The Covenant of Grace

Below is a transcript from a Spurgeon sermon where he describes this covenant and then wonders what it would have been like to be to hear this covenant being made.

“Now, in this covenant of grace, we must first of all observe the high contracting parties between whom it was made. The covenant of grace was made before the foundation of the world between God the Father, and God the Son; or to put it in a yet more scriptural light, it was made mutually between the three divine persons of the adorable Trinity. I cannot tell you it in the glorious celestial tongue in which it was written: I am fain to bring it down to the speech which suiteth to the ear of flesh, and to the heart of the mortal. Thus, I say, run the covenant, in ones like these:”

"I, the Most High Jehovah, do hereby give unto my only begotten and well-beloved Son, a people, countless beyond the number of stars, who shall be by him washed from sin, by him preserved, and kept, and led, and by him, at last, presented before my throne, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. I covenant by oath, and swear by myself, because I can swear by no greater, that these whom I now give to Christ shall be for ever the objects of my eternal love. Them I will forgive through the merit of the blood. To these will I give a perfect righteousness; these will I adopt and make my sons and daughters, and these shall reign with me through Christ eternally."

Thus run that glorious side of the covenant. The Holy Spirit also, as one of the high contracting parties on this side of the covenant, gave his declaration,

"I hereby covenant," saith he, "that all whom the Father giveth to the Son, I will in due time quicken. I will show them their need of redemption; I will cut off from them all groundless hope, and destroy their refuges of lies. I will bring them to the blood of sprinkling; I will give them faith whereby this blood shall be applied to them, I will work in them every grace; I will keep their faith alive; I will cleanse them and drive out all depravity from them, and they shall be presented at last spotless and faultless."

This was the one side of the covenant, which is at this very day being fulfilled and scrupulously kept. As for the other side of the covenant this was the part of it, engaged and covenanted by Christ. He thus declared, and covenanted with his Father:

"My Father, on my part I covenant that in the fullness of time I will become man. I will take upon myself the form and nature of the fallen race. I will live in their wretched world, and for my people I will keep the law perfectly. I will work out a spotless righteousness, which shall be acceptable to the demands of thy just and holy law. In due time I will bear the sins of all my people. Thou shalt exact their debts on me; the chastisement of their peace I will endure, and by my stripes they shall be healed. My Father, I covenant and promise that I will be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. I will magnify thy law, and make it honourable. I will suffer all they ought to have suffered. I will endure the curse of thy law, and all the vials of thy wrath shall be emptied and spent upon my head. I will then rise again; I will ascend into heaven; I will intercede for them at thy right hand; and I will make myself responsible for every one of them, that not one of those whom thou hast given me shall ever be lost, but I will bring all my sheep of whom, by thy blood, thou hast constituted me the shepherd—I will bring every one safe to thee at last."

-Charles Spurgeon-

Rekindling The Spirit

Thoughts from my brother Todd Mace:

If you are a Christian and going through rough times of mourning right now, what I have to say regarding stalled enthusiasm is not intended for your benefit. What I want to say to you is that the Christian body of believers cares for you, loves you, and is praying for you. Those of us that are not in mourning will continue marching into the world, waving the Christian flag of God and waiting for your return. Trust in God in the dark until the light returns.

For all those Christians that are not in mourning and your enthusiasm for being a Christian is stalled, perhaps you need to mix up your spiritual routine and experience God in a different way than normal.

First of all, you must read the word of God every day. You need to stay in the word to stay near to God.

Secondly, maintain 100% of your free thinking focused on spiritual things. To rekindle the flame for God you cannot afford 1% of your free thinking to be wasted. What we think about when we are free to think is what we are, or will soon become. Once the flame is blazing again, you will be better suited to balance your free thinking. More than likely, how you got here in the first place is that your balance of thoughts between the spiritual matters and the world is not where it should be. Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Here are a few suggestions to follow for a month that will help fill your mind with spiritual thoughts. Part of the problem may be you have developed a few bad habits. It requires a minimum of 30 days of consistent altered behavior to change a habit.

When you listen to music, listen to only Christian music, and listen to it every chance you get. Music touches your heart and spirit. There is a whole new genre of Christian music out there today. Go online - check it out.

When you read other things than the Word, choose solid Christian authors. It is good to mix up your reading of the word with books by solid Christian authors such as; AW Tozer, CS Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, Andrew Murray, Thomas Merton, writings from the Puritans, or Hymns from John Wesley. Just remember this; all the answers are in the word, not in books written by men. The good books written by men point you in the direction of the word. A good rule of thumb for time you have to read might be 70% in the word and 30% other books.

Shut down the influence of the world on your free thoughts for a month. Do not spend any of your free time reading the newspaper, watching TV, reading world, business or entertainment magazines. No need to worry; you will not miss the end of the world if it should come during this time of abstention from these items.

Go be inspired by the awesomeness of God and spend some time alone observing the wonders of his creation. His creation is everywhere, pick some place close your home and marvel at God’s creation for a while.

Experience a glimmer of the willpower required by Christ to endure the physical and mental suffering on the cross, knowing he had the power to stop it at any time. Give up an addictive substance or an addictive behavior, fast, or improve the temple of the spirit -your physical body. It is one thing to endure pain when you cannot control it. Your spirit will strengthen when you drive yourself through pain that you are experiencing for a purpose, all the time knowing you can stop the pain anytime at your own will.

Experience the love of God; share the word with other solid Christians. There is nothing more beautiful than a person filled with the Spirit.

Experience the humility of Christ, serve someone and give God all the Glory
If you can commit to doing these things every day for a month, you perspective on life will change and the flame in your heart for God will surely grow.

Satan will not bother a man who has quit fighting. But the cost of quitting will be one of peaceful stagnation.
AW Tozer