Would you turn to Genesis chapter
16? While you're turning there, Donnie
Bell is gonna be with us this Wednesday night, and he's gonna
be preaching for us. He and Shirley are gonna spend
a few days with Lynn and myself, and they're gonna see their kids.
Looking forward to that. I have entitled this message,
What is Law? What is grace? Only the Bible answers those
two questions. What is law? What is grace? Now, Paul referred to this story
in Genesis chapter 16 in Galatians 4 and he tells it tells us that
this story is an allegory It's something that actually happened
it Was an event that literally took
place it's a historical event and There's a lot in this story
that There's immorality in this story.
There's unbelief in this story. There are just bad things all
the way around in this story. It's human. It's about men. It's about women. It's about
people like me and you. It's about sinful men and women
that do some very horrible things in this story. And yet, Paul
tells us that this event is an allegory to teach us of the two
covenants, law and grace. What is law? What is grace? It's my prayer that those questions
will be answered to our hearts from this message this morning. Now, God had previously appeared
to Abraham some fifteen years before this story, and He promised
him a son. Now, when he appeared to him,
Abraham was 70 years old. I'm 61, and he was 70. That's an old man. And his wife
was barren. Sorry for that. I started laughing. Well, there's other, sorry, you
70-year-olds. I'm not there yet, so I'm not,
I'm a young guy. But Abraham wasn't. He was 70
years old and his wife was actually barren. She was unable to bear
children, never had born a child before. And God appears to him
and says, you're going to have a son. And through that boy,
all the nations of the earth will be blessed. What a promise. Fifteen years
later, Abraham is eighty-five years old. Nothing has taken
place. God made this promise, but nothing
has taken place. Chapter 16, verse 1. Now, Sarah Abram's wife, bear him no children. Now, God SAID you're going to
have a son. Nothing has happened. They've
been waiting 15 years. Can you think of what took place
in the year 2006? I don't remember much about that.
Fifteen long years have passed and still no child. And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian. Now, do you remember that they
went down into Egypt in chapter 12? And that's where Abraham
told Sarah, Tell Pharaoh, you're my sister, to keep us out of
trouble. He'll kill me if he finds out
you're my wife and he'll take you. He didn't believe God at
this time. He went to a fleshly method to
save his own skin. But during that time, Pharaoh
was, once he found out that Sarah was his wife, he was very good
to Abraham and he gave him much wealth. And this Egyptian slave
girl they had came from that time in Egypt that you read about
it in Genesis chapter 12. She had this Egyptian slave. And her name was Hagar. And I was thinking, this is the
birth of a new denomination, the Hagarines, as we'll see. Verse two, and Sarah said unto Abraham,
behold, now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. Well, that's
true. That's true, but That doesn't
mean it's going to continue. She is unwilling to wait on God. She simply says, He's restrained
me, obviously. What He said is not going to
take place unless WE do something. Now, if you want to know what
law means, do something. That is law. do something. God's promise WILL NOT TAKE PLACE
UNLESS WE DO SOMETHING. THAT IS OBVIOUS. WE NEED TO DO
SOMETHING. I pray thee, verse 2, go in unto
my maid, a young Egyptian woman, It may be that I may obtain children
by her." And Abram hearkened unto the
voice of Sarah. Now, what Sarah is saying is
God's promise will not take place unless we do something. Salvation is Dependent upon what
we do having this child is dependent upon we do so I've got this young
maid obviously I'm not gonna have a child. I've got this young
maid Hager You go into her and it may be that I'll have a child
by her Let me ask you a question Was this wrong Yes, it was sexual sin then,
it's sexual sin now. This was utterly and completely
wrong. There's no way that this action
can be justified. Sarah was going out in front
of God trying to make something happen. Obviously God's promise
is not going to take place unless we do something. So what she
did was as wrong as it could be, and what Abraham did was
as wrong as it could be. It was wrong then, it'd be wrong
now. I think of Joseph, his great-grandson,
whatever it is, to Abraham. Remember when Potiphar's wife,
the law hadn't been written yet, but Potiphar's wife came to him
wanting to lay with him. The scripture says, and he said,
how can I sin so against God? It was wrong in Abraham's time.
Abraham knew it. Sarah knew it, but here we go. Here she is. You go into her
and we'll have a Baby, I know God is sovereign, but we're responsible. I think maybe Sarah was the first
person to say that. God's sovereign, I realize that, but we're responsible.
If we don't do our part, his part will not take place. And so Abraham hearkened to his
wife. Like Adam, it says Adam hearkened
to the voice of his wife. Well, Abraham did all as well.
And you see what took place. And Abraham hearkened to the
voice of Sarah. Verse 3, and Sarah, Abram's wife, took Hagar,
her maid, the Egyptian, after Abraham had dwelt ten years in
the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband, Abram, to
be his wife. Now, Abram's 85 years old at
this time, and he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived. She was a young woman, unlike
Sarah, who had been barren and could not conceive. She was a
very old woman. He went into this young woman,
and it was wrong. There wasn't anything right about
it. You know that, and I know that, and they knew that, but
they did it anyway. And she conceived. There was
nothing supernatural about it. She was a young woman. She conceived. And when she saw that she had
conceived, now think about this woman, she'd been a slave, nothing more. And now all of a sudden, she
has in her womb the heir of Abraham. She all of a sudden thinks she
has some power. She thinks she has some influence.
There was a time when she was just a slave. Now she's bearing
Abraham's son. And what does she do? Same thing
me and you would do. Her mistress was despised in
her eyes. She thought, I can do something
you can't do. I got something over you. And
she looked down her nose at her mistress. I've got the heir,
not you. Now we'll get some insight into
Sarah in verse five. And Sarah said unto Abram, my
wrong be upon thee. You shouldn't have listened to
me. You shouldn't have done this, and you know it. I don't care
if I did tell you to do it. You knew better, and you did
it anyway. I can't help but think of Lynn
when I think of that passage of scripture.
I can just see that so clearly. But she says, you were wrong,
and you know it. Don't you dare put the blame
on me. I don't care if I did tell you to do it. You weren't
a man. You were wrong. You know, Abraham knew it. He
knew he was wrong. And Sarah said unto Abram, my
wrong be upon thee. I've given my maiden to thy bosom.
And when she saw that she conceived, I was despised in her eyes. The
Lord judged between me and you. You know, she had a lot of confidence
this time. The Lord judged between, let
the Lord be the judge. This is obvious, you were wrong. This
shouldn't have happened. And Abraham knew it, verse six.
But Abram said unto Sarah, behold thy maid, is in thy hand. Do to her as it pleases thee. You see, Abraham knew he was
wrong. And Sarah acts according to her character. She dealt hardly
with her. She made her life miserable. So much so that Hagar had to
run away. And we're going to consider that
Lord willing next week. Hagar ran away because Sarah
was so hard on her. I mean, she treated her In chapter 17, verse 4, Abraham still has not had a son
through Sarah. As for me, behold, my covenant
is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name
shall be Abraham, a father of many nations, for of a father
of many nations have I made thee. And I'll make the exceeding fruitful.
I'll make nations of being king. So come out of the, and I'll
establish my covenant with thee and thy seed after thee and their
generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee
and thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee and
to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger and
all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. I'll
be there. God, that promise was never changed. Wasn't it's still
in effect. Look in verse 15, and God said
unto Abraham, as for Sarah, thy wife, that one who's been barren
all this time. Now at this time, Abraham's 99
years old. 99. He had been 86. Now he's
99. And God said unto Abram, as for
Sarah, thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarah, but Sarah
shall her name be. And I will bless her and give
thee a son also of her. Now let me remind you, she's
already gone through menopause. It was impossible for her to
have a son. She'd already gone through menopause. She was an old, old woman at
this time. But yet God says, Sarah shall her name be, I will
bless her and give thee a son also of her." Verse 16, "'Yea,
I'll bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations, kings
of people shall be of her.' Then Abraham fell upon his face and
laughed in joy and said in his heart, Shall a child be born
unto him that's a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, that is
90 years old, bear? Now you think about this, a 90
year old woman already gone through menopause. Shall she bear? And then the Abraham kind of
stopped himself. And verse 18, and Abraham said
unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee. He remembered
Ishmael. He loved that boy. That was his
son. O that Ishmael might live before thee. Turn to chapter
18. Now, this is before the destruction
of Sodom, and the Lord has come to Abraham, and we read beginning
in verse 6, And Abraham, this is after the
Lord and the two angels appeared to him, and Abraham hastened
into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready three measures
of fine meal, knead it, and Cakes upon the hearth, and Abraham
ran into the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave
it unto a young man, and he hasted to dress it." He was excited
about fixing a meal for the Lord and these two angels. He took
butter and milk and calf which he had dressed, and set it before
them, and stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. And
they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said,
Behold in the tent, and he said, I will certainly return unto
thee. according to the time of life, and lo, Sarah thy wife
shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent
door, which was behind him. And Abram said unto Sarah, and
Abraham and Sarah were well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with
Sarah after the manner of women." That's saying she had already
gone through menopause. Therefore, now Sarah heard all this. Therefore,
Sarah laughed within herself saying, after I'm waxed old,
shall I have pleasure? My Lord being old also, this
is impossible. She was laughing. And the Lord,
verse 13, said to Abraham, wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, shall
I have a surety, bear a child, which am old? And then he asked
this question, is anything too hard for the Lord? Now, think
of that question, is anything too hard for the Lord? He created
the universe from nothing. Is it beyond his ability to cause
Sarah to have a child? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? He can create Adam from the dust
of the earth. Is he able to cause this miraculous
birth? You know he is. No, nothing's
too hard for the Lord. Verse 15, or verse 14, at the
time appointed hour, turn unto thee according to the time of
life, and Sarah shall have a son. And then Sarah denied, saying,
I laugh not. She was scared to death. She
lied, lied to him who is omniscient and knows all things and heard
her. She lies saying, I laughed not, for she was afraid. He said,
Nay, but thou didst laugh. Well, chapter 21. And the Lord visited Sarah as
he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived. and bare
Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God
had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of
his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son,
Isaac, being eight days old as God had commanded him. And Abraham
was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born." Now,
up until that point, Ishmael was the heir. And Hagar knew
her son was the heir, and they were counting on this. And they
felt very good about their lot in life. And you can be sure
they were upset when Isaac was born. All of a sudden, I'm not
going to be the heir anymore. All of the inheritance is going
to go to Sarah's son. Isaac, and they were upset, and
you can imagine them being that way. Well, look in verse 9 of
this chapter, And Sarah saw the son of Hagar
the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. He was
muttering under his breath things about this idiot child she had
born. He was upset. He knew he was
a loser by it. And Hager knew she was a loser
by it also. And they were mocking. What are
they saying? I don't know. But Sarah pretty
much acts according to character. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar,
the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore
she said unto Abraham, cast out this bondwoman and her son. That's
strong language, isn't it? Cast her out, kick her out of
the house, make her to be gone. For the son of this bondwoman
shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing
was very grievous, and Abraham sighed because of his son. He
loved Ishmael. And God said to Abraham, let
it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad and because
of the bondwoman for in all that Sarah has said unto thee hearken
unto her voice. For in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. Not in Ishmael, in Isaac. And also the son of the bondwoman
will I make a nation because he is thy seed. The nations came
out of this man, but he makes this promise. He makes this declaration,
and Isaac shall thy seed be called. Only in Isaac is the promise.
Now, when I look at this story, I look at a story of sin, of
unbelief, of cruelty, of wretchedness. I mean, there's bad stuff in
this story. It's called life. life. But the Lord uses this
story to teach us of law and grace. Now, I've got to admit,
I would read this story, and I think it's miraculous. But
would you have ever, if the New Testament didn't tell you that
this was an allegory, would you ever have even suspected that
this is a message to teach us about law and grace? All these
events that took place. As Paul said, this is an allegory
to teach us of law and grace. Now, it's a literal event. It's a historical event. It took
place. but it's given to teach us of
law and grace. Now, with that in mind, go back
to Galatians chapter four. Here's the New Testament commentary
on this. Now, Paul says in verse 19 of
Galatians chapter four, my little children of whom I
travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you. I desire
to be present with you and to change my voice, for I stand
in doubt of you. Now he says to the Galatians,
I stand in doubt of you. I am having a real hard time
believing the Lord's really done anything for you. You know, he'd
said previously, I marvel that you're so soon removed. And he
said, oh, foolish Galatians, who have bewitched you? Now he
says to these people, I stand in doubt of you. And that gets
my attention. Would Paul stand in doubt of
me? What is it that he saw in these people that made him say,
I stand in doubt of you? And here's why, verse 21, tell
me you that desire to be under the law. Don't you hear what
the law says? Now, if you desire to be under
the law, and I hope you'll understand, and I hope I understand by the
time this message is over just what that means. If I desire
to be under law, all I've proved by that is I don't know God,
I don't know Christ, and I don't know myself. Tell me you that
desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? Now,
what I would have guessed when he said, do you not hear the
law? I'd go to the 10 commandments, wouldn't you? I'd name them,
the 10 commandments. And I would demonstrate how we've
never kept one commandment one time. That's where I'd go. But
that's not where Paul goes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
when he's going to teach us what law means and what grace means. He says in verse 22, for it's
written that Abraham had two sons. We've read about both of
them, Ishmael and Isaac. One by a bondmaid, Hagar, a slave. The other by a free woman, Sarah. Verse 23, but he who was of the
bondwoman was born after the flesh. There was nothing supernatural
about this birth. After the flesh, that's what
law is, after the flesh. Abraham had two sons, the one
by bondwoman, the other by free woman. He who was at the bondwoman
was after the flesh, but the free woman was by promise. Now,
when Hagar, she was in childbearing years, she could conceive a son. Sarah had already gone through
menopause, and the only reason she could conceive a son is because
God promised she would. That's the only reason. Now look
what he says, verse 24, which things are an allegory. Now, this is one of the keys
to understanding the whole Old Testament. This was a literal
event that took place. It's historical. This is not
some kind of myth or something like that. It took place, but
it's given to teach us the gospel. And you could say that about
every Old Testament event. For instance, everybody here
has probably heard of the story of David and Goliath. It was a literal event where
David took that sling and stone and Goliath was 10 feet tall,
Spear the 20 feet log. I mean he was a giant and he
was a mighty warrior And David came at him with a sling and
stone sunk the stone in his head the giant died that really happened
That's a historical event But it's given to teach the gospel
you see in this story if David wins all of Israel wins If David
loses All of Israel loses. Israel's salvation is completely
dependent upon this one man. The salvation of every believer
is utterly and completely and entirely dependent on what the
Lord does, this one man, Adam. Somebody says, well, that's just
a myth to explain creation. No, Adam's a real man. Adam's
a real man. God, He's the first man. Adam. He's a real man. But Adam is
given to teach us the gospel. In Adam all die. In Christ shall
all be made alive. Now understand this with regard
to the Old Testament. It's not just character studies
or myths to teach us strange stories. These things happen,
but they're given to teach us the gospel. And this story of
Abraham and Sarah and Hagar and Ishmael and Isaac. This is given
to teach us the gospel. Now, look what it says in verse
24, which things are an allegory for these are the two covenants.
There's only two covenants, covenant of works, covenant of grace. There's only two covenants. Salvation
dependent upon what YOU do. salvation dependent upon what
Christ has done. There's only two covenants. The one from Mount Sinai, which
genders to bondage, Sinai is where the law was given, is Hagar. Hagar represents the law. This Hagar IS Mount Sinai in
Arabia and answers to Jerusalem, which now is. and is in bondage
with her children. Now, here we have law and grace. Here's law. Abraham, we need
to do our part, or God's promise will not take place. There's
something we need to do. That is law. Grace is God supernaturally giving
Sarah life. This was not a work of the flesh,
it was the work of God's promise. Now, law is salvation dependent
in SOME way on what YOU do. Is salvation completely dependent
upon what Christ has done? One is do, that's law. One is do nothing. Look to what
he has done. That is grace. Now let me tell you something
about law and grace. They cannot be mixed. They exclude
one another. It's either all law or all grace. Now here's the problem. Men try
to mix the two. That's where all the confusion
comes from, is trying to mix law and grace. You listen to
the message that's preached in our day, and let me ask you,
if I'm not being Here's the message that comes from, I dare say,
90, 99%, I don't know, I can't give a figure, but here's what
most religious people believe. God loves you. Jesus Christ paid
for your sins. God the Holy Spirit is calling
you. God is offering you salvation. Will you receive it? Your eternal
destiny is dependent upon whether or not you will accept what He
did. Won't you accept Jesus Christ
as your personal Savior? Won't you give Him your heart
and let Him in? You will not be saved unless
you do that. Or it might come in the middle
of salvation. If you decide to Fight against
sin. And if you start reading the
Bible more and put to death the flesh and put to death the desires
of the flesh and become more holy and more righteous by the
things you do, spend more time in prayer, spend more time, you
need to decide to live your life like this. You'll be better,
you'll be more pleasing to God, you'll be more holy, you'll be
less sinful. Or there at the end, I hate the
way religion, what about rewards in heaven? Here's this one fella,
he gets a higher reward because he did more than this other fella
did. So he's gonna get more glory
in heaven because of what he did. Heavenly rewards. The point is, salvation is in
some way conditioned upon what you do, whether it's in the beginning,
middle, or the end. Somehow what you do counts. Now, that's works. That's law. And if that's what you believe,
you've never believed the gospel. If that's what you preach, you've
never preached the gospel. If that's what you've heard,
you've never heard the gospel. That is law, and that is all
that is. Salvation by law. Now, let's
take that thought that God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody,
God wants to save everybody, God wills the salvation of all
men, but it's up to you as to what you're gonna do. Let me
show you just how evil and wrong that is. Let's take Judas and
Peter. Judas, we know he's a child of
perdition, the Lord said he was. No doubt that man wasn't saved.
He's in hell right now. It's scary saying something like
that, but it's just so. We know Peter was redeemed. He's
one of the Lord's people. Now, if God loved Judas the same
way he loved Peter, if Christ died for the sins of Judas and
Peter, if God willed the salvation of Judas and Peter, If God the
Holy Spirit called Judas and Peter, it's not God that saves,
it's what Peter DID and Judas DIDN'T do. WORKS. That's all that is, is
a message of WORKS. And there's no salvation in that
message. So what is law? What you do. What is grace? You don't do anything. Now, isn't that going to lead
to sin? Might lead you to sin, but I'm going to lead a believer
to sin. It's not going to cause a believer to want, well, good,
this is great. I get to sin all I want now.
Unfortunately, you sin more all you want right now anyway. That's not the response that
a believer will have. But the point is. Law is something
is dependent upon you to do something. We all want to do something.
Grace is it's already done. It's already accomplished. Now, let's go and read in Galatians
four. Verse 24, for these things are
an allegory. For these are the two covenants,
one from Mount Sinai, which genders to bondage, which is Hagar for
this Hagar is Mount Sinai and answers or is equal to Jerusalem,
which now he is and is in bondage with her children, but Jerusalem,
which is above the new Jerusalem coming down
from heaven as a bride adorned the Jerusalem, which is from
above is free. which is the mother of us all,
all believers. For it's written, rejoice thou
barren that bearest not. Are you somebody that can't produce
life? Scripture says rejoice. Rejoice
then, thou barren that bearest not. Break forth and cry thou
that prevails not, for the desolate hath many more children than
she which hath a husband." The desolate, the one that couldn't
produce children, she has more. Now we brethren, speaking to
believers as Isaac was, are the children of promise, God's promise. If you're saved, It's not because
of anything you did. It's because God promised your
salvation before time began. You were given to the son and
that's why you're saved. It's not because of anything
you've done. It's only because of what he has done. I love that. I'm thankful it's
that way. Verse 29, but as in he that was
born after the flesh, Persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
even so it is now. Ishmael mocked at Isaac. He said,
why, this is ridiculous. What you believe will lead to
sin, it'll lead to disobedience. They're just, I mean, this, all,
this is gonna cause anarchy. I mean, all hell's gonna break
out by the way you believe. This is wrong as it can be. He
was mocking at him. He was making fun of him. Ishmael
always, works always makes fun of grace. Works despise grace. Always have, always will. We
see that with Ishmael. He's mocking. But after he was
born after the flesh persecuted him, was born after the spirit,
even so it is now. It's no different today. Nevertheless,
what sayeth the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son. Cast out works to any measure,
to any degree, 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, in closing,
who was the original wife? Sarah. Sarah. Grace is the original
way. Works are a thing of time. Just a thing of time. Grace has
always been the way. Grace is not plan B. Grace is
the only plan there's ever been. It's not a plan, it's God's purpose.
And God has always purposed to save by grace. Hagar, though, bore the first
son, and works are our first experience, aren't they? We're
born believing salvation by works. We're born Hagarines. We're born thinking salvation
is some way dependent upon us. It comes natural to us to believe
that way. Every man is by nature a works
monger, me and you. That's the way we are by nature. But you know, Hagar was never
intended to be the wife. Law was never intended to save,
not by God. It was never intended to save.
Hagar was never free. She was always a slave and everything
that came from her would tend to bondage. Sarah was never a
slave. She was always free. Sarah, bless her heart, she was
hard on Hagar. Get out of here. Leave. You're not gonna have any inheritance
with my son. Cast out the bottom woman, her son. And God said,
do what she said. Do what she said. Hagar was cast
out. Sarah was not. Now, while works
mocks grace, grace hates works. Grace says, get out. You're not
going to be together. You see, Grace and Works can't,
just like Ishmael and Isaac couldn't live under the same roof, Grace
and Works will not live under the same roof. They exclude one
another. Ishmael was the older brother,
that's our first birth. Isaac is our second birth, the
new man, the free man. Ishmael was born after the flesh
because of a decision Sarah made. Isaac was born after the spirit,
a supernatural work. The scripture says Ishmael was
a wild man. We're going to look at that next
week in Genesis chapter 16. He was a wild man. Nothing about
him was reasonable. But it said of Isaac in Genesis
24 that he was a man who meditated, meditated in the scripture, meditated
in the truth of God. Israel got all the inheritance.
Ishmael got no inheritance as the firstborn. Ishmael mocked Isaac, mocked
grace. Ishmael sent away, cast out.
Isaac remains. Now, the original question, what
is works? What is grace? What is law? What is grace? Law is do. Something is dependent upon you. Do. Grace is don't do a thing. Rest in what Christ has done. The most beautiful thing there
is in God's creation is to simply look to Christ only as everything
God requires of me. That is grace. Law, salvation dependent upon
you. Grace, salvation altogether dependent
upon Jesus Christ, the Lord. I prefer grace. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, how thankful we are for
the grace that's in God's blessed son. How grateful we are that
everything you require of us, we have in Christ. That everything
that you look for out of us, you see in his son and we are
complete in him. Oh Lord, how he is all in salvation. You told us that in your word,
and by your grace we believe it, and we look nowhere but Him. Lord, deliver us from salvation
by works. If you don't deliver us, that's
what we'll believe, that's what we'll hold on to, but give us
the grace to believe salvation by grace. Bless this message
for your glory and our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.