Before I begin, let me thank
the ladies for all the good food and fellowship. It's been sweet. Looking forward
to preaching again tonight and also looking forward to going
back home to Cherokee. Back to the mountains. Feel safe there.
Y'all know a little bit about that. Y'all pretty close to some
mountains too. Let's see if I can find my button
back here and we can get this thing started. Did that do it? Okay. All right.
The title of my message this morning is The Two Covenants.
The Two Covenants. Turn with me please first to
Galatians chapter 3. And I want you to place your
Bible marker there. And after you get there, turn over with
me to Hebrews chapter 9. In Hebrews chapter 9, beginning
with verse 15, it says, And for this cause He, that is, Jesus
Christ, is the mediator of the New Testament, or covenant, that
by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the First Testament, they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there
must also of necessity be the death of a testator. For a testament
is a force after men are dead. Otherwise, it is of no strength
at all while the testator liveth. Now turn over to Galatians chapter
3. Beginning with verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham
might come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner
of men Though it be but a man's covenant, yet it be confirmed,
no man disannulleth or addeth thereunto. Now to Abraham and
his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds as
of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is the Lord Jesus
Christ. In this I say that the covenant
that was confirmed before in God, or of God in Christ, the
law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul, that it should
make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of
the law, it is no more a promise, but God gave it to Abraham by
promise. Wherefore then serveth the law.
It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come, to
whom the promise was made. And it was ordained by angels
in the hands of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator
of one, but God is one. 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. But the Scripture hath concluded
all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given unto them that believe. Now verses 15 to 22, Paul is
picking up on the declaration he made in verse 14. He also
spoke of in Hebrews chapter 9, concerning the promise of the
Spirit through faith, which is the blessing of Abraham. Now the blessing of Abraham speaks
of that covenant God made with Abraham back in Genesis chapter
12. And that is typical of the covenant
of grace. The covenant of grace. Not speaking
in that time of the covenant that was given to the Jewish
nation, to the sons of Israel at Sinai. Now he explains this
by addressing the promise as being the benefit of this covenant. that was made and typified by
the covenant with Abraham. Now, he makes a distinction here
as to how the promise is received by setting forth two covenants
in this passage of Scripture. He makes distinction as to how
the promise is received that way. Under one covenant, under
one covenant, and only one covenant is the promise obtained and received,
only under one covenant. Conversely, the other covenant
has no part whatsoever in obtaining or receiving the promise, which
is the promise of the Spirit through faith. One covenant is
the covenant of the law. that was given to Moses on Sinai. It was for Israel and for Israel
alone. That's who it was for. No other
nation on the face of the earth was part of that covenant given
down from Sinai. And that covenant in no way accomplished
or attained the promise being spoken of here in this passage
of Scripture. The other covenant The covenant
of grace accomplished, obtained, and administered the promise
and that by Christ being made a curse and then being hanged
on a tree. The blessing attending the covenants
are equally different. Those two covenants, you'd have
to say they're different. The blessings attending those
covenants are equally different. The covenant of the law ministered
only temporal blessings. Temporal blessings. And they
were conditioned upon the personal obedience of one part, or actually
both parts, of the covenantal contract. The covenant of grace
administered something else. It administered only spiritual
blessings, the promise of the Spirit through faith, and it
was conditioned only on the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
the promise, the blessings of that covenant, the spiritual
blessings, are only in Jesus Christ. They're not in that other
covenant in any way, shape or form. Scripture says, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in Christ, according as has chosen
us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
behold Him without blame, before Him in love, having predestinated
us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has made
us accepted in the Beloved. All spiritual blessings are in
Jesus Christ. That other covenant had nothing
to do with spiritual blessings. It was a conditional covenant.
An example of that is when the Lord said to his people, if my
people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves
and pray, then I will heal their land. That's an if and a then. That's a conditional covenant.
If they don't humble themselves and pray, he's not going to heal
their land. Now the promise is given to them
of healing if they will do something. That's a conditional covenant.
Listen to me very carefully. There is no conditions placed
upon the believer in this covenant of grace. No conditions whatsoever. If you have anything from God,
it is in spite of what you are. not because of what you have
done. Now Paul's distinction between
these two covenants has to do with kind. What kind of covenant
they are. They are two different kinds
of covenant. It's obvious in the one that
one is of grace and the other is of works. And we know from
the Bible it's pretty clear that these have nothing to do with
each other. Romans chapter 11 verses 5 and 6 says if it is
of grace, it's no more works. and it's a vortex, it's no more
grace. These two are never found coinciding. But what Paul is teaching is
that one covenant is actually not a contract. One covenant is a will. a testament, a last will and
testament, that's what we would call it, and the other covenant
is a contract. Those two things are very, very
different. When a covenant is a will, the testator, as we read
in Hebrews chapter 9, that is the person who makes the will
and names those who are in the will, the testator, the benefactor
alone, is the active person, he alone is active, and the beneficiary
is passive except in the sense that he is a vessel made for
something to be put in, a vessel of glory as spoken of in Romans
chapter 9. He gets what is designated him
because the testator put his name in the wheel. That's the only reason he gets
it. There's no other reason. He doesn't work for it. He doesn't
pray for it. He doesn't pray through for it.
He doesn't come down the front for it. He doesn't believe for
it. His name is in the will. That's
that type of covenant. It's called, this is the covenant
of promise he's speaking of. Conversely, when a covenant is
a contract, it's a whole different animal. Then the terms of the
contract are only valid and benefits are only obtained by strict adherence
of both parties to the covenant. That's the terms of a contract. The covenant of the law was a
contract. We just said it was a conditional
covenant, therefore it was a contract whereby the receiving of blessing
was contingent upon strict obedience of both parties, both God and
Israel, or God and men. Both of them had to strictly
obey the terms of the contract made. God says, if you'll humble
yourself and pray, I will heal your land. Now he's held to that
because he's making the contract himself. But if they don't obey,
then their term of the contract or their side of the contract's
been broken. So no blessing will come. The promise and all its
attendant blessings, however, are summed up in the theme that
Paul has been addressing throughout this epistle. What's this promise
talking about? Namely, justification. by grace,
through faith, accomplished by Jesus Christ in His death on
Calvary Street, or what we like to call the salvation of the
elect. Now under the contract of the
law, it has already been established that by the works of the law,
no flesh shall be justified in this very epistle. And also it's
been established that they who are of the works of the law are
under the curse of the law. So under that contract, there's
no hope. Our hope is that the promise
is given to us, the promise of Abraham is given to us because
Christ was made a curse for us. because the scripture says, cursed
is everyone that hangs on a tree. It is then impossible for that
contract to apply, that old covenant, to apply to any degree whatsoever
to the obtaining of the promise of the Spirit through faith.
The old covenant has nothing to do with that. That's what
Paul is teaching here. On the other hand, the covenant
that is a will or a testament assures that the beneficiary
receives the blessing of Abraham, that covenant of grace, and without
any obedience or even disobedience on his part. Read Genesis 12. Read the covenant with Abraham.
God didn't say, Abraham, if you'll do this. He says, this is what
you're going to do. And this is what's going to be given to
you. This is what you're going to become. Those were all promises
given to Abraham. But He didn't say, Abraham, you
have to do this. because it was a covenant of
promise. The covenant that is a will and testament has nothing
to do with merit, none whatsoever. It has nothing to do with the
merit of the one who is the recipient of the benefits. That's what
strikes people, makes them upset about religion, especially the
truth. It's a scandalous thing. I stand
here before you today, a scandalous thing. I have received absolutely
everything that God has to give to a human being, freely and
fully, and I've not lifted a finger. I've not done a thing. In fact,
when my name was put in the will, I didn't even exist. The will
was made out. I was made as one of the recipients
of the will, and I didn't know it until somebody stood up on
their hind legs and preached the gospel to me and told me
what God had done for me. That's how I found out about
it. The entirety of the performance of that covenant relies wholly
on the one who made the will, who made the testament. He's
the testator. Now this being the case, Paul
first addresses the binding nature of a covenant. Look at verse
15 of Galatians 3. Brethren, I speak after the manner
of men, though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed,
no man disannulleth it or addeth thereto. And that word addeth
is very important. Well, when Paul says that he
speaks after the manner of man, he's not saying that his words
are not inspired of God. He is simply asserting that what
he's about to say and what he's about to aver is that a covenant
is universally accepted and understood in the realm of humanity and
human jurisprudence. We understand what a contract
is. If it is signed and it is notarized, if it is confirmed,
even among men, it is binding. It is binding and cannot be disannulled,
nor can anything be added to it after the fact. It is a given
then that to add to this covenant would result in the loss of all
benefits that were negotiated in the covenant. Now Paul uses
this fact to establish that the covenant of grace, the will and
testament of God, which is an eternal covenant, thus was not
affected or disannulled by the contract or the law. It wasn't
even affected by it. It was already enforced. It was
already a will and a testament. It was already done. So when
the law was added some 430 years later, it had no effect on it
whatsoever. None whatsoever. The law was
added because of something else altogether, some 430 years later. Here's what it says. The law
was added because of transgressions, down in verse 19. The law was
added for transgression, because of transgressions. And that's
the only purpose of any and every law that is upon the face of
the earth. It's added because of transgressions. That's why it's there. You drove
to church this morning, there were speed limit signs along
the road. Did those speed limit signs make
you a more moral driver? Did they? Why are they there? They're there in case you speed,
that there has been a punishment set for that act. They were added
for the speeder. You see, if you don't speed,
that law has nothing to do with you. You can drive by that sign
and say, that don't have anything to do with me. I'm doing 35 in
a 45. That law don't have anything to do with me. The law has nothing
to do with the righteous man. It's made for the transgressor.
So the law was added because of the transgression. Because
of the transgression. Being added, it didn't have anything
to do with the covenant of promise. Because you can't add anything
to a covenant. That's what Paul has said. You
can't add anything to a covenant. The bringing in of the law or
adding of the law should be understood not in the sense that it was
a supplement, as some men say, to the promise, or even more
in depth, a development of the promise. That's not true. Or
in any way had a part in the transmitting or administration
of the promise. The law was added because of
transgression. The law entered, it says in Romans
5 20, the law entered that sin might abound, that it might be
seen for what it is, and that's what a law does. It was superimposed
upon the transgression. The law of God did that and that
alone. Truly had nothing to do with
the promise and therefore could not disannul it. Justification
and righteousness before God was the promise of that eternal
covenant. That's what's in that will. with
your name on it if you're a child of God. That's what's in that
will, the will and testament of God. It was in effect from
all eternity. It was accomplished before the
world began and it was ratified according to Hebrews chapter
9, which we just read, by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's the faith of Christ spoken of in Scripture. Now another
kind of covenant, Sinai, brought in 430 years later, had nothing
to do with that covenant. Do you understand? It has nothing
to do with the covenant. So if some preacher stands up
and says, you need to apply to the law for anything, that preacher's
lying to you. He's not being nice to you or
asserting some opinion. He's lying to you. And he's adding
to the promise. And that can't be done. That
contract was made or that covenant was made by God before the world
and you can't add to it or disannul it because it's been ratified,
fulfilled and completed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing can
be done to it. That other law has nothing to
do with the eternal covenant. Look over Romans chapter 4. Hold
your place there at Galatians and look back at Romans chapter
4. Look at verse 13. Now here again, this covenant
of grace is referred to in the sense of a promise. A promise. For the promise that he should
be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through
the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which were
of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made
of none effect. Because the law worketh wrath,
and where the law is, there is no transgression. That's what
it says. Where there is no law, there
is no transgression. So if there were no speed signs
out there, if your car would do a million, You could do a
million. You say, well that would be wrong,
it would be dangerous. Yeah, it would be sinful actually to
do something like that. But you see, where there is no
law, sin cannot be imputed. That's what it says back over
in Romans chapter 5, in verse 13. For until the law, sin was
in the world, it was there. But sin is not imputed where
there is no law. So what's the purpose of the
law? To make you better? To impute? To charge with sin? That's all the law will ever
and can ever do. That covenant was added and superimposed
upon the crimes that were being committed. Where? At the bottom
of Sinai, you think about this. Think about those ten words that
came down to Moses and were written on those tables of stone. Think
about it. What's the first one? Wasn't
it, thou shalt have no other gods before me? Was that it?
That the first one? What was going on at the bottom
of the mountain? They were making a god out of
gold. Now what they were doing, if
that law had not been there, would that be chargeable to them? They'd just be making a golden
cash. But that law said, stop. That law said, what you're doing
is against God. I charge you with sin. because you shall not have any
other God before me and you're making a golden calf and saying
it's Jehovah and it delivered me from Israel. I'm the one that
delivered you from Israel. The law was added because of
transgression. Thou shalt not make any image
of anything. What were they doing? They thought they was having
fun. They were breaking the law because God added that law to
show them that particular thing. Here's what the law does. It's
all it can do. You're on death row. No, you're not on death row.
You're in the electric chair. They've strapped down your hands.
They've shaved a bald spot on your head. They put that little
copper cap on your head. And they're getting ready to
throw the juice to you, all the amps it will take to fry your
body. Here's what the law does. It walks in in a black robe.
and opens up a book and looks you in the face just before the
switch is thrown and says, this is why you're dying this way. And it reads to you the law under
which you were convicted. And that's all the law can do. You want to go to the law? You want to go back under the
law? You don't want to have Bill put the Ten Commandments up here
on the chair. No, I don't. I don't want to
go there. Why? Because all it's going to
tell me is what's wrong with me. That's all it's going to
tell me. And not only that, it's going
to tell me that because I am wrong and because I'm a sinner,
because the law declares that, it declares that I must die.
I must be put out from God forever because of what I am. That's
what the law says. That's that contract. That's
that contract. It came 430 years later. It can have nothing to do with
the promise. The promise is already in effect. This is what the Galatian
brethren, indeed all believers, need to grasp. To go to the covenant
that entered 40 years after the covenant with Abraham is to involve
themselves in that which has nothing to do with the promise,
which is salvation. has nothing to do with justification,
it has nothing to do with the righteousness whatsoever. The
covenant of Abraham was not a contract, it was a will. It did not involve
accomplishment by works of the law, but rather an inheritance
by the grace of God without consideration of merit on the part of the recipient
in any measure. You were in the will. What a
thing. I know what I am, and you know
what you are. What we deserve from God is eternal
punishment. But you see, before he sent the
law down, before he even gave the law in Eden, he had already written his people's
names in the will. And so even the law of Eden did
not affect that will. It did not affect that will.
Think about that. Paul declares this truth by asserting
that the promise was made to Christ. And those promises are
all found only in Christ by the faith of Christ and received
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look back at Galatians
chapter 3 and verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not to seeds as of many,
but as of one, and to thy seed, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. These promises were made to Christ. All the promises according to
scripture are yea and they are amen in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now Paul's use of this absolute here, to thy seed, which is Christ,
attributes all the inheritance and the promise to this singular
one who by himself obtained the inheritance for his people. He
hath entered in once with his own blood, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. And it is by that blood that
the will was made in force when the testator died. That's what
the Scriptures say. Spiritually, Christ and His church
are one body. Some people call it a mystical
union. That's all right. He being the head and the elect
being the members in particular. Now, Christ is the singular heir
of the promise. God put it all in Him. Everything
that God has for His people he gave to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the singular heir, the only begotten, the firstborn, therefore
having all rights of the firstborn. But he mystically or spiritually
has a body. He's the head of the church and
the elect are the members in particular. Christ got the promise
and so his people are called joint heirs with him. Joint heirs
with Him. That's what it says. We are heirs
of God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. What does
that mean? That means whatever God gave Him, He can't have unless
we have it too. Don't mean co-heirs. Don't mean
we're going to split the property. It means if God's elect are shortchanged
in any way, considering what He gave His Son, then that contract
is broken. We are joint heirs with Christ. He's the head and we are the
body. This distinctive phraseology
is used to further that justification and righteousness before God
are not the product of works of the law, but rather are benefits
received from the testator of the covenant and nowhere else.
And entirely conditioned upon the merits of Abraham's singular
seed, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's His marriage. It's His marriage. Look at Galatians
3.14, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. Now having established that the
covenant of promise and the covenant of the law were different in
nature and in kind, The one being a contract, the other being a
will and testament, the one dealing with earned blessing, the other
having to do with inheritance, the one having nothing to do
with the accomplishment of the other. Paul answers the reasonable
question which would naturally arise. Well, if the law has nothing
to do with the promise, what then is the purpose of the law
if there is any purpose for the law? Look at verse 19. Where
then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions
till the seed should come to whom the promise was made and
it was ordained by angels in the hands of a mediator. In the
hands of a mediator. With the use of the word added,
he relates back to the premise of verse 15 that says, though
it be a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man's disan
elephant nor can add to it. The fact is that it was added,
the law proves that it can have no effect on the promise and
was not involved in the promise. This word added would better
be interpreted superimposed Or in the case of Romans 5-20, entered,
this word means to come alongside and carries with it the sense
of stealth. Stealth, kind of sneaky. That's
this word. Paul used it this way in Galatians
chapter 2. In Galatians chapter 2 and verse
4, the same word is used. Here it's interpreted came. It
says, and that because of false brethren, unawares. Sneaky people. Unawares brought in who came
in privately to spite our liberty which was in Christ Jesus. What that means is these Judaizers,
they insinuated themselves into the fellowship of the Galatian
believers in order to spy out their liberty. Now, he's not
saying that God had some sinister plan, sinister plan when he gave
the law, but that the law is only understood by faith. That's the only way it's understood.
Paul kept the law but didn't understand the law. He said,
I didn't even know what the law meant until God gave me faith. And when God gave me faith, I
understood the law, looked at my covetousness, what I did and
called it covetousness. What I was doing was a sin. He
said, I thought I was being good. I was keeping the law. I was the right kind of fellow.
I was upright and full of rectitude and was doing everything I did
for the glory of God, I thought. Then I understood what the law
was. How? By faith. And I realized that what I was
doing was sin. When the law came, sin revived. I died. This usage, however, does serve
to remind the believer that the legalist Bless their hearts. They're never so honest as to
admit that they discount the promise when they preach the
law. They're dishonest. They say,
well, we believe in the gospel of grace, but we believe a believer
has to keep a law. That's so dishonest, sneaky. They're snakes. Watch out for
them. The law was not added to the
promise. was not added to the promise. It came alongside the
transgression. The law then served this purpose.
It came along beside the transgression to show that the condemnation
of the transgressor was a just condemnation. That's all it'll
do. It'll visit you in jail and say,
you're here because you're guilty. For what the law saith, it saith
to them that are under the law that every mouth might be stopped
and the whole world become guilty before God. And Paul takes an
interesting tack here in what follows in verses 22 through
25 in Galatians. He relates to the law in the
past tense. Look at verse 22. But the scripture
hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of
Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before
faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up to the faith
which would afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ. And you notice to bring us is
in italics, which means it was added by the translator supposedly
to help us, but it doesn't help whatsoever. It is one of those
snares that have been put in the scripture that will actually
make somebody think that really there was some value to being
under the law. That's what it is. It says, wherefore the law
was our schoolmaster, our pedagogue, unto Christ, or until Christ
came, that we might be justified, not by the law, but by faith,
by faith. Since he has established that
the Gentile believers were never under the law in the sense that
the Jew was, he speaks of the law as having to do with a past
purpose rather than a contemporary one. Rather than having to do
with the promise, it served only in the capacity of revealing
the transgression of those who were under the Sinai contract.
In effect, he is saying that the Galatians believers were
not even around when the contract was enforced. He does this by
using the terminal conjunction, till. When the seed comes, to
whom the promises were made, the law was terminated. When
the seed came, the law was terminated. That's the language used in Hebrews
chapter 9, or Hebrews chapter 10, when he talks about the law,
making none of the comers therein too perfect, because if it did,
if any one of those lambs slain had worked, then there would
be no more need for sacrifice. Then Christ said, Lo, I come
in the volume of the book that is written to me to do thy will,
O God. He'd taken away the first. That's that contract, 430 years
later, that He might establish the second. First revealed was
the law at Sinai. Last revealed was the covenant
of grace. Covenant of grace was first in chronologically. The
covenant of law came second. The law in effect can only point
to the past. Only point to the past. The law
serves a past purpose. And those who apply to the law
are living in the past. If you don't think so, ask them. Ask them. They even talk like
they're living in the past. You know who the relationships
are with? Dead preachers. That's right. They have a sweeter
relationship with their library than they do with any person
that they go to church with. And they'll tell you, well, I
read this old Puritan and that old Puritan. Oh, I just love
to read those. I don't like to read the Puritans.
They make me mad. And they make me sad. They convict me when I know I
should not be convicted. Because they tell great lies
about what great Christians they were. I remember reading a story
about, I believe it was a missionary named Mueller, when I was a boy.
I said, boy, that was like, I was 31, 32 years old. And I read this book and I remember
Mueller and telling this story, and he was presented as this
great man of faith. I mean, this guy really had some
faith, some serious faith. They told the story about one
time he was walking down the street and one of his shoelaces
broke. And he said, Lord, I need a shoelace. And a sparrow dropped
a shoelace at his foot. And I said, man, I don't have
any faith at all. I felt so beaten down. My goodness, what? That's really
faith. That ain't faith. Faith is looking
to Jesus Christ. But those sort of things sound
good. People talk about, oh, you know, I read such and such
and I read such and such. Listen, the relationship of the
child of God is with the people who are living today. Your relationships
are not with a library, with the people sitting in these pews
right here. That's life. That's where we're at. We don't
live in the past. I like to read Spurgeon, but
I didn't know Spurgeon, and I got a feeling, after reading him
in his later years, I probably wouldn't like him that much.
Some things about him bothered me. And I read Gill, and I'm
afraid if I started a conversation with Gill, he's gonna tell me
seven or eight things that aren't true before he tells me what
is true. I enjoy reading, don't get me wrong, but I don't have
any relationship with those people. Puritans didn't have any relationship
with the people they ministered to, except to condemn them. Children of God don't do that. Paul goes on to say the following
phrase, it's ordained by angels in the hands of a mediator. Now
that's kind of difficult to understand apart from the principle of it
being in the past. This could be read, it was delivered
by the messengers unto the hand of a mediator. The mediator in
reference to the law was Moses. He was the mediator. Paul is
here setting up to make a distinction once again between the contract
and the will and testament. Verse 20 is that distinction.
He says, over in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 20, Now a mediator,
listen very carefully, a mediator is not a mediator of one, but
God is one. A mediator is not a mediator
of one, but God is one. This reason, or the reason for
this statement is that the word mediator suggests something when
we hear it. Moses was a mediator between
God and Israel. There was two parties involved
in that contract. And he was a mediator. Here,
a distinction is made. We understand a mediator suggests
that there's a problem, generally. An issue that needs to be solved
between two opposing parties. That's what a mediator does.
The word might suggest that God and man need to be reconciled
to each other and to agree that was to a degree that was true
under that old covenant. There had to be reconciliation
between two both parties. However, I thank you. I forget who used to say this,
but he said, hold on your hat, we're going to jump the creek.
I want you to listen to what I'm saying. However, under the promise, God
nowhere in the New Testament is declared to be reconciled
to man. I'll let that sink in a minute.
God, in the New Testament, is not said to be reconciled to
man. The fact is, He has included
His elect, named them, named them, and the fact that He has
named them in His will negates any notion that He needs to be
reconciled to His elect. Everywhere in the New Testament
when reconciliation is declared, and I'll give you the verses
because I'm running a little long. I'm going to give them. You can
write them down and look them up yourself. Romans 5.10, 2 Corinthians 5.18,
and 20 Colossians 1.21. Word reconciled. Everywhere in
the New Testament when reconciliation is declared concerning God and
man, it is only the man that is reconciled to God. Now under the past contract,
the mediator was between man and God, two parties. Now a mediator is not a mediator
of one, is he? Can't be. But God is one. The promise is not a contract
between two opposing parties. That's what Paul is teaching.
It is rather a benefaction, a will and testament, from one party,
God Himself in Christ, because of what Christ has done. Christ's
mediation then in this sense of the New Testament, the covenant
of promise, is not in the sense of reconciling God with men,
but reconciling men to God. Because God is one. So the mediation
is completely different. Completely different. He is the mediator in this sense. He is the testator, the medium
of the new covenant, the executor of the will. Why? Because God
is one and the promise is the designated adherence for those
for whom the testator has died. That's who the promise is for.
Simply stated, Moses was a mediator between two parties, but since
the promises only involve the activity of one, that is God
Himself, the law cannot have part in the promise. It's an
impossibility. It's served, but it's served
only in a past and a former contract. This being the case, another
opposition might arise in the minds of men. In verse 21, is
the law then against the promises of God? The word against can
mean against, it can mean according to, in both cases. the answer
would be God forbid. Paul emphatically asserts that
the law was not against the promise. It simply didn't have anything
to do with it. Didn't have anything to do with it. Could not enter
into the realm in which the promise existed. The promise exists in
the realm of life and righteousness and the law operates in an entirely
different realm. The law operates in sin and death.
It never gets outside that realm. The sting of sin is death. The
strength of sin is the law. Scripture says, and as many as
are under the works of the law, they're under the curse. Let's
see, Paul really sets this forth in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, or
chapter 3, in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. If you have your Bible and
you got a pencil or a yellow marker, I want you to just look
at the difference between the law and the promise. I want you
to see what Paul says is the difference between the law and
what God has done for His people. He says this, and I just want
you to underline some words here. 2 Corinthians 3 verse 6 says,
Who also made us able ministers of what? The New Testament. What's that? That's that promise
that Paul's talking about in Galatians. That will and testament. Not of the letter, but of the
Spirit. What does the letter do? The
letter kills. You want anything to do with
that? No, I don't. Let's go a little further. But if the ministration of death,
that's the law, want anything to do with that? Ministration
of death written and engraved in stones. Look at the last phrase,
which glory was done away with in verse 7. It's gone. It's in
the past. Verse 9, for if the ministration
of condemnation Look at verse 11. For that which
was done away. The last phrase of verse 13. The end of which is abolished.
That's the law. All those things apply to the
law. Killer. Administration of death. Administration
of condemnation. That which was done away. That
which was destroyed. All in the past tense. The past
contract could not produce what the promise provides. It could
not produce life. It could not produce righteousness.
What could it produce? Death. Condemnation. Destruction! That's all it could do. That's
all it could do. Well, I'm gonna live by the Ten
Commandments. Adios amigo. You're gone, Jesse. I mean, you're
done. You're killed. You're condemned. You're destroyed. The purpose
It served was conclude all men under sin and therefore under
the curse. The past contract served to conclude that they
were all under it were condemned by it in order that the promise
accomplished by the faith of Jesus Christ would be given as
an inheritance to them that believe. Paul is saying that he was under
the law in the past and it served to condemn him and his works. But now he's a recipient of the
present promise by the work of Jesus Christ. You see, the believer's
not under law but under grace. My dad has made out a wheel.
He's 87 years old. Now in that wheel, he's leaving
his 1975 Chevy truck to my brother. I like that truck. I want that truck. It's blue. Original condition. Fine 75. Got that big six in it. I like
it. But I ain't gonna get it. Because
it's not mine in the wheel. Now, my brother might sell it
to me later on, but I bet he'll jack up the price on me probably. Let me give you some scripture
and I'll close with this. How's this thing gonna wind up?
We know that there are those who apply to the law for righteousness
and we know they don't get it. We know that those who have righteousness
have it because God willed it to them in His last will and
covenant. Let's turn over to the judgment. I know people talk about the
judgment and preachers, especially false preachers, like to use
it to make people afraid. John said in 1 John chapter 4
verse 17, we have boldness in the judgment. He didn't say we
weren't afraid of it. He said we're kind of bold about
it. The child of God not afraid to face God in the judgment. Why? Listen very carefully. He's not going to be judged. Revelation 20. Verse 11 says, I saw a great
white throne, and Him that sat upon it, from whose face the
earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for
them. And I saw the dead, the dead in sin, small and great,
stand before God. The books were opened, and the
books were opened, and another book was opened, and another
book was the book of life. These other books were books
that had to do with death. This other book is the book of
life. And the dead were judged out of those things which are
written in the books. the books of death, according to their
works, which were all dead works, because they were reduced by
the law. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and
the death and hell delivered up the dead which were in it.
And they were judged every man according to their works. And
death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the
second death. And look, and whosoever was not found written in the
book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. Were those people
written in the book of life? Did they go through the judgment? No. They were there. But they was
there for a roll call. That's what they was there for.
These others judged for their works were cast into the lake
of fire with their works and hell was cast in there too. What's
going to happen when you stand before God? He's going to open
up his book. He's going to call your name. That's it. Your name was written in the
Lamb's book of life and the foundation of the world. That's the will
and testament of God. Come receive what God has prepared for you.
Well, you know, I'm kind of afraid. Why? You're not being judged. I'm just calling out your name.
Your name's been there. You're in the will and testament.
The law has nothing to do with it. Two covenants. That first
covenant is revealed in those books by which men are judged
under. The eternal covenant, the covenant
of promise, is a promise from God for salvation, justification,
and righteousness. It's yours. And it's all done. How's it done? Before the world
began. We speak in terms of back yonder
in eternity. I don't know what it means or
not, but we speak in those kind of terms. Back yonder. God made
out a will and testament and he wrote down the names of every
one of his elect. These will be the recipients
of all that's contained in this will. And when the world ends,
he's going to open up that book and say, these are the ones that
were in the will. I'm gonna call your name. Heard
a story one time back in the 60s, and I'll close with this. Back in the 60s, there was a,
over in Russia, in the days of the Cold War, people were not
allowed to worship freely. So those who were in the church
went underground. Native worshipped in lean-to's back in woods and
in caves wherever they could find where nobody was watching.
There was a young woman walking along the road going to a worship
service. And the Russian police, the KGB,
stopped her. And said, where are you going?
She says, my older brother died. I'm going to the reading of the
will. And they let her go. That's what
we're doing here today. It's what you do every time you
stand up here. What y'all doing? Our elder brother died. The will
is enforced. We come for the reading of the
will. God bless you.