Text: The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17)
Catechism Question 40: Why did Christ have to suffer death?
Answer: Because God’s justice and truth require it: nothing else could pay for our sins except the death of the Son of God.
Question 41: Why was he “buried”?
Answer: His burial testifies that He really died.
Intro:
I. Being under a law
II. Under what law are we?
1 Corinthians 15:22 “in Adam”
Galatians 4:21 “under law”
A covenant of works: terms? personal, perfect, perpetual
For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM." (Galatians 3:10)
However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM." (Galatians 3:12)
The penalty:
III. Under what covenant is Jesus?
Galatians 4:4
Why must Jesus die?
IV. A new and better covenant
How to meet the demands of the covenant we are under?
The covenant of works -
The covenant of grace -
Active obedience
Passive obedience
Application 1: What Jesus did for us
How then is the second covenant a covenant of grace? In respect of Christ, it was most properly and strictly a covenant of works, in that He made a proper, real, and full satisfaction in behalf of the elect; but in respect of them, it is purely a covenant of richest grace, in as much as God accepted the satisfaction from a Surety, which He might have demanded of them; provided the Surety himself, and gives all to them freely for His sake. --Thomas Boston
If we speak of the covenant God has made with man stating the condition of eternal life, God never made but one with man to wit, the covenant of works; which never yet was abrogated but as a covenant stands in full force to all eternity without the failing of one tittle. The covenant of grace is not another covenant made with man upon the abrogation of this, but a covenant made with Christ to fulfill it. And for this end came Christ into the world, to fulfill the law, or covenant of works, for all that receive Him. --Jonathan Edwards