May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we continue our meditation in the Epistle
of Paul to the Galatians, chapter 3, and tonight we'll read verses
17 and 18. The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians,
chapter 3, verses 17 to 18. And this I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed before 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 of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by
promise. You may remember that our last
prayer meeting we spoke from the previous two verses where
the Apostle said, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises
made. He says, Not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, and
to thy seed, which is Christ. And so the promises were made
to, indeed, the Church of God through the Lord Jesus Christ,
and those, of course, included both Jew and Gentile. And now
the Apostle moves on to speak about this covenant. And of course a covenant is a
sworn conditional promise. It's something that will come
to pass. And we're thankful, therefore,
that we have those covenants in the Word of God. And this
covenant, of course, was given to Abraham, how the Lord would
indeed bless him. And it was a promise which, of
course, came to pass. And it wasn't something which
he could bring to pass by just keeping the law, because he was,
as we are, unable to keep the holy law of God. because it demands
perfection and we are all sinners of the earth we are all imperfect
and not able therefore to fulfill that requirement to keep the
law of God and that's why tonight we should be so thankful that
we have a great and glorious Savior the Lord Jesus Christ
who has kept the law for us that law which we couldn't keep. And because of that, the covenant
which was given to Abraham comes to pass, came to pass. Indeed,
and this covenant which was confirmed of God in Christ, covenant in
which Christ is concerned, a covenant made with him. which he is the
sum and substance the mediator surety and messenger and such
as is what the scriptures call the covenant of life and peace
which we commonly call today the covenant of grace and redemption
and of course we are thankful for that great and glorious covenant
because the Articles of redemption and reconciliation of eternal
life and salvation are by the free grace of God. Nothing that you and I can deserve,
nothing that you and I can merit, but we can come and thank God
and praise God for this covenant which was to Abraham and it was
a sure covenant and it was a promise and it came to pass and this
I say the covenant that was confirmed before God in Christ. Then he
says the law which was 430 years after cannot disannul, it cannot
abolish that which was given. There is sometimes a confusion
about the 430 years, sometimes people think it refers of course
to the 400 years when Israel were in Egypt but in actual fact
I understand that this is what it really means from the confirmation
of the covenant and then we go through a little list and taking
Haggai for the wife of Abraham to the birth of Isaac this was
15 years from the birth of Isaac to the birth of Jacob and then
60 years from the birth of Jacob to his going down into Egypt.
And then 130 years from his going down to Egypt to his death. And then 17 years from the death
of Jacob to the death of Joseph in Egypt after 53 years. And then from the death of Joseph
to the birth of Moses, a further 75 years. from the birth of Moses
to the going out of the children of Israel from Egypt and then
till the giving of the law which is of course refers to a further
80 years. If you add those figures up it
comes to the 430 years. So this I say that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ the Lord which
was 430 years after all those years It cannot be disannulled, it
cannot be abolished, that it should make the promise of none
effect. Because, you see, if it had not
come to pass, it would have made the promise of none effect. It
would have been no value. But how thankful we are that
it is of value. And so the apostle goes on to
say, for if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more a promise,
But God gave it to Abraham by promise. So if this was given
just by the law, and the requirement was that the law was kept in
all its completeness, it would not have come to pass. But we
can be thankful. In the Hebrews, we read about
the faith given to Abraham, which we'll refer to in a moment, but
also in an earlier chapter in Hebrews, in the sixth chapter,
we're told, for when God made promise to Abraham, because he
could swear by no greater, he swore by himself, saying, surely,
blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
So after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. And
let us not forget, he did have to patiently endure. It was quite
a few years, of course, before Isaac was born, and he had to
be patient. it's important to realise that
we all require patience in our life and so after he had patiently
endured he obtained the promise for men verily swear by the greater
and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife
wherein God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise
the immutability cannot be changed of his counsel confirmed by an
oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for
God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for
refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. So what a blessing,
my friends, if we have been given that grace not to rely on having
the ability to keep the holy law of God, but to have that
faith to believe that law has been kept on our behalf by none
other than the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Surely, when we
consider that and realise the great cost it was, to the Lord
Jesus as he gave his life. He died upon that cross, that
sin-atoning death, that agonizing death, in order to atone for
our sins, in order to keep that promise and that fulfillment
that he had given so many years ago. We should be therefore thankful
tonight that we have such a saviour. And then we read in that 11th
chapter to the Hebrews, that beautiful chapter, we read again
about the faith of Abraham. And what does it say? By faith,
Abraham, when he was called out to go into a place which he should
after receive for an inheritance, he obeyed. And he went out, not
knowing whither he went. Now that's faith, isn't it? That
is living faith, isn't it? You think, we today of course
know, don't we, most of the world and we can find out about it
and it's not difficult with all the modern technological things
that we have to find out about places far off. It wasn't so
in Abraham's day. He was blessed with this living
faith. For if the inheritance be the
law, it is no more a promise, but God gave it to Abraham by
promise and so he obeyed. And he went out, knowing whither
he went, and by faith he sojourned in a land of promise, as in a
strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob,
the heirs with him of the same promise. And of course, as we
read in that chapter, he looked for a city whose builder and
maker is God. And so tonight, as we read these
words in this third chapter, let us regard the overall picture
which the Apostle Paul is speaking to the Galatians. And that is,
the just shall live by faith. It's not keeping the law in an
outward form, but it's looking unto Jesus. the author and the
finisher of our faith. And if God gives us then that
faith to believe in those great promises that God has made, then
surely we can have that encouragement, that comfort to know that we
are amongst those who will one day be with the Saviour, in glory,
enjoying that wonderful inheritance which we are told of here for
if the inheritance be of the law it is no more promise but
God gave it to Abraham by promise so may we all be thankful for
what the Savior did and to believe there is that inheritance which
is before us which we never paid for, we never earned, and yet
it was freely given. What a wonderful thing it is
to realise the grace of the Saviour, the grace of our God, how we
don't deserve it, but what a blessing it is when we know the Lord has
given us that grace, and it's of His free favour toward us. And so tonight may we go on our
way rejoicing, thankful to know that these things that the Apostle
wrote to the Galatians were needful then, they're needful to us today
because it's very easy to become legal and to look to ourselves
rather than casting all our care upon Him, believing He cares
for us. Amen.