Let's turn in our Bibles to Galatians
chapter four. Galatians chapter four. Brother Casey last week preached
on the everlasting covenant, the everlasting covenant of grace
from 2 Samuel 23, where King David on his deathbed said, And
although my house, my family, my kingdom, my earthly situation
be a mess, be not so with God, God has made a covenant with
me, ordered in all things insure, and this is all my salvation,
all my hope, this is everything, that covenant. And of course,
as Brother Casey brought out, he's talking about the covenant
of grace, covenant of redemption, covenant of mercy, which is an
everlasting covenant between the Godhead before the foundation
of the world, when God determined to save a people of his choice,
conditioning all their salvation upon Christ, whom to know is
life eternal. Well, today I'm going to carry
on that theme. I'm going to talk about two covenants. One covenant,
which we don't want to be a part of. But another covenant, which
is the same covenant that Jim preached on, that we certainly
do want to be a part of, and it's in Galatians 4, but I want
to start back at verse 19. Now my text begins in verse 21,
but I want to start back in verse 19 to make a point here by way
of introduction. He says, my little children,
talking about the believers in the churches of Galatia, or professing
believers, Now they were being tossed to and fro, and they had
false preachers. Most of them were Jewish unbelievers
who claimed to know Christ, claimed to be believers in Christ, but
who tried to bring especially Gentile believers under the law
of Moses for real salvation, for the assurance of salvation. It's like works-based assurance,
that kind of thing. And Paul exposed that to be a
false gospel. So what he says as he exposed
these false preachers, he says in verse 19, my little children,
of whom I travail in birth again. Now that's like the travail of
childbirth. You women know something about
that. Travail of childbirth. This is a fervent desire of Paul. It's like a labor, a mental,
spiritual labor. And he says, until Christ be
formed in you. And what he means for Christ
to be formed in us is by the power of the Spirit who imparts
and implants the faith that God gives us, the Spirit of God,
the Word of God, within us so deeply and so immovably, so strongly,
that we cannot be moved away from Christ. We cannot be diverted
from the glory of his person and the power of his finished
work. No matter what happens, no matter when false preachers
attack and bring in their false doctrine, if Christ is formed
in us by the power of the Spirit in the new birth, his word is
written on our heart. And we're fixed on him. I love
that passage where he says, my heart is fixed intensely, and
that's not something I did, it's something God did within me,
that I cannot be moved away. You've heard that song, I shall
not be, I shall not be moved, just like a tree planted by the
water. That's what he's talking about. Over in 2 Corinthians,
he put it this way, he says, my intent there was that you
not be moved off of the simplicity, the singularity that's in Christ. And so he's preparing them for
when Satan and his ministers come with their attacks so that
they won't be drawn away because God is so powerful. They cannot
be moved off the gospel, off of Christ. Now I have in my 40
years of ministry, I've seen people drawn away. I've seen
people who've sat right here where you're sitting for a number
of years. who have gone to a different
doctrine, a different church where the doctrine of the gospel
is not preached. I've seen it. Saw it up in Ashland,
too. And so what's happened to them?
Well, Christ was not formed in them. They had a profession of
faith, but they didn't have any real, lasting, God-given faith. And so Paul states it here. He
said, I want you to be so enthralled and taken up with Christ formed
in you that you cannot be moved away. He says in verse 20, I
desire to be present with you now and to change my voice for
I stand in doubt of you. I don't want to stand in doubt
of you. If somebody comes and tells me,
you know, I'm just not so sure about this thing. Well, what
are you going to do? You're going to stand, well,
wait a minute. Hasn't Christ been formed in you? Haven't you
been convicted? That's another way of putting
it. I want you to be convicted. Now, I can't convict you, but
the Holy Spirit can and does. He convinces God's people of
sin and righteousness and of judgment. And when the Holy Spirit
does that work from Christ, you cannot be unconvinced. Now, I
know we all have doubts. We all have them. And we have
to wrestle with that. That's part of the warfare of
the flesh and the spirit. But you know what I'm talking
about. I'm talking about people who are drawn away, swayed like
a reed in the wind. And Paul says, I don't want that
for you. And I can say that the same as the people who listen
to me, you who listen to me. I don't want you to be swayed.
I want God to fix Christ in you so that you look intently and
only at him. as the author and finisher of
your faith. And because that's what salvation is. So here's
what he does, look at verse 21. Now, these Jewish unbelievers
were trying to get the Gentile believers under the law. Here's
what he says, tell me, you that desire to be under the law, do
you not hear the law? Don't you hear it? Now, I know
there are denominations who claim to be Christian, who claim that
Christians are still under the Mosaic Law, either partly or
fully. But Paul doesn't treat it that
way. He didn't say, tell me you that desire to be under part
of the law. Because he understood that that
law was one unit and cannot be broken up and say, now, You have
to keep this part, but you don't have to keep this part. He understood
that if you claim to be under the law, now what is it to be
under the law? It's to believe that your salvation and your
relationship with God is determined, established, or assured in some
way, to some degree, at some point by your law keeping. Do
you understand that? Somebody said, well, you gotta
go to church on Sunday, or you gotta go to church on Saturday.
Now, is that what establishes your right relationship with
God? If it is, do you not hear the law? Because it not only
says go to church on Saturday, or however they put it, it says
keep it all. You remember over in Galatians,
I think it was, Chapter three, verse 10. He says, for as many as are of
the works of the law are under the curse. You hear that? Do
you realize that if you intently, in your mind, not established
with grace, that's another way about Christ being formed in
you. Your heart's established with grace and not with anything
else. In fact, in that Hebrews passage it says your hearts are
established with grace and not with meets, rituals, ceremonies,
days, festivals, even morality. Now listen, there's no question
we ought to be moral. That's New Testament law as well
as Old Testament law. But what establishes your heart?
You see? So if you're under the works
of the law, if you think that your relationship with God is
settled in any way, to any degree, at any time by your works of
the law, you're under a curse. Don't you hear it? Cursed is
everyone that continues not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do this. And so what do we conclude? No man is justified by the law
on the side of God. It's evident that just shall
live by faith. And what is it to live by faith?
You know, a lot of people don't even understand that phrase.
It means, well, I gotta believe it hard. Well, you know, if you
believe anything, you believe it hard. Either that or you don't
believe it. The heart established with grace
and the just living by faith means looking to, depending upon,
residing in, fixed on Christ. Because that's what faith does. It brings a center and connects
that center with Christ in a spiritual way. Now you who are saved by
grace, You've been in Christ, representatively, legally, as
your surety, forever, before the foundation of the world.
But you don't know anything about that until God brings you under
the gospel, which is the preaching of the terms of that everlasting
covenant of grace that you preached on. That's what the gospel is. Our gospel is a covenant gospel.
It tells me that I'm a sinner, that I have no hope of salvation
by my works, that I have no desire for salvation by my will. I'm
spiritually dead, I fell in Adam, I'm spiritually dead, spiritually
depraved, all of that. that I cannot earn or deserve
the least of God's blessings, let alone all of salvation. It
tells me that God is a holy God and cannot tolerate sin, that
in order to be saved by Him and have a right relationship with
Him, that sin issue has to be taken care of in His way as He
reveals it. Not in my way, because I don't
know the way. Not as I think it is, Because what does the
world say? Well, I'm a sinner. If I'm going
to get right with God, I need to be a better person. Well,
that's not the way to get right with God. Tell me, you that desire
to be under the law. That's what that is. I've got
to be a better person to get right with God. That's being
under the law. That's being under the curse. What is it to be justified, to
be forgiven of all my sins on a just grant, to be declared
righteous? How does that happen? Not by works, not by the law,
only by Christ. And if God ever brings us to
see that, then we can say he's been formed, settled, established
within me. Isn't that right? Now he gives an example by relating
two covenants here. Look at verse 22 of Galatians
4. And the first thing you need to notice here is that when Paul's
going to deal with this issue, he doesn't give you his opinion.
He doesn't hold it open for discussion. Well brother so and so, what
do you think? No. For it is written. God's Word's gonna settle this
matter. And that's where we all need to go to. He brings up Abraham. Abraham had two sons. One of
those sons was by a bondmaid. Now you know that story. The other by a free woman. So
Abraham had two sons by two different women. Now you remember back
in Genesis 15, 16, and 17, it talks about God's covenant with
Abraham. That was an unconditional covenant towards Abraham. And
God told Abraham and his wife Sarai at the time, her name was
Abram, her name was Sarai, but God changed it, Abraham, to Sarah. And the reason is because He
was proving that His promise that Abraham would become the
father of many nations. Even though up to a hundred years
old, he had no children. But God promised him he and Sarah
would have a child. But in the providence of God,
Abraham grew anxious. I can understand that, he's a
sinner. And Sarai had a handmaid, an
Egyptian handmaid named Hagar. And he's gonna name her here
in just a minute. That's the bond woman, her name,
it's called Hagar here, but it's Hagar, it's the same thing. An
Egyptian servant. And Sarai suggested to Abram
that he go in with Sarai and have a child. Sarai was barren. She couldn't have children. But
isn't that the way God does things sometimes? Now God said, you
and Sarah are gonna have a child. But they didn't have one. Abraham
was getting old. He was way past the age of being
able to produce a child and Sarah, old, too old to bear a child. So, Sarai said, go into Hagar. You got my blessing. And Abraham
did, and they had a child, and you know what his name was, Ishmael.
You know what Ishmael means? God hears. God heard. Heard their cries. So you have
Ishmael. Now, look at verse 23. He who was of the bondwoman was
born after the flesh, Naturally. And you might say, well, Hagar,
she was a younger woman. Sarai was an older woman. So
Abram and Sarai, or Hagar, had a child. I have to go back and
look, I should have probably done this, but I don't know exactly
how old Abram was when Ishmael was born. But anyway, the point
is, this son, Ishmael, Though he was a son of Abraham, he was
not the child that God promised to Abraham and Sarai. And that's
what he's saying. He who was of the bond woman
was born after the flesh, the way kids always are conceived
and born. And that's the way it was. So
anyway, as they went through, God wrote this, the bondmaid
is Hagar, the Egyptian slave, the free woman is Sarah, she
was Abraham's wife. Well, Abraham and Sarah had a
child. When they were way past the age
of conceiving and bearing a child, and she's the free woman, verse
23, but he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but
he of the free woman was by promise. Isaac was his name, you know
that. And he was the gift, he was the child of promise, he
was a miracle child. Whereas Ishmael was born naturally.
But Isaac was a miracle. And so that refers to that miracle
conception and birth by the promise and the power of God outside
of the realm of human effort and human works. Now that's a
good picture of salvation. That we're born of God outside
the realm of human effort. It's not by works, or any works,
or human will. It's all the work of God. That's
the point he's making here. The child of promise, Isaac,
was totally God's work within Abraham and Sarah. So he says in verse 24, now what's
your point, Paul? What's your intent here? All
right, look at verse 24. Which things are an allegory? Now, what's an allegory? An allegory
is a story that uses symbols, types, pictures to teach a reality
of truth. That's what an allegory is. Y'all
grew up hearing allegories. We've got allegories in the Bible,
the types of Christ and the pictures of salvation, all of that. Symbols,
metaphors, similes, all of that are included in allegories. So
he says, which things are an allegory? Now, one of the things
we can know about this passage, you know, a lot of times when
we go into the Old Testament and we teach the types and the
pictures, a lot of people will accuse us of spiritualizing scripture. They'll say, that's not written
there, it's spiritualized. Well, a lot of times it is written
in other passages. like this one right here. Paul
says, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit
writing here now. And Paul says, now this is an allegory. Well,
they can't accuse you of spiritualizing here, can they? Because he says
it. It's an allegory. And he says, for these are the
two covenants. Two covenants. The one from Mount
Sinai, which gendereth to bondage And that's what Hagar represents. Now you know that covenant. That's
the covenant that God made with the Hebrew children through Moses
on Mount Sinai. It's called the Old Covenant.
It's called the Law, the Old Testament. It's called Moses
sometimes, the Law of Moses. And it included all those laws.
Now Moses went up on Mount Sinai and he got the Ten Commandments
on two tablets, but that whole law was given to him up there.
And it included the moral law, the Ten Commandments, it included
the ceremonial law, the law of sacrifice, priesthood, tabernacle,
the civil laws, dietary, all the laws that are included from
Exodus and written all the way through Leviticus and Deuteronomy,
all those laws. That was one covenant. Now it
was given to the Hebrew children, not conditioned on them, but
because of a promise that God made Abraham 430 years before.
But that law was a law of works. It was a conditional covenant
towards them because their prosperity and their existence dependent
upon their obedience to the law. And God put them under the test
for 1,500 years. Now God knew what was going to
happen. He didn't give that law. It was not a covenant of salvation.
This covenant from Sinai was never a covenant of salvation.
God never told them, if you keep the law, you will be saved eternally.
He knew they couldn't keep the law. Why did he give it? We read
about that over in Galatians 3. He gave it because of sin. It was a covenant given to them
to show them their sinfulness, their depravity, and mainly their
need of salvation by God's grace. That's why it was given. They
could not keep it. They never did keep it. There
were times, very few in their history. And you can look from
Exodus all the way to Malachi and all the way up through the
Gospels. That was like a 1500 year period that led from Mount
Sinai to the cross of Christ, when that covenant would be abolished
by way of fulfillment in Christ. Christ is the only one who ever
kept that law. He kept it every jot and tittle.
Did you know that? He didn't break one, punctuation
mark of that law. He kept it all. And that's when
he said that, he told him, he said, now, except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you
can in no way enter the kingdom of heaven. The Pharisees, they
would have said, we keep the law. They didn't. Christ told
them in John five, you don't keep the law. He said, Moses,
that you trust in Moses, that is your law keeping. He said,
Moses will be your judge. You'll be like those guys who
stand before God saying, Lord, haven't we preached in your name?
Haven't we cast out demons? Haven't we done many wonderful
works? Only to hear him say, depart from me, you that work
iniquity. You don't measure up. You need a righteousness you
cannot produce. And law keeping won't do it.
Good intentions won't do it. The trying will not do it. Salvation's
by grace. So this covenant in Mount Sinai,
that's what Hagar represented, which gendereth to bondage. And what is that bondage? Oh
my soul, think about it. There's a marked difference between
the bondage of the law and the liberty that we have in Christ.
And that liberty we have in Christ is not liberty to sin more. We
know that. Anybody thinks that's crazy.
But that bondage of the law, can you imagine going through
life with the intent of making yourself righteous by your works? And I guarantee there'd be times
when you'd feel like a failure, and then there'd be times you'd
feel successful. That's self-righteousness. Think about that. You're tied
up. You're in a trap. You're in jail.
And you can't get out. It genders unto bondage. That's
what Paul's saying. I want Christ to be formed in
you because that covenant that they're trying to bring you under
will put you in jail. It'll put you in bondage. And
you'll never be free. You'll never be free. And that's
why he says the Son will make you free. Free indeed. And that's why he told them stand
firm in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and don't
be entangled again with that yoke of bondage. Look at verse 25. For this Agar
is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem which
now is and is in bondage with her children. Now this is really
important here. Jerusalem which now is. That's the city of Jerusalem
in his day, and what was Jerusalem known for? Religion. The Jewish
religion, the tabernacle, or the temple at that time. The
city of the king. Present day Jerusalem in Paul's
day was in bondage with her children. Teaching salvation by works. Righteousness by the law. Well,
what about Jerusalem, which now is in our day? Are they any different? No, they're no different. They
reject our Savior. They reject our Redeemer. Oh,
there might be some who claim to believe in Christ, but my
friend, they're wanting to rebuild the temple. They're wanting to
reestablish the Mosaic Law. And they've got people over here
who call themselves Christians who want to do the same thing.
Sending them money. Tell me, you that desire to be
under that law, don't you hear it? It's a curse. But look on, look
at verse 26. But Jerusalem which is above,
what's he talking about? Is there some kind of city built
up there in the sky? No, he's talking about spiritual
Jerusalem. The city of God. The city of
the king, not David, King Jesus. He's talking about the kingdom
of God. He's talking about the family of God. That's Jerusalem,
which is above. And what about it? It's free. It's free. It's not under that
old covenant law, that curses. It's under the everlasting covenant
of grace, the new covenant, which is the accomplishment of that
covenant in time. All of its salvation, every blessing
of it, every benefit of it, was and is conditioned on one person,
the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is ordered in all things
and sure. Who ordered it? God did. Who made it sure? God the Son
incarnate. He's our surety, our substitute,
our redeemer. And it's free, which is the mother
of us all. Oh, that great covenant. Oh,
that great covenant of grace. And he says here, for it is written,
verse 27, Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not break forth
and cry, thou that travailest not, for the desolate hath many
more children than she which hath a husband. You remember
Sarah was barren, but she had a child. And out of that child,
Isaac, and through the lineage of that child, came who? The Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, she
who was barren is the mother of us all. You see that? In verse 28 he says, now we brethren,
as Isaac was, are the children of promise. We're the children
of promise. Do you believe the gospel of
God's grace based upon the righteousness of Christ freely imputed to us?
Life given by the Spirit from that righteousness that he wrought
out, that Christ wrought out? That's the child of promise.
What did God promise? He promised salvation for his
people by his grace through the blood and righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then he goes on to say, but
as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that
was born after the spirit, even so it is now. The unbelieving
Jews persecuted God's people, Jew and Gentile. He says, nevertheless,
what saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son
of the free woman. We have no fellowship with unbelieving Jews or unbelieving
Gentiles. I see these things on TV all
the time, talking about Christians and Jews together. That would
be like Paul saying that these guys are okay, they just want
you to keep the law, we're brethren. Paul wouldn't do that. And because
of that, he was persecuted. Now listen, I'm not talking about
politics here. I'm not talking about supporting
the nation Israel and all that. I'm talking about salvation and
religion and fellowship. And I'm telling you, we have
no fellowship with unbelievers, whether they're Jew or Gentile.
So they're cast out in that sense. We cannot bring them into our
house. Now if God brings them in, that's
a different matter. We rejoice. I rejoice if God
saves any Jew or Gentile, don't you? Then we have fellowship
in Christ. So he says in verse 31, so then
brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but we're
children of the free. We're not under that old covenant
law of works. We're under the covenant of grace,
just like David. We're under that covenant that
is ordered in all things and sure, and that's all of our hope
and joy, all of our assurance. May the Lord be praised.