Sermon #149 Series: Isaiah

Title: Christ The Gift Of The Covenant

Text: Isaiah 49: 8

Subject: Christ The Gift of God

Date: Sunday Evening – May 2, 1993

Introduction:

You will find my text right in the middle of Isaiah 49:8 – “I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people.” This is the promise of God the Father to his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ – “I will give thee for a covenant of the people.”

1. We rejoice to know that there is an everlasting covenant of grace and salvation by which the triune God has secured the salvation and everlasting glory of all his elect from eternity (Eph. 1:3-14; I Tim. 1: 9; Jer. 31: 31-34).

2. We delight to know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the Mediator of the Covenant (Heb. 8: 6; 12:24).

It would be impossible for God to bind himself to a covenant for man unless there were a Mediator, a daysman, to stand between God and man and properly represent both (I Tim. 2:5).

3. We praise and adore Christ as the Messenger of the Covenant (Mal. 3: 1).

With mercy in his hands, the Son of God came down here to tell sinful men the good news of grace stored up in the covenant, promised in the counsel of the Most High God.

4. We adore our Savior as The Surety of the Covenant (Heb. 7: 22).

• On our behalf, he undertook to pay our debts.
• On the Father’s behalf, he undertook to bring in everlasting righteousness, to magnify the law and make it honorable.
• On behalf of God and our souls, he undertook and swore to save all the Father gave to him, to present us faultless before the presence of his glory.

All these things are matters of great joy to our hearts. But our text goes far, far beyond all this. It declares that the Lord Jesus Christ is the sum and substance of the covenant. The title of my message tonight and the subject of our text is Christ The Gift of The Covenant. Not only is the Lord Jesus Christ given to us in the covenant of grace, Christ is himself the gift of the covenant to every believer.

Proposition: Jesus Christ, by the gift of God The Father in the covenant of grace, is the personal property of every believer – that is what I want to drive home to your heart tonight. Christ is the personal property of every believer! If you trust him, God has given him to you, and he is yours.

Divisions:

I am going to talk to you tonight in the simplest terms and most unadorned language about this great promise of God. I want to talk to you about these five things:

1. A Great Possession.
2. A Gracious Purpose.
3. A Glorious Prospect.
4. A Grateful Presentation.
5. A Gospel Promise.

I. Here is A Great Possession- “I will give thee for a covenant of the people.” Jesus Christ is, by the gift of God in covenant grace, the property of every believer. I am certain that not one of us has ever begun to grasp the fulness or the blessedness of this fact. We look on him and say, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” But we have not begun to grasp what that means. And when I have finished preaching tonight, we will have only skimmed the surface of the outer edges of this profound, heavenly truth- Christ is Ours!

A. In All The Attributes of His Being

· As God.

• As Man.

There is not a virtue that Christ ever had that is not mine. There is not one holy deed he ever performed that is not mine. He never sent a prayer to heaven that is not mine. He never had a thought toward God as a man that is not mine!

B. In All His Covenant Offices.

· Prophet, Priest, and King.

• Mediator, Surety, and Representative.
• High Priest, Redeemer, Savior, and Advocate.

C. In All His Mighty Works as The God-man.

• His Circumcision. - As a Baby.
• His Baptism. – As A Believer.
• His Obedience to God. – As a Man.
• His Death. – As my Substitute.
• His Burial. – As my Sin-Offering.
• His Resurrection. – As my Justification.
• His Ascension. – As my Representative.
• His Enthronement. – As my Forerunner.

By divine decree, there is such a union between Christ and his people, that all that Christ did we did in him. All that he suffered, we suffered. All that he endured, we endured. We were in h is loins. His acceptance with God is our acceptance with God (Eph. 1: 6).

D. In All The Fullness He Possesses (Col. 2: 10).

• All his fulness is ours to save us. (John 1: 15-16).
• All his fulness is ours to meet our needs.
• All his fulness is ours to keep and protect us.

E. The Very Life of Christ is The Personal Property of Every Believer!

1. His immortality is our immortality. (John 14: 19).

2. His security is our security. (Col. 3: 3).

F. Christ Himself Is Ours!

I am ashamed of the fact that I talk too much about the offices, works, and attributes of Christ. I ought to talk more about his glorious Person. He is mine!

1. He is my joy and my beauty, my glory and my acceptance. (Song. 2: 13).
2. He ravishes my soul (Song. 2: 3-4).
3. He calls me to himself constantly. (Song. 2: 8-14).
4. When I am most cold to him, he comes to me in grace. (Song. 5: 2-4).
5. He is incomparably great and glorious (Song. 5: 9-16).

This Christ is the gift of God to every believer, the possession and property of all who call upon his name. If I had nothing more to say, that is enough! (I Cor. 9: 15).

II. Secondly, this great gift suggests A Gracious Purpose.

The Lord God has given us his Son with good reason, for good purposes.

A. Christ is the Gift of God to Poor Sinners To Encourage Sinners who could never be worthy of Him to Come to Him. (Rom. 6: 23).

Nothing in my hands I bring,

Simply to Thy cross I cling;

Hopeless look to Thee for grace,

Naked come to Thee for dress.

B. Christ is put into the Covenant As The Gift of God To Confirm And Assure Doubting Saints.

When I cannot lay hold of anything else, I can lay hold of this –

“I am a poor sinner and nothing at all,

But Jesus Christ is my all in all!”

C. Without Christ All The Other Promises of the Covenant Would Be Meaningless, for they would be Impossible.

· No Redemption without Christ!

• No Forgiveness without Christ!
• No Righteousness without Christ!
• No New Birth without Christ!
• No Life without Christ!

Take Christ out of the covenant of grace and you have broken the string of the necklace that holds all the jewels of God’s grace together, and they must all fall to the ground and be lost forever. But this string cannot be broken- “I will give thee for a covenant of the people!”

D. Christ is A Gift that is Meant to Be Used.

He is not a show-pretty. He is meant to be used!

• When you are in Trouble!
• When you are Black with Sin!
• When your Soul is Sick!
• When you Feel Naked!
• When your Heart is Cold and Heavy!
• When you are Burdened with Care!

It is God’s purpose that we use Christ! (Heb. 4: 16).

III. Thirdly, our text hints at A Glorious Prospect.

If the Lord God has given us his Son-

1. He has given us all spiritual blessings in him (Eph. 1: 3; II Tim. 1: 9).
2. He will give us all good things in providence (Rom. 8: 32).
3. He will give us all the glory of heaven (John 17: 5, 22; Rom. 8: 17).

When God says, “I will give thee,” nothing is left out.

IV. Fourthly, this great gift calls for us to make of ourselves A Grateful Presentation (Rom. 12: 1-2).

A. We belong to Christ.

· By the Father’s Gift.

• By His Own Purchase.
• By Personal Devotion.

B. Let us Ever Live as those who Belong to Him.

1. Honor God in Your Life.(I Cor. 7: 23; 6: 19-20).

2. Honor God with Your Substance. “Prove now the sincerity of your love.”
3. Honor God by serving his people in love.

V. Lastly, let me wrap this message up by assuring you of A Gospel Promise.

“He that hath the Son hath life!”

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”

“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved!”

Trust Christ and he is Yours – Yours in all the fulness and to all the purposes I have tried to describe – Yours forever!

I am a poor, guilty sinner like you. No better than you in any way. I have no merits, no righteousness, no good works, no worth before God. I shall and must be forever damned in hell without Christ’s blood and righteousness! With these black arms and sin polluted hands, I embrace Christ as my Savior and Lord; and he embraces me in the arms of mercy, love, and grace – Will you do the same? Come now to Christ. Trust him, and he is yours forever! In all His Fulness!