The New Covenant (Part 1) - Baptist Covenant Theology Series

Hebrews 8 and the New Covenant as the Big Story of Scripture

All right, in your Bibles, you see it there on the top, we should be in Hebrews chapter.

8.

And we are finally to the New Covenant. We are on week 11, and tonight we're really not going to get into Jeremiah 31, which, that's important. So we're going to get to that next week, and I kind of more big picture, but let's just start with this passage, Hebrews 8 .6.

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. Not a trick question. How many covenants are talked about there?

Two, right? The Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Not, just kind of tipping my hand here, not multiple administrations of the same covenant, but distinct covenants, okay? So our Bibles are divided into two sections.

We've talked about this. The Old Testament, the New Testament. Testament meaning covenant, New Covenant, Old Covenant. The whole Bible is woven together by virtue of covenant, and what we've been doing in this class the previous 10 weeks is to work through the plot line of the Bible, to work through the grand story, and we sang that tonight, Christ the True and Better.

The grand story of the Bible, and we see the grand story of the Bible unfolding. I hope, maybe it's just a sad hope, but I hope that as you're singing that song, you're like, oh yeah, we've been learning about some of this, but the grand story of the Bible unfolding by way of covenant.

So we have the covenant of redemption. When does that happen? That's before time, and then the working out of that covenant in the covenant of works with Adam. Then we see the Noahic covenant after the fall, the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, the Davidic covenant, and tonight, finally, we are at the New Covenant, part one, the covenant of grace.

The New Covenant and the covenant of grace, we use those interchangeably, and I'll talk about that more later, but listen to Cornelius Veneman. The story of redemption recounted in scripture is, from its beginning to its consummation, all about the relentless work of the triune God who grants salvation in and through Christ to those whom he elected to save.

The only way to make biblical sense of the story of redemption is to recognize it as a story of the unfolding of God's eternal purpose to elect his people in Christ. Without God's free and gracious decision to save his people in and through Christ, the biblical story of redemption would be unintelligible.

In the same way, a novel would be senseless without a plot line. God's redemptive work throughout history, culminating in the coming of Christ, would amount to nothing but a series of ad hoc, discreet, and unrelated acts.

It would not be the story of God's gracious purpose to save his people in and through the work of Christ as median. All right, silly example, but let me say this, how many of you guys have read or seen The Lord of the Rings?

Yeah, all right, so three of us. We're going to have to have a Lord of the Rings watch on this side of the room. Okay, so you know the premise, though, of The Lord of the Rings, which is you got to get the, hopefully I'm not ruining it for you, you got to get the ring back to the fires of Mordor, right?

One of the three different books, but what if each book, like it was different? Like one book, you're talking about a ring, and then all of a sudden you get to the next book and you're talking about a shoe or something like that, and you get to the final book and I don't know, you've gone off into left field and you're talking about whatever, okay, something totally different.

Chronicles of Narnia, something, right? It wouldn't make sense. All the books are different books, but they tell one story.

Okay, this is the Bible.

The Bible's how many books? Sixty-six books, and it is telling us one story. All the covenants that we've talked about so far have been broken by man, but they were all pointing forward to the one who would be the fulfillment, which is Jesus, right?

The New Covenant as the Covenant of Grace

So let's start tonight, number one, with the big picture. So Jeremiah 31, you can look at that later on your own time, you can read it before next week. Jeremiah 31 is kind of like the big classic text that we have to get to and we will get to, and we'll look at that next week.

But what I want to do tonight is just kind of give you a bit of an overview. So let me reiterate this. This is going to distinguish us from some people. As Baptists, we say that the new covenant, we use that synonymously with the covenant.

Of grace.

The new covenant is the covenant of grace. The covenant of grace is the new covenant. These are one and the same. The new covenant is inaugurated when, I think it's on your sheet, but when is it inaugurated?

Meaning, when does it officially enact, if you will, yeah, in Christ, right, in the blood.

Of Christ.

Jesus says in Luke 22, 20, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. So it is the gospel, it is the shedding of the blood of Christ that inaugurates the new.

Covenant.

Why do I say this? Because the new covenant, this might confuse you and that's okay if it does confuse you because it's an error, but the new covenant is not an administration of the covenant of.

Grace.

So let me just give you the Presbyterian kind of covenant theology, and that is all these covenants, the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, the Davidic covenant, they are different administrations of the same covenant of grace.

I need my marker board, don't I?

I'm sorry. But Baptist covenant theology is teaching that these different covenants are not administrations of the covenant of grace. The only administration of the covenant of grace is the new covenant.

The new covenant is the covenant of grace. The covenant of grace is the new covenant, more on that in just a minute. Oh yeah, I'll say this too. The Old Testament, all the other covenants in the Old Testament are administrations of the covenant of works.

I mean, in one form or another, we might tease that out some, some people want to nuance it a little bit, but essentially they are administrations of the covenant of works. Phil Griffiths writes this, the new covenant is the only covenant of which Jesus is the mediator.

He's not the mediator of the Mosaic covenant. Mosaic covenant points to him, right? So two big picture covenants then in the Bible, two big picture, the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. What then is the covenant of grace, the new covenant?

Let's read some verses. Some of these we've already read. Let's read them again. Ephesians 2, 11 through 13. Paul tells the church of Ephesus, which is mainly Jewish or mainly Gentile? The church of Ephesus.

Yeah, mainly Gentile. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise.

Now after all this talk about, what does that mean that they were strangers to the covenants of promise? Did the Gentiles have the Mosaic covenant? Were they under the Mosaic covenant? The Gentiles?

No.

Did they have the Abrahamic covenant?

No.

Did they have the Davidic covenant?

No.

Did they have the Noahic covenant? Technically, yes, but did they know about it, right?

You understand?

They're strangers to these things.

And all these things were pointing to who? Christ. 2 Corinthians 1, 20. For all the promises of God find their yes in him. Yes in who? Christ. That is why through him, we utter our amen to God for his glory.

All these promises, God promises Abraham, you're going to have an offspring. God promises Moses, the opposite, the prophet, priest, and king, and the land, and blessing for obedience, and all these things.

It finds its yes in Christ. God promises David, a son, to sit upon the throne forever. It finds its yes in Christ. All the promises of God find their yes and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Galatians 4, 4 and 5 says, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under what?

The law.

To redeem those who are under the law. So that we might receive adoption as sons. Now I would argue that even the Gentiles were under a broken covenant of works. How so? You don't have to go to Moses.

Yeah, you go to Adam, right?

Because all die in Adam. So the substance of the covenant of works is this. Do this and you will what?

Live.

That's, remember, rehash here, that's what's presented to Adam in the garden. If you eat, you die. And by implication, if you obey, you live. Do this and you will live.

Problem?

Adam failed.

Well, maybe. Noah.

Just collapse Noah and Moses, yeah.

Maybe Noah will succeed.

Nope.

Maybe Abraham.

Nope. Moses? Nope. David? Nope.

Everyone failed. Do this and you will live. The problem is ain't nobody done it and we can't do it. So what hope do we have? Answer tonight, Jesus Christ. So if Jeff Johnson says this, beautiful way to put it.

The angels that drove man into exile from the garden with flaming swords have returned. This time, they don't come with a sword, but with a song. Rather than bringing the message of war, they come with the message of peace.

They come with the message of good news. God was coming to dwell on earth to open the way for sinners into the presence of God. Of course, he's talking about the angels that announced the birth of Jesus.

So Jesus, the son of God, comes to earth, takes on flesh in the womb of Mary, truly God, truly man, and he's born under the law. Meaning, he's born, not merely the Mosaic covenant, he's born under the obligation of do this and you will live.

Disobey and you will die. Now, some people want to argue about the covenant of works and all that. Let me just say this, and I'm not the only one that says this. The original covenant of works is still in effect today, and I would argue in a broken sense, and that's evidence every time we're faced with the reality of what?

Death.

Every time we're faced with the reality of death, our mind should be drawn back to the garden where Adam and Eve failed. We face the consequences and just punishment of Adam's failure daily. Jobiki says this, understanding both God's covenant with Adam and the implications of Adam's sin lays the foundation for understanding God's covenant in Christ and the implications of Christ's obedience.

So Jesus came to do something about it.

Honestly, this is my opinion.

When we understand covenant theology well, it makes the, it didn't change the gospel, it makes the gospel shine all the more beautifully. So, for example, turn to Matthew 3. Matthew 3. Do this and you will live.

Do what? Well, Matthew chapter 3. Boy, I turned way too far.

Zephaniah 3.

Matthew chapter 3 and beginning in verse 13. Matthew chapter 3 beginning in verse 13. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you.

And do you come to me? But Jesus answered him, let it be so now. For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Thus he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water.

And behold, the heavens were opened to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.

Now remember this. Remember back to the great drawings you've seen in this class. The kingdom of God must be established on perfect righteousness. The kingdom of God is a kingdom of righteousness. It must be established on righteousness.

Perfect, personal, perpetual, and precise obedience. This is why other places in scripture like Philippians 2 says, he was obedient. 1 Corinthians 1547 says, the first man was from the earth, a man of dust.

The second man is from heaven. There is clearly then a contrast in the scriptures, a big picture contrast between two people who are Adam and Christ. Jesus is not the second man here in 1 Corinthians 1547 that's on your sheet.

He's not the second man in terms of being the second male.

Like who would that be?

That would be Cain, right? Adam's firstborn son. But Jesus is the second man in terms of what? Being the second representative. The second federal head. The first federal head, the first representative is who?

It's Adam. Who's the second federal head? Who's the second representative?

It's Jesus.

So you have Adam and you have Christ. Adam represented all humanity in the garden and by his work we are killed. He failed and we all failed in him. But Jesus is the second representative. He represents his people and by his wounds we are healed.

By Adam's work we are killed, by Jesus' wounds we are healed. And by his righteousness we are counted righteous. This is the foundation of the scriptures. This is the very substance of the gospel. So Romans 5 .18.

Again, we've covered this before but now maybe see it in a new light. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification in life for all men.

So Jesus lives a righteous life. The contrast, Adam, Christ. In Adam, all die. In Christ, those who trust him are justified and made alive. Matthew 5 .17, Jesus says this. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I have not come to abolish them but to what? Fulfill them. So this is what you need to understand about the new covenant. So I would argue that dispensationalism and kind of progressive idea of covenantalism sometimes can really chop things up too much.

And so the new covenant is not new in the sense that God scrapped the Old Testament and he just decided to start over. Well, all this stuff, we tried all this stuff.

It didn't work.

Let's start over. No, the new covenant is new in this sense. What was promised and typified and pointed to has arrived and has now been inaugurated.

Christ Reverses Adam in Baptism and Temptation

All right, let's dig a little more.

You're already in Matthew 3. Flip over to Matthew 4. Matthew 4. So what's going on here? Why are the New Testament writers telling us stuff like this? Matthew 4, verse 1. So this is immediately after, and we just saw it.

It's not a trick question. Immediately after Jesus is what? Immediately after he's baptized, immediately after he says we need to fulfill all righteousness, by the way, he's baptized in the Jordan because that's what baptism means, right?

You have to have a lot of water. You can't just sprinkle. So he's baptized in order to identify with his people. And he's going to fulfill all righteousness. And the very next thing he does after his baptism is what?

He's led out into the wilderness. Now, what is this about? I hope you can already piece it together. I'm going to help you a little bit if you haven't. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Now, we don't have time to just walk through each of these temptations, although they are important. By the way, I'll say this. I will say this about the temptations. It was good. I'm reminded today by my friend Jared Moore.

He taught really well today in our Mexico Zoom meeting. But Jesus is not tempted with evil things. What I mean is Jesus is tempted with good things to be used in an evil way. Do you understand the difference?

So I think there are people who say, you know, well, Jesus was tempted with homosexuality because it says he was tempted with everything. Or Jesus was tempted with, you know, he was lusting at a woman.

Like, listen, these evil things that are in our heart, okay, evil things in and of our heart, we need to repent of the evil in our heart. Does that make sense? Jesus is not, Jesus doesn't have evil in his heart.

He's tempted with these good things to be used in an evil way. Each one of these things that he's tempted with is actually about his ministry. You know, being the son of God, having angels protect him, being king of kings.

Right?

So he's tempted with good things to be used in an evil way. Anyway, we don't have time to walk through all that. But what I want you to know is this. I'm just noting here that Jesus is reversing what Adam failed to do.

So think about the setting. Where does Adam have his standoff with Satan? In the garden, right? Satan subverts Adam and he goes to Eve and then sitting right there, he listens to the lies of the serpent.

Then his wife says here, eat this. He listens to all this instead of listening to God. So he has a perfect garden setting and he fails. But now Jesus faces Satan where? Not in a perfect garden, but in a wilderness where he has been fasting for 40 days.

And Satan brings his wicked lies and he brings his wicked deceptions and he brings his half-truths. He twists the Bible. And this time what happens? The second Adam succeeds. The second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, defeats him.

And then go down to verse 17. And so you have his baptism. He came to fulfill all rights. You have the defeat of Satan, as it were. I'm not saying that's the only time. But you have this big picture showdown.

Jesus wins. And now you get down to verse 17. And it says this. From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now there's several things I'd like to say about that.

We don't have time, but I'll just mention a few things. One, people's like, Jesus didn't come to preach. And Jesus wasn't telling people to repent. He was just showing the love of God. Guys, did Jesus show the love of God?

Yes.

Did he feed people and heal people and help people?

Yes.

But his primary ministry here is what? To preach. To preach repentance. And specifically here, what? This is very important.

The what?

Start with a K.

Ends with an ingdom.

The kingdom. Very good.

He came to preach the kingdom. He has been baptized to identify with his people. He has won this first onslaught of temptation, if you will. And now he is preaching a kingdom. Have we heard this language in this class?

I hope.

This idea of a kingdom. This idea of a people. That God is going to have over all the earth. To worship him. And to enjoy him. And to glorify him forever. This thing that began with Adam and Eve. Be fruitful and multiply.

And fill the earth. And subdue it. And the idea is you will fill the earth with worshippers of God. And God will have a people for himself. Remember the garden temple, as it were. And Adam is that first prophet, priest, and king.

And all of this is what is going to happen.

And you are just there.

And then it all collapses. Now Jesus is on the scene.

And he is preaching kingdom.

This is, in my opinion, so much more beautiful than to say, yeah, he is talking about this millennial kingdom that is going to be in the future.

No, no.

It is now. He is preaching the kingdom now. But his work is not through. So Philippians 2 says he was obedient to the point of death. Even death on a cross.

Now why a cross?

Why is Jesus dying on a cross? Well, there is two-fold ministry Jesus has to do.

Part A, I guess.

He has to fulfill all righteousness. A righteousness abandoned by God's holy law. But one that has never been completed before. Always been failed. But now it is going to be completed in Christ. But the second part, part B, if you will.

These have to go together. Jesus has to pay the penalty for covenant breakers. What is the penalty for breaking the covenant of works? What is the penalty? Not a trick question.

Death.

The penalty of sin. The wages of sin. The earnings of sin is death. And we are all guilty. So places like 1 Peter 2 says that he himself, talking about Jesus, bore our sins in his body on the tree. Now listen.

What are you talking about?

Peter.

Why are you being cute? He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. He uses that language in Acts too. It is kind of like if you were listening to Peter preaching, you probably would hear him talk about Jesus dying on a tree.

Why is he saying that? Why is he talking about Jesus dying on a tree? Why don't you just use the word for cross? Why does he use the word for tree?

Because it is a sin for anybody that dies to someone on a tree.

Yes.

That is close.

I think I understand what you are saying.

I am just feeling the game.

Deuteronomy 21 says, Cursed is everyone that is hanged on a tree. Did Peter know the Old Testament?

Yes.

He knew it really well. As Peter is preaching, he is preaching that Jesus.

Is not just,.

Listen to this,.

Don't miss the cross. We talk about this sometimes. It was so brutal. Think about the nails that went through the hands and the nails that went through the feet. I am not minimizing at all. That was absolutely brutal.

The crown of thorns, absolutely brutal. The Roman cross was one of the worst ways.

That you could die.

Terribly brutal. What has happened on the cross.

Is not just his brutality,.

But that Jesus is becoming a what?

A curse.

He is becoming a curse for us. The Son of God becomes a curse for us, cursed by God as he is slain.

For sinners.

He is crushed by God in our place. He is our substitute. He is bearing the wrath of God. He is our propitiation, the wrath satisfying sacrifice. He comes to procure a righteousness for us and then he dies as our substitute bearing the punishment that we deserve for breaking God's covenant, breaking God's laws, rejecting God's kindness, worshiping idols,.

Our own immorality.

These things deserve death, hell,.

Judgment.

This is what Jesus is enduring for sinners on the cross. This is why places like 2 Corinthians 5 .31 says, for our sake he, that is God, made him, that is Jesus, to be sin, who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness.

Of God.

We haven't finished the story, right? Because Jesus didn't merely live a righteous life and die a propitiatory death, but he rose again.

From the dead.

In victory over death, over hell, and over the grave. Romans 4 .25 says that he was raised, he was resurrected for our justification. So when Adam all died, but by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, you may be justified.

You may be justified.

By works,.

The works of Jesus. Not your works, right? Run him out of here, right? No, justified by the works of another. That's the only way you can be justified, the works of Christ. Our justification is rooted in grace alone, through faith alone,.

In Christ alone.

We're turning from our sins, repenting, and trusting Christ alone as our only suitable and all-sufficient Savior. And when we trust Christ, we are credited with his righteousness. Adam's sin is legally credited to our account.

We're guilty in Adam, but then we sin in and of ourselves as soon as we're able.

And Jesus'.

Righteousness by faith alone is legally credited to our account. So Charles Alexander of the Son of Sheikh.

Says this,.

What is to us a covenant of grace was to our glorious mediator, Christ, a covenant of works and death and condemnation.

On the one hand,.

He fulfilled the obligations of obedience, which man had never rendered.

And on the other hand,.

He expiated on the tree by awful death the offense which had brought.

Down the curse.

What was death to Christ became life to us. What was law and justice to him became grace and life and immortality.

To us. What a beautiful gospel.

So the new covenant in a very real sense, one way to look at it, is simply the covenant of works now fulfilled on our behalf in Christ. Do this and you will live. We couldn't do it. We didn't want to do it.

We wouldn't do it, but Christ did it for us. Jesus Christ, very important,.

Met the condition.

Jesus met the condition for us. Remember all these covenants we've got? Conditional, conditional, conditional, conditional, conditional. Christ met the condition. Christ completed the work for us. And then he paid the penalty for our breaking God's law.

And that's why he says on the cross, his last.

Word, which is what? It's finished.

I've done it all. I've been actively obedient to the law of God. I've been passively obedient in receiving the sins of my people on myself. I've paid the penalty. It's.

Done. And then he.

Rises again from the dead on the third day. And when we trust this message, it's better than being put back in the.

Place that Adam was.

Church, we're not put back in the garden to see now.

If we can obey God or not.

You're not transported back to the state Adam was in. Okay, your slate is wiped clean, and now let's see if you can do it. No, rather, we are in a place of perfect righteousness. A righteousness that's not our own, but is that of Christ's righteousness credited to our account by the grace of God alone whereby we look to Christ trusting his work for the forgiveness of our sins.

Old Testament Saints Saved by Looking to Christ

So Jonathan Edwards writes, no promise of the covenant of grace belongs to any man until he has first believed in Christ. For it is by faith alone that we become interested in Christ and the promises of the new covenant made in him.

Are you tonight looking to Christ? Now, I'm going to finish that thought in just a minute. Got a few more minutes, then I'm going to finish the second point much shorter. But let me reiterate, because of all we've talked about, how were the saints in the Old Testament saved?

How were they saved? If the New Testament, if the new covenant is not inaugurated to the blood of Christ, how were they saved? Galatians 3 says this, In the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel beforehand to Abram, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed.

Acts 2, we saw this last week, says that David foresaw the resurrection of Christ. So all the saints in the Old Testament were saved in only one way. And what is that way? Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ.

They looked forward to the gospel that would be inaugurated in the blood of Christ, and God counted their sins as forgiven in Christ, even though that wouldn't officially happen until Christ bore their sins on Calvary.

So, Philip Griffiths says, Salvation in both testaments has only ever been by means of the new covenant, and it applies to one people, one church, members of one kingdom. Sam Renahan says, The benefits of this covenantal sacrifice were enjoyed.

Throughout history, but the.

Legal establishment of it took place at the end of the ages. Hebrews 9, 25, 26. And then our own confession says this, very wonderfully put. 1689, chapter 8, paragraph 6. The price of redemption was not actually paid by Christ till after his incarnation.

Yet the virtue, efficacy,.

And benefit of it was.

Imparted to the elect in every age since the beginning of the world. In and by those promises, types, and sacrifices that revealed him and pointed to him as the seed that would bruise the serpent's head and the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, he is the same yesterday and today and forever.

How were the Old Testament saints saved? By looking to Christ. They were members of the new covenant, as it were,.

Even though they remained.

Under the.

Covenantal obligations at the time. So, for example, let's just say someone under the Mosaic Covenant, they still had to do the things the Mosaic Covenant said for them to do because that was their covenantal obligation.

But they were looking to what the covenant pointed to. The blood of the bulls and goats and the feast and all these things pointed to Christ. And they were those who were saved were resting in Christ.