Turn in your Bibles to Galatians,
the book of Galatians. I've said for a long time that
the Lord gave us the illustrations first. That is what we often
find going on in the New Testament. the blessed truths of the gospel
being illustrated by something that we find in the Old Testament. If you'll look in Galatians chapter
4, I'll begin reading in verse 21. Paul says, Tell me, ye that
desire to be under the law, Do you not hear the law? For as 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 that was 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 genereth to bondage, which is Agar or Hagar. For this Agar
is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which
now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem,
which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice thou
barren that bearest not, Break forth and cry thou that travailest
not, for the desolate hath many more children than she which
hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. But as then he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
even so it is now. 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. So then, brethren, we are not
children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Now I'm entitled
this today. Who is your Who is your mother? I don't know if you've ever noticed
it or not, but man-made days always glorify man. And today is no different. And
I would just simply say, lest I get blamed or charged as I
often am as being hard or harsh or such things as that. Let me
say that I'm thankful for my mother. I'm very thankful for
my mother. She was a dear lady that treated
me wonderfully. And I'm thankful for the mother
of my children. I recognize her dedication, her
love, her faithfulness, all that. And I'm thankful for all you
mothers out there. I truly am. Especially those
who show themselves mothers in Israel. I'm thankful for each
and every one. But true worship is about glorifying
God. It's about glorifying Christ
for His grace to us. You see, Christ's church, His
true church, is all about him, all about the Lord Jesus Christ. But I'll use the day, knowing
what man's emphasis is, to seek to set forth the glory of the
gospel of Christ. And so that is my question. Who
is your And I ask that because God uses two mothers and two
sons in this text to illustrate a vital, essential, spiritual
truth. It was a matter of such importance
that the Apostle Paul in this letter to these in Galatia does
not even take the time to make the introductory kinds of statements
and greetings he makes in his other epistles. He rushes right
to the point. He begins immediately to deal
with the issue. And there is a serious reason
for this letter to the Galatians. And it is because some preachers
and individuals had come to the churches in Galatia and tried
to do the impossible. Now you just mark this down. They tried to do the impossible. And that was to mix the law with
salvation by Paul writes to the problem of immorality in the
church at Corinth, but he doesn't question the fact that they are
true believers. And yet, where this problem is
present, he writes, and one of the first things he says is,
I'm standing in doubt of some of you. You see, a man or a woman
may fail morally. As David and others, they may
fail morally, still be God's child. But not here. Not this
issue. Not this matter. Because the
most easily polluted, the most easily destroyed, if you will,
thing in this world is grace. The grace of God. You see, it
cannot be Christ and the law of Moses. It cannot be grace
and works. And everyone, every one of us
here, every one of us everywhere, everyone is seeking to stand
before God and be accepted by Him on the basis of either one
or the other. But don't ever think you can
mix the two. Don't ever think you can mix
the two. And you see, we're all standing
in that position whether we realize it or not. We're either seeking
to stand before God in the Lord Jesus Christ or on our own, on
our own merit, on our own thinking, on our own works. And we stand
before Him either in our own person and our own works and
our own righteousness or We stand before him in Christ, in his
works, and in his righteousness. And the law simply given is given
to show us that men and women never have been, never can be,
and are not right now being saved on a principle of their doing. Somebody said, well, why did
God give the law if we can't keep it? Well, the truth of the
matter is, when he gave the law to Moses, right at the bottom
of that mountain, at that very instant, was the gross idolatry
being committed by those Israelites. You see, all that the law can
do is show us what we can't do. And Paul reminds us that the
law was never given as a means of salvation, neither was it
given as a means of sanctification. Is that because there's a problem
with the law? No, it's because the problem
is with us. It's because the problem lies
in what we're able to do because we're not able to keep it. The
law was given to a nation of people who were given every outward
advantage to do and on that basis be blessed of God But they never
did. You can read all throughout the
Old Testament passages. You can read in all the history
of Israel. They're always saying to Moses
something like this or one of the prophets, just ask God what
he wants us to do and we'll do it. They did. They couldn't do
it. They never ever could do it.
They never did it. And it showed that, what Paul
is stating again and again, not only in this epistle, but all
the other epistles, such things as he writes in Romans 3, when
he says, Therefore, by the deeds of the law," now why does he
say therefore? Because of what he's just said
before concerning what our natural state and condition is. There's
none that seeketh after God, there's none that doeth good,
there's none that understandeth, and that being the situation,
therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. Wonder what we don't understand
about that. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. You may in your sight. You may
in your mother's sight. You may in your friend's sight.
You may in preacher so-and-so's sight. Not in his sight. Not
in God's sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. And then he gives us another
therefore. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith
without the deeds of the law. Is that plain? You see, salvation,
that is the promise of God, the promise of eternal life, the
promise of this eternal inheritance, it is not It's not by doing our
best. I'll never forget, some of you
were there the very first night, I think it was, that Brother
Henry Mahan came and preached in that meeting the first time. And what did we do? We stood
up and sung what was supposedly a hymn that was entitled, Our
Best. Our Best. He got up and commented,
not our best, it's Christ's best. It's not by our works of righteousness
which we have done, not by anything in us or of us or done by us. So Paul says this, tell me, you
that have been listening to these legalists, these works mongers,
these who seek to mix law and grace, oh, they don't get rid
of grace. They don't come and throw away
the name of Jesus Christ. But it's a very subtle, deadly,
damning mixture. So Paul says to these, he writes
to, and does, tell me, you that desire to be under the law, you
want to measure your standing before God, your acceptance by
God, or some improvement thereof, based on your obedience to the
law or based on any principle of obedience or doing?" He said,
do you not hear the law? Don't you hear what it says?
It's all about threatenings. It's all about a command to do
what we cannot do? Look back in Galatians chapter
2 and verse 16. Listen to what he says here.
He says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of
the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, Even we have believed
in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of
the law shall no flesh be justified. You know what that word justify
mean. It means to be declared or counted
righteous by God in the sight of God. And then look over in
Galatians 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 every one that continueth not in all the things which are
written in the book of the law, to do them. You may hang the
Ten Commandments up. You may have it inscribed in
granite and put in the courthouse square. You may admire it. You may talk about how great
it is, but it's all about doing, not about admiring it. Not about
having it on your wall. It's about doing it. Doing everything
in the law. And James says, if a man offends
in one point, he's guilty of it all. Why? Because it's a whole
perfect body. The least imperfection. And that
which represents God himself, totally broken. And then Paul
is led by the Spirit of God back to a family hundreds of years
before. That's why he says to us, those
things that were written were written for our admonition, those
of us upon whom the end of the age shall come. This wasn't written
for Abraham or anybody else in his family. It's written for
us, and God uses this as an illustration to show it, an illustration using,
guess what? Two mothers. Two mothers. Though
he says in verse 22, for it is written that Abraham had two
sons, the one by a bondmaid and the other by a free woman. Abraham had two sons. That is,
two sons that God is using to teach us a spiritual truth. And
he had these two sons by two women. He had these two sons
and they were one, as it is described here, these two mothers, one
woman by the name of Hagar, and the other by the name of Sarah.
And Sarah was the one who was the lawful wife, and Hagar was
the one who was the bondwoman. From those two women, those two
mothers, came two sons. One by the name of Ishmael and
the other by the name of Isaac. And then the Apostle Paul is
led by the Spirit to tell us something about what we're to
think about and how we're to interpret what is represented
by these two mothers and these two sons. He calls it an allegory. He said, this is an allegory.
And an allegory is a way of speaking in which one thing is expressed
by another. And it's a continued metaphor,
and the apostle's meaning is that these things point at some
other things. They have another meaning in
them, a spiritual one besides a literal one. Somebody says,
are you taking that literally or spiritually? Both. This is
literally what God means, but it's spiritual. And so here are
these two women, here are these two mothers with their two sons,
and he said, They represent two covenants. Two covenants. Two
testaments. Signifies the two testaments,
the old and the new. The old is of Mount Sinai and
brings under bondage, which is Hagar. This is the law that was
given by Moses. Isn't that what it says? You
don't have to be a rocket scientist to see what it says. God has
to give you faith if you ever truly see it and believe it,
but it's clear what He says. Paul says in Romans 10, "...for
Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law, that the
man which doeth those things shall live by them." And yet
the Lord Jesus Christ, through the Apostle John, He sets those
two things in contrast to each other. He says, for the law was
given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. We have the law in the hands
of one Mediator. We have grace and truth in the
hands of another Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the new,
he says, is of Jerusalem, not earthly Jerusalem. That's associated
with Hagar and bondage to the law and sin and death, but a
heavenly Jerusalem. A heavenly Jerusalem. You interested
in that? I am. You see, that's not the
Holy Land. Do you understand that? That's
not the Holy Land. That's just That small nation
gathered around all those historical remains and relics and what have
you, that's not the Holy Land. All that can do is represent
natural bondage. You see, the new is of the, not
of earthly Jerusalem, but the heavenly Jerusalem, and he's
not speaking of heaven here so much as he is the heavenless. We're all in Christ, all. And they're there by God's promise
of grace. They're there through the blood
and righteousness of Christ. They're there by faith in Him. They're said to be there seated
in Him. Hold your place and turn over
just a few pages to Ephesians chapter 1. You see, they're represented
as already being in and a part of this new Jerusalem because
of who they're in. You know what Jerusalem means?
The city of the great king and all of God's elect. Every one
of these chosen in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the
world. They are in this sense already in Him in the heaven. They're already citizens in this
city. Ephesians 1 chapter verse 3,
he says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing. Now who does
the blessing here? God does. And it says he has
already done this, and he includes in this all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places. Or if you notice, that's just
an additional word added there, that word places. It says in
the heavenlies, in the heavenlies, in Christ. All of God's people
being in Christ are already blessed in Him with all spiritual blessing,
every spiritual blessing. They're in the heaven. Look in
chapter 2 of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
4. He says, Though we were all these things by nature, dead
in trespasses and sin, by nature the children of wrath, even as
others, but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us
together with Christ by grace you are saved and hath raised
us up together and made us sit together in the heavenlies in
Christ Jesus. You see, when you and I naturally
think of what is represented by that word place, we go wrong. He has put us in the heavenlies,
graced us in the heavenlies, given us every spiritual blessing
in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. and Sarah. Sarah is the mother
used as a type of the spiritual Jerusalem. Sarah is the one who
represents the gospel of grace which reveals the everlasting
covenant of grace in Christ and the church which is the heirs
of God. Those who are joint heirs with
Christ. Now look over in Hebrews chapter
12 because this is a reoccurring theme all throughout the New
Testament to make sure that you and I know how it is that a person
is saved, all right? Look at what he says here in
Hebrews 12 and verse 18. The apostle says, for you are
not come, do you see that? You are not come unto the mount
that might be touched. and that burned with fire, nor
unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of
a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated
that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. Don't speak
to us anymore of that word because that's all the law can do for
us is condemn us. He's talking about Mount Sinai
and he says, for they could not endure that which was commanded
And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned
or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight
that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake." Moses said that. What's the next word? But, but,
but you are come unto Mount Zion. Oh, how many times in the Old
Testament is that name, that name for that mountain, that
name for Jerusalem given again and again to represent the true
church of the living God, God's elect believing people. It's
Zion. But you are come unto Mount Zion
and unto the city of the living God. the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect. and to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh
better things than that of Abel." He said, you not come to this
mount, you come to Mount Zion. whole different mount, whole
different Jerusalem, identified, pictured, illustrated in this
story by this mother whose name is Sarah. So how did she have
her child? Both of them had children. You
see, Isaac was born and became a son and received the inheritance
because of God's promise of grace. You see, all who are represented
by Isaac are described as the children of promise. Ishmael come to be born. Because Sarah, thinking that
she would not have a child, told Abraham, her husband, to go into
this servant woman, and when he did, she conceived a child
by the name of Ishmael, and he's called the child of the flesh.
She did everything, they did everything, to try to produce
an heir, but it was all wrong. As a matter of fact, when God
talks to Abraham about taking Isaac up on Mount Moriah, He
says, you take Isaac, your only son. You see, this Jerusalem,
These descendants are spiritual and a people who are dispersed
over the earth, but who are chosen and redeemed and born of God
and brought to believe what God says. So Paul writes to the Romans. And he says, neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. But in
Isaac thy seed shall be called, that is, 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. For this is the word of promise,
at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son." No,
she can't. She's old. Abraham's old. She's passed the years of childbearing. She has no ability in herself. He has no ability in himself. But guess what? Child was born.
Why was he born? Because God promised it. God
promised it. And salvation has nothing to
do with anything natural, any association in this flesh, any
activity of this flesh. Salvation does not go to the
deserving. but to the promised." Do you
ever wonder how God could ever promise a sinner life, peace,
salvation, and eternal inheritance? Because all God's promises are
yea and amen in Christ. They're all in Christ. They're
all yes and true in Christ. And these two men that were born
of these two women, they represent two states or two standings,
one of bondage and one of liberty. Let's go back and read the text.
One of them, Ishmael, is a type, a picture, a representation of
what you get through the activities of human flesh. Just more bondage. That's all we have in ourselves. Since we fell in Adam, since
we were born and came forth from the womb speaking lies, since
we've had all our reformations of life time and time again,
no improvement. Just more bondage. Bondage to
sin, bondage to Satan, bondage to a nature of sin, bondage to
the guilt of sin, bondage to the curse of the law. But Isaac,
he represents liberty, liberty from that guilt of sin, liberty
from that penalty of sin, liberty from that curse, liberty from
that dominion of sin. And these two standings before
God are illustrated in these two sons. Ishmael was said to
be born after the flesh. Isaac was said to be the child
of promise. Isaac was born by natural generation. Ishmael was born by natural generation
and Isaac by supernatural generation. Ishmael did not receive the spiritual
blessing and he and Hagar, his mother, were cast out at God's
command. And Isaac got everything. He
and Sarah dwelt with Abraham and were blessed. He got everything. Now you read about Isaac and
Ishmael, you might like Ishmael better. I'm pretty sure if you
read about Esau and Jacob, you may like Esau better. This has
to do with God's grace. Somebody said, well, you mean
to tell me Isaac got everything? He didn't deserve everything.
He didn't deserve anything. He got it by promise. God promised
it in Christ. You might remember when Abraham
sent his servant down to get a bride for Isaac, sent him into
a particular place. And the servant went down there,
and this is pretty much a summary of what he said. He said to that
bride, Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to my master when
she was old, and unto him has he given all that he had. My
master's wife got old, he was old, but God supernaturally blessed
them with a child named Isaac. He's given him everything he's
got. What was he saying? In so many words, he was saying
this. You marry this guy, you got it all. You have it all. And this is exactly what the
gospel declares. Those in Christ get it all. They're a part of this heavenly
Jerusalem. They're a part of this heavenly
Zion. They've been chosen in Christ
and blessed with all spiritual blessings. They're the children
of the promise. So John says this is the record. This is the record. This is what
the last will and testament of Jesus Christ says. This is what
the new covenant says. This is the record that God has
given unto us eternal life. And this life is in his son.
He that hath the son hath life. He that hath not the son hath
not life. And he says that God's elect,
that is true believers in Christ, his spiritual people, spiritual
Israel, his church, they'll number more than that earthly nation.
Look back at our text in Galatians 4 verse 27, 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 a husband. You see, he's not only showing
God's grace to a particular people, but he's showing also at the
same time that this particular people, the objects of his mercy,
they're not just from the Jewish nation, oh no. There are people
from the Jews and the Gentiles. There are people out of every
kindred and nation and tribe and tongue. And then notice what
he says in verse 28. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. We're the children of promise.
We're the people given to Christ. redeemed by His blood. We're the people that God has
imputed the very righteousness of Christ to us. We're the people
that God has blessed through no merit of our own. We're the
children of the promise. And he says, when he writes to
the Romans in Romans chapter 4, he says, the promise He said
all of God's salvation is by His grace and it's through the
faith He gives. It's received through the faith
He gives in order that the promise might be sure. It can never be
sure. if it depended on us in any way. Even to muster up the faith,
he gives the faith. I was thinking about it this
morning or yesterday or something. I'm not really trying to get
anybody to believe. You know, that'd be a hard job.
It'd be an impossible job. But I know this, if God gives
you faith, this is what you'll believe. As a matter of fact,
it usually starts out like this. It usually starts out trying
not to believe it. I can remember when I first began
to see in the pages of Scripture the inevitable, obvious truth
of this sovereign, free grace of God, and my natural response
to it and natural rebellion against it was this. I'll never believe
that. Guess what? If God gives us faith,
we can't believe anything else. I couldn't preach anything else.
I can sit down. I can sit down. Paul says, woe
is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Here it is. Hagar, the
bondwoman. Her and her son remain the bondwoman. Sarah, And her son, she's the
free woman. And her and her son, they received
the liberty and all the inheritance. But he says, but as then, he
that was born of the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit,
and even so it is now. Now you read the account. What
does Ishmael do? He mocks Isaac. What can you
do? I came before you. Look how strong
I am. Look how much bigger than I am
of you." Such things as that. And he said, just like it was
then in that situation, that's the way it is now. You just go
out in this world and tell men and women, that you believe that
salvation's of the Lord, all of His free and sovereign grace,
not of works lest we should boast and mock Him. I read a news article, just a
brief clip this past week, and it was in something, I don't
remember what it was, but it was just like all these celebrities
and so-called stars in our day. Not only do these people have
They think have the knowledge and the wisdom and the understanding
to speak on every subject known to man and give an opinion on
it. These people, most of whom spend their lives being somebody
else. But this man said concerning attitudes toward the other. He
said, since, he says, the basic principle, and I'm just paraphrasing,
the basic principle of all religions is simply this, that you'll be
blessed based on what you do to the least of you. And I thought
this. Well, at least you have rightly stated what most people
do believe. Except one problem. He put Christianity
in that. And he put Christianity in that
category because that's what he most likely has heard and
believed all his life. That's not the gospel. The Lord's
people will receive what they receive, and they'll receive
it all because of Christ, because of grace, because he promised
it. But, He says, nevertheless, what
does the scripture say? What did God say to Abraham? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son. My friend, that hasn't changed
one bit. And that will be obviously, blatantly
obvious at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Cast out all
the works mongers who in that day will stand and say, Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not cast
out devils in your name? Have we not done many wonderful
works in your name? And he'll say to them in that
hour, depart from me. You that work iniquity, I never
knew you." They may point their finger at me and they say, well,
that's a pitiful bunch of preaching you did. That's a, I saw you
do this, I heard you say this, and all that. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputes righteousness without work. Blessed is the man, the woman,
to whom the Lord will not impute sin. That's who's blessed. That's
the children of promise. Of his own will. Beget he us
with the word of truth. 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're not
the children of the bondwoman, but of the free. So who's your
mother? Is it Hagar? Is it who you are? What you've done? What you haven't
done? Or is it Sarah, the free woman? Children of promise. Those who
are in Christ Jesus. Those who believe on Christ.
Paul said these are the children of Abraham. He's the father of
the faithful. That means the father of those
who believe. Who look to Christ. and only
Christ for everything. He writes in Romans 8, he says,
therefore, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. Then he says it again, that the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And you know what men
do with those two verses? They set you on the Hagar way.
They say, there's no condemnation to those who walk not after the
flesh but after the Spirit. That has something to do with
our Christian walk. No, it does not. To walk after the Spirit
and to determine what that means is to just simply remember what
Christ said about the Spirit. He said, He shall take the things
of mine and show them to you. To walk after the Spirit is to
trust Christ, the one the Spirit of God reveals. To look to Him,
to rest in Him, walk after the flesh. Though it may manifest
itself in some act of immorality, I don't know, but it means to
trust and to lean on the arm of the flesh before God. Who's
our mother? It's either, in this spiritual
sense, Agar the bondwoman or Sarah And you know what you get
in Hagar's house? Bondage. You can't do enough,
you can't give enough, you can't quit enough, you can't abstain
from enough, you can't do enough. It's just all doo-doo. But in
the house of Sarah, Sarah's our mother, our spiritual mother.
It's always done, done. Where do you go to get comfort?
There's one thing about it. If your mama's alive, in most
cases, you can always go to mom and get comfort. You can't get
any comfort from Hagar. You can't get any comfort from
the law. When have you done enough? You can't. All the comfort comes
from that promise. all the promise in the Lord Jesus
Christ. God help us to look to Him and
only Him all the time. Father, we thank you this day
and give you praise for your truth, though so feebly and poorly
presented. I pray that your Spirit would
cause us to see this allegory, to see this distinction, to see
how separate these things are. It is never Christ plus anything,
because if He's all, He's all, and He's the all of your people.
Grant that we might rest in Him, that we might abide in this household
forever. The children of the promise,
sons of Abraham, sons and daughters of Sarah, the heavenly Jerusalem,
Mount Zion, we thank you for your grace in Him. Amen.