This covenant reveals a love which is unparalleled and exceeds all comprehension. Think of what a blessing it is that you and I have been considered and known in this covenant, to have been given by the Father to the Son. Think of what a blessing it is that you and I have had our names written by the Son in His Book of Life. Think of what a blessing it is that you and I have been the objects of the eternal mutual delight of the Father and the Son to save us.
Here is what God the Father laid down as the conditions of the covenant of redemption: The Son must assume a true human nature, however, without sin (Heb. 4:15; 10:5). Emmanuel must become their Substitute, remove their sins from them, and take their sins onto His account as if He Himself had committed them (Gal. 3:13). On their behalf, He must bear all the punishment which their sins had merited, and He must suffer, die, and rise again (Jn. 10:18). On their behalf, He must fulfill all righteousness in order to make them righteous (Rom. 5:19). He must make the elect to be partakers of this merited salvation by declaring the Gospel to them, regenerating them, granting them faith, preserving them, resurrecting them from the dead, and ushering them into heaven (Jn. 6:39).
Simply stated, the covenant of redemption is a covenant God the Father made with God the Son before the foundation of the world was laid, that is the Son would offer Himself up as and offering for sin, the Father would give Christ all those for whom He would die as a love gift.
We can preach with authority because Christ has given us that authority. Did He not say, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” It wasn’t “teaching them to observe all that I have suggested to you,” but “all that I have commanded you!”
When the faithful minister is properly exegeting the Word of God, it is God Himself who is speaking to His people! Failure to hear the faithful minister is a failure to hear God Himself! Isn’t that exactly what Jesus told His disciples? “If they won’t listen to you, they won’t listen to Me!” That is why we are not to let anyone disregard us (Titus 2:15), because that would mean that we are letting them disregard Christ!
Jesus preached with authority. Why? Because He had authority! And the preachers of old preached with authority. They preached, “Thus saith the Lord.” We have lost that today, I’m afraid. Our preaching reflects it and the lives of our people reflect it well. They live as if the pastor had no authority, as if the elders had no authority, and, even more appalling, as if the Word of God itself had no authority. We have returned to the place of the church in the Old Testament where “every man did what was right in his own eyes.” It is true today; every man thinks what is right in his own mind, regardless of what Scripture or sound exegesis may say otherwise.
Jesus must have been amazing preacher, because the Scripture tells us that when He preached people were amazed, which would make Him an amazing preacher. But what was the source of their amazement? He taught as one who had authority, not like the scribes and Pharisees. It is to be feared that we have far too many scribes and Pharisees in pulpits today. They do not preach with authority and the people are not amazed - amused, perhaps, but not amazed.
The person with the discontented heart has the attitude that everything he does for God is too much, and everything God does for him is too little.
Preachers must preach for conviction and change. No one ought ever to leave a sermon without having a very real sense that there is something in their lives they need to do something about.
The elect person is a gift from God to Christ based on Christ’s satisfactory work, not on my satisfactory work. If a person could lose his salvation, it could only be on the basis of God’s dissatisfaction with the finished work of Christ. But He has declared once and for all, and it is written infallibly in the pages of Scripture, that He is satisfied. And if God is satisfied with what Christ has done, the issue is settled.
If you ask why God ordained the fall of man and the sinful state into which he would go, the answer is that God ordained sin so that we would know Him in the fullness of His revelation of Himself. If God had not ordained sin, we would know Him only as the Creator; because God has ordained sin we can know Him as the Redeemer.
Ministers should be very wary that they do not bring forth fuel to feed the fears and doubts of weak Christians in their preaching and writing, for it is a great part of their work to arm weak Christians against their fears and weaknesses.