but of the free. Hearing the law by allegory. In the preceding chapters of
this book, the Apostle has laid out the truth that justification
of sinners is only by the faith of Jesus Christ and not by the
law. This was clearly stated in chapter
2 and verse 16. He said, knowing That a man is
not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of
Jesus Christ. That's clear and plain, isn't
it? Man is not justified by that covenant of works, but by the
covenant of grace, which is the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we
believed in Jesus, that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ. not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight." In fact, the only purpose of the law was not to justify,
but rather to condemn. The law had a purpose, and that
is to expose sin. You see that in chapter 3 and
verse 19. Wherefore then serveth the law."
Listen, it was added because of the transgression. It was
added to manifest and magnify the transgression of men. But it was never meant to save.
And we who believe on Christ are set free from the bondage
of sin, from the dominion of the law, the flesh and the devil. This is his purpose. We are free. Believer, you are free in Christ. Set at liberty. Yet these saints
who profess to believe, to be justified by the faith of Christ,
they had turned, they had been seduced by Judaizers, by those
who would teach justification by Christ plus obedience to the
law. So Paul says, O foolish Galatians,
who hath seduced you that you should return to these weak and
beggarly elements which were never meant to justify but only
condemn? Now this old deception is still
very fresh. This is not something that just
happened to the Galatians. This is very presently happening
even in the church, even among God's saints. There are some
who have crept in unawares to seduce you, seduce you to be
under the law. These work mongers, these legalists, and they are seduced by the flesh
to be entangled under the yoke of the law. How? By adopting the law as a rule
of life. That is the seduction of the
false church today. That Christ is good. Christ is necessary. You must
believe on the blood and righteousness of Christ. But in order to serve
Christ, in order to live for Christ, you must then revert
backward to the Law. Specifically, the Ten Commandments.
This is the religion. This is the religion of this
day. It's a seduction of false religion. And if you are keenly aware of
what they're doing, they've taken the ceremonies of the law. Nobody in the professing Christian
church today wants you to be circumcised. Nobody. But what
have they done with circumcision? They have infused circumcision
with baptism. They have said that baptism in
the New Testament is new circumcision. They don't celebrate most of
them. Some of them even do celebrate Feast of Passover, but most of
them would have the Passover Feast infused into the Lord's
Supper. They say, well, this is the New
Passover Supper. So what are they doing? They
are taking the light of the Old Testament and saying the Old
Testament law is the light that shines on the New Testament.
They're backwards. They're backwards. The New Testament
is the light that gives, that shines on the old, that reveals
what the old means, what it stands for, not the other way around. So let us who believe then, we
should rejoice in our liberty. If you have been set free from
these things, you know this, that we are not under the law
in any measure. That is a freeing revelation. And it's a revelation that every
child of God should know and understand. And we are not under,
in any part, that old covenant that was given to the Jews. We're
set free from the bondage of the law, and it's foolish for
us to return to those weak and beggarly elements. Now, is the
law weak? No. We are weak. The flesh is
incapable. The law is honorable. It's good.
There's nothing wrong with the law. The problem is us. We could
never satisfy that law. And so to put yourselves under
bondage is only to nullify Christ's offering. And so Paul, he asked
this question. Those who are saved, we must
see that those are types and pictures. So Paul asked all who
would still desire to be under the law, seeing all these things
are true, he says this, tell me. That's our first verse there. Look at that. He says, tell me.
He's demanding of them, tell me. Now, after all I've said,
if you still desire to be under the law, I want you to tell me
something. Have you not heard the law? All you who desire to be under
the law, do you not hear it? Like these Galatians, many would
confess to have perfectly, these Judaizers, or people today who
who long to be under the law in some measure, all of them
will confess this, that they have not obeyed the law perfectly. They'll all confess this. But
what rather they say, we sincerely desire to live by the law. We
desire to do our best, to offer our best abilities to obey the
law. But don't you see that your best
efforts to obey the law, your most sincere desire to honor
the law by your deeds and obedience can never produce righteousness? Don't you see that? The law doesn't
demand your best. You've never heard the law if
that's what you think about the law. The law does not demand
your best. It demands perfection. It demands
obedience. Perfect obedience. This law can't produce righteousness,
nor can our obedience ever sanctify us before God. So tell me, you who seek righteousness
and acceptance by adherence to the law in any measure, are you trusting then the law
for your justification? Do you now suppose that you can
be sanctified by your sincere efforts to obey only portions
of the Law? Now, this is another truth. Anybody
who desires to be under the Law, they do not mean the whole Law. They only specifically carve
out sections of the Law that they perceive are possible to
obey. And they call that sanctification.
Well, I'm obeying the Ten Commandments for sanctification. Well, what
about the sacrifice? You can't be under the Ten Commandments
if you're not under sacrifices. You can't be under the Ten Commandments
if you're not under governmental law of the Jews. You can't be
it. The law is the law is the law
is the law. I don't care what you call it.
You call it moral law, ceremonial law, but the law is the law,
and you can't carve it, you can't separate it, you can't divide
it. And so if you suppose these things,
why don't you listen to the law? The law never speaks of pardon. The law speaks of guilt. Guilt, that's what the law speaks
of. Paul says this in Romans 3, 19,
he says, now, you know, we know that what sort of things the
law sayeth, it sayeth to them that are under the law. Okay,
you tell me. You desire to be under the law. Here it is. Whosoever is under the law, this
is what the law sayeth to those under the law, that every mouth
may be stopped and the whole world become guilty before God.
This is the purpose of the law. Don't you hear it? Therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified his life for the in his sight
for the by the knowledge For the law is the knowledge of sin.
That's how you know what seeing is is by the law. You can only
expose The law was given Just sentence of eternal death to
all who will not obey it in every part This is what he's been telling
them in in chapter 3 and verse 10 He says for as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse For it is written cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things written in the
law to do them." Now, if anybody wants to be under the law, I'll
tell you this, because they don't hear it. They refuse to hear
it. They refuse to believe the truth
concerning the law. That's the only way anyone would
ever be under the law, is because they refuse to hear what it says.
Cursed is what the law says. To everyone under the law, cursed
is everyone that continues not in all things, written in the
book of the law to do them. Therefore Paul in 2 Corinthians
3, 7 calls the law what? The ministration of death. The
law, it administers only death. That's all the law can do. So then to speak, To such brethren,
we should speak with the same question. If we find any one
of our brethren supposing to go back under the law, we should
ask the same question, tell me. Don't you hear it? Don't you
hear what the law says? Tell me. Now Paul says the law
twice. Look at that in the text again.
He says, tell me, verse 21, Back over to my page, 21. "...Tell
me, you that desire to be under the..." What? "...law, do you
not hear?" Secondly, the law. He says it twice. But he has
two distinct meanings for this word, law. The first meaning
is the law of Sinai, the law that they desired to be under. That law that was given to Moses,
the ministration of death. Do you not hear the law? The
second time he means it, he's saying the whole writings of
Moses. Now the law was only a portion
of what Moses wrote, wasn't it? Moses wrote five books. But that
wasn't the whole context. In order to understand the law
and its meaning and what the law is saying, It encompasses
the whole book of the Pentateuch. It's only a portion of it. There's
more there than just the law of Moses given on Sinai. And
so Paul is pointing out that the law given on Sinai is only
a part of the larger body of Scripture. Now those who desire to cling
to the law at Sinai, They usually view everything from the Law. They look at the Law, and they
see everything in Scripture through the lens of the Law, as though
the Law is the source and covers all of the Scripture. When in
actuality, the Law is a part of the Scriptures. It's not the
whole. Everything should not be viewed
through the lens of the Law, but through the lens of Christ.
Christ is the sum and substance of the Scripture, not the law.
Not the law. These legalists who like the
Galatians, their counterparts, they make the law their rule,
and by doing so, they alter it. They alter the rest of Scripture
by the law. Think of it. Sabbath worship.
What do people have to do in order to maintain Sabbath worship?
They actually have to change the Sabbath day, don't they?
They have to move it to Sunday. In order to apply baptism as
circumcision, they have to change circumcision into baptism. They have to actually alter the
law in order to honor it, which is not honoring it at all. And so they narrowly view the
law as the rule of life and take the law out of its context of
Scripture. Namely, what Paul here is referring
to is the first five books. And he's going to use that as
a very specific reason. He could use any Scripture, and
he will use some other Scriptures, but he wants them to see that,
look, this was told from the beginning. The purpose of the
law was even told before the law was given. How? It was told in an allegory. It
was told in pictures and types even before the law came. So while preferring to honor
the law of Sinai, they're referring, they're refusing to hear what
the scriptures say about the law. That's all you can say.
Anybody wants to be under the law and for justification or as a
rule of life, they are just simply ignoring all other scriptures.
They have focused their beam of attention solely on the Ten
Commandments and the Law, and view everything in light of it,
and reject the whole of Scripture, which we know is only speaking
of Christ. That's where believers in Christ
understand that all of Scripture is about Christ. Isn't that what
he told those disciples on the road to Emmaus? He said, fools
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, entered in his glory, and beginning where? At
Moses. Now did he begin at Sinai when
he said, at Moses? No, he began at Genesis. He began
with the first book that Moses had written, Genesis. And beginning
at Moses, and all the prophets and Psalms, he expounded unto
them all things concerning what? The law? Himself. This book is about Christ. as a part in this book. And that
part is to show you, you need Christ. It's meant to shut us
up. That's all its purpose is. It's
never meant to be a guide, suggestion, rule book. It's meant to condemn
you, to show you, you need a Savior outside of yourself. And so in verses 22, the rest,
Paul then begins to testify of the truth of the law by using
the whole revelation of Moses. He's using Sarah and Hagar, these
two women, and their two sons. Let's look at this again. He
says, for it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by
the bondwoman, the other by the free woman. But he who was of
the bond woman was born of the flesh, but he of the free woman
by promise. Which things are what? An allegory. You know what? You would have
never figured this out. I would have never figured this out had
the Holy Spirit not given to us right there. Could you have
ever figured that was an allegory? We wouldn't have. But do you
see what Paul is doing? He's taking the light of the
New Testament and he shines it on the old, revealing what these
things really are. These people were real. These
people were true historical characters. But they were not meant as mere
historical characters. Abraham had many sons that were
never spoken of. Right? Why these two sons? What was the importance of these
two sons? Why even was Ishmael spoken of? He didn't inherit
anything. He was eventually cast out. Why was he spoken of at
all? He was an allegory. He was a picture of something. God doesn't use these people's
lives just so you can tell you what to do and what not to do.
That's what people look at them and they say, well, I guess I
shouldn't do that. I shouldn't sleep with my handmaiden. Well,
of course not. But that's not what it's telling
you. It has a deeper meaning, a spiritual meaning, an allegory
here. This allegory is of two distinct
covenants. Now what he said, look at your
text again. He said, which things are an allegory, for these things
are two, what? Covenants. two covenants. Isn't that what he's been telling
you all along? That there are two distinct covenants. A covenant
of works, by which no one's justified, and a covenant of grace by everyone
that's under that covenant is justified. I love it. These two covenants are absolute,
aren't they? You're either absolutely unjustified, or you are absolutely
justified. And so these two women, these
two sons, these two women speak of two different covenants, and
these two sons speak of two different races of people. Ishmael speaks
of those all who are under Hagar, the law, and Isaac speaks to
all of us who are under the covenant of grace, pictured by Sarah. Now, Ishmael was born of Hagar,
And this is very plain, wasn't he? He was born a slave. His
mother was a slave, and he himself was a slave. And as such, he was born a servant
and not an heir. But Isaac. Isaac was born of
a legitimate father and mother. His mother was a free woman.
His mother was legitimately married to Abraham. Therefore, his birth,
he was a legitimate heir to all the promises and covenants of
his father Abraham. Now, the Holy Spirit by Paul
shows us this as an allegory. so we may see that all who are
in bondage to the law are born of the bond woman all are spiritual
slaves everyone who is under the law
is a slave a slave to the law not free but
all who are children of promise born in the perfect liberty of
God's free grace in Christ, we are spiritual sons of the free
woman and heirs of eternal life and glory." Now, Hagar and her son were destitute. In other words, they owned what? Nothing. They owned nothing. Therefore her son was heir of
nothing. He had no right to his father's
possessions. But Isaac... Isaac, when he was
born, he was heir of all things. Now then, let me ask you this
question. What made the difference? What was different between Ishmael
and Isaac. There's only one thing you can
think of that would make a difference. Their birth. Over which neither one had any
say or control. Ishmael was born to a slave woman. Isaac was born to a queen. One
by birth was an heir of nothing and one by birth was an heir
of everything. So Paul's doctrine is evident.
All who seek to obtain righteousness by works or obey the law of God
in any measure to sanctify themselves or justify themselves are nothing
more than slaves born of Hagar and heirs of nothing. Those who seek to merit and honor
God by works can never obtain what they seek for. Righteousness. Isn't that what he said to the
Jews? Paul said this about Israel. He says, well, you had the Gentiles. They didn't seek after righteousness.
They didn't look for it. They didn't even know what it
was. And yet God gave it to them. Then you got the Israelites,
that that's all they sought for, that's all they lived for. They
knew the law, they tried to obey the law, and yet they could not
obtain what they sought for, righteousness. Why? Because they sought it not
by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they, being ignorant of the
righteousness of God, going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God,
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness. To everyone that believes. Behold,
Sarah was barren." Isn't that right? This allegory, you remember,
Sarah, she couldn't have children, she was barren in her womb. God
promised them a son. God swore in a covenant oath
to Abraham, I'm going to give you a son. In thy seed shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed. He promised him a
son. And you remember what they did. They hatched out a plan. Him and Sarah got together, they
hatched out a plan, and they said, well, I'll tell you what,
let's help God out. God promised us a son, but we need to do,
you know, we've got to do something. God helps those that help themselves. Isn't that a common saying of
our country? God helps those that help themselves. So we're
going to help ourselves and help God at the same time. I'll give
you the, to my handmaiden here, and you have a son by her. Now, how'd that work out? When
they mixed God's promises with human wisdom, what came? Ishmael. What happens when the church
mixes the promises of God with human effort? All you get are
Ishmaels. That's all you get. And what
did Ishmael do for Sarah and Abraham? They only tormented
the true Son. Free will works religion is nothing
more than a mixture of God's divine word with human effort. And you know what the product
of free will works religion is? Ishmael's. They're all born naturally. And they all follow the law,
the religion of nature, which is? Free will works religion. That's the law of nature. It's
not a miracle for someone to make a decision for Jesus. You
want to go to hell? No. Well, come accept Jesus.
Okay. Well, that's no spiritual... That's not a miracle. That's
manipulation. They manipulate you. They seduce
you. That's what they do. And all
they produce is Ishmael. What's the difference between
Ishmael and Isaac? Birth. Theirs is born by logic
and doctrine. Ours is born, we are born, if
we believe in Christ, we are born by a supernatural way. We, like Sarah, are barren, incapable,
unable, and unwilling to come to God by Christ. But God. But God. who is rich in mercy, for His
great love wherewith He hath loved us." What did He do? He
gave us life. Just as He gave life to Sarah's
barren womb, He gave us spiritual life. We were born again of the Spirit. We were born from above. He says,
"...for Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, which answered to
Jerusalem, that now is, which is in bondage with her children."
But Jerusalem, which is from where? Above. Isn't that what
it is? You must be born from where? Above. Are you born above? That which
is born of flesh is flesh. That's Ishmael. Law. begets Ishmael, but grace begets
what? Isaac's. You see the picture? You see the allegory? That's
what the law is teaching. The whole law of scripture, that's
what it teaches. Salvation by grace, through faith
in the blood of Jesus Christ alone saves sinners. It is a covenant of mercy. God the Father chose us in love,
purposed our redemption. Just He purposed Isaac to be
a son. No one could possibly imagine that Isaac would ever
be born from Sarah's womb. It was dead. But God promised. In spite of the deadness of her
womb, God promised before to give her a son. Even so, before
the world, God promised us that He would give us life, His children. He would make us holy and Christ
did that when He died upon the tree and rose again for our justification
and now has sent His Holy Spirit into the world to do what? To
begat sons. To fulfill His covenant of grace. So then what should we who are
free expect? You who are Isaacs. You who hear
the law and understand the law, the law of the two covenants,
you who come to God by Christ, what should you expect from the
world? What did Isaac receive? Look what Isaac received. He
says in verse 29, But as then he was born after the flesh,
what did he do? Persecuted him that was born
after the Spirit, even so it is now. What do you expect from
my Ishmael? Persecution. That's what you're
going to expect. Persecution. But this is our
hope. Nevertheless, what sayeth the
Scripture? My hope is in what says the Scripture.
Isn't that what your hope is in? My hope is what does sayeth
the Lord, because that's... I don't want to judge by what
I see. It's only confusion. This is clear. This is clarity.
What sayeth 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. Isn't that good news? It is. So then, brethren, we who believe
in Christ are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Law in an allegory. Law in a
picture. Now tell me, do you hear it? More importantly, do you believe
it? And let us not be seduced by
these people. I'll tell you this, the church
can be seduced. It can be. God's people can be
duped by this false view of the law as a rule of life. It sounds
good, but it's against the Scripture. So what must we do? Cast out
the bondwoman and her son. Why? We're free. We're free. Be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage, because we're free. What are
we free to do? I'm free to obey the law of Christ,
which is faith in Christ, love for Christ, and hope in Christ. That's what I'm free to do, and
so are you. You're free. No more law. Only grace. May God bless you
to your heart.