The Covenant of Promise

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. The title of this morning's message is The Abrahamic Covenant and the Purpose of God's Law. The Abrahamic Covenant and the Purpose of God's Law.

The Need to Pay Attention and the Repeated Gospel of Grace

We're going to go, I think, a little deeper this morning, so you're going to have to pay attention. One of the things about taking notes, not only does it help you to remember later on, it helps you to pay attention as we go through.

It keeps you engaged, so I would encourage you to take notes if you have a pen. Why is this important? Because the Abrahamic Covenant is the primary example in the New Testament that Paul uses to demonstrate the gospel.

That it is salvation by faith alone and not the works of the law. That's all based on the covenant that God made with Abraham. So it's by faith alone, not the works of the law, which then raises a question.

Okay, then what's the purpose of God's law? Why do we need the Ten Commandments? Or why did Israel need the Ten Commandments? Why was the law given? So these are some of the things that we're going to be looking at this morning.

And if you've been following along in the book of Galatians, you might think that it's a little repetitive. Or that things have been a little repetitive. After all, I keep emphasizing, we keep emphasizing that the gospel is all by grace.

You know, grace alone, faith alone, and Christ alone. And you might think, well, every week it's the same thing. Grace alone, faith alone, salvation by faith alone. Well, I'm doing this for a couple reasons.

Number one, it's the whole point of the book. Everything that Paul writes goes back to that overarching point. So you really can't avoid it. And then number two, this is how we learn. We learn through repetition.

So the essential teachings of Christianity have to be repeated and reinforced. Consistently, all the time. Repeated and reinforced. So what do we have here? In this book, in this chapter, we have law and gospel.

Okay, law and gospel. Everything, just about everything we teach has to do with one or the other or both. Same with Paul here in Galatians. So, again, you have the Abrahamic covenant. And then you have the covenant of the law.

Law and gospel. And throughout the Old Testament, both of these covenants, don't miss this, both of these covenants run parallel to one another. You have God's promise to Abraham. He believes and is justified by faith.

So you have that spiritual element. But there's also promises about the nation. And there's land promises. And here's the thing to know about the Abrahamic covenant. So if you take notes, write this down.

The Abrahamic covenant was unconditional. That's the thing to remember about the covenant with Abraham. It's unconditional. Then you have the covenant that God made with the Israelites through Moses, the law.

That covenant was conditional. So Abrahamic covenant, unconditional. Covenant of the law, conditional. What was the condition? Well, basically, you either obey and you will receive all these things. Obey and be blessed.

Or disobey and be cursed. And do you remember what the Israelites said? All the words that you have spoken, we will do. How did that work out? Well, they broke the conditions. They broke the conditions.

And also with the covenant of the law, part of being cursed was that they would be removed from the land. So both covenants kind of have something to do with the land. Here is a mistake that we don't want to make.

We don't ever want to think that one covenant replaced the other. Don't ever think that the covenant of the law replaced the covenant that God made with Abraham. It might even seem like the two worked against each other.

God promises Abraham and his descendants the land, but because of the law, they're kicked out of the land. We want to not fall into that way of thinking. So to put it simply, why was the law given? Well, we read this.

The law was given to show people their need for the covenant of grace. The law was given to bring them to Christ. The covenant with Moses was never meant to replace the covenant that God made with Abraham.

But that's essentially, so what does this have to do with Galatians? Okay, now we're going back to Galatians. Here's what the Judaizers were doing. They were essentially saying that. They didn't come right out and say it, but through their teaching, they were at least implying that the law kind of superseded the covenant with Abraham.

Why? Because they were teaching that salvation didn't come through the promise. Salvation came through the works of the law. You're already in Galatians chapter 3. Look at verse 15, the apostle Paul writing to the Galatians.

He says, brethren, brethren, that's like extending an olive branch. Because he wasn't totally sure all of them were brethren. So this was a gracious thing. But he says, brethren, though I speak in the manner of men, or I speak in the manner of men, though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls it or adds to it.

So if we just think of this in modern terms, if you make an agreement, if you sign a contract, you can't just change it, right? You sign a contract. It's a legal binding agreement. You can't just change it.

You can't just break it. Paul's point is how much more than a contract, if you will, made by God. This is God's contract. This is God's covenant. You can't just break it. You can't just change it. So what is a covenant?

A covenant is a binding agreement, a binding agreement. It's either conditional, you do this and I'll do that, or with the covenant to Abraham, it's just a promise. God just makes an agreement by making a promise and he will uphold his end.

So the Abrahamic covenant was what? A promise. It was a promise. All right, look at verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made. There's that word. And he does not say into seeds as of many, but as of one and to your seed, who is who?

Christ. And to your seed, who is Christ? Okay, so this is one of the more complicated, challenging parts of the chapter, because if you were to go back, you don't have to do that. But if you were to go back to Genesis chapter 12, verse 7, and then proceeding statements throughout the book of Genesis, depending on your Bible translation, it will either refer to Abraham's seed or his descendants or his offspring.

So when you hear the word descendants, is that singular or plural? Well, it's plural, right? When you hear the word seed, is that singular or plural? Right, it sounds singular, but it could go either way.

Offspring, and again, depends on your translation, offspring could go either way. So, okay, is this singular or is it plural? Well, we use the New King James Version of the Bible and it uses the term descendants.

Okay, I'm going to, for once, maybe critique the New King James Version of the Bible. I don't think descendants plural is probably the best translation. In the King James Version, it uses the word seed, which sounds singular.

And then offspring could go either way, but really it could go either way. Okay, here's the point. Paul is saying what? That it's singular, right? And that the seed of Abraham is Christ himself. So the seed of Abraham is Christ himself.

Okay, let me ask then. Well, what about Isaac? Because Abraham had other seed. He had other offspring. What about Isaac? What about Abraham's grandson, Jacob, and his children? Obviously, they're a part of all of this.

Obviously, they were a part of the covenant. So you can see how this would be a little confusing. Which one is it? Well, I'd like to read from theologian Dr. R .C. Sproul what he says as a way to reconcile this.

He says, Paul is aware that the noun translated offspring or seed in the singular, it may be singular or it may be collective as well. So Paul knows that. What he is doing is he is affirming that Christ is the descendant to whom the promise finally or ultimately refers.

So descendants plural, again, is probably not the best translation. So offspring or seed, that can go either way. But here's the point. The covenant of promise, this is gospel. This is a promise from God.

This is gospel and not law. All right? So we saw it on that. Abrahamic covenant, promise, it's gospel. Law is law. Well, that's simple. That's simple enough. In Genesis chapter 12, God promises to make of Abraham what?

A great nation. But in order for Abraham to be made a great nation, he had to have a seed. He need to have, need to have had a son. And who's that son? Who is that son? Isaac, right? Isaac is the child, the promise.

Now, of course, he made some mistakes and had another son first. And we're going to get to that later on in Galatians. But Isaac was the child, the promise. And the thing about Isaac's birth, it was a miraculous birth.

What is Isaac? He is a foreshadow. He is a foreshadow of Christ, the greater descendant of Abraham. And wouldn't you know, Jesus also had a miraculous birth. When the genealogy of Christ is given in the New Testament, who does the apostle trace it back to?

Abraham. So Christ is the seed of Abraham. And then in the epistles of Paul, it then expands so that all who are of faith, that's us, all who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. Paul says that back in Galatians chapter 3, verse 9.

And then in Romans 4, 16, speaking to a predominant. Because when you hear descendants of Abraham or children of Abraham, what do you think of? What people group do you think of? Yeah, okay. Jews or the Semitic people, they're the descendants of Abraham.

Yeah, but spiritually, we are the descendants of Abraham. Paul says in Romans 4, 16, speaking to a predominantly Gentile church, most of these people were not Jewish. What does he say? He calls Abraham the father of us all.

There's a children's song, right? Something about father Abraham. So maybe you sang that when you were young. He's your father, not according to a bloodline maybe, but spiritually, he is your father. Why?

Because we are all people of faith. Anyone who is of faith, the true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a descendant, so to speak, of Abraham. And then later on in Galatians chapter 3, this is the basis for Christian unity.

Jew, Gentile, whatever family you came from, it doesn't matter because we're all united in faith through the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is the basis of unity in the church between Jew and Gentile. And this unity in Christ, unity in Christ in general is a glorious thing, is it not?

You think about any local church, brings together all sorts of different people. If it wasn't for Christ, these people would not be brought together, right? We're all different and that's good. We don't want to all be the same, but this unity we have is in Christ.

What was the problem in the book of Galatians? The false teachers were created. Okay. Christ brings unity. False teachers were bringing disunity. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Corner Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornerChurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.