Here's our reading, and Paul
is trying to persuade them to quit trying to get under the
law and to get under the grace of God and the gospel in our
Lord. So, with that in mind, verse
21, he tells them, Tell me, ye 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, and the other by a free woman.
But he who was of a bondmaid was born after the flesh. He of the free woman by promise,
which things are an allegory. There's our text and subject.
For these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which
gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. And this Agar 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. For it is written,
Rejoice thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry thou
that travailest not, that is the barren woman, the woman who
is not bringing forth, that bearest not and that thou art bare. For the desolate, now watch this,
the desolate hath many more children than she which has an husband. Now there are a lot of things
here for us to consider as you can see. Now the application. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. But as then, he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him born after the spirit, even so
is it now. 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 there's a great
allegory. Let me introduce it this way
and work our way into a study of this passage of the scripture. As Paul writes this letter to
the Galatian churches, he is very much disturbed in his spirit
at the direction and the behavior of the churches in Galatia. And
that would be because they were beginning to defect from the
gospel which he had preached unto them when he had come among
them." When was that? Well, you'll find it in Acts
16, 6 and Acts 18 and verse 23, when Paul was in Galatia preaching
the gospel. Now, what they were doing was
espousing another gospel which was not another of the same nature
or the same quality as that gospel that Paul had brought unto them
and under which they had been converted and made a profession
of Christ. In fact, Paul says in chapter
1, it was a perversion of the gospel and Paul in chapter 1
imposes a curse upon any that would preach any other gospel
that he had brought to them, even if that gospel was preached
by an angel from heaven or by Paul himself or by any other
person. Paul goes so far as to say that
he was afraid that he had wasted his labor upon them in chapter
4 And verse 11, I'm afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon
you labor in vain. And all of my labor shall in
the end come to nothing. And that's because they were
returning again to what he called the weak and the beggarly elements
of the world. And they were observing months
and times and days and years, and they were attempting to revive
what had been put to death by the death of Christ upon the
cross. And they were putting themselves,
willingly, freely, putting themselves back under the law, which curse
Christ had endured, that he might redeem them from the curse of
that law. Galatians chapter 3, verse 10
through verse 13. So, they would make circumcision
a part of the salvation of those that were in the churches at
Galatia. They would bind circumcision
back upon even the Gentiles if they would be a Christian and
win the favor of God. And that, says Paul, is a subversion
and a perversion of the gospel. and no matter, as John Eady wrote,
quote, how insignificant the addition or the subtraction might
appear to be, unquote. The littlest addition or the
littlest subtraction does alter the gospel in such a way that
Paul no longer considers it to be the gospel. Now, with that
in mind, in an attempt to give these foolish Galatians a proper
view of the nature and the function of the law, Paul gives them what
I consider two very great views of the law in this Galatian epistle. Number one, you'll find in Galatians
chapter 3 verse 19 through chapter 4 and verse 7. That answers the question, why
was the law given? What purpose did it serve? Well,
he likens the law to a person that was known in those days
as a pedagogue. That is, a child trainer. One
who had the oversight of a young child, who though his master
was rich, yet was not put in the inheritance, until he was
full grown. And this pedagogue would exercise,
was a person, would exercise a very disciplined and constrained
discipline over them until they came to age. They were released
then from the restriction of their youth into the full liberty
and privilege of their adult sons here. Now this imposing
upon them the mosaic dispensation which answers to that pedagogue
was a temporary imposition. until the time appointed by the
Father. And it lasted only until the
Father lifted the sanction. And it lasted literally until
Christ came into the world, took the sins of the people upon Him,
endured the curse of the law, and died upon the cross. And
then they, by faith, entered into the full adoption of their
sonship. no more a servant, but a son,
an adopted son of the Lord God. Now, Paul shows that the Lord
made bequeath unto Abraham of an inheritance. Now, this inheritance
and promise to Abraham was not through the law. It was not by
the law. In fact, It was before the law
was ever given that God gave this to Abraham. By faith it
was and not law. It was a common thing among the
Romans to put a young child, especially an heir, under this
pedigogue who cared him about day by day and oversaw all of
his activity and reported all of his mischief and disciplined
him for all of his disobedience. And Paul likens that pedigogue
to the Mosaic Law. In this, it kept the Jews shut
up to faith until the promise should come in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you'll see that if we drop
back to chapter 3 of Galatians, and let's read verse 23 through
verse 26. Before faith came, we were kept
under the law, shut up under the faith which should afterward
be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster,
our pedagogue, our child discipliner, to bring us unto Christ that
we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come,
we're no longer under a schoolmaster, for ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus." Now, that's the first one. This
will answer the question raised in Galatians 3.19. What purpose,
then, does the law serve if it cannot justified. Now passage
number two is our text of today and the coming weeks. It is found
in Galatians chapter 4, 21-31 where Paul makes one great final
attempt to show them the futility of being under the law and seeking
to be justified before God by the law. So look at verse 21
as we wade out into our text today. Tell me, is his first
words unto them. That is, he says to them, answer
me this. I want you to consider this question. and answer it in your mind. Consider what I am asking. Hear me out. Ponder this matter
very closely. Give it consideration that you
might think upon what is about to be said. Tell me, then he
says, you, the ones that He is addressing the ones of a particular
persuasion. Those of you, in other words,
tell me, those of you. Who are they? Desiring to be
under the law. You who put yourself under the
law and seek to bring others under it, you that make your
boast in fleshly circumcision, who actually are fallen from
grace, You who would subject yourself unto the law as a way
of obtaining a justification before God. Now the question,
do you hear the law? Tell me, do you desire to be
under the law? Do you hear the law? Well, in
a way, of course they heard the law. They heard it every Sabbath
day, for a portion of the law was read in the synagogue every
Sabbath day in the Jewish services. But they had heard it without
hearing it. They had not had ears to hear. They did not understand what
they heard, what they read out of the law. Makes me think of
the eunuch in Acts chapter 8, riding along in his chariot,
reading from Isaiah the 53rd chapter, and evidently he was
reading out loud. When Philip joined himself unto
him, and he said to that eunuch, Are you understanding what you
are reading? He was not. Or he said, how can
I except some man should guide me? Now, to hear the law means
to hear it and to understand. It means to perceive the meaning. It means to get the sense of
the law, what it is saying, what it means. It means to know the
effect that the law has upon those that are under it. I want you to hear a statement
from Paul earlier in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 19. It directs its counsel and its
authority to them that are under the law. The law speaks to them
that are under it. It has authority to those that
are under it. Paul has something, therefore,
very weighty to say under them. Now, Galatians chapter 4, and
Paul's asking, So they imagine half in grace
and half in law. And the churches are full of
that all over the country and all over the world. Our people
who have one foot in the Old Covenant, one foot, they imagine,
in the New Covenant. And they're not hearing either
one of them with clarity. They are confused as a termite
in a yo-yo about what to do and what to make of this deal about
grace and their relationship unto law. Some say that the believer
is in grace, but they do not hear either what grace is saying
when it comes down to the bottom. Now, to those desiring to be
under the law, Paul will give them a lesson, and he'll give
them a lesson using the two covenants that he mentioned that were made
in scripture in the time of Abraham and before. And he will use the
actual history of Abraham. He will draw these things from
the actual familial history of the great man Abraham. And he
calls it, you notice, an allegory in verse 24. where in the King
James it is this way, which things are an allegory. And then let's consider this
before we move along. What is an allegory? What do
you mean by an allegory? Somebody is speaking allegorically. Well, the allegory in the scripture
is a joining or a combination of two words in the Greek, something
other, allos, another, and then something spoken or something
spoken in the marketplace. In other words, not the exact
same meaning is used or meant when an allegory brought forth. An allegory, therefore, is to
give forth a secondary meaning to the historical narrative of
the Abrahamic history concerning the two wives that are mentioned
here in the scripture, and the two sons that were born of them. And I believe this is the Only
time in the Bible, Old or New Testament, where we're going
to meet with this word allegory that Paul uses here in Romans
chapter 4. Now, an allegory differs from
a type, for a type has an antitype, something to answer to it. It
differs from a parable also, for a parable illustrates one
central main point or thought, while an allegory takes a historical
event to bring out a secondary meaning or application. J.B. Lightfoot wrote about that,
that Paul not only refers to the actual or original history,
but he's also referring to the typical, the spiritual applications
that are contained in the allegory of the family of Abraham. Now here is the point. It's a
point to catch now, before we go any further. When Paul calls
the events of Abraham's fathomless situation, an allegory, really
what it says is, these things are allegorized. These things
are allegorized. Now get this point. It is not
Paul that is making up the allegory. It is not Paul, and he does not
claim that the allegory is his. When he writes, these things
are an allegory, He means which things have been allegorized. They are already allegorized. But then by whom, and when, and
where? Well, if you look at verse 24
again. Which things are allegorized? For these are the two covenants,
the one from Mount Sinai, which Ender bonded, which is a gar. These things are allegorized
in the scripture by the Old Testament writers of the scripture. Now
three times in our passage this morning, I'll point them out,
we will read it is written. Now three times there is a reference
to what is written in the scripture and these are what has been allegorized. Look at verse 22. is written
look at verse 27 for it is written and then look at verse 30 what
does the scripture say what says the scripture now we're going
to take this and kind of take it apart and and look at it individually. Each one of these then draws
out the allegory. Each one of those three draws
out the allegory. Allegorizing the events in Abraham's
house, as we see, by visiting each one of the three references
to what is written and the allegory then is filled out for us here
in Paul's writing. Now follow me along. Look at
verse 22. for it is written. And then verse 22 through verse
26. We read that. Remember what we
read. This comes from Genesis chapter
16 and chapter 17. That Abraham had two wives and
two sons and these are the covenant. Then look at verse 27. For it
is written, now, verse 27 to verse 29, For it is written,
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 an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. But as it was then, he born after
the flesh persecuted him born after the spirit, even so is
it now. Now the third time is in verse
30. What saith the Scripture? Now,
let's read verse 30 and 31. Nevertheless, what saith the
Scripture? Here's what it said, Genesis
21. 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 we are children of the free woman. Then let's notice the three applications,
excuse me for going over and over again. But in verse 26 we
read it, in verse 28 we read it again, and in verse 31 we
read it again. Here are the applications that
Paul is making to New Testament Christians out of that which
has been allegorized. These are direct application
to the New Testament saying. So let's drop back now to Galatians
chapter 4 verse 22 and 23 and look at what is written of Abraham. What do we read here? He had
two sons. They were sons of different women. One of those women was a slave
maid, a bond maid, a house servant, a slave. The other was a free
woman, the married wife of Abraham for a long time. Paul takes notice
of their state and their condition rather than identify them here
by name, which he could have done, but it's their state and
their condition that he's interested in calling to the attention of
the Galatians. So, not by name. Though we know
from the Scripture very well that the name of the born woman
was Hagar. H-A-G-A-R, an Egyptian woman,
and the free woman was Sarah, the long-time wife of Abraham. Now the son of the bondwoman
was born first. He was the first son that was
born. And this one was born of the
bondwoman. But in verse 23, there's another
important distinction that is made. The one from the bondwoman,
his name was Ishmael, was born, get this, after the flesh. Three little words. This man,
this son was born after the flesh, but the one born of the free
woman was born of promise. Now strictly speaking, both were
sons that were begotten by Abraham in a physical way By knowing
the two women in a conjugal way, the women conceiving, bearing
their children to term and bringing them forth. But the distinction
here that we must notice is between being born of the flesh and being
born of promise, or being born of the bondwoman or being born
of the free, for the two things stand together. Sarah, if you
read in the Old Testament, was barren. Sarah was infertile. She could not have children in
the natural way. She was a woman that was barren
from her early maidenhood into her marriage and beyond for some
90 years or so of age. Sarah was barren from her marriage
But Hagar was not. Hagar, the flesh, the bondwoman,
was fertile. And you can see in Genesis chapter
16, probably the worst mistake that Sarah ever made in her life. was to suggest, look, I'm old,
I'm barren, we have no children, perhaps you should go in to the
bondwoman, maybe God will give us children by her. And Abraham
did, she barren very quickly, poor son conceived, and there
was nothing supernatural about it at all. It was simply a natural
act of the flesh, of fleshly birth, nothing supernatural. While Sarah bare Isaac in her
old, old age, and that after the bodies of Sarah and Abraham
were procreatively dead. I'll say that as delicately as
I can. Both of their bodies, Abraham
and Sarah, were procreatively dead, and yet the promised Son
had not come. Where do you find that? Well,
you find it in Romans chapter 4 and verse 19. You find it in
Genesis 17 and verse 17. Sarah was bare from her marriage,
Genesis 11 and 30. She then was past the time of
women, Genesis 18 and 11. She then was past age, Hebrews
11, 11. And Abraham was as good as dead,
Hebrews 11 and verse 12. But from them, from Sarah and
Abraham, came not only the promised son Isaac, but a multitude without
number. that Abraham could call his seed
or his children. Look at that again in Hebrews
chapter 11 and verse 12. And Abraham had a large spiritual
seed, not just Isaac, but a large spiritual seed. Thus, the birth
of Isaac, who was a son of promise, because of all these things we've
just noted that scripture said, required for him to be born by
the promise of God, a supernatural exercise of the divine power
of God for Isaac to be born and for him to be begotten of Abraham
conceived and born of his wife Sarah. Thomas Bell once wrote,
and I'm quoting, it was in effect a new thing in the earth, unquote,
that a woman of Sarah's age and condition and a father of Abraham's
age and condition should beget and bring a child into the world. A new thing in the earth, yes.
And I venture to say, not done before and not done since was
it ever heard in this fashion. So now let's consider the two
women, the two sons, and the two covenants that are mentioned
here in this place, which Paul says are allegorized. There are three distinct opposites,
as is shown in the text that we've already read. Number one,
there's the opposite in the women. We look at the women, one barren,
one not. One, a free woman. One, a maidslave. One, a true and legal wife. The other, only a borrowed surrogate. And then there's a second contradiction
or distinction, and that's in the sons. not just the women,
but the son. One was a product of the flesh,
only the flesh. The other came by divine promise
from God. Now this is a clear distinction
made in the scripture between the sons of flesh and the sons
of promise. Don't do it now, but you can
read Romans chapter 9, verse 6 through 9, where we read there
in verse 8. They which are the children of
the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children
of the promise are counted for the seed." What could be any
clearer? And even here, the two women
and the two sons are in view. Hagar and Sarah, Ishmael and
Isaac. Now, the Lord made basically
the same distinction between children of the flesh and children
of promise, and you'll find that in John's Gospel chapter 8 and
verse 33 through verse 40, along in there, where he spoke of bondage
and of freedom. He spoke of Abraham's children,
and he spoke of Abraham's seed. And that's a different thing
altogether. See, also, Roman 8, for the flesh
and the spirit, that distinction. Now, the third thing is the contrast
between the two covenants. They are symbolized or they're
typified by the two women or the two wives that are mentioned.
Notice he said, one from Sinai bringing forth slaves, and that
is Hagar, and then the mother of slaves. While the other mother
is Jerusalem, which is above One brings forth into bondage,
one bears free children, which they shall not be heirs together. They shall not, the children
of the free woman, the children of the bond woman, are not going
to be heirs together of the promise and the covenant of Abraham. Now the question. what spiritual
lessons are taught or typified or symbolized by these women
and their sons, though both of them were fathered by Abraham. Who does Paul intend, New Testament-wise,
to answer to the two sons? We see again verse 28 and verse
31 where he makes the application. And then again the question is
even tougher. What two covenants does he mean? And this is where
it gets complicated, it gets difficult, it gets challenging
here. We're not looking at this until
the next week, probably, for me. Now, the two sons directly
connected to the two respective covenants, how? By virtue of
their birth. Verse 24, look at what we read,
gender to bondage. it gendereth unto bondage. Verse 26, the mother of us all
is that Jerusalem which is above. So what are the two covenants? And are they what we commonly
know? and what is commonly referred to today as the Old Covenant
and the New Covenant, or the Old Testament Covenant and the
New Testament Covenant, or the First and the Second as they
are styled in Hebrews chapter 8. Now this, I tell you, is probably
the most popular opinion of expositors of Christians and such like,
that it refers to the Old Covenant and to the New Covenant. Or is
it a contradistinction between the law and grace? Is this a
distinction between law and grace, or between the time of the law
and the time of the gospel? Are they what some might call
the Old Testament church and the New Testament church? Or
some even say, is it the Jew and the Gentile that are the
two respective people that are men. Now, to get to that, we
must take note of the fact that the women and their sons are
contemporaries. Get that. These were and are
contemporaries. What I mean by that, they were
living at one and the same time when these things happened. not
separated by large ages or generation. They were contemporary. In fact,
let me say it plainly. They were contemporary living
under the same dispensation, the covenant with Abraham. However,
the women and their son were types of two things that happened
under one covenant. whether it's the Old Testament
or the New Testament scripture. Or, as one put it, and I quote,
typified two parties which were to be found among the Israelites,
unquote. Now get that. Put it in your
memory bank. They typified two kinds of people
that were living among the Israelite. Now again, they were two opposite
parties in the covenant people, but they were in Abraham's family. The one party was only Israel
after the flesh, the other was truly the Israel of God. One was a true son and legitimate
heir. The other was disinherited and
was cast out of the house along with his mother. Thus the two
sons of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, though Abraham had more
sons later on. This is not all of his sons or
all of his children. He had others in Genesis chapter
25. But it was Isaac and Ishmael
that were living examples or figures or type of the two kind
of people. And not just two kind of people
based on nationality or ethnicity, but different in relationship
unto the covenant and their view of the way to obtain favor with
God. We need to get that. Now, note,
one born after the flesh, one born by promise. One only the
flesh, the other the fulfillment of a promise. The one born of
the flesh, and that would be Ishmael, And he mocked and he
persecuted that child, later born of Sarah. The true wife,
by the way, was Sarah. And according to promise, having
been born, he was mocked, persecuted, despised by the one born of the
flesh. Now, both sorts, the two sorts,
both claiming Abrahamic paternity. Strongly, both of them would
claim Abrahamic paternity, both seeking the blessing of Abraham. And yet one sort or one class
believed and trusted God and rested upon the promises of God,
imitated the faith of their father Abraham, and are blessed with
faithful Abraham. Galatians 3 and verse 9. Look
at that, blessed with faithful Abraham. Now the other sort,
typified by Ishmael and many in the New Testament, seeking
the favor of God by keeping the law, by their works, by their
merit, or by their supposed goodness that they drag before God, or
by their fleshly relation and descendancy from Father Abraham. And these seeking justification
from the law are the ones in spiritual bondage with their
mother and will be cast out forever. without inheritance as Ishmael
was, because he was a son of the flesh, not a promise. Now before time is gone, we have
to close this morning, let's recognize that Paul here in Galatians
is applying the situation and the condition. of Abraham's family
to his own time and ministry in the New Testament. Verse 25,
look at that. Here's something. He speaks,
watch this, Jerusalem which now is. Get that? The Jerusalem which
now is. and is in bondage with her children. The present Jerusalem, Paul says
there, the city of the Jew, the earthly Jerusalem, the holy city
as they counted it, Jerusalem. It answers, it corresponds. It
is in the same row or column. I think the Greek would express
it that way. They are in the same row or the
same column In other words, it lines up with Hagar and Ishmael
in bondage with her children. other children. Matthew chapter
23 and 37, Jesus speaks of your children to Jerusalem. Oh, Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, your children. He speaks of them in that light
and makes that connection. Luke 19, 44 does the same. And here in our text in verse
29, but as then, so now. Now this is what gives relevance
to the allegorized history of Abraham's family that is used
by Paul to show the difference between what he called children
of the flesh and children of promise. A distinction first
emphasized in Ishmael and Isaac way back in the book of Genesis. Ishmael was born of, by, from
the flesh. a son of the bondwoman, a son
of a slave. Isaac was born in accordance
with the promise of God. At the time I will come, God
said, and Sarah shall have a son of the true wife, the free wife,
the free woman, not in bondage, but by a mighty act of God was
Isaac born into this world. Now let's repeat, as we draw
to a close. Let's repeat. In all or both
cases, Abraham's family and descendants in Judaism, in the days of the
Apostle, in the day of the Reformation, down through history, and up
to our very present hour this morning, there always will be
has been these two types of people in Christendom. Always have they
been, and always will they be, unto the end of the world. Now
they call themselves the children of God. If asked, they would
give that profession. Number one, there are children
of the flesh. Yes, in the church, unregenerate. And these are blindly stumbling
along, ignorance of the righteousness of God, going about, as Paul
said in Romans 10, to establish their own righteousness and have
not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. Read that
in Romans 10, 1 through 3. Seeking, hoping, thinking that
they will win heaven by keeping some little part of the law,
having chained themselves to thundering volcanic Sinai to
put their soul under the law. And they count themselves worthy
of everlasting life because of these things and because they
keep a few things in the law and such like. But they seek
to fulfill what some called a covenant of works, and none can win the
favor of God by that. Then second, there are and is
in every time and every place the children of grace, the children
of God, the children of promise, the spiritual sons and daughters
of Abraham. They believe in the word of God. They believe in the promise.
They believe in grace. They live and they walk in the
covenant grace. They have no confidence in themselves
or in their flesh. They count their righteousness
filthy rags in the sight of God as Isaiah 64 and verse 6 has
said unto us they reckon themselves to be dead to the law by the
body of Christ when he died upon the cross who have been divinely
and supernaturally birthed These have been born of God. They have
been born again. They have been regenerated by
the superpower of God. You notice Paul changes from
the Old Testament born of flesh and promise to born of flesh
and spirit here in Galatians chapter 4. Now into one of these
groups falls almost all of the offspring of Abraham in the world. And all that do confess or embrace
Christendom. So I'm trying to live under the
wrong coven, but nonetheless, claiming to embrace Christendom,
some trying to live under both. The results, however, are one
and the same, bondage, bondage. The free ones are out of Abraham
and Sarah. The free ones are from the Jerusalem
above. The free ones are from grace.
The free ones are those that are in Christ and that are regenerate
by the Spirit of God. Now, I trust that you can see
that we're in for a very rich spiritual blessing in our consideration
of this passage of the Scripture. God willing, we'll continue it
next Lord's Day, and after that, until we have exhausted what
is here that the Lord has for us. Thank you for your kind attention
today. May the Lord use these things.
May we think upon them, apply them to ourselves, and look at
ourselves as under the covenant that we desire and walk in our
daily life with our God and with our Christ.