In Psalm 103, this morning we read, beginning at verse 17:

“[T]he merciful goodness of the LORD endureth for ever and ever upon them that fear him; * and his righteousness upon children's children;

Even upon such as keep his covenant, * and think upon his commandments to do them.

The LORD hath prepared his seat in heaven, * and his kingdom ruleth over all.” (Psalm 103:17-19 BCP)

  I tell you, the Lord has also prepared a seat for us in heaven, for all those that keep His covenant and His commandments.

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  But what is the covenant of the Lord?

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  In the letter to the Hebrews, Christians are reminded of the promises God gave by His prophet Jeremiah:

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people” (Hebrews 8:8-10)

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)

  But this was not a new covenant in the promises, for it was the same form given by God through Moses, as we read in Deuteronomy:

 “Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee” (Deuteronomy 4:40)

Instead, the new covenant is a fuller “a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.” (Hebrews 8:6) For this covenant rest upon a better mediator, which is Jesus Christ.

  We enter into this covenant through our baptism, in which we are born again unto God.

And what does our Epistle today tell us of those that are born of God:

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5)

In our baptism we are baptized in the name of God: the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost. These three are one. For we believe in one God.

We believe also that Jesus Christ “came by water and blood” and “not by water only, but by water and blood.”

Know this, that when you are baptized we are baptized into Jesus’ baptism. Which by an outward sign we know by water, but by an inward sign, we are washed clean of our sin by the sacrifice of Jesus’ blood, which was shed upon the cross.

We are given the Holy Spirt, which as our epistle says, “beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.” (1 John 5:6)

Just as the spirit gives witness to our faith that Jesus is the Son of God, so it gave witness of our Lord at His own baptism.

As we read in Matthew:

“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17)

The spirit bore Him witness, as the epistle says, and so did the Father, as he would at other times (at Transfiguration and again in Jerusalem).

For Jesus Christ spoke by His own authority, but He came bearing witness of His Father. Such was given to Him.

When we preach Christ, we bear not our own authority but His. For we are told in the scriptures that even our own faith is not from ourselves but is a “gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

Through that faith we are called to repentance, and in baptism we thereby enter into the covenant of God, which is that covenant of grace.

By this covenant we are promised eternal life. For by Christ sacrifice for us, by His blood, and by this our washing by water and the spirit, we are given this pledge, that through the water and blood of Jesus Christ we have been made right with God.

  If we live unto God, then we will live unto righteousness. If we live unto righteousness, then we live unto eternal life. In doing this we walk in the spirit.

For as the epistle says, “the Spirit is truth”.

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

 

And this is the truth, that if we repent of our sins and turn to God, then the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. That is the truth of Jesus Christ.

For in our own sin, we are bound slaves to the flesh and to the world, but in Christ we are promised the breaking of these chains, which even death himself cannot bind. For “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)