WKYT. Yeah, and if I'm. We're not going to pay for a whole month, so there's going to be a punishment.

Galatians Chapter 4. Verse 21. Tell me. you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, 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 the Mount Sinai, which genders to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answers 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.

Let's pray together. Lord, we're so in need of your spirit that you would cause your gospel to be preached, that you would give us hearing ears and receptive hearts and understanding minds. We so need the forgiveness of sins, the blotting out of our sins. We so need for you to justify us. We so need to be given a new heart, to be given a new nature, to be given eyes to see and ears to hear. Lord, we're so totally dependent upon you for all these things, and we pray that you would Give these to us for Christ's sake. We pray that we might be enabled to worship him. We pray that we might be enabled in our hearts to bow and all before him as our glorious savior and trust him completely. Lord, we ask that you would order our steps in your word and that you let no iniquity have dominion over us. We pray for your blessing on Our dear friends who are sick, we pray for your healing hand upon them according to your will. Lord, give us grace to love you more and love one another more. Be with all your people wherever they meet together. And Lord, we would remember our leaders at this time that you would cause them to do your will as we know you will. Bless us for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen.

given this a title, How to Interpret the Old Testament. How to Interpret the Old Testament. Now, we just read Paul's take on what happened in Genesis chapter 16 and Genesis chapter 21. This is a real historical event. that actually took place that Paul tells us it's allegorical. It's given to teach us something else. Look once again at verse 24, which things are an allegory. Now you can say that about every recorded event that took place in the Old Testament, every story. Every one of them are an allegory to teach us something about law and grace, to teach us something about the gospel. And this story is given to teach us of the two covenants.

John chapter five, verse 39, the Lord said, you search the scriptures and then you think you have eternal life. And they are, they, every one of them, they are, they, which testify of me.

Now, would you turn to Genesis chapter 16? Genesis 16. Now, before we look at it, let me remind you, God promised Abraham and Sarah a son. And the Christ would come through this son. In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. 11 years pass, still no son. Chapter 16, verse 1. Now Sarah, Abram's wife, bear him no children. And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarah said unto Abraham, behold, now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. Now the Lord promised a child through her. It hadn't happened yet. And so she concludes it's not going to happen. Even though the Lord promised it, the Lord has restrained me from bearing a child. I pray thee go unto my maid. It may be perhaps, maybe this is the way things will shake out. It may be that I may obtain children by her.

Abraham. The promise is not taking place. Uh, it's obvious. We're not doing something. We need to do something to facilitate this so that the Lord's promise will take place. And Abraham hearkened to the voice of Sarah and Sarah Abram's wife took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian. After Abraham had dwelt 10 years in the land of Canaan and gave her to her husband, Abram to be his wife. Now, was that wrong? Yes. There's no other way to answer that question. It was wrong. It was the commission of sin. And yet this is their way of, um, helping God out, helping his promise to come to pass.

Verse four, and he went into Hagar and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. I've got some over you. I had the baby. You didn't. And she looked down upon her mistress, Sarah, and she despised her. She counted her as being inferior to her. Verse five, and Sarah said unto Abram, my wrong be upon me. I love this. This is your fault. You knew better than this and you did it anyway. I don't care if I did tell you to do it, you knew better and you did it. She was a spunky lady, wasn't she? You know, I kind of admire her. I'm sure you do, too. And Sarah said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee. This is your fault. I have given my maid into thy bosom. And when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between me and you. And Abram said unto Sarah, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand. Boy, I wouldn't want to be in her hand at this time, would you? But he says, Behold, Thy mate is in thy hand, do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarah dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face."

But here we have the birth of Ishmael as you go on reading Ishmael. And I think this is very interesting to notice that the word of God does not acknowledge Ishmael as Abraham's son. Remember when he said to Abraham, and the Lord said to Abraham in Genesis 22 one, take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom you love and offer him up as a burnt offering unto me. Ishmael is a son after the flesh, but he's not acknowledged by God to be a son.

Now turn to Genesis 21. Now, a year before this, the Lord told Abraham and Sarah, she would have a son. Verse one, and the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. You can count on this. This is always going to take place. For Sarah conceived and bear Abraham a son in his old age at the set time. of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of the son that was born into him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son, Isaac was born into him. And Sarah said, God has made me to laugh so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, who would have said into Abraham that Sarah should give him children suck? For I've born him a son in his old age. And the child grew and was weaned and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. Now this is 14 years after Ishmael had been born. 14 years later, Abraham and Sarah have this son.

Verse nine, and Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. Now, I get it. Can you imagine how Ishmael felt like he was second rate? And Sarah was the special wife and his mom was Hagar and she was still a bondmaid. And he saw all this party going on over the birth of this child and he started mocking, treating it with contempt. He did not like what he was seeing.

Verse 10, wherefore she said unto Abraham, Sarah, cast out this bondwoman and her son. For the son of this bondwoman shall not be there with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. Talking about Ishmael. He was upset over this. He didn't want to do this. But Sarah said, get him out. Get her out. Get him out. He'll have no inheritance with my son.

Verse 12, and God said unto Abraham, let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad and because of thy bondwoman in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice. For in Isaac shall Isaac be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation because he's Isaac. And Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of water and gave it into Hagar, putting it on her shoulder and the child and the child and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. You can go on reading the rest of that story in your leisure, but now let's go back to Galatians chapter four.

Verse 21, Paul begins with this statement. Tell me you that desire to be under the law. Don't you hear the law? Don't you hear the implications of you desiring to be under the law? What a desire. Oh, I want to be under the law. Don't you hear what you are saying? For it is written. I love that statement. It's found over and over in the New Testament, referring to what was written in the Old Testament. I'm so thankful, so eternally thankful for those words. Here's what settles everything. It is written. Oh, the Bible is the word of God. It's inspired by God. It is written. If we don't have it is written, we don't have anything. We have my opinion. We have your opinion. But oh, thank God for it is written.

Now, I've said this before, so you've probably aware that if I was writing this, I wouldn't tell the story of Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Ishmael to illustrate the law, I wouldn't read those stories and think, well, this must be about the law. It wouldn't even enter my mind to think something like that. And the only reason we know it is because Paul tells us that's what it means. Now, this is how to interpret. I hope I'm saying that carefully. The Bible is what it is. It's not my interpretation. the teaching, but the way to interpret the Old Testament, everything in the Old Testament is in light of the gospel. Everything, every event, and Paul gives us this. I've heard preachers say, well, that is a type of the gospel, but don't take it too far. You can't take it too far. You can't take it too far. Now I'm not talking about pulling things out of stories that are, that are trying to prove something. Not, not that, but this is given to teach us the gospel, the story of Abraham and Sarah and Hagar, Isaac, Ishmael. For it's written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid. the other by a free woman. Now here we have this concept of bondage and freedom. All God's law does is bring us into bondage. It's God's law. I love God's law. But all it does is reveal to us that we're slaves to sin. If I get anything else out of the law of God, I've not understood it. All the law tells me is that I am in bondage to sin.

But the other of a free woman, the freedom of the gospel, this freedom is me not owing anything. Everything God requires of me, I have. I'm perfect in Christ Jesus. I have no sin. I follow the Lord because I want to follow him. That's what I want to do. Freedom. Freedom. There's the bondage of the law. There's the freedom of the gospel.

Verse 23, but he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh. There wasn't anything miraculous about this. Now, I realize anytime a baby's born, it's a miracle of God. You know that. But what he's talking about is, Hager was a young woman in childbearing age, and there wasn't anything miraculous about her having a baby. But Sarah had already gone through menopause. It was impossible, humanly speaking, for her to have a baby. This was the work of God. This was according to the promise of God. It was a supernatural birth. Ishmael, born after the flesh, Isaac was born for this one reason. God promised he would be. God promised he would be.

Turn to Romans chapter 9 for just a moment. Verse six, it's not as though the word of God has taken none effect, but they are not all Israel, which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children, but in Isaac shall Isaac be called. That is they, which are the children of the flesh, Ishmael, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. God made this promise. You're going to have this son, Isaac.

Verse 24 of Galatians chapter four, which things are an allegory. They happened. This is not a myth. This is not a fable. They happened, but they are allegorical for these are the two covenants. The one from Sinai, which genders the bondage, which begets bondage, that's all begets, is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai. Now Mount Sinai is the place where God gave the law. That's where he gave the 10 commandments. And he says, Hagar is Mount Sinai.

Now, what does this represent? Hagar is Abraham and Sarah doing their part to make sure God's promise comes to pass. It won't come to pass unless we do our part. Here's Hagar. Salvation dependent on you doing something. I don't care what it is. Salvation being dependent upon you doing something before God can act in your behalf is Mount Sinai. It is salvation by law.

Now this can take so many forms and you think of the preaching we hear. God is offering you forgiveness. The free offer of the gospel. God is offering you his grace, but it's up to you as to whether or not you'll accept it or reject it. Your salvation is ultimately in your decision. Christ died for your sins. He wants to save you, but his death will not work for you unless you receive him and accept him as your personal savior. It's dependent upon you. I mean, he can die for you and you might wind up in hell anyway. You've got to accept him as your personal savior for you to be saved.

I think the thought of, say, progressive sanctification. Through your acts of obedience, sanctification is a work of God and it's a work of you. Through your acts of personal obedience to the law, you can become progressively more holy, more holy, more holy, and less sinful by your acts. It's got to begin with you, though. You've got to make this decision to obey God. And when you obey God, you'll become more holy and less sinful. Now, if that's the case, at some point, you can become sinless. If that's the case, you know, you just get more and more holy, more and more holy, and all of a sudden, there you are.

The thought, for instance, of, well, you do have two natures, but it's up to you as to which one you're going to feed. You feed the holy nature, it's going to grow. You feed the sinful nature, it's going to take the upper hand. It's up to you. You see, any aspect of salvation being up to me is Mount Sinai. That's just so. And you say you're being too picky with these illustrations. Well, no, I'm not. No, I'm not. If any part of my salvation, beginning, an act of my will, middle, I'm doing something to make myself more holy. At the end, I get a higher reward for works of obedience done here on earth. Law. Mount Sinai.

These are the two covenants. One law. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. And answers to Jerusalem, which now is. Jerusalem, which now is not believing. That's the people who rejected Christ. That's the people who believe in salvation by law there. right with the Jerusalem, which now is, but verse 26, Jerusalem, which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. I'm going to read a passage of scripture from revelation chapter 21, Jerusalem, which is from above. John said, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea and I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Verse 10 of Revelation 21 says, and he carried me away to the spirit, to a great high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem. This is the church descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Now this is his description of the church. Where's the church's origin heaven. coming down out of heaven. Now, if I'm a son of Sarah, my origin is heaven. God's promise.

Now go back to Galatians chapter four. Jerusalem, which is from above, is free. Oh, the free, stand fast in the liberty, the freedom, wherewith Christ has made us free, and don't be entangled in that yoke of bondage. For it's written, rejoice thou that bearest not, talking about Sarah that had no children. Break forth and cry, thou that travailest not, for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband.

Now we, brethren, As Isaac was, are the children of promise. That's the elect. That's the people Christ died for. That's the church, which came down from heaven. They're the children of promise. I'm saved because of God's promise. Not because of something I promised I would do. I'll do this. And you know, I'm saved because God's promised my salvation, given me to his son, his son saved me.

Now we brethren, as Isaac were the children of promise, but as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit. That's talking about Ishmael. When he saw Isaac, he started mocking. He persecuted the way Abel was persecuted by Cain. An unbeliever, somebody that believes in law, is always going to be against that person saved by the grace of God. You see, they think they have some control in their own salvation, and they get upset when they find out they don't have any control. And it's of the Lord. And so, but as he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. It's no different now than it was then.

Nevertheless, what saith the scripture, cast out. That's strong language. cast out the bond woman and her son. But the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then brethren, we're not children of the bond woman, but of the free.

Now let me close with giving some contrasts between Sarah and Hagar and between Ishmael and Isaac. Sarah was the original wife. Salvation has always been in the eternal marriage covenant. Sarah was the original wife. All of God's people have always been in Christ. Now, I can't grasp that. But there's never been a time when I wasn't in Christ, excepted in the Beloved.

Hagar bore the first son. The first man standing depended on his works. Adam, don't eat the fruit of the tree. Works. In my experience, my first man is works. I was born that way. Salvation by works. Hagar was never intended to be a wife. She's the result of fleshly manipulation by Sarah. Now we know that she was intended to be his wife according to God's eternal purpose and eternal decree, but for his salvation to come back and to give us this picture of law and grace, But what Abraham did was wrong. And Hagar was never intended, in that sense, to be his wife. Sarah was always his wife.

As soon as Hagar conceived, she looked down at Sarah, started mocking her. And you know, that's the natural man's response to the gospel, mocks. Doesn't even make sense. I don't believe that. It's not fair. It doesn't make sense to me. I don't believe that. It's contemptible to me. She mocked. Hager never was free. And Sarah never was a slave. There's no freedom, only bondage in law. There's only freedom in grace. Excuse me. Hager and her son were cast out. Cast out the bondwoman and her son. Cast out any hope of salvation by works. Cast it out. Law, cast it out.

Now, let's compare. Ishmael and Isaac, by nature, Isaac was no better than Ishmael, was he? They were both equally sinful, born of a sinful man. Ishmael was the oldest. My old man began 9-9-59. My new man began whenever I was born again. My old man's older than my new man in my experience, yet my new man is older than the old man. Jeremiah chapter one, verse five says, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Now explain that. I can't, but I've had personality of God before I was ever conceived. He knew me.

Ishmael was born after the flesh. There's nothing supernatural. Isaac was born after the spirit, a supernatural birth. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. Utterly begotten of God. A new man that was not there before in my experience. It's the spirit that quickens the flesh profits nothing. Ishmael mocked Isaac, works, mocks grace. Ishmael had no inheritance. What Sarah say? He's not going to be here with my son. Cast him out. Ishmael has no inheritance. Works, gets, nothing. Isaac had all the inheritance. Everything God had to give, Isaac had it. Isaac had it all.

Now, if your mother is Sarah, all you have to do is rejoice. If you're a supernatural work of grace, doesn't have anything to do with your works and you know it, all you have to do is rejoice. The biggest fool in the world is that one who desires to be under the law. Amen.