The Messianic Seed
Sermon by the Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo at Calvary Pandan BPC, Sunset Hour, 18 July 2010
Text: Galatians 3:16, 17
“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 four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.”
Exposition
Galatians 3:17 tells us that God’s covenant with Abraham could not be abrogated in any way because He was the One who would fulfil it. No one and nothing could make the covenant of none effect. Contracts made between men are subject to change, improvements or revisions depending on the terms and agreements inherent in the contracts. But the covenant God made with Abraham was no ordinary covenant, it was a one-sided covenant, and can never be changed. In Galatians 3:16, it is described as a promise. In other words, it was not a suntheke—a covenant between two equal parties, but a diatheke—a covenant between unequal parties, between God and man. God establishes the terms of the covenant and makes the promises, and He Himself will fulfil the terms and keep the promises.
What did God promise? God promised salvation through the Messianic Seed under the Covenant of Grace. The recipient of the promise is hopeless and helpless, totally corrupted by sin, guilty of sin, and condemned in sin. No man can save himself. If man is to be saved from sin, and obtain eternal life, it must come from God Himself— it is all by His grace, it is His gift to the undeserving sinner. That is why the Covenant God made with man is called a Covenant of Grace—“God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.”
This Covenant of Grace is fulfilled by the Messianic Seed—the Lord Jesus Christ. The identity of the Messianic Seed was progressively revealed in Scripture, and He was known as:
(1) The Woman’s Seed: God was the first to preach the Gospel and He preached it to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15, “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.” “Her seed” speaks of the Messianic Seed, the virgin-born Son of God who will come to destroy Satan and Death, and save His people from their sins by dying on the Cross (“thou shalt bruise his heel”).
(2) Abraham’s Seed: The Messianic Seed will come from Abraham’s family, “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever” (Gen 13:15). The Messianic Seed will be Jewish, He will rule over the Promised Land, even the whole world for a millennium (Rev 20:6). And all believers who have the faith of Abraham, both Jews and Gentiles, born again in Christ will benefit from this Covenant promise made to Abraham, “And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen 15:5, 6).
(3) David’s Seed: The Saviour will come from the line of David, “And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever” (2 Sam 7:12, 13). This Messianic promise is further revealed in Isaiah 7:13, 14, “Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel,” and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt 1:20-23).
Application
What does this covenant doctrine of the Messianic Seed teach us about God, and what we must do to be blessed by God?
(1) What about God? The doctrine of the Messianic Seed teaches us that we have a God who can be fully trusted. He is a covenant- keeping God. He did not cancel the covenant despite the sins of His people, the nation of Israel. He revealed more and more the nature and contents of the covenant, but He never altered it in any way. That is why we believe the nation of Israel is still God’s chosen nation. God is chastising the nation, and one day all Israel shall be saved (Rom 11:26, “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away the ungodliness from Jacob). “For it is written” (ie, “for it stands perfectly written”). The covenant promise made 4000 years ago, or 6000 years ago if you go back to Adam and Eve written down in God’s Holy Book remains perfectly written. Note the singular “Seed” and not plural. The corruption of the word with an additional letter would have changed the intent of the Covenant promise, but God kept His words pure. This is VPP —the doctrine of the verbal and plenary preservation of the Scriptures, “for he is faithful that promised” (Heb 10:23).
(2) What about Us? We need to be born again, we must be spiritually born to be heirs of this promise. Are you born again? If not, believe on the Lord Jesus right now. Once we are born into His family, we will forever remain in His family. God will never disown us. The promise of eternal life given to us at the point of salvation will go on perpetually. Once God has saved us, He will save us until the very end. Romans 8:36-39 tells us, “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” “As it is written” (v36a)—again this is VPP, “for he is faithful that promised” (Heb 10:23).
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Brisbane Report
Rev Hien Gia Nguyen of Brisbane BPC
We greet you in the blessed Name of our Risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We give thanks and praise to the Lord for His grace and mercy upon us. We are very thankful for your kind concerns, support and prayers. As a missionary pastor, I would like to write a brief report so that you may pray for us and our ministry and give us your advice.
Bible Study in July and August 2010
Thank God for sustaining the Bible study in Vietnamese at Jade’s home on Thursday (5 brethren), the Bible study for the Youth on Friday (from 5 to 9 brethren). Thank God for blessing our Bible study and dinner fellowship (July 31) with the presence of 29 brethren including 9 visitors (5 from Singapore, Bro Mern Yee’s family). After the Bible study we screened the movie, The Blind Korean Pastor. Thank God also for blessing our Bible study, Teens’ fellowship and dinner fellowship (August 28) with the presence of 28 brethren including 8 faithful visitors.
Sunday Worship in July and August 2010
Thank God for our faithful brethren, who played the piano, and led our prayer meeting and did the tracting in our evangelism. The attendance of our worship week by week in July was 15, 17, 15, 21 respectively.
Thank God for providing Bro Mern Yee to help pastor Hien with the baptism of Michael Benjamin and with the Holy Communion on August 1. The attendance of our worship week by week in August was 29, 21, 24, 21, 17 respectively. Thank God for bringing a Vietnamese lady, Sis Hue and her Australian husband, Bro Ian, into our midst. After the English service, Pastor Hien preached to Sis Hue in Vietnamese at the church and over the phone at home.
Thanksgiving
We thank God for His grace and mercy and His blessings upon us and Brisbane BPC.
We thank God for the prayers, advice, encouragement and kind support from True Life BPC.
We thank God for blessing our ACM (Aug 8) with the election of Brisbane BPC office bearers (Term 2010-2013). We have Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo as our honorary elder, Eld Dr Boaz Boon as our advisor, Rev Hien Nguyen as our pastor, Bro Jason Lim as our Secretary and Bro Michael Benjamin as our Treasurer. Bro Jason, Bro Michael and Pastor Hien took the Dean Burgon Oath on the following Sunday (August 15).
We thank God for the encouraging visit of Bro Mern Yee and his family from True Life BPC and for the blessed fellowship we had with them at our humble home. We thank God for the kind support from like-minded brethren: USD100.00 (= AUD99.03) from Mr Thien Le (pastor Hien’s uncle from the US) to Brisbane BPC. AUD1,500.00 from Bro Mern Yee and his family to Pastor Hien’s family. AUD349.00 from Sis Ziling to Brisbane BPC. AUD100.00 from Sis Ziling to pastor Hien’s family.
Prayer Requests
Please continue praying for Brisbane BPC, her spiritual growth and our ministry here.
May God open a door for us to minister to the residents in Brisbane, the students, and the Vietnamese among the Vietnamese community when Sis Hue and Bro Ian come back to Brisbane by the end of September (from their trip to VN).
Please pray for Sis Ziling and her ministry at her hometown in Nanjing. There are about 30 brethren attending the Bible study on Thursday at her home. May God send godly and faithful preachers or missionaries to teach, preach and train the brethren over there. May God’s will be done upon Sis Ziling’s studies at FEBC next January.
Please pray for pastor Hien’s wisdom and strength to take care of the flock and his family (when his mother-in-law is back in VN until next January).
We do uphold you, True Life BPC and FEBC in our prayers. May God preserve FEBC and graciously grant her the victory, all because of His Word, His Truth, His Name and His Glory. May God be with you, strengthen you, sustain you and mightily bless you and True Life BPC’s 7th Anniversary Thanksgiving on the 3rd of October. Praise the Lord of His grace, goodness and faithfulness over the years!
