SECOND LONDON BAPTIST CONFESSION OF FAITH 7.1-3
Truth for Life • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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-I want to start tonight by first talking about different ways that Christians have thought about or taught about the structure of the Bible, and I hope you bear with me for a bit. This might seem tedious at first, but I think that it has some importance in how you approach Scripture. And it does have something to do with the topic I want to talk about.
-So, even though the Bible is a collection of 66 works with 40 or so different authors over a period of roughly 1500 years, it tells one story and has one purpose—it tells us God’s dealings with humanity and His plan of redemption for His rebellious creation. No one disputes this. But how the different parts of God’s revelation relate to one another…how the progression of relates to one another…has been a topic of some debate. How does Abraham, Moses, David, and the like relate to Jesus and what’s going on in the New Testament? There have been different angles to this that Christians have taken over the years. Now please understand, that as I am describing these different views that
-First, there is classic dispensationalism. This view breaks history up into different historical eras where God dealt with humanity in distinct ways in the epic of redemption. Generally they believe in seven distinct dispensations where God’s redemptive plan changes over time. They maintain that there is a distinction between Israel and the church with God doing different things with the different people and do not see Israel as a type for anything. God’s promises to Israel are physical while the promises to the church are spiritual.
-Progressive dispensationalism is an offshoot of the classic, the big difference being the allowance for the church having some spiritual fulfillment of the promises to Israel. They see a progression from one dispensation to another that God used to get to salvation.
-Covenant theology is the other major understanding of God’s dealing with humanity. They argue that God has one people throughout redemptive history called Israel in the Old Testament and called the church in the New. God has one saving purpose for them, and that purpose is to redeem sinners from every tribe, tongue, nation, and race through the blood of Jesus Christ. God worked out His purpose through a series of covenants. Generally, they see there are covenant of works and covenant of grace, the latter superseding the former.
-Then there is a view called progressive covenantalism. They see God revealing and unfolding His plan through the covenants that He made, and all of the covenants find their fulfillment and terminus in Christ. So, all of the covenants were ultimately pointing toward what God would do through Christ—God’s saving work is unfolded through the biblical covenants—they are the structure and backbone of God’s revelation.
-The reason I bring all of this up is because of the topic of covenants that we are going to cover tonight. Each of these views does a little something different with the covenants that God made with humanity throughout biblical history. The dispensationalists will seem to see a disconnect between the covenants, each covenant is God doing something different. The covenant theology people will separate the covenants between works and grace.
-You may be wondering where I might lie in this vast sea of theology. I personally lean toward progressive covenantalism. I believe that God revealed Himself in the series of covenants that He made with humanity, with each covenant building upon the previous covenants, ultimately leading to the new covenant with Jesus Christ. All the previous covenants pointed toward Christ in some way, and Christ’s death, resurrection, and ultimately His return fulfilled / will fulfill those covenants. I believe that this is the testimony of Scripture and it follows Scripture in its context. But at this church we allow for discussion and debate over these different views, because it is not a matter of salvation or fellowship.
-We’ve been studying the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith. Let’s look to see what they have to say about this important topic.
Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century (VII. God’s Covenant)
7:1 Though rational creatures are responsible to obey God as their Creator, the distance between God and these creatures is so great that they could never have attained the reward of life except by God’s voluntary condescension. He has been pleased to express this through a covenant framework.
7:2 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 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.
7:3 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 the grace of this covenant have those saved from among the descendants of fallen Adam obtained life and blessed immortality. Humanity is now utterly incapable of being accepted by God on the same terms on which Adam was accepted in his state of innocence.
-Since the Creator is completely different from His creation, He condescends Himself and deals with His creation through a series of covenants. What is a covenant. In general, covenants are agreements between two parties that specify requirements between the two, usually ratified by swearing an oath, and it includes blessings and curses for obedience or failure to the agreement. For the purposes of Scripture, a covenant is a legal agreement between God and man that stipulates the conditions of the relationship.
-God’s relationship with creation, and more specifically with humanity, began with a covenant, and then we could say it was redeemed through covenant, and the relationship will eternally remain based on covenant. All the covenants depend on and grow out of each other, and define one single promise given to man by God. Paul refers to this:
11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh—who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body by human hands—
12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
-Paul tells the Ephesians that they had no covenant with God, therefore they had no relationship with God. They were strangers to the covenants of promise. There were several covenants leading to the final covenant, all of which had the promise of true life in God. Although the term covenant is not always used, the attributes of covenant are still present and we can see covenant at work.
-For example, God makes a covenant with Adam. Adam is given charge over God’s creation and is given the promise of life if he were to obey God. Adam is the covenant representative for humanity, and what happens to humanity is dependent upon Adam following covenant. We know that Adam broke this covenant, disobeyed God, introduced sin and death into the world, and ushered in the need for future covenants. But God does not end the relationship with Adam due to his disobedience. Instead, God makes promises (and makes future covenants) which define God’s redeeming work in bringing humanity back into relationship with God. So, God starts with the promise of:
15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
-So, consider this part of the covenant—there is a promise that the person and work of the serpent were to be crushed. We know that this was fulfilled at the cross and it bears its fruit for all of eternity.
-Next, there is a covenant with Noah. This covenant is partially a renewal of previous covenant, and a bridge to future covenants. God said:
18 but I will confirm my covenant with you. You will enter the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
12 And God said, “This is the guarantee of the covenant I am making with you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all subsequent generations:
15 then I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures of all kinds. Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy all living things.
-God makes a guarantee to mankind that the world will continue in its natural order so that He can accomplish redemption for mankind. The earth will be the framework where Christ’s saving work will take place.
-God would later take one man out of his idolatrous family and make a covenant to be a vessel through whom the world would be blessed. God called Abraham out of his home to see a land given to his descendants which will set the stage for his future work of redemption. God said to Abraham in covenant:
18 “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have listened to My voice.”
-The seed of Genesis 3:15 that will crush the serpent’s head is the seed of Genesis 22:18 by whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed. And Paul makes it abundantly clear:
16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And TO YOUR SEED,” that is, Christ.
-The Mosaic covenant provides the regulation and legislation of the nation through whom that seed would be born. The sacrifices required and the ceremonial laws pointed to the ultimate work in Jesus Christ. For example, the Passover and the Day of Atonement all point to what Christ would accomplish through His death and resurrection. The book of Hebrews makes it clear that the sacrifices of the Mosaic law could not permanently cover sin, and it talks about how the Aaronic priests were not able to mediate a good enough covenant. It all points to Christ.
-Then there is the covenant with David. Out of all the families of Israel, David was chosen to be king and his lineage would bear the King who would have an eternal throne. He is told:
13 He will build a house for my name, and I will make his dynasty permanent.
16 Your house and your kingdom will stand before me permanently; your dynasty will be permanent.’ ”
-So, the seed of the woman would be the seed of Abraham who would be the seed or descendant of David that would sit on God’s throne over God’s people forever and ever. All of this pointing to the new and final covenant, of which the prophets prophesied about what it would entail:
31 “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.
32 It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” says the Lord.
33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land,” says the Lord. “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people.
-See also Ezekiel 37:24-28. And Jesus Christ ushered in this new covenant which fulfilled all the other covenants with Adam, Abraham, Moses, and David. Jesus, at the Last Supper, made it clear:
20 And in the same way he took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
-And what that means for us is that if we are in Christ, we are partakers of everything that God was leading up to in redemption. There is nothing after Christ—He was always the end game. And we can sit secure in the knowledge that God’s eternal promises are ours. And may it cause us to pray for those who are not yet part of the covenant...