The sermon by Eric Bechler explores Chapter 7, Paragraph 2 of the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession, focusing on the concept of covenants in the Bible. It examines three major covenants: the covenant of works, the covenant of grace, and the covenant of redemption. The covenant of works, made between God and Adam, was based on obedience to God's commands, with the promise of eternal life and the penalty of death for disobedience. Adam's failure to obey led to sin and death entering the world, affecting all of humanity. The covenant of grace, however, offers hope through faith in Jesus Christ. It is a sovereign arrangement where God provides salvation to those who believe in Christ. The covenant of redemption, made between God the Father and God the Son, involves Jesus fulfilling specific conditions, including assuming human nature, obeying the law, and bearing humanity's sins. This covenant ensures that God's elect are called to faith and receive eternal life. The sermon emphasizes the importance of understanding these covenants and encourages further study through various theological resources.

We continue our study in Chapter 7 of God's covenant. To remind you what I said last week, a covenant is a binding agreement, a contract between two or more parties. Furthermore, there are three basic elements of a covenant. There are promises, there are conditions, and there are penalties. When God is making a covenant, it is God, not us, making the covenant.

It is a sovereign arrangement. In this chapter, we have and will be covering three of the major covenants, the covenant of works, the covenant of grace, and the covenant of redemption. Last week we briefly discussed the covenant of works, obedience to the law and obedience to God's commands. Who were the parties to this covenant? God and Adam, and the rest of mankind through Adam.

What were the elements of this covenant? The promise was eternal life. The conditions were perfect. Obedience and the penalty was death. This started with Adam, who was created in the image of God who was created good and righteous.

Adam had only to obey God's command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam was righteous up until that moment, but Adam was unable to obey God's command and thus sin entered into the world and by his sin death. Because Adam was the representative head for all mankind, his posterity, with the exception of Christ, we're all born into sin. We all have a corrupt nature, a sin nature. All that we do is tainted with sin.

As the paragraph stated, we can never attain the reward of eternal life. We cannot satisfy the conditions of the covenant of works and therefore receive the penalty death. Fortunately, we have a loving and merciful God who has provided a way, the way. Through a covenant of grace we have hope. Through faith in his son Jesus Christ we can attain the reward of life.

This is where we pick up this morning in paragraph 2 focusing on the covenant of grace. We'll break it out into three different parts. In the first section We read again, moreover man having brought himself under the curse of the law by his fall It pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace God commanded Adam not to eat of one of the trees in the garden We read from Genesis 2 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Adam was not able to obey God's commands and the condition of the covenant of works and thus falls under the curse of the law and receives the penalty of death. Romans 5 tells us, through Adam's trespass, the representative head of mankind, all have sinned and have a corrupted nature. Romans 5.12, therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sins.

And in the first part of Romans 5 19, for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. We also can read from Galatians 3 10, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed it is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Which leads us where we ended last week, hopeless and incapable, cursed. Our paragraph this morning, though offers hope and offers a new path, a new possibility. It continues, it pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace.

Covenant of grace. This is a familiar term to many people, however there can be some confusion or disagreements when discussing the covenant of grace and the covenant of redemption. So I want to take a moment to go through the specifics of each so that when we talk of them we're not confusing one for another. We'll start with the covenant of redemption. We'll look at the parties, the conditions, and the promises of this covenant.

As we find in discussing the Trinity, we don't find the actual word Trinity in Scripture, but Scripture clearly describes it. The same is true for the covenant of redemption. It's nowhere to be found, but it's described throughout many passages. Who are the parties for this covenant? The covenant of redemption, God the Father and God the Son.

The Father had a plan of salvation for his people. This was actually set in place even before the creation. God the Father made a covenant, a covenant of redemption with God the Son. And God the Father laid out the conditions for this covenant. And God the Son was to satisfy these conditions and receive the promises.

And what was this work? What were these conditions? What was the work assigned to our Redeemer? I'll read from Charles Hodge and his systematic theology about the three works or three things assigned to the Son. One, he was to assume our nature, humbling himself to be born of a woman and to be found in fashion as a man.

This was to be a real incarnation, not a mere theophany, which is just an appearance of God to man, such as occurred repeatedly under the old dispensation. He was to become flesh, to take part of flesh and body, to be bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, made in all things like unto his brethren, yet without sin, that he might be touched with a sense of our infirmities, and able to sympathize with those who are tempted, being himself also tempted. Two, he was to be made under the law, voluntarily undertaking to fulfill all righteousness by obeying the law of God perfectly in all the forms in which it had been made obligatory on man. And third, he was to bear our sins to be a curse for us, offering himself as a sacrifice or propitiation to God in expiation of the sins of man. This involved his whole life of humiliation, sorrow and suffering, and his ignomious death upon the cross under the hiding of his father's countenance.

What he was to do after this pertains to his exaltation and reward. Paul tells us the same thing in his letter to the Philippians in chapter 2 verses 5 through 11 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We know from scripture that Christ completed the work assigned to the conditions of the covenant.

We read in John 17, 4, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And let's look at what the promises were that were given to the Son when He finished the work. Again I turn to Charles Hodges and his systematic theology. It lists eight promises the Father gave to the Son in this covenant made in eternity. They are, one, that God would form a purified church for his Son, that the Son would receive the Spirit without measure, that he would be ever-present to support him, that he would deliver him from death and exalt him to his right hand, that he would have the Holy Spirit to send to whom he willed, that all the Father gave to him would come to him and none of these would be lost, that multitudes would partake of his redemption and his messianic kingdom, and that he would see the travail of his soul and be satisfied.

As R.C. Sproul says, because God honored the eternal covenant of redemption, Christ became the heir of his Father's promises. And because this covenant was never violated, We reap its benefits as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. That was the covenant of redemption between God the Father, God the Son. Now, let's look at the covenant of grace.

Dr. Kim Riddelbarger describes it in this way, The covenant of grace is the historical outworking of an eternal covenant of redemption in which the members of the Holy Trinity decreed that Jesus was to be the Redeemer of those whom the Father had chosen in him. That Jesus would do this on behalf of and in the place of all those sinners chosen from before the foundation of the world. This means that God's saving grace is not directed to the world in general, but to those specific individuals whom he intends to save. In this covenant of redemption, the Holy Spirit will apply the work of Christ to all those whom the Father had chosen and for whom the Son will die, ensuring that all of God's elect will come to faith in Jesus Christ through the preaching of the gospel, which is the divinely appointed means by which God's elect are called to faith.

Again, let's look at who are the parties in his covenant of grace. We see God and his people, and in this Christ is acting as a mediator and surety for us. In Hebrews 9, 15, and for this cause, he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, For the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. What are the conditions for us? Faith in Jesus Christ.

What are the promises? Eternal life. We see a contrast between the failure of Adam to keep the law and the perfect obedience of Christ our mediator and surety in his atoning work in Paul's letter to the Romans in chapter 5 17 through 21. For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more will they receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation.

Even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin reigneth unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." So hopefully with this, you'll have a better understanding of these three covenants. Although this is really just a very superficial discussion about it, There's volumes and volumes of books and sermons.

And actually I would recommend to you to dig into this and really try to get a little deeper in these covenants. The beginner ministries is a wonderful source for these topics. Sermon audio has endless sermons on this as well. There's a lot of places out there that discuss these covenants. Let's touch back as we continue on in the paragraph in the next section, wherein he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in Him that they may be saved.

The point not to miss here is the free gift. It's not deserved, it's not earned, it has nothing to do with you or me. It's only by faith in Christ. And that faith comes from God. Clearly we read it in Ephesians 2 8, for by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves is the gift of God.

And of course in John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. In the last part of our paragraph, in promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life His Holy Spirit to make them willing and able to believe. If we look in Ezekiel 36, 27, 6 and 27, a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them." And in the Gospel of John 6 44 and 45, No man can come to me except the Father, which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me.

We live in a fallen world. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and we know that there is none that is good, no not one. In a world based on the covenant of works, there is only death and hopelessness. Praise God that we have a God who loves us and is merciful and in his perfect wisdom he set in place a covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son that is the foundation of that covenant of grace which begins back in Genesis 315 and goes forward through history. Praise God for his grace and mercy and don't forget to thank him for all that he has done for you and for me.

Amen. In.