30 APRIL (PREACHED 30 APRIL 1775)
Jesus, our gracious Mediator
‘… Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant …’ 2 Samuel 23:5
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Timothy 2:5–6
This covenant of grace was established with and in our Lord Jesus Christ for the recovery and salvation of all that should believe in his name. The Scripture speaks of transactions between the Father and the Son before the foundation of the world. If we understand it of the divine persons in the Trinity, it intends a mutual consent that the work of our redemption should be brought about in such a way. But if we understand it of the God-man Christ Jesus, the Word made flesh, appearing in our nature and cause, we may say that the covenant of grace to us was to him a covenant of works, strictly speaking. He was the Mediator between God and sinners. He engaged for men to God and for God to men. He engaged to God on the behalf of men, to vindicate the honour of his broken law by his voluntary obedience unto death, fulfilling all the commands of God in his own person and making atonement for transgression with his own blood. He received authority on the behalf of God, to bring many sons to glory, even all who should embrace the message of his love and put their trust under the shadow of his wings (John 12:30; Isaiah 53:11). He is our surety, on whom our debt was charged, and, having paid it, he proclaims a free discharge to every weary, wounded soul. When their hearts are pricked with a sense of those sins which caused his death, he, like another, Joseph, says by his gospel, ‘Let it not grieve you that your sins brought sorrow and death upon me—for so God appointed, and so I readily engaged to save your lives and to preserve your souls from death.’ Jesus is the sum and substance of the everlasting covenant.
FOR MEDITATION:
Thus dragged by my conscience, I came,
But oh! what surprise when he spoke,
And laden with guilt, to the Lord;
While tenderness beamed in his face;
Surrounded with terror and shame,
My heart then to pieces was broke,
Unable to answer a word.
O’erwhelmed and confounded by grace:
‘Poor sinner, I know thee full well, By thee I was sold and was slain;
But I died to redeem thee from hell, And raise thee to glory to reign.’
SERMON SERIES: 2 SAMUEL 23:5, NO. 2 [1/2]
Milo 