for this morning Galatians chapter 4 now Lord willing will return back to two of these verses in three Sundays from now The word allegorically is in our text. That's not a usual word that we see all the time in scripture. And we could define allegory as person, places, events, representing something, a deep spiritual truth. And so we might say that the word allegory, the very definition includes the word deep in it. And so we're going to touch on some of that, but we're going to have to come back to verses 26 and 27. We're just going to touch on those a little bit, and the Lord willing, we'll come back and jump into those depths in a few Sundays. But our reading for this morning is Galatians 4, verse 21 through 5, verse 1. Galatians 4, 21 to 5, verse 1. Let us hear now the word of the Lord our God. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically, These women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, burying children for slavery. She is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother, for it is written, rejoice, O barren one who does not bear. Break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor, for the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband. Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, so also it is now. But what does the scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not inherit with the son of the free woman. So brothers, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman. For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. The grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. A dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, We do not have to call the Old Testament and New Testament, the Old Testament and New Testament. That's not the name that scripture gives the Old Testament. We don't see that name anywhere in the scriptures, do we? No, the New Testament simply refers to what we call the Old Testament as scripture. And so whenever there is a quote, it says, as it's written, as it's written in the scriptures, and sometimes it's a little more narrow, right? So it'll say, as Isaiah says, or so on and so forth. But the Old Testament, as a whole, is never called the Old Testament. Rather, that phrase is used to refer to really something quite narrow. The phrase Old Testament or Old Covenant is used especially in the book of Hebrews to refer to even something narrower than the law, to refer to the ceremonial aspects of the law. And so we don't have to call the Old Testament the Old Testament, the New Testament the New Testament. Now the church has been doing this ever since the first known use of this was Milito of Sardis around the year 200. So the church has been doing this for 1800 years. I don't think we're gonna be able to stop now. We're gonna go on calling the Old Testament the Old Testament and the New Testament the New Testament. But as we do so, it's good to remember that just as we call the first five books of the Bible the law, and we see that even in this text today, it's not wrong to do that. But when we do that, we know that strictly speaking, Not every verse of the first five books of the Bible is a law, a commandment, right? So we call them the law, but we know, OK, the law is something smaller. Well, we should do the same thing when we talk about the Old Testament. All right, we can call it the Old Testament. That's OK. We've been doing it for 1,800 years. But let's remember that, narrowly speaking, Old Covenant is actually a narrower term than law. It's really quite a narrow term. So we're using it to refer to the Hebrew Scriptures. And even though we might even wish that we could change and just start referring it to Hebrew Scriptures and Greek Scriptures, we're not going to be able to do that. But what's one of the reasons why we should remember that Old Covenant, strictly speaking, is really something narrow? One of the reasons why we should remember that is because the New Testament, see, these terms are unavoidable, the New Testament speaks of strong connections between us and the Old Testament peoples, doesn't it? Such that now you brothers, like Isaac, are children of the promise. In other words, don't think of it as old and gone and new. Don't think of old covenant as something that refers to every single verse. What the old covenant is itself is in that which is replaced by when Jesus says, this is the new covenant in my blood. What's he replacing? He's not saying throw out all of the Old Testament scriptures. He's saying we take the Passover and we replace that with the Lord's Supper, right? So we should remember when we use that phrase, Old Testament is not old and gone. No, on the contrary, it is something that is brought in a very direct way to speak about the reality of what we have today. And so the apostle speaks. And so we see that there are many connections between the promises of the Hebrew Scriptures and the promises of those who are first given the Greek Scriptures, between the people of the Old Testament times and the people of the New Testament times. For in both times there is a need for the supernatural work of God to be upon us that we might be called a child of God, a child of the promise. In short, it is true now and has always been true that you must experience supernatural spiritual birth to be called a child of the promise. And so the apostle is working through this, showing us our salvation depends upon divine work, depends upon God. And we spoke last week of how the apostle has done this in so many ways, right? And then he comes to the personal point where, well, now he's doing it in yet more ways. He's doing it through logic and through allegory. And so our three points this morning are the two sons of Abraham, and then the two images of covenant, and then the one promise of inheritance. Before beginning the allegory in verse 24, the apostle begins by working off of the historical facts. by working off of the historical reality that Abraham had two sons first, later by Keturah he actually had more sons, but first he had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac and he's working from this historical fact. And he's going to go to the ground of the Judaizers, because the Judaizers, the circumcision party, the false teachers, right, as we've been speaking about throughout the book of Galatians, they're the ones who say that they have the right interpretation of the law and the right dependence upon the law for their salvation. So they're the ones that are always saying law, law, law, right? And the apostle is going to turn this around, put it back on them, and logically, from their so-called own starting point, show them how wrong they are. And it's a logical argument. You who desire to be under the law, you who say you understand the law and interpret it rightly and use it rightly, do you really listen to the law? No, I'm going to go to the law here being used to refer to all the first five books. I'm going to show you that before you even reach the middle of Genesis. you would see, if you read it rightly, that you are wrong. I'm gonna go to your own ground. I'm gonna go to the first half of Genesis. I'm gonna show you how completely wrong you are. Really, he's already done this, right, by talking about how Abraham lived by true faith? Now he's gonna do it more, not just with Abraham, but with Abraham's sons, with Hagar and Sarah as well. This kind of logic, where you rebuke a false teaching from its own grounds, from what it claims to be standing on. This has a fancy name, sometimes called reductio ad absurdum. Maybe one of the reasons why logic is sometimes scary is because it seems like you can't read anything about logic without running into Latin words. But what does it mean? It means something really quite simple. Showing that a line of thinking cannot support itself. showing that on its own ground it cannot stand. The parables of Jesus would say it to us this way, that we must stand on the solid rock of Christ. All other ground is sinking sand. And this is true for everything, for every false doctrine, for every false line of thinking. When we would dig into it, And when we would be standing on the true rock of God as the beginning point for our very reasoning itself and for our salvation, we can look at everything else and point out it's sinking sand. It's not gonna be able to support itself. It's a line of thinking that cannot stand on its own ground. It's sinking sand. And so for the Judaizers, if they had really understood what the law said, They would have seen that they were wrong before they reached the middle of the book of Genesis because in Genesis there is one son who is born through a kind of thinking that says God helps those who help themselves. That's how Ishmael was born, isn't it? Do you remember the story? Even those who are younger, do you remember this account? Sarah and Abraham have received the promise of God and they're doubting that it can be fulfilled. How can Sarah have a child? I'm barren, this isn't going to work. So Abraham, Sarah says, go and take my handmaiden and have a child with her and that will be the child of the promise. And Abraham says, OK, I'll follow you and your sinful advice. And so they try to help themselves, right? They try to fulfill the promise by their own plan, by their own work. They're thinking that what God has said isn't going to be able to cut it. It's not going to be able to do it. We've got to come up with our own way. We've got to come up with our own route. God will help those who help themselves. If we do this, then this will be our child of the promise that God said we would have. They're trying to take matters in their own hands. They're trying to work by the flesh, by a flesh-driven way of thinking. And such sinful action leads forth to a son born in a flesh way, in a way that is natural, in a way that is sinful, and in a way that produces a slave child, Ishmael. Notice that this is particularly pointed rebuke because in doing this, the Apostle Paul is of course giving a reminder that you can be a physical descendant of Abraham and not be one who receives the promise. Isaac, on the other hand, when he does come 14 years later, the Lord tested their patience, When He does come, 14 years later, He is born through a supernatural means, supernatural conception, isn't it? One of the supernatural conceptions that Scripture speaks of. He's born by the work of the Holy Spirit, to paraphrase Hebrews 11. He's born with a legal right to the inheritance that only the son of a legal wife of a free woman could ever have. So the law shows that the law itself seeking to help ourselves to work ourselves for what God has given and descent from Abraham even being tied to that cannot by themselves be the basis for salvation. It didn't work for Ishmael and it cannot work for finding salvation today. This is the sinking sand of the false teacher's thinking. And again, this kind of sinking sand, this kind of critiquing a line of thinking on its own ground that it would claim to have, this works for any way of thinking apart from God, apart from starting with the solid rock that is God for our thinking, for our salvation. Anything else falls apart. We can give one simple example. in that it's easy to demonstrate, and that is the false line of thinking of relativism, which takes these kinds of forms. In the world, it takes the kind of form that says, well, what's true for me is true for me, and what's true for you is true for you. And so I can say whatever I want, because I'm saying it, and I think it's true, it's true, and you can say whatever you want, and even if that's completely opposed to what I'm saying, well, it's true for you, so that's your truth, this is my truth. Of course, that's absurd. I'll go back to the fancy term, reductio ad absurdum. It's absurd. That doesn't work. How can two things that are completely opposite of each other be true? Within the church, it takes this form. Well, I have my interpretation of scripture, and you know, it's right, and you have your interpretation of scripture. It's completely opposite of mine, but it's also right. We can have two totally opposite interpretations of the same text and both be right. That's absurd. It's falling into that trap of relativism, which has so permeated our world and seeped into the church. It is a line of thinking which can easily be shown on its own foundation. It is sinking sand. It does not work. It is absurd. It makes no sense. With relativism, it's relatively easy to do this. For other lines of thinking, it can be a little more difficult, a little more tricky, but it can always be done. Only in starting with God can we think rightly, can we find salvation truly. He is the only rock. Now, the big takeaway from this is not, well, since Christians are the only ones with the right foundation, then everything we ever say is right, and non-Christians never get any single detail looking at the world right. That's not the takeaway. It's true we have the only solid foundation, but we're gonna work off of that foundation without being perfect, right? Because we're still sinners, and so even Christians who are starting with God are gonna disagree. That's not the big takeaway. The big takeaway is this. The big takeaway is this. Depend upon God. Depend upon God. Look at the law rightly. the way God would want us to look at the law, the way the law itself would interpret itself when we read all of it. Look at the world rightly, starting with the foundation of God, our thinking, our salvation, all of it. begins by depending upon God. There are two sons of Abraham, one of the slave, one of the free. And this can be brought deeper so that the logical argument of the apostle is furthered by use of allegory. And that takes us to our second point, two images of the covenant. Now again, an allegory is when people, places, or events stand for deep spiritual truths. The most famous allegory of all time, the second most translated book of all time in the world is Pilgrim's Progress, right? And that's what we might call pure allegory. And so the castle named Doubting Castle communicates spiritual truths about facing doubts. The person named helpful, communicates spiritual truths about needing help from fellow believers. This allegory is also an allegory, but it is different. It's rooted in real places and real people. So it's not pure allegory, but it's still allegory. And so the Apostle is going to press further his logical argument by pointing out deep spiritual truths that are tied to these two sons and their two mothers. There's two different mothers, Hagar and Sarah, and they represent two different covenants that correspond to two different Jerusalems. So first, let's take them one woman at a time. First, Hagar. Since she is a slave woman who cannot give birth to a legitimate heir, she is like the old covenant, even the law more broadly speaking, the covenant made at Sinai, apart from Jesus Christ. Now, remember in Galatians 3, we said that ultimately even Mount Sinai is a covenant of grace because Christ fulfills it, right? But if you're standing upon that mountain by itself, if you're trying to work your salvation through the law, through Sinai, through doing all the do's and don'ts, It's not gonna work. It's slavery. It's like Hagar. Apart from Christ, the law can only what? Condemn and say you are all cursed. Galatians 3 10. Apart from Christ. Mount Sinai is like Hagar, a slave woman who can only give birth to slave sons. Ishmael never had a chance to rightfully receive the inheritance. He never had a chance. He was the son of a slave woman. It was impossible unless they twisted things and tried to do things illegitimately. He is literally an illegitimate son. And so it is with Hagar representing anyone who would try to stand on Mount Sinai by itself apart from Christ fulfilling the law. To be this kind of Jew, a Jew who depends upon the law, is actually to become an Ishmaelite. A son of Abraham, physically, yes. but not one who receives the promise, not one who has life. Add this to the list of things that the Apostle says that the false teachers will not like at all. They will not appreciate being called Ishmaelites. And the historical realities help to bring the allegory home to especially, first is the reality that Ishmael was physically a son of Abraham. as we just said, and the second physical reality, historical reality, that helps to bring this allegory home is that the descendants of Hagar live around Mount Sinai. And so the Apostle Paul is saying, look, even the historical realities are helping to bring my point home. Where do the Ishmaelites live? They live on the Sinai Peninsula around Mount Sinai. Quick refresher, is Mount Sinai in the promised land? No, they received the commandments when they were wandering in the wilderness, right? Mount Sinai is in the Sinai Peninsula. It's between Egypt and the promised land. It's outside of the promised land. It's where Hagar was cast out to. It's not part of the promised land. It's not part of the inheritance. It's simply where the law was given. And the apostle says, look, it helps to make my point to this day, and that's true, by the way, in 2021 as well, to this day, The Arabs, the descendants of Ishmael, live in Arabia around Mount Sinai. The historical facts help to bring my allegory home, the apostle says. They are outside of the promise. They live outside of the promised land in every way, physically and spiritually. The other mother is Sarah. She is the free woman. She is the legal wife of Abraham. She's the one who received the promise with Abraham from God. And she's the one who gave birth in a supernatural way. It wasn't a birth of the flesh. She was barren. She was 90 years old. And you see how here's another time when the historical reality that it was a supernatural birth points to what corresponds to it, namely that those who are of Sarah are those who have been reborn. Now, is that a supernatural birth or a natural birth? When someone is reborn, when someone is converted, when someone is laid hold of by God, that's a supernatural birth. That's a miraculous birth. Just as the birth of Isaac was Yes, he was physically born, but it was by divine power that that happened. Without divine power, Sarah could have never conceived. She was barren. Without divine power, we can never come to Christ. We are enslaved to our sins. We must be born again by the power of God. Once again, the historical realities help to bring home the allegory that the apostle is using. Ishmael is literally against Isaac and we're coming to that in our next point and we'll see it again in chapter 5 as well. And Ishmael is against Isaac in the sense that they are the products of two very different kinds of birth with two very different ends. For Isaac and all those who are born again by the Spirit, they can say, I am a child of the promise for Ishmael. It was never possible for him to receive the inheritance. He was born of a slave woman. He would always be the son of a slave woman. And so it is for anyone who would depend upon their own work, upon their own labor, to find salvation, to find life. In short, there's only one inheritance. There's only one promised inheritance. And that brings us to our third point. For all the people of God, are all those who are the Spirit, are children of the promise, just as Isaac is. Notice in verse 29 and 23, the two contrasts. In verse 23, the contrast is between the Son born of the flesh and the Son born of the promise. In verse 29, the contrast is between the Son born of the flesh and those who are born according to the Spirit. You see, the text so closely brings these together. To be born again, to be born of the Spirit, is to be born of the promise. If you have been born again, if you have received Jesus Christ into heart, if you have repented of your sins and trusted of Him in every way, it's not old and gone and new, it's you are like Isaac, A child of the promise. A child of the promise. Those who are born according to the Spirit are those born of the promise. Those are direct parallels and both directly contrasted to being born of the flesh. So there are two reasons why Ishmael must be cast out. First, there's only one promise. And second, the one who will receive the inheritance will receive opposition from the one who will not. And so another historical reality comes to bear. If you would turn with me to Genesis chapter 21. I've been making reference to the main events here. I hope and trust they're familiar to many of us. This is a little less familiar passage, and it also uses a strange Hebrew word, and so it's helpful to turn here now. Genesis chapter 21, I'm gonna read verses eight to 12. And the child grew, this is Isaac, and was weaned, so Isaac is now two or three, And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, that is Ishmael, now sixteen or seventeen, Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. Now there's the strange Hebrew word, because laughing is not always a bad thing, right? But here it's not the vanilla Hebrew word. It's a word that carries with it the idea of laughing ridicule, laughing with a mocking intent. And so it could be translated mocking. And she saw Ishmael mocking. And so she said to Abraham, verse 10, cast out this slave woman with her son. for the son of the slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac." Now at this point, let's stop and note that sometimes the words of Sarah have been faithful words, right? And sometimes, like when she told Abraham to go into Hagar, they've been unfaithful words. Now what did the Apostle Paul quote in Galatians? He quoted the words of Sarah, didn't he? Well, we know that these words of Sarah, it wasn't just describing what she said, it's prescribing, this is a good thing to say. And it's directly approved of by the Lord in the text. So if we read on, Abraham is not sure about this, verse 11. And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. Ishmael is still his son. Time and time again, people of God in scripture, not following God's prescription from the beginning that there would be one man and one woman joined together to be one flesh. Time and time again, not following that prescription just leads to chaos and opposition. The sons of David, the sons of Gideon, the sons of Abraham, it is a mess. And so Abraham's not sure about this. This is pleasing to him, but God said to Abraham, Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you. For through Isaac shall your offspring be named." This is the opposition that Paul quotes from, refers to here. It was true and it will always continue to be true that there will be those who are opposed to the faith. And Ishmael, that wild donkey of a man, even as God preserved Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness, as we would see if we read on in Genesis 21, to this day, who are perhaps the main persecutors in most centuries of Christians and of Jews, it's the Muslims, it's the descendants of Ishmael. To this day, there is opposition created from this mess that Abraham and Sarah made from trying to do things their own way. Okay. Some might say, I am seeing the contrast between spirit and flesh, but I still don't know how to be born again. I still don't know how to be born again. I think it's good to return to John 3 and to read John 3 together once in a while to be reminded of the basics. How is one born again? I'm going to read a handful of verses from John chapter 3. I'm going to read them backwards. First John 3, 18. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in Jesus Christ is condemned already. because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. We are condemned in our sins. We must repent. We must turn out of that condemnation with repentance and seeking forgiveness. And who is it that we're looking to? Again, working backwards in John chapter 3, John 3 verse 16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. The one we look to is Jesus Christ. And what is it then that we have? in repentance of our sins, in looking to Jesus Christ. What is it that we've been given? What is it that makes it possible to truly repent and to truly look to Jesus? Well, that takes us back to the beginning of John 3. In John 3, verses 3 to 6, Jesus said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And then if we would read on, we see Nicodemus saying, well, how can a person be born again? How can this happen? You can't go back to your mother's womb. I'm not talking about a physical birth. I'm talking about the spiritual rebirth. The spiritual rebirth, which can only be done by divine power. This is what it is. It's to see, yes, I am condemned already, but I am going to look to Jesus Christ, and this is possible. It is possible to truly repent, to truly believe, when I am born again of the Spirit. All of God's divine work. All with a dependence upon Him. Now we have been anticipating Galatians 5 giving hints of the coming fruit that we are called to. Of course we see a beautiful beginning to that in Galatians 5. being born again, being remade by God's divine power, being his people. It's not a freedom to our own disobedience, to sinning that grace might abound, as the apostle says elsewhere, no. Christ is the one who sets us free, and it's for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. Take me out of my slavery of depending upon self, and bring me into complete freedom, Lord God, of depending upon you, and then from that, serving you, loving you. That's what 5.1 anticipates and brings us into. People of God, this is all of God. May we then see this, know this, depend upon God and say, yes, with Isaac, I am a child of the promise. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, we give thanks for all of your word. We give thanks for simple truths simply expressed and for deep spiritual realities that you have given for us to reflect on, even those which are beautifully rooted in historical facts as well. Lord, we give thanks for this very passage before us. May it drive us to know our need to be born again and that by your divine work. we can be born again. Children of the promise, those who stand in line to receive the eternal inheritance you promised so long ago, that you promise also to us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let us stand together, people of God, and sing number four