Galatians chapter 4. The title of our lesson this
morning is Why Our Works Must Go. Now, we're going to pick
up in verse 21 of Galatians chapter 4. Tell me, ye that desire to
be under the law, do you not hear the law? Now, you who desire
to be under the law, aren't you listening to what the law says?
The law says do and live. Do forever. Do perfectly and
live. But sin one time and die. The law does not require the
best that we can do. You know, when our girls were
growing up, Jan and I told them all the time, all we ask of you
is do the best you can do. That's not what the law requires
of us. The law requires absolute perfection. Now, do you really
want to be under that law? The law that knows nothing of
forgiveness and mercy? but only knows wrath. And Paul
is going to illustrate that, this truth, with an Old Testament
picture of Christ. In verse 24 he calls it an allegory. Which things are an allegory?
Now, an allegory is a story that illustrates another truth. This
story is a true story that teaches us a more important spiritual
lesson. Now, every event in the Old Testament
is a picture of Christ. We may not have New Testament
commentary on it like we do this one, but every event in the Old
Testament, every word of the Old Testament is Christ in picture. And we'll see those other pictures
as the Holy Spirit enables us. But, you know, when we look at
the scriptures, whether it's Old Testament or New Testament,
we haven't seen the true meaning of that scripture until we see
Christ in that scripture. And this story of Abraham and
Sarah and Hagar and their sons, Paul makes it very plain for
us in this text what the Holy Spirit meant, the spiritual lesson
he meant in that story. So we can take this allegory
and preach the gospel of grace from it. Let's look here at verse
22. For it's written that Abraham
had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. But
he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he
of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory?
For these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which
gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and
is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above,
is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written,
Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not. Break forth and cry, thou
that travailest not. For the desolate have many more
children. than she which hath a husband." Now, I'd say everyone
here knows the story of Abraham's two sons very well. God promised
Abraham a son. When Abraham was getting pretty
old, he went to the Lord in prayer and said, Lord, you promised
me a seed, the stars of the heavens. I don't have an heir. This Eleazar, who's my servant,
he's the heir of my house. Abraham was getting up there
pretty old, and he thought, It doesn't look like I'm going to
have any sons. But God promised him, you'll have a son. Well,
a number of years went past. Still no son. Now, Abraham and
Sarah believed God's promise. We know that from reading the
New Testament. They believed God's promise.
But they fell victim to human logic. They believed God's promise,
but they thought, well, we're not having a son. So God must
want us to do something to help fulfill this purpose of his and
this promise of his. So Abraham went in to Sarah's
slave, Hagar. Hagar was a young woman. She's
in the strength of her life and she had a son named Ishmael.
But Ishmael was not the son of God's promise. Ishmael was the
product of man's works and man's ability. Ishmael was not born
by promise. He was born by the natural course
of life, just the natural course of human strength and human life,
not God's promise. Ishmael is the man's attempt
to mix grace and works. Abraham believed God's promise,
but Ishmael is a mixture of grace and works, and it produced a
disaster, didn't it? Well, here's Ishmael. He's born.
Abraham loved that boy. He's thankful to have that child.
But he's not the son of promise. About 13 years later, God came
to Abraham and said, Abraham, now I'm going to fulfill my promise
to you. You're going to have a son. In
this certain time, Sarah is going to bear you a son. And about
a year later, Isaac was born. Isaac was the son of God's promise.
Isaac could only have been born by the power of God and the grace
of God. Abraham and Sarah could not produce
that son. They're both too old. They couldn't
have a son. It was impossible for them to
have a son. But to have one anyway, because
of God's purpose and God's promise and God's grace and that salvation,
that's a picture of salvation. With men, salvation is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Now these two mothers, Sarah and Hagar, they represent
two different opposing covenants. That's what the scripture says.
And God only deals with men in one of these two covenants. Only. Hagar represents the covenant
of the law. And Sarah represents the covenant
of grace. And the sons that they gave birth
to are a picture of the people who live under one of those two
covenants. Now Hagar is the covenant of the law. Because of who Hagar
is, all of her children will be in bondage. Hagar is a slave. Hagar was never Abraham's wife. She was always a slave and she
could never be anything more than a slave. So all of her children
must be slaves. They can never be the heir. They
must always be slaves because of who their mother is. And that's
what the Jews were when Paul was writing. He talks about this
was answer to Jerusalem. This is like Jerusalem, which
now is. This is like the Jews in the day that Paul was writing.
They're still slaves to the law. They're trying to keep this covenant
of works and they're slaves to the law. And today, people who
try to earn their salvation by the law or try to get a more
righteous standing with God. They've made themselves, put
themselves in bondage and made themselves slaves to the law.
Now, please listen to me. If you do any work, I don't care
what work it is, if you do any work in order to make yourself
righteous, you've made yourself a slave to the whole law and
made yourself where you cannot be an heir or a son. If you do
any work in order to improve your standing with God, if you
do a work that you think it makes you a better Christian, a better
child of God, then you've made yourself a slave to the law and
not a son. And you know this can be the
hardest thing in the world for a man to see, for it to tell
the difference between grace and works. And the reason for
that is, the reason it's so difficult for us to tell the difference
is everything we want, And everything that we think by nature is wrong. It's just the opposite. Everything
that we think by nature is so religious is wrong. Some want
to say, well, I just think we should never miss a service.
God is going to be pleased with me. He's going to bless me if
I never miss a service. No, you do no work in order to
obtain salvation. You do no work in order to have
a standing with God. You're standing with God is in
the work of Christ without any of your works. You see that?
We ought to be in the worship service so we can be fed and
so the Lord's worthy of worship. We ought to be in worship service
to worship him, but not in order to gain God's favor, not in order
to make ourselves better than we are now or better than somebody
else. Salvation is by grace without
work. Salvation is in Christ alone.
So anytime somebody says, well, I just think we should stop them
right there. No, we do no work. None. Christ did it all. Christ
did everything that's required and our works must go. They must. We're either going to rest in
Christ as sons or we're going to put ourselves in bondage to
the law and be slaves. One or the other. This is the
two covenants. God only deals with men in one of these two
covenants. Hagar is the covenant of the law. All her children
are going to be slaves. But Sarah, she represents the
covenant of grace. She represents salvation and
eternal life by the promise of God. She's new Jerusalem that
Paul talks about here in verse 26. But Jerusalem, which is above,
spiritual Jerusalem, is free. which is the mother of us all,
the mother of every believer. This is heavenly Jerusalem, and
heavenly Jerusalem is a free city. And you know why it's a
free city? Because Christ is King. And where
Christ rules, there's freedom. And people who live in New Jerusalem,
heavenly Jerusalem, spiritual Jerusalem, they have salvation
given to them freely by the work of the King. Not by their own
work, by the work of the King. And they're free. Now, Sarah
was always a free woman. Sarah was never a slave. Always
free. So Sarah's children can never
be slaves. Sarah's children are going to
be born free. And her son is going to be born
the heir. And that's exactly what God's
grace produces. That's what the covenant of God's
grace produces. It produces children who are
born sons of God. They're born heirs of God and
joint heirs with Christ. Now we saw this Wednesday night.
God makes the church a singing people. But now the church on
earth, we were barren. We were born into this world
barren, without any life in us, with no ability to produce life.
But now you're children. Now you're heirs of God. We were
dead in our sins. Now we have eternal life in Christ
because of what Christ accomplished for us, not because of anything
we did. We burn the church on earth, believers. We were born
in this earth dead. And what we deserve by the law
is death. But you enjoy eternal life by
grace. Now, what's your reaction to
that? Your reaction to that is as natural as a mother giving
birth. A mother who's giving birth,
anytime I've seen it, anytime I've seen pictures of it, you
know what that woman does? She cries out. She cries out. It's just natural. That's what
the church does. Your reaction to God's grace
is to cry out, to shout with singing and joy and thanksgiving.
Just look at all the children God's grace produced. This is
the covenant of grace produces sons and they're born heirs and
they're born free. Now, that's the two covenants,
the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. Now, which
would you rather be under? Do you want to be a child of
Hagar the slave, who will always be a slave? Or would you rather
be a child of Sarah, the free woman, and be free and be an
heir with Christ? Do you hear what the law says?
Do you hear what grace says? It ought to be an easy answer,
shouldn't it? It ought to be an easy answer. Now, those are
the two covenants. Now I want us to look at the
two children these covenants produce, Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac is a picture of believers.
His birth, the promise of his birth, his life, is all a picture
of the children of God. And Ishmael is a picture of everyone
else, everyone who is under the law, under the condemnation of
the law. Look at verse 28. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. Isaac, like I told you, is a
picture of believers. Every believer is a child of
promise. Just like Isaac was a child of
promise, every believer is a child of promise. God promised our
new birth in eternity. Now, we were born in this world
dead. We didn't look very promising at all, did we? But God's purpose
is going to be accomplished. And it will be accomplished in
His time. Just like Sarah and Abraham. God promised them they're
going to have sons. But they're not going to have
a son until they're old. They're not going to have a son
until it's obvious to everyone this son came from the promise
of God and from the power of God. It had nothing to do with
the power of the flesh. That's why he had to be born
when they were old. That God's purpose would be accomplished
so that everyone would know this is of God. And the same thing
happened to you and me. A believer is not going to be
born again. not going to be given life until all hope in the flesh
has been removed. Then when it please God, He's
going to send us a preacher and He's going to give us life and
He's going to cause us to hear and we're born again. But that's
going to happen by God's purpose and by God's eternal promise.
I want you to look back at Genesis 17. This promise of life was
given to a specific people. This promise of the son to be
born was the promise of a specific man, Isaac. Isaac was named before
he was ever born. Just like God's elect, they're
named before they're ever born. Their names were written in the
Lamb's book of life in eternity. Look at Genesis 17, verse 19.
And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed,
and thou shalt call his name Isaac. And I will establish my
covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after
him." Isaac was named before he was ever born. And then when
he did come along, his birth was miraculous, wasn't it? The
new birth is even more miraculous than the birth of Isaac. Human
strength cannot make that birth happen. Not the new birth. Only
God can do that. Human power and human logic. And the strength of human preaching
cannot make the sinner be born again. We're never going to logically
convince someone into the kingdom of God. Children who are in the
kingdom of God are born into the kingdom. They're not talked
into it. They're not logically convinced
of it. They're born. And that new birth happens. Because
in eternity, the Father promised the Son of people are going to
be born. All those for whom you die, they're going to be born
again. And the new birth is a miraculous birth of a new spiritual man
who never existed before. Isaac was not Ishmael remodeled. Isaac was a new man who's born
who never existed before. He's the child of promise. Isaac
was not Ishmael improved. Isaac was a brand new model,
a completely different model from a completely different birth.
And isn't that birth a miracle? It's a miracle. Sarah cannot
have a son. It's impossible. But she did. A sinner can't be righteous.
It's an impossibility for a sinner to be made righteous. But we
are in Christ our representative. We're made through righteousness
of God in him by the power and grace of God. Sarah can't have
a son. Quit looking for a son. She can't
bear one. It's impossible. But she did. You and I are sinners. It's impossible
for us to keep the law. Quit trying. But we did. We did keep the law in Christ
our representative. Sarah can't have a son. It's
impossible. But she did. A dead sinner cannot
live. It's an impossibility. But we
do because we're born again, because God gives the life that
he promised to Christ the Son in eternity past. And when believers
are born again, they're born free. They're born sons of the
free woman. They never have been in bondage
and they can never be in bondage. They're sons of the free. Brethren,
we're not slaves. We are not slaves. We're sons. were sons. I think it was last year. I remember
Don Fortner was preaching. This may have been in Lexington
at the conference. Don made this statement. He said,
we need to remember that when we go to the Lord in prayer.
Don't go to God in prayer as a slave. Go to him as a son. Big difference, isn't there?
Big difference. Sons are rightful heirs. Through faith in Christ. Through union with Christ. That's
Isaac. Son of promise. But there's another
son, isn't there? There's another son. Ishmael.
And Ishmael is a son of Abraham too. Ishmael is just as much
a son of Abraham as Isaac is. Just as much. He's their father.
He's the father of both of them. But Ishmael, he's not the child
of promise. He's the child that's the product
of man's works, of man's strength. He's that mixture of grace and
works. Now, God promised to save a people,
didn't he? We know that from reading scripture.
God promised he's going to save a people and he's going to do
it through the preaching of the gospel. It's pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. All right. We believe God. We really do.
That's why we gather together to preach and to worship. We
believe that if we preach Christ, sinners will be saved and so
God's sheep will be fed. We really believe that. How long are you going to preach
when there's no results? How long are you going to preach
when you don't see any growth and it doesn't look like folks
are getting fed? Nobody's coming forward to confess Christ. There's
no results from baptism. How many baptisms have you had
this year? Well, none. You're going to change your method,
try to get some? Now are you? It'd be a mixture of grace and
works, but you've got to answer this question. Are you going
to do that? There was an article in last week's bulletin about
altar calls. I've never done one, and I never
will. And here's why I never will.
We're not going to try to manufacture results. We're just not going
to try to make things happen and make things grow. I think,
I may be wrong, but I think I could talk some folks into making a
decision. I think I could do that. I think I could talk people
into making a public confession of faith. I really do. I think
I could take those children and get a hold of their minds and
their hearts. I think I could get them to do almost anything
I want them to do. Wouldn't any of that just be right to do,
wouldn't it? Don't you think we ought to do that? I mean,
you know, God promised to save a people through the preaching
of the gospel and we're preaching the gospel. Well, let's just
give them a little nudge, you know, and set this thing in motion
and they'll be saved. There's nothing wrong with that,
is there? Is there? If I did that, you know what
I'd do? I'd give birth to a bunch of Ishmaels. That's why we won't
do that. That's why I'm not going to have
an altar call and have this mixture of grace and works. If I make
an attempt to help God out in his purpose, instead of waiting
on the Lord, we're going to have a disaster. Let's wait on the
Lord. God promised Isaac, I know it
was a long time until he came, but did he come? God's people
are going to be born. You see, Ishmael was born from
a union of Abraham, Abraham and Hagar the slave. Isaac was born
from a union of Abraham and Sarah the free woman through the exact
same process. Both sons were born through the
exact same process. A seed was planted, a child was
formed in the womb, and a son came forth. The difference is
this. God sent Abraham to Sarah. Sarah
sent Abraham to Hagar. That's the difference. We preach
the Word, so sinners will be born again from the seed of the
Word of God, that incorruptible seed, not because of the power
of men. And the child that's born from
those two very different methods will be very different children.
One is born of the power of the flesh, and he'll be fleshly.
The other is born of the power and grace of God, and he's a
spiritual man. One is born naturally. Ishmael
was born the way natural men are born, the way natural men
think is good. The other is born supernaturally,
from above, the way God is ordained when God is pleased. Now, here's
these two boys. Sarah was the first wife. But
Hagar bore the first son. That's a picture of these two
covenants. The covenant of grace came first. The covenant of grace
was sealed in eternity past, but the covenant of works gave
birth to the first man, Adam. And Adam fell and he ruined all
mankind. He plunged us into this bondage
and death by the law. But Christ is the second Adam.
He came second in time. Even though he's eternal, he
came second in human time. And he gave birth to the promised
seed. And those children are free. and their heirs of God,
even though they came second in human time." Now that's the
two covenants, grace and works. And the children produced from
these two different covenants. And brethren, they can never
mix. They cannot dwell together. Look
back in our text, Galatians 4, verse 29. As then he that was born after
the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even
so it is now. 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. So
then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the
free." Now, you know, look back at Genesis chapter 21. From what
we can gather, everybody thought Ishmael was a fine young man.
Abraham even asked the Lord, let Ishmael dwell before you.
Let Ishmael be the heir. Everybody thought Ishmael was
a fine young man. But when did Ishmael's true colors
come out? When did he really show himself
for what he is? After he saw, as soon as he saw,
he was not going to be the heir. As soon as Ishmael saw that Isaac
was the heir, that's when problems began. See, Ishmael always thought
he's going to be the heir. He's the firstborn son, and he's
just being groomed to take Abraham's place. He's going to have all
this. He's going to rule all this. He's going to stand in
Abraham's place. And one day he finally realized,
after Isaac was weaned, oh, Isaac is the child of promise. He's
the son of the free woman. He's the son by grace, and he's
going to be the heir of everything. And then the trouble began. Look
at Genesis 21, verse 8. And the child grew as Isaac,
and he was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast
the same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar
the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore
she said unto Abraham, Pass out this bondwoman and her son. For
the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even
with Isaac. and the thing was very grievous
in Abraham's sight because of his son. And God said unto Abraham,
Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of thy bondwoman,
and all that Sarah hath said unto thee hearken unto her voice.
For unto Isaac shall thy seed be called, and also the son of
the bondwoman I will make a nation, because he is thy seed. And Abraham
rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle
of water, and gave it unto Hagar. putting it on her shoulder and
the child, and he sent her away. And she departed and wandered
in the wilderness of Beersheba. Now Ishmael, that mixture of
grace and works, this sounds harsh, but he had to be cast
out. Had to be. Because grace and
works cannot mix. And I know this happened in just
a couple of verses, but don't be mistaken. This was hard for
Abraham. It's hard for him. Ishmael's
his son. Abraham loved Ishmael. It's his
son. And this is going to be tough. He's looking for a way not to
cast that boy out. And the Lord told him, Abraham,
you listen to Sarah. You listen to her. Sarah's preached
you a great gospel message. You listen to her. Grace and
works can't miss. And see what this is a picture
of? Abraham loved Ishmael. You and I love our works of righteousness
too, don't we? And it's painful to cast them
out. Painful. But they've got to go. They've
got to be cast out. There could never be peace in
Abraham's house as long as there was a mixture of grace and works
under his roof. As long as those two boys lived
under his roof, there'll never be peace. Ishmael will always
be mocking Isaac. Ishmael's older. He's bigger.
He's stronger. He's always going to be beating
him up, too. He's always going to be getting him down. And there
can never be peace in our house. There can never be peace in the
house of our flesh until we cast out our works of righteousness.
Those works of our righteousness, they're older. They've been in
us longer. They're bigger. And they're going
to mock us at every turn. They're going to keep us from
having peace. They're going to get us down
constantly. We'll never have peace until
we cast out our works of righteousness. Our works have got to go. Those
works of our righteousness, they will always persecute the man
born of promise. And the reason we won't have
any peace, as long as there's a mixture of our works and God's
grace. Peace can only, only, only be
found in Christ and what He's done for us and Him alone. So
cast out the bondwoman and her son. Cast out your works of righteousness. So you go home and do that. And
you know what's going to happen? Israel is going to sneak back
in and you're not looking. He's going to sneak back in. He's
waiting for you constantly. And you're going to have to cast
him out again. And he's going to come back again. And you're
going to have to cast him out again. And he's going to come
back again. And if you desire peace in your heart at all, you're
going to cast him out again and again and again and again. Well, will he finally not come
back? Yeah, he finally will not come back. But not till you're dead. He's
always going to be mocking you. Your works of righteousness are
always going to keep sneaking back in there to mock you. They're
going to whisper in your ear, you're a sinner. You deserve
to die. You better get to work. And you
know what? You tell Ishmael, that's true.
I'm born a sinner. I deserve to die. But I'm trusting
in Christ. So I'll never die. Because He
died for me. Then, Ishmael will whisper in
your ear, you've not done enough. You've not done enough for God
to love you. God never loved you like you
are. You better get to work. And you tell him that's true.
I could never do enough to earn God's love, but I'm trusting
in Christ and I'm accepted in the beloved in him. That's why
I have God's going to love me in Christ. And you're going to
have to keep up casting out those works of your righteousness until
the flesh dies. And you know what? Your works
of righteousness are going to show up at your funeral. Even
at your funeral, they're going to show up. Who buried Abraham? Isaac and Ishmael. Ishmael showed
up at Abraham's funeral. And that's what our works are
going to do too. But that's the last anybody will ever deal with.
They're going to be gone then. You see, Ishmael's got to go. He's got to go. And don't give
him anything when he goes. Give him nothing. He gets no
inheritance. Ishmael be content. To live on
a little forgotten piece of property that Abraham owns and a little
house and he'll be content to dwell there if Abraham would
just give it to him. But God said he can't have it.
Give him nothing. Give him nothing. He's got to
go. Otherwise, he's going to take
credit for what he's got. Cast out the bondwoman and her
son. Cast out our works of righteousness if we give them anything when
they go. They're going to take credit. They're going to try
to take the credit from Christ. And he can't have any inheritance.
Our works can't have any inheritance. They can't have any credit because
Christ gets it all. Christ will have the preeminence. And believers get it all. They're
heirs of it all by grace. Through union with Christ or
we get nothing at all. It's an all or nothing proposition.
Look over a few more pages at Genesis 25. Genesis 25, verse 5, and Abraham
gave all that he had unto Isaac. Isaac got it all. But unto the
sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave him
some gifts, and he sent them away from Isaac his son, while
he yet lived eastward unto the east country. Abraham gave him
some gifts, and humanly speaking that's what he ought to do. But
they are just small gifts. Isaac got it all. The slave can
never be the heir. The son of the free woman, the
son of the wife, he's the heir. The slave to the law can never
be the heir of righteousness. A slave to the law can never
be the heir of eternal life. It's the son of the free woman.
The son is born by grace. The son is born by the power
and promise of God. He's the heir of everything.
The Father's going to give him everything because we're joint
heirs with Christ. So cast out the bondwoman and
her son. Brethren, we're not sons of that bondwoman. We're
sons of the free. So cast out the bondwoman and
her son. Let's cast out our works of righteousness. Let's rest
in Christ. He's done it all. All right.
Oh, the Lord bless that too.