| |
Series: Galatians Title: God’s Testament Text: Gal 3: 15-18 Date: Dec 3, 2020 Place: SGBC, NJ Galatians 3: 15: Brethren,
I speak after the manner of men;
He speaks by the
inspiration of the Spirit of God. But he
is using an earthly illustration that we all know. Galatians 3: 15: Though it
be but a man’s covenant,
The word here is a man’s
testament: his “last will and testament”
Galatians 3: 15: Though it
be but a man’s [testament] yet
if it be confirmed, Once a man’s last will and
testament is confirmed: written out, signed, sealed, witnessed, and
particularly by the death of the testator. Galatians 3: 15: Though it
be but a man’s [testament] yet
if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
No man can make it void nor
add to it. This being the case among men, certainly the same is true concerning
God’s eternal, everlasting covenant of grace in Christ.
Galatians 3: 16: 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. 17: 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 it should make the
promise of none effect. 18: For if the
inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave
it to Abraham by promise.
The word “covenant” here is
“testament.” When our Lord Jesus instituted his table he said, Matthew 26:28: For
this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission
of sins.
The word “testament” is the same Greek word in our
text translated “covenant”. Proposition:
God’s covenant is much like a man’s last will and testament. Our Lord does all. He gives the inheritance freely. His people
passively receive the inheritance. In God’s testament, God gave Abraham a promise. Ultimately it was the promise of eternal
inheritance, eternal life. Paul calls it
the inheritance. God made many
promises, which are all accomplished by our triune God in Christ, but they all
end in the grand promise of an eternal inheritance, eternal life with God. But God gave another
covenant at Sinai. It was a covenant of
works. It was not a testament but a contract. Yet, the works of the law cannot disannul or
add to God’s covenant which was confirmed before to Abraham in Christ. Why not?—For if the inheritance be of the
law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
Subject: Gods’ Testament THE
FATHER’S WILL
When
a man makes out his last will and testament it is made before the inheritance
is given. All things laid out in the
testament are entirely according to the man’s will. So
it is with God our Father. God made his
testament in eternity before making anything in creation. It is an eternal and
everlasting covenant of eternal promises of an eternal inheritance.
Titus 1: 2: In hope of eternal life, which God, that
cannot lie, promised before the world began;
So
this testament was confirmed before of God in Christ in eternity. Long before God confirmed it to Abraham in
Christ, God confirmed it in Christ alone.
Paul says the promises were made to one seed, that Seed is Christ. Before the world was made God set down all
things in his covenant. God was not
obligated to make it but freely and of his own will did so. Everything included in God’s everlasting
covenant is of God’s will and pleasure. So
it is unalterable. It is from
everlasting to everlasting Psalm 33:11: The counsel of the LORD standeth for
ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
THE TESTATOR AND THE HEIR
God’s testament is unlike a
man’s testament because the Son of God is both the testator and the heir. The Son of God is the
Testator of the covenant of grace. It is
his testament because he is God. As the
GodMan, Mediator, Christ shed his blood unto death in place of his people to
confirm his covenant, his testament, by his blood. Hebrews 9: 15: And for
this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, 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. 16: For
where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the
testator. 17: For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise
it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
Someone
might say, “How did God promise Abraham this inheritance when Christ had not
shed his blood and died yet?” Christ
Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. His blood is effectual to cleanse before the
cross the same as after the cross. Every
blessing God purposed to give in his will and testament is free to his people
on account of the blood of Christ the testator who stood as our Surety from
eternity and then came and died in place of his people. That is why Christ called it the new testament
in my blood. His blood put away the sins
of his people as he honored God’s law declaring God a just God and a Savior.
Yet, Christ is also the Heir. A father chooses what son will be his heir. He chooses to which children he will give his
inheritance. God the Father chose his
Son to be his heir. It was God’s good
pleasure to freely give his Son a kingdom.
Christ said, Luke 22: 29: My Father hath appointed unto me a
kingdom.
And God the Father chose his
elect in Christ to be joint-heirs with Christ.
When born of his irresistible grace by his Spirit, we are made to know
that we are the children of God. Romans 8:17: And if children, then heirs; heirs of
God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may
be also glorified together.
All God’s elect are Christ’s
portion, his inheritance. Deuteronomy 32: 9: For
the LORD’S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his
inheritance.
And Christ our King is our
inheritance. That was typified in the
old covenant priests when the Lord delivered them into their temporal, promised
inheritance Canaan. Number 18:20: And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou
shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among
them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.
Genesis 15:1…the LORD came unto Abram in a vision,
saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
Our Lord Jesus has the glory
of giving all the blessings of this free inheritance to his people through the
Spirit through faith in him because he is the Firstborn among many brethren. It pleased God our Father that all fulness
dwell in Christ his Firstborn Son. It
pleased God the Father that all the children of his household give Christ the
Firstborn all preeminence in all things.
So Christ is the heir who gives out all the promises to his brethren who
are joint-heirs with Christ. He
gives us the Spirit of regeneration as a free gift of his promise. He promised to give us a new spirit and he
shall do so in each of his chosen, joint-heirs. Hebrews 10:15: Whereof
the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16: This
is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the
Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write
them; 17: And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18: Now where
remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. 19: Having therefore, brethren, boldness to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20: By a new and living way,
which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21:
And having an high priest over the house of God; 22: Let us draw near
with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Ephesians 2: 19: Now therefore ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the
household of God;
Redemption,
pardon, justification, regeneration, perseverance, ending in our eternal inheritance
in glory—it is all given us freely from Christ’s hand through his blood
according to the will of God our Father. Luke 12: 32: Fear not, little flock; for it is your
Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Revelation 3: 21: To him that overcometh will I grant
to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my
Father in his throne.
THIS IS THE TESTAMENT
MADE WITH ABRAHAM
When our Lord called Abraham
this is the testament he confirmed to him in Christ. No conditions were left in Abraham’s hand. God
confirmed it in Christ by two immutable things: his word and his oath: Hebrews 6: 13: For
when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he
sware by himself, 14: Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and
multiplying I will multiply thee. 15: And so, after he had patiently endured, he
obtained the promise. 16: For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for
confirmation is to them an end of all strife. 17: Wherein God, willing
more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his
counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18: 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:
19: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil; 20: Whither the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of
Melchisedec.
The promise was to Abraham and to Christ his Seed—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. What a blessing that the promise was to
Christ. The promise includes all
Abraham’s spiritual seed, all God’s elect, all who shall be brought to faith in
Christ. But he speaks only of Christ the
Seed. God declares that there is
no separation between Christ and his people.
God speaks of Christ alone because he is the Head. Every chosen child of God is his body. What Christ did we did in him. What Christ is doing is only for the members
of his body.
1 Corinthians 12: 12: For
as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one
body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
The testament confirmed—ratified in Christ’s blood—guarantees
every promise God made to Abraham would be given freely to Abraham and to his
spiritual children because Christ fulfilled all covenant obligations for his
people. To Abraham it was "confirmed before of God in
Christ." It was confirmed of
God in Abraham’s heart by the Spirit of God.
A man’s testament has to be witnessed and sealed. The Spirit is the Witness and the Seal of the
covenant. The Spirit of promise through
Christ’s blood purges our conscious, bearing witness with the new spirit he creates
in us that we are children of God. He
seals to our hearts the assurance that God’s testament is ordered in all things
and sure.
NO DISANNULMENT
So if a man confirmed his
last will and testament, especially by the testator’s death, no law can
disannul or add to it. Neither could the
law of Sinai—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 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.
The
law at Sinai was a contract. A contract has conditions that have to be
met perfectly by each party and only then are the benefits obtained. A will is freely given. The testator does all. He chooses who will be his heirs. He chooses what they will receive upon his
death. The beneficiary is passive. He merely receives the free inheritance. When that man’s will and testament has been
confirmed it is unalterable. So the
contract given at Sinai could not disannul God’s will and testament: the law
can add nothing nor take away anything. Besides that, if our works contribute, then our
eternal inheritance is no more by God’s promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise. Justification, righteousness, sanctification,
preservation, eternal life—all is God’s free gift conditioned only upon the
merits of Abraham's seed, which is Christ (Heb. 6:13-20; Gal. 3:14). THE INHERITANCE
Brethren, Abraham and our
fathers who lived before the covenant given at Sinai all looked for the
promises to come. Hebrews 11: 13: These
all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar
off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14: For they that say such
things declare plainly that they seek a country. 14 For they that say such things declare plainly
that they seek a country. 15 And truly,
if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might
have had opportunity to have returned. 16
But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a
city.
We have no inheritance here. Here we are strangers and sojourners. Our inheritance is eternal. Our portion is Christ and we are his
inheritance. He is working everything
together for our good according to his eternal purpose. We shall live with him forever in the new
heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Everything God did with
temporal Israel and every temporal promise God made to them was to show us a
type of God’s spiritual promises to spiritual Israel. So in order to show God’s immutability and
faithfulness, even under that contract given at Sinai, God fulfilled every
carnal promise despite Israel’s failure to obey. And in the end it shall be said spiritually to
all Christ’s heirs what was said to them. 1 Kings 8:56: Blessed be the LORD, that hath given
rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not
failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses
his servant.
But
we will give the glory to Christ, not as a servant, but as a Son over his own
house, whose house we are, if we continue believing on Christ until the end
(Heb 3: 1-6). May God give us grace to believe on Christ as Abraham did. 2 Corinthians 1:20: For all the promises of God in [Christ]
are yea, and in [Christ] Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
|