Mr. Bassett, I think we're going to get started. We're all ready? OK. As you can see, I am not Dr. McGraw. He is in Tennessee with his family doing a conference there. And so he conscripted me to be a substitute teacher. I don't dress as well as he does, and I don't have a beard, but I'll do my best. And before he left, he told me something that I think was both very liberating and very paralyzing. He said, Ethan, you can do whatever you want. And I thought, that's freedom. And that's paralysis. What do I do? So after some reflection, I've decided that this morning we're going to talk about the theme of covenant language. Covenant language. I think as Reformed Christians, we talk a lot about covenant theology, and often we talk about covenant history or redemptive history, but this morning I want to focus our sights on something a little bit different, though related, and that is covenant language, and to sort of get us started, get the juices flowing, get us moving, I want us to turn to a passage of Scripture that is literally saturated with covenant language. And we're not going to look at it in detail, but I think it will be a helpful way to get the ball rolling, and with that language echoing in our ears, we'll dive into our subject. So, if you have your copy of God's Word, turn to Deuteronomy 7. Deuteronomy 7, and we're going to begin reading in verse 6. Just for a little bit of context, at this point in Moses' second giving of the law, Moses is telling them that you're going to utterly wipe out the people, you're not going to intermarry with them, you're going to destroy all of their idols, and he gets to verse 6 and gives a reason for all of these commandments. So, Deuteronomy 7, verse 6. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples. But because the Lord loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Therefore, know that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments. And he repays those who hate him to their face to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates him. He will repay him to his face. Therefore, You shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today to observe them. This is the word of our God. Let us go to God in prayer, and then we'll dive into our subject. Let us pray. Oh God, you are God of heaven, and you are God of earth. You are the God of our fathers, and you are the God of our children. Help us as we approach this theme of covenant language We would not simply do so with our heads, but we would do it with our hearts, and we would be changed by what we read in your word. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Who's ever heard of the duck test? Anyone ever heard of that? If it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, and it swims like a duck, it's probably a duck. It's a duck. There's another test people talk about called the elephant test, where you have something that's difficult to describe, but I know it when I see it. Even if you had no language for it, if you saw it again in the wild, I could identify it. Covenant language, what does that have to do with those two tests that we apply in life? Well, sometimes I think we're sitting there in the pew, and perhaps the preacher will point to a passage of Scripture and say, in verse 5, note the covenant language. You look at verse 5, do you see it? Do you see what he's seeing? Or maybe you're a person who's steeped in Reformed theology, and you know covenant theology's important, and so you're reading through your Bible, and you wonder, is this covenant language? Would I know it if I saw it? And so this morning, One of my main agenda is to help us get to the point where on our radar is covenant theology and covenant language, where we can, if we see it, we say, this looks like covenant language, it sounds like covenant language, it acts like covenant language, this has got to be covenant language. Or it might be difficult for me to describe, but I know covenant language when I read it. So two big questions I want to answer this morning are what is covenant language? How do we identify it? And then second, how do we apply it practically to our daily lives, especially in our daily Bible reading? So first, what is covenant language? Some different ways we could approach this topic. One would be to look for context clues, certain words that pop up when there's a covenant in that passage. We have things like oaths and vows, sacrifices, meals, signs. These are all kind of context clues that, oh, there's a covenant here. Another way we could go about it is to look at key vocabulary words. Words that in your English Bible might be testament, covenant, testimonies, cutting a covenant. That great Hebrew word chesed, which means loyal love, steadfast love, righteousness, faithfulness. And that would all be very helpful. But I want to take it a little different angle on it. And I want to look at three forms of covenant language. in the Bible, three kinds, three genres of covenant language, and we find all of them actually laid out in the Westminster Confession in chapter 14, which is the chapter of saving faith, and in paragraph two, where it says, by this faith, a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the word, for the authority of God himself speaking therein, and acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth." Here's the key part. Yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come. So we have three forms of language in this passage of the Confession, and they are simply this, the language of promises, the language of commands, and the language of warnings or threatenings. Three forms of covenant language. And we're gonna break each of those down into their parts. First, we have the language of promise. I will do this. This will happen. I'm going to do something a little bit uncomfortable. I'm going to ask you to go back to the dark ages of high school when you had to take an English course that you hated. I'm going to throw out a term, and that's the term indicative mood. Indicative mood, a statement of fact, a declaration of truth. I will do this. This will happen. That's the language of promise. And sometimes in the Bible, they're given in unconditional form. Leviticus 26, 11 and 12, we have that great summary statement of God's promises. I am your God. You will be my people, and I will dwell in your midst." It's a promise. Sometimes it's given in a conditional format. James 4.8, it says, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. If you want the promised blessing of the nearness of God's presence, by his grace, you must draw near to him. Cleanse your hands. We could put it this way. I'm a father, and I have two children. They're actually over there, and I'm hoping they do well this morning. If you see me walk over and do something, I'm just tending to them. But as a father, we know what this is like, or as a mother, I might say this. When they're a little older, I might say, I will give you an allowance the first of every month. It's an unconditional promise. Or I might say, if you pick up all your toys, we will get ice cream at Dillard's later on this evening. Either way, I'm speaking to them in terms of promises. I will do this. This will happen. There's a second form of language, and that's the language of command. The language of command. Let's go back to your high school English class. This is in the imperative mood. If promises say, I will do this, this will happen, then commands say, you must do this. Stop doing that. You must obey. And as we know, commands come in two forms. Sometimes they're positive, sometimes they're negative. If we go to that great chapter, Exodus 20, to the 10 words which are given as 10 commands, we have some which are positive. Honor your father and your mother. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Some of them are negative. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not covet. And as parents, we know what that's like too. At least in my household. I might say something like, when they're older, take out the trash. Positive command. Or maybe a little more realistic right now, stop hitting your brother with that Lego tower you just built. It's going to hurt him. Stop it. Either way, this is the language of command. You must do this. Thou shalt do this. Thou shalt not do that. But there's a third form of language, and that's the language of warning. The language of warning or the language of threatening. And again, interestingly enough, like the promise, this is given in the indicative mood. I will. do this. This will happen. Maybe you've watched television or a film where a character will say, is that a threat or a promise? And the reason that question is asked is because there's a kind of a blurry line here. I will do this, and it's a good thing. I will do this, and it's a bad thing. Is it a threat or a promise? Well, with warnings, they're promissory in form. I will, but they are threatening in content. I will do this, and it will hurt." Obviously, we know this from the very beginning of the Bible, Genesis 2. You may eat of all the trees of the garden, but that one tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for the day that you eat of it, dying you will die. You will surely die. It's a warning. It's a threat. Sometimes a thing threatened is a privilege. So in Numbers 20, Moses strikes the rock when God told him to speak to it. And he says, you will not have the privilege of entering the promised land. Maybe the threat is toward physical life. So Joshua 6 and 7, you have God saying, devote everything to destruction. And if you keep even a little bit of it, you will be devoted to destruction. And Achan does that, and he incurs God's curse. And of course, sometimes the threat is really high stakes, eternal destiny. And just to give you one example of that, in Galatians chapter five, it says, now the works of the flesh are evident, which are, and he lists all sorts of sins, and he ends by saying, Just as I told you in times past that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." And we come to threatenings. I think we're a little more comfortable with promises and commands, but how do threatenings relate to God's people? Sometimes people will say, well, God doesn't threaten his people. Or if he does, that's an old covenant thing, not a new covenant thing. Well, what we find is it's helpful to make a distinction. On the one hand, sometimes God threatens punishment toward his enemies. And that's sort of like me as a police officer saying, drop that gun or I'm going to have to open fire. You're an enemy and it's a threat of punishment, and it's lethal. At other times, however, it's a threat of, or a warning of, chastening and discipline, where God is speaking not to his enemies, but to his children. And again, we know what that's like. If you talk back to your mother again, I'm going to have to discipline you with the rod. And that is a loving, fatherly exercise of warning. I don't want you to go down that road. That's a road that leads to death. Choose life. Well, as we look at these three forms of language, promises, commands, and warnings, You might wonder, how do they all relate? Are they just sort of independent, promise here, command there, warning there? How do they all kind of come together and merge? So briefly, I wanna discuss the relationship among them, and we're just gonna skim the surface here. But first, promises provide a foundation for the commands. Promises provide a foundation for the commands. If you look at a passage like Romans 6, There's a, first of all, a language of promise. God says, in Christ, you are dead to sin and you're alive to righteousness. You're a new creation. You're dead and you're raised up again. And it's a reality. It's a promise for you. And then he says, therefore, reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to righteousness. Put your sin to death and grow in holiness. But you see there that there's an order. The indicative grounds the imperative. The promise precedes the command. Grace precedes law. I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Therefore, keep my commandments. Second relationship. Warnings are really the dark side of God's promises. They're the dark side of God's promises. They turn the promise inside out. If the promise says, I will bless you, the warning says, I will chasten you. And so it really turns it around, and at the same time, acts as a goad, as a prod, as a spur, as a prick, saying, don't go down that road. It drives us back to the promises. So that's the relationship among those two things. And the commands really function as a bridge between the promises and the warnings. They function as a bridge because the commands of God are a way of life. They're a way to life that God has set forth before us. And so when the commands by God's grace through faith are kept, then the promises and the blessings are realized. But when the commands are broken, then the warnings and the threats are realized. So that's really how they all relate together. As you can see, my children didn't make it. They tried really hard. Didn't quite make it. Hopefully, the rest of you will do a little better. We'll see. So that's covenant language. Promises, commands, warnings, these three forms of language. Here's how they all relate together. Promises found the commands. Commands are a bridge between promises and warnings. And the warnings kind of turn the promises inside out, or the dark side of God's promises. That's all really nice. You know, we're up here in the stratosphere. We're 10,000 feet up. Let's go home. We've had a good OPC Sunday school class. We've seen redemptive history. We're happy. No, we need to make this experimental. We need to ask the question, how do I apply this practically in my life? That's our second question. How do I apply covenant language? And I'm going to take us back and read part of it again of the Westminster Confession, that chapter 14 in paragraph 2, where it says that saving faith yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come. But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace. So you see, it's not just a description. There's these three forms of language. But with that, there is a corollary response. There is an appropriate response. And so we can think of it this way. Each of these forms of language cries out for. solicits, invites, presupposes, implies a relevant, appropriate response in return. So that when faith, saving faith, encounters a promise, encounters a command, encounters a warning, there is a right response to that revelation. And we see in that passage of the Confession that first of all, when faith encounters a promise, what does it do? The intuitive, the knee-jerk response is, when faith encounters a promise, it believes. Promises cry out to be believed. So as you're reading through your scriptures, your first reaction, your initial response should be, this is a promise. I need to believe this. I need to embrace this. I need to own this. I need to say, this promise belongs to me and to my children. Faith believes the promises. What about commands? What do you all think would be the right response to a command? When you encounter a command of God's word, what do commands call for? Obedience. Great. Commands cry out to be obeyed. And so when you're reading through your Bible, your initial response should be, this is a command. I need to obey this. I need to yield obedience to it. How can I do this, say this, think this, according to God's word, in love for God's glory? Faith obeys the commands. And we see a great example of both these things in the life of Abraham. God gave Abraham a promise and it says, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. And later on in the story, God says, I want you to go and offer up your son Isaac. And even though you don't understand this, this is a command and Abraham in faith obeys that command. And God says, now I know that you fear me because you have obeyed my voice. And really, as a sinner, I know what this often does to me. When I see a command, one of the things it provokes in me is I don't always keep God's commands. And even when I do, I sometimes do it with half-hearted motives and imperfectly and not right away. With our kids, we're encouraging them, obey first time. Obey right away. Obey with the right spirit. Obey from the heart. And yet sometimes they do it, but it's very grudging. They got the pouty lip going on. It takes a lot longer than it should have. And is it not true that we're a lot more like our kids than we sometimes like to admit? And reading through Paul Tripp's book on parenting, I'm reminded again and again, I'm a lot more like my kids in my grudging, ungrateful obedience than I'd like to think. So I think, as we think about this, remember that as we encounter God's promises, as we encounter God's commands in particular, it should point us in two directions. On the one hand, it should point us to Christ's work for us. It should point us to Christ's obedience on our behalf. As we see that covenant command, we remember that Jesus has kept all the commands for us. At the same time, it should point us to Jesus' work in us, the fact that by God's Spirit, we are enabled from the heart to obey, not out of slavish fear, but out of gratitude. And so, in both those ways, faith seeks to obey the command. But there's a third response, warnings, threatenings. What is the right response of faith to a threat? To a warning. To heed it. Not to say, that applies to somebody else. That's probably good for that other guy. That person in my pew next to me really needs to hear this right now. No, faith trembles at the threatenings. The threatening should provoke a right response of fear and trembling. When you, by faith, encounter in God's Word or in the preaching of God's Word a threat, a warning, you should heed it. Take it seriously. Tremble before it. And in that same motion, let it drive you back into the arms of Christ for pardon and for power. So you see, warnings function that way. They're real warnings. They're serious. And faith doesn't flout them, doesn't act like they don't apply to me. Faith takes them seriously, trembles, and then says, my recourse is to Jesus for forgiveness, but also for power to go back again to the promises and back again to God's commands. Faith believes the promises, obeys the commands, and trembles at the warnings. But perhaps you're hearing all that and you say, but weren't these promises and commands and warnings given to particular people at particular times and in particular places? So, for instance, God comes to Abraham and says, I'm going to give you a land with clearly demarcated boundaries, a slice of real estate in Palestine in the present-day Middle East. If faith believes the promises, do I say, okay, I believe that. God is going to give me a slice of real estate in modern-day Palestine with the River of Egypt on one side and Euphrates on the other. And that's what's going to happen, because faith believes. Or perhaps God comes to you and you read the Count in Joshua for complete annihilation of the pagan nations. God instructed genocide. Are we called to do that today? So it gets a little tricky. It's the right response. I want to obey the commands. I want to believe the promises. But we have to realize that our response is qualified by where we stand in covenant history, where we stand in the story that God is telling. And what I mean by that, I'll just give an example, that this is not always one-to-one. We have to take into account with wisdom where we are in the story God's telling. So, going back to the land promise given in Genesis, that was a true promise, and it really took place. They conquered the lands. Abraham's descendants did possess that exact area of land. It's recorded in the book of Kings. But even Abraham, in the shadow lands of the Old Testament, knew that that very particular promise pointed forward to a better country, to new heavens, new earth, new creation. And so, yes, we believe that promise, but we also see beyond it as New Covenant Christians that The promise of Abraham is ultimately a promise for the whole world. The meek shall inherit the earth. And so as you embrace that promise, you embrace it not simply as a slice of land in Palestine, but as new heavens, new earth, new creation, resurrection. I believe it. Take on another example, example of the genocide command. I won't get into all the ethical questions of that, but just to give you a brief sketch of how you could approach a tricky passage like that, how do I yield obedience to a command to totally destroy the nations? Well, we realize as New Covenant Christians that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but we do wrestle against principalities and against powers, and we're called to mortify the flesh. We're called to destroy all the idols in our life. We're called to be totally separated from the world. We're called to not have any holdouts of affection for the things of pagan culture. We're called to have our hearts totally set on the Lord. So even in a command like that, it calls us to mortify the flesh. to repent of the idols in our lives, to do battle against Satan, to put on the whole armor of God, to wage spiritual warfare. Will it look different today than it did in Joshua's time? Yes. Sometimes the response won't be one-to-one, but God still calls us to respond rightly to those promises, to those commands, and to those threats. A few practical lessons. assuming everybody's still tracking and with me. Okay, good. I see a few nods. We've looked at three forms of language, promises, commands, and threatenings. And so as you approach your daily Bible reading, just a few practical lessons, one thing you should, you could do and I think should do is ask yourself, let me look and see, are there any promises in this passage? Are there any commands? Are there any warnings? And kind of identify where those forms of language come up. Maybe underline them, maybe star them, maybe write them in your journal, whatever you do, but look for them. Look for these three forms of covenant language. And then consider what would be an appropriate response. Say you're reading your Bible, say it's six o'clock in the morning on Monday, and you open up your copy of God's word and you say, do I believe this promise? Do I obey this command? Do I take this warning seriously? And get those questions to start getting your mind working, getting your heart working, and the Spirit might use those series of questions to start convicting you of certain sins. No, I'm not obeying this command. No, I'm not believing this promise. No, I'm not really taking this warning seriously. Of course, with that, as I said before, think about where you stand in covenant history. Was this command given before the giving of the law? Was this promise given after Christ's resurrection? Realize that it takes some wisdom, and we can't do it justice here, but it takes wisdom to apply, how does this particular command, for instance, in the Mosaic law, to, you know, don't muzzle the ox, it's treading out the grain. How does that apply to me? Well, we have a good apostolic example. It applies, pay your ministers well, because the laborer is worthy of his hire. So often you're pulling out principles but you're then going to apply them in a way that does justice to the original text, but also to where you are now on the other side of the cross. And of course, in doing that, you really can't do that with your own reason and with your own strength. We are finite creatures. And so in that same investigation, you're looking for this language. How should I respond to it? How does where I stand in covenant history impact the way that response should look? We need wisdom. And so that's where prayer is so, so important. Yes, seek the counsel of commentaries. Seek the counsel of your pastor as you're reading the Bible. to use it wisely and to rightly divide the word of truth, but then pray, pray that the Holy Spirit would give you wisdom and illumination to respond accurately to this type of language, but also pray that he would give you affection and power to respond zealously and to respond faithfully to all of God's promises and all of his commands. So let's see if we have a little more time. And we do. Since we have a little bit more time, we might have time for questions. But before we do that, I want to do just a really brief case study. So this is going to just skim the surface. But we're going to take one passage of scripture and just see what promises can we find, what commands can we find, what warnings, and then how should we respond to it. And I'm going to take you back to the original passage that we read at the very beginning, to Deuteronomy 7. And I'm not going to read the first few verses for the sake of time, but again, they talk about, they're going to go into the land, they're called to destroy everything, to be separate from it, not to intermarry, and to destroy the idols. And then in verse 6 it says, You are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples. But because the Lord loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt." Okay, what are some promises that you see in that passage? Anybody have any ideas? What are some? Go ahead. Yes. We are, as God's people, chosen. We're elect of God. That's a beautiful language of promise. What's another promise? Anyone else? I know it's early. Yes. That's right. It's not because you were more in number. It's not because you were really holy and righteous. No. It's because I love you and it's because I made a promise to Abraham. And so God has chosen us unconditionally. That's the language of promise. That's a promise to believe. A few other promises. He's redeemed you, exactly. So we are chosen people. We're a redeemed people. If you keep reading, God says, I will keep covenant with you and with your children for a thousand generations. All of this is the language of promise. And our response should be, let me believe that, own that, embrace that. This is who we are. We are the elect of God. We are redeemed. We are set free. We are God's covenant children in Christ. Let's keep reading. Let's see, we were in verse... I'm sorry? That's another one. We should claim all of these things. God is God. He's a faithful God. It says, we know the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments. And right there, what do we see? There's an implied command for those who love God. So right there, we're entering into a related language. There's the language of promise. You're chosen, you're redeemed, you're elect, you're saved. He keeps covenant with those who love him. And so the response should be, do I love God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength? If I love my neighbor as myself, do I keep his commandments? And if you keep reading at the very end, it says, therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today to observe them. Well, what are some of the commandments? We didn't read this portion, but a few of the commandments involve, let's see, separation from the world, being totally dedicated to God, not allowing idols to creep up into your hearts. It takes some sanctified imagination to start thinking about what are some idols that perhaps we wrestle with today. Is it the idol of sports? The idol of prestige, the idol of having a really comfortable, safe style of life where nothing ever hinders it or comes in between. Whatever it is, you start thinking these are all commands to be separated from the world, not to intermarry with unbelievers, to destroy all the idols in our hearts. And that's another thing. So, am I obeying these commands? Again, with recognizing the difference between Old Testament Israel and the New Testament Church. But are we keeping the commands of God? And then in the midst of that, there is a statement of warning in verse 10. And he repays those who hate him to their face to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates him. He will repay him to his face. Sounds like a warning to me. So you see, we're starting to pick out this language has a certain form, and it's all kind of interconnected. Here's who you are. Here's what I've done for you. Therefore, keep my commandments. And those who break covenant with me, those who hate me, I repay them to their face. So a passage like this, you have all that language sort of coming together. And it's not just in passages where the word covenant's used. We find language like this in the Proverbs. We find it in the Apostle Paul. The whole Bible is filled. with promises, with commands, and with warnings. And of course, as we're looking at a passage like Deuteronomy 7, we have to ask the question, okay, this is given to the old Israel, which is a socio-political entity in the Middle East, and we are members of the new Israel, a worldwide community of believers. This was given to a people where it's kind of Israel versus the nations. Well, now we're sort of the church, the multi-ethnic church versus the world. So there's some differences. Again, this is given to a people who have experienced an exodus out of Egypt. We've been redeemed by the blood of Christ from our sin. They're doing battle against literal armies. We're putting our flesh to death. We're at enmity with the world. We are doing battle against Satan. We're waging spiritual warfare. They had a law that was written on tablets of stone. But where is the law written in the New Covenant? It's on our hearts. So we have to realize, God wants us to believe, to obey, and to tremble at his whole range of covenant language. But he also wants us to take into account, where do I stand in the story that he's telling? And we need God's wisdom to do that. And so all three forms of language encourage us, ultimately, to trust and obey God from the heart. Why this, you can call it covenant language, whatever you want to call it, this language is in the Bible, and it really is meant to encourage us to walk closely and affectionately with our God. And although not all of it is written directly to us, all of the promises, all of the commands, all of the warnings are for us and for our children. and they are meant to help us walk with our God in love and in loyalty. That is covenant language. We have a little bit of time for any brief questions, if you have them, and if not, I can close in prayer. I know the kids are going to be coming up pretty soon from their classes. Mr. Van Boris. Right. Yes. Right. A little bit on what covenant means. I sort of begged the question, perhaps. Jumping to covenant language, and we all assume we know what covenant means. Yes. That's a good point. Yes, and I think the short answer to that question, there's different ways to define a covenant, but the basic notion is that it is a bond of union and communion. in mutual love and loyalty between God and his people, and it's sovereignly administered. And so the basic idea is it's a bond. It's God establishing a personal relationship with the people in order to enjoy union with them, communion with them. It involves mutual love and loyalty. In other words, God is faithful to us, and he also calls us by grace through faith to be faithful to him and to trust in the mediator, Jesus. And the big difference between thinking of a covenant as sort of just a cold business deal is that God sovereignly administers this. So it's a sovereignly administered bond between God and his people. It's a way that the creator can relate to his creation. It's the bond that unites them. And as far as people who want to have more resources on what is a covenant, I would direct people to read O. Palmer Robertson's The Christ of the Covenants. He has a really helpful opening chapter where he defines what a covenant is by looking at different scripture texts. His definition is a, it's kind of become classic. It's a bond in blood, sovereignly administered. A bond of life and death, sovereignly administered by God. I'd recommend that be a good place to begin thinking about what a covenant is. It is. It is. And I think we could think of it maybe in a broad and narrow sense. I think in the broad sense, the whole Bible is framed and structured by covenants, you know, covenant with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, prophesied and the prophets, and then Jesus. The whole thing is structured and there's a sense in which all of the language that you find there is covenantal. I think in the narrow sense, picking up the language of our confession, there's something particular about the language of promises and commands and warnings that kind of reveals God's covenant relationship and calls for us to respond. Yeah, so I think that's a great point. Yeah, definitely. The whole thing is covenantal broadly, and then narrowly, I think we can look at particular passages and pick out things. That's a great point. Yes, sir. It does. No, you're right. I think two things. Keep in mind, you brought up the confession. That paragraph ends by saying the principal acts of faith are receiving, resting, and accepting Jesus Christ. And so, none of our responses are ever, should ever be isolated from our response to a person, to Jesus himself. And ultimately, as we respond to God's word, God is going to increase our faith, and he wants us to experience full assurance. by his spirit, definitely. It's probably too much to tackle in one lesson, because it connects to a bunch of other things. It does. Any other questions? My wife told me not to say, you can ask questions, because that will just cause problems. But she didn't say that. That's my interpretation of it. I said, you're right. I'm not going to do it, but I did it anyway. But you guys have been very kind. If there's no other questions, I'm going to go ahead and close us in prayer. And as we leave, just be thinking, how can we apply this as we listen to sermons, as we listen to the scripture being read, as we confess our sins. Let's use this material well as we worship. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you have sovereignly administered your covenant. You've made a bond with us in the person of your son, the Lord Jesus. And we are called to love you because you first loved us. We thank you that you give us a covenant word, a word of promise, word of command, and a word of warning. God, by grace through faith, help us to respond rightly to this word. Help us to do so with all faith, all obedience, and all trembling, even as we cling tenaciously to Jesus in the midst of it all. Help us as we worship this morning. We pray this all in Christ's name, amen.