- Welcome to First Words Baptist Church.
If you could, gonna please stand with me.
Turn your hymns over, song number 31, three, one, he lives.
Song number 31, on that first verse.
♪ I serve a risen Savior in the world ♪
- It's gonna be some announcements here.
We would like to welcome you back
Thursday night by 10 on Thursdays.
So many times and teams are there.
Continue to pray for our expected mothers.
And obviously we want to congratulate
Brother Alex and Miss Annie on their expecting
and continue to keep them in prayer.
First work at first works, excuse me,
September stats are there for are the souls
that we got saved over this past month.
That was a big month there.
And then our homeschool field trip
will be at Legoland this Tuesday, October 14th.
The details are at the guest center if you're going.
Tijuana Mission Ship, Saturday, October 25th.
Leaving at the building at 915.
If you would like to participate in that ministry
or going over to Mexico, reach out to Brother Hernandez.
And then we have Miss Karina's Baby Shower, Sunday, October 26th.
Our pizza party will be October 31st in place of Halloween.
And then that will be at the building at 7 PM to 9 PM.
And then also, the last thing that I want to say,
we have our friend day invites.
Make sure you guys grab some.
Give them to your friends.
Give them to your family members so they
can come to our friend day on November 2nd.
And then we also have a breakfast at 9.45.
And that's it for the announcements.
If you please grab your sheet.
His name is wonderful.
Thank you.
His name is wonderful.
So now we're in Psalm 34.
Psalm 34, the Bible reads.
"I will bless the Lord at all times.
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make her boast in the Lord.
The humble shall hear thereof and be glad.
O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.
I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me
from all my fears.
They looked unto him and were lightened,
and their faces were not ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them
that fear him and delivereth them.
O taste and see that the Lord is good.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
O fear the Lord, ye is saints,
for there is no want to them that fear him.
Young lions do lack and suffer hunger.
They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.
Come ye children, hearken unto me.
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days,
that he may see good?
Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
Part from evil, and do good.
Peace, and pursue it.
The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,
and his ears are open unto their cry.
The face of the Lord is against them that do evil,
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
The righteous cry, and the Lord hearth,
and deliverth them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart,
and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.
He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken.
Evil shall slay the wicked,
and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants,
and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord God, just thank you for your word, Lord.
Just thank you for salvation, Lord,
and we just thank you for our pastor.
Pray that you bless him right now
as he preaches your word unto us, Lord,
and that we may apply these truths
from your word, Lord, to our lives, Lord,
and we would keep these things that we heard tonight
into remembrance, Lord.
We pray this all in Jesus' name, Amen.
- Amen.
Okay, we're in Psalm 34.
We're gonna read one verse here in Psalm 34,
and then we'll come back to this at the end of the sermon.
Psalm 34, verse 20 says, "He keepeth all his bones.
Not one of them is broken."
I want you to keep that in mind when the Bible says,
"He keepeth all his bones."
And that is the title of the sermon tonight,
"He keepeth all his bones."
This evening, I wanna preach on the subject of bones
and its relation to the covenants, okay?
Now, what is a covenant?
We obviously are, I would say we were very well-versed
in the subject of covenants in the Bible
and their various applications.
Obviously, we know that a covenant
is simply referring to a contract, an agreement.
And more specifically, the most famous covenants
of the Bible, as we know, are the Old and the New Covenant,
which we would refer to as the Old and New Testament.
This is referring to the old contract
that God made with the nation of Israel
and the new agreement, the new contract
that God is making with all believers in Christ.
And covenants are a contract or agreement
that's based upon the promise of God.
It's an agreement that God's making
with a condition of promise that he has put forth.
Now, hold your place there in Psalm 34,
put a piece of paper or a pen there,
and go to Genesis chapter 50, if you would,
Genesis chapter 50.
This is gonna be a very teachy sermon,
and so you're gonna have to discipline yourself
to pay attention as much as you can,
'cause I'm gonna give you a lot of information.
I'm probably not even gonna raise my voice
unless I start getting on, you know,
the Jews or something like that.
We'll just, you just never know.
But I'm gonna end up just kinda preaching through this,
teaching through this, and you know,
the subject of covenants is very familiar to us.
We obviously understand what a covenant is,
but it's always important to study the Bible
and discover new facets of how certain subjects
and doctrines of the Bible are explained, right?
It's very, it's actually a neat thing
to kind of look throughout the scriptures.
And obviously we have very clear
and distinct doctrines in the Bible,
but then you have figures,
you have typologies in the Bible
that foreshadow those specific doctrines.
And that's what we're gonna look at this evening
is how bones essentially figure the covenants
of the Bible, more specifically,
the old and the new covenant.
And why is it important to do studies like this?
Well, obviously, it's good to kind of refresh ourselves
on basic doctrines, but it's also important to do this
because it gives us a greater appreciation for the Bible,
the depth of the Bible, and the beauty of the scriptures.
And it kind of hits a reset button for us all
to realize like, man, you know,
I thought reading the Bible was a little boring,
or, you know, I was just kind of on a dry spill
on my Bible reading, but this kind of opens up new avenues.
It helps me to understand doctrines
that I already believe, but from different facets.
And so that's what we're gonna do this evening
is look at the significance of bones
in relation to the covenants.
Let's talk about the bones of Joseph.
The bones of Joseph.
Now you're in Genesis 15.
Let me give you a little bit of review here
regarding the life of Joseph, leading up to chapter 50.
Joseph, of course, is one of the 12 sons of Jacob.
And of course, Jacob would be later referred to as Israel,
who's essentially the patriarch
that would birth the 12 tribes of Israel,
the nation of Israel.
Joseph, as we know, has a dream that one day
he would essentially rule over his brothers and parents.
He expounds this dream into his parents and his brothers.
And he's eventually hated and envied of his brothers, right?
His brothers would eventually betray him
and sell him into slavery.
And obviously, there's a lot of undertones of Jesus Christ
within Joseph, right?
Joseph pictures Jesus Christ in a variety of ways.
The fact that he's hated of his brothers,
he's sold for a certain amount of money.
And of course, he's used to bring salvation
to his brethren, to Israel.
We see a lot of pictures there.
Joseph would then work for Potiphar in Egypt,
be falsely accused by Potiphar's wife,
and unjustly prisoned for it.
He then would make it out of prison
by interpreting the dreams of the prisoners
who would end up being reinstated into Pharaoh's palace.
Pharaoh's dream needed interpretation.
They remember Joseph.
Joseph is able to interpret the dream for Pharaoh.
And he expounds that there would be a seven-year famine
that would come upon the nation of Israel.
There would be seven years of plenty, seven years of famine.
And Joseph is able to explain this to Pharaoh.
And because of this,
Pharaoh would eventually promote him to being vice Pharaoh.
So the interpretation of the dreams
gave Joseph a lot of credibility.
Pharaoh promoted him, took him out of the prison.
And now he's essentially the second man in charge
in the nation of Israel.
This led him to saving his father's house
from the famine that also plagued Canaan land
during that time.
Jacob's household would eventually relocate to Egypt
to be under the care of Joseph.
And basically that's where the nation of Israel was
for a very long time, right?
They lived in Egypt.
That was not the promised land.
That was a foreign nation that they were temporarily
to be in until things got better financially
with their resources and then go back to Canaan land.
Now Canaan land was the promised land.
That is the land that God promised to the patriarchs
and passed down through the different various individuals
leading up to Joseph.
So the Israelites would eventually grow
and become a large nation within Egypt.
But unfortunately, the Pharaoh of Joseph's day
would end up dying off.
A new Pharaoh would arise that knew not Joseph.
It actually became antagonistic and adversarial
towards the Israelites, right?
And basically did not show favor to the Israelites
due to the fact that, you know, there were more in number
and there is a great divide between the two.
There is a great enmity between the Israelites
and the Egyptians because of that new Pharaoh.
Now, although this was an ideal situation
for the nation of Israel to begin with,
this was not the ultimate promise
that God gave to the patriarchs.
So Joseph would end up growing old.
He had two sons.
And of course, like everyone else,
he just ended up dying, right?
And you would think to yourself,
well, you know, he did his part.
He fulfilled his role.
He was a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But we see that before his death,
he gives charge concerning his bones, right?
Look at Genesis 50.
This is where we come to here in verse 22.
It says, "And Joseph dwelt in Egypt.
He and his father's house, and Joseph lived 110 years.
And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation.
The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh,
were brought up upon Joseph's knees.
And Joseph said unto his brethren, 'I die,
and God will surely visit you,
and bring you out of this land,
unto the land which you swear unto Abraham,
to Isaac, and to Jacob.'"
What is he saying here?
He's basically repeating,
he is reinstating the promises that were made
hundreds of years before to Abraham.
And he's reminding them like,
"Hey, this is not your home.
Israel, or excuse me, Egypt is temporary.
This is where we live now,
but one day God's gonna bring you out of Egypt,
bring you into the promised land."
And here is the indication that that will happen.
He says in verse 26, or verse 25,
"And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel,
saying, 'God will surely visit you,
and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.'"
Now, why did Joseph say that about his bones?
Well, it's a statement of faith, really,
because Joseph is saying this,
"God's not gonna leave me here.
I'm gonna die here, I'm gonna be buried here,
but I'm gonna tell you right now,
I believe in the promises of God
that He'll bring you into the promised land.
And I believe this so strongly
that you're gonna take my bones with you.
God's not gonna leave me here.
He's gonna take me and I'm gonna be buried
in the promised land with you."
This promise will not be fulfilled
until long after his death, right?
So Joseph prophesied that long after his death,
God would deliver the children of Israel
and from Egypt into the promised land.
He had such great faith in the promises of God
that he stated that even his bones
would not remain in Egypt, they would be carried there as well.
Hebrews 11, you don't have to turn there.
Verse 25 says, "By faith, Joseph, when he died,
made mention of the departing of the children of Israel
and gave commandment concerning his bones."
This was a testament of his faith in the promises of God.
Now go to Galatians chapter 3, if you would.
Galatians chapter 3.
Now, what are some things that we
could extrapolate regarding the bones of Joseph
in the context of the covenants that we're
talking about this evening?
Well, his bones was a covenantal reminder of God's promise
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
His bones would essentially be the link
between the patriarchal promises and the preceding establishment
of the nation of Israel, along with the entrance
into the promised land.
Because you've got to keep in mind, the Old Covenant,
the Old Testament, didn't necessarily begin in Genesis,
right?
In our physical Bible, it does, because it
helps us to geographically kind of locate
where the book of Genesis is.
And it's lumped together with the Old Testament,
the Old Covenant.
But the Old Covenant, according to the Bible,
was not established until when?
Until Mount Sinai in the book of Exodus, right?
This is when Moses sprinkled the blood on the book
and on the people and established that agreement
between the nation of Israel and God.
And the nation of Israel said, all that the Lord has said,
we will do.
They're agreeing to that covenant.
They are agreeing to that promise that God made to them.
And that's when that Old Covenant was established.
But the link between those prior to the covenant
was established through Joseph, because it was through Joseph
that he prophesied, you guys would make it there one day,
and God will be able to establish that Old Covenant,
or that New Covenant for them, with the nation of Israel.
So the Bones of Joseph is a typology
of that Old Covenant.
Look at Galatians chapter 3.
Actually, before we read in Galatians 3,
let me continue making some statements here.
So in that case, how do the Bones
figure that first covenant?
How is it that the Bones of Joseph,
why is it that they symbolically represent
that Old Covenant?
Well, think about this.
Joseph's Bones could not give life, right?
They could not give life.
And you know what?
In like manner, the law cannot save either.
What did Joseph's Bones do?
They only pointed to the coming promise.
All they can do is testify of the promised land.
They could not save anybody.
Could do nothing for them, right?
Now it provided, you know, Joseph provided a temporary solution by saving the nation
of Israel from famine.
But it was only temporary.
All he can do now after his death is point to the promises of God that would come forth
in the establishment of the nation of Israel and the promised land.
Joseph's Bones could not give life.
They could only bear witness to the coming deliverance of his people.
His Bones simply testified the future fulfillment of God's promises to the patriarchs.
And that's exactly how the law works.
What do you mean by that?
I mean that the law can't save anybody.
The law cannot give life.
You can't obey the laws of God to be saved.
Joseph's body could only provide a temporary provision and a temporary solution, right?
But once Joseph died, all his Bones could do is point to a better resting place, which
is the promised land.
Okay.
Now you're in Galatians chapter three.
Let me read to you from Romans chapter eight.
Joseph's Bones picturing the law that cannot save.
Romans eight, three says for what the law could not do and that it was weak through
the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemn
sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walked
not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
Look at Galatians chapter three and verse 16.
Very important here.
It says is the law then against the promises of God, God forbid for if there had been a
law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
Now this is a very good verse to show people when they think that the law can save you,
right?
Because God is saying here, Hey, if you could be righteous through the law, then life should
have been given through the law.
But you can't be saved through the law because the law was never meant to save any individual.
Yet you have people today that think that by the keeping of the commandments, by the
obedience and observation of the ordinances of the law, that you can be saved.
This is nonsense.
This is foolish.
This is errand to try to keep the law in order to be saved.
Why?
Because righteousness should have been by the law if it could have given life, implying
that it cannot.
Verse 22 says, but the scripture has concluded all under sin, of course, because of the law,
that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that obey the law.
No, them that believe the Bible says.
So the purpose of the law was essentially to show us that we're just bones.
All it does is kill us.
All it does is dry us up.
It doesn't leave us with any hope.
All it does is show us we need a savior, right?
So when people say, no, you got to keep the Ten Commandments in order to be saved.
You got to keep God's commandments in order to be saved.
Well, there's not a just man upon earth to do with good and sin is not.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
The law, God never constructed the law in order to save anybody.
It was meant to point people to the promised land.
It was meant to carry people and show them their need for a savior.
He says in verse 23, but before faith came, we were kept under the law.
Shut up unto faith, which should afterwards be revealed.
Wherefore, I want you to notice this, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto
Christ that we might be justified by faith.
You see, the bones of Joseph pointed to, reminded the children of Israel of the promises of
God.
The bones, they couldn't do anything other than say, hey, Joseph said that one day we'll
carry his bones through the wilderness for 40 years into the promised land.
Right?
And you got to keep in mind throughout those 40 years, what's, what's happening?
People are dying.
People are literally being buried in the wilderness.
People are literally dying.
They're not making it to the promised land, but the indication that they still had Joseph's
bones was an indication that one day they would reach it because that's what the promise
stated.
Go to second Corinthians chapter three, second Corinthians chapter three, if you would, second
Corinthians chapter three. So Joseph's bones could not give life just as the law cannot
give life. It cannot save. Joseph's bones represented death just as the law also kills
and represents death. And in fact, what is the New Testament referred to the law as?
The ministration of death. Second Corinthians chapter three, you're in second Corinthians
three. Let me read to you from Romans seven and verse number nine says, "For I was alive
without the law once. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment,
which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taken occasion by the
commandment, deceived me and by it slew me." And I want you to notice this, wherefore the
law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. So Joseph's bones represented death
just as the law's administration of death, but Joseph liked the law was also holy, just
and good, right? If you look at the character of Joseph, he was a righteous person, but
you know what? It stops there. All we have of Joseph are his bones pointing to the necessity
of the promised land. Look at 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 6, "Who also hath made us able
ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter
killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." Now what is letter referring to here in the Bible?
Letter is just another way of saying the law. Think of the letter of the law, it's referring
to that Old Covenant. And it's saying here that we, New Testament believers, are ministers
not of the Old Covenant, not of the Old Testament, but of the New Testament. This is why we need
to reject Judaizers, who try to bring us back under the law to observe feasts, days, months
and years, to observe the Sabbaths. "Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink
or respect of an holy day, which are a shadow of things to come, but the bodies of Christ."
So according to the Bible, we're able ministers of the New Testament, right? Not of the letter,
but of the Old, but of the Spirit. Why? Because the Old covenant, that Old Testament, the law kills,
but the Spirit gives life. Verse seven says, "But if the ministration of death," referring to the law,
"written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not set
fastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away,
how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of
condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
For even that which was made glorious had no glory in disrespect by reason of the glory that
excelleth. For if that which was done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is
glorious. Now, what can we take away from 2 Corinthians 3? We can take away that we can
appreciate the Old Covenant, but we got to realize that the New Covenant is far more glorious.
It's better. It's not blasphemous to say that it's better. People take offense to that,
but the only reason they take offense to that is because of the fact that they've been influenced
by dispensationalism and Zionism. The Bible teaches us that the New Testament is far more glorious.
Why? Because we have a more glorious mediator, which is Jesus Christ. And we're not taken away
from the glory of the Old Covenant. It was glorious. Moses was a glorious mediator. Bro's
face was shining. He was an amazing person of the Old Testament. The Old Testament had amazing
foreshadowings of the new, but hold on a second, the completion that New Covenant,
according to the Bible, is better. It's more glorious. It's administration of the spirit.
And in fact, let me give you the main reason why it's more glorious. It actually gives life.
Whereas the Old Covenant only brings forth death. There's no life that comes through the Old
Covenant. There's only death. There's only bones. Joseph was glorious, but guess what? There's only
bones. And all people could do is just take the bones and use it as a signification that God
would one day bring them into the promised land. That's exactly what the Old Covenant was for.
Okay, so Joseph's bones, though lifeless, testified of the coming fulfillment of God's promise just as
the Old Covenant itself was a shadow of things to come. Go to Exodus chapter 13. Exodus chapter 13,
as you're turning there, Hebrews 10 verse 1 says, "For the law having a shadow of good things to come."
Now who are the good things? Well, the good thing is Jesus, right? The good thing is the revealing
of what those old covenant ordinances were picturing. Those are the good things to come.
And it says, "And not the very image of the things can never with those sacrifices,
which they offered year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect." Now,
dispensations need to read that verse because it's literally saying that the animal sacrifices
can save no one. It can make no one perfect. And in fact, he goes on to say, "For then would they
not have ceased to be offered." I mean, isn't that, and by the way, today you have that same false
doctrine just repackaged in a different way. Because what they're saying is that the Old Covenant
sacrifices, when done, would save them. Then why would they have to continuously be offered then?
Just like today, it's just like, "Oh, baptism saves you, but you can lose your salvation." Then what's
the point of baptism, right? "Oh, repenting of sins can save you, but if you get away from God,
you lose your salvation." Then what was the point of repenting of my sins? It's simply repackaged,
right? He says, "For then would they not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshipers,
once purged, should have no more conscience of sins." So you say, look, if the animal sacrifices
couldn't save anybody, then what's the point of doing it every single year? Here in Exodus 13,
so we see here that Joseph's bones could not give life, because the law cannot save. We see that
Joseph's bones represented death, just as the law kills. We also see that Joseph's bones was a
burden that was carried by Moses. Look at Exodus 13 verse 18, "But God led the people out through
the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the
land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, where he had straightly sworn to the
children of Israel, saying, 'God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones away hence
with you.'" Now there's a reason why it specifically says that Moses was the one, and I
literally believe that Moses was the one in charge of carrying Joseph's bones. Go to Joshua 24 if
you would. Why is this significant? Go to Joshua 24. Well, consider this. Moses, of course, as we
know, represents the law. And Moses, who represents the law, carried the bones, which is the Old
Covenant, through the wilderness until it reached the Promised Land, just as the law preserved the
Old Covenant until Christ. You see, a lot of people don't realize regarding the Old Covenant.
What they get mixed up on is that the Old Covenant was supposed to be temporary. It's not a permanent
thing. It was supposed to be temporary. And in fact, there's a time when the Old Covenant
didn't exist. And in fact, people were calling upon the name of the Lord before the Old Covenant
was established. In fact, God's people existed before the Old Covenant was established. You
know why? Because of the fact that salvation, God's people transcends the Old Covenant.
The Old Covenant was a temporary era meant to point the nation of Israel to the coming Christ.
That's what it was for. So we're not downplaying the Old Covenant. We know how important the Old
Covenant was. We understand its place in biblical history. But I hate to, I hate to tell you this,
but it's true. It was only temporary. It wasn't meant to last forever. And in fact,
what happened to Joseph's bones? Eventually they were buried. They existed throughout the wilderness.
They were carried by the law through the wilderness, but it found its resting place
in the promised land. This beautifully mirrors how the law and the prophets accompanied God's people
until Christ. That's what it pictures. The law and the prophets carried that old covenant
by obeying the commandments, by obeying that old covenant, by enforcing the laws of God and enforcing
the meats, drinks, divers, washings until Christ came. Luke 16 says, "The law and the prophets were
until John. Since that time, the kingdom of God is preached." Look at Galatians 3.23. I'm sorry,
are you in Galatians? Where are you? Oh, Joshua, let me read to you from Galatians 3.23. "But before
faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto faith, which should afterwards be revealed."
So the bones were carried, you think about Moses carrying that burden of the Old Covenant.
And let me just say this, you know, the Old Testament saints, the Old Covenant was burdensome
to them. It was something they had to carry throughout the Old Covenant. I mean, killing
animals just day and night, day and night, day and night, day and night. Observing the Sabbath,
all of the meats, drinks, divers, washings, all the cardinal ordinances, the clothing,
the abstinence from certain foods, the dietary laws, the purity laws, that's burdensome. So now
you know why the new covenant is better. We ain't got to do all that, right? I mean,
that's like a full-time job, not just for those who are carrying out the ordinances,
but just for the ones who are participating in it as well. Like, just constantly, you know,
sacrifice. I mean, it would have smelled great, obviously, you know, but that was just like a
constant thing. And then it was extremely strict, you know, the dietary laws, the purity laws,
all these laws that were imposed upon them until the time of Reformation, according to
Hebrews chapter 9. And you know, I'm sure carrying Joseph's bones is a little burdensome to Moses.
You know, the first couple of weeks, it's just like, this is great, you know, this is Joseph.
But after, you know, after 40 years, just picking up the burden, throwing it over your shoulder,
and it's just a constant reminder that one day we will reach the promised land,
because Joseph said so, but it's a burden still. And that's exactly what the Old Testament was,
folks. It was a burden to the people. It was burdensome. Now, again, you know, salvation
didn't change in the Old Testament. It was exactly the same as it is today.
The difference is they look forward to the cross when we look back. Dispensationalists hate that
phrase, but it's just because they hate biblical concepts. That's a fact, my friends. They look
forward to the cross. That's exactly what the Old Covenant was for, for them to look forward to what
was going to take place. Everything in the Old Testament was looking forward to the coming
Christ. It's not looking forward to the nation of Israel. You know what dispensationalists do? They
want to replace Jesus with Israel. That's what they're trying to do. That's a sermon for another
day. But I don't know my input some of it in the sermon. The law could not save. It could only bear
witness. The prophets could not save. They could only testify of the coming Savior. And you know
what? It might have been nice carrying Joseph's bones, but eventually it would become burdensome
to carry his bones throughout the wilderness until it reached its final resting place. Look at Joshua
24. Joshua 24. So what do we see here? We see Joseph's bones. Joseph's bones could not give
life. The law cannot save. Joseph's bones represent death. The law kills. Joseph's bones was a burden
that was carried by Moses throughout the wilderness for those 40 years. We also see Joseph's bones
were eventually laid to rest in Shechem. It says in verse 32, "In the bones of Joseph, which the
children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem in a parcel of ground which Jacob
bought of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver, and it became the
inheritance of the children of Joseph." The promise was then fulfilled in the promised land. Go to
Hebrews chapter four if you would. Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews chapter number four. So we see here
that in this particular story Joseph, the fulfillment of the promise that he gave, the oath that he made
to the children of Israel, was finally fulfilled. Joseph's bones found rest in the land of promise
just as, which is essentially the shadow, those bones are a shadow, finally came to rest within
the substance which is the fulfillment of Christ coming to this world, the word of God being made
flesh. The old covenant finds its rest in the completion of Christ. And so let me just remind
you that we're not under the old covenant anymore. I mean back in, back in Paul's day, the Bible says
that the old covenant was ready to vanish away. That was 2,000 years ago. That shows us it's gone.
It's gone. You say where is it? It's buried just as Joseph's bones because the old covenant did its
job. It found its completion within the new covenant within the coming Christ. That's what
it was for. Look at Hebrews 4 verse 8, "For if Jesus," and this Jesus here in Hebrews 4 8 is
actually referring to Joshua, "For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterwards
have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he
that has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did from his." So once
they reached the promised land, Moses takes the bones off and he finally buries it and he finds
rest. He no longer has to bear the burden of the old covenant bones. They're finally to rest in the
promised land. Go to John chapter 19 if you would. John chapter 19. So the types, the shadows, the
ordinances, the rituals of the Mosaic law were carried by faith throughout the ages and they
finally found their rest in the Lord Jesus Christ who was the mediator of that better covenant.
And what a relief that must have been for those who were there right in the first century. After
Jesus Christ dies they're just like oh man we don't have to do sacrifices anymore because Jesus
Christ is the lamb of God who should take away the sins of the world. We don't have to observe
the laws the the the rituals of Moses anymore because it's already been fulfilled in Christ.
So now you see why it's so heretical and wicked for Judaizers to go through the churches and try
to bring people back under the law. Why? Because now they're undermining the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. Because the fulfillment of the Old Covenant was in Christ, but if you are seeking
to bring people back under that Old Covenant, you're essentially ignoring the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ that establishes that New Covenant. Joseph's bones being laid to rest prefigures
how the Old Covenant gives way to the New. And folks, these two cannot exist together.
And let me just clarify something. I'm not referring to the moral laws of God,
because then you know people try to say, "Oh yeah, well if you're saying that the Old Covenant has
vanished away, well the laws of God are part of the Old Covenant. No, actually murder was wrong before
the Old Covenant was established, bro. Sodomy, murder, adultery, things of morality were still
a thing even prior to the Old Covenant being established. You say, "Well how do you explain
that?" Well how about the fact that the reason God even gave strict laws regarding these sins
as crimes is because now there was a functioning government that could carry out the punishment.
You know, before that, the children of Israel were under a theocracy. They weren't a physical
nation with working laws. But murder was still wrong. Adultery was still wrong. Sodomy was wrong.
You say, "How do you know?" Well, God executed like a whole city filled with them. It's called
Genesis 19. He was judge, jury, and executioner. You know, before Leviticus 2013 was even a thing,
there was a Genesis 19. Why? Because he didn't have a functioning government to carry out
the punishment against Sodomites. But now that there's a functioning government in the Old
Covenant, now that he gave the law to Moses, now he's telling them these are the civil laws,
these are the punishments for these particular crimes, these are the capital punishments for
capital crimes, you guys carry it out. Which is why in Judges 19, when the same crimes as Genesis
19 are carried out, he expects for them to take care of it. He's not going to rain down fire and
brimstone upon the Benjamites and Sodomites because he's already established a government
that should carry that out. So those moral laws are still intact. They're still a thing even today.
They should be. Obviously we're not under a theocracy so we can't impose those laws,
but we can sure preach about it though. And we should. We should talk about and teach about it.
Why? Because that's God's moral standard. So we see there that the bones of Joseph essentially
pictures that old covenant that cannot give life. It must needs be born. It must needs be carried
through the wilderness until it finds its resting place in the promised land, picturing the old
covenant that was eventually fulfilled by being put to rest in Christ, thereby establishing the
new covenant. Now let's talk about that new covenant and its relation to the subject matter
being bones. Let me read to you. You are in John chapter 19. Let me read to you from Genesis chapter
two and verse 21. It says in the Lord God caused the deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept
and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof and the rib which the Lord
God had taken from man made he a woman and brought her unto the man and Adam said this is now bone
of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.
Now the reason I'm even addressing Genesis chapter two is because we see here the first Adam and the
fact that his side was open a rib was removed and thereby creating the woman right his bride
which is Eve you understand okay now let's look at the last Adam which is Jesus Christ in John 19
verse 33 says but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already they break not his legs
but one of the soldiers with the spear pierced his side and forth with came there out blood and
water and he that saw bare record and his record is true and he knoweth that he sayeth is true
that ye might believe for these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled
a bone of him shall not be broken now obviously that is a prophetic statement made in psalm 34
but we even see this in the old covenant figures of the instructions given regarding the sacrifices
because the bible says in exodus 12 46 in one house shall it be eaten thou shall not carry forth
out of the flesh abroad of the out of the house neither shall ye break a bone thereof so we see
here specifically when it comes to jesus christ the bible seems to go out of its way to address
the fact that his bones were not broken when he was crucified on the cross now this is important
to note the crucifixion of christ very important is the establishment of the new covenant his death
brought about the new testament right the death of the testator brought about that new covenant
that's important because you have preterists out there that will assert that the new covenant
began in 70 ad wrong wrong now we we we for sure recognize 70 ad right 70 ad is essentially the
fulfillment of the curse that jesus christ gave upon the nation of israel for the rejection of him
and essentially allowing the romans to come and destroy the temple destroy jerusalem burn it with
fire as a punishment for rejecting god so we definitely agree with that amen to that we need
to have shirts that say remember 70 ad okay it's a great time in history it's a why because jesus
christ prophesied of it and you know what everything that the lord says is right okay but folks it's
not the establishment of the of the new testament the establishment of the new testament was not
when the temple was destroyed but rather when the temple of jesus was destroyed right when he died
on the cross and he shed his blood so just as the old covenant was established by blood in like manner
the new testament is also established by blood piercing the side blood and water coming forth
right it's and and pouring on the man essentially showing that establishment of the new covenant
well the formation of eve from adam's rib is a picture of believers the bible often refers
to as the church being the bride being spiritually born from the wounded side of the second adam which
is christ right so just as eve was created from the rib of adam in like manner the churches were
established the new covenant was established with the piercing of the side of the lord jesus christ
and him pouring out his blood but what about his bones well the bible tells us that they didn't
break his bones and if bones pictures the covenants that means that that covenant will
never be broken it figures the reality that it's an everlasting covenant because not a bone of
his body shall be broken you know the bones are the promises of god go with me if you would to
jeremiah 32 hold your place there in the new testament we're going to come back to that in
just a bit jeremiah 32 jeremiah chapter 32 i'm going to give you some more thoughts and we're
almost done this is a shorter sermon tonight believe it or not because i'm not ranting and
you know yelling about all kinds of other stuff look at jeremiah 32 verse 39 it says and i will
give them one heart in one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them and of the children
after them and i will make an everlasting covenant with them that i will not turn away from them to
do them good but i will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me of
course this is quoted later on in hebrew chapter 13 but we also see that hebrews 8 also quotes
jeremiah 31 referring to that everlasting covenant and people often use this and think oh pastor
mehiah you're so mixed up on israel you're you're boasting against the branches uh pastor mehiah
because god made an everlasting covenant with israel uh you need to read the context the context
is that he will make an everlasting covenant with them meaning that in the time of jeremiah it was
not yet established will make means that it's currently not in effect just like when he says i
will be their god it means that he's currently not you will be my people it means that they're
currently not his people i will make a new covenant means that they're currently in an old
covenant and he's promising them a future covenant that will be established that will be an everlasting
covenant meaning that his bones will not be broken the bones will not be buried it's referred to the
indestructibility of his body the perfection and permanence of that new covenant that he established
through his blood the immutability of his promise that it's an ever-lasting covenant and look
obviously he's promising it to Israel but we're included in that Israel is going to make an
everlasting covenant yeah he already did it two thousand years ago they can join anytime they
want Jews can join any Muslims can join anytime they want anybody can join the covenant at any
given time by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and you know what renounce your Jewishness too
put away your shofar your prayer shawl a funny looking hat and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and that goes for every culture out there that practices things that are contrary to the word
of God put it away well I'm Mexican so I'm just used to having crucifixes with the dead Jesus
put it away you're saved you're a Christian what do we see here we see that when the Bible tells
us that not a bone of his shall be broken it's referring to the fact that none of his promises
shall be made void he's not going to break this new covenant it's not going to be buried it's
permanent go to go back to john 19 if you would john 19 Hebrews 13 verse 20 says now the god of
peace that brought again from the dead our lord Jesus that great shepherd of the sheep through
the blood of the everlasting covenant now let's keep reading regarding this particular new covenant
through the bones of Jesus that were not broken look at verse 31 of john 19 says the jews therefore
because it was the preparation that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day
for that sabbath day was in high day besought pilot that their legs might be broken that they
might be taken away now what is this referring to well you know uh physically when someone was
crucified on the cross the way they would speed up the process of them dying was by breaking their
legs not because it would give them some immediate shock or something but rather because when you're
they're on the cross in order to even breathe they would have to push themselves up to open up their
lungs to be able to breathe well if your legs are broken you can't push yourself up you essentially
die of asphyxiation so to speed up the process of death of those who were crucified they would
break the legs to impede them from breathing that's why they're breaking the legs it says in verse 32
then came the soldiers and break the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified with
him go to luke 23 luke 23 let's talk about these two men who were crucified with Jesus Christ and
how it relates to the sermon at hand regarding the covenants because they got their legs broken
look at luke 23 verse 39 and one of the male factors which were which were hanged railed on
him saying if thou be the christ save thyself and us but the other answering rebuked him saying
does not thou fear god seeing thou are in the same condemnation and we indeed justly for we
received the due rewards of our deeds but this man has done nothing amiss and he said unto Jesus
lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom and Jesus said unto him verily I say unto thee
today shalt thou be with me in paradise so picture this on mount calvary you have Jesus Christ being
crucified and two male factors one to the right one to the left and Jesus right in the midst
the two criminals were dying under roman law but more importantly under the condemnation of sin
and death representing mankind under the old covenant where the law brought death their broken
bones are essentially a vivid representation of condemnation the frailty of human righteousness
man's works under the law are shattered under god's divine justice right the end of the old
covenant order which has been fulfilled and superseded in christ is pictured here though
the law was glorious it was a covenant of death to the sinner the bones which are the structure of
the old covenant was broken when christ fulfilled it perfectly and cried it is finished now christ
hung between these two condemned men right picturing his role as the mediator between
god and men of course but it also portrays him standing between two covenants the old that
condemns and the new that redeems one male factor one criminal believed and entered into paradise
symbolizing those who through faith transition from the law to grace the other rejected him
symbolizing those who remain under the law and perish thus we see in this picture here we see
the law broken on both sides but the everlasting covenant in the midst standing intact and eternal
it's a beautiful picture here and so when the new covenant was established it's essentially a doing
away of the old one the one who railed the one who testified against jesus the one who's saying all
that stuff about the lord jesus christ he represents that old covenant right you have one that accused
of you even moses well that male factor represents that old covenant but then you have the other one
who recognized his condemnation and in light of that it drew him to the savior and he believed on
him they both unfortunately died but one lives forever under that new covenant pretty simple what
am i saying second corinthians 120 says go back to psalm 34 second corinthians 120 says for all the
promises of god and him are yay amen unto the glory of god by us why do we start in psalm 34
we'll look at verse 20 i'll tell you why because the bible tells us in verse 20 he referring to
god keepeth all his bones not one of them broken what is the covenant to promise and you know what
he keeps them all not a single one of them will ever be broken now the most important promise is
the new covenant everlasting covenant will never be broken we'll never lose our salvation we will
always be god's people but you know you can apply this all across the board to any promise of god
found in the bible and you know if this sermon bored you you're just like i heard this already
well let me just give you some practical tips practical tips is this you know when your faith
is waning when you stop believing in the promises of god just remember not a bone of him shall be
broken you know when you feel like you're going through a difficult time financially physically
you're just going through a hard year just remember this not a bone shall be broken
if god promised it all the promises of god in him is yay and so when you uh begin to doubt
when you begin to lapse in your faith when you feel like you're weak in the faith just remember
not a bone shall be broken god will fulfill his promises just as he fulfilled his promises with
the new covenant and his bones weren't broken let's pray father we thank you so much for your word
and thank you for the new covenant the more i study it the more i appreciate being in the new
testament and of course what a glorious thing it would have been to be in the old testament to
to witness all the miracles to witness the prophets oh but lord we have so much so much
more of a privilege here in the new to be a part of that new covenant to be god's people
to be fellow citizens and heirs and i pray lord that you'd help us to have a greater appreciation
for that covenant those bones that were never broken and i pray lord that you help us
take these things into consideration help us not to doubt your promises when they're given to us
in jesus name we pray amen.