensations. Perhaps we'll address that on a future occasion.
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Now let's consider the essence of covenant theology. We who are Reformed, that is historically
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Protestant, hold to covenant theology. And this is the belief that the Holy Scriptures teach that a relationship with God and his creatures can only be obtained and enjoyed by God's willingness to condescend, to enter and maintain a relationship with his people.
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And our own Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 states this. We quoted this last week.
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It would do us well to do it, to read it again this morning. The distance between God and the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience to him as their creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of life but by some voluntary condescension on God's part.
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In other words, God has to come down to us because we can't go up to him, which he hath but pleased to express by way of covenant.
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And so all of God's relationships with people are through the means or on the basis of a covenant relationship that he establishes with them.
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In short, therefore, covenant theology is the interpretive framework for understanding the entire story of the
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Bible. It describes the manner in which God has dealt with people in history.
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Now let's break this down a little bit. More precisely, what is meant by the term covenant?
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What is a covenant? And here is a good definition actually put forth by a
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Reformed Baptist back in the 17th century, Nehemiah Cox. A covenant is a declaration of God's sovereign pleasure concerning the benefits he will bestow on man, the communion they will have with him, and the way and the means by which this will be enjoyed by them.
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That's what a covenant is. What is meant by the expression the way and means in this definition?
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Well it speaks of what is required by God through which they may, mankind may receive and enjoy
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God's benefits promised in the covenant. It is common, therefore, to speak of covenant sanctions, their responsibilities within a covenant relationship with God.
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These include obligations and promises of the parties, obligations and promises that God commits himself to, obligations and promises that people commit themselves to that enter covenant relationship with God.
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And so it's been said that covenant sanctions are threats that enforce and ensure the fulfillment of the covenant, covenantal commitments.
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Now in the establishment of covenants between God and people set forth in the Bible, the covenant is of such inestimable value and the relationship is of such a superlative nature that the death of a covenanter is pledged.
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That's why when a covenant was made, a sacrifice was offered. Covenants are ratified with blood, either through the death of the covenanter or a sacrificial animal that represents the covenanter.
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As one once wrote, in the context of making a covenant, the covenanter is not sacrificed.
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He doesn't have to die to enter this relationship, but we are told that the death of the covenanter must be brought forward as evidence or pledged.
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The idea that is to make a covenant, one must swear an oath that guarantees participation and fulfillment of the covenantal commitments.
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In this sense, the idea of bringing forward as evidence remains true, but it's not the actual death of the covenanter, but the potential death of the covenanter that is brought forward as evidence in a covenantal transaction.
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This aligns with, and then they use the Greek word for covenant, diatheke, being used in the
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Old Testament to describe covenants between living parties, not dead ones. The translation, and he's referring to Hebrews 9, 16 here, the translation therefore should be for where there is a covenant, the death of the covenanter must be pledged.
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And that's what would occur when a covenant was established. Even when
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God established a covenant with Abraham, we'll see, God himself passed through and in front of Abraham between sacrifices.
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Basically, God was pledging himself, he was putting his own name on the line that he would sooner perish or die than fail to carry forth and fulfill his commitment to Abraham.
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Covenants involve both precepts and promises, that is, both stipulations and consequent promises.
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And depending on the nature of the precepts of a covenant and the basis on which the promises are received, covenants will vary in nature.
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And this is where we get into the idea of the two different kinds of covenants.
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And here's a quotation that states it, and this is very important. A covenant that suspends the enjoyment of its blessing on obedience, in other words, obedience is put forth as a condition in order to receive the covenantal promise, is of a different character than a covenant that freely distributes its blessing.
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A covenant based materially on a commitment of obedience to a command is a covenant of works.
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In other words, in order to receive this blessing from God, you have to do something, attain something, become something, and only as a result of doing so,
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God will bless you. That is a covenant of works by definition. A covenant based materially on a commitment of promise is a covenant of grace.
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In other words, God promises it, but there are no conditions in order to receive that promise.
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This is a very important distinction. Let's consider in more detail the difference between a covenant of works and the covenant of grace.
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Those who hold the covenant theology understand that the Holy Scriptures teach that God entered a relationship with all humanity through Adam, and this was a covenant of works.
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We're talking about God's relationship with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The essence of this covenant is stated in Genesis 2, verses 8 and 9, as well as verses 15 through 17.
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The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed, and out of the ground the
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Lord God made every tree grow, that it's pleasant to the sight, good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
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Many trees, two trees of special importance. And then the
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Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the
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Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
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God had promised Adam that he would serve as his prophet, his priest, and his king over his creation, if he would but continue in submission and obedience to his creator.
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But of course Adam fell into sin, losing all that he had, and all that the human race could have had, had he but remained faithful and obedient to God.
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And although the details in these few verses are rather brief and general, it was that it was a covenant of works is very clear.
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God covenanted with Adam so that he would be able to dwell in this garden paradise and enjoy all its benefits perpetually, that is eternally, conditioned on his obedience to God's command.
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Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
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Two trees stood forth as most significant in the garden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
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One was a pledge of everlasting life, the tree of life. The other was the promise of death, exclusion from life from God and before God.
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And the condition and state of blessing and dwelling in God's garden was contingent on Adam's obedience to God's law, which here was a command of prohibition.
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Adam's ongoing covenant relationship with God, which would have continued in eternity, was based on Adam's obedience, based on him keeping his work of obedience to God.
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This is by definition a covenant of works. Here's a good description of a relationship with God according to the covenant of works.
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In a covenant of works you must earn the reward, you get out what you put in, you reap what you sow, obey and be blessed, disobey and be cursed.
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The idea of merit or earning though is relative in the sense that God dictates the terms of what the obedience rendered will be as well as what the blessing rewarded will be.
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Apart from God making rewards available through covenantal obedience, the creature would never claim recompense from God because the creature can never place the creator in its debt.
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And therefore if God says do this and receive that, then such is the agreement. God is free to dictate the conditions and rewards as he sees fit according to his own wisdom and justice.
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And once God has established a work reward relationship, the blessing can be claimed according to justice.
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In a covenant of works your obedience rightly earns the blessing. Adam broke the covenant of works when he disobeyed
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God's law and he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the result was that he brought
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God's condemnation upon the entire human race that he represented. Even after Adam's fall into sin of course the covenant of works continued in force on all people everywhere.
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You and I born into this world are born under that covenant of works which demands complete perpetual perfect obedience to God's law.
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But upon Adam's fall eternal life could no longer be attained by fallen man's obedience to God's law for he was subject to eternal damnation due to Adam's sin.
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And this was underscored in our consideration of the passage last week, Romans 5, 12 through 21.
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The covenant of works. Thankfully however, God promised redemption from the covenant of works under which
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God had cursed mankind. And so he promised to save sinners through the covenant of grace.
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The covenant of grace is very different in nature than the covenant of works. In the covenant of works,
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God first gives his law, which if followed by obedience, that would be works, is then rewarded with his blessing.
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Law, obedience, then blessing. But when God relates to people based on the covenant of grace,
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God first gives his promise, which is not conditioned on works. It's the bare promise of God.
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And then his promise is received through faith. You embrace it as such, which is then followed by the grateful response of those who have received blessing.
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That's where the works come into play. It's out of grateful response, it's out of love for what
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God has promised to do through his grace. As one described it, so in a covenant of works, when obedience has been rendered, blessings promised are enjoyed.
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Conversely, in a covenant of grace, after promises have been received, laws are introduced.
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This difference has been summarized often as Edward Fisher in his marrow of modern divinity as a classic work from the early 17th century.
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And Edward Fisher in his marrow of modern divinity contrasted this, do this and live.
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That's the covenant of works. With live and do this. That's a covenant of grace.
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God first promised the covenant of grace by which you would save his people from their sin in Genesis 3 .15.
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It was God's pronounced judgment upon the serpent for its part in leading mankind into sin that God first promised a coming deliverer from sin.
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Through sin, Adam had lost God's blessing. He was no longer God's prophet, priest, and king.
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He no longer reigned with God on behalf of God in paradise, the garden of Eden.
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But by yielding to the temptation of the serpent, Adam had rebelled against God. Adam gave over his kingdom to the devil, whom
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Adam and his entire race now became enslaved. The kingdom of Satan had ascended over man.
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And all mankind would thereafter labor with hardship, the earth itself resisting him. Man would suffer the injustice from the others, even as he perpetuated injustice upon others.
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He would endure a difficult life of pain and sorrow until the day he returned to the dust from which he had come.
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But here at the beginning in Genesis 3, immediately after the fall of Adam into sin, in his pronouncement of judgment upon the serpent, we have the first word of the gospel in the
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Holy Bible. And this is why Genesis 3 .15 is commonly referred to as the
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Proto -Evangelium. In other words, the first gospel.
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And so how does Genesis 3 .15 read? God declared to the serpent, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.
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Now you notice in our translation, that second seed is capitalized. That's a reference to Jesus Christ.
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Ultimately, he shall bruise your head. In other words, the seed of the woman is going to depose the devil, remove him from authority.
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Yet you shall bruise his heel. Speaking, of course, of the devil's involvement in having
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Jesus crucified upon the cross. And so God made this promise to his people through his pronouncement of judgment upon the serpent.
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He would save his people unto himself, delivering them from under the authority of the devil, who will have made their life difficult and miserable.
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God would call forth a people who would be opposed to the devil and he toward them. And then one day he would cause the seed of the woman, which we know to be
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Jesus Christ, to strip the devil of his authority that he had gained over a fallen man. God declared to the serpent that the seed would bruise your head, even as the devil would bruise the heel of his seed.
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Again, foretelling the death of Jesus Christ upon his cross. And so here is the first word in scripture of the salvation that God proposed to bring to his people.
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And it reflects that this work of salvation is a manifestation of the covenant of grace that God makes with his people.
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The promise of God was not conditioned on man's obedience. It was a commitment that God was making out of pure grace.
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He was declaring what he would do, not conditioned on what you do. This is what he would do.
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There were no conditions to be met in this covenant as there were with Adam in the first covenant.
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It was the promise of a relationship with his people. It would be a covenant of grace.
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And so here in the first few chapters of Genesis, the ways of God with mankind are set forth.
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God would relate to fallen mankind based on a covenant of works unless and until God intervened in saving them by means of the covenant of grace.
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Here, God declared what he would accomplish through history. He would save his people from their sin by sending them a deliverer, a king who would rescue and deliver them from the kingdom of Satan into his own everlasting kingdom.
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Now, again, we have suggested that an understanding of this matter of covenant theology is the key to understanding the scriptures.
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And so let's consider now the covenant of works and the covenant of grace through history, through biblical history principally.
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Again, it's in this way the entire unfolding story of the Bible can be best understood. Those who hold the covenant theology believe that the
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Lord deals with mankind according to the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. This is the theological key to understanding the history of redemption, which is the unfolding story of the
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Bible. Now, the Puritans knew, of course, that the
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Bible reveals a number of different covenants that God made with various individuals and peoples down through history.
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These include the covenants God made with Noah after the flood, with Abraham, with Israel through Moses, with King David and his son, and the new covenant which
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Jesus established through his death, which had been foretold by the prophets. There are many covenants described and set forth in the scriptures.
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But the English Puritans knew, they understood that each of these divine covenants could be classified as either a covenant of works or a covenant of grace or a combination of the two, we would argue.
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And this is at the heart of what it is to be reformed, to hold and espouse covenant theology.
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Now, this understanding and acceptance of covenant theology was developed and articulated by the
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English Puritans of the 17th century. What they had set forth was the teaching of scripture in a manner that had not been previously seen or understood with clarity.
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Now, please understand, it's not though earlier Christians did not think in general about these things, they did.
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The essential nature of the covenants was taught and proclaimed by the early church, fathers, as well as the Protestant reformers like Calvin and Luther.
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But the understanding of covenant theology was not set forth in the clarity of expression and comprehensive understanding until God revealed biblical truth to the
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Puritans in the 17th century, both in England as well as here in New England. However, and this is important, not all who espouse covenant theology agree on how the various covenants of scripture should be understood or assessed or labeled.
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They differ on how each of the covenants should be understood as either a manifestation of the covenant of works or the covenant of grace.
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And this is where we as Reformed Baptists have differed from our Paedo -Baptist brothers.
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Paedo -Baptists are those who baptize babies of believers through their mode of baptism sprinkling.
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This is what has resulted in significant differences in our understanding of both baptism as well as its subjects and the nature of the local church of Jesus Christ.
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Our different understanding as to the covenants in scripture as to whether or not it's a covenant of works or a covenant of grace.
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And so let's consider now the differences between Reformed Paedo -Baptists and Reformed Baptists' understanding of the covenants.
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Paedo -Baptists believe that not only are believers in the covenant of grace, but so are their children if at least one parent is a believer.
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On this belief, infants and children of believers are baptized by the mode of sprinkling. All who are baptized, whether believers or their children, are within the covenant of grace, it's argued.
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Reformed Baptists, however, believe that only true believers are in the covenant of grace before God.
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Only true believers, that is disciples, are therefore to be baptized in that by immersion.
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Now although my closest friends in the ministry are Paedo -Baptists and my favorite writers and Christian leaders in history are
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Paedo -Baptists, we disagree with their understanding of interpreting the covenants that are recorded in the
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Bible. So let's consider the differences between a Paedo -Baptist understanding and a
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Reformed Baptist understanding of the covenants. And so the Paedo -Baptist understanding of the covenants of works and of grace in the covenants of scripture.
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Paedo -Baptists believe that God instituted and inaugurated the covenant of grace in Genesis 315.
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It began then and it was put in force then and has continued throughout all history.
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And so they argue that God has dealt with his people through history as he has administered the covenant of grace to his people.
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They believe that all of God's covenants that God has made through biblical history were different administrations of the one covenant of grace.
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And this has resulted in their understanding of the nature of the local church and in their practice of infant baptism by sprinkling.
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Much of their reasoning is due to their understanding that God had enacted and maintained the covenant of grace with Abraham and with his physical descendants.
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It is argued that God in his grace had called forth Abraham from his life of idolatry into favor with himself and then
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God promised Abraham unconditionally his covenant to him and his physical descendants.
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God did not reveal to Abraham in the beginning the full nature and implications of his covenant with him of course it was over the course of time and you actually have to take different passages in Genesis read them together in order to understand the nature of this covenant that God established with Abraham.
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As one wrote the grand promises of the Abrahamic covenant as originally given to the patriarch are recorded in Genesis 12.
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The covenant itself was solemnly ratified by sacrifice thus making it inviolable in Genesis 15.
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The seal and sign of the covenant circumcision is brought before us in Genesis 17 and the covenant was confirmed forward in a divine oath in Genesis 22 which provided a ground of strong consolation which of course belongs to the
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Christian according to Hebrew 6. Now here are the passages now we're limited on time.
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And I hope that these are familiar passages to to us but let's let's just look at them quickly.
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The first initial of course contact was Genesis 12 God coming to Abraham.
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He was called Abram at first the Lord said to Abram get out of your country from your family from your father's house to a land
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I will show you I will make you a great nation I'll bless you make your name great you should be a blessing I'll bless those who bless you
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I will curse him who curses you and in you all the families of the earth meaning
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Gentile nations too shall be blessed. Well Abraham finally did make it of course to Canaan and it was there that God promised
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Abraham in Genesis 15. And here the first use of the word covenant is brought into view and it's just a fuller explanation delineation of what he had began to promise
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Abraham back in Genesis 12. After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying do not be afraid
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Abram I am your shield your exceedingly great reward. Abraham said Lord God what will you give me seeing
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I go childless and the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus his head steward he was still childless.
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And Abraham said look you've given me no offspring indeed one born in my house is my heir. And behold the word of the
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Lord came to him saying this one shall not be your heir but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.
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And then he brought him outside and said look now toward heaven count the stars if you're able to number them and he said to him so shall your descendants be.
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And he believed in the Lord and he God accounted it to him for righteousness
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Abraham was justified through faith alone. And then
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God said to him I am the Lord who brought you out of the earth of the colonies to give you this land to inherit it and he said
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Lord God how shall I know that I will inherit it. And he said to me and here's the sacrifice here is the formal covenantal inauguration inauguration bring me a three -year -old heifer a three -year -old female goat a three -year -old ram a turtle dove and a young pigeon.
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And then he brought all these to him and cut them in two down the middle place each piece opposite the other but he did not cut the birds in two and when the vultures came down on the carcasses
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Abraham drove them away and now when the sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abraham and behold horror and great darkness fell upon him and then he said to Abraham no certainly that your descendants will be strangers in the land that is not theirs referred to Egypt and I'll and we'll serve them and they will afflict them 400 years and also the nation whom they serve
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I will judge afterward they will come out with great possessions now as for you you shall go to your fathers in peace you should be buried in a good old age but in the fourth generation they'll return here for the iniquity the
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Amorites is not yet complete. And then it came to pass when the sun went down and it was dark they behold there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that was a manifestation of the glory of God the presence of God that passed between those pieces on the same day the
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Lord made a covenant with Abraham or Abram he cut that covenant he committed himself through those sacrifices may
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I perish may I cease to exist if I fail to carry forth my promise to you
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Abram to your descendants I have given this land and the river of Egypt the great river
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Euphrates and then he lists a number of the people over which Abraham and his descendants would ascend and then the last major passage it will consider is
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Genesis 17 and here the practice of circumcision was inaugurated
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Genesis 17 1 through 14 when Abram was 99 years old the
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Lord appeared to Abram and said to him I am almighty God walk before me and be blameless and I will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly then
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Abram fell on his face God talked with him saying as for me behold my covenant is with you you should be a father of many nations
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Gentiles no longer shall your name be called Abram but your name should be called Abraham for I've made you a father of many nations
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I will make you exceedingly fruitful I will make nations of you kings shall come from you
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I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be
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God to you and your descendants after you and also I will give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession and I will be their
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God and God said to Abraham as for you you should keep my covenant you and your descendants after you through your their generations this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you every male child every male child among you should be circumcised and you should be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you he who is eight days old among you should be circumcised every male child in your generations he who is born in your house or brought with money with any foreigner who is not your descendant he was born in your house he was bought with your money must be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant and the uncircumcised male child who's not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin that person should be cut off from his people he's broken my covenant.
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Now our reformed paedo -baptist friends Presbyterians reformed
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Congregationalists of the 17th century did not believe that infant baptism imparts salvation they corrected that they repudiated the teaching of the church of England and Rome and so they rightly distanced themselves and corrected that false teaching according to the bible but they still did and do view circumcision as a covenant sign that signifies membership in the external covenant community which they claim to have been the covenant of grace circumcision according to paedo -baptists was a sign of the covenant of grace that God made with Abraham.
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They also believed that the Mosaic covenant was a manifestation of God's covenant of grace but it was administered in a different way and so they believed the covenant made with King David was a covenant of grace they would argue that all of the covenants of scripture were simply different administrations of the covenant of grace that God had established back in Genesis 3 15 and then of course they rightly teach the new covenant that Jesus Christ instituted was the covenant of grace.
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Now listen to this because they believe the Abrahamic covenant with Abraham's physical descendants was the administration of the covenant of grace and that covenant membership was extended to the physical descendants of Abraham that under the administration of the new covenant in this new testament age the physical children of believers should also be regarded as covenant children who although they may not have salvation are nevertheless externally in the covenant of grace as such these children are baptized as infants if at least one parent is a believer because the child of that believer is included in the covenant they would argue they argue the new covenant infant baptism of children of believers is the same nature of the same nature and practice of circumcising male children of parents who are visceral and so the result of this is that our pato baptist friends do not believe that a new testament local church should be comprised only of true disciples of Jesus Christ they believe the local church can be a mixed group of converted and unconverted people but all are regarded to be external members in the new covenant well reformed baptists differ from this and this is where we distinguish ourselves how do reformed baptists understand the covenants of works and grace and the covenants of scripture in contrast to our pato baptist friends reformed baptists have had a significantly different understanding of the covenants of scripture the chief distinction is this we understand the covenant of grace although promised repeatedly through the old testament scriptures was not enacted by God until Jesus Christ died upon his cross to pay for our sins the covenant of grace was not administered during the time of the old testament but was promised throughout each of the covenants of the old testament pointed to the coming of the covenant of grace in Christ but none of the old testament covenants administered the new covenant or the covenant of grace to its people the new testament speaks of the new covenant being enacted by Christ which had long been promised in the old testament and our lord declared the night he was betrayed this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you and although all who have ever been saved throughout all of history were saved due to the covenant of grace that covenant which is declared to be new in distinction to the old covenant was only in the form of God's promise during times of the old testament and true believers like Abraham believed in that future coming covenant of grace that would be sent and provided through the messiah and so how do reformed baptists understand old testament covenants well let's first consider the
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Abrahamic covenant we understand the scriptures to teach that God made his covenant with Abraham with regard to both his physical descendants but also his spiritual descendants but the manner in which he related with the physical descendants of Abraham was a covenant of works remember the nature of a covenant of works in a covenant of works one must obey
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God's law in order to receive God's blessing and God made it quite clear that his relationship with Abraham's physical descendants was the law of circumcision they had to be circumcised in order to enter this covenant with God it was a covenant of works
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God declared that to Abraham and we read that in Genesis 17 but God also made promise of his salvation with Abraham's spiritual seed
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God made provision for Abraham and his spiritual descendants in the promise of the covenant of grace that was to be received through faith in Jesus Christ and this is what the apostle
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Paul was declaring in Galatians chapter 4 he declared the promise of the covenant of grace was with Abraham's seed singular meaning with Abraham's seed
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Jesus Christ God's promise of the covenant of grace was not to Abraham's physical descendants his seeds that's what
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Paul argues it's declared in Galatians 3 16 now the promises were made to Abraham to his offspring he does not say into offsprings that is his physical descendants referring to many but referring to one and to your offspring who is
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Christ and so reformed baptists had believed God's covenant with Abraham's physical descendants was a covenant of works but God's covenant he promised
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Abraham and his seed Christ was the promised covenant of grace when God made a covenant of works with Abraham and his physical descendants he had bound them to keep his law as as a condition to receive his blessing and this was hinted at in God's statement regarding Abraham in Genesis 18 19
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I've chosen Abraham that he may command his children his household after him to keep the way of the
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Lord by doing righteous and justice so that in other words as a result of Abraham's faithfulness and teaching his children to obey as a result the
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Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him that's a covenant of works when
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God had commanded Abraham to circumcise all the males that were in this covenant he was committing them to keep the whole law of God which would later be revealed in fullness through Moses Paul declared to the
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Galatians I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision he's obligated to keep the whole law every son of Abraham or slave or person purchased by the
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Israelites that was circumcised they were under obligation to embrace and keep the law of Moses as a covenant of works when it was later given to Israel 400 years later and so if we had time and we don't we have to close we could go back to that passage in Galatians 4 the two covenants now there are paedo -baptist friends and dispensational friends argue that the covenant with Abraham it was entirely a covenant of grace
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Paul says no no Abraham had two sons and in these two sons with Hagar and Sarah the mothers you have the two covenants the two covenants were side by side even in Abraham's own experience and so the covenant of grace is illustrated by Abraham's promised son
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Isaac simply being physically born to Abraham did not enable Ishmael to be in the covenant of grace one must be a child of promises
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Isaac and be Paul declared that not only he but all Gentile believers to whom he was writing were all born according to the
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Spirit they were children of promise and so Paul could declare we brethren as Isaac was our children of promise only those who have the faith of Abraham are the promised children of Abraham Jesus declared to the
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Pharisees I know your physical descendants of Abraham but you're of your father the devil just being born to Abraham doesn't put you into the covenant of grace and we would argue to our paedo -baptist friends just because you have a son or daughter born into your family because you're a
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Christian parent doesn't make them a covenant child they're under the covenant of works until they are converted to Christ or they show forth evidence that they have been born from above by the
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Holy Spirit and so we differ from our paedo -baptist friends who say the Mosaic Covenant was a different administration of the covenant of grace it was clearly a covenant of works that God made with the physical descendants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and so God promised blessing to Israel if they obeyed the law but he promised judgment upon their disobedience he would cast them out of the land if they failed or refused to keep his law that is a covenant of works and so herein is the main distinction and difference between friends and I do sincerely say that friends between our reformed paedo -baptist brethren and we who are reformed
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Baptists we all agree and believe in the importance and centrality of covenant theology to interpret the
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Bible but our understanding and application of these covenants is quite different and therefore we would argue that simply being born physically to a
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Christian parent does not put you within the covenant of grace but rather you're under the covenant of works born that way in Adam until rescued and delivered through the grace it is in Jesus Christ the covenant of grace reformed
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Baptist emphasized the importance of interpreting the Old Testament typologically types in the
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Old Testament that set forth or picture the anti type the reality in the
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New Testament and so the Old Testament is filled with types that foreshadow and portend the anti types declared in the
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New Testament the Old Testament can end symbols that represent what is true in the
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New Testament that's what we have in Galatians 4 these two are symbolic the Old Testament contains physical events that are examples to understand spiritual truths under the
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New Testament and the Old Testament is filled with shadows that foretell the arrival of their realities under the
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New Testament the covenant of grace was promised in the Old Testament and those like Abraham who believed
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God in those promises looking forward to that city whose builder maker was God looking forward to the day when the
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Messiah would come and take away their sin they were saved by the covenant of grace but it was not enacted inaugurated in history until Christ the night is betrayed said take this cup and drink it in this cup is the new covenant in my blood this has significant implications for our understanding of the local church who should be admitted to membership who should be baptized only those that give evidence that they truly know salvation through Jesus Christ let's pray father this is a very difficult matter we understand we pray that you give us better clarity of understanding of importance
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Lord and the details of understanding your word we thank you our
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God for the revelation of yourself through history as you've made known your word more clearly and fully and we just pray our
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God that we would be faithful stewards of all that you've revealed and help us our
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God to be faithful to you in our day as we live for Christ in our new covenant community in this