Covenantalism:

pt.3 Distinctively Christian Covenants, Testimonies, Signs and Works.

In this message we will again first center ourselves on the Faithfulness of YHWH God in considering the two distinctively Christian Covenants of Grace and Redemption made within the Godhead assigned unilaterally to the saints as an elect people chosen in Christ the Son to be saved from sin and promised Eternal life through His Godhead and Power, in His Life, Death and Resurrection. We will consider what the testimony of these covenants are as given by both God and affirmed by man.
We will then take this discussion into the realm of two distinctly Christian Signs of our Faith in the Testimony of the Covenants of God as His Chrisitan saints: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, whereby affirming that:
“We do show the Lord’s death until He come”

and

 “planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection”.
And finally, we will conclude on showing how these two distinctively Christians signs worked in the life of individuals help to compact them into corporate churches by a united testimony of commonly held scriptural Faith.

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Delivered on 3-22-2022 / grego. 7-20-2022

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Compiled by JS LOWTHER
renewedcovenantministry.com
servant@renewedcovenantministry.com

Covenantalism:

pt.3 Distinctively Christian Covenants, Testimonies, Signs and Works.

Psa_25:1  A Psalm of David. Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.
Psa 25:2  O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.
Psa 25:3  Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
Psa 25:4  Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.
Psa 25:5  Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
Psa 25:6  Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.
Psa 25:7  Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.
Psa 25:8  Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
Psa 25:9  The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
Psa 25:10  All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
Psa 25:11  For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.
Psa 25:12  What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.
Psa 25:13  His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.
Psa 25:14  The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
Psa 25:15  Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
Psa 25:16  Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.
Psa 25:17  The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.
Psa 25:18  Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.
Psa 25:19  Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.
Psa 25:20  O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.
Psa 25:21  Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.
Psa 25:22  Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.

There are 3 things I want you to consider from this Psalm concerning our covenant relationship to the LORD:
v. 1-6 teach us of the response of a person of faith, that is a covenant member

1. “O LORD, do I lift up my soul. 2  O my God, I trust in thee” in the christina life we feel that we are the ones who lift up our soul to God in faith, we desire covenant from Him, a declaration of trust.

2. we ask for the truth God’s ways to be taught to us
Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.  Lead me in thy truth, and teach me:

3. this leads us to understand that while we do in fact lift up our soul to God in covenant, the truth is v.5″He is the God of out salvation; on Him do I wait all the day.
The LORD’s tender mercies loving kindnesses; have been ever of old.

It is by this we know; we like David are heirs and assigns of the covenant of Grace and redemption, the before the foundations of the earth covenant made by the Promise of the Son to give to the Father that by the work of the Spirit, He would give his blood in a flesh body… this is the tender mercies & loving kindnesses of God that has ever been of old… and it is according to His mercy, for his goodness’ sake.
and this is the Good and upright lesson the LORD will he teach meek sinners, guiding them in judgment teaching them mercy and truth, and yet is nevertheless true and it is said this is offered:
unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

LXX. Psa_25:10  All the paths of YHWH are mercy and truth unto such That seek his covenant and his testimonies.

Psa 25:11  For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.
Psa 25:12  What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.
Psa 25:13  His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.
Psa 25:14  The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
LXX says Psa 25:14  The Lord is the strength of them that fear him; and his covenant is to manifest truth to them.
Isn’t that an amazing insight.

In many ways it was Psalm 25 that Reformed my mind to consider the very scriptural truth that caused me to relinquish all of my reservations concerning my own works in God’s salvation by His Covenant, and yet my testimony, testifying of my part in that covenant.

It is important we take time to consider the distinction between the relationship of the testimony and the covenant itself, though we are assured the seeking of God’s will is in affect among the highest forms of ‘keeping’ God’s covenant and testimony, the aft of doing so is a testimony in and of itself:

Noah 1828
TEST’IMONY, n. [L. testimonium.] A solemn declaration or affirmation made for the purpose of establishing or proving some fact. Such affirmation in judicial proceedings may be verbal or written, but must be under oath.
Testimony differs from evidence; testimony is the declaration of a witness,
and evidence is the effect of that declaration on the mind, or the degree of light which it affords.
1. Affirmation; declaration. These doctrines are supported by the uniform testimony of the fathers. The belief of past facts must depend on the evidence of human testimony, or the testimony of historians.
2. Open attestation; profession.
3. Witness; evidence; proof of some fact.
Shake off the dust under your feet, for a testimony against them. Mark 6.
4. In Scripture, the two tables of the law.
Thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. Exo 25.
5. The book of the law.
He brought forth the king’s son–and gave him the testimony. 2 Ki 11.

In the Hebrew the word here uses as Testimony is from H5713 Eduth, and it comes from a root which is Ad, and it simply means a fixture, that which testifies to something, the evidence fixed to the fact. And as Webster said, the book of the law was brought to the king in 2 Kings 11 and it says,

2Ki_11:12  And he brought forth the king’s son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king.
The testimony that this was a coronation was the crown, the proclamation of his kingship, his anointing, but specifically, the testimony of this testimony was the Written word of God as recorded in Deut 17, the Law He would rule by in the fear of God, this was his oath the true testimony if he be God’s anointed.
The word Eduth is even more interesting as you find that the Hebrew word for Eden, usually said to mean ‘pleasant’ which is true- is of the same root meaning.
What my point of this interest? that which God has fixed to his covenant and established by His will is his testimony and whatsoever it is- is our pleasure, this is the testimony of one’s covenant with God.
And while in this context the testimony of the king being God’s man is his love or pleasure which he has in God’s law and how his desire and love towards its wisdom and knowledge and understanding is his pleasure this is his testimony.
In the Covenant of Grace which founds the covenant of redemption which is the pinnacle of the perfection of all covenantal dealings in faithfulness, our part if God has succored us in Jesus Christ is not differently our testimony, that is that we as in Christ have pleasure in the fixture of that Word, that everlasting word spoken and given in oath before the foundations of the world as our sure hope, is the basis of all of our pleasure, it is what we witness to and know is affixed to our life in teaching us all the ways of God and even giving proper place to the use of God’s Law as but an extension of that testimony- His law written on our heart and mind.

Eph_1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph_1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood (this is the blood of the covenant), the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Isn’t this a marvelous truth of the decision and will of agreement and council of God predestined to be accomplished in Christ?
The Father we are told chose to do all this before the foundations of the world by the blood of Christ, as a lamb foreordained, a covenant was cut and made with the Son, for this cause was a body prepared for Christ, when he saith in Psa_40 Heb 10:6  In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 
Heb 10:7  Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
And by the Spirit it is deliver to us.

This is our witness our testimony of our covenant, the covenant of redemption and grace in that blood. Our love of the word spoken, before the world only heard in the ears of a council bound in Absolute Faithfulness one to another in a inseparable bond of unity that is our inheritance as purchased possessions, unto the praise of his glory.
We are given the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Eph 1:18  The eyes of understanding that we may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

Here is the unity of all Christendom, of all saints, redeemed in the covenant of redemption made between the father and the son and to accomplished by the work of the transcendent holy spirit of God all on account of the promised blood of Jesus.
And yet, we have different signs of this same testimony of this same Covenant, even among the true saints and elect of God.

Now look at the further expression of this truth manifest in our life:

Eph_2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The doctrine of sanctification teaches us that definitively, here we are “holy or sanctified” in heaven, before, but that in our works of life as his workmanship created in Christ Jesus we also have sanctification to work out progressively.
Within our individual and joint professions of faith in this covenant, which faith in the Word of God alone a lawful word of covenant which we believe in and take pleasure in, we have a sure testimony for our purchase and redemption, yet how to perform the apostle Says:

Rom_7:18  …for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

This is simply the truth of the Christian life and the truth why we have so many professions that have different sighs of the testimony and covenant which we hold, and here is also where we find that delight in the Law is what the inward man must seek after to progress in his sanctification in this fleshly material life.

This is a long introduction, and I hope it in itself is a lesson of the covenant and promise of grace and redemption, but it is needed to show where our unity must lie, and where our differences in works derive from- our faith in delight in and desire to perform the law of God is the testimony of our covenant membership in heaven, but our out ward signs may differ due to our knowledge and understand of how those covenant obligations are to be performed as signs before God, by our conscience and within s joint confession with others in that collective or corporate covenant we enter into with others.

but let me in ending this long introduction with this, in the Reformed or protestant system we have 2 sacraments, as opposed to the RC, which have 7, sacraments are sacred rites and are signs accomplished by works, and in all respects the elements or material substance of these sacraments are the signs or tokens of the testimony from scripture of them (water in baptism and bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper)
Yet the partaking of the elements and acknowledgment of the testimony does not necessitate the fact or confer any fact that one is truly party to the covenant which the sign and testimony of the sacrament by the word of God. In other words, participating in sacred obligations does not mean you are sanctified, doing Christian things doesn’t mean one is a Christian. but rather like the Psalm taught us:

LXX. Psa_25:10  All the paths of YHWH are mercy and truth unto such That seek his covenant and his testimonies.
Psa 25:14  The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant…manifest it’s truth to them.

Accepting our part in what are distinctively “Christian covenants” and while God in every age has used the veiled imagery of these sacraments in covenant our Lord manifest in the flesh place upon these ordinances and good works an especial significance for the converted Christian.

Baptism and the Lord’s supper
These ordinance are covenantal in nature, and have with in their use effective ways to communicate, but not deliver God’s Grace, that is like a circumcised reprobate such as Esau who would sell the birth right of Isaac and Abraham for a bowl of soup and could no more affect the purposes of fruitful multiplicity of God with his unlawful Canaanite wife though he be circumcised, likewise the signs of the water an immersion of baptism for the forgiveness of sin unto repentance and the partaking of the bread of the body of Christ and the cup of the blood of the New covenant can no more render one forgiven or righteous by its physical taking than washing dirt in pure water…the water will rather be defiled.

In all testimonial signs the scripture appoints ‘elements’ and ‘works’ which comprise the ‘Sign’ and completed as a testimony of the Covenant when accompanied by the graciously given faith of God our Saviour.

Baptism: Water and the person being baptized or immersed- these are its major constituent elements.

Lord’s Supper: Bread (made of wheat or common cereal grain), Wine / Vine (Red wine resembling blood), the person Partaking- these are its major constituent elements.

Let’s look at a contrast of a false tradition with the Testimony of Scripture

RC Catechisms 1213 “Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua), and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: “Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word.”

Scripturally 
Baptism as an adult is a covenantal work, a sign that is to be accomplished in faith- just as those other works performed by our fathers, yet not like Circumcision, because it is to be committed to in faith as a testimony thereof:

Mar 16:16  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Belief is not an element, because it is a Spiritual gift, given by Grace, it is “the pricking of the heart at hearing the word”, the words of the Gospel and desiring a sign to show for that inner revelation of the submission we have to Christ:

Act 2:37  Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Act 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

In this way we show Christ’s death and know so:

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Col 2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

And like wise is the Lord’s Supper, in the receiving of the Bread and the Wine in the as often as Christ offered it as the tie of the Passover, and in the partaking of it as one who has acknowledged by faith the former:

1Co_11:24  And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
1Co 11:25  After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood shed for many for the remission of sins. : this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
1Co 11:26  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

And thus we express by the Bread the body that we share with our Lord and the truth of His coming in the flesh as we covenant to that truth with all the faithful before us since the foundation of the world, and importantly we acknowledge by covenant to New Covenant and members to it, as it is unilaterally given to us as individuals who know the Lord and his forgiveness by the blood of Christ as members of the greater Church: a called our community of saints who Christ died for, forgave, taught them to know Him and wrote his law on their heart and mind to be His people.

By this cup we covenantally remember that he said:

Mat 26:29  I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

And therefore, we wait for that day, and for him to come by that covenantal act.

And while I truly extend the olive branch of peace and grace to all those who worship differently than we do within the confines of the covenant of Grace, and I still truly think them Christians in all ways, it is in terms of church covenant that we worship together, and there by that testimony from scripture which I hold and those who believe like me and with me that I am compelled to teach from.