← Back to sermon library
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. 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, 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 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, 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, 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. 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. 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 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 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 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, 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, 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 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. 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.
