Launch Sale for the New City Catechism Curriculum
Verses for Your Conversations with Mormons by Amy Hall
What Is the Regulative Principle? by Derek Thomas
Five Marks of Effective Prayer by H.B. Charles, Jr
Don Carson: How to Destroy Evangelism with Political Animosity from Tony Reinke
Popcorn Theology disccuss the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic, The Terminator
Inerrancy was Really the Issue by Tom Nettles
5 Reflections from 10 Years of Daily Bible Reading by Allen Nelson IV
Matthew Barrett on the covenant of redemption
Showing posts with label Covenant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Covenant. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Charles Spurgeon: God In The Covenant
What a glorious covenant the second covenant is! Well might it be called "a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." Heb. viii. 6. It is so glorious that the very thought of it is enough to overwhelm the soul, when it discerns the amazing condescension and infinite love of God, in having framed a covenant for such unworthy creatures, for such glorious purposes, with such disinterested motives. It is better than the other covenant, the covenant of works, which was made with Adam; or that covenant which is said to have been made with Israel, on the day when they came out of Egypt.
It is better, for it is founded upon a better principle. The old covenant was founded on the principle of merit; it was, "Serve God and thou shalt be rewarded for it; if thou walkest perfectly in the fear of the Lord, God will walk well towards thee, and all the blessings of Mount Gerizim shall come upon thee, and thou shalt be exceedingly blessed in this world, and the world which is to come." But that covenant fell to the ground, because, although it was just that man should be rewarded for his good works, or punished for his evil ones, yet man being sure to sin, and since the fall infallibly tending towards iniquity, the covenant was not suitable for his happiness, nor could it promote his eternal welfare. But the new covenant, is not founded on works at all, it is a covenant of pure unmingled grace; you may read it from its first word to its last, and there is not a solitary syllable as to anything to be done by us. The whole covenant is a covenant, not so much between man and his Maker as between Jehovah and man's representative, the Lord Jesus Christ. The human side of the covenant has been already fulfilled by Jesus, and there remains nothing now but the covenant of giving, not the covenant of requirements. The whole covenant with regard to us, the people of God, now stands thus: "I will give this, I will bestow that; I will fulfill this promise; I will grant that favour." But there is nothing for us to do; he will work all our works in us; and the very graces that are sometimes represented as being stipulations of the covenant, are promised to us. He gives us faith; he promises to give us the law in our inward parts, and to write it on our hearts.
It is a glorious covenant, I say, because it is founded on simple mercy and unmixed grace; quite irrespective of creature-doings, or anything that is to be performed by man; and hence this covenant surpasses the other in stability. Where there is anything of man, there is always a degree of mutability; for creatures, and change, and uncertainty always go together. But since this new covenant hath now nothing whatever to do with the creature, so far as the creature has to do anything, but only so far he is to receive: the idea of change is utterly and entirely gone. It is God's covenant, and therefore it is an unchanging covenant. If there be something which I am to do in the covenant, then is the covenant insecure; and although happy as Adam, I may yet become miserable as Satan. But if the covenant be all on God's part, then if my name be in that covenant, my soul is as secure as if I were now walking the golden streets; and if any blessing be in the covenant, I am as certain to receive that blessing as if I already grasped it in my hands; for the promise of God is sure to be followed by fulfilment; the promise never faileth; it always bringeth with it the whole of that which it is intended to convey, and the moment I receive it by faith, I am sure of the blessing itself. Oh! how infinitely superior is this covenant to the other in its manifest security! It is beyond the risk or hazard of the least uncertainty.
But I have been thinking for the last two or three days, that the covenant of grace excels the other covenant most marvelously in the mighty blessings which it confers. What does the covenant of grace convey? I had thought this morning of preaching a sermon upon "The covenant of grace; what are the blessings it gives to God's children?" But when I began to think of it, there was so much in the covenant, that if I had only read a catalogue of the great and glorious blessings, wrapped up within its folds, I should have needed to occupy nearly the whole of the day in making a few simple observations upon each of them. Consider the great things God has given in the covenant. He sums them up by saying he hath given "all things." He has given you eternal life in Christ Jesus; yea, he has given Christ Jesus to be yours; he has made Christ heir of all things, and he has made you joint-heir with him; and hence he has given you everything. Were I to sum up that mighty masks of unutterable treasure which God has conveyed to every elect soul by that glorious covenant, time would fail me. I therefore commence with one great blessing conveyed to us by the covenant, and then on other Sabbaths I will, by Divine permission, consider separately, one by one, sundry other things which the covenant conveys.
We commence then by the first thing, which is enough to startle us by its immense value; in fact, unless it had been written in God's Word, we never could have dreamed that such a blessing could have been ours. God himself, by the covenant becomes the believer's own portion and inheritance. "I will be their God."
And now we shall begin with this subject in this way. We shall show you first that this is a special blessing. God is the special possession of the elect, whose names are in the covenant. Secondly, for a moment or two we shall speak of this as being an exceedingly precious blessing, "I will be their God." Thirdly, we shall dwell upon the security of this blessing, "I will be their God." And fourthly we shall endeavour to stir you up to make good use of this blessing, so freely and liberally conveyed to you by the eternal covenant of grace; "I will be their God."
Stop just one moment and think it over before we start. In the covenant of grace God himself conveys himself to you and becomes yours. Understand it: God—all that is meant by that word—eternity, infinity, omnipotence, omniscience, perfect justice, infallible rectitude, immutable love—all that is meant by God—Creator, Guardian, Preserver, Governor, Judge,—all that that great word "GOD" can mean, all of goodness and of love, all of bounty and of grace—all that, this covenant gives you, to be your absolute property as much as anything you can call your own. "I will be their God." We say, pause over that thought. If I should not preach at all, there is enough in that, if opened up and applied by the all-glorious Spirit, to excite your you during the whole of the Sabbath-day. "I will be their God."
Click here to read the sermon in its entirety.
It is better, for it is founded upon a better principle. The old covenant was founded on the principle of merit; it was, "Serve God and thou shalt be rewarded for it; if thou walkest perfectly in the fear of the Lord, God will walk well towards thee, and all the blessings of Mount Gerizim shall come upon thee, and thou shalt be exceedingly blessed in this world, and the world which is to come." But that covenant fell to the ground, because, although it was just that man should be rewarded for his good works, or punished for his evil ones, yet man being sure to sin, and since the fall infallibly tending towards iniquity, the covenant was not suitable for his happiness, nor could it promote his eternal welfare. But the new covenant, is not founded on works at all, it is a covenant of pure unmingled grace; you may read it from its first word to its last, and there is not a solitary syllable as to anything to be done by us. The whole covenant is a covenant, not so much between man and his Maker as between Jehovah and man's representative, the Lord Jesus Christ. The human side of the covenant has been already fulfilled by Jesus, and there remains nothing now but the covenant of giving, not the covenant of requirements. The whole covenant with regard to us, the people of God, now stands thus: "I will give this, I will bestow that; I will fulfill this promise; I will grant that favour." But there is nothing for us to do; he will work all our works in us; and the very graces that are sometimes represented as being stipulations of the covenant, are promised to us. He gives us faith; he promises to give us the law in our inward parts, and to write it on our hearts.
It is a glorious covenant, I say, because it is founded on simple mercy and unmixed grace; quite irrespective of creature-doings, or anything that is to be performed by man; and hence this covenant surpasses the other in stability. Where there is anything of man, there is always a degree of mutability; for creatures, and change, and uncertainty always go together. But since this new covenant hath now nothing whatever to do with the creature, so far as the creature has to do anything, but only so far he is to receive: the idea of change is utterly and entirely gone. It is God's covenant, and therefore it is an unchanging covenant. If there be something which I am to do in the covenant, then is the covenant insecure; and although happy as Adam, I may yet become miserable as Satan. But if the covenant be all on God's part, then if my name be in that covenant, my soul is as secure as if I were now walking the golden streets; and if any blessing be in the covenant, I am as certain to receive that blessing as if I already grasped it in my hands; for the promise of God is sure to be followed by fulfilment; the promise never faileth; it always bringeth with it the whole of that which it is intended to convey, and the moment I receive it by faith, I am sure of the blessing itself. Oh! how infinitely superior is this covenant to the other in its manifest security! It is beyond the risk or hazard of the least uncertainty.
But I have been thinking for the last two or three days, that the covenant of grace excels the other covenant most marvelously in the mighty blessings which it confers. What does the covenant of grace convey? I had thought this morning of preaching a sermon upon "The covenant of grace; what are the blessings it gives to God's children?" But when I began to think of it, there was so much in the covenant, that if I had only read a catalogue of the great and glorious blessings, wrapped up within its folds, I should have needed to occupy nearly the whole of the day in making a few simple observations upon each of them. Consider the great things God has given in the covenant. He sums them up by saying he hath given "all things." He has given you eternal life in Christ Jesus; yea, he has given Christ Jesus to be yours; he has made Christ heir of all things, and he has made you joint-heir with him; and hence he has given you everything. Were I to sum up that mighty masks of unutterable treasure which God has conveyed to every elect soul by that glorious covenant, time would fail me. I therefore commence with one great blessing conveyed to us by the covenant, and then on other Sabbaths I will, by Divine permission, consider separately, one by one, sundry other things which the covenant conveys.
We commence then by the first thing, which is enough to startle us by its immense value; in fact, unless it had been written in God's Word, we never could have dreamed that such a blessing could have been ours. God himself, by the covenant becomes the believer's own portion and inheritance. "I will be their God."
And now we shall begin with this subject in this way. We shall show you first that this is a special blessing. God is the special possession of the elect, whose names are in the covenant. Secondly, for a moment or two we shall speak of this as being an exceedingly precious blessing, "I will be their God." Thirdly, we shall dwell upon the security of this blessing, "I will be their God." And fourthly we shall endeavour to stir you up to make good use of this blessing, so freely and liberally conveyed to you by the eternal covenant of grace; "I will be their God."
Stop just one moment and think it over before we start. In the covenant of grace God himself conveys himself to you and becomes yours. Understand it: God—all that is meant by that word—eternity, infinity, omnipotence, omniscience, perfect justice, infallible rectitude, immutable love—all that is meant by God—Creator, Guardian, Preserver, Governor, Judge,—all that that great word "GOD" can mean, all of goodness and of love, all of bounty and of grace—all that, this covenant gives you, to be your absolute property as much as anything you can call your own. "I will be their God." We say, pause over that thought. If I should not preach at all, there is enough in that, if opened up and applied by the all-glorious Spirit, to excite your you during the whole of the Sabbath-day. "I will be their God."
Click here to read the sermon in its entirety.
Sunday, October 23, 2016
God's Covenant
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 hath been pleased to express by way of covenant.
Luke 17:10; Job 35:7,8
Moreover, 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, requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved; and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life, His Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe.
Gen. 2:17; Gal. 3:10; Rom. 3:20,21; Rom. 8:3; Mark 16:15,16; John 3:16; Ezek. 36:26,27; John 6:44,45; Ps. 110:3
This covenant is revealed in the gospel; first of all to Adam in the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman, and afterwards by farther steps, until the full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament; and it is founded in that eternal covenant transaction that was between the Father and the Son about the redemption of the elect; and it is alone by the grace of this covenant that all the posterity of fallen Adam that ever were saved did obtain life and blessed immortality, man being now utterly incapable of acceptance with God upon those terms on which Adam stood in his state of innocency.
Gen. 3:15; Heb. 1:1; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2; Heb. 11;6,13; Rom. 4:1,2; Acts 4:12; John 8:56
Adapted from the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith
Luke 17:10; Job 35:7,8
Moreover, 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, requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved; and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life, His Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe.
Gen. 2:17; Gal. 3:10; Rom. 3:20,21; Rom. 8:3; Mark 16:15,16; John 3:16; Ezek. 36:26,27; John 6:44,45; Ps. 110:3
This covenant is revealed in the gospel; first of all to Adam in the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman, and afterwards by farther steps, until the full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament; and it is founded in that eternal covenant transaction that was between the Father and the Son about the redemption of the elect; and it is alone by the grace of this covenant that all the posterity of fallen Adam that ever were saved did obtain life and blessed immortality, man being now utterly incapable of acceptance with God upon those terms on which Adam stood in his state of innocency.
Gen. 3:15; Heb. 1:1; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2; Heb. 11;6,13; Rom. 4:1,2; Acts 4:12; John 8:56
Adapted from the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Book Review: Progressive Covenantalism
If you are already confused, don't worry, you are not alone in this matter. In fact, if you really want to study New Covenant Theology and what they believe, you will find there are various beliefs in New Covenant Theology. Has anyone taken aspirin yet? If you have not, keep reading.
One belief on New Covenant Theology is a belief called, which is also the title of this book edited by Stephen J Wellum and Brent E Parker, Progressive Covenantalism. What is in the world is progressive covenantalism? Here is how it is defined in the book:
Progressive seeks to underscore the unfolding nature of God’s revelation over time, while covenantalism emphasizes that God’s plan unfolds through the covenants and that all of the covenants find their fulfillment, telos, and terminus in Christ. We strongly argue for the unity of God’s plan-promise culminating in the new covenant. Our focus on the new covenant is not to exclude the other covenants since in God’s plan each covenant is significant. In order to discern that significance, each covenant must be placed in its own covenantal location and then placed in terms of what covenant(s) preceded it and follow it before we can rightly discern how God’s entire plan is fulfilled in Christ. By doing this, we interpret Scripture on its own terms and discover God’s glorious plan unveiled before our eyes. We learn how in Christ all of God’s promises are yes and amen (2 Cor 1:20).
The editors want to make it absolutely clear that they do not want their view to viewed in the light of New Covenant Theology, in which, they made reference to Kingdom Through Covenant (KTC), which Wellum was one of the authors:
In KTC we said that our view was a subset of new covenant theology (NCT), but we did not prefer that label, hence the reason for the title of this present work. Even though we respect many who are identified with NCT, our hesitation to use the label was because we were not in full agreement with the diverse views fitting under its banner. For example, some in NCT deny a creation covenant and Christ’s active obedience and imputation of righteousness and hold little instructive place for the Mosaic law in the church’s life—all points we reject. In addition, some distinguish the old and new covenants merely in terms of the categories of external and internal, or that the old covenant was not gracious, or follow the “unconditional-conditional” covenantal distinction—all ideas we cannot endorse. Yet some who embrace NCT also resonate with our proposal, although we prefer to use the “progressive covenantal” label.
Progressive Covenantalism is another view of how God has fulfilled his covenant to his people without denying the previous covenants, but from what I can tell, it seems this view sounds like God is unveiling his revelation through various parts of history. I hope I am understanding this correctly because I am still trying to understand what this view is suppose to communicate. Where is that bottle of aspirin?
The rest of book contains subjects from various authors which include Wellum and Parker themselves along with Jason Meyer, yes, the same guy that replaced John Piper at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis as preaching pastor, and Thomas Schreiner. As I looked through the book, the more I thought this was taking a Reformed Baptist view point of the covenant yet they are not. However, I do agree with their standings on dispensationalism.
Those who hold covenant theology, whether Baptist or Presbyterian, can agree that dispensationalism is not the best way to read the Bible especially when it communicates that Israel is separate from the New Covenant. Yet, there are some Baptists that don't want to hold the covenant theology view because of the stigma (for lack of a better word) that you believe in paedo baptism.
There were a lot of points of agreement in this book as well as some points of disagreement. I think it would have been better if I have read KTC prior to reading this book to have a better understanding of progressive covenantalism. Each author do communicate their points very well. Should believers read this book? Yes. As I have said before in various posts, it is important to know all views of different theological beliefs as long as we hold the central truths of the gospel that Jesus lived on our behalf, died in our place for our sins, rose from the dead, and one day will return to make all things new.
Thanks B&H Publishing Group for letting me review this book.
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