Chapter 7 - God’s Covenant
1. Briefly outline chapter 7.
2. Can man do anything to earn or merit salvation and the favor of God?
3. Should “the covenant of grace” be equated with any of the divine covenants? Why or why not?
4. Can you briefly and accurately explain the Covenant of Grace and how it is related to Covenant Theology?
5. Explain and support the organic unity of the divine covenants.
6. Explain and support the thematic unity of the divine covenants.
7. Explain the “universal dimension” and “particular dimension” of the covenant and why Sam Waldron suggests that it would be better to substitute the word “determining” for the word “promising” in paragraph 2.
Download the following PDF’s for discussion:
1689 Study Article 07.The Church is true Israel
Postmillennialism Briefly Defined
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Jason Robertson is a husband and a father and a pastor. He is dedicated to leading and equipping his the Church with God’s word and biblical theology for life ministry, using a combination of pastoral, church planting and evangelism experience. He holds a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is experienced in church planting, evangelism, missions, and the training of pastors and Bible teachers.
Jason has been preaching the gospel since 1985, serving the first ten years of ministry as a Southern Baptist itinerant evangelist out of Milldale Baptist Church in Zachary, LA which ordained him in 1993. He has preached in hundreds of churches in over 30 States and 4 countries. He planted churches in Siberia, Russia in the summers of 1993 and 1994. He founded Murrieta Valley Church in California, which he planted in cooperation with the SBC NAMB in 2001. He also teaches ministry students at California Baptist University.
You can hear his sermons and read his manuscripts on sermonaudio.com. Just follow the link to "sermons" at the top of this page.
Chapter 7 – Of God’s Covenant
1. God’s perfectly holy being, man’s imbued state of corruption and sin.
a. In his corrupt state man is incapable of comprehending the holiness of God.
b. Therefore, God willfully condescends toward man, enabling man to apprehend Him without full comprehension.
c. This is expressed by covenant from and by His good pleasure.
2. God’s particular propitiatory work of this covenant.
a. Man is incapable, due to his fall, of reconciling himself to God, nor does he desire to.
b. God sends His propitiation for man in the form of the God man, Christ Jesus.
c. Man, through the work of the Holy Spirit, receives faith and that not of him, but as the gift of God, does come to believe and is saved.
3. The revealed gospel through covenants of God replete in scripture.
a. God’s covenant with Adam by the seed of the woman.
b. God’s successive covenants revealed in the Old Testament.
c. God’s fully completed covenant in the New Testament.
d. The elect now redeemed through faith alone.
4. Can man do anything to earn or merit salvation and the favor of God?
a. No and yes!
i. To earn or merit salvation in and of himself, no. Not only is man incapable of this, but he also is devoid of a true desire to do so.
ii. However, man must believe (an action word) by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, plus nothing!
iii. But, this faith that saves alone is never alone. Man must not only believe that God exist, and that what God says is true (for even the demons do that and tremble), but a redeemed sinner abides, obeys, loves and places his trust in the finished work of Christ Jesus on the cross.
iv. Saved by faith alone is shorthand for “saved by Christ alone”.
5. Should “the covenant of grace” be equated with any of the divine covenants? Why or why not?
a. No, it must never be equated to any of the divine covenants.
b. The reason is that it is the overarching covenant of God himself.
6. Can you briefly and accurately explain the Covenant of Grace and how it is related to Covenant Theology? I shall try.
The Covenant of Grace is and must be by definition God centered. Theology is the study of God and His understanding of man. Religion, (which is the majority report in most evangelical churches today), is the study of man and his understanding of God.
We are all guilty before a sovereign, righteous and just God, for there is none who follows or seeks after Him; there is none righteous no not one! The tenants of Reformed Theology expressly state and are founded in the fact that God is behind it all.
God does not wait for a fallen sinner to show some form of repentance before He acts with His grace to show mercy. Covenant Theology does not say that man dying and in need of a cure, it states (because the bible states) that man is “dead in his sin!” Man is incapable of reaching out for anything but more sin let alone a cure. Man in his fallen nature does not want a cure from his state of sin.
But God, who is rich in mercy, condescends to reconcile us to Himself in Christ Jesus! He plants in us the faith needed for us to believe (while we were yet still dead in our sin). We still must believe, for He does not believe in Himself for us! But He assures us, no guarantees us that we will come to faith (Jesus) and believe.
That is pure grace that can only come from a Covenant God.
That’s all I have for now, got to get some sleep.
God bless brother Jason.
Are we still studying Article 7 or have we moved on to Article 8?
On Saturday Sept 18 we will be studying chapter 7, “God’s Covenant”