Turn in your Bibles, if you would,
to Galatians chapter 4. We're going to continue our study
in the book of Galatians. We've come to a point now where
Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, is going to use
an allegory to show the difference between law and grace. We'll
be spending two weeks on this section, and then when I get
back, from Oregon, we will be in chapter 5. Be in chapter 5
after that. So spend this week and next week
on this section here. Our studies have taken us down
to verse 21 of chapter 4 where we see, tell me ye that desire
to be under the law, do you not hear the law? And Paul writes to our dear brethren
who were so bewitched by the Judaizers that they desired to
be under the law. They'd been set free in Christ.
And now they desire to go back to the weak and beggarly elements
and be under the law. They've been so taken away by
the Judaizers, the false teachers. And not to honor and obey God. They don't want to go back under
the law to honor and obey God. Because that wouldn't honor God,
would it? Christ fulfilled the law in our
place. No, they want to go back under the law in their own minds to bring honor
to God. and to merit salvation by something
they do, but all while they're doing that, they're actually
dishonoring God. Because God will only accept
us in who? In Christ, right? In His finished
work. So actually, when people try
to work their way to heaven by works, they're actually dishonoring
our God. Because He's already told us
in the scriptures that there's only one name under heaven whereby
we must be saved, right? And that's in and through the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's by His work, not by anything
we do. Because the law can only bring death. The law can only
bring condemnation. And so they are attempting to
approach God in some other way other than through Christ Jesus
our Lord. And we can put that on anything.
If people count their baptism as being salvation, that's another
way to approach God. If people count their church
membership, because some churches out there say you have to go
to this church to be saved, that's approaching God in another way
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can start naming different
things that people do. People are Sabbatarians. Some
people are Sabbatarians that say you have to worship on Saturday.
That's another way of approaching God. Do you see how subtle it
is? They can be right on other things, but they're the wrong.
They're the wrong. And that's the main point, isn't
it? Salvation through Christ alone.
Not by anything we do. So Paul's setting this forth
before them. They've been bewitched. And think
of this, too. Gene Harmon said this a long
time ago, a preacher friend of mine from Rescue. He said, Jesus
Christ is not a way to God. He is the way. He is the way. He's the only way that a sinner
can come to Christ. He's not a way. Because people
say, well, there's many ways to God. He's not a way. No. He's
the way. He's the only way that a sinner
can come to God. The only way. No other way. There's
no other way. And God himself pronounces a
curse on all who are the works of the law. It's written, this
curse is everyone that continueeth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. So somebody says, well,
I want to put myself under the law for this point here. Well,
now you've got to fulfill it all. You can't just pick and choose
which ones you're going to obey. You've got to obey them all. My oh my. And the Ten Commands
were given and then a whole bunch of Mosaic Laws were given by
God too, right? You've got to fulfill them all.
It's impossible. Those things point us to Christ,
don't they? They show us our insufficiency. And they show
us the sufficiency of Christ. The completeness of His work.
The completeness of who He is. He's the sinless, spotless Lamb
of God. He's the God-man. And the law
pronounces all men guilty before God. Therefore the law can never
bring peace to a sinner's heart. Never. Never. The law can never
bring good news of forgiveness because all it says is you're
guilty. The law can never grant us a pardon from God. It demands
the soul that sinneth it must die. So what does Christ do? He dies in our ruined place as
a great substitute for his people. He fulfilled the law he did for
us. For us, beloved. And if one finds
fault with God's holy law, then you find fault with God. That's
why we as believers, we know we're not under the law, but
we don't find fault with God's law, do we? It's holy. It reflects
a holy God. It reflects a righteous God.
Oh my, we just know we can't fulfill the law. But we praise
God that Christ did it for us. So we don't find fault with God's
holy law. We don't have a problem with
God. See, the problem wasn't in the law. The problem was in
our flesh. The law demands perfection, right?
We're imperfect. We're sinners. So the problem's
with our flesh. The problem's not with God's
holy law. So Christ, the perfect man, what did he do? He comes
to this earth, He fulfilled the law in the room and place of
His people, then He died before the law and justice of God, suffered
the wrath of God in our room and place, and we're forgiven
of all our sins just by looking to Christ, by God-given faith. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. So let's read verses 21 and 31
of Galatians chapter 4. And Lord willing, we'll be spending
two weeks on this, as I said, this portion of scripture. Paul
sets before us again by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God how
law and grace can't mix. It's impossible. It's like oil
and water. My dad used to be a trailer mechanic. There'd be
oil and water all over the floor when he was working in the shop.
And I always looked at it and I was always fascinated because
you could see like the rainbow color of the oil separating from
the water. They didn't mix. They never mixed. So that's a picture for all of
us if you've ever seen that on the ground. And salvation is
all of grace. It's all by God's grace. It cannot
be mixed with man's works. It cannot be. Otherwise it's
no longer grace. It's either all of grace, which
it is, by the grace of God through our great God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, or it's not salvation at all. It cannot be mixed with the works
of the law. Why? Well, because Christ fulfilled
the law in our room and place, and he said it's finished, didn't
he? It's perfect. Well, if he finished the work,
is there anything for you and I to add? There's nothing for
us to add. Nothing at all. It's already
done. And we say, praise be to God,
it's finished. The work of our salvation, having
obtained eternal salvation for who? For us. Right? He's already done the work. He's
now seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for
all of us. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. So let's read here, Galatians
chapter 4, verses 21 to 31. And again, we will see that law
and grace do not mix in an allegory of Sarah in Hagar. 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, one by a bondmaid, the other by a free
woman. But he who was of the bondmaid
was born after the flesh. Remember that God had promised? that Abraham would have a son
and that son would come through Sarah. Well, Sarah got a little
ahead of God and decided that she would give her servant to
Abraham and try to produce this child that was promised all by
their flesh. And that's why it says there,
was born after the flesh. But he of the free woman was
by promise. Remember Sarah had a baby? And
it was by the promise. God had promised her. And she
was past the ability to have a baby. That's why it was a miracle.
Which things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants.
The one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth the bondage, which
is Agar. The law. For this Agar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, in answer 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 hath many more
children, and she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren,
as Isaac were, are the children of promise. Now look what Paul
just called us. That'll be the name of my message
next week, the children of promise. Look at that. We're the children
of promise. But he that was born after the
flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit. Even so
it is now. And that's true today, isn't
it? What's this speaking of is people of the flesh are people
who aren't born again. And they persecute those who
are born again by the Holy Spirit of God. We've seen it in our family.
We've seen it in our friends. We've seen it on the job site. We've seen it in our lives as
believers. This is true, even so today. Nevertheless, 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. They don't mix. We know that
Ishmael tormented Isaac. So then, brethren, We are not
children of the bondwomen, but of the free. Look at that. We were born of the bondwomen,
but by God's supernatural work. And think of this. We were always
children of promise. We were always the children of
promise. It didn't just come about when
we're born again. How do we know that? Well, look,
and I've read this verse multiple times. I'm going to read it again.
Look a little bit further up in verse 6. And because ye are
sons, this is before we're born again, because you are sons,
God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
born again, crying Abba Father. Now we cry Abba Father. Isn't
that wonderful? We're the Son's promise. That's
incredible. We didn't know that. We'll get
into that more next week. But we didn't know that, did
we? Not at all. Not at all. Now we see in our
text that immediately following the question in verse 21, now
we see a clear example. And a clear explanation of the
difference between law and grace is given to us in the form of
an allegory. Now in the Webster's Dictionary,
allegory is defined as a story in which people, things, and
happenings have a hidden or symbolic meaning. And we see that here.
The hidden and symbolic meaning within this is the fact that
we are the children of promise. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. And others are the children of
the flesh. And the only one, who's the only
one who made us to differ? Yeah, Christ, God. He's the only
one who made us to differ, didn't he? And we know from the beginning
of this chapter that you couldn't tell us apart, you couldn't tell,
you couldn't tell the children the promise apart from the goats
before we were saved. Had no clue. We didn't have a
clue. My oh my. God let us in on it,
didn't he? Isn't that wonderful? Now we
know. That's what we say now. We say
hallelujah. Praise be to God. Praise be to
God. Oh, that's wonderful. So this
biblical allegory uses Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar and the events
surrounding the birth of Ishmael and Isaac to explain the difference
between two covenants. One is works and one is grace.
Abraham is the first person mentioned in this biblical allegory. Now
if the Judaizers had known anything about grace, which they didn't,
they knew nothing about grace. Nothing at all. It was just a
word that came out of their mouth when they used it. They were
only looking for themselves. They wanted a following. That's
all they wanted. But if they'd known anything
about the grace of God concerning Abraham's faith, they would have
known that circumcision, nor any of the law of Moses, had
anything to do with Abraham's relationship with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because Abraham believed before
he was circumcised. He believed before he was circumcised. Abraham was 75 years old when
the Lord called him out of the land of Ur. He's an idol worshiper
for 75 years. Can you imagine that? So were
we in one way or another, right? We either worshiped self or we
worshiped something else. 75 years though. See, he's no
different than us. He's a man called by God, right?
Separated. He's part of the ecclesia, right? He's part of the called out assembly,
right? Is not the church all the saints from the Old Testament
and the New? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. He's the head. We're
the body, right? All the elect of all the ages
make up the bride of Christ. Oh, my. 75 years old when he
was called to the land of the earth. And he was 99 years old
when he was circumcised. So he believed. He believed before
he was circumcised. Circumcision had nothing to do
with his faith. God told him to do that. Circumcision had nothing to do
with Abraham's salvation. Faith was reckoned to Abraham
for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? When
he was in circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. Romans 4 verses 9 and 10. See, these Judaizers were saying,
well you gotta follow the law and be circumcised to be saved,
along with faith in Christ. And Paul is showing us an allegory
here, again by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, that
one child is of the flesh and one child is of the Spirit, and
grace and law do not mix. And see, the Judaizers Again,
they were just looking for a following. They knew nothing about grace.
They knew nothing about Abraham having been circumcised after
he believed. Because if they did, they would
have cast aside that foolishness that they were teaching, right? And Abraham lived hundreds of
years before God gave his laws to Moses. Did you know that?
Hundreds of years. I was talking to Jake the other
day, last night, from Colorado, and we were talking about this
very thing. And he said, well, what about Job, too? And I said,
yeah, Job lived far before the law was ever given. And yet he
believed. I know my Redeemer liveth. Right? I know he lives. By faith. You
see? What about all those Old Testament
saints? What about Adam and Eve and Abel
and all the saints that came after them? What about them? None of them were circumcised,
but they were looking ahead to the man-child, right? To the
seed of the woman, the Messiah, the one who God had promised.
We know Abel offered the proper sacrifice, right? Who did he
learn that from? Adam and Eve. Right? Oh, my. I'll tell you. The Ten Commandments written
on tables of stone by the finger of God, His ceremonial laws,
or the moral law written on the hearts of men and women who come
into this world, contribute absolutely nothing to God's sovereign mercy. They don't contribute anything
to God's sovereign mercy. We are saved by the grace and
mercy of God. We deserve condemnation, right?
That's what the law does, it condemns. It says, you're guilty
before God. I'm guilty before God. And then
we're shown Christ. Mercy, undeserved, unmerited
mercy. Who did Abraham look to? Christ. He looked to Christ, beloved.
My, now those who sinfully think they can establish their own
righteousness by keeping the law of Moses or become more sanctified
by keeping the law of Moses or that the law of Moses is the
believer's rule of life, they need to consider this. All the
saints of God from Adam to the time when God gave the law to
Moses, they were all righteous in God's eyes, weren't they? Without the law. without the law. You know why?
Because they were looking to Christ. They were looking to the Messiah.
We know God had his people before he, right? They were called the
elect of God. Noah found what? Grace in the
eyes of God. Did Noah know anything about
the law of God? Nope. But he says he found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. What did we find in the eyes
of the Lord? Grace. Right? Grace. We found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. Well, they all walked by faith. They all looked to
Christ. They were given the same faith
you and I have, beloved. They were. They were motivated. And how were they motivated?
They were motivated by love, just like we are. They were motivated
by their love for God, their love for the Messiah. My, people say, well, how can
you motivate people? I don't have to motivate anybody.
God's love will motivate us, right? God's love will motivate
us, his people. My, they all died in faith too,
didn't they? They all died in faith, not knowing
anything about the law of Moses. I'm talking about the people
who, the saints of God, who lived before, from Adam to Moses. They didn't know anything about
the law of God. But they looked to the Messiah,
didn't they? Job said, I know my Redeemer liveth! I know he
lives! How? By God-given faith, beloved. Isn't that amazing? Oh my, I'll
tell you why, it's wonderful. So this allegory in the last
part of Galatians 4 gives us the names of Abraham's two wives,
Sarah and Hagar. Let's read verses 24 to 28. It
also gives us the names of two, Abraham's two sons, Ishmael and
Isaac. Actually, Ishmael is not mentioned
by name, but we know him from studying in Genesis. I thought that was incredible
that his name is not mentioned. And that Isaac is though which things were an allegory
for these are the two covenants the one from Mount Sinai which
gender at the bondage which is agar for this agar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia in answer 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 barest not. Break forth and cry thou that
travailest not for the desolate hath many more children than
she which which hath a husband. Now we brethren as Isaac was
are the children of promise. Now Hagar was a bondwoman to
Sarah and Sarah was a free woman and these two represent two covenants
were told in the scriptures here. Hagar refers to Mount Sinai where
God gave his laws to Moses and And those who are under those
laws for acceptance with God are under a covenant of works.
A covenant of works. And what that did was show that
we could never find acceptance with God by anything we've done.
We can't keep one law, let alone all that we're given, all the
mosaic laws and everything. See, people forget when they
go under the law that they're not just under the law to the
Ten Commandments, which we also can't keep, right? They're under
the homozaic law. And the Holy Spirit has told
us in the book of James that if you break one, you're guilty
of them all. See, that's why it shows us our
need for a Savior, right? The old timers used to say the
law was a ministration to death. But preaching the gospel is a
ministration to life. through Christ and Christ alone.
One leads to life and one leads to death. Oh my. And the whole world we
know is guilty before God, right? Even people who say, well I don't
believe in God. It don't matter. You're still, well it matters.
But you know what I'm saying? It doesn't change the fact that
you're still guilty before God. No matter what. Praise God. You know what? We're justified,
which means we're rendered innocent. That's good news for the sinner.
Good news for all of us, isn't it? For we saved sinners. We are rendered innocent. My,
that's wonderful. That's wonderful. And the covenant
of works genders to bondage because of the weakness of the flesh.
As I said earlier, the problem is not God's holy law, the problem
is with sinful man who's unable to keep the law. And that's us. And again, if one fails in one
point of the law, they're guilty of breaking the whole law, and
therefore they're under a curse. They're under the curse of the
law. Those trying to make themselves acceptable to God under the old
covenant of works, they're actually subjecting themselves to a lifetime
of bondage. And we who are the redeemed of
the Lord, we know what that bondage is like, right? Because it came
in all different forms for us, didn't it? Some of us came out
of religion. Some of us were just outright
heathens. We all had different paths that
way where the Lord drew us. But we were all under bondage
no matter what. We were all under the bondage
of our sin. My oh my. And you know what? They're under
the fear of God. They're under the wrath of God.
They're under the fear of death. See, death has no more sting
for the believer. We're going home. We're going home when we
die. My. Now Sinai, the Sinai covenant
was prefigured by Hagar, the servant. By the effect which
it produces, if life and acceptance are sought by it, no life can
come by the law. No life can come by the law.
So the children of the bondwomen can only be children of bondage.
You see? And the children of the free
women can only be children of promise. Isn't that wonderful? We're children
of promise, beloved. My, oh my. The covenant of works
cannot produce heirs of life, and that's eternal life through
Christ Jesus our Lord. The covenant of works can't do
that. Keeping the law, law keeping
cannot give life or salvation. These Judaizers were telling
these Galatian believers that they could be saved by their
works, which again speaks of human works, human merit, and
fear which can only lead to the damnation of one's soul. They
were teaching a perversion of the true gospel. And we know that from Galatians
chapter one, right, where Paul was saying this is a perversion
of the gospel. Anyone trying to be saved by
the works of the law are in full bondage to the law, subject to
God's justice and wrath. Followers of the law can no more
be heirs of God than Ishmael. The son of the bondwoman can
be the true heir of Abraham. He will always be a servant and
not the son. And Sarah refers to Mount Zion,
the heavenly Jerusalem. The city of God, which is the
mother of us all. Sarah, the free woman, points
to God's eternal covenant of grace. The covenant of grace comes from
heaven, beloved. From heaven. It's planned by
God. It's purposed by God. It's executed
by God. It doesn't come from the thundering
mountain of Sinai. It comes from the grace and mercy
of God. Thou art mine. Thou art redeemed by the precious
blood of my Son. Oh, it's wonderful. And how was
the covenant of grace established? Well, by our great triune God
in old eternity. It was conditioned upon what
the Lord Jesus Christ would do for His chosen people. And think
of this, too. Our Redeemer, He met all the
conditions of the covenant of grace for us. All of them. Everything that God demanded
for the salvation of our souls, Christ met them all. Everything. And how was this covenant ratified?
By the blood of Christ. sealed by the blood of Christ,
the precious, precious blood of our Savior, the God-man who
by himself forever purged our sins, purged our sins, beloved,
purged all the sins of his promised children from God's sight forever. Let us live in that, that our
sins are purged from God's sight forever. Oh, if I could only grasp that
wholly and fully, right? It's true though. It's true. Oh my. Our righteousness is in
the obedience of Jesus Christ, not in our obedience. Our redemption
is in the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in
the ordinances of the tabernacle. Our justification before God
is in the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in anything we do, because
it's Christ who perfectly satisfied the holy justice of God for us. Our Savior completely and all
sufficiently, meant the law's demand when he died for us. He
meant the law's demand for us. Everything that the law demanded
for us, he meant it all. It is finished. Finished. My bride is redeemed
by my blood. Oh, and God's children, now what
can we do? We can boldly come to the throne
of grace now, can't we? To obtain grace and to help in
time of need, to obtain mercy. Not through an earthly high priest,
but through the one high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, our high
priest. And Christ delivered us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. So rejoice, beloved
God, the perfect love of God that he puts in our hearts. Cast
away the fear of death, the fear of God's wrath, and the fear
of eternal torment. Christ paid it all for me. My. Let's read again verses 28 to
31. And we see that Abraham's sons,
Ishmael and Isaac, are brought up in this allegory. One is named
and the other is not. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. But then he that was born of
the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit. Even
so is now. I notice that he doesn't even
mention Ishmael's name. I want to look into that a little
bit more. But he doesn't even mention his name. He just says
the child of the flesh. And so he says, even now today,
this happens. The children of the flesh still
persecute those of the Spirit, the children of promise. Nevertheless,
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. They can't... oil and water,
right? Don't mix, does it? Law and grace
doesn't mix, do you see? That's what's being set before
us. Law and grace do not mix. Paul is setting before these
Galatian believers an allegory that's so clear, isn't it? And
again, it's by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. Ishmael
was a product of flesh. He came into this world through
the process of procrastination. And Hagar, his mother, was young
and capable of bearing children. And there was nothing in the
birth of Ishmael that evidenced God's promise of a son of Abraham. Ishmael typifies all false religions
who are trusting in the works of the flesh. Salvation is by
the works... Salvation... Think of these here.
Here's some things to think about. I've got a little bit of time
left. Salvation by the works of the law denies the miracle
of the new birth. Right? Because it's something
man must do. Salvation by meeting on Saturday,
Sabbatarians, denies the miracle again of the new birth because
it's something we must do. Salvation by water baptism denies
the miracle again of the new birth. You see, all these things
are against the regenerating power of God, the Holy Spirit,
because the old timers used to call people who believe by salvation
by water baptism, it's baptismal regeneration. They believe that
you're born again by water. Water doesn't do nothing. It
just gets us wet. Right? Baptism is a good confession
before God that he's done a work in us, right? Salvation by being
affiliated with some religious organization again denies the
miracle of the new birth because again, see the pattern here?
It's something that man must do. Salvation by a decision for
Jesus or by man's so-called free will denies the miracle of the
new birth because again, it's something that man must do. Do we run to Christ? Oh yeah, when we're born again.
You can't keep us from Christ. Oh my. So like Ishmael, those
things are products of the flesh. Now Isaac was a child of promise,
God's promise to Abraham. Sarah was 90 years old when Isaac
was born. Humanly speaking, it was impossible
for her to have a child. And this miracle was purposed
by God to draw our attention to His power in keeping His promise. Read those Old Testament promises
to Israel. They're ours in Christ. They're
ours in Christ. Isaac typifies all who experience
the miracle of the new birth. Look at verse 28. Now we, brethren,
as Isaac was, are the children of promise. How could there be
any possibility that these words being misunderstood? Every child
of God is a promise from God the Father to his son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Isn't that wonderful? You ever
think of yourself like that? Isn't that incredible? Every
promised child of God comes into this world with Adam's fallen
nature and is a state of spiritual deadness from which we cannot
deliver ourselves. And every promised child of God
will be brought unto the preaching of the glorious gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and him crucified, and at the time appointed by
God. God's revealed love in Christ
will be revealed to the sinner. And every promised child of God
will experience the miracle of the new birth, all by the power
of God the Holy Spirit. every promised child of God will
be given a gift of faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to
believe the gospel. And every promised child of God
will be bought to the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone. There will
not be one sheep missing for whom Christ died for. Every single
one will be bought to Christ. That's why keep praying for your
family members. Keep praying for your friends.
We don't know who God's elect are. Just keep praying for them.
Oh my. Because every single one, the
one who Christ died for, will be bought. Will be bought by
sovereign, irresistible grace. They'll be bought. They'll be
bought to Christ. By the drawing power of Jehovah
God. The same power that enabled Sarah
to conceive and give birth. The same power that raised Christ
from the grave. Same power that raised us from
the deadness we were in spiritually to life in Christ. And every
child of God, every promised child of God is a sinner saved
by grace and by mercy. in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And what do we say? Hallelujah. Glory be to God. Glory be to
God. Brother Travis, can you close
us in prayer?