Galatians chapter three and verse
15. Brethren, I speak after the manner
of men. Though it be but a man's covenant,
yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto. 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 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 none effect. For if the inheritance
be of the law, it is no more of 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 hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator
of one, but God is one. Amen. May the Lord bless this
reading to us today. I hope that none of us become
tired of hearing about the covenant in Paul's ministry, or indeed
anywhere else in scripture. It is true that I mention the
covenant a lot, and perhaps more than you've heard it spoken of
before. But I don't make any apology
for that. When we delight to speak about
the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot help speaking about the covenant
of grace and peace. And this is because we recognize
that His great accomplishments on the cross were the acts that
fulfilled the terms of that divine agreement, that covenant. And we cannot help but speak
of the covenant when we realize that it contains eternal certainties
for the elect of God. all those who are chosen in Christ
from the foundation of the world. And we cannot help speaking of
the covenant when we anticipate the glory and the promises of
justification and reconciliation and ultimately everlasting life
that it brings to us. because these are the very blessings
and privileges set forth in the covenant and for which it was
set up in eternity and fulfilled by Christ in time. The everlasting
covenant is central to the revelation of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament
and in the New Testament. A few weeks ago, for example,
we read in Isaiah chapter 42, speaking of the coming Messiah,
the Lord is speaking and he says, I, the Lord, have called thee,
so it's like God the Father speaking to God the Son in the context
of his imminent coming. He says, I, the Lord, have called
thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand, and will keep
thee, and, listen, give thee for a covenant of the people,
for a light of the Gentiles." So here was Isaiah recounting
to his Old Testament readers what God the Father was saying
to the Son in the context of the everlasting covenant, in
that covenant agreement that the Father was undertaking to
do certain things on behalf of the Son, and the Son was obliged
to do things as part of his responsibility within the covenant. And so we
see here that the father was saying he would give the son
for a covenant of the people and for a light of the Gentiles. Christ is the covenant fulfiller
for his people. Now that's the Old Testament,
that's Isaiah. In Hebrews, the writer to the
Hebrews, perhaps, probably, the Apostle Paul, tells us that Jesus
is the mediator of the new covenant. Now, it's a new covenant, but
it's the same covenant because it's the everlasting covenant,
which is always new. And Jesus is its mediator. And
that the God of peace, has brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. So whether we're thinking about
the Old Testament or the New Testament, this concept of covenant,
this everlasting covenant that undergirds and upholds the revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ, is the framework in which the saving
work of Christ is to be understood and enjoyed. I don't want us to simply think
that this is theology or this is doctrine. The point about
our relationship with God and through the Lord Jesus Christ
is that we enjoy the blessings of these truths which have been
revealed for us. They are to encourage and comfort
and sustain us. The covenant, the teaching of
the covenant brings us help in our daily life because it reassures
God's people in their trials, in their difficulties. of what
has been accomplished for us. That this great transaction,
this great agreement, a contract is another way of thinking about
this covenant. That here we see in these verses,
whether it's Old Testament or New, the foundation of Christ's
work being revealed to us in the terms of this everlasting
covenant. contract. And here Paul is telling
the Galatians, he calls them brethren. I wanted to point that
out to you because he's been quite rough on the Galatians
from time to time through this little book already as he has
addressed them. He's called them foolish and
he's been quite sharp on occasions with them. But here he calls
them his brethren because he still has this good hope for
them. He still has this hope that their
adoption into the family of God means something to them and that
they've got a wisdom and an insight and an understanding of spiritual
things that once corrected they will respond to. And he is trusting
that they have not rejected the simplicity that is in Christ
and in some way shipwrecked their faith because of their sympathies
with these false teachers that had come amongst them. So here
Paul calls them brethren and he is telling them that there
is an everlasting covenant that is unchangeable, having been
fulfilled, completed, and satisfied in and by the Lord Jesus Christ,
and ratified by all three persons of the Godhead. He is speaking
about what we sometimes call the covenant of grace, or the
covenant of grace and peace, by which the righteousness of
God's elect is secured and unalterably fixed in the mind, will, and
purpose of God for all time and eternity. And the apostle is making his
argument upon known and understood experiences of men in their own
contracts and agreements. And you will know this if anyone's
ever bought a house or if anyone's ever signed a contract for a
vehicle or even a contract of employment. We know that when
a contract is signed, it's ratified. And the experience of individuals
in a legal context like that, when we make a contract or we
sign an agreement, when a covenant is made by men, maybe it's the
last will and testament of someone, and it is properly signed and
witnessed, it cannot be altered or amended. And so it is with
the covenant made and confirmed by the persons of the Godhead.
It cannot be altered, it cannot be added to, it cannot be amended. Under the terms of this covenant,
Christ in his death has secured the justification of the elect
in the sight of God. and that cannot be changed. So we are made righteous in the
sight of God and that cannot be changed. That's the point
that the Apostle Paul is making here. Now these false teachers,
they were trying to add man's own obedience and works righteousness
under the law as a condition or as an addendum in order for
the benefits of salvation to be received and enjoyed by the
Galatians. And Paul's telling his friends,
he's telling his brethren, he says, that even amongst men,
such a thing would not be tolerated or allowed. So why would you
even think, it's an argument that he's making, why would you
even think that such a thing would be acceptable in the sight
of God? You cannot unilaterally alter
the terms of a ratified contract, and nor can it be with God. A
contract agreed by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit from all
eternity, centered in Christ, depending wholly upon the accomplishments
of Christ, with all the benefits and blessings of that covenant
placed with Christ to be freely distributed by Him according
to His grace and under the terms of eternal election, can have
no conditionality, no dependence upon, no respect to the merit
or indeed the lack of merit in the objects of God's choice. And that's, I hope that's not too complicated,
but that's what the Apostle Paul is saying to the Galatians here. The law, works righteousness,
personal obedience, creature acts, and creature merit has
absolutely no part or purpose in this gracious everlasting
covenant. It has been settled in eternity,
the work has been done by Christ in time, and the benefits of
justification and the imputation of holiness has been done. And Paul has already shown from
the testimony of Abraham. Now, doubtless, Abraham was well
beloved of these Judaizers. They would boast in him a lot.
They loved the idea that they were the children of Abraham.
And Paul's already referred to Abraham in the context of these
arguments. that he's setting out here in
this chapter, that Abraham's experience of trusting God and
being declared righteous by God, because that, of course, is the
whole point, that Abraham was declared righteous by God. So
as far as God was concerned, Abraham was righteous. That that was a free gift. It
was not an earned righteousness. So now he turns again to Abraham's
experience in order to strengthen this part of his argument as
well about the contract. And he is saying he had shown
that when the covenant was revealed to Abraham by God, Abraham believed
it. Remember a few weeks ago, we
asked, what is the it? Well, it was the covenant. Or
rather, it was Christ who was made the covenant of his people.
That's what Isaiah says. So Abraham believed this. He believed that there was a
righteousness that came from God that was independent of a
man's own labors. He believed in Christ. He looked
forward. He saw the examples. And even
that ram caught in the thicket was an example that God would
supply himself a lamb and Abraham trusted, Abraham understood. Probably far more than we appreciate,
Abraham understood of the coming Messiah. And this covenant brought
a righteousness that was imputed to Abraham for Abraham's own
righteousness. Abraham thereby obtained and
possessed and inherited by imputation the full, complete righteousness
of God in Christ. And he was enabled by faith to
enjoy the comfort and joy and realization of this privileged
state of grace. We talk about the joy of being
a Christian. It's not because we sing nice
songs or we sort of are happy all the day long or because we
think we're going to heaven and it'll be great. The joy that
a believer has is a joy in the midst even of their deepest trials
and troubles because we understand that this is a fixed work of
blessing that has been accomplished. And Paul goes on to point out
the timing of these matters. He's showing that the works structure
of law and legal duty that the Judaizers wished to impose on
the Galatians, remember these Galatians were Gentiles, But
these Judaizers wishing to bring this on to the Galatians, Paul
says, look, remember, it was some 430 years later when God
gave Israel the law by Moses. So Abraham wasn't aware of the
Ten Commandments. Abraham wasn't aware of the law
that would 430 years later be given to the children of Israel
by Moses. It had no bearing, the law had
no bearing on what Abraham obtained, the joy he felt, and the knowledge
he received of his righteousness already being settled in heaven
in eternity. And so that's why in verse 18
here we read, for if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more
of promise. but God gave it to Abraham by
promise. That is, he gave it to him by
grace. God promised it to Abraham, not
contingent on the works of the law, which hadn't even been given
yet and wouldn't be for another 430 years. The inheritance comes
by grace. It is by grace that we are saved. It is by grace that we are chosen,
first of all in Christ, redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ, called
by the Holy Spirit and there we see the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit engaged together in the fulfilment of this great
covenant of life for his people. And ultimately, it is by grace
that we shall be glorified, because our glorification and our place
in heaven is not in any way conditional or contingent upon how good we
are or how bad we are. It is all of grace. It is not
of works. And Paul is emphatic in Romans
11, verse 6. He says, if by grace, then it
is no more of works. It is no more of works, otherwise
grace is no more grace. So you can't say that you believe
in grace and then bring in some sort of work structure, whether
it's by the law or whether it's by a new law, a different duty,
a different obligation that is subsequently laid upon you as
a church member. Finally, here's my final point
today, and then we're through. Paul answers a question that
he knew would be asked when such a clear statement of gospel truth
had been asserted. And the question is, well then,
what is the purpose of the law? Why was it given if all the righteousness
that a man or a woman required is already secured by Christ? And Paul tells us, it's not a
secret, he says, because of sin. The law was given because of
sin. It was added because of transgressions. The law measures the extent to
which we fall short of God's perfect holiness in the flesh. It leaves us, it renders us guilty. and without excuse, and it brings
the Lord's elect under condemnation in order to drive us to Christ
for salvation. We learn by the law that the
righteousness we need can never be attained by personal obedience
or good works. It really isn't complicated. The law has made such a yoke
for so many people today. It's got so many denominational
traditions built into it that you sometimes think to yourself
it would take you a whole lifetime to understand all the subtleties
of what is allowed and what's not allowed, what's acceptable
and what's not acceptable. And people go through their whole
life self-examining and wondering whether or not they're making
up the standard that they're supposed to live as a Christian.
and we've got books written and sermons preached and courses
run about how we are supposed to live successful, fulfilled,
powerful Christian lives. And it's so much nonsense. The righteousness we need can
never be obtained by personal obedience or good works. The
law was never intended to make us righteous and it should not
be used for that purpose, but to show us rather how unrighteous
we truly are and bring us to the Saviour for salvation. Bring
us to his cross for cleansing, and to his resurrection for confirmation
of our righteousness and justification before God. How do we know that
we are justified and righteous before God? Because the Lord
Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. That's how. Because God was satisfied. Because
the blood, the precious blood was acceptable. And the fact
that Jesus Christ rose from the dead is our confidence and our
assurance that the terms of this covenant, this great agreement,
have been fulfilled. So all this talk of the law and
being under the law as our rule of life and the law being the
standard of our obedience and the measure of our holiness,
It's just wrong. It is Christ who is our righteousness
and holiness and justification and sanctification. And all our
felt lack of holiness, which the law surely measures in the
natural man, is met by returning to Christ and resting in the
righteousness of God imputed to us in the covenant by the
person of Christ. That's what it means to rest
in Christ. That's what it means to rest
in him from all our works. And it's what it means to enjoy
by faith the benefits and the blessings of his completed work. The final part of the reading
today, 19 and 20, the final part of 19 and verse 20, it seems
to give information about how this giving of the law took place
and who the parties present were and who was involved. But I think
the great lesson is that the Galatian brethren were not to
be distracted by these troublers. not to be distracted and drawn
away from looking to the Lord Jesus Christ for their full sufficiency,
and nor should we be. If you find yourself feeling
good about your good works or feeling bad about your failures,
well, the answer is the same in both occasions. Look to Christ. and look to his death on the
cross for all your acceptance with God. And then you will find
peace for your soul and peace of conscience. Amen.