Let us turn to the chapter that
we read, Galatians chapter 3, and reading verses 16 and 17. Galatians chapter 3, verses 16
and 17. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not unto seed as of
many, but as of one, unto thy seed which is Christ. 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 non-effect. I want to attempt to say something
with regards to the antiquity of the New Covenant. might sound to be a rather contradictory
statement to speak of that which is new and yet that that is also
ancient. But that's the theme I want to
try to address for a while tonight, the antiquity of the new covenant
or the covenant of grace. And I, in a sense, did touch
on it a little last Lord's Day evening, you may recall that
we were considering those words in the twelfth chapter of the
book of Exodus, at the time of the deliverance of the children
of Israel. That chapter, of course, is concerned
with the detail of the Passover, when God sends his destroying
angel and the angel passes over the
dwellings of the Hebrews but in every household of the Egyptians
there was the slaughter of the firstborn. And we were looking
in particular there at Exodus 12 and verses 40 and 41. Now the sojourning of the children
of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was 430 years. And it came to
pass at the end of the 430 years, even the South's same day, it
came to pass that all the host of the Lord went out from the
land of Egypt. So twice there we have mention
of the 430 years, the same as is mentioned here in Galatians
3.17. And I did touch on it briefly
last time when I remarked that that 430 years is not to be understood
in terms of the total time that they were in bondage there in
Egypt. And that is quite evident from
what we have here in our text this evening. because the 430
years is to be measured from the time when God gave his promise
to Abraham, and that promise was given back in Genesis chapter
15 and verses 13 and 14. But instead of the 430 years
there, it says 400 years. Where do the 30 years come in?
Well, we have to go back to Genesis chapter 12 and verse 7, when
the promise is first spoken to Abraham, unto thy seed will I
give this land. That is the lands of the Canaanites,
the promised land. So, 400 years is mentioned in
Genesis 15, and there in verses 13 and 14, but it was actually
30 years previous to that, back in Genesis 12, that God had made
promise unto Abraham. And in chapter 12, we actually
find Abraham himself going into Egypt. If I remember right, it
was when there was such a famine in the land that he travels into
Egypt there in Genesis 12 verse 10 there was a famine in the
land and Abraham went down into Egypt to sojourn there in other
words he is dwelling there and he's dwelling there for some
period for the famine was grievous in the land and then subsequent
to that We know how that his grandson Jacob also came to dwell
in the land of Egypt. We're familiar with the account
that we have there at the end of Genesis with regards to Joseph
and the position that Joseph eventually occupies there in
the land of Egypt. He is next to the Pharaoh and
He brings his father Jacob and all the family down into Egypt,
in Genesis 47, and verse 27, Israel, it says, dwelt in the
land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen. And they had possessions
therein, and grew and multiplied exceedingly. And Jacob lived
in the land of Egypt 17 years. So the whole age of Jacob was
147 years. And so the remaining years of
his life, those 70 years he was in Egypt, and there they continued
many years until there arose a pharaoh who did not know Joseph. And then it was that they came
into such cruel bondage. It reckoned, in fact, that rather
than 430 years of bondage, it was probably about one-third
of that time that they were actually suffering. And having made that
allusion to these things last time, and yet not dealt with
it at any length, I'm fearful that there may have been some
confusion. I thought it might be profitable
to come to what we have here in the New Testament which of
course immediately throws such lights on what we're told back
in the Old Testament. And so tonight to consider these
words concerning the 430 years and the 430 years which are between
the covenant at Sinai and that promise, that ancient promise
that had been given to Abraham. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. And this
I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in
Christ, that is the covenant with Abraham, the law which was
four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul. that
he should make the promise of non-effects and that's covenants
with Abraham the promise that is the covenant of grace we often
see it spoken of as the new covenant that is the covenant that has
the antiquity and so this theme the antiquity the antiquity of
the new covenant and as we come to look at these these words
that I've announced for a text, I want first of all to say something
with regards to the purpose of the law. If this is the old,
really the old covenant and the new covenant, that was all those
many centuries before God gave the law at Mount Sinai, what
is the purpose of the law? What is the purpose of the law?
And isn't that the question that Paul raises here in verse 19,
wherefore then serveth the law, he asks. If the ancient promise
is that of grace, wherefore then serveth the law? And of course
he says here, in the words that I read as a text, that it cannot,
this is the law, cannot disannul that it should make the promise
of non-effects. Why was it that ever God gave
the Law? The Law is clearly something
that is always subservient to the Gospel, subservient to that
New Covenant. Why the Law? Well, we see in
Scripture quite clearly that it was meant to be a ministration
of condemnation that's the language that is used by Paul when he
writes to the Corinthians there in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3
at verse 9 it's a ministry of condemnation and we have it we
have it here also look at what he goes on to say later in verse
23 he speaks of being kept under the law shut up like a condemned criminal. This
is administration of condemnation, kept under the law, shut up. It says, the scripture has concluded
all on the sin. And we have these two words being
used here in verses 22 and 23. They are said to be under sin
in verse 22, and they are said to be under the law in verse
23. This is the ministration of the
Lord of God. It doesn't have anything to do
with salvation. It has everything to do with
sin. Sin is a terrible thing. Sin is a fatal thing. the soul
that sinneth it shall die. It's that ministration. And where
does sin get its power from? It gets its power from the law. Why, we're told, aren't we, in
1 Corinthians 15, the strength of sin is the law. In that passage
where the apostle is speaking of the victories of the Lord
Jesus Christ, His resurrection. He makes that statement that
the strength of sin is the law. Or the law worketh wrath, for
where no law is, there is no condemnation. And we're not to think, you know,
that there was no law at all before Mount Sinai. because Paul tells us there in
Romans chapter 2 that the law of God is actually written in
the hearts of all men even those who have never heard anything
of the Word of God who know nothing of that law that was delivered
to Moses at Mount Sinai. In Romans chapter 2 and verses
14 and 15 Paul makes the point that Even the heathen, the gentiles,
have some understanding of the law. It's written in their hearts
and their consciences bear witness to that. But what is the law? What is the law? It only brings
that sense of condemnation. It has to do with sin. Whosoever
commiteth sin transgresseth also the law. For sin is the transgression
of the law. Where there is no law to be broken,
there can be no condemnation. But what happens is that when
a man's eyes are opened to the truth of God's words, and the
veracity of God's law, that sin becomes exceedingly sinful. Or
when we see sin in the light of God's law, and that law being
a revelation of God Himself, we see the exceeding sinfulness
of sin. We often refer to those words
in Romans 3.19, what things soever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified, for by the law is the knowledge
of sin." And we need to well mark what the Apostle is saying
in those words in Romans 3, 19 and 20. Oh, what does the law
do? It speaks to those who are under
the law, and that's all men. It shuts them out of all men.
It brings them in as those who are to be condemned. They are
lawbreakers. And what is the root of all that
sinning? It is that awful unbelief. All that is a sin which does
so easily beset us. Unbelief, the denial of God,
and the law, a revelation of God. In the law we see God. He spoke these words. He declared
His greatness and His glory. We see something of His holiness
and His righteousness and His justice and unbelief. He's a very denial of that God
who has declared Himself and revealed Himself in His holy
law. And when God begins to deal with
us, does He not bring us to that point? where we're made to feel
our own belief, because it's in us. It's bound up in our very
nature, it's our fallen nature, unbelief. And we have to believe,
we have to come to this, we have to believe what God says concerning
the fall. And we have to believe it, because
we feel it. We feel the impossibility of
faith. As Newton says, Oh, could I but
believe? Then all would easy be, I would,
but cannot, Lord, relieve. My help must come from Thee.
Or that man in the Gospel who can say, Lord, I believe. Help
thou mine unbelief, or that accursed unbelief that the Lord of God
exposes. And of course we see it here
in verse 23, before faith came we were kept under the law, shut
up unto the faith which would afterward be revealed. And we see it in the experience
of the godly there in scripture in the Old Testament. Heman in
Psalm 88 and verse 8, I am shut up, he cries, I cannot come forth. Oh, he had learned something
of his sin, something of his total depravity. He had learned
it in his own experience. He was shut up, shut up to what
he was. It's the same as what Job says
there in Job 12 and verse 14. He says of God, He shut off other
man and there can be no opening. When the Lord takes this man
in hand and deals with him in terms of this Holy Lord of God,
shut up in unbelief, under condemnation. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions. Oh, it shows us what sin is and
it shows us how we are those who are shut up to it, shut into
it, under condemnation. It's a ministry of condemnation.
That's what Paul says as I remarked just now there in 2 Corinthians
3 and verse 9. But not only that, in that third
chapter of 2 Corinthians, does he not say something more? There
in verse 7 he speaks of the law as the ministration of death. It's the ministration of condemnation. It's the ministration of death.
And if one man had to live to prove that, it was him that we
know of as the Apostle Paul. Previous to being an apostle,
what was it? Well, he tells us. He was a pharisee. He was a son
of a Pharisee. He was brought up in the strictest
sect of our religion, he says to the Jews. A Pharisaic religion. And he tells us there in Philippians
3.5, as touching the law, he was a Pharisee. As touching the
law, a Pharisee. And as a Pharisee, what did he
think? He was self-righteous. He really thought that he was
righteous in the sight of God because of his pharisaic religion. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless, without any blame. He wasn't condemned because he was actually dead
in trespasses and sins. And yet he thought he was alive.
He thought he knew God, and he knew much about God. Why, he
was a learning man. As I said, he'd sat at the feet
of one of the great Jewish rabbis, Gamaliel. He was steeped in the
religion of the Old Testament, or what he understood of it,
the Pharisaic interpretation of it. But what does he say there
in Romans chapter 7? I was alive without the law once,
but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died, and the
commandment which was ordained unto life I found to be unto
death. That was his experience. Suddenly
the commandment came. And the commandment that came
to him was that tenth commandment, Thou shalt not covet. And then
he saw what was his pharisaic religion. It was all on the outside.
It was all external things. But this tenth commandment, it
spoke of what was on the inside. Thou shalt not covet. What is
covetousness? It's desire. He speaks of evil concupiscence,
evil desire, and his heart was full of all of that. And so when
the commandment came, the commandment killed him. He thought he was
alive without the Lord. The commandment came, sin revived
and he died. And he thought very differently
of himself then. He was delivered from his pharisaism.
But he also discovered this, you see. As he died to any hope
in himself, he saw that there was life only in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And doesn't he say that here,
as he writes in the Galatian Epistle, there in chapter 2? Verse 19, I through the law am
dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. all of his religion. He's not
centering in himself. All of his religion is centering
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the difference. He's no
legalist, this man, anymore. He was a legalist. He looked
to the law for salvation, but the law was but the ministration
of condemnation, the ministration of death. But through the law,
he died to the law, that he might live unto God. And in that great
statement there in the 20th verse of chapter 2, I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. It really brings me to the second
point that I wanted to deal with. The purpose of the law, it's
administration of condemnation and administration of death.
It serves the Gospel. It's subservient to the Gospel.
It's after the promise of the Gospel. It's a schoolmaster to
bring us to Christ, Paul says. So let us come to the Gospel. That's what the New Covenant
is. That's what the covenant of grace is. It's the Gospel.
And what is the Gospel? It's the great promise of God. There's a sense, I would say,
in which these words, gospel and promise, as we have them
in the New Testament, are synonyms. They certainly, in the Greek,
are words very similar in sound. And some say they are synonyms.
So how can we define gospel? We can define it as the promise
of God. And, of course, here we We have
the word promise in the 17th verse, but in the 16th verse
also, to Abram and his seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, unto thy seed which is Christ. 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 he should make the promise
of non-effects. All that covenant with Abraham,
it is the covenant of promise. It's the covenant of grace. It's
the new covenant. And isn't that how it's spoken
of at times there in the Old Testament? Look at the words
that we have in Jeremiah 31 and verse 31. Behold, says the Lord God, the
days come that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Jacob. The days come when I will make
a new covenant. And that new covenant is the
covenant of grace. It concerns a promise that God
had given to Abraham. It's spoken of again in Hebrews. Well, of course, Hebrews 8. You
find there from verse 8 following how the Apostle refers to the
language that we have back in Jeremiah 31, 31 following. He quotes that whole section. But also, he doesn't just speak
of a new covenant in that chapter, Paul also speaks of a better
covenant established on better promises. A better covenant established
on better promises. And it is this covenant that
can only be understood in terms of the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's with the coming of Christ
that we have the fullness of the revelation concerning that
promise that was first given to Abraham 430 years before Mount
Sinai. And that's so clear in what Paul
is saying in this passage, verse 16, now to Abraham. and his seed
where the promise is made. Mark what he goes on to say.
He saith not unto seeds as of many but as of one. There is
but one seed and that is thy seed which is
Christ. Oh the Lord Jesus Christ is here
set before us as the seed of Abraham. God says, God says there in Genesis
17 7, I will establish my covenant with thee and with thy seed after
thee in their generations to be an everlasting covenant, to
be a God to thee and to thy seed after them. Those are the words
that God speaks to Abraham. The promises to Abraham and his
seed. naturally speaking that seed
is Isaac he is the son of promise he is the son of Sarah of course
there was a son that was born to Hagar but that's not the seed of promise
because Sarah was to bear the son but Sarah was barren and really when we think about
the conception and the birth of Isaac it's a miracle she is
past the age of childbearing she's 90 years old and yet Sarah
shall have a son and Sarah has a son And Isaac is a remarkable type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, the birth of Christ
is a far greater miracle than that of Isaac. Sarah was passed
the child of age-bearing, but the Lord Jesus Christ was born
of a virgin. You see, it's evident, isn't
it? There's a connection here. Isaac
is the type The Lord Jesus Christ is the true seed of Abraham. And God's promise to Abraham
in Genesis 22 18 is, In thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed. All the nations of the earth
are blessed in Abraham's seed. Well, that's certainly not Isaac.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ with his coming. Why the gospel
is to go out to the ends of the earth. Sinners of the Gentiles
are to be saved. The multitudes out of every tribe,
every tongue, every nation, every people, called by the grace of
God. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
one who is the seed of Abraham. And remember the very opening
words of the New Testament. There in Matthew chapter 1 and
verse 1, we read the book of the generations of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham. For he is the son of
Abraham. He is Abraham's seed. to thy
seed, it says here in verse 16, which is Christ. And this I say
that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, God's
covenant with Abraham, it concerned the Lord Jesus Christ. But what
do we see there in Matthew 1 verse 1? Why the Lord Jesus Christ
is not only the seed of Abraham, He's also the seed of David.
He's also the seed of David. It's the book of the generations
of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And remember how Paul, when he
opens his epistle to the Romans and speaks of his apostleship,
and speaks of the gospel that has been committed to him, as
an apostle, how he defines that gospel. He immediately defines
what that gospel is. And how does he define it? It concerns his Son, that's God's
Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. and declared to be the Son of
God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. He speaks immediately of the
person of the Lord Jesus and he speaks of the Lord Jesus in
terms of both his human nature and his divine nature. The two
natures in that one person of Christ. He's of the seed of David,
according to the flesh. but he is declared, he's marked
out as the son of God according to the spirit of holiness that's
the Holy Spirit, by the resurrection from the dead O Christ is that
seed thy seed and then he's not only the seed of Abraham and
the seed of David we go back further he is also the seed of
the woman, or the woman who was first in
the transgression. And yet, He's the seed of the
woman. The words that the Lord God speaks
to the serpents, the instrument of Satan, I will put enmity between
thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. it shall
bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel Christ the seed of the woman
and it's interesting isn't it because I referred just now to
the opening chapter of Matthew and there we have Christ's genealogy
and it goes right the way back through David to Abraham but
when we have the genealogy in Luke's gospel In Luke chapter
3 at verse 23 following, through to verse 38, we see that the
line is taken right the way back to the beginning, to Adam and
Eve. Christ is not just the seed of David and the seed of Abraham,
He is also the seed of the woman. He's the seed of the woman. And the new covenant is all revealed
in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
what's being said here. This is the covenant. It's the
covenant of grace. It's the new covenant. 430 years before the law, which
the law can never disannul because the law is always subservient
to the gospel. And now this This covenant, this
gospel, this promise, is all confirmed by God himself. Verse
17, the covenant, it says, was confirmed before of God in Christ. Now, how is it confirmed? How is it confirmed? Well, two
aspects of the confirmation. It is confirmed when God swears
an oath, and it is also confirmed when it is sealed in the blood
of Christ. That's the confirmation of it.
First of all, there is God. And you know, Paul speaks of
it again there in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 13, when God made promise
to Abraham because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,
saying blessing, I will bless you, and so forth. Hebrews 6.13
following. God swore by himself. And we see it in a remarkable
sense there in Genesis 22. And the chapter, Genesis 22,
of course, is a remarkable chapter because it's that chapter wherein
God is testing the faith of his servant Abraham. He gives a strange
commandment. Abraham is to offer his son,
that son of Prometheus, It came to pass after these things
that God did tempt, or test Abraham, and said unto Abraham, and he
said, Behold, here am I. And he said, Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering, upon
one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. Why, the very place,
Mount Moriah, that's Jerusalem. Two mounts, Zion and Moriah. And this is where thou should
go, And Abram is to sacrifice his son, the son of promise. And he was willing to do what
God commanded but he doesn't do that of course. The Lord makes
provision. Abram lifts up his eyes and looks
and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And
Abram went and took the ram and offered him for a burnt offering
in the stead of his son. It's all typical, it shows Christ,
his substitutionary sacrifice. This ram is offered in the place
of Isaac. And Abraham receives Isaac again
as from the dead. And that's what Paul says, isn't
it, when he speaks of Abraham there in Hebrews 11, he received
him again from the dead. He would have sacrificed him,
because God commanded him to do that, but no. It just paints
to us a wonderful Gospel picture, and then we read this. Verse
15, the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the
second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord.
Here it is. God confirms it all by taking
an oath. By myself have I sworn, saith
the Lord, for because that thou hast done this thing and hast
not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will
bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the
stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore
and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies and in thy
seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because
thou hast obeyed my voice there's the promise again you see and
God swearing by Himself. What a thing it is for God to
do that. Why? He gave His promise. He gave His word and now He has
magnified that word above all His name. His name is Himself. If His word fails, He fails. And He is no more. The promise is confirmed by God. that covenant that was confirmed
before of God in Christ. But there's not only the swearing
of an oath, there's also the sealing with blood. And it's
Christ's blood. It's Christ's blood. Hebrews
13.20 What is that blood? It's the
blood of the everlasting covenant. That's how Paul describes it,
the blood of the everlasting covenant. And in Hebrews, we
have these two words being used, covenant or testament, and it's
really the same words in the original. Sometimes it's rendered
covenant, sometimes we have testament. And we find it in Hebrews 9.16,
and what does it say there? Where a testament is, there must also be the death
of the testator. Otherwise the testament is not
of force whilst the testator liveth. Or it's the covenant
you say. The covenant is of force because
the testator has died. And how the Lord Jesus Christ
came to do this great work, to be obedient, and obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. The significance of His
coming, the significance of His life, the significance of His
dying. He was made of a woman, He was made under the law. Why,
we're told that, aren't we, in chapter 4 and verse 4. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law. He's the seed of the woman. So
He's made of the woman. His human nature is derived from
His virgin mother. But He's also made under the
law. Why under the law? To redeem
them that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption
of sons. Oh, He has come. And being under
the law, what has he done? Why? He has obeyed the law. He has obeyed the law in all
his precepts, in all his commandments. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believeth, we're told, back in
Romans 10.4. He is the Lord our righteousness.
says Jeremiah and you know Paul's desire to be found in him not
having his own righteousness which is of the Lord but that
which is through the faith of Christ he says the righteousness
which is of God by faith oh that's justifying righteousness it's
Christ's righteousness his obedience to every commandment and that's
righteousness imputed to the sinner and experienced by saving
faith, when the sinner is now found in Christ. But he's obedient
unto death. He's not only come to answer
the Lord in terms of its precepts, but also in terms of its penalties. What did we read previously there
in verse 10? As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. We're all under this law and
we're obliged to obey all of it in every detail and to obey
it completely and perfectly. And if a man keeps a whole law
and yet offends him one point, James says he's guilty of all.
And those who are breakers of the law, they're under the curse.
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law to do them. Ah, but, 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." Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ has not only given his righteousness
to the sinner, it's not only the imputation of that righteousness
of Christ to the sinner, the sinner's sins, all those sins
have been imputed reckoned to Christ account, and he has died
as a substitute for his people. He has paid the great ransom
price that the law of God demanded. He came to redeem them that were
under the law, that they might receive the adoption of sons.
For the Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He
will magnify the law and make it honorable. That's what the
Lord Jesus Christ has done. So the law can make no demands
upon those who are Abraham's seed. And who are those who are
Abraham's seed? They are those who are of faith. They are those who are of faith.
The faith of Abraham. that heirs according to promise,
that's what we are told at the end of the chapter, if ye be
Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to
promise. Oh, the wonder then, the wonder
of the grace of God as we see it revealed in this covenant,
this new covenant, and the antiquity of it, how it goes right back.
It goes back to David, it goes back to Abraham, it goes back
to Eve. It's all found in Him who is
the true seed. To thy seed which is Christ. 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 He should make the promise
of none effect. Oh God gave it to Abram and he
gave it to Abram by promise. May the Lord be pleased to grant
that we might know that we have an interest in that promise.
All those promises in the Lord Jesus Christ which are yea and
amen were told to the glory of God by us. Oh it's God's glory
but it's by us as we come to live on these promises. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His word to us.