I turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4. We'll pick up the last section. Verses 21 to 31.
Hagar, Sarah and covenant theology. The apostle Paul appeals to these two women. He appeals to them and draws some teachings, some implications with reference to his current situation here in Galatia. He's already argued definitively for justification by faith alone.
This is more illustrative. It just highlights or exemplifies the point that he has been driving home continually. that faith and works are two mutually exclusive systems. One either believes by God's grace upon the Lord Jesus for his acceptance with God or one obeys the law and seeks to do so fully in order to be accepted by God. There's no mingling of the two, and that's what we find in this particular section.
Paul speaks allegorically. That's the actual verb that the New King James translates, symbolic. You've probably all heard of allegory and that it's a bad thing. Well, not the way Paul does it.
It's a good thing when Paul does it. Some of the early church fathers taught an allegorical interpretation. And basically what they taught was that we look for a meaning underneath the surface. In other words, the scripture says something and it's usually very clear, but we need to penetrate beyond that and we need to see what the allegorical meaning is.
In fact, many times they offered up several interpretations of a particular passage. Now we need to be very careful with reference to allegory. John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is another successful allegory. But Paul is primarily using that vehicle in a typological way, looking back in history, looking back in the history of salvation, and he is pulling out this particular scenario and applying it or showing how it applies or illustrates rather the point here.
John Calvin speaks of allegory. He says that it's a contrivance of Satan to obscure the meaning of Scripture. We need to be very careful with reference to this whole issue of allegory. But when Paul does it, he is doing it more typologically, pulling out, as I said, something from the Old Testament to illustrate the point that he has been making since chapters, all the way from chapters 1 to 4.
So I'll just pick up reading in Galatians chapter 4 at verse 21.
Two Mutually Exclusive Systems
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise. Which things are symbolic?
For these are the two covenants. The one from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
For it is written, Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear. Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor. For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
But as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what does the scripture say? 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.
Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, thank you for this passage. We pray for clarity in our understanding.
Help us to see the illustration. Help us to see how it just further shines light upon the apostles' insistence on justification by faith alone. God, we thank you for that doctrine. We thank you for that truth.
We thank you, Lord, that Jesus saves to the uttermost. all who draw near to God through Him. And we pray now in His most blessed name. Amen. Well,
Introduction and Sermon Overview
basically, we'll take this section and break it down into three parts. The first is the lesson from Scripture, verses 21 to 23, where we'll look primarily at the players, those who are involved. Secondly, the spiritual significance of the lesson in verses 24 to 27. And then finally, the application to the Galatians, which we find there in verses 28 to 31.
This teaches covenant theology, as we have seen recently in our studies in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 12. The author there takes us to two mountains. He tells us, you have not come to Mount Sinai, but rather you have come to Mount Zion, the heavenly city, the city or the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. And he's doing a similar thing here.
He is bringing us to Mount Sinai, and though it's not mentioned, he is bringing us to Mount Zion to consider new covenant reality. Those things he has been trafficking in all the way through up until this particular point. So
Lesson from Scripture: The Players
let's look at this lesson from Scripture. We already read Genesis 21. Hopefully we'll have something in our mind as we come to consider the particular persons here. But notice who he's addressing.
Verse 21, tell me, you who desire to be under the law. That highlights again the mutual exclusivity of two systems of approach. We're either saved by grace through faith or we are saved by law keeping. We are saved by works.
You cannot mingle those two things so that when Paul came and he preached to the churches of southern Galatia and the people believed the gospel and they were saved. And then these Judaizers came in and said, what Paul preaches is a good thing, but you also must be circumcised. You must also undergo the ceremonial law of Moses. That is to put oneself under the law.
If you look at Galatians 5.2 for a moment, Galatians 5.2. Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. He is not talking about circumcision here for cosmetic reasons.
He is not talking about circumcision here for customary reasons. He is talking about circumcision as a means of obedience to the ceremonial law of Moses to garner one's acceptance with God. But you see, it doesn't stop there. If you say, I must be circumcised in order to be accepted by God, You must do all things that the law has commanded and you must do it perfectly.
You must do it completely. You must do it thoroughly. Well, if you're a student of scripture and a student of your own heart, you will know that no man can do that. No man can fulfill the law.
That's why God sent forth his son. His son obeyed the law. His son fulfilled all righteousness. His son went to the cross at Calvary.
His son in his death and resurrection becomes the means by which we receive the pardon for our sins and we receive the imputed righteousness of Christ so that we may stand in God's presence. There were those in the churches of Galatia who were desiring to be under the law. John Calvin defines it this way. To be under the law signifies here to come under the yoke of the law on the condition that God will act toward you according to the covenant of the law and that you in return bind yourself to keep the law.
Look back at Galatians chapter 3. Verse 10, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. That means that if you reject Jesus Christ, if you say, I don't want any part of that gospel, then you are obligated. You are duty bound.
It is incumbent upon you from this time forth to always obey the law and to somehow deal with all the sin you've amassed prior to this time. That is a mutually exclusive way. It is either by grace, through faith in Christ, or it is by law keeping. And so the apostle here now addresses these errors.
He says, tell me, you who desire to be under the law, the idea of relying on the law for one's acceptance with God, or relying on the Mosaic covenant and its ceremonies for one's acceptance with God. He goes on to say in verse 21, do you not hear the law? The first five books of the Bible are referred to commonly as the law or the Torah. Very often large portions of the Old Testament are referred to as the law.
The breakdown in the Jewish canon was the law, the prophets, and the writings. And so here he is speaking about specifically the book of Genesis, referring this account with reference to these two women. Notice verse 22,
Two Sons: Flesh and Promise
Abraham had two sons. It is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond woman, the other by a free woman. Hagar was a bondwoman. She was a servant.
She was a maid. She was a slave to the family. Remember that Sarah was barren, and Sarah thought it would be good that Abraham would go into Hagar so that he could have an heir, so that he could have a son. And this is what Paul is alluding to, what we've already seen in Genesis 21, Genesis 16, and Genesis 7.
It is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. Notice, he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh. This doesn't mean anything bad. It just means ordinarily.
He was born in the due course of nature. Not that Isaac wasn't, but Isaac was the son of promise. So Isaac was born in a due, ordinary way in terms of conjugal relations within the marriage. But he was indeed the son of promise.
And so that's the difference between Ishmael and Isaac. The one was born according to the flesh and the one of the free woman was through the promise. One commentator says that in the scriptural record of the birth of these two sons of Abraham, Paul recognizes the same opposition between reliance on self, according to the flesh, and reliance on God through promise, as exists between those who would be justified by legal works and those who are justified by faith. That's what he's doing here.
Just to cut to the quick, Paul is telling us that Sarah, the free woman, gives birth to sons of promise who are new covenant members and blessed recipients of all the promises of God by His grace through faith alone. Hagar, on the other hand, is associated with Mount Sinai, the covenant of law, the covenant of bondage, that one that does not bring freedom, that one that does not bring pardon from sin and the imputed righteousness of Christ. He is saying that what we have going on in Galatia is this old combat happening again, the son of promise Isaac versus the sons of the flesh, Ishmael. The Judaizers and those like them are the Ishmaelites and the ones who believe the gospel, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. are sons of promise and are in cahoots, if I could say that, with Isaac and with Sarah.
So you have bondage. The bondwoman Hagar flashed Mount Sinai and its association with first century Jerusalem. And then you have freedom or liberty associated with the free woman Sarah, promise, Jerusalem above. You see, these are two covenants which brings us to our next point, the spiritual significance of the lesson.
The one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar, for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. You see,
Spiritual Significance: Two Covenants
he's teaching us covenant theology. So he wants you to look at Hagar. Notice he never even mentions Sarah. It's everywhere implied.
While he mentions Mount Sinai, he doesn't mention Mount Zion or the New Covenant. But it's everywhere implied, especially based on what he has said up to this point, especially in chapters 3 and 4. Now, I understand that you probably don't want to listen to Hagar, Sarah, and covenant theology. I realize this is a bit of a more teachy sort of a topic tonight, but I think it's a good one to get in terms of our appreciation for the Old and the New Covenant and how God operates covenantally with his people.
So please, just gird yourself up, try to exercise a little bit of additional brain power tonight as we try and wrap our minds around this particular allegory that the Apostle Paul utilizes to illustrate the point that faith and works are mutually exclusive systems of approach unto God. So the spiritual significance, verses 24 to 27. He says, these things are symbolic, for these are the two covenants, the one from Sinai, and it corresponds to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children. When Paul writes, which now is, he's talking about first century Jerusalem.
You know that, right? First century Jerusalem was apostate. First century Jerusalem was rebellious. First century Jerusalem was the ones to whom Jesus came and they crucified the Lord of glory.
Remember that at that time when Christ is being tried under Pontius Pilate, the Jews said, let his blood be upon us and our children. They did not realize at the time, but they were bringing upon themselves the curse and wrath of God. God would make good on that about a generation later, when Jerusalem was surrounded by the Roman armies under Titus, and they would be destroyed. Their temple would be destroyed, their city would be destroyed, and they would be dispersed into the nations.
First-Century Jerusalem in Bondage
Paul is commenting theologically on the condition of first century Jerusalem. He says it's in bondage. It's a slave state, not because of the Roman government, but because of their attachment to the law, thinking that the law is going to bring them unto God. They have missed it.
The end of the law is Christ. The law served in the Mosaic Covenant served to press the people to the Lord Jesus. And they missed that. So they're in bondage now.
They are spiritual Ishmaelites. Consider that for a moment. The first century Jew that did not believe the gospel was an Ishmaelite. The first century Gentile that believed the gospel was an Isaacite.
He was a son of promise. He was a spiritual recipient of all the promises made to Father Abraham. In fact, Robert Raymond says, Paul, by this allegory, is saying that the nation of Israel, because of its unbelief and bondage to the law, is in actuality a nation of spiritual Ishmaelites, sons of the bondwoman Hagar, and not true Israelites at all. This was counter-cultural for the apostle to preach.
He is summing up God's goal in the covenant salvation and the covenant of grace. He is showing that in Jesus Christ, the promise made to Abraham has come to fruition. So he speaks of these two covenants and then he speaks of two Jerusalem's, the one which now is and the Jerusalem which is above.
The Jerusalem Above: New Covenant Community
Notice in verse 26, but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. Now, realize that when he says the Jerusalem which is above, he's not talking necessarily about it being spatially elevated. He's talking about the new covenant community of the people of God. Bruce says in our present text, just as the now Jerusalem is not primarily the geographical site, it's not just the ground that he is speaking about, so the Jerusalem above is not spatially elevated, but is the community of the new covenant.
So he's saying Old Covenant brings bondage. So that when, practically, these Judaizers came in and they said, believe on the Lord Jesus and keep the ceremonies of Moses, they were not preaching liberty. They were preaching bondage. They were calling and encouraging the people to go backward in redemptive history.
They were telling the people to leave Mount Zion and go back to Mount Sinai. They were telling the people that they were to base their acceptance with God partially on the works of the law. That's why Paul is so upset. We are not accepted by God based on our works of the law.
We are accepted with God based on Christ's works of the law. And then notice
Isaiah 54 and the Church's Blessing
he appeals to the prophet Isaiah, for it is written, rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear. Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor. For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. Now in the context of Isaiah 54, the people would be in exile for 70 years.
The people would come out of exile and God would bless them. That's the point of the reference to Isaiah. Yes, they were somewhat numerous prior to the exile, but they would be far more numerous when they come out of the exile, specifically when Jesus comes. Notice Isaiah 54 follows on the heels of Isaiah 53, that great section of scripture extolling the suffering servant for the sins of his people.
After Jesus accomplishes what Isaiah says in chapter 53, the church is blessed. beyond measure. She is called to rejoice. She is called to break forth and shout. She is called to understand that the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.
The one who is desolate because of her own sin comes out by God's grace and is flourishing and is thriving. E.J. Young, commenting on Isaiah 54, says, In chapter 53, the work of redemption is described as spiritual. In this present chapter, chapter 54, the prophet turns to the redeemed ones, the church, and speaks of its glorious exaltation.
By coming to the church, Isaiah causes us to understand more deeply the value and efficacy of the servants' atoning work. The sufferings of the servant were for the church, his body, and not for himself. Paul uses Isaiah 54 in the exact same way. There is blessing.
There is multitude conversion. There is the enlargement of the tents. There is great prosperity. physical but spiritual under the terms of the new covenant. And
Application to the Galatians
that brings us thirdly to consider the application to the Galatians, verses 28 to 31. I hope you're all with me. Just know this. Old Testament associated with Hagar, associated with being bound or slaves, and associated with being according to the flesh.
Think New Testament. Sarah. Think liberty. freedom, being according to the promise, not a part of an apostate defecting city of Jerusalem, which then was. that had raised their fists at the Lord Jesus Christ. But we are associated with the Jerusalem of Bab, which is the mother of us all.
We are part of that Mount Zion, that city of the living God, that heavenly Jerusalem that Paul writes about here. He writes about in Hebrews 12, and we see the contrast in the book of Revelation, specifically in chapter 14. The Lamb stands with his army on Mount Zion in contrast to Babylon, which I take to be a reference to Jerusalem in the first century. Well, let's look at some application to the Galatians and then we'll close with some application for us.
Notice, first of all, the
Children of Promise Are Believers
children of promise are believers on the Lord Jesus. Verse 28, now we brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. Again, please don't miss the significance of this. A Gentile living in the Galatian region was connected vitally to Isaac by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone.
A first century Jew that rejected Jesus Christ was an Ishmaelite. I imagine Paul ruffled a few feathers when he started to make this application. Remember, in the first century, not even in the first century, it probably still continues, the Jews would often pray three things. Thank you, God, that I'm not a Gentile, or I was not born a Gentile, I was not born a woman, and I was not born a slave.
They referred oftentimes to the Gentiles as to dogs. This is why in Philippians chapter 3, when Paul is alerting the audience to guard against the Judaizers, he says, beware of dogs. His point isn't canines. His point isn't that there's some big pit bull down at the end of the road in Philippi, near the first bank of Philippi.
And if you don't watch it, you're going to get bit. That's not his issue. When he says, beware of dogs, he is speaking about the Judaizers. The title that the Jews would apply to the Gentiles, Paul says that's true of anyone who preaches law for the acceptance with God.
And he's doing the very same thing here. Now, we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. The ones who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are children of promise, whether Jew or Gentile. The ones who insist on works, whether it be a combination of faith plus works or solely works, are sons according to the flesh.
They find their pedigree with Ishmael, not Isaac. Secondly,
Heresy as Persecution
notice what he says in verse 29. The Ishmaelites persecute. But as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Now in our text in Genesis 21, there is one reference here that we can shed some light on this statement.
Verse 9 of Genesis 21, And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, whom she had born to Abraham, scoffing. The marginal reading has laughing. It's difficult to know exactly what's going on there. But Jewish tradition raised up or a lot of writing throughout Jewish tradition highlighted the rivalry between Isaac and Ishmael.
Think about it. Ishmael is 14. Isaac is born. He's starting to see that there's a division of affection now.
Ishmael's not happy with his current arrangement. He's been very content with Abraham loving him and him being the apple of his father's eye. But be that as it may, look at what Paul says with reference to this whole issue. The son Ishmael persecuted Isaac, even as it is now.
If I asked you, what does the persecution of the church mean? You'd probably say, when our brothers are thrown into prison for preaching Christ. You might say, well, I read a story in BLM once where a guy was preaching the gospel and catechizing children in China, and they took chopsticks and they gouged his eyes out. Yeah, that's persecution.
You might read Foxe's Book of Martyrs and see some noble saint who is contending earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saint, standing fast and ending up being thrown into the fire. That's all persecution. But you see what Paul is saying here? When a man comes into a church, whether it's public preaching or whether it's private discipleship, and he begins to sow seeds of heresy That man is engaged in persecution.
In fact, I submit that soul murder is even worse than physical murder. If somebody is able to get you to believe a lie, if somebody is able to get you to embrace heresy, to think that your acceptance with God depends upon you, and you end up in hell, That's horrible. That's the worst form of persecution a man, a woman, a boy or a girl could ever undergo. So you see, false doctrine, bad teaching, heresy, those things calculated to strip God's glory from him and leave sinners vulnerable to the damnation of hell is persecution.
You need to make sure that you understand this as he who was born according to the flesh, then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit. Even so, it is now. Can you imagine that? A Judaizer hearing this as it was read in one of the churches in Galatia, thinking to himself, Paul says I'm persecuting this flock.
I imagine he got a lot of bad A flack with reference to this particular letter from the wing of the Judaizers. Notice thirdly,
Two Approaches Cannot Coexist
the impossibility again of two approaches coexisting. Verse 30. Nevertheless, what does the scripture say? Cast out the bond woman and her son for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.
Again, Isaac is born. Sarah is pleased as punch. She is delighted. She knows, though, that Abraham is quite fond of Ishmael.
And so he should be. It's his son. But she sees Ishmael sort of hanging around there with Isaac. And Sarah doesn't like it.
That's when Sarah tells Abraham, get her out of here. Get her and her son out of here. Abraham is immediately put back a little bit. He doesn't like that.
But in verse 12, God says, listen to her. Listen to her and get her out of here. Right? That's why Paul can say, notice, nevertheless, what does the Scripture say?
It's interesting. Sarah spoke this. Paul is saying this is Scripture and he is applying it to the current situation. The point, very simply, is this.
That when those Ishmaelites come in among the sons of Isaac, you need to get them out. They're dangerous. They affect you. They harm you.
They persecute you. If you follow their doctrine, you'll end up in hell. So, you don't play games with them, you don't entertain them, you don't let them hang around, you don't start special churches for them. No, you cast out the bondwoman and her son.
For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. John Eady, an old Scottish Presbyterian, said this, the lesson from this portion of the allegory is that Judaism is in no sense to be combined with Christianity. Listen to this. Judaism is not to be combined with Christianity.
He says that they were intended to be kept asunder and to no extent to be amalgamated, that they are so opposed in genius and working, flesh and spirit, bondage and freedom, that any compromise between them is impossible. We need to get that. It's not like we're sprinkling a bit of this and a bit of that in our religious makeup. We are committed to grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
This is what Paul is insisting on. He is saying, get the Judaizers out of your midst. Don't follow their doctrine. Don't listen to them.
Don't play their games. Don't follow along in their tracks. Any man, any group, any person who wants to mingle works with faith is out for your harm. And then he summarizes in verse 31, So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
We are free in Jesus Christ. We have gospel liberty. We have the pardon of sin. We have the imputation of righteousness.
We have our acceptance with God. That verse then forms a great bridge to the practical section that then follows in chapter five, where he begins with verse one. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke. bondage. He deals a bit more with justification in the first few verses and then he comes to deal with sanctification and how we ought to look as Christians who have been saved by God's grace.
Well
Closing Applications for Today
brethren, we see there the contrast between two covenants as we saw in Hebrews chapter 12. We have not come to to Mount Sinai. We have not come to Hagar. We are not sons of the flesh.
We, by God's grace, have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, sons and daughters of promise. Remember back in Galatians 3, 29. He says, if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. God made a foundational and programmatic promise in Genesis 15.
It started off in Genesis 12. It's ratified in Genesis 15, where God would bless Abraham and his seed. We come to Galatians 3. We learn that's Christ and all the elect in him.
As well, we need to understand the blessing of new covenant membership does not depend on race, but on grace. It's not our physical attachment to Abraham, but it's God's grace working in our lives. It is God's grace given to us. Paul appeals again to these young men in the book of Romans, and there he highlights the fact that it's sovereign grace.
Romans 9.6, it is not that the word of God has taken no effect, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel. Nor are they all children, because they are the seed of Abraham. But in Isaac your seed shall be called. That is, those who are the children of the flesh.
These are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise. At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son. So there the apostle links new covenant membership, salvation by grace, to the electing purposes of God.
He says, not all Israel is Israel. Not everybody who was born a Jew is necessarily a spiritual Jew. There are many spiritual Ishmaelites, many spiritual Gentiles, those who reject the gospel. But by God's grace, those who believe, they are a part of the Israel of God.
And then thirdly, remember that heresy is persecution. Heresy is persecution. I found this quote in Calvin's commentary. He said this, this reminds us that not only ought we to be filled with horror at outward persecutions, when the enemies of religion slay us with fire and sword, when they banish, imprison, torture, or scourge.
Notice what he says. We not only ought to be filled with horror at that, we should be filled with horror at that. It should affect us. We should remember the prisoners.
We should think about those brethren who are being slaughtered for the cause of Jesus Christ who are suffering physically and being tormented for the cause of Christ. But he goes on and he says. When they banish, imprison, torture, or scourge, he says, but when they attempt by their blasphemies to make void our confidence, which rests on the promises of God, when they ridicule our salvation, when they wantonly laugh to scorn the whole gospel, Nothing ought to wound our minds so deeply as contempt of God and reproaches cast upon his grace. Nor is there any kind of persecution more deadly than when the salvation of the soul is a sale.
When we understand that a lot of church history makes more sense. I'm not here to justify and weigh in on every issue that ever happened in the history of the church. But sometimes, in certain regimes, men died for heresy. We look at that in our context and say, man, we don't even put murderers and rapists to death.
Why would they put heretics to death? Soul murder. If a heretic is effective, humanly speaking, he can take a lot of people down to hell. That is a horrific crime.
That is wretched. It is ungodly. It is unholy. It is unrighteous.
I think Calvin is right. We ought not only to be filled with horror at these outward persecutions, we ought to be filled with horror when men seek to make void our confidence. When men come and say it's not just faith in Christ, but it's how much you drop in the plate. It's how often you read your Bible.
It's how many times you've gone to church. They shake the foundation of people. We ought not to tolerate such things. And then finally, the proper response to Judaizers and their ilk are to cast them out.
Give them the opportunity to repent. Give them the opportunity to recant. Give them the opportunity to submit to the teaching of God's holy word. But if they do not, they should be put out.
Not just those who engage in outward forms of wickedness. We think of the big sins, adultery or or murder, or stealing. If we found out one of the members of the church was embezzling great amounts of dough from their work, we would go to them and go through the whole process, and eventually, if they did not repent, we'd cast them out. Well, if a man embraces heresy, and he traffics in heresy, and he continues in heresy, and he doesn't repent or recant of that heresy, cast him out.
It's going to affect others. The church is the place for God's glory and for the good of his people. We don't let heresy infect and infest itself in our ranks. So that is Hagar, Sarah and covenant theology.
If you missed any or all of it and you want the notes, just let me know and I will be happy to send that to you. As I often say in these instances, if you've not gotten everything or anything up to this point, get this, that Jesus came and died for sinners and rose again and that all those who believe on him will have everlasting life. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank you for your word and thank you for its unity. Thank you that the apostle can reach back into Genesis 21 and find a very pertinent illustration for the issue plaguing the Galatian churches. God, we know and confess that this did not stop in the Galatian churches. These things continue on into our own day.
I pray that your people, your churches would understand New Covenant Christianity, would understand the freedom and liberty that we have in Jesus Christ. and that, Father, You would be glorified in Your local bodies. And we ask in Jesus' blessed name, Amen.