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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 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?
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?
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.
About paragraph two?
I know I went on a long spree there, Hebrews eight, but paragraph two in chapter seven. Since humanity brought itself under the curse of the law by its fall, it pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace.
In this covenant, he freely offers the sinner's life and salvation through Jesus Christ on their part. He requires faith in them 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.
Anything in there that somebody wants to make mention of?
Paragraph three.
Would anybody like to volunteer to read paragraph three? This is, again, this is the paragraph that is 100 unique to the 1689. It's not in the Savoy or the West Minister. And so when we read this, we should be expecting language that fits within a Baptistic church, right?
And so let me read this for us. I'll volunteer to read paragraph three. This covenant is revealed in the gospel. It was revealed, first of all, to Adam in the promise of salvation through the seed of the woman.
After that, it was revealed step by step until the full revelation of it was completed in the New Testament. This covenant is based on the eternal covenant transaction between the Father and the Son concerning the redemption of the elect.
Only through this covenant, only through the grace of this covenant have those saved from among the descendants of fallen Adam obtained life and blessedness or blessed immortality. Humanity is now utterly incapable of being accepted by God on the same terms.
On which Adam was accepted in a state of innocence.
There's a lot to unpack on this paragraph, a lot.
Is it true that only Adam could say, I saw the face of God?
It's a great question. So I think that the, when we talk about the Trinity, right, Jesus says in John 1, 18, no one has seen God, no, not one. In 1 Timothy, it says that God dwells, well, first of all, it talks about both the Father and Son in that text.
It says that the God exists in unapproachable light that no man has seen or can see. And in John chapter 14, Jesus, before Philip, or not Philip, is it Philip?
It is Philip.
Philip asked Jesus, he says, show us the Father and it would suffice us. It'll satisfy our pleading to see God.
And Jesus says, have I not been so long with you, Philip?
If you've seen me, you've seen the Father, right?
And so Hebrews chapter one,.
There's a whole line of these verses.
That we can go through,.
But Hebrews chapter one, one, it says that he is the exact representation of God. And so I would argue that when Adam was in the garden, when he was seeing God, he wasn't seeing the Father. He was seeing God, but it was the pre-incarnate Son.
I think he was seeing Jesus there in the garden.
Jesus should have always been with God.
Exactly, yep. And that's where I would think. So like Moses, even the example of Moses in Exodus 34, where he, I think it's Exodus 34, or maybe it's 28, where he hides in the cliff of the rock and he sees the backside, the train leaving.
There's some theologians that would say.
That he saw the Father.
There's some that would still say he saw the Son, but he just saw the glory of the backside of the Son.
It's difficult.
I would say no one has seen the Father, in my opinion, no.
Face to face, yeah.
If you regard Jesus as a man, then the man, Jesus, has seen the Father.
Yep, that is true, yeah.
That is, yep. Which is remarkable to think about with Adam and Jesus, right, because Adam was in communion with God and then here's Jesus saying, I've seen the Father, right? So that, I've never even thought about that.
That is remarkable to think about.
Right, so we would say that Jesus is God.
So we've seen Jesus, so we, like, I haven't, but people in the Old Testament, he says to Philip, Philip, you've seen me, you've seen the Father, right? And so in that sense, they've seen God, but not in the sense, because Jesus was also veiled in some ways with his flesh, right?
Even in the Mount of Transfiguration where they see Jesus transfigured, they speak of it as this bright light, right? And so I would say that even in they were seeing him face to face, that was the representation of the Father.
That was, if you saw Jesus, you could say, walk away and say, I saw the very image of God there. It still was veiled to the fullness of God, because I think that's where in 1 Timothy, it says that no one has seen God, no one can see God.
It says that he dwells in that inapproachable light, which all that being said, there's a lot of conjecture on this, but it talks about, so if he exists in an inapproachable light, Jesus says that he is the light, right?
And it also talks about how the Son will, or the Father will draw us to himself. And so there's some debate there, right? Will we ever see the Father? Will we not ever see the Father?
Will we only see the Son?
At the end of the day, I would walk away and say, we will see Jesus, because that's seen in Revelation. And if that's the only person in the Trinity that we see,.
That's fully God right there, right?
That is fine, right?
But other than that, I think it's a little bit of conjecture on exactly what we will see in future. Glory,.
A little bit, a little bit, so.
Anything else in this paragraph that you guys saw in this paragraph three? So maybe I kind of want to walk through this language.
A little bit too here.
So this covenant is revealed in the gospel, okay? What is the gospel? It is probably the very first thing that we should define. And what is the gospel? I would argue in very short words, it's the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, right?
Jesus, that's very quick, that is the gospel. That's the good news. Jesus Christ became flesh, lived a life I could not live, died in my place in an atonement fashion, propitiation, and then he rose again on the third day.
That is the gospel. So the covenant is revealed in that act. So it's revealed to us in that act. This covenant of grace that we just read in Hebrews chapter eight, it's revealed to us in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
And then it says it was first revealed to Adam in the promise of salvation through the seed of a woman. Let's turn to that chapter. Let's go to Genesis three.
Genesis three.
I get giddy about this.
Like, honestly, like if we were ever to rename our church, I would fight tooth and nail to have it be renamed to covenant grace or something like that. Like just the super hardcore covenant of grace in this.
Like, I love this topic.
We're not gonna rename our church, but I'm just saying, that's how much I love it. I'm thinking about getting like a Mike Tyson tattoo right here that just says covenant of grace.
Be ready for Sunday. So anyway, Genesis three, verse,.
Let's look at verse 15 here just for time sakes. I will put an enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the face of the earth. And you shall bruise him on the heel.
Okay, so we have a promise in this. First of all, who is this being told to? This is being told to the serpent. This is God looking at the serpent and he's saying, you will be crushed. That's what he's essentially saying to this.
You will be crushed, okay? So you can imagine Eve is next to the serpent and then Adam is next to Eve. And so they just heard, there will be a seed, you will be crushed. And then he looks to the woman and he says, I will greatly multiply your pain.
Childbearing is what's talked about there, right? Childbearing to you. And then he looks to Adam and he says, you will, it says in, let's look here. Thorns and thistles shall grow for you.
By the sweat of your face, you will eat bread.
Till you return to the ground because you were taken from it for dust. For you are of dust and to dust you shall return. First of all, notice in there is this, this is not a covenant because who is God speaking to?
He's speaking to the serpent first. This is just a promise of what's going to come about. There's, and the reason I make mention of this is that there's Presbyterians that would say this is a covenant of grace in this chapter.
And I say, I don't see that in here. This is him talking to Satan. God doesn't make a covenant with Satan, right? He's promising a covenant to come about. And how, what is the promise telling? Seed will crush you.
Woman, you're going to bear a seed. Man, you're going to work and you're going to die. You won't be able to do what I just told you to. This is remarkable because this is telling us to look forward to what, who, what?
A seed will come through the woman and he will live a perfect life like anybody else. It's this beautiful picture that's happening here as he's talking from serpent to woman to man that we see. And then how much more does he even reveal this covenant, this future covenant that we have in the gospel?
So imagine, so Don asked a great question. Didn't Adam see the face of God? I would say, yes, I think he's looking and he's, Adam's looking up to Jesus, pre-incarnate Jesus, I think, the word before he became flesh.
And here he says to the serpent, a seed will crush you one day. Come here, lamb.
And he splits it slow and he takes the skin off of it.
And he covers both Adam and Eve. Right there, right? This is a promise, a future telling that who is going to make this sacrifice? Well, who made it in the garden?
God.
What was covering them? A perfect lamb, right? Like that's exactly what we see in the covenant of grace. I, like I said, my mind is blown every time I talk about this. I think it's beautiful. I think it's absolutely beautiful.
So it was revealed to Adam in the promise of salvation to the seed. After that, it was revealed step by step. Now this is important language, step by step until the full revelation of it was completed in the new covenant.
So meaning that in every covenant, in every Old Testament book that came about after and after and after, imagine, so again, Job, right? We're in the book of Job and he knows probably the promise of Adam, right?
Does he know of the rest of the books of the Old Testament yet?
Well, no, he hasn't lived yet, right?
So he has a very vague, very blurry picture, right?
He doesn't have the fullness that we would have.
Well, you would say, well, okay, Isaiah, Isaiah had a great picture, right?
In Isaiah 53, he has this perfect, this suffering servant that is talked about in Isaiah 53. His picture is a lot more clear, but it still wasn't clear enough because what happens 700 years in the future for Isaiah, the very Jews that received these covenants crucified Jesus Christ, thus fulfilling the beautiful picture that we have there.
But we see that it was almost like every time that a covenant came or a page on the Bible gets turned, God is adding another brushstroke to this picture of what will come about. And then when it's all the way done is when he painted the blood there on the cross, right?
That analogy type of language. That is when it was fully revealed. That's when it was instituted, was there in Christ in the New Testament.
I wanna go back.
I keep on making mention of you, Patty, because I appreciate you bringing this up.
And in Hebrews chapter 13,.
We talked about the covenant of, or the eternal covenant, right? The everlasting covenant. Now, again, this is a language that's used in Hebrews chapter 13 with the eternal covenant, but it's not necessarily explicitly talked about, but there's some good logical reasons to come to these conclusions.
This covenant, so what is this covenant referencing? The covenant of grace from paragraph two. This covenant is based on the eternal covenant transaction between the Father and the Son concerning the redemption of the elect.
So what this is doing is it's talking about what Patty brought up many, many Bible studies ago now on, is that before creation ever happened, today, when we think about this, the Father, he did not become incarnate, right?
The Spirit did not become incarnate. The Son was the one that did that. The Son isn't the one that borns us again. It's the Spirit that does that. It's not, we see these rules that are within the Trinity that each one of them partakes in.
And so what the idea, the thinking on this is, is since each one of these persons is fully God and there's only one God, it had to be before creation ever took place that there was a covenant that was made between the three persons saying, the Father will predestine, the Son will redeem, and the Holy Spirit will apply that redemption.
To us, the believers.
And so that's what this is talking about in there. And it's only through the grace of this covenant have those saved from among the descendants of fallen Adam obtained life and blessed immortality. Humanity is now incapable of being accepted by God on the same terms on which Adam was accepted in the state of innocence.
And so what happens there at the very end of that paragraph is it's trying to show to us how Adam before the fall, he was in a state that is unlike our own, right? It's different for us than it was for Adam.
It is.
And how is it different? We looked at this text from last week, but Ephesians chapter two, right? Ephesians two, and you were dead in your sins and trespasses and were by nature children of wrath. So the reason that it's different is Adam was able to walk around and he had life, right?
He had the ability to please God. He had the ability to commune with God. He had the ability, right? Do we have that ability now post fall? No, we are children of wrath even as the rest. We do not have the ability to please God without what?
Verse five in Ephesians chapter two, he made us alive together with him and has seated us in the heavenly places, parentheses by grace you have been saved. So how do we have life? We have to be in Christ.
How do we receive that life?
Being born again, which how did you enter into the old covenants? Through the birth canal of Adam, or not of Adam, but of Abraham, excuse me, not even Abraham, but through the birth canal, right? Through the family of Abraham.
That's how you entered into it. You were born physically. And then what did you do? You were born and then on the eighth day, what came around Emily on the eighth day for the children of Israel? Circumcision, okay?
You've gotten to see two of our boys circumcised, right? So that was the sign of the old covenant.
In the old covenant days, right?
So you were born physically and then you received the sign. And as you were growing up, you then partook in the meal, Passover, right? All these covenantal signs. So now what do we see in the new covenant?
How do we, how, what did Jesus tell Nicodemus? Do we remember John? What did Jesus tell Nicodemus? You must be, oh, I'm putting you on the spot, I know. Born again, right? You must be born again.
So you're good.
So John three, he says to Nicodemus, you must be born again. So a person that was born physically out of the womb, born physically into the seed of Abraham, he's being told you have to be born again, okay?
So you have to be born again. And then after you were born again, what are the signs that we take in this new covenant that you and I are in? What are the signs of the new covenant? Humanity is now utterly incapable of being accepted by God on the same terms.
We just saw brothers totally loving each other right there. What are the signs that you're supposed to receive.
In the new covenant?
We've all done them. Baptism and communion. You receive the sign of baptism and then you partake in the table, right? It's this consistent story all the way throughout. And it's not that baptism replaces circumcision.
Because they're two different covenants. They don't replace.
It's two different covenants. Circumcision was always pointing forward even to Christ dying on the cross according to Colossians chapter two, verse 11 through 14. But regardless of those things, baptism and communion are the signs of the covenant.
Any questions on this paragraph or on this chapter? I love this chapter. I love the covenant.
This is where I truly like,.
Covenants are a word that I think is, it can be very scary in some Baptist circles to even talk about covenants. I think if you understand covenants in a Baptistic framework it is far more beautiful than what Presbyterians and those that are the Congregationalists but all which are paedo-baptism.
I think this is more beautiful in what it's trying to paint for us. I think it's more adequate to what the Bible teaches because in order to partake in the old covenants, it was through physical birth, and then you received a sign.
How do you partake in the signs in the new covenant? Being born again, and then the sign, right? It's this continual, this continuity and discontinuity.
Between the old and the new.
And I think that's where paedo-baptism fails because it's putting the sign before the new birth. You see what I'm saying? Logically, that's how I would say that. And so I think Baptist theology is more robust.
When it comes to covenants.
Anyway, any thoughts, questions, concerns on this chapter?
So if I had a little bit more time, we would maybe go on to something. Yeah, now we gotta go. Drop that bomb, I love it. So in Christianity, there's two lines of thinking when it comes to being born again, okay?
And I'll be just up front and blunt with you guys on this. There's either the thinking that regeneration precedes faith or faith precedes regeneration, which comes first, okay? The new birth or faith.
I would be absolutely under the understanding that regeneration, the new birth, precedes faith. And why do I say that? Well, Ephesians chapter two, it says that I'm dead. I cannot do anything that's pleasing to God.
And how do I do things that are pleasing to God? Ephesians chapter two, verse 10 says that you've been predestined to walk in before the foundations of the world, or it doesn't say that exactly, but that you can, the work that was predestined.
For you to take in.
What has to happen first?
You have to be made alive in the body of Christ, is what it says, that's being born again.
And so, and then it says, by grace,.
You've been saved right after that, right?
So faith and regeneration, they're very close to each other, right? And there's an analogy of a light bulb moves first. So what comes first in a light bulb, light or the electricity? They're spontaneous, right?
But logically, if we could cut that down, it would appear that it would seem like you would need the electricity first there, in order for the light. And so I'm saying faith is simultaneous with that new birth, but by logic, and what I would argue is from scripture too, you have to be born again first,.
And then you believe, right?
You have to accept that Christ is the son of God. You have to accept that Christ is the son of God. You can't approach God without accepting that Christ is the son of God.
And I believe, I believe in Christ is the son of God. Then you can approach God.
So in John, it's John 14, again, he says that I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but by me, right? By through me. And that's, brother, I'm happy you bring that up because that's exactly what I think Ephesians two is exactly talking about in that, right?
I'll read verse one. I'm gonna read verse one all the way to 10 because I think it just makes so much sense in all these things, right? And you were dead in your transgressions and sins.
So before you knew Jesus Christ, were you guys ever dead?
Well, physically, no, but what it's talking about in this, it doesn't even say spiritually, it says dead in your sins and transgressions. What I would, again, last week, I said I would define this as a permanent cessation of ability to please God.
We cannot in our own fruition, in our own dirty rags, in our own dead nature, we cannot appease God. In which you formally walk, so meaning you used to walk like this, you don't anymore, you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, I think that's the serpent that we just talked about, but anyway, among whom we also formally conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Where is the law of God written at? On our flesh, heart, and on our mind. It says that we used to do the desires of our flesh and our mind, but now that we're born again, it's all interconnected, guys.
This is amazing when you consider all that's going on. But God being rich in mercy because of his great love, which he loved us, even when we were dead, we were not able to appease God, dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved.
I'm saying that that's the new birth right there. That's when we're in Christ, we now know he's the son of God, and now we can approach the father, right?
And it says after that,.
And raised us up with him and seated us in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus. So now we can approach the father,.
We're in heaven with Christ.
So then in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. By grace you've been saved through faith and this not of yourselves, it is a gift of God.
Let no one, not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus.
For good works,.
For which he prepared before him.
That we would walk in them.
And what are those good works?
The law of God written on our heart and on our mind. We're gonna do them now, right? We're gonna now be wanting to be obedient with God. And not only that, well, we've now been made alive. We can now commune with God.
So now imagine before you were born again, if you came to a church and you worshiped, were you ever communing with God in an acceptable means? No, but now you come to church and you worship him and you can do so in an acceptable way.
Like, again, this is mind blowing when we consider all the implications of all that this teaches.
But it's total reality.
Yep.
Yep. I love it.
I, like I said, I get jazzed and excited about this stuff. So that's the two, what Rick just brought up. Rick, you got another one?
Yes.
Enoch.
Gosh, dang it, we have to go there.
Next week.
Enoch. What chapter in the Bible are we, where did that be from?
I think he was born again and walked with God.
That's what I want.
Is that, what's that? Oh, he's, yeah.
Okay, I'm tracking you.
I was like, Christine, that's,.
That's crazy question right there.
He sees God.
That's a great question. Well, my thinking is, did he walk with him?
Like, in a sense, like, I would walk with a shepherd,.
Like, or is it talking about living a righteous life,.
Walking with God? I don't know.
What do you think, Rick?
I'm looking to your husband on this one.
What's that?
You think God was walking there along with him?
I think it would be being born again, and then if that law was written on his heart, then he's walking in those, like, that's, I think that's pretty consistent. When we see that in the old, anywhere in the, anywhere that it says that somebody's righteous, like Job, I think it's because he says it has fear of Yahweh.
So I think born again, he now walks in those statutes, and that's, that's what it's, a lot of times, like, even Abraham had talked in 15 that he was counted righteousness, right? But I think that's what's happening with Enoch, right?
Like, being born again, I don't know.
No?
Was that just because of proximity, like, like, with how close it was to them being cast out of the garden? Or do you think that's something that could happen today? I don't know.
That's unfair, though. That's unfair.
Oh, that's gonna, sorry, Christine, that's gonna be rough. Good luck, Rick. I'm excited for you.
I'm hoping that, I, okay.
At least text me or call me before you leave.
Like, I wanna, I wanna know what it was like.
Walking with God while you did.
Anyway, all right, would anybody like to volunteer to pray us out for the evening? Don, would you mind praying us out this, this evening?
God, we, we thank you. We thank what he brought to us. Thank you for your constant love, for you protect us. And we ask you to bless our lives that we can glorify you through our lives. And bless each of us in our endeavor to serve you.
Thank you for all you do, in Christ's name, amen.
Amen, amen. Thank you, Don.
Well, it was a blessing seeing you guys all tonight. If any of you walk with God, let me know.
With my stumbling feet, I, I hope God won't hold me up.
Oh, I'm sure he is already.
That's good.
