Participants: Mark Howard & Jim Howard
Series Code: GBOTB
Program Code: GBOTB000009A
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00:23 Welcome to another episode of Books of the Book.
00:25 I'm Pastor Mark Howard, I'm the director of the 00:27 Emmanuel Institute of evangelism in Michigan 00:29 as well as the Pastor of the 00:32 Gobels Seventh-day Adventist church in Michigan 00:35 and my co-host Jim Howard, my younger brother. 00:38 Yes, I'm Jim Howard also at Pastor of the Michigan 00:41 conference of the Detroit Metropolitan and South Lyon's 00:44 Seventh-day Adventist churches. 00:46 Now we are so glad you are with us today in our 00:49 Bible study and we have been going through 00:51 the book of Galatians. 00:52 A powerful book in the New Testament where the apostle 00:55 Paul gives his clearest defense in the shortest space 00:58 of the Gospel message. 01:00 Somebody may contend the book of Romans but the book 01:03 of Galatians is a compacted Romans and it addresses so 01:06 many powerful gospel truths from different angles so 01:10 that we can really get a grasp on the essence of 01:14 justification by faith, of the obedience of faith. 01:18 Today of the covenants and this is a study we are going 01:22 to look at today on the two covenants. 01:23 We are just going to dive right in with the book of 01:28 Galatians 4 and if you are watching at home and you 01:31 have your Bibles with you we want to encourage you to 01:34 take your Bibles out and turn with us to the book of 01:37 Galatians in the New Testament. 01:38 You go to the Gospels and start out in Matthew, Mark, 01:41 Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 01:42 1 and 2 Corinthians and then Galatians. 01:45 We are in Galatians 4:21 and I'm going to read here, 01:51 "tell me, you who desired to be under the law, do you 01:58 "not hear the law? 22. For it is written that 02:01 "Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, 02:04 "the other by a free woman. 23. But he who was of the 02:07 "bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of 02:10 "free woman through promise,24. which things are symbolic. 02:15 "For these are the two covenants the one from Mount Sinai 02:19 "which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar. " 02:21 I'm going to read on after a little bit but I'm going to 02:24 key in on this verse 21 where he talks about being under 02:27 the law Jim, and this is something I said in our last 02:30 episode that we were going to talk about 02:32 in a future episode. 02:33 There are people that get confused on this term under the 02:37 law and they assume initially that under the law means 02:41 - that you had to keep the law. 02:43 - Yes, That you have to keep the law so when Paul talks 02:46 about in a derogatory way about being under the law people 02:49 say he is against keeping the law. 02:51 In fact the most common text that is read that way is in 02:56 the book of Romans and we will go to Romans 6:14. 03:03 It says, "for sin shall not have dominion over you, 03:09 "for you are not under the law but under grace. " 03:15 So that's where people read in it that you are not under 03:18 law but you are under grace. 03:20 So they read into that to observe the law of God, 03:28 the Ten Commandments is contrary to grace. 03:30 If you're saved by grace then you don't need to keep 03:32 the law, right? - that's right but if you read what 03:35 he says here in this verse, notice what he says, 03:37 "sin shall not have dominion over you. " 03:39 Let's talk about sin first of all. 1 John 3:4 says, 03:42 "is transgression of the law. " Or lawlessness. 03:45 So right away, in fact the apostle Paul in Romans 7 03:48 says, "I would not have known sin except by the law. " 03:52 Romans 3:20, "by the law is the knowledge of sin. " 03:55 Romans 4:15, "where there is no law there is no 03:58 "transgression. " Or no sin. 04:00 So the whole idea is that sin is breaking the law. 04:02 We know we are sinning when we are breaking the law 04:04 of God, that's the indicator of what sin is. 04:08 Now he says sin, or law breaking shall not have 04:11 dominion over you. Now what does dominion mean? 04:14 - it means ruling over you. - rulership. 04:17 That is rulership, where a man who is under the 04:20 dominion of another we call a slave don't we? 04:22 And this would be a slave to sin because sin is 04:25 the owner, sin is the one who has dominion. 04:28 He says here that sin will not rule over you 04:31 because you are not under law but under grace. 04:35 If we just read it now as we define the terms, 04:37 lawbreaking won't rule your life anymore when 04:40 you are under grace. - that's right. 04:42 - That is what he is saying because grace brings 04:45 us into a position where because of the grace of Christ 04:48 we are brought into obedience to the will of God. 04:50 If you look at that next verse it makes a really plain. 04:54 Romans 7:15, "What then? Shall we say in because we 04:57 "are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!" 05:00 I love the King James on that. 05:01 God forbid that you would think something like that. 05:05 So the whole idea of being under law then is being in 05:08 a position of seeking justification by law. 05:11 That is why Paul says to these Galatians, you who seek 05:15 to be under the law, this is what the people in Galatians 05:18 were doing rather than receiving Christ, they chose 05:21 circumcision and thought it they observed this rite 05:24 it would enter them into that salvation experience. 05:27 He says listen don't you who desired to be under the law, 05:31 you guys were trying to be justified by your observance 05:34 of the law, don't you hear what the law says? 05:37 Don't you understand of the law is asking you to do far 05:39 more then you are capable of doing in your own strength? 05:42 That is the kind of point he makes. 05:43 Exactly right, if you look in that passage there is a 05:47 reference made that really highlights what our topic 05:51 is today, we are talking about the two covenants. 05:54 If you look at Galatians 4:23 it says, "but he who was 06:01 "up a bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he 06:05 "of the free woman through promise, which things are 06:09 "symbolic. For these are the two covenants:" 06:13 so he's about to do this illustration of the two 06:17 covenants, so before we can really understand this 06:20 illustration we need to get a little background 06:23 on the two covenants. 06:24 So let's look at those, we are going to start by going 06:27 back to the Old Testament and taking a look at what is 06:29 commonly referred to as the old covenant. 06:31 Now I would like to look at a verse that is commonly used 06:33 on this in Deuteronomy chapter 4 to start. 06:37 Deuteronomy 4:13 is speaking about the experience of the 06:42 Israelites and God meeting them on Mount Sinai and says, 06:48 "so He declare to you His covenant which He commanded 06:52 "you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them 06:56 "on two tablets of stone. " 06:58 Now a covenant is simply an agreement, it's a contractual 07:02 agreement you have with someone. 07:04 So the Ten Commandments were the terms but the covenant 07:09 had to requirement an agreement between these two parties. 07:12 So we see that played out when the Ten Commandments are 07:16 given in Exodus 20 so let's go to Exodus but we will 07:20 go just before that to Exodus 19. 07:27 Let's start in verse 3 and it says, "and Moses went up 07:32 "to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, 07:35 "saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and 07:39 "tell the children of Israel: you have seen what I did to 07:42 the Egyptians, and how I bore you on Eagles wings and 07:45 "brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed 07:49 "obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a 07:52 "special treasure to Me above all people, for all of the 07:55 "earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests 07:58 "and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall 08:01 "speak to the children of Israel. 7. So Moses came and 08:04 "called for the elders of the people, and laid before 08:07 "them all these words which the Lord commanded him. 08:10 "Then all the people answered together and said, 'All that 08:14 "the Lord has spoken we will do. '" 08:16 Now in and of itself that wasn't a bad thing. 08:19 I would hope that all of us would respond to the Lord 08:21 when He asks us to do something we would say all that the 08:23 Lord has said we will do. 08:25 The problem comes in that after God appears on Sinai, 08:28 we see in Chapter 20:18 their reaction. 08:34 It says, "now all the people witnessed the thunderings, 08:37 "the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the 08:40 "mountain smoking, and when the people saw it, 08:42 "they trembled and stood afar off. 19. Then they said 08:46 "Moses, 'you speak with us, and we will hear; but let not 08:50 "'God speak with us, lest we die. ' 20. And Moses said 08:53 "to the people, 'do not fear: for God has come to test 08:56 "you, and that His fear may be before you, so that 08:59 "you may not sin. So the people stood afar off, 09:02 "but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. " 09:06 Now this is a powerful passage and it helps us to 09:09 understand that the children of Israel had made a 09:12 commitment, they had agreed to the terms of the covenant. 09:16 To obey all that God had said, the only problem was they 09:20 wanted to do it standing afar off. 09:23 They didn't want, as Moses did, to draw near to God. 09:26 Rather they thought you tell me what to do and I'll do it. 09:30 Because of that, what was that they didn't recognize? 09:33 They didn't recognize their need they didn't recognize they 09:37 were not capable of doing what God was asking without God. 09:40 - yeah they thought their need was a list, a list of 09:43 requirements, you tell us and I will do those 09:45 requirements, that will be salvation to me. 09:49 This is what we refer to as the old covenant. 09:52 Now we find the new covenant expressed in a couple 09:55 different places, but perhaps one of the best is in 09:57 Hebrews 8. - that's right we are going to go to 10:00 Hebrews 8 and incidentally it is interesting the term in 10:04 the authorized version, the King James version or the 10:07 New King James Version, the term new covenant only appears 10:11 twice in Scripture, like I said the authorized version 10:14 and I think I looked up the New International Version 10:17 and it was five times. 10:19 One of them was when Jesus gave the cup of the 10:21 New Testament with His blood, some versions say testament. 10:23 But the terms new covenant in the description of the 10:26 giving of the new covenant is found in two places. 10:29 One is in Hebrews 8 and the other is the place where Paul 10:36 is quoting from in Jeremiah 31. 10:40 So it is interesting that Paul, when he speaks of the new 10:43 covenant is simply quoting from the Old Testament. 10:46 So we find the new covenant in the Old Testament. 10:49 So in Hebrews 8:6 the Bible says of Jesus, "but now He 10:54 "has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He 10:58 "is also a Mediator of a better covenant, which was 11:02 "established on better promises. 7. For if that first 11:07 "covenant had been faultless, then no place would have 11:11 "been sought for a second. " That's common sensible, 11:14 if there were snow problem with the first one we wouldn't 11:16 had the second one, but there was a problem with that old 11:17 covenant, What was the problem? We want to find out. 11:21 8. "Because finding fault with - them," - the law? 11:25 - it's not what it says. 11:26 - it's not what it says it all is it? 11:28 "Because finding fault with them, He says; behold, the 11:30 "days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new 11:32 "covenant with, notice! The house of Israel" 11:36 "and with the house of Judah. " 11:38 A lot of Christians don't realize we do not find any 11:41 covenant in Scripture made with the Gentiles, it was always 11:45 made which Israel and we have talked about that. 11:46 In order to be a partaker of that covenant you had to 11:49 become part of the Seed of Abraham. 11:51 that's right a lot of people look at the Ten Commandments 11:53 and say, that was just for the Jews because it talks about 11:56 how He rescued them out of the house of bondage. 11:59 So they say that was just for the Jews. 12:01 If you look those same Christians believe that the new 12:04 covenant is their way of life. 12:07 It is also given to the Jews. - that's exactly right. 12:10 Incidentally if we continue on here he says, 12:13 "9. Not according to the covenant that I made with 12:16 "their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand 12:18 "to lead them out of the land of Egypt," that is what 12:20 we were just reading from. Notice! "Because they 12:23 "did not continue in My covenant," remember the fault 12:28 was in the people. 12:29 "And I disregarded them, says the Lord. " 12:31 Now notice verse 10, "for this is the covenant that I 12:33 "will make with the house of Israel after those days, 12:37 "says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and 12:40 "write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, 12:43 "and they shall be My people. " 12:44 So the whole idea is that God was going to make a 12:48 covenant with His people and He was going to now not 12:51 give them the law on tables of stone where they could 12:54 look at the list and say we'll do that list. 12:57 He said I'm going to make it internal, I will write 12:59 that law in your heart so it becomes a part of you. 13:02 This is the difference we find between the old covenant 13:05 and the new covenant. 13:06 One was written on tables of stone, the other is written 13:09 in the heart. One was external and one was internalized. 13:13 That's right, and in these two cases you have one where 13:16 the people are making special promises to God, and the 13:19 other where God is making special promises to His people. 13:22 This next part really strikes me to where it says, 13:24 "11. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none 13:27 "his brother... saying, 'Know the Lord', for all shall 13:31 "know Me. " The idea here is with the new covenant when 13:34 the Spirit enters the heart, no longer do you have to 13:38 urge people, you may have to tell someone come on wake 13:42 up its time for church, we have to go to church. 13:44 We have to go to Sabbath school. 13:46 You will not have to drag people into religious 13:48 experiences because the new covenant places the desire 13:51 and hunger for those spiritual experiences into the heart. 13:54 - that's right. Amen, we have more to say about the 13:56 book of Galatians, but before we do we are going to go 13:59 to a break right now. 14:00 We'll see you in just a few moments. |
Revised 2023-04-24