June 16, 2019 (evening)

God’s Covenant

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.

(NASB95)

10 “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’ ”

(NASB95)

7 “If you are righteous, what do you give to Him,

Or what does He receive from your hand?

8 “Your wickedness is for a man like yourself,

And your righteousness is for a son of man.

2. Since humanity brought itself under the curse of the law by its fall, it pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace

(NASB95)

17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

(NASB95)

10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.”

(NASB95)

20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets

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

(NASB95)

3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

(NASB95)

15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.

(NASB95) 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

and promises to give his Holy Spirit to all who are ordained to eternal life, to make them willing and able to believe.

(NASB95)

26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

(NASB95)

44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me

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

(NASB95)

15 And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed;

He shall bruise you on the head,

And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

After that, it was revealed step by step until the full revelation of it was completed in the New Testament

(NASB95)

God’s Final Word in His Son

1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,

This covenant is based on the eternal covenant transaction between the Father and the Son concerning the redemption of the elect

(NASB95)

9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,

(NASB95)

2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,

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

(NASB95)

6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

(NASB95)

12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

(NASB95)

56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”