Today's message is entitled Law
and Grace, and I want us to first begin reading in Genesis chapter
16, and I want to read a few verses there, and then I want
to look at a few other passages. In Genesis chapter 16, beginning
in verse 1, it says, Now Sarah, Abraham's wife, bare him no children. And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian,
whose name was Hagar. And Sarah said unto Abraham,
behold, now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray they
go unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children
by her. And Abram hearkened unto the
voice of Sarai. And Sarah Abram's wife took Hagar,
her maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt 10 years in the
land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband, and Abram to
be his wife. And he went into Hagar and she
conceived. And when she saw that she had
conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. Actually, Hagar
thought that she was better than Sarah because she had conceived
him because Sarah could not conceive children. Now look in chapters
21 beginning in verse one, Genesis 21. And the Lord visited Sarah, as
he had said. And the Lord said unto Sarah,
as he had spoken. And the Lord did unto Sarah,
as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare
Abram a son in his old age, at the sad time of which God had
spoken unto him, when God had promised him a son. And Abraham
called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah
bare to him, Isaac. And Abram circumcised his son,
being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abram
was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him,
a hundred years old. And Sarah said, God hath made
me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, who would have
said to Abraham that Sarah would have given children suck, for
I have born him a son in his old age? And the child grew,
Isaac grew, and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast the
same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar,
the Egyptian, which she bare unto Abraham, mocking her son.
Wherefore, she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman, Hagar,
and her son Ishmael. For the son of this bondwoman
shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing
was very grievous in Abram's sight because of his son. And
God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight
because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman. And all that
Sarah has said unto thee, hearken unto her voice. For in Isaac,
And Isaac shall thy seed, not seeds, thy seed be called, is
his reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. And also of the son of
the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. And Abram
rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of
water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder. And
the child had sent her away, and she departed. And she wandered
in the wilderness of Beersheba. Now I'll look at one more passage
in the New Testament, which actually illustrates this in Galatians
chapter four. Galatians chapter four, beginning
in verse 21. Tell me ye that desire to be
under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written, as
we just read, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid
and the other by a free woman. For he who was born of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise,
which things are an allegory. For these are the two covenants,
the one from Mount Sinai, which genders to bondage, which is
Agar. For this Agar in 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 trevellest not, for the
desolate hath more children than she which hath a husband. Now
we brethren, as Isaac was, talking to believers, 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 is it now. Nevertheless, what saith the
scriptures? 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. I want us to look
at today this subject. law and grace. And we see it
illustrated in these two women, Sarah and Hagar, and their two
sons. Hagar had a son named Ishmael
who was born first, born after the flesh. And then Sarah had
Isaac. God opened up Sarah's womb and
she conceived and bore Isaac. And God promised her that son.
God promised it to Abraham. And they had this child. This
is referred to here in the book of Galatians as an allegory.
Now an allegory is the use of historical facts to teach spiritual
gospel truths. It is a story which the characters
are used to picture other real characters and real actions.
He said this is an allegory. That's why I went back and read
it in Genesis. We read the historical account. Now he interprets what
that meant. That it was not just a history
lesson of Abraham and Hagar and Sarah and Isaac. It's an allegory. It's a picture. It's a story
to teach us some spiritual lessons. This really happened in history.
This story is about real people, but they are set forth in the
scriptures as a picture of grace and works. The stories in the
Bible are much more than just stories. They display God's wonderful
power. God gave Abraham this son. God displayed his power. They
are examples of God being merciful to unworthy, undeserving sinners. The purpose of this story or
this allegory, what's the purpose here? It's to show us that believers,
brethren, believers are totally free from the law. Because we're the, like Isaac
was, we are the children of the promise. This story is about
two women, Sarah and Hagar, two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. And we're going to look at all
four of them. First of all, Sarah. She represents and pictures the
covenant of grace. Her son Isaac represents the
children of promise. Isaac was the promised child.
Whose promise? God made a promise to Abraham
and Sarah. All who were born again are by
the promise and the power of God's grace. Isaac came from
Sarah. God opened her womb and God kept
his promise. Now, Hagar. She represents and
pictures the covenant of works. Her son represents all who go
about to establish their own righteousness of their own. They
are born after the flesh. It's nothing but works of the
flesh. They are children of bondage,
slaves unto sin, slaves unto the law, and they do not know
God. There is nothing in this world
more opposed to one another than grace and works, law and grace. Like water and oil, they cannot
mix, but people today are still trying to mix the two. That's what was going on in the
book of Galatians. When Paul wrote that epistle,
it was to deal with this issue, law and grace. We're not under the law, we're
under grace. I pray God may enable us and
may enable you through this message so that we can distinguish between
the two, grace and law, grace and works. It is deadly and damning
to the souls of men to try to mix the two together. It is damning. We must distinguish between what
we do in order to obtain salvation, which we don't do anything, and
what another does in our place for salvation. That's the difference. We need to distinguish between
the two, and most people can't. Their eyes are blinded. Salvation
is not by something that we do at all, nothing. were dead in
trespasses and sins, but by the doing and the dying of the Lord
Jesus Christ, somebody had to do it, and he did it. This is
the very heart of the gospel. Today, all across this nation
and all across this world, men are being told what they must
do for Jesus. That's what they're being told.
And they have never been told what Christ has done, what he
accomplished for his people. We see it illustrated in this
allegory, in this picture. There's two covenants. A covenant
is a contract made between two or more parties in which certain
promises are made in the anticipation of specific conditions being
fulfilled. That was the covenant. God made
a covenant with Adam. He said, Adam, you can have any
fruit of the garden you can eat, but one tree. That was God's
law. You cannot eat of that tree,
for in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die. It was
conditional. Adam, if you do this, you'll
live. But if you don't do this and you do that, you'll die.
That was the covenant. When we understand what a covenant
is, there can only be two possible covenants between God and man. First, as I've mentioned, was
the covenant of works, founded upon what man would need to do
for his salvation. It said, do this and live. That's
what it said, do this and live. The second is the covenant of
grace, founded upon what God would do for man to save man. God fulfilled it. Christ fulfilled
it. Hagar, she was the bondwoman. This is what she was. She was
a female servant. She was Sarah's servant. She
was not free. She represents the covenant of
works, law, and ceremonies. This represents the law that
was given to Moses at Mount Sinai. People say, well, we keep the
Ten Commandments. No, you don't. No, you don't. But that's what the law said.
That's why a lot of people go back to the old covenant and
they said, and it did say, if you do this, you'll be blessed.
And it did say that. But the problem was they couldn't
do it. They could not do it. The law showed them, here's what
the law showed them. The law showed them their sin
and their misery, but offered no remedy. That's what the law
did. It demanded, the law demanded,
a complete and perfect righteousness, but didn't point out where one
was to be found. The law spoke not one word of
comfort and peace. As I've read here in Galatians,
do you not hear the law? Do you not hear the law? It only
condemns. It can't bring comfort, and it
can't bring peace. Do this and live. If you do this,
you'll be blessed. Does this not sound familiar?
That's all we hear all over the land. Turn on your TV or radio.
That's all you hear. If you'll do this, well, then
God is obligated to bless you. That's what they say. This is
what Hagar represents. But who was she? She was a slave.
And that's all she'll ever be. She can never bring freedom,
only guilt and misery. This is what was given, like
I said, to Adam in the garden. Do this and live. The law was
written in stone, unbending law. Broke it, the soul that sinneth
shall die. That's what the law said. And
God would not spare the law even for his son. His son came to
fulfill the law, and when he was made sin, he died under the
law, under the penalty of the law. God would not even bend
his law for his own son. Sarah, she was Abraham's real
wife. She represents the covenant of
grace with Christ for the salvation of his elect. The covenant of
works stood between God and Adam. Adam fell and sinned. And now
it lies hopelessly broken. That law was broken. But listen,
the covenant of grace stood between God and Christ. And Christ has
fulfilled it. Adam broke it. Christ fulfilled
it. And it stands established forever. That's the covenant of grace.
The covenant of grace cannot be broken. It was made long before
the covenant of works was ever made. It was established in eternity,
and it cannot be done away with with anything done in time. It
was done in eternity. The covenant was established
in eternity. Listen to this. 2 Timothy 1.9,
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world was ever made. It was God's purpose given us
in Christ. The covenant of grace was made
between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,
and it cannot be broken by man. Listen. But so much was Jesus
made of a surety of a better testament. Now the God of peace
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Our Lord's high priestly prayer
in John 17, he said, here's what he prayed. as thou hast given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. Somebody was given to Christ
in the covenant of grace before the world was ever made, and
he was responsible for all that was given to him. He did it in
their behalf. That's the covenant of grace.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. This covenant
said, Christ do this, and thy people shall live. That's what
the covenant said. It was conditioned upon what
Christ would do. All the blessings of this covenant
rested upon the faithfulness of the Son of God of our surety. Nobody could keep that law, but
one did, that's Christ. This is the everlasting covenant.
It is pure, it is free, and it is ordered in all things. Here's
what King David said. When he's getting ready to die,
he said, although my house be not so with God, yet he, God,
hath made with me an everlasting, who did he say he made it with?
He said he made it with me. Made with me. an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, endured. And this, this covenant
is all my salvation, and it's all my desire. God said, my covenant
I will not break, nor order the thing that is gone out of my
lips. God will not break it. Though Hagar bore the first son,
Ishmael, Sarah had prior claim to all the inheritance. because
she was Abraham's first wife. This is why Adam was not destroyed
when he sinned. Why didn't God cast Adam into
hell right then when he sinned? Because God had made a covenant
before the foundation of the world to save him, and he did. He made a covenant of grace before. He said, Adam, in the day that
you eat thereof, not that you might, but in the day that you
do, you shall surely die. And why does God spare anybody?
Because of a covenant of grace. Before we needed an atonement,
there was one made. Christ is the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of
life of the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the
world. God does have a book of life. A book of life? And their
names are written there not after they did something, but before. It was never intended that Hagar
should be Abraham's wife. or that her son should be the
heir of grace. Hagar was Sarah's handmaid, nothing
more. If the law is the servant of
the law, well and good, that's all it was. She was Sarah's servant. But when it tries to be master,
she said, I'm superior to her. No, she wasn't. But when it tries
to be master or equal or to stand on equal footing with grace,
it must go. What'd she say? She's got to
go. And what did he do? He cast her out. Ishmael was
a product of the flesh. Abraham and Sarah could not have
a son. And Sarah says, okay, here you
take my handmaid. Well, Abraham could still produce
a child, and he did by this slave, a product of what they could
do. The law cannot give life. Ishmael was a product of the
flesh. Hagar, the law was never given to bring salvation. The law cannot give life. It
can only condemn. And all that it can produce is
children Ishmaelites, children of bondage. That's all it'll
ever do. You say, well, it produces children.
Yeah, the world's filled with them, religious people, and they
are all Ishmaelites. products of the flesh. The law
is the handmaid of grace to point us to Christ. Is the law then
against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had
been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness
would have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded,
all under sin, that the promise of faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were
kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterward
be revealed. Wherefore, listen to this, the
law was our schoolmaster, unto Christ it says to bring us which
is italicized which we can read it without that it was added
by the translator so it could read where for the law was our
schoolmaster unto Christ that we might be justified by Faith
read Romans chapter 4 it said Sarah staggered not at the promises
of God through unbelief But was strong in faith giving glory
to God and she believed that whatever God promised He was
able to do and he did it He did it but after that faith has come. We're no longer under a schoolmaster
For you're all the children of God your children of God who
was the child of God Isaac was by faith, by faith in Jesus Christ
who is the surety. For as many of you has been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there's neither bond nor free, there's neither male nor female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ,
then are you Abraham's seed and heir according to the promise. The law identifies sin, condemns
men for sin, but it can never remove sin. It can never justify
a sinner. It can never sanctify a believer. Some say, well, we're saved by
grace. I believe, I agree with you, that preacher, we're saved
by grace. But we got to run to the law to be sanctified. The
believer has, this is what we live by, ain't it? It's the law,
it's the royal law of Christ. Love the Lord thy God with all
your heart, soul, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Love
is the fulfilling of the law. Listen, but of him are you in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Everything I need is in Christ. It's not by me running to the
law, trying to keep the law to try to make me holy. Sanctification
means that God set something apart and made it holy. And when
we were set apart in Christ, God declared us by his grace
and he made us holy, acceptable. Christ has fulfilled all the
law and he is He is my sanctification. I have no holiness, but it is. I have no righteousness, but
he is. And I am justified by his righteousness. We have two
systems of religion here. There are two systems in the
world, only two. And they are represented by these
two women, Sarah and Hagar. It says for this Hagar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia. and answer us 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. Her children, her children are
free. These two religions are grace
and works. If a person is trying to be saved
by works of their own, they're not saved by grace. and a person
who is saved by grace, and if a person is saved by grace, it's
not their works, but it's the promise of grace. If a person
tries to do anything to earn God's favor, to keep God's favor,
or to improve our standing in God's sight, we've missed the
Lord Jesus Christ altogether. We've just flat missed him. All false religion is represented
by Hagar. This bond slave. Hagar is outside
the land of promise. She is in bondage. The law can
give nothing and bring nothing but bondage. Bondage. She's under the curse. This is
all you'll find in the house of bondage is slavery, no peace,
no guilt, and despair. Because when have you done enough? You can't. And your actual conscience
demands perfection. And it keeps knowing. When have
you done enough? When's enough? When's enough? Sarah represents
the true church that declares that salvation is all of grace
without the deeds of the law. This is illustrated as true to
Jerusalem, the city of grace and the city of peace. He saw
new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. John did in the book
of Revelation. The gospel of the grace of God
is from above, and the people of that city are free. The church
is the mother of all who believe. They are not in bondage. They
are children of promise and are of grace. Isaac was never in
bondage. Hagar was never free, and Sarah
was never a slave. Ishmael Hagar's son could never
be a free man, and all who seek to be saved by works by keeping
the law or any system of legalism are in bondage. All who seek
to be saved by Christ alone are saved by pure, free, sovereign
grace, and they abide in the house forever. Isaac never had
to leave. They will never be cast out,
never. They have a right to be there.
He had the right to be there. Why? Grace. God said, Abraham,
I'm going to give you a son. And he's going to come through
Sarah. Her womb is dead. How's she going to have a son?
God's got to do something. God's got to do something. When
Isaac was born, Ishmael was there in the house, I think for 13
years, but when Isaac was born, Ishmael's got to go. Hagar and her son was driven
out of Abraham's house, but not Sarah. The covenant of works
is always driven out. These two sons, let me hurry.
The Holy Spirit uses these two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, to represent
lost religious people who are trying to save themselves. Ishmael
was born out of the flesh, a product of the flesh. Isaac was born
of the Spirit. He's the miracle child. How did
this come to pass? You say, old people can't have
children. That's exactly right, they can't. And your dead womb
can't produce life. But if God ever speaks life,
there'll be life. God ever does something, it's
because God did something. Our religions, I care not what
brand it is. Listen to what's being said in
the name of God. It's religion. Isaac was the
promised child. God promised to give him this
child. And listen, there's no room for
legalism in the house of grace. And the difference, listen, the
difference between the believer and the legalist. It's not conduct,
but it's motive. Why does he do something? We're
not doing it to try to earn God's favor. We do it because God has
given us his favor. My question to you is, which
house are you in? Are you in the house of bondage?
Are you in the house of grace? Till next Sunday, may God bless
you.