Let us turn then to God's words
in the New Testament Scriptures. Paul's epistle to the Galatians
in chapter 3 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 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, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after,
cannot disannul, that ye make the promise of none effect. Here in verse seventeen then,
We see the priority of the Gospel. The Gospel is prior to the Law. This is the theme that I want
us to take up this morning. I say that the covenant that
was confirmed before of God in Christ, the Law, which was 430
years after, cannot disannul. that he could make the promise
of non-effects. In the book of Exodus, we have
mention of those 430 years that are spoken of here in verse 17,
back in the 12th chapter of the book of Exodus. in verses 40
and 41. We're told how 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 Southside day, it came to pass that all
the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. And yet, you might have recognised
and recall how that in a reading in Genesis chapter 15, we read
not of 430 years, but of 400 years, there at verse 16. Genesis 15 and verse 16, he said
unto Abram, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger
in the land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they
shall afflict them four hundred years. And in his great apology
at his martyrdom in Acts chapter 7 and verse 6 Stephen also mentions
four hundred years. How then are we to reconcile
these numbers? There are those scriptures that
speak of 400 years and there are other scriptures that speak
of 430 years. Well, Dr. Gill, of course, he
was learned in Hebrew and Rabbinic writings tells us how 430 years
are by the Jews reckoned from the covenant that God made with
Abraham in Genesis 15 to the deliverance from Egypt. They measure 430 years then from
that covenant of which we read in the 15th chapter of Genesis
to the time of the exodus from Egypt. Begill says they also
reckon 400 years from the birth of Isaac in Genesis 21 to that
same deliverance from Egypt. So that is how the numbers are
reconciled. The measurement is made from
different periods of history. The 430 years from the covenant
with Abraham in the 15th chapter of Genesis, the 400 years reckoned
from the birth of Isaac in the 21st chapter of Genesis. We know that there aren't any
contradictions in the Word of God and Therefore, I am persuaded
that Dr. Gill is right in the way in which
he explains these things and reconciles what on the surface
seem to be apparent contradictions. But here in verse 17, as I said,
we have the antiquity, or rather the priority, the priority of
the Gospel over the law. This I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which
was 430 years after, cannot be so null that it should make the
promise of non-effect. The reference into 430 years
refers us back to those events that we read of in Genesis chapter
15. And that chapter contains what
is described here in the opening clause as the covenant confirmed
before of God in Christ. And so the first thing I want
us to observe this morning is this great promise of the gospel.
that God gave to Abraham according to what Paul is saying here in
Galatians chapter 3. He gave that promise of the Gospel
to Abraham back in Genesis chapter 15. See how in the text the covenant
is described in terms of the promise. In the opening clause
we have mention of the covenant, and then at the end of the verse
we read that the law cannot dis-acknowledge and make the promise, that is
the covenant, of non-effect. We see then how the gospel, the
covenant of grace, is really being defined here in terms of
promise, the great promise of God and there is that sense in
which the words that we have in the New Testament for covenant
and promise are synonyms. In this very verse you see the
words covenant at the beginning, the words promise at the end
is referring to one and the same thing. Now when we read that
chapter in Genesis 15 it is evident that Abraham is concerned with
regards to his seed and he is without a child by his wife Sarah,
she is barren and he says Can not this servant
in his household, Eliezer, be treated as his seed? But God
says no. Sarah is to bear the child, which
will be the true seed of Abraham. And that child eventually is
born in the 21st chapter of Genesis. We read of the birth of Isaac.
the seed of promise. But Isaac, of course, is a remarkable
type of the Lord Jesus Christ, because Abraham's true seed is
not so much Isaac, but the one of whom Isaac is the type, even
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what we see here in
verses 16 and 17. Now to Abraham 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. Thy seed which is Christ. And
this I say that the covenant that was confirmed before of
God in Christ All of these things are pointing to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ is that one then who is
the seed of Abraham. And we see that when we go back
to Genesis in the 17th chapter there, in Genesis chapter 17
and verse 7. I will establish my covenant
between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations
for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy
seed after them. And then in chapter 22 and verse
18 we have that promise that in that seed all the nations
of the earth are to be blessed. In chapter 22, the beginning
of verse 18, in thy seed, this is God speaking to Abraham, in
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Who is that seed that brings
blessings to every nation on the face of the earth? It's not
Isaac. It is him who is the antitype
of Isaac, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the true seed of Abraham. And so when we read at the beginning
of the New Testament, in the opening verse of Matthew's Gospel,
we have the book of the generations of Jesus Christ, the son of David,
the son of Abraham. He's Abraham's son. He's Abraham's
seed. The promised seed that God has
spoken of back in the book of Genesis. not Eloisa, who was
a servant in the house of Abraham, not Ishmael, who is his son by
the bond-mate, Hagar, but Isaac, who directs us to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ then, I say, is the promised
see the seed of Abraham. But he's not only the seed of
Abraham, is he? We can go back further than that.
We're thinking of the priority of the Gospel, the antiquity
of the Gospel. We can go back, can we not, even
to the third chapter in the book of Genesis, the very chapter
that contains the history of the entrance of sin into the
world, the chapter that tells us of the fall of man, how our
first parents transgressed the commandment of God and fell and
we all fell in Adam and yet in that very chapter we have mention
of the promised seed the seed of the woman and remember that
Eve, the woman was first in the transgression But what does God
say there in verse 15 of Genesis 3? I will put enmity between
thee and the woman as he speaks to the serpent who was the instrument
of Satan in the fall. 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. The seed of the woman And here
of course in chapter 4 we have mention of Christ coming into
the world. When the fullness of the time
was come God sent forth his son made of a woman. He was made
of a woman with regards to that human nature. He had no human
father. He was conceived of the Holy
Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary. the miracle of the virgin
birth, He is the seed of the woman you see. The seed of Abraham, yes, but
going back to the very beginning, He is the very seed of the woman
that was promised there in Genesis chapter 3. And so, in Luke's
genealogy of Christ, in Luke chapter 3, verse 23 following
we see how the genealogy goes right back to the beginning,
right back to Adam and the Christ is not only the son of Abraham,
he is the son of Adam, the son of Eve, he is the seed of the
woman, he is that promised seed And here we see that God was
pleased to confirm the promise. That's what it says in the text.
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. It was confirmed. It was confirmed
of God, it was confirmed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Are we not told in the opening
chapter of 2 Corinthians concerning Christ and all the promises of
God? In Him are ye and in Him are
men to the glory of God by us. This is the Gospel you see. What
is the Gospel? It is not a yay, nay Gospel. It's not yes and no. There's
nothing unsure or uncertain in the Gospel. The Gospel is a yea
and amen Gospel. That is the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. All God's promises, in Him are
yea and in Him are amen, says Paul. It is confirmed then of
God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what is the confirmation
of the promise when we go back to the Old Testament. This is
referring us back, remember, to the chapter that we read in
Genesis chapter 15. What was the confirmation of
that promise, that covenant that God made with Abraham? Now, there are many who would
say that We have to move on to chapter 17 of Genesis and the
rite of circumcision. They say that that rite was the
confirmation of God's promise to Abraham. But is that a right
understanding? Is that a correct interpretation
of things? when Abraham received the promise and was justified by faith God
accounted it to him for righteousness remember he was justified when
he received that promise when he received that faith as the
gift of God Abraham was uncircumcised in Romans chapter 4 Doesn't Paul
remind us of that very basic fact? Romans chapter 4 verse
9, he says, cometh this blessedness, he's been speaking of the blessed
man, spoken of in Psalm 32, whose iniquities are forgiven, whose
sins are covered, to whom the Lord imputes not iniquity. The blessed man, you see, is
the justified man, he sins are pardoned, he is clothed in robes
of righteousness, cometh his blessedness then upon the circumcision
only, or upon the uncircumcision also
asks for. For we say that faith was reckoned
to aid the handful righteousness. How was it then reckoned? When
he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision, not in circumcision,
but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision,
the seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had yet being
uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that
believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed
unto them also. Clearly then, when he received
the promise of God, when he was justified by faith, he was in
uncircumcision. What then are we to understand
by the confirmation of that promise? Well, the promise is confirmed,
not in Genesis 17, but previous to that, it's confirmed, is it
not, in the chapter that we read. There at verse 8, following,
we have the confirmation of the promise. And how does God confirm
his promise? Well, in a number of ways. First
of all, there we see that it was confirmed by sacrifice. Did we not read of Abraham offering
a sacrifice unto God? There in that 15th chapter in
verses 9 and 10, God said to him, take me a heifer
of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram
of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. These are
the clean animals that would be sacrificed. And we are told
how he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst,
and made each piece one against another, but the birds divided
he not. These animals are killed, and
then they cut off these beasts, the birds he doesn't cut off
but he lays out what he had sacrificed just as God had commanded him
and of course those sacrifices are all typical, they are all
types of the Lord Jesus Christ directing us to him and his sacrifice
That one sacrifice for sins forever, we know that the blood of bulls
and of goats cannot take away sins. They are simply a foreshadowing
of the great sacrifice, the one sacrifice. It is the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ that is spoken of in Hebrews 13 as the
blood of the everlasting covenant. Here is the confirmation. The
promise of God in the Gospel is confirmed by sacrifice, by
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Testaments, but in
other words for Covenant in the New Testament the same Greek
word is translated either Covenant or Testament. and the testament
of course is brought into force when the testator dies and Christ
is the testator and so the promise of God is confirmed by sacrifice
but then again there in Genesis 15 we see something of the sovereignty
of God it is God's covenant and it is a unilateral Covenant. And we see that in those strange
and mysterious words of verses 17 and 18. It came to pass that
when the sun went down and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace
and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the
same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham. The burning lamp, the smoking
furnace, these again typify to us God himself. It is God. It is God who passes through
the midst of the sacrifice that Abraham had laid out that same
day the Lord made a covenant the words made is literally cut
God as it were cutting his way through the midst of the sacrifice
and usually when sacrifices were made in the Old Testament the
two parties who were who were covenanting together by sacrifice
would pass through the midst of those parts but Abraham He
stands by, he observes, he watches these things, and it's the Lord
God, it's a unilateral covenant, it's God's covenant. Oh, the sovereignty of God, you
see, and the grace of God that He should do such a thing. It's confirmed then by the sacrifice,
and the sacrifice ultimately is Christ, and it is altogether
a one-sided covenant. It is God's. And then also we
know how God swore an oath. He swore an oath in respect to
his covenant. Later, after the birth of Isaac,
chapter 21, We only have to go over to the 22nd chapter and
we have God there commanding Abraham to offer up his son,
his only son, Isaac, and his obedience. Here
he's got testing, he's fighting, trying his fight and he's faithful,
he believes that God is able to raise him again from the dead,
as we read in Hebrews 11. That was his faith. If this is
the promised seed, and it is the promised seed,
Isaac, where if he is obedient to what God commands and he slays
his son as an offering, God will raise him again. That's what
Abraham did. Isaac, a wonderful type of the Lord Jesus, and there,
after Abram's willingness to be obedient, there's the renewing
as it were, the confirming of the covenant, the angel of the
Lord. According to Abram, out of heaven
the second time we read, verse 15 in Genesis 22, and said, by
myself have I sworn, said the Lord, for because thou hast done
this thing, and hast not without thy Son, thine only Son, that
in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying thy 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. It's the
same covenant you see. And God confirms it by, and as
I have sworn, saith the Lord, by myself. When God made promise
to Abram because he could swear by no greater, Paul tells us
in Hebrews 6, he swore by himself. Here is the confirmation, the
sacrifice of God. the sovereignty of God in a unilateral
covenant, and God confirming it all by swearing an oath. 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. In all of this we see the priority
that God has given to the gospel. It is before the law. It is more
ancient than the law. The law comes some 430 years
afterward. At the exodus, when the children
of Israel were brought out of Egypt under Moses and At Mount
Sinai, God gave the Ten Commandments. But the Gospel has a priority.
And so we might ask, what then is the purpose of the Law? What is the purpose of the Law? That's the question that is asked
here at verse 19, is it not? Wherefore then serveth the Law? It was added because of transgression.
till the seed should come to whom the promise was made and
was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. The seed had not yet come, you
see, the seed was to come, that is Christ. But what was the purpose of the
law? It is, is it not, to show men
their sinnings. In Romans chapter 4 we are told
where no law is, there is no transgression. Where there is no law, how can
there be transgression? There must first be the law before
there can be any understanding of what sin is. Whosoever committeth
sin, says John, transgresseth also the law, for sin is the
transgression of the law. I have not known lust, says Paul,
except the Lord hath said, Thou shalt not cover He understands,
you see, that his lusting, his concupiscence, which is the other
word used in Romans 7, his evil desire is the transgression of
the commandment they shall not cover. And Paul goes on to tell
us in some detail in the third chapter of 2nd Corinthians exactly
what the purpose of the law is. He speaks there of the ministration
of the law. Remember what he says in that
chapter, 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 7, he speaks of it as the
ministration of death. It's the ministration of death.
It causes the sinner to see what his true condition is. is dead in trespasses and in
sins. That is the state into which all men enter into the
world. We are all born in that very
condition. We are dead in trespasses and
in sins. And of course the multitudes,
they are blissfully unaware of what their condition is before
God. What a mercy when God makes us
to feel what we are. as sinners before him. And that
was Paul's experience, was he not? Strangely, this was a man
who was well-versed in the law of God. He was a pharisee. He was the son of a pharisee. And as a pharisee, he imagined
that he had attained a certain righteousness with regards to
the law of God. But he understood Nothing about
the law until the Spirit came and worked such conviction in
his soul. As he tells us there in Romans
7, I was alive without the law once, but the commandment came
and sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life I found to be unto death. That's what the Lord
is about you see. It comes to a man in order that
he might be made to see what his real standing is before God. And that he is one who in his
natural state is dead in trespasses and in sins. Now in contrast,
in contrast to that ministration of death, what is the gospel?
It is the ministration of the Spirit. It is the ministration
of life. And so, Paul, there in 2 Corinthians
3, in verse 8, he's spoken of the ministration of death. In
verse 7, in the next verse, he says, How shall not the ministration
of the Spirit be rather glorious? There was a glory in the Lord,
he is saying there, But there is a much greater glory in the
Gospel. The Lord is the ministration
of death. The Gospel is the ministration
of the Spirit, and it brings life into the soul. Again, he
says in that chapter of the letter, But the Spirit giveth life. That's the ministry of the Spirit
as He comes in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember
how in His own ministry the Lord says as much in John chapter
6, it is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh, profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are
life. or that God's word, that word
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel might so come into our
hearts as to be spirit and life in our souls. Isn't that what
we should desire as we come under the sound of the word of God?
As we hear the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we want it to be spirit and life in our souls. That is the contrast, you see.
between law and gospel. There is a ministry of the law,
it's the ministration of death. But it's a blessed preparation
really for that ministration of the gospel, which is more
glorious, because in the gospel there is for us that blessed
revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ. But not only is the law of the ministration
of death. There in that third chapter of
2nd Corinthians, in verse 9, Paul also speaks of it as a ministration
of condemnation. He condemns. He condemns. And who does he condemn? It doesn't just condemn the Jews. It doesn't just condemn Israel. It was to Israel that God gave
the law there at Mount Sinai. But we're not to imagine that
the law is only applicable to the Jew. Remember the words of
Paul in Romans 3.19 He says, Now we know that what
things whoever 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. There is the ministration of
the law. It's to stop all mouths. It's
to condemn all men. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, says Paul, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Oh, this is an awful
use of the law, is it not? When it is brought home to the
conscience of the sinner, and his mouth is stopped, he has
no plea before God. and he must acknowledge that
he is deserving only of the wrath of God. He has nothing of himself
that he can present to God to mitigate his guilt. He must be
brought to acknowledge that. It's the ministration, I say,
of condemnation. Then in contrast, in contrast
to that ministration of condemnation, what is the Gospel? What is the Gospel? If there
is a contrast between the Lord as the ministration of death
and the Gospel as the ministration of the spirit and the ministration
of life, so there is also a contrast here between the Lord, the ministration
of condemnation and the Gospel. What is the Gospel the ministration
of here then? It's the ministration of righteousness. It's the ministration of righteousness.
That's what Paul says there in 2 Corinthians 6. And wasn't this
the experience of Abraham when God dealt with him in terms of
this covenant? This covenant in Genesis 15 that
is being spoken of here in verses 16 and 17. What was Abram's experience?
Well, if we go back to verse 6 in this chapter, we're told
Abram believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. That covenant, the gospel, was
to him the ministration of righteousness. There in verse 6, we really have
a quotation from Genesis 15 and verse 6. As I've said, this chapter is
to be understood in terms of the covenant that God was pleased
to make with Abraham. He believed God and it was counted
to him for righteousness. Now what was counted to him for
righteousness? Again, we need to be careful
not to think that it's faith. is counted to him for righteousness. If we were to say that, we're
really saying that faith is a substitute for works. Not a works righteousness,
but a faith righteousness that in a sense is making faith equivalent
to a work. And faith is not a work. If we're
saved by grace through faith, it's not a work. as we read in
Romans 11 and verse 6. In Romans chapter 4 Paul may
explain what it was that was reckoned to him for righteousness. Remember what we are told here
in this chapter Verse 2, If Abraham were justified by works, he hath
whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. There it is again, Genesis 15.6
is the scripture referred to, Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. What was counted? Well, when
we come to the end of the chapter, Verse 20, we are told concerning
Abram, he staggered not to the promise of God through unbelief,
but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully
persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
What God had promised, Abram was persuaded God was able
to perform, therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. What was imputed? The promise. the promise that his faith centred
upon. And he was persuaded that that promise that God gave to
him was something that God would perform. Here is his righteousness
then, it's the promise of God. And that promise performed, and
outperformed in the seed that God promised, the seed of Abraham. the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
that one who has come and performed all that is necessary in order
for the sinner to be accounted righteous before God. Didn't Abraham see Christ there
in Genesis chapter 22? Christ himself tells us, or tells
the Jews, and of course as it's in the scripture it is to us,
these things are written for our learning He says to the Jews
in John 8, 56, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he
saw it and was glad. In Christ he saw the performance
of the promise. He saw his righteousness and
that righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, the Gospel,
you see, it's the ministration then of righteousness. The law then is given simply
to serve the gospel. The gospel has the priority and
the law is given to serve the gospel. As we read here at verse
24, wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto
Christ that we might be justified by faith. There is the lawful
use of the law to bring us to Christ. And we look to Christ. Christ is the end of the law,
says Paul, for righteousness to everyone that believes. And so the believer is one who
is not under law, he's under grace, he's under Christ, and
he seeks to live his life, of course, in accordance with all
that Christ says, all Christ's Holy Precepts in the Gospel,
that's the rule of his life, his conduct in this world. He
gives priority, where priority belongs, he gives it to Christ,
revealed to us here in the Gospel. This I say, that the covenant that was confirmed
before of God in Christ, The law which was 430 years after
cannot disavow that it should make the promise of non-effect. May the Lord be pleased to bless
this word to our souls for his name's sake. Amen. Quoting him as number 809, with
June as less than 171. Is then the law of God untrue
which he by Moses gave? No, but to take it in this view
that it has power to save. Number 809. Bye.