1689 LBCF Chapter 7 "Of the Covenant" (Bible Study)

The Vastness of God’s Word and the Covenant Study

It's like, that's way more than two. Well, I'm going to set this bad boy right here.

Most definitely.

Whoa, bud.

Shepard, hey, go back with mama now, okay?

Yeah.

It might get crazy, guys.

Just in case. It was only on one side.

It's all good. It's all good. Oh, it did?

All right.

Never mind.

It's all gone.

It's all ruined.

Well, we'll go ahead and get started with the word of prayer.

Does anybody want to volunteer to pray us in for the evening? I don't see any hands raised yet.

I will go ahead and pray us in.

How about that?

I volunteer.

Oh, he's crazy.

All right, let's pray.

Lord God, I thank you so much, Lord, for just the vastness that is your word, Lord. We thank you just so much that every time, Lord, it seems that we come with a cup, Lord, that is hard to be filled, that is overpouring with mercy and grace, Lord.

God, I ask tonight that, especially in light of what we are studying, Lord, that you would be glorified, you'd be recognized, that our theology would be conformed, shaped, driven, and taught by what your word has to say here for us tonight, Lord.

God, may you grant that our flesh would decrease and our humility would just flourish in recognizing tonight's text and this topic, Lord. God, I ask this in your mighty name, Jesus Christ, amen. Well, again, it is a huge blessing to see everyone here tonight.

We are going to be in chapter 7 of the 1689 for our topical Bible study for tonight. Chapter 7, which this chapter is God's covenant or of the covenant, depending on what confession we have in front of us, but it is of God's covenant, chapter 7.

This is, I think, personally, one of my most favorite topics to study is God's covenant, especially that of the covenant of grace, the new covenant. I think there was a good majority of us that were here when we were in the book of Hebrews, and we went through Hebrews chapter 8, chapter 9, chapter 10, chapter 11, all the way to the end of Hebrews, and it just kept on having that same new covenant language that we had in there.

So I feel like we're going to probably, most definitely, read some of Hebrews chapter 8 tonight, and maybe, hopefully, dive down a little bit deeper into some of the implications of what.

The covenant of grace are.

But all that being said, we're going to start out with paragraph 1 of the 1689, chapter 7. Would anybody like to volunteer to read that for us tonight?

Jonathan, please do. Thank you, Jonathan, I appreciate you.

I don't necessarily think we need to go and read a scriptural proof on this. Just to chat maybe a little bit through these things. What are some, maybe, of the things that when we read this paragraph, because what this is teaching us, or it's telling us, that the people that wrote this, all three of the confessions that we've talked about, the West Minister, the Savoy, and the 1689, what do you see in here in paragraph 1 that it's teaching us as a Christian, as a church, how they viewed what the Bible taught?

Even the animals obey Christ?

Okay.

Okay. Got you. Got you. I would probably say that that's probably most likely talking though rational creatures. I think it's probably humans rational, right? So, it's bringing up that image of God language in there.

Yeah. Yes.

Yeah. I appreciate you bring that one up, Patty.

So, there's three things that there's theologian that would argue that on every single page of the Bible, there should be three things that we should see in every text. That is, one, how great God is, and then two, how low man is.

In seeing that, you would see the chasm between the two, right? That God is infinitely out of reach for man. Man is so, so low. So, the third thing is obviously what Christ did in becoming like us, how you span that chasm there.

That's the three theological things that a lot of theologians would say, on every page of your Bible, seek those three things and it'll help you navigate even difficult texts in those ways. So, I appreciate you bringing that up.

So, that is definitely something that they're teaching in this, right? They're saying that here in paragraph one, it says, the distance between God and these creatures are so great, that they can never have attained the reward of life except by God's voluntary condescension.

What is that talking about, Jonathan? Voluntary condescension.

What do you think that means in that?

That's a good question. Very good question.

Mario, you got anything on that?

What do you think that means? Jake, you got something?

Yeah, I think so. I would say so. I think in particular, it's talking about through Christ and his incarnation, right? That's that voluntary condensation. So, let's go real fast. We'll look real quickly here at Philippians 2 on this topic.

Philippians chapter 2 teaches exactly what we're talking about right now. Philippians chapter 2, verse 5 and on. Prior to this text, it talks about how we should seek to model our lives after Christ as he's given us this example in life.

What it says here in verse 5, it says, have this way of thinking in yourself, which is also in Christ Jesus, who although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a slave, being made in the likeness of men.

Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God also highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

Every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So, what I ask you just to take note of in that, is it says in there that Jesus exists in the form of God. So, everything that God is, Jesus also has and is.

Then after that, it says that he exists in the form of a slave, of a bondservant, of a human. So, everything that we are, that makes us who we are,.

Christ also has, so that's the hypostatic union in there.

So, that's part of God's voluntary condescension that we just talked about in that paragraph. So, him becoming like us, is him being humbled in that sense, humility. But it didn't end there. It wasn't like he just became human and we worship him and he's still sitting on that wonderful throne that we set up there forever and ever on earth.

That didn't happen. We know how the story goes, the humility didn't stop at the incarnation. It went all the way down to where he was crucified on the cross. So, it's this ongoing humility. But even in that, one thing I would also like you to pay attention to, is at the end of paragraph one, it says, he has been pleased to express this through a covenant framework.

So, it's teaching to us that even in that, God's condescension, God's humility, it was expressed to us through a means of a covenantal framework. So, we will see this I think in paragraph two and paragraph three.

But yes, go ahead Rick.

Yeah, absolutely.

That's probably one of those examples where English has not, that word has not changed, but our understanding or what we view that word meaning probably has changed somewhat or maybe in the past. I think so.

That's a good analogy right there. That's a really good analogy.

Appreciate you bringing that up brother.

So, let's go ahead and is there anything else that we see here in paragraph one, you guys would want to take note of or mention of in this text or in this paragraph? So, like I said last week, I think in chapter six of the 1689 and chapter seven of the 1689, is going to be different than the West Minister and the Savoy in some different ways, right?

So, we have to remember that there's some secondary doctrines that Presbyterians and Congregationalists would hold to, that we would typically disagree with, namely that of baptism and also the way that they would view the covenants.

But here, I just want to make note that in the other two confessions that we've made mention of, they have five paragraphs in this chapter, five paragraphs in this chapter. However, our paragraph three is completely different than any of their paragraphs.

So, that should tell us that everything that happens in their other paragraphs that we don't have, the Baptist saw this and said, we need to express our view and where do you think that view is going to be found at?

Probably in paragraph three, right? It's going to be that unique, what was the Baptist's view in the 1600s that differentiated them from Presbyterians and Congregationalists. So, we'll see that here in a little bit.

But paragraph two is going to be the same wording as paragraph three in the West Minister and the Savoy with some minor changes. But would anybody like to volunteer to read paragraph two for the night?

You want to do it, Rick? Thank you, Rick. I appreciate it.

What are some things that you guys would see in this paragraph that would be important to take note of or important to look at? Yeah. There's a lot of texts that we can look at for this. I'm trying to think of a good one to go to right now just as an example of a covenant.

I think Genesis 15 is a pretty clear example of a covenant. Let's look at Genesis 15 real fast.

I appreciate you bringing that up, Tyler.

A covenant. So, this analogy does not even do it justice. But how many of us in here have a ring on our left finger? Or our left hand on our ring finger, right?

Right. Sorry, left finger.

Right, you only got two fingers? Yeah. Your ring finger on your left hand, right? This is often called a covenantal sign. You between your spouse made a covenant with them. You said, I will love you as long as you live.

All those kind of words, right?

Those things that we put in our vows.

And so, the ring isn't the vow itself. It's the symbol that I made those vows with a woman, right? With my wife. It shows the world those things. So, the covenant happened when Emily and I got married.

The ring shows the world as a covenantal sign. And so, we have that all throughout the Bible. So, a really easy example of that was, where's Lydia at? Lydia, what did we dress up for Halloween as? Or what did the trunks at the trunk retreat have?

What do we have a big picture of that we were doing at the trunk retreat? Noah's Ark. What was above Noah's Ark in that? A rainbow.

That's right.

So, in Genesis chapter 11, this is all off the top of my head. So, I might be misquoting where it's at. But Genesis 11, it says that the rainbows in the sky as a sign that will not destroy the earth again by water, right?

So, that was a sign of the Noahic covenant. So, every time we see a rainbow today, whether or not that it's on somebody's flags or up in the sky, it should remind us, well, God's not going to destroy us, even though you're totally right in doing so, right?

Especially when it's the flags that remind us.

Of those symbols, right?

But that is God's, the Noahic covenant came with that sign was the rainbow. But Genesis 15, the reason I want to go here, and it might be 17, so there's three chapters in which this covenant is really talked about with Abraham.

So, I apologize if I misspeak in a part of it. But in Genesis 12, 15, and 17, Abraham has some quite remarkable experiences. And in one of these chapters, I think it's chapter 15, let's look at these, verse one and on, it says, after these things, the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, do not fear, Abram.

I am a shield to you.

Your reward shall be very great. And Abraham said, oh, Lord, Yahweh, what will you give me as I go on being childless, childless, in the heir of my house, Elzazar of Damascus? And Abraham said, or Abram said, since you have given no seed to me, behold, one born in my house is my heir.

Then, behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, this one will not be your heir, this one will not be your heir, but the one who comes forth from your body, he shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and said, now look towards the heavens and the numbers of the stars.

If you are able to number them, he said to him, so shall your seed be. Then he believed in Yahweh, and he was counted as righteous. And he said to him, I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur, of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.

And he said, oh, Lord, Yahweh, how may I make known that I will possess it? And then he talks about sacrificing an animal. Later on, is it chapter 17? Yeah, it's chapter 17. Let's look at, move your eyes over with me to chapter 17 here real fast.

Now, in first one, now it happened that when Abram was 99 years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless so that I may confirm my covenant between me and you, and that I may multiply you exceedingly.

Then Abram fell on his face and God spoke with him, saying, as for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you will be a father of a multitude of nations. And no longer shall your name be Abram, but your name will be Abraham.

For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations, and I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will go forth from you, and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your seed after you.

And I will give you and your seed after you the land of the sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, I will be their God. Further on in this text, it talks about, let's look at verse 10, this is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your seed after you.

Every male among you shall be circumcised, and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. So I would pause here and take note that this language that we see in here is used all throughout the Old Testament.

That's why in paragraph one, it says the covenantal framework, because this is something that we should see, that we do see in every single chapter, every single book of the Old Testament, even to the New Testament is this covenantal framework, this covenant language.

So some things that are different. So marriage in that analogy, what's different between that is Emily and I made the terms for our marriage, right? We said, okay, Emily, will you marry me?

She said, yes.

And then we went on with making that covenant, right? The difference between God making a covenant with us and somebody like me making a covenant with my wife, God's covenant, he doesn't ask Abraham or Adam in the garden or anybody.

He doesn't say, okay, here's the terms. If you do this, this, this, I'll make a covenant with you. And then we say, ah, I wanna do this, but not that, more that, and I'll do this, right?

He doesn't bargain with the outcome.

Of what the covenant is, right? He says, I will make you this, but you have to be blameless and you have to circumcise and you have to do this, right, to Abraham.

To Abraham.

And so that's a little bit of a difference between God's covenant and man's covenant. So God's covenant is one that he imposes upon his creatures. And back to chapter two of this very confession, why can he do that to us?

He's God, right?

He has all authority to do whatever he pleases, right? And so he has revealed himself, again, what this paragraph one, through a covenantal framework, through a covenant framework. And so he imposes upon Abraham, do this, and you will have possession of the land, and do this, and your seed will be innumerable, right?

So Jonathan, is it grace if I say do this and live? You have to do X, Y, or Z things in order to live. Is that grace or is that a work?

That's a work, right?

And so that's where we see, we would look at this and we would say, this is not a covenant of grace.

Why?

Because God imposing this upon Abraham and it meant and told Abraham, you had to do something in order to live. That's why when we look back at Adam and we didn't see the word covenant in it, but what happened in the case of Adam?

Do this, you live, do this, you die, right? There was a covenant, covenant language there. It doesn't say the word covenant, but it's the language is there. And so that's why we would say the Adamic covenant.

All those things though, always required man's obedience. Has man ever, Romans 3 .10, no one's righteous, no not one. Because we've fallen in Adam, are we able to keep those covenant of works fully and totally and thoroughly?

No, right? I see Jake shaking his head, no, we cannot. And so since humanity brought itself under the curse of the law, that's speaking about Adam falling. In paragraph two of the 1689, it says, by its fall, it pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace in this covenant.

He freely offers to sinners life and salvation through Jesus Christ. On their part, he requires faith in him that they may be saved and promises to give his Holy Spirit to all who are ordained to eternal life, to make them willing and able to believe.

Let's go and read Hebrews chapter eight now.

So we understand God imposes a covenant and he has requirements that promise, like Tyler said, there's promises of life or promises of land or promises of whatever God wants to promise to the person that he's making a covenant with.

He promises a reward and he also promises a curse if people break it. But it's always a covenant of works.

That we see this way.

Hebrews chapter eight.

Chapter, let's read, would somebody like to volunteer to read verse six through 13? Anybody wanna read verse six through 13 in Hebrews chapter eight?

Any volunteers? Yeah, Patty, thank you.

He started, and then it says, for if that first covenant has not been fulfilled, it is a defundance of the Lord. And I am making, according to the covenant, that I'm making the Father, and again, I'm making the Son of God.

And I'm making, I will put my life in your life and my son in your heart. And I'm making your Father, and your son in my heart. And I'm making the Son of God. And you are all from the least, from the east of them to the north of them.

So I am your merciful and righteous king.

And according to the law of the Lord,.

I will do as you want.

In that he says, in you shall be. He has made the first of the least. Now, what is this on the opposite of what you shall involve?

Let your son go there.

Thank you, Patty.

So I wanna remind us of just some contextual keys. The book of Hebrews would've been written before 70 AD,.

Right?

And so imagine that second temple is standing there, and these Hebrews, as we talked about in the book of Hebrew, they're being encouraged to not go back to the city of Jerusalem, to stay as Christians, to keep on being in the church, don't go back.

Why is that so important?

Well, the temple's right there. And so the author of Hebrews is saying, that's ready to disappear. That's gonna go away. Christ promised that every stone will be toppled down on that mountain, right? And that's exactly what happened.

And so that's one contextual thing in verse 13 I like to make mention of that will help us see these things. So in the prior, in chapter eight, it talks about Moses. What was some of the things that Moses is known for doing in his ministry?

No, not quite.

That almost got me right there. That almost got me.

Brought the 10 commandments. I appreciate you starting there.

So, then that's where I was hoping to talk about. Okay, he brings the 10 commandments down. He also has an explanation for the law that he gives afterwards too, right? What does he find the people, the covenant people of God doing, the children of Abraham doing when he comes down off that mountain?

So are they being obedient?

No, they're making an idol.

Right.

Rolling tab.

Right, exactly.

And what does God do with those two tablets?

Right, right.

So the beauty in this, I really, I love this, is we need to remember all those things because what's happening in Hebrews eight is it's comparing Christ to Moses, okay? Okay, that's really important to remember.

So Moses was the mediator of that covenant in the Old Testament. Okay, he was the mediator. That's why Christ is called the better mediator of a better covenant, which is enacted on better promises. For if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.

Why was the first covenant full of fault? That's an interesting question, right? Because if it had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. Why was the first one full of fault?

Is God's law unjust?

No, it's just.

Is man just?

Hmm.

So the covenant members were the ones that were bringing fault in the covenant.

That's why it was full of fault.

Why was it full of fault?

Because it required my obedience and I failed to keep it. So that's why the first covenant,.

If it had been faultless,.

There would have been no occasion sought for a second. In other words, it would be like saying, I will use my wife Emily since she's not in the room. Emily, if you were born perfect and you have not sinned today, there would be no use for Christ.

There would be no need for Christ, right? That's essentially what's going on in here. The first covenant, if you could have obeyed it, there would have been no sense or need for a second covenant, a new covenant to come about.

Also pay attention in this. Notice how many times in this chapter it's talking about it being a new covenant and not just a re-administration or redoing of the old covenant.

Why?

Why do I say that? What, again, the old covenant required me to do something. Is that needed in the new covenant?

Yes?

Like, is there something needed in this new covenant of grace that I need to do in this?

What is it? Have faith, right?

That's what the paragraph said, right? Now notice though, where was the law of God written in the covenant of works?

In the old covenant?

Yep, stone, right? What is our heart compared to before regeneration? Okay, let's read here again. Let's look here at this, verse 10 of chapter eight. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,.

Says the Lord, Yahweh.

I will put my laws into their minds and I will write it upon their hearts. So the heart of stone becomes the heart of flesh. Romans chapter two says that those that are circumcised in the flesh, they aren't really Jew.

The ones that are the Jews are the ones that are circumcised of the heart, speaking for regeneration. John chapter three, Jesus looks at Nicodemus, a child of Abraham, and tells him, you must be born again, right?

There's so many examples of this over and over and over and over and over again. God's law that was external to us that we sought to try to keep to earn our own salvation, we couldn't keep, we broke it, and we still sought after it because we were dead in our works and trespasses.

When we're circumcised, that very law that was external to us now becomes inside of us. Regeneration, that's what this covenant's talking about in this text. And notice, notice in this text too, in what Abraham or Moses or any of the old covenant individuals, it was you have to be obedient to it.

Who was obedient so that this new covenant could be?

Jesus, right?

It's Jesus who is righteous. He was the mediator of this. He's the one, it's in his perfection that now that's what covers me. So look at this.

I wanna read eight through 12 again.

This is, I love this chapter. If there was any chapter I could just take and not have any of the Bible, if that was my only option, just to have one chapter, this would be it. For finding fault with them, speaking of individuals, he says, behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete in the old covenant, in the Old Testament, that would be, I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant I made with their fathers in the days when I took them by their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, for they did not continue in my covenant.

And I did not care for them, says the Lord. I wanna pause here before we read verse 10 and on. Look at this in verse nine again. In the days when I took them by their hands, and it's not like the covenant when I did that.

That text is talking about Exodus, God taking his people away from Pharaoh and leading them to freedom. Why is that text being reminded to us in this text? Christ has ransomed the captives. You and I were the captives, Christ has ransomed us.

He led us out of that land in that way.

That's why it's being used in this language. It's saying that historical event was picturing and pointing to what happens in regeneration, what happened in Christ dying for our sins. He was leading us out of the land of Egypt.

He was leading us out of captivity.

I just read this, I just say hallelujah.

Over and over and over again.

For they did not continue in my covenant, says the Lord, and I did not care for them. Verse 10, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, and after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their minds.

And upon their hearts, I will write them.

I will be their God, and they shall be my people. That's talking about a relationship, right? That's saying that it is our God. We are his people, we're his church. And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen and everyone his brother, saying, know the Lord.

This is one of the reasons that this covenant is superior than all the old covenants. So in the old covenant, how many times did we see them get taken into captivity? Let's use the example of Daniel and Babylon.

How many righteous men were in Babylon when Daniel was there? Believers in Yahweh. Very few, it says that the whole nation left, right? It says that it was only Daniel and his three friends, and you might be able to argue for a couple more here or there, right?

Right.

Yeah, so was there only four people in the nation back then?

No.

Thousands, right? And so there were thousands of covenant members that didn't actually have faith in Yahweh. And so put your feet, your shoes on, put your Daniel shoes on, right? You're Daniel. Could you go to your fellow Israelite and tell them to repent and believe in Yahweh?

You could, you should.

Daniel did do that.

He kept on telling the people to have faith,.

Remember the promises, right? Now think about that for us today in our church, in any church that actually believes in Christ Jesus. If we have the law of God written inside of our hearts, can I go up to any one of us and tell us to know the Lord because we're covenant members in the same way that those covenant members didn't know the Lord?

No, if you're a covenant member, you know Him. That's the superiority of this new covenant is that the covenant members, the ones whom Christ died for actually know Him and we don't get to go to each other and say, know the Lord, like they did in the old covenants.

It's explicit, it's going to be done. Everyone who Christ died for will know Him is what this is teaching to us. Everyone, and they shall teach, not teach, everyone, his fellow citizen and everyone, his brother saying, know the Lord for all will know me from the least to the greatest of them.

For I will be merciful to their iniquities and I'll remember their sins no more. Is there a single covenant when it's a covenant of works that talks about the removal of our sins.

In the old covenant? There isn't.

Forgiveness of sins, anytime that we see anybody forgiven, what covenant are they forgiven under? The covenant that's spoken of right here, the covenant of grace. That's the beauty of this covenant. Again, I would argue that that covenant was instituted, began at when Christ died, right?

He says at the table before He is crucified, this is the blood of my everlasting covenant, right? That's why we drink the wine and eat the bread is to memorialize that covenant action.

That Christ did there on the cross.

I hope you can see the passion.

I love this chapter.

This is remarkable. Because does this depend on Jake being obedient for him to be in this covenant of grace?

No.

Does it depend on how fast Rick can run to the church versus Brayden can run to church? He'll probably still be obedient even though I live closer. Does it depend on that?

Nope.

It depends on what Christ accomplished for us.

On our behalf.

That word grace, that covenant of grace, the covenant of grace that is talked about in this is the unmerited favor of God. It's a covenant that we are undeserving of. It doesn't require our obedience.

It requires faith. It requires faith. Is there anything that you guys wanna say.