But we're turning to Galatians and the fourth chapter. We're into the final stretch of chapter 4, and after this we will give Galatians a little bit of a pause, a little break again, and come back to what are the two practical chapters, 5 and 6, after that brief pause. I guess, if anything, if you're to read the commentators, they will tell you that this final part of Galatians 4 is the most obscure part in the book. So, it'll likely be as obscure when I'm finished as what you're reading right now. But let's see. Verse 24, which things are an allegory For these are the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar." So, with the Word of God before us, and we're looking at 21 through to 31, two mothers and their sons, let's bow together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we pray for Thy blessing. guidance, direction. In the proclamation of Thy Word, Thy truth today, we pray that it will come with freshness and with clarity onto our heart, that thou wilt make application as only God the Spirit can. Lord, we know that in time past when dealing with some obscure passage, that Thou wert able to take Thine own Word and own it as Thy Word and apply it, even in a direction that we hadn't thought of, to the blessing and even the rescue and salvation of souls. Thou wert not limited. Thy Word is not bound. And we pray that Thou wilt release it in our hearing and to our hearts, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. When comparing notes with one another, parents of grown-up children in particular will say something like, when they're little, they're a handful. When they're grown, they become a heartful. Or to put that in slightly different form, when they're little, they step on your toes. When they're growing, they step on your heart. And that's exactly how Paul must have felt about those believers in the churches of Galatia. When he had first brought the message of the gospel to their attention, he had given his all in a full-blown effort to see them turn to the Lord for saving grace. Now in his absence, when he had departed away from the churches that he had founded, and the Judaizers, a whole band of false teachers, had infiltrated the churches, and they had thrown the people down into the trap of legalism, and so what they had done for the believers then was to push them back. into a second childhood in terms of their spiritual experience. Paul is now compelled to rise up again, write this letter, and it puts him to extra work on their behalf. He was longing with all of his heart to see the newborn children in Christ brought forth into growth and development and maturity so that day by day they would reflect more of the Lord Jesus in their living. So this letter to the Galatians is actually Paul's impassioned effort to help those people steer a straight line through confusing times. You may recall, when we began the studies in the third chapter of Galatians, we then pictured Paul as a boxer. He was going six rounds flat out with those false teachers. He sets out six arguments in order to defend the truth that God saves sinners through simple, straightforward faith in Jesus Christ. And it's not a matter of coming along and saying, oh, yes, you can be saved by faith, but you must add on and add on and add on something else, and these were the performances of the law that the Judaizers were adding into the mix. So the apostle's first line of debate was a personal argument, back in Galatians 3, the verse 1 to 5, five questions, he directs to them there, and then he moves into the scriptural argument in Galatians 3, verse 6 to 14, he's in the second round, and he's dipping during the second round of conflict here, back into the Old Testament scriptures, and he's pulling out six passages that are supporting his argument as he delves into this issue. The third line of debate we call the logical argument in Galatians 3, 15 to 29, and he reasoned with them on the basis of what a covenant is and how a covenant works. Then he goes down the line of a historical argument in Galatians chapter 4, the verse 1 to 11, and he explains to them the proper place of the law. It's not that you throw it out. threw the baby and the bathwater out entirely here. No, you don't do that. He explains how the law properly exists in the history of the nation of Israel. Then we come to what I've called a sentimental argument, where the love of his heart begins to gush out. Well, I shouldn't really say begins, because right through all of this process of argumentation, Paul's love for his converts in Galatia, his children in the faith, it has been spilling out regularly onto the surface. but sentimental argument it is in verse 12 through to 18 of Galatians 4. And he appeals to them, remember the time that we spent together, the love that we enjoyed, the happy relationship that we had as the gospel came to your understanding in those wonderful days that are past. Now, having launched out on this emotional appeal, Paul gets straight back to close and considered and cogent reasoning, and so he rounds off this whole series of six arguments, the final round in the boxing bout, if you like, and he comes now to the allegorical argument. in Galatians 4, verse 19, right down to the end of the chapter, verse 31. That's based on the old Genesis story of Abraham, and Sarah, and Hagar, and Isaac, and Ishmael. So, it's an allegory. That's the word Paul uses in Galatians 4, in the verse 24, which things, he says, are an allegory. For these are the two covenants, the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar." What's an allegory? The Greek word that he's using here is built out of two words, alos, another, and lego, as in the toy, to speak. Lego in Danish has completely different roots. It actually means to play well. But I suppose, given the fact we're into rather sophisticated Lego sets, let's go down that line for purpose of illustration. You've got a building made out of Lego, and there's a lot of characters and people and a scene going on inside the building, so we're not paying attention to the outer structure. We don't want to look at the roof here. We want to get the roof off. and seeing what is being transacted inside, because that's the important thing. An allegory is a story that contains another message beyond the plain meaning of the text. In the middle of the narrative, there is a deeper message that's apart from the story itself. and see what's going on inside. The BBC ran a poll to find the best-loved English novel, the big read, the plump four, The Lord of the Rings. And I guess that was pretty obvious why it would go that way, because the three films had not really that long been released at that stage. But if the same poll, the big read, best novel, could have been launched about 150 years before that time, the runaway winner back then would have been The Pilgrim's Progress, written by John Bunyan. You see, in England, and way beyond English shores at that time, of a family-owned book, one book, it was bolt-on guaranteed to be the Bible. If they owned two books, then the second would almost certainly be Bunyan's work, The Pilgrim's Progress. Far more likely than having anything written by Shakespeare would be The Pilgrim's Progress. And the popularity of that book was only challenged when the like of the Victorian mass market came into play, and we had the novels written by Charles Dickens in particular. Today, The Pilgrim's Progress doesn't even feature in the top 100 list. It's a forgotten book. But it's an allegory, this Pilgrim's Progress, of the Christian life. A scene from John Bunyan's Puritan and evangelical viewpoint takes the form of a description of a journey that's taken by Christian from the day that he leaves the city of destruction until he eventually arrives, after many dangers and toils and snares, to the celestial sitting of heaven. Why was it so popular? Well, it draws attention at the basic level to the fact that parables have always been more popular than the epistles, for example, of Paul. In other words, stories are more entertaining than the direct explanation of theology, the allegory. that Paul pulls in then at the close of this fourth chapter of Galatians, takes us right back to the book of Genesis. And we have been there before at different points through the study of this letter, and it mentions people and actions that we are very familiar with. Sarah dies Hagar and Ishmael, Abraham connecting both. It revolves around two sons and their respective mothers. And as is the case with allegories, those persons and those actions represent hidden meanings. Suppose painting this picture, the old Genesis scene, to illustrate, to review, to drive home His main point that has been running right through this entire letter. And surprise, surprise, for anyone who has been following the drift of our studies in the book, the principal point that Paul is making now by means of this allegory or Old Testament story is this, salvation is not received by a mixture of faith and works, but by faith alone. In the work of God alone, Christ alone, he is appointed mediator. So what the allegory does is allow Paul to gently suggest in story form what he desperately wants the Galatians to do. As a result of his epistle, take those Judaizers, those false teachers who have infiltrated your ranks and show them the door. Their heresies, they're going to ruin you. Chase them, every last one of them. That's what Paul is saying. Notice the setting. occupied by this allegory, the setting occupied by this allegory. Paul begins this doctrinal part of the book, chapter 3 and chapter 4, by talking about Abraham, Genesis or Galatians 3, verse 6 to 14. And now, at the end of chapter 4, he's come full circle, and he's going to close this doctrinal section, chapter 3 and 4, with Abraham again. But there's historical background. We read about it in verse 19 through to 23 of Galatians 4. Christ be formed in you. I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice or tone, for I stand in doubt of you. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For here's what the law was saying, is Paul's point, it is written that Abraham had two sons, and the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he was of the bondwoman, was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise." I'm going to take you back to Sunday school here, to your basic knowledge of the Bible. in Genesis, relevant to Abraham, so Genesis 12 through to Genesis chapter 21. Tick the boxes you get right, mentally, as we go through this. It's a timeline of Abraham. When he was 75 years of age, he was called by God to go into the land of Canaan. God promises, Abraham you will have many, many descendants. Genesis 12 verse 1 to 9. But Abraham and Sarah, his wife, they wanted children. There was a problem though. Sarah was barren. So he and his wife are both old by this stage. And Sarah's been barren from those young years. But God allows what was an impressive probable situation developing through the years to become a humanly impossible situation. And God waits until both Abraham and Sarum, to use a phrase here, were as good as dead before He would perform this miracle of sending them a son, You can read about that as well in Romans 4, verse 16 to 25. So that's when he was 75. Next stop in the timeline, 85. Ten years later, the promised son has not yet arrived. Sarah has run out of patience and run out of hope. And she suggests, Abraham, the only solution we have is this. You take Hagar, our handmaid, and try to have a son by her. It was an act that was legal in that society, but it was not the will of God. Abraham followed her counsel, married Hagar, Genesis 16, 1 to 3. Then we come to the next year, 86 years of age. Hagar becomes pregnant and Sarah becomes jealous. And the domestic scene in Abraham's home becomes so fraught that Sarah kicks Hagar and throws her out. However, the Lord intervenes, sends Hagar back, and promises he will take care of her and her son. When Abraham is 86, Hagar's son is born. He calls him Ishmael, which means God will hear him. Genesis 16, verse 4 through 16. Now, let's fast forward 13 further years. Abraham is now 99. God speaks to him again and he repeats the old promise of Genesis 12 that he will have a son with Sarum and tells him, you're going to call the name of your son Isaac. God literally appears and he confirms his promise to Sarah as well. Genesis 17 and Genesis 18. At 100, the next notch on the timeline, at 100 years of age, the Son is born. Genesis 21, verse 1 to 7, He's called Isaac, meaning laughter, as commanded by the Lord. But the arrival of Isaac causes a new problem in the home, Ishmael. The only son now for a time has arrival for the past 14 years. Ishmael has been the father's only son, dear to his heart. How will he respond to the arrival of arrival? You know how it is in families. A child is born, maybe a significant distance apart from and ahead of the second child coming in, and you're thinking, how will he adjust? Or she adjust to the new arrival in the home? At 103 years of age, next part of the timeline, well, it was customary for the Jews to wean their children about the age of three, and to make a big display and great occasion of it, and at the feast, Ishmael begins to mock Isaac. Genesis 21, verse 8, and on from there, and he stirs up fresh trouble in the home. Sibling rivalry, multiply it by a factor of ten, and you'll get close to how explosive this was. Only one solution to the problem seemed possible. Hagar, Anderson have to go. with a broken heart, Abraham sends that son Ishmael away, because that's what God confirms he should do. So, what do we have here? Only a domestic dispute, typical of many homes, on the surface. The story just seems to be the tale of a family problem. But be sure of this, get off the roof, into the plan that is being worked out here, beneath the surface, lies meaning after meaning that carry with them huge spiritual force. Abraham, the two wives, and the two sons represent spiritual realities, and the interplay in all of this relationship underlines some important lessons. That's the setting. occupied by the allegory, then the significance arising from this allegory, the significance arising from it. We have seen the historical timeline. Well, now we have spiritual truths that Paul wants us to focus on, and you'll find them in 24 through to 29. Which things are an allegory? For these are the two covenants. the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 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, verse 27, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry, thou that revealest not. For the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband. That was going to be true of Sarum. Now we, brethren, verse 28, as Isaac was of 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. Where do we draw the lessons? It becomes a study in contrast. Instead of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, Paul's paean presents us here with a tale of two women and their two sons. And you could elasticate the title a bit and stretch it out a bit further and say, a tale of two women and their two sons revolving around two covenants on two mountains, because that's what it's all about. On the one side of the equation, or the picture, we have Hagar and Ishmael and Mount Sinai and legalistic Jerusalem. And on the other, we have Sarah and we have Isaac and we've got Jerusalem above. Now, the contrasts are not between the law and the gospel or the method of salvation for old and for New Testament saints. It wasn't the case in the Old Testament that the people of God were saved by a certain way, and then those goalposts were shifted onto the new playing surface, the New Testament, and they're now being saved by a new method. Both Old and New Testament saints were saved by the one gospel. They both had to look to Christ, some to His coming, and we back to the day He came, His life and His ministry subsequent to that. So, that's not where the two covenants fall here. does not represent the Old Testament saints, but rather aligns herself with the Judaizers that Paul had already said brought in a gospel that was no gospel at all, presented another Jesus, presented a different spirit, came with another false gospel. What they were bringing in, as with Hagarm, was not a true covenant at all, but it was them rejecting and perverting the one covenant God has made with His people. The contrast lies here. The religion of Ishmael is a religion of nature. It's what we naturally gravitate to. what human beings can do by themselves without any special intervention by God. That's where most of organized religion is today. It's all about what human beings can do by themselves. without any special intervention by God. And so, if you ask somebody, are you going to heaven? They'll say, well, I hope so because I haven't done anybody any harm. I do the best I can. It's all about what human beings can do themselves without any intervention by God. How much of religion today, or what travels under the name, fits in right there. The other side of the coin is this. The religion of Isaac, is a religion of grace, of what God has done and what God does, a religion of divine initiative and divine intervention. For Isaac was born supernaturally, the result of a divine promise all about God. and His grace. So, the contrast is about liberty. Ishmael, remember, was born into slavery because his mother Hagar was a slave. Five times in this small section of Galatians, she's called a bondmaid or a bondwoman, verse 23 and 24, verse 30 and 31. And even though she was married to Abraham, Hagar was still a servant. Hagar was not meant to bear a son to her master, Abraham. Abraham's marriage to Hagar was outside of the will of God. It was a result of Sarah's and Abraham's unbelief and impatience. Hagar was trying to do what only Sarah could do, provide a covenant child for Abraham, and it failed. You add anything to salvation, that comes only through Christ, and whatever you add makes your scheme a failure. If you The law, well the law can't give life, Galatians 3.21. The law can't provide righteousness, Galatians 2.21. The law can't bring with it the gift of the Spirit, Galatians 3.2. The law can't lead you to a spiritual inheritance, Galatians 3.18. So if your religion is all about and only about what you are doing, it's going to fail you. Hagar gave birth to a slave. It's interesting to note that Hagar was Abraham's second wife. In other words, God did not begin in that family with Hagar. He began with Sarah, and as far as God's dealings with men and women are concerned, God begins with Greece. So, Isaac was born to freedom. and that he's a picture of the true child of God. He was born according to God's promise. God deliberately waited 25 years before he granted Abraham and Sarah their son. He was born by God's power. He was born after the Spirit, something you note in Galatians 4.29. And every Christian, of course, is born of the Spirit. John 3, verse 1 to 7, Isaac came into the world through Abraham, who represents faith. Galatians 3 and 9, Romans 4, and through Sarum, who represents grace, so that he was born a child by grace through faith. That's how it is with every Christian. Ephesians 2, the verse 8 and 9 underlines that. So this contrast in terms of liberty is flagged up. You're on the side of Hagar. You're on the side of slavery to the law and birth by human effort, the side of Saron, the side of freedom and birth by the grace and the power and the Spirit of God. Notice that Isaac was persecuted by Ishmael. These two lads fell out spectacularly, Galatians 4 and 29. You see, not content to be slaves in bondage themselves, the children of Hagar tried to drag the sons of the promise into bondage with them. Galatians 4.29, But as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even soon it is nigh. Ishmael newted the liberty that Isaac was enjoying, and he thought, We can't be having that. Put him back to where I am. remove and destroy the liberty he enjoys, and he persecuted Isaac, and he tried to enslave him and turn the tables on him. So there's the conflict and contrast on the grounds of liberty. And false teachers will try to drag the Christian right back into the depths of bondage if they can possibly do it. Also a contrast on the grounds of maturity. One of Abraham's offspring, that's Isaac, finds joy in the promise of God. The other, Ishmael, discovers sorrow as he walks the ways of the world. You'll find in Genesis 16 and 12 that Ishmael is described as a wild man. Though he was a slave, nobody could control him, not even his mother. By nature, the flesh and the spirit are at loggerheads, and child of God, you'll know that going on in your own life. Contrary, the one to the other, Isaiah Galatians 5 and 17 freezes it, and no amount of religious activity is going to change it. There's a battle to the death going on. Isaac, on the one hand, grew and developed, Genesis 21 and 8. Salvation is the beginning, not the ending of spiritual life. After we are born by the Spirit of God, we must grow. We must evidence development. 1 Corinthians 13.11, childish things must be put away. Now, it's really easy to hold on to the toys. of our earlier Christian days and fail to get a grip on the tools by which a maturing believer develops in the Christian life to the glory of God and tell me today, are you still playing with the toys?" Instead of practicing with the tools in Christian development, he grew, he developed, he brought joy. Isaac's name means laughter. There's no doubt he brought abundant joy to the hearts of his aged parents. God's salvation is an experience of joy, not only for the believer himself, but also to those around him. They should be positively impacted. Where's the level of our joy today? Is it drained out of the system? Where can real joy be found? Nowhere other than in Christ. We used to sing, children's meeting, Sunday school, if you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart. More modern times, we sing, in Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song. Back in the third century, a man was facing death, and he penned these, his last words, to a friend of his. Here's what he wrote, it's a bad world, an incredibly bad world, but I have discovered in the middle of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found joy. which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of our sinful life." He said, they are despised and persecuted, but they don't care. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people are the Christians, and I am one of them. Are you one of them? And if you are, is the joy there? Not only did he develop, cause joy, but he experienced fruitfulness. For Isaac, the promise was fulfilled. Contrast in liberty, contrast in maturity, contrast in destiny, because as you'll note here in Galatians 4, 26 to 31, one was thrown out of the house of promise. The other was welcomed in. stayed in and received into heaven, the Jerusalem above us contrasted with the Jerusalem below. Are you headed for heaven? We speak of the land of the blessed, that country so bright and so fair, and oft are its glories confessed, but what must it be to be there? Heaven, are you going?" The setting occupied by the allegory, the significance arising from this allegory, finally and briefly the solution advanced in this allegory. In the final verses of the chapter, the path to blessing is charted. At first read, verse 30 and 31 sounds harsh, even ruthless. Nevertheless, verse 30 says, "'What saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir, but the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.'" And what happened historically was this. Hagar was put out. because of all of the tension that was not going to subside, put out again and finally from Abraham's house. Sarah pressed that this kind of drastic action should be taken, and she gave the order, cast out the bondwoman and her son, Genesis 21, verse 9 and 10, and God subsequently approved. as being the solution to the problem. Genesis 21 and 12, you can check it out. By this stage, Ishmael had been in the home for at least 17 years, but that stay was now not going to be permanent. He had to be thrown out. There wasn't room in the household for Hagar and Ishmael with Sarah and Isaac. One pair had to go. The wild man could never live comfortably. but the child of promise. And that's what Paul is saying to the Judaizers, why he's telling this story, using this allegory. You Galatians in the church, you've been penetrated, infiltrated by Judaizers. They're teaching falsehood, dragging you down into bondage, stealing your joy, taking away your liberty. You need to put them out. It's the only solution. That's how it is in the church of Jesus Christ today. I don't announce it as a matter of pride, but of huge relief that whenever an elder or a minister steps forward, having been elected by the people in our denomination for ordination and installation, they are asked to solemnly answer the question if they are born again. And if they're not, the door is closed, and that's how it should be. I just can't perceive how it is in denominations that have unconverted clergy. sitting side by side, voting in synods and other gatherings, saved and unsaved, cross purposes, Ishmael and Isaac, those who believe we are saved by faith alone, in Christ alone, through grace alone, and those who are saying, no, you need to add works. Depends on what you do. Well, there are two options we can try to compromise with them. That didn't work in Abraham's home. Neither will it work in our lives, nor will it work in our church. When you compromise, Paul's already told them what happened. In verse 9 of Galatians 4, "'How turn ye again?' They were the ones being pulled down, to the weak and beggary elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage." That's what happens. They wrap you in the ropes of bondage, and you just go with it, and end up thinking there's no problem here, desiring it. Or the other alternative is you can throw them out, and that's what we are supposed to do. The Church of Christ, in its leadership, everybody's welcome to come along and listen to the ministry, but in its leadership and its membership, hí go raibh níos míle, have no place. Now, the Pharisees, they had very high standards, yet they crucified Jesus. The Judaizers had very high standards across many areas of living. They could tick box after box after box, but they were leading people into bondage and defeat, not liberty and victory. And the people, after a while, couldn't detect the difference. When you invite Hagar and Ishmael to live with Sarah and Isaac, you're asking for trouble. Therefore, the instruction, cast out the bondwoman and her son. It'll cause hurt, it'll cause pain, but it has to be done. Mixing the ingredients for salvation and life, putting in the regulations of the law and your works and all that you can accomplish, and putting in their grace as well as a bit of a top-up that ends in frustration, renders the Christian life barren. We are to live by grace, through faith, and that will bring us into a free and fulfilling life in Christ. What's the secret? The secret is the Holy Spirit. That's the secret Paul is keen to share in the closing, practical couple of chapters in this epistle. Life in the Spirit is what he goes on to talk about, lived out practically in the world around you, impacting those that come into contact with you. We need to check if Ishmael and Hagar have crept back in surreptitiously into our lives. And if they have, let's use an old Ulster colloquialism, grab them by the scruff of the neck and turf them out. It's the only answer. And if you're not yet saved, going down the track of this empty religion, Hagar and Ishmael, And thinking faith in Christ, you know, it's too simple. I want to add things to that. Let my fingerprints be over this scheme. You put anything else of you into the mix, and you're headed for the city of destruction. Throw that notion out and come simply to Christ alone. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come to Thee today, we thank Thee for Thy mercy. We praise Thee for this allegory, this Old Testament incident and story that Paul was able to pitch back to and use in that up-to-date context as to deal with what was happening in the Galatian churches. Lord, it's as relevant today, two thousand years later as when Paul used Let us be in our guard. Teach us, Lord, to be watchful. And may everyone be saved through grace, by faith in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, with no component of our works involved. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.