The Covenant of Works

Well, as you have your Bibles open to Genesis chapter 2 This morning we're going to consider another very important theme

An important topic that emerges here in chapter 2 and then carries us through the whole of Scripture And I realize that for the past several weeks now, we've been looking at Genesis in this way

It's sort of what we set out to do And sometimes the effect of that is it feels less like a sermon and more like a theology lecture and I sympathize with that but I assure you what we're uncovering has all sorts of implications and Hopefully that we'll see as we move forward in Genesis we'll see a lot of these dots connect and therefore a lot of the

Implications and applications will arise so put in the the hard work now to try to grasp and do the best we can

So that there's fruit and there's a harvest as we continue to work through in Genesis This morning we want to consider the covenant of works

Now Perhaps you've never even heard of that phrase Or if you've heard of it, you would have no idea how to define it

And it might seem somewhat complex. I hope it'll become more clear as we unpack it together this morning

We won't say everything that could be said about it, but I think we'll say enough that you'll have a good handle on it

Don't be afraid of fogginess as you work through this It's still a blessing to you even if you can't quite work everything out or I don't quite follow

That's okay because over time things begin to click and fall into place. And so you have a piece of a puzzle

You're not quite sure where it fits But as you continue to look at the Lord's Word and as we continue to grow together things become more clear

Now I'm saying this up front not to scare you or make it seem like we're about to jump into Trigonometry, but it's just to say that I realize these are big concepts.

This is this is very important and For some they just kind of check out before they even get in.

And so I'm sort of saying don't check out pay attention This is very important and very helpful

So we want to consider the covenant of works as I've said, it's a very distinctive doctrine for us, especially as reformed

It's part of our greater reformed heritage It has been really a mainstay not just with the

Reformation long before that in the early Church Fathers throughout the Middle Ages But I think the development came to a time mark in the 17th century

And then of course our confession which was written toward the end of the 17th century It reflects this theology and the development that has taken place through through the ages

Now I'm convinced and I think our Church Fathers were convinced that to lose sight of this

Is ultimately to muddle God's salvation as it is given to us in Christ. It's very important Three parts that we want to consider this morning first just the covenant of works.

What is it? How does it function? What does it require? What's the nature of it?

Secondly the covenant of works and the law How does it relate to God's law and then the covenant of works in the gospel

How does it relate to the gospel? And so first the covenant of works and I draw your attention to chapter 2 verses 8 and 9

And then we'll jump down to 16 and 17. Okay chapter 2 beginning at verse 8

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man whom he had formed notice

God formed man and then put him in Eden It implies that man was not created in Eden, but was rather put there and then he was given a function

Out of the ground the Lord God made every tree Grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food

The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil verse 16

And the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die

When we talk about The covenant of works. The first thing we need to do is establish the fact that there's a priority to covenant

Not just the covenant of works, but whenever God deals with mankind in a significant way

He does so by way of covenant when God designates an end Or a given purpose he acts by way of covenant

There's a priority to God making a covenant This is again and again revealed in Scripture and it's one of the reasons that we as Christians Reflect that same priority in our most meaningful relationships and in our most meaningful pursuits.

We reflect this covenantal priority Now our church's confession Which again

I'm bringing this up just because I think it's the most helpful summary One of the great things about a confession is that it helps summarize doctrine and you could spend time in any of the

Places in our confession. I might mention this morning and look at the look at the passages. They're drawing upon They're saying we're building this doctrine on these passages our church's confession

The second London picks up on this point in chapter 7 paragraph 1 The distance between God and the creature is so great

That although reasonable creatures do owe obedience to him as their creator Yet they could never have attained the reward of life but by some voluntary condescension on God's part

Which he has been pleased to express by way of covenant Now notice some things that are going on here first the distance between God and the creature

We began our time in Genesis didn't we talking about God's transcendence God is God and we are not

The distance between God and the creatures that he made is so great that in order to interact with the creatures

He must condescend Notice they could never have attained the reward of life

What is that? Just notice it and we'll come back to it they could never have attained the reward of life unless God condescended and he's condescended how by way of covenant

So we're saying at the beginning as Creatures we owe perfect obedience to God simply because we are his creatures and he is our heavenly father

He's our maker and our provider and so we owe him perfect obedience But he voluntarily

Condescends to lay out a reward of life for such obedience and he does so by way of covenant

Now What's what's being said here? God is condescending and creating a covenant and holding out a reward of life

To be the answer or the fruition of perfect obedience The covenant with Adam is what's in view here

God made a covenant with Adam and this has been the uniform acknowledgment of the church

Even where debates have turned over what the nature of that covenant was or what was emphasized in it

Even within our reformed circles You might hear the covenant of creation or the covenant of nature or the covenant of life

But most commonly we refer to this as the covenant of works Now there are some in our day that argue there is no covenant in Genesis 2

Some even within our own rather narrow tribe of Reformed Baptists have recently argued that there is no covenant of works

And that Reformed Baptists have not held to a covenant of works In fact, we we should reject it or we virtually empty it out in our confession

Now this is an aside for those who have ears in the relevant chapters chapter 7 chapter 19 each paragraph 1

The Westminster Confession does avoid declaration that the parent documents of our confession They state the covenant of works and our confession removes that phrase the covenant works in those places

That's why some say oh, it's Reformed Baptists We have we sort of reject or we empty out the idea of there being a covenant of works

And I hope it'll become plain this morning that we do not We maintain this and hold this it's a vital doctrine

I think we'll see by the end of our time that our confession shares in this uniform recognition

That God made a covenant with Adam in Eden in chapter 2 verses 16 and 17

This was a covenant of works To emphasize the fact that God made a covenant with Adam.

I want to draw upon the work of Edward Fisher We think when it was first published in 1645.

It was just published by EF But really there's no other EF that fits as well as Edward Fisher and so it's always been attributed to him

And this is a book. He wrote called the marrow of modern divinity wrote in 1645

It was used very influential well into the early 1700s. I know

Little birds told me as some of you read Sinclair Ferguson's the whole Christ You'll have heard of the marrow from that book

This follows the dialogue between a character no mista He's sort of the legalist no mista namas law

So there's no mista and then there's evangelista the evangel the gospel and so there's this discussion this dialogue between the legalist and the evangelist the one who's

Trying to work out how God's law operates and the one who's trying to understand the gospel and they're discussing the covenant of works

And he's responding to the charge that in Genesis 2 17 and we we read it You don't find the word covenant.

So how can we say there's a covenant here, right? Genesis 2 16 and 17 the Lord God commanded the man.

There's a command Saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day you eat of it

You shall die. There's a command, but there's no covenant here, right? And so evangelist replies

Though we read not the word covenant between God and man yet what we have recorded there amounts to as much

For God provided and promised to Adam eternal happiness He might be coming with it.

Where should God? Offer eternal happiness, right? We're gonna unpack that but for now know that eternal happiness is what our confession is calling the reward of life and called for perfect obedience

Which appears from God's threatening For if a man must die because he disobeyed it implies that God's covenant was with him for life

If he obeyed you see now you have the elements of a covenant You have a reward or a benefit for a condition a threat or curse and then the condition for either

Here's the condition Obedience and if you obey you'll receive the reward or the benefit of the covenant, which is life

And if you just obey you'll receive the curse Which is death

And so the dialogue is establishing what our confession is drawing upon Evangelistic continues.

Yeah, indeed Perfect obedience was due for man unto God though God had made no promise to man for when

God created man at first he put forth an excellency from himself Into him. She's saying same thing.

Our confession is saying This wasn't an extra thing that man was doing we were made in God's image

We're supposed to offer obedience perfect obedience to God But God is voluntarily condescending to make a covenant and reward that obedience or curse the disobedience

Therefore it was a bond and a tie that lay upon man to return that again unto God So that man being

God's creature by the law of creation, he owed all obedience and subjection to God his creator

But then you might ask what no mister asks Why then? Was it needful that the

Lord should make a covenant with him? promising him life Threatening him with death if he owes him obedience.

Anyway, then why make a covenant? Evangelist the replies As only a

Puritan could with with four four reasons In the first place, I pray you understand the man was a reasonable creature

And so out of his judgment discretion and election in other words what he chose

Able to make a choice of his way It was me that such a covenant should be made with him that he might by God's own appointment

Serve him with the reason he was made with in other words

God wanted Adam to know the difference between good and evil But he wanted him to know the difference between good and evil from the side of good

From the side of I learned the difference by trusting and obeying God Not from the side of being evil.

That was the problem of the fall which we'll get to in some weeks Secondly, it was meet

There should be such a covenant made with him to show that he was not such a prince on earth He had a sovereign

Lord Yes, you're made in my image, but you're not me Remember that I'm the sovereign

You're not such a prince on earth that were on equal playing fields. I Make a covenant with you

You don't make a covenant with me and therefore God set a punishment upon the breach of his commandment

That man would know his inferiority that things between him and God were not as between equals thirdly

It was me that there should be such a covenant made with him to show that he had nothing by personal immediate

Underrived right but all by gift See everything that God gives to Adam is a gift

It's part of the overflow of the abundance and the graciousness of God So you see it was an equal covenant which

God out is out of his prerogative royal Made with mankind and Adam before the fall

So again, you see the point although man was obligated to be obedient to his Creator even without a covenant

God nevertheless Voluntarily condescended to make a covenant with man holding out a reward of life for obedience

To the you shall not command and the curse of death for disobedience.

This is what we mean by the covenant of works It requires perfect obedience

Essentially the covenant is this obey and live disobey and die. That's the covenant of works

This is this is a huge point and it will be in a huge point as we move on The covenant of works is obey and live disobey and die

Notice there's not a hint of mercy Notice there's not a hint of pardon Notice there's no provision for forgiveness

The covenant of works is if you obey you live if you disobey you die Now it's very important to keep the requirement of perfect obedience and therefore the curse of disobedience in plain view

Charles Hodge the great 19th century Princeton theologian again just reflecting building upon this view this this understanding of the covenant

Says the condition of the covenant made with Adam is perfect obedience That that statement is correct may be seen from the nature of the case clearly revealed in the

Word of God. Listen to this Such as the nature of God and such the relation which he sustains with his moral creatures

That's sin in other words The transgression of the divine law must involve the destruction of fellowship between man and his

Creator It's so perfect that the least transgression must destroy the fellowship

God has with man Therefore the Apostle says this is James 2 10 He who offends in one point who breaks one precept of the law of God is guilty of the whole

Secondly it's assumed everywhere in the Bible that the condition of acceptance under the law is perfect obedience

God doesn't grate on a curve The whole argument of the

Apostle Paul in Romans and Galatians Reflects this idea cursed it is everyone who does not continue and all the things written in the book of the law to do them

If you don't do them your curse, that's that's the significance of the law Romans and Galatians are founded on the assumption that the law demands perfect obedience

If you don't grant that Paul's whole argument falls to the ground now listen to this The specific command to Adam not to eat of a certain tree was therefore not the only command he was required to obey

It was given simply to be the outward and visible test to determine whether he was willing to obey

God in all things Does not really care about the fruit of a certain tree was there something so magical about the tree

There was this eternal destiny bound up in the physicality of the fruit Hodges saying of course not

It was practically arbitrary Think of sitting down your child if I were to open up a box of Crayola 96 count every color

Not say Elsie out of all of these colors that I've given to you. You may freely color with any except this tangerine

And I just tilt it up just a little and I walk away what color is she gonna be attracted to Well of course her sinful nature

Will draw her to the tangerine Adam was created without a sinful nature without this leaning, but you see that there's nothing magical about the tangerine crayon.

It's my command that matters That's what Hodges getting at here The specific command to Adam not to eat of a certain tree was not the only command he was required to obey

It was given as simply the outward and visible test to determine whether he was willing to obey

God in all things Because he was created holy Right Adam had pure affections

And so this was a test of his obedience and if he could obey this command he could obey all

But if he was to break this command he breaks all He was shown then

Something was was wrong for him simply because it was forbidden Not because it was evil in its own nature.

This is very important. God created everything good There's nothing evil within the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

It was in sometimes you hear theologians say it was a sacramental tree Here's this tree you want to know good and evil

Obey my word and you'll know the difference between good and evil good is what I declare evil is what

I forbid That's what you need to know Adam, that's what you need to walk in this is how you'll pass the test

Adam tries to shortcut that to gain that knowledge the wrong way So he's learning that something isn't wrong with the fruit or the tree what

God had made was good including Adam It was simply wrong because God forbade it would he obey

God in that? the command to not eat of the tree was the outward and visible test and The whole point we're making with the covenant of works is the idea of the reward of life followed that test and so Hodge continues

It seems to be reasonable in itself and plainly implied in the scriptures that all rational creatures have a period of probation a period of testing

If faithful during that period they are confirmed in their integrity No longer exposed to the danger of apostasy

Where is he getting this think of this is a very brilliant insight thus we read of the angels

Who kept not their first estate and of those who did those? Angels who remained faithful have continued in holiness and in the favor of God.

Do you see what he's saying? There was apparently a time when the angels were under probation as it were and many angels fell

But those that did not fall that did not apostatize were confirmed in holiness and favor It's therefore to be inferred that had

Adam continued obedient During the period allotted to his probation. In other words, if Adam had passed the test for as long as that test was given

Neither he nor any of his posterity would have ever been exposed to the danger of sinning

Do you see? This is the standard reformed theology of the covenant of works

This is from our confession chapter 19 the first paragraph listen to this God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience written on his heart and a

Particular precept of not eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil By which he bound him and all his posterity

Because all are in Adam to personal entire exact and perpetual obedience promised life

Upon the fulfilling Threatened death upon the breach.

So there's the covenantal elements It's acknowledged that God created Adam an original righteousness.

He was a perfectly holy man when God created him No taint no deference no bent towards sin and in that state

Adam possessed both the ability to sin And the ability not to sin

Which is where we as Christians are today We as Christians the unregenerate do not possess this you brother or sister in Christ You possess this ability that Adam had to sin and also not to sin

What does Paul say? Whatever? It's not a faith is sin for the unregenerate man. He can do nothing. That isn't tainted by sin

Only Adam and now believers this side of Christ's return are in this state of being able to sin and not to sin but Adam Never achieved what we will achieve through Christ Which is being confirmed in a state in which it's no longer possible to sin

That's glory being confirmed in holiness and righteousness made like unto him

All agree that Adam owed perfect obedience to God as a creature But there was something more in the

Garden of Eden between God and Adam. It wasn't just a creature creator relationship What is that something more?

It's God condescending of his own will to make a covenant of works and the whole point is that this covenant was of a temporary nature it

Was a probationary period you can have an eat of anything that I've made but not this tree.

Here's the test If you obey me here, you obey my whole law if you fail me here you break the whole law

If you pass the test you receive the reward of life. I will confirm you in a way you will never be able to fall

But if you fail you receive the curse of this covenant death cut off from my fellowship forever

It's not as though Adam would have lived forever under this condition of being able to sin What kind of reward is that?

You know for three trillion years you can avoid that tree and then there's that one on the three trillion and first day

You finally succumb and now here comes the curse. You see that's what we're getting away from The hope that we have in heaven is not that we can be there for a million years

But then on the next Wednesday, we blow it all and have to get kicked out What kind that would make heaven a terror the joy of heaven is

I don't have the possibility of sinning anymore I'm confirmed in a state of holiness and therefore can dwell with God everlasting

Adam was not meant to live under this covenant forever with the possibility of sinning only a breath away

To be suspended in that state would have been never to receive the reward of the covenant the blessing of being confirmed in glory

To be in such a condition for eternity would not be the everlasting bliss that we receive in Christ's the last

Adam in our Glorification so last week I said this this was a quote from Richard Barcelos Eden though a glorious place was not the end but the beginning to an end

It had within its seeds of a better world a better world where sin could not enter Which could never lapse into a curse condition what

I'm saying here to paraphrase is man Though made in glory with original righteousness.

That was not the end but the beginning to an end Because even when we were made in original righteousness, we had the possibility of sinning

We were made for an existence that sin could not corrupt That sin could never enter into our condition or propensity our ability we know that Adam failed the covenant and Therefore all in Adam were brought into that fallen state into the curse

So, how does the covenant of works then relate to the law? the covenant of works

Is significant also because it establishes God's law with all of humanity

All right, all humanity is under the headship of Adam And this is why the covenant of works is so important we cannot rightly understand the good news of the gospel without the bad news of the law

When you rightly understand what the covenant of works is you see just how bad the bad news is

We cannot understand the bad news of the law without rightly viewing its relationship to Adam in the garden as a covenant of works

What was given to Adam in the garden Written on his heart and by particular precept was later revealed to Israel upon Mount Sinai This was

God's moral law God's law God's law was written upon Adam's heart in creation

And then a precept was given to Adam in the garden thou shalt not eat of this tree

Mankind ever since then has had God's law Continued to be written on his heart Romans 1 and that law was actually carved by the finger of God upon the stone tablets

Upon Mount Sinai, this is all God's law First given to Adam as God's Son then given to Israel as God's Son Okay, follow the the train here

I realize we're getting maybe a little foggy Again, our confession is very helpful in summarizing this point

This is from chapter 19 and I'm just going to point out the parallel here We've already said this

God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience written in his heart. That's Romans 1 And a particular precept came from this law a precept of not eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

By what she bound him and all his posterity to personal entire exact perpetual obedience promising life upon the fulfilling

Threatening death upon the breach of it and doing him with power and the ability to keep it We said this is the covenant of works and I've said this establishes the law with all of mankind

Chapter 2 chapter 19 paragraph 2 that same law Which law the law that was written upon Adam's heart?

The law that was made in a particular precepts not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of an evil that same law

That was first written in the heart of man Continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall

Adams testing was temporary. The law is not And it was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai.

Yes that same law Delivered by God upon Mount Sinai in Ten Commandments Let me just make sure we're all tracking here

God's moral law was engraved on Adam's heart issued in the precepts not to eat of the tree and then given again as Ten Commandments This is the moral law that's written on our hearts

Adam in that state of original righteousness would have known intuitively what God's law required

But ever since the fall we repressed the truth in the awareness of that law and unrighteousness

We no longer can think through the implications of that law and what it requires of us Adam would have known by that one precept that all the law was contained in that one precept

You think of Jesus when he explicates the law he's not adding to it He's simply revealing what's always been there

You're breaking the commandment not to murder if you hate your brother. He's understanding the implications of the law

Jesus is able to reduce the law to essentially two sentences But it is also able to expand it such that it encompasses every aspect of human life toward God and toward neighbor

This is a big claim Adam had one command one thou shall not but what

I'm saying is the whole law was comprehended in it Again, we see this point made in the marrow of modern divinity

He says as he's giving several reasons why It was such a great offense.

It wasn't just this. Oh you ate the fruit now something magical about this fruit We've already said no.

No, no, it was it was breaking what God had forbidden Transgressing his command that was what was the great offense and then he unpacked what made that so horrific such an abomination

And then he says by the end nay, how could there be a greater sin committed than that when Adam at one clap?

broke all ten commandments And now no mister goes with you. We were ten command.

It was only one command Did he break all ten commandments say you sir, I beseech you it's not like Bunyan Pugin's father sir,

I beseech you pray tell show me wherein And evangelist assess

First what's the first commandment? You shall have no other God before me. He chose himself another

God when he followed the devil Second you shall not make an idol.

He idolized and deified his own belly As the Apostles phrases he made his belly his

God Third not to take the Lord's name in vain. He took the name of God in vain when he believed him not

Forth to remember the Sabbath and keep it. Holy. He kept not the rest and the estate wherein God had set him

Fifth you shall honor your father and mother He dishonored his father who was in heaven and therefore his days were not prolonged in the place that God the

Lord had given him Six you shall not murder He massacred himself and all of his posterity

Seven you shall not commit adultery For me if he was a virgin, but in eyes and mind he committed spiritual fornication

Hey, you shall not steal but he stole like Aachen That which God had set aside not to be meddled with and then his stealth or his stealing is that which troubles all of Israel Indeed the whole world

Nine not to bear false witness He bore witness against God when he believed the witness of the devil before him

Tent you shall not covet He coveted with an evil covetousness like Amnon Remember Amnon coveted and raped

Tamar and second Samuel 13 like Amnon which cost him his life and all of his progeny

You see Adam filled at every point to uphold the perfection that the law required

He Was the head of all humanity and we all fell in him as James 2 10 has said to be guilty of one part of The law is to be guilty of the whole

Israel received that internal heart engraved law upon Mount Sinai Remember they are

God's Son there They're the next Adam as it were they're meant to finally have the law and experience the presence of God the tabernacling

Temple presence of God as Adam would have found in Eden and yet when they're given the same law

Just as Adam was given it if you do this, you will live if you do this you will live What do they do?

They fail God as he's prosecuting the hardness of of Israel and Judah and in Hosea.

This is chapter 6 of Hosea. Oh Ephraim what shall I do to you? Oh Judah? What shall

I do to you? Your faithfulness is like a morning cloud like the early dew it goes away Faithfulness comes in fits and starts

Therefore I've I've hewn them by the pride chopped them by the prophets I've slain them by the words of my mouth

Your judgments are like white that goes forth. How quickly does light spread god's like that's what my judgment is going to be like upon you

I desire mercy not sacrifice and the knowledge of god more than burnt offerings This is verse 7 but like Adam They transgressed the covenant

They dealt treacherously with me. Do you see? Hosea 6 7

This has always been understood by the church fathers and throughout the middle ages throughout the reformation It's always been understood as adam the problem with the word adam in hebrew is it can be translated as mankind or humanity

And a lot of modern translations say like a man or like mankind they transgress the covenant I I think that's an improper translation

Like adam, they transgressed the covenant my my son My son that I gave the law to my the covenant

I made with them Israel just like adam they broke that covenant What am

I going to do? Both adam and israel break the covenant that is given to them by god

That covenant contains the blessings the promise of life and everlasting presence in god

And then the curse the curse of death and exile removal from the presence of god The hope of blessing was utterly lost in adam's failure and then again by israel's failure

And paul can sum up this whole statement in the words in adam all die first corinthians 15 22

In adam all die That's what we've been establishing up to this point.

This is why the covenant of works is so important Mankind outside of christ is still under adam

Still operating under that covenant god made with adam and in adam all die

Now we've been plunged into this cursed condition where we're no longer able to even begin to keep the perfections of the law required

Adam had a shot We don't But this is the glory

This is what leads us into our third and last section how the covenant of works relates to the gospel What paul says in first corinthians 15 22 is for as in adam all die

Even so in christ all shall be made alive This drama of redemption was bracing and yearning for that gospel promise that comes right after adam's fall

The promise of a seed a serpent crushing seed who had come from the woman the good news of a new adam

A true israel that would bring the covenantal blessing of everlasting life upon his people

And so we see how the covenant of works relates to the gospel This is the beauty and the glory of it all.

This is why you must you must understand and hold on to the covenant of works Our confession again by way of summary in chapter 7 is talking about god's covenant

And though it doesn't go into detail about some of the other covenants within god's word It's trying to give you the biggest tectonic plates of how salvation unfolds to us in three paragraphs

And the first is this covenant of works And then in the second paragraph it talks about this covenant of grace

Which immediately follows the covenant of works adam fails the covenant of works genesis 2

Genesis 3 the gospel promise comes and so begins the covenant of grace Moreover a man having brought himself under the curse of the law by his fall

It pleased the lord to make a covenant of grace Wherein he freely offers unto sinners life and salvation by jesus christ.

This is our confession chapter 20 part 1 One of the things I love about being a baptist great documents the westminster the savoy

We copied everything that was worth copying which was 99 % of it, but we have a few distinctives and one of them is chapter 20

Chapter 19 we follow in of the law of god But then we say boy, we spent a lot of time talking about the law

We should spend some time talking about the gospel and they don't do that. So let's add chapter 20 on the gospel

And 20 .1. What's the very first thing they say about the gospel? the covenant of works being broken by sin

And made unprofitable unto life God was pleased to give forth the promise of christ.

You see The first way they understand the gospel Is by seeing the contrast between the covenant of works, which is broken by sin and the covenant of grace that brings forth christ

In conjunction with the last few weeks of what we've been talking about Mankind is the image of god.

Jesus christ as the true image the one to whom is given all dominion Let's try to just bring that into this discussion

Adam fell from original righteousness as god's image And therefore he could not enter into the glory.

That was his destiny due to his sin Jesus comes as the last adam

Jesus takes his seed where adam could not take his seed into the glory into that confirmed state of glorification

How does jesus do that? This is why it's important How does jesus do that?

To make sure you're you're tracking. Let me just ask the question If I ask you

Does righteousness come through the law What's your answer

You have to say it out loud just think about this think very carefully think precisely

Does righteousness come through the law? Oh I'm talking with a roman catholic friend

Does righteousness come through the law? What's your instinct? Let me even be more specific

Does righteousness come through obedience to the law such that we are saved by works?

Think very carefully very precisely about what's being said here Does righteousness come through obedience to the law such that we are saved by works?

Yes Well, you might because you've been well trained.

You're a gospel believing believer You might say no No, no, no, like pavlov's dog.

I'm trained whenever saved by works is is in the phrase the answer is always no No saved by grace not by works.

Isn't that what paul emphasizes again and again in ephesians? And if you're taking it in that way if it's being brought to you in that way say a galatian judiazer is pressing you

Then you'd be right to answer what paul answers galatians 2 21 I don't set aside the grace of god if Righteousness could come through the law christ died for nothing

Right right there grace Not law righteousness needs to come to us by grace not by law

We're tracking with that, but we have to be more precise The detail of the question makes a world of difference

Yes And this is why the gospel turns upon the covenant of works

Let me put it this way to help you keep in line with what we've been pursuing these past several weeks a sinless image bearer

Made body and soul Was called by god be fruitful multiply fill the earth and as we'll see

In two weeks next week. We have jason austin coming to preach but the week after that as we'll see

He's given a helper to compliment him in dominion He was made son of god

He revealed god's word as a prophet. He's given the law to obey He's put in the garden to work as a priest tending and keeping and guarding as it were

Mediating the presence of god. He's called us to do the earth and rule over the creatures as a king

Starting in the garden of eden, but then expanding it to the ends of the earth Prophet priest king image bearer in covenant with god

But he broke the covenant He transgressed the law He sinned and he brought the curse upon all his house upon all his posterity

And so he was exiled from god's presence exiled out of eden exiled from the temple of the garden

Now he's a corrupted image bearer disobedient to the law a covenant breaker and rebellion against god

And so what does god do When the fullness of the time came god sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law being in the form of god

Did not grasp at equality with god, but made himself with no reputation taking the form of a slave

Coming in the likeness of men And being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient Obedient To the point of death

Even the death of the cross You will never understand how salvation works

If you look at it from the outside and think oh, I put my faith in christ Christ died to forgive sins and all that's true and wonderful and amen but if you want to actually take the the outer covering off of how salvation works and see the gears and the

Imaginations and see how god designed it to function. You must understand the covenant of works What does it mean that christ was born under the law?

What does it mean that christ became obedient? Does righteousness come through the law the answer must be an emphatic yes

This is why we are saved by works not our works But the works that save us are the works of christ

What is the righteousness that makes us righteous what makes his blood righteous meritorious

It is his perfect obedience to the law as a covenant of works

When we say from romans 5 that christ is the last adam This is what we're saying. He's born under the law in the same way that adam was in a sense under the law that covenant

That is to us a covenant of grace was to our savior a covenant of works

And he lived in perfect obedience to the law he did what the first adam could not do He obeyed that covenant of works perfectly and therefore he received the merit the reward of everlasting life

But along the way to deal with covenant breakers Those who are dead in adam dead in trespasses and sins

He took the curse of that covenant the death and the separation of god from that covenant And he went to what to us is our tree of life the cross

Put another way the fruition of our salvation Which is the new covenant that that is the fulfillment of the covenant of grace.

It's the new covenant Was a covenant of works for the last adam for christ

Even though he was perfectly obedient he received the curse the penalty

He received the death as though he were a covenant breaker He received the curse on our behalf.

He became as paul says a curse for us brothers and sisters The covenant of works is significant for this reason.

The whole earth is comprised of only two groups of people Every single person you meet in your life will be in either one or the other of these two groups

They're either law breakers or law keepers They are either under a covenant of works or they're in the covenant of grace to zoom in even further

They're either in adam or they're in christ There's only two groups of people two ways to live and two ways to die

In adam in christ, those are the two groups By works that you can never achieve that will never meet god's standard

That's one way to live. The other is by the pardoning mercy of god through the blood of jesus christ

And two ways to die you either die in the lord or you die in your sins. What does jesus say in john 8?

Unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins You're either in me or apart from me

You see the covenant of work continues even after the fall man's moral inability does not take away his moral responsibility

It's tragic because Man has fallen is unable to keep the demands of the law Often even unable to recognize the demands of the law and yet they will be held to the account of god's perfect requirements

Romans 5 12 through 20 you could spend a month unpacking romans 5 and i'm just going to breeze through it just just to show you again

Why the covenant of works is so important We are coming toward a close. I realize we're getting close to time

Romans 5 beginning in verse 12 Therefore just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin

And thus death spread to all men because all sinned right all men in adam sinning verse 15

For by one man's offense many died Much more the grace of god and the gift by the grace of the one man.

Jesus christ abounded to many And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned

For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation But the free gift which came from many offenses all the sins of all of his people

Resulted in justification and now i'll get paul's zooming in For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one much more those who received

Um those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one jesus christ now

He's zooming in more Therefore as through one man's offense judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation even so Through one man's righteous act the free gift came to all men resulting in justification of life

Okay, zoom in even more and here's the point. Here's the covenant of works For as by one man's disobedience

Many were made sinners So also by one man's obedience

Many will be made righteous Please don't ignore that word that instrumental word by by one man's obedience

Many are made righteous the only way

To be free from the demands of the law as a covenant of works is to be in christ in a covenant of grace

And this is what paul says look at verse 21 as sin reigned in death even so grace might reign through righteousness

To eternal life. Do you see that's the covenant of works, isn't it that christ has achieved?

Obedience to righteousness to the reward of life eternal life That is the covenant of grace

Adams disobedience brings death christ obedience brings life the first and the last adam were under the covenant of works

As all human beings are under Unless they are in christ And therefore under grace

Which is paul saying this is what he means Not under the law, but under grace

Christ's obedience doesn't just bring life as though it were restored to what adam once had We're restored to what adam could not achieve the reward of life eternal life.

John 17 3 This is eternal life That they may know you the only true god and jesus christ whom you have sent

He is life He's the covenant of grace The covenant is in his blood

Do you know him? That god would open your eyes to see the terror of being

Under god's curse because you're under a covenant of works that you've already broken and therefore you're guilty of all of it

There's no way of of repairing that You're ruined from the start

And yet god sent his son to take that curse And to fulfill that covenant so that in him we are law keepers covenant keepers

We're dressed in the righteousness of his obedience And in him we have life and life everlasting.

Listen, you're either in christ or in adam. There's no neutrality. There's no middle ground If you're in adam this morning meaning you don't know christ

You don't trust christ you don't follow him if you're in adam, here's the terror of it all

It is impossible for those in adam to keep the covenant of works It is impossible

But you are directly responsible for all of it I'll say that again.

It is impossible for those in adam to keep the covenant of works Though you are directly responsible for all of it

You're a creature god makes the terms of his covenant But if you're in christ this morning look at here's the beauty of it all

It is impossible for those in christ to lose the covenant of grace

Even though you're directly responsible for none of it Do you see the difference

In adam, you cannot keep the covenant of works and you're responsible for all of it directly

In christ, you cannot lose the covenant of grace and you're directly responsible for none of it. He did it by sheer grace

This is why we must understand genesis one through three in order to understand anything This is why we cannot know the grace of god the covenant of grace the gospel

Unless we understand the covenant of works. This is why we must send the law Before we send the gospel you must know as a christian

What you've been freed from The law is a curse For people that are fallen the law is a curse and you've been freed from that Because even though the law is righteous and holy and good you could not keep it and therefore it could only condemn you

But you've come to christ the last adam who kept that covenant of works who kept that law in perfect obedience

And not only did he satisfy what god required and received the merit that he gives to you everlasting life

He also by his own body broken on the tree Handled the curse he paid the curse

If you're in christ You cannot lose the covenant of grace And you're directly responsible for none of it it's given as a free gift to all who believe

This is the glory and the beauty of the good news Bad news doesn't quite cover bad does it well neither does good news

Good isn't the right word. There is no english word that can contain just how good this news is Let me close with uh words from a hymn just I think beautiful words

Not all the good hymns were written 200 years ago. This one was written in 1986 by a man named kenneth polson

And he's just emphasizing again why we have to understand the law and even begin with the law

If we ever want to understand and rightly apply the gospel You don't you don't look at your own walk in your own life and begin with the gospel

You begin with the law so that you have a need and a refuge in the gospel This is a few stanzas.

Listen to this brothers and sisters Send the law before the gospel

Shine the light revealing sin Men will see they need a savior As their hearts are bared within Weep you sinners under judgment

See yourself before god's law full deserving condemnation Dread the wrath of god in awe

All right There's the law. What do we do now? Come you sinners and take comfort

You convicted and dismayed for god's love is only sown in furrows that his law has made

Yes, you see But the law is digging these trenches in your soul

But that's where the love of god is sown Come you sinners look to jesus.

He has fulfilled the law's demands Christ will turn your dread and sorrow into love for god's commands

How On the cross was christ afflicted There endured the wrath of god the covenantal curse that was upon adam

And now the law no more condemns us Satisfied by his shed blood god has set his law before us

Let his word be our delight as we travel unto glory Persevering in his light.

Let's pray Oh father, we are humbled to consider this gift that is given so richly so freely

So costly this gift of your son whom you sent in the world to be a savior of sinners lost and ruined by the fall

We think of our savior whose whole life was lived And the perfect satisfaction of what your law required.

He lived before you And that perfect communion and joy and delight that adam was meant to live before you in Finding the delight of your law that david found

And throughout psalm 119 in many other places as he delight and meditated upon your day your law by day and by night

He knew as paul could say in romans 7 that your law was holy righteous and good and yet That same law lord was a heavy yoke upon our necks.

It condemned us in word and thought indeed It reminded us that we could never achieve or satisfy the perfections of who you are and what was required to enter into your presence

And therefore it wasn't just his active obedience his active righteousness, but it was his passive submission to your will

That he would be the lamb to be slain That he was led silent as a sheep before shearers.

He was led to the slaughter willingly setting his face toward the cross So that his body and his blood could be an atonement for our sins for our covenant breaking

That he is the last adam would bring his people Into that confirmed state of glory into a time and a place into a presence that will never

Be able to sin again never face the temptations of departing from you or from your ways.

Oh We're thankful lord knowing that we could not do this in of ourselves knowing that we as sinners are dead and our trespasses and sins

We thank you That in due time you sent him to save us And you sent your spirit lord

To open our eyes to take out that heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh that you've brought us into this new covenant

We're thankful lord that we have a savior who loves us so We pray lord that we would understand the cost of our salvation

And therefore the cost of our discipleship that we would count Count the cost and count it worthy lord, whatever you require of us

Whatever you require of our efforts and energies our ambitions our resources Our desires let us let us count it as a worthy sacrifice to be made at the altar of him who loved us

Who was made a slave for us who became obedient to the point of death for us? Let us live for him who gives us life