Opening Prayer
God, thank you for this time in your word, this time in worship, in this act of worship, the preaching of your word. Do bless us and help us in this time by your spirit. Help us to know your word more clearly. Help us to rejoice in you, our God. Help us to rest upon Christ, our Savior, as the one who has perfected everlasting righteousness. We thank you for his work, for the glorious gospel of you, our blessed God. And so we pray now that you would help us to bring you honor in this act. We pray in Christ's name, amen.
Introduction
Well, recall that in the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul is defending justification by faith alone against that Judaizing heresy, which is arguing that yes, Christ is good, faith in Christ is good, but we must also circumcise, engage in the act of circumcision, and adhere to the Mosaic institutions, such as the Mosaic calendar and other ceremonial aspects of the Mosaic law, in order to be justified before God. In other words, it's not simply by grace through faith in Christ, it's also by the deeds of the law and covenantal obedience according to certain Mosaic particulars that ultimately commends us to God.
Paul will have nothing of it. He anathematizes that. He pronounces everlasting destruction on anyone who would teach another gospel other than that which says we're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And along the way, the Apostle Paul has been setting forth these dualities, if you will, or these contrasts, a number of them, Law or faith in his argument and in his defense of the true and saving gospel against error He's holding forth is it by law or faith flesh or spirit? curse or blessing, so two principles, two powers, or two verdicts.
Also, two redemptive historical epics, either that time under tutelage, the Old Covenant, or the time where the heir is in possession of the inheritance, in other words, the New Testament. He's seen and we have seen, or he's written and we have seen two statuses in chapter four, either a slave or a son. We've seen two observances, either the observance of weak and beggarly elements, the elements of the world or the old covenant system of religion, set in opposition to gospel service in Galatians 4:8-10. We've seen two receptions of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 4:14-16. either Paul as an enemy or Paul as an angel, even as Christ Jesus himself, insofar as he brings that message of Christ and salvation by him. And now we see another duality or a contrast or a distinction made between two covenants. So in Galatians we've seen two principles, two powers, two verdicts, two redemptive historical epochs, that is epochs, time periods, two statuses, two observances, two receptions, and now we come to two covenants.
And so I want us to see as we seek to work through verses 21 through 31, Four things. The irony exposed. So the irony exposed in verse 21. Secondly, we want to see the history stated in verses 22 and 23. Thirdly, the mystery opened. And fourthly, the application made in the final verses of this particular chapter. So first, the irony exposed simply in one verse.
The Irony Exposed
Notice in verse 21, tell me you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? It's very similar to what Pastor Butler brought out in Christ's words from Matthew 21 this morning. Have you never read This is Paul's, have you never read? Tell me you who desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the law?
He's drawing them to this particular reality. He's pressing the irony. They were running to Moses for life, thinking that life is to be had in the law's obedience. But Paul tells them to listen to Moses insofar as Moses points them. to the promise. So what does this mean when we read here, tell me you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? I think in a particular way here Paul is using the law in two close but different senses here and that's what we see in verses 22 and 23 and 24 in the in the allegory that he uses. So, tell me you who desire to be under the law.
Remember that the Judaizers are exactly engaged in that. They desire to be under the law as a covenant of works, essentially, whereby to be justified or condemned. Yes, Christ, good, but, remember, circumcision and Mosaic observances in order to ultimately be justified before God. They desire to be under the law, and the Galatians here are being tempted to follow after these Judaizers, to be under the law.
This reality to be under the law, we'll note why it's distinguished a little bit by do you not hear the law, but back up a little bit to Galatians 3, just to see something of a particular weight of the law as it pertains to curse and blessing. Remember in Galatians 3, the heading that you may have in your Bible could be something like, the law brings a curse. But notice in Galatians 3:10, for as many as are of the works of the law, or we could say who desire to be under 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. So if you seek to put yourself under the law, then you must obey the entirety of the law, and not just half-heartedly, but you must do it as we've often heard, and as the confessions and the shorter catechisms bring out, personally, exactly, and perpetually, and according to every jot and according to every tittle. So tell me you who desire to be under the law as a system whereby to be justified before God. And then do you not hear the law?
While this may come with the weight of Galatians 3:10, it has more of the emphasis upon the Pentateuch itself, the books of Moses, as a testimony to the very gospel they were going to possibly deny, and that the Judaizers themselves denied. So that 21a law is a desire to be under the old covenant system, that legal covenant for acceptance before God, and then do you not hear the law? Yes, that same law, but as it's captured and presented in a particular redemptive historical picture. The Pentateuch, and as we read afterwards in verse 22, for it is written that, it has to do with the Abrahamic story.
If you're seeking to put yourself under the law, don't you hear the law that Moses wrote concerning gospel verity and gospel truth? You seek to put yourself to go to Moses for life. Moses points them not to the old covenant for life. Moses points them not to law for life. Moses points them to Christ for life, to the promise for life.
And so the Apostle Paul is pressing the irony, exposing the irony. You seek to be under the law, but don't you hear it? Don't you hear that the law points you not to the law's observance for salvation, because that's impossible due to sin, due to divine holiness, but rather to the promise that's held forth, represented in the free woman and the son of the free woman and the associated allegory. So the irony exposed, there is a particular disease to be under the law or a desire to be under it, to seek standing with God by a covenant of works, a works principle, faith plus works principle, and then we see the remedy to actually hear the law, let Moses himself bear witness against that legal spirit, the Pentateuch preaches Christ, when rightly heard."
Notice back in Galatians 3:17, in this I say that the law, which was 430 years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. And so, you who seek to put yourself under the law, the law, the books of Moses that you're resting upon for old covenant observance, these testify to the promise as that which brings life. The promise in the capital S seed of verse 16, who is Christ. So the irony exposed, again, just one more time, that is, they run to Moses for life, but it's Moses who points them to the promise. and not to the law, that is, not to the old covenant for life.
The History Stated
And then we see the history stated. So Paul uses this language, do you not hear the law? And then he opens up what that means. The law, as it's assigned to the Pentateuch, the books of Moses, wherein we find, yes, the old covenant system of religion, but also the redemptive historical tale, story, truth, history concerning Abraham and his two sons. So we see here now the history stated. So what is Paul using foundationally here from history in order to make his particular point?
We see that in verses 22 and 23. For it is written, remember 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 is of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise. So here we have again a particular duality or a contrast or a very important distinction being made by the Apostle Paul. These two sons, which as we'll see in a moment in verse 24, represent two covenants. The Old Covenant, a legal covenant, and the Covenant of Grace. We see here that there's this principle of flesh versus promise or flesh as contrasted from promise, law as contrasted to faith.
Old covenant legality versus the perfection of salvation in Jesus Christ, the champion of the covenant of grace. With regards to this particular reality and this distinction between the two women and their children, notice The language here, this is from Pascal Deneau, and he cites Cox here, Nehemiah Cox, our 17th century Particular Baptist Grand Puba. This is Deneau and Cox.
From this passage, Galatians 4:22-23, from this passage, Nehemiah Cox understood, not that the posterity of Abraham was of a mixed nature, but that Abraham had two distinct posterities, and that it was necessary to determine the inheritance of each of these posterities on the basis of their respective promises. What he's saying here is that perhaps we could say in contrast to the prevailing paedo-baptistic understanding of one Abrahamic covenant with a mixed posterity, there are two posterities which is clear from Galatians 4. There are two separate Abraham's, if you will, and two separate posterities of Abraham. So he cites Cox, who says, in contrast to the Pedobaptistic model of the covenants here, Abraham is to be considered in a double capacity.
He is the father of all true believers, and the father and root of the Israelite nation. God entered into covenant with him for both of these seeds, and since they are formally distinguished from one another, their covenant interest must necessarily be different and fall under a different consideration. The blessings appropriate to either, so the fleshly seed or the seed according to promise, the blessings appropriate to either must be conveyed in a way agreeable to their particular and respective covenant interest. And these things may not be confounded without a manifest hazard to the most important articles of the Christian religion.
And so, foundationally, we have here, and very importantly, behind the doctrine of justification by faith alone, the necessary understanding that Abraham had two sons, and these represent two particular posterities and two particular covenants. Ishmael, who is of the bondwoman, was born according to the flesh. Isaac, born of the free woman through promise. This is what Paul is clearly developing here for the defense of the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Ishmael born according to the flesh, born according to ordinary generation, born according to human contrivance and nature being the matter of the case with respect to Ishmael.
This is the covenant of circumcision and therefore the old covenant, a covenant of works set up with the physical seed of Abraham. It's one of the things that distinguishes us as Reformed Baptists, in contradistinction to the Paedo-Baptists, is our approach to this particular covenant, the Old Covenant. It is not an administration of the covenant of grace, and in itself is not a covenant of grace. It is a legal covenant, according to fleshly promises, that serves typically and temporally a physical posterity. It does point forward to and it does typify things related to the covenant of grace gloriously, but itself is a legal covenant given for a particular time. and serving a particular purpose.
So Ishmael, the son of the bondwoman, this represents the covenant of circumcision, but more pointedly, therefore, the old covenant, the Mosaic covenant, which is a legal covenant, covenant of works, set up with the physical seed of Abraham. And then again, we have Isaac. We have Isaac, of the free woman, born through promise, a child by divine word, grace giving the life with respect to this one born of the free woman.
You can turn with me to the book of Romans 9 because many of the commentators, Paedobaptist or Credobaptist, who hold this particular view of the covenants being distinct and the old covenant not being an administration of the covenant of grace, but a legal covenant, point to Romans and a couple particular passages to argue the case. This goes all the way back to, in the very least, Augustine with regards to this particular comparison. Notice in Romans 9. In Romans 9. Remember, this is the Apostle Paul speaking with a pastor's heart or with a nationalistic heart with regards to the children of the bondwoman, if you will, the children of promise that is according to the fleshly covenant.
I tell you the truth in Christ, Romans 9:1, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.
For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises, of whom are the fathers, and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is overall the eternally blessed God. Amen. We see here, before we read on and point to the particular verse in view, we see here Paul's heart for his countrymen according to the flesh. I wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren if they could enjoy the blessings of the promise according to the son of the free woman, we could say. If they could enjoy the blessing and the promise of Christ, if only they could, I would be cut off for this case.
Notice as he writes on here, and as we hone in on a particular passage, but it is not that the word of God has taken no effect, for they are not all Israel who are Israel. Here we have another distinction, and it'll become more obvious in a moment, that there is a fleshly Israel and there is a spiritual Israel, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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. Hopefully you see here the intimate connection to our passage that we're looking at right now. There is a posterity of Abraham according to the flesh and a posterity according to promise.
Those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. The Apostle Paul, a Jew himself, an Israelite himself, could not be more clear that nationalistic Jews, that ethnic Jews, are not the children of God. Who are the children of God? The children of the promise are counted as the seed.
Those who are of faith. Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are the sons of Abraham, are the sons of God by adoption who enjoy the blessings of the covenant of grace. The church is the people of God and Christians are the sons of God. And so we have this history stated and we have two posterities, one of flesh according to the bond woman, one of promise according to the free woman. So back to Galatians 4.
In Abraham's own family, God pressed a particular lesson. Mere natural seed and spiritual seed are not the same thing and they're not to be mixed in a particular covenant reality because God himself does not mix them. Spilsbury writes, there was in Abraham at that time a spiritual seed and a fleshly seed, between which seeds God ever distinguished through all their generations." In other words, in the law, in the prophets, and in the Psalms, God has always distinguished between a seed according to the flesh and a seed according to the Spirit or through promise.
Lawrence, another old fellow from the 17th century, Here you have a distinction, as it were, of two Abrahams. First, a begetting Abraham, and secondly, a believing Abraham. And also of two seeds, the children of the flesh, that is, by carnal generation only, and the children of the promise. And so that brings us, then, to the mystery open.
The Mystery Opened
What does this mean? Paul calls upon his audience to hear the law. If you seek to be under the law, do you not hear what the law actually says, what Moses actually says about the promise of the new covenant, which is the covenant of grace fulfilled and ratified? Do you not hear simply of the gospel blessings in Jesus Christ that the law testifies to, that Moses testified to?
And so notice as we move along here, verse 24 gives us the fact that this is an allegory. That God set up this redemptive historical reality in order to point forward to a particular thing. Notice verse 24 with regards to the mystery opened. Which things are symbolic? For these are the two covenants. Hagar and Sarah and Ishmael and Isaac are symbolic. They're allegorical. They point to a particular reality regarding two covenants.
The one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar. Verse 24, now verse 25, For this is Hagar in 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.
So this further distinguishing between the two posterities and now the two covenants which those two posterities represent. You either put yourself under a legal covenant, the old covenant, which only brings death and which only brings curse, or you put yourself, God really puts you there, you put yourself under the covenant of grace, the covenant of promise, all whom are in that covenant are those who are saved by Christ and enjoy the blessings of that covenant champion. So, which things are symbolic? The free woman and the bond woman are symbolic and are allegorical regarding two particular covenants.
We have Hagar, which represents Sinai, as Paul would say, the present Jerusalem and bondage. Sinai as a covenant with legalities which gives birth only to slavery or bondage. And we have Sarah, which represents the Jerusalem above and freedom and fruitfulness.
A very similar contrast is brought forth in the book of Hebrews 12 by the same author, and you can turn there for a moment. This is the same principle but subtly different language. And remember that the apostle here is dealing with a very similar thing that he's dealing with in the book of Galatians. with regards to the Hebrew Christians being tempted to go back to temple religion. The temple was still standing. The days of vengeance had not yet come. They would soon come upon Sidion Temple. But they're being tempted to go back to temple religion, to go back to the Mosaic ceremonies. And so there's a contrast drawn between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion, these two mountains which are similar to, which represent the two covenants of Galatians 4. This is Hebrews 12:18.
For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore, for they could not endure what was commanded. And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling." Let's just pause for a moment and consider that.
This is the Mount Sinai that the Apostle Paul is talking about in Galatians, connected to the bondwoman and her son Ishmael, which represents the Old Covenant. The covenant of circumcision as giving birth to the Mosaic Covenant in the time of Moses. With the weight of the Galatians 3:10 reality, do you not hear the law here? Why would you go to the mountain that thunders and that lightenings with the terror of the Lord when you have what we now read in verse 22, the blessed Mount Zion. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Remember what Paul says, the Jerusalem above, which is the mother of us all, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus. This is ultimately, as it crescendos to this point, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
So with that Galatians 3:10 weight of the law's testimony, why would you go to the thunderings and the lightnings and to Moses and to the legal covenant when you've come to Mount Zion, when you have Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, that promised champion of the covenant of grace, announced in Genesis 3:15, the hero born of woman who would crush the serpent with his heel. And so Paul brings this contrast to covenants.
The Purpose of the Old Covenant
The old covenant, again, a legal covenant, not a covenant of grace, but a covenant of works, published to Israel with cursings and blessings, or the covenant of grace, promised to Adam and Eve in the garden in Genesis 3:15, and further amplified and given further clarity throughout redemptive history until Christ came in the fullness of the times, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law. So you have Sinai in its covenant form, giving birth to bondage. It's not the covenant of grace in its formal nature. It's a legal covenant, added for a time, ordering Israel's... This is what we might ask.
And in fact, Paul anticipates and probably heard this question back in Galatians 3:19.
Okay, so if the old covenant doesn't give life, if the old covenant is a legal covenant, if the old covenant is not an administration of the covenant of grace, then why the law? Paul heard that and anticipates the question being asked continually. Verse 19 of Galatians 3, what purpose then does the law serve? If it doesn't give life, if it doesn't convey everlasting blessing, if the law doesn't justify, if we're justified not by the works of the law, but solely and alone by faith in Christ Jesus, then why the law? Well, Paul answers the question. It was added. because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.
What purpose did the law serve? When we say law, remember in the book of Galatians, we're normally speaking about the Old Covenant or the Mosaic Covenant, that particular system of legal covenant religion. What purpose does the law serve? This is Deneau again.
The goal of the covenant with the physical posterity of Abraham, i.e., the old covenant or the law, was not futile since it consisted in leading to Christ. This end was accomplished in at least three ways, according to the 17th century Baptist author's understanding. by preserving both the messianic lineage and the covenant of grace, two, by pointing typologically towards Christ, and three, by imprisoning everything under sin in order that the only means to obtain the promised inheritance was through faith in Christ. That is the purpose of the law, the old covenant. Again, a legal covenant that communicates things to a particular posterity, protecting the messianic lineage, testifying to Christ, and shutting up everyone in sin to expose and to gloriously declare that the only way of salvation is in Jesus Christ.
On this language back in Galatians 4 with regards to Hagar and Sarah, with regards to Mount Sinai, the Jerusalem that now is, and the Jerusalem above which is free and the mother of us all, I just want to read something from Nehemiah Cox to help us understand as we move then towards fourth particular point, to try and understand what the Apostle Paul is doing and what we are to see in this allegory or symbolism of Hagar, Sarah, Ishmael, and Isaac. This is Nehemiah Cox. After reading the context, Galatians 4:21-31, you will observe that the allegory insisted on by the Apostle is grounded on the historical verity, that simply means certain truth, the certain truth that Abraham had a twofold seed. One proceeded from him according to the ordinary course and by the strength of nature.
The other produced by virtue of a promise. The one was Ishmael by Hagar, a bondwoman, the other was Isaac by Sarah, a free woman. The bondwoman and her son had the precedence in time of conception and birth to the free woman and her son. In the process of time, the son of the bondwoman, who was born after the flesh, persecutes the son of the free woman, who was born after the spirit. That is, in the virtue of the promise. Because of this, the bondwoman and her son are cast out of the family and Isaac remains there as the only heir of his father's blessing.
This is an extended quote, but I want us to get the thrust of the Apostle Paul's argument and how it is being employed in an argument for the protection of Gospel truth. The Apostle affirms that these things were ordered by God in a typical relationship to the Gospel times, and applies them as follows. So, the whole epoch concerning, the whole time period and story concerning Hagar Ishmael, Sarah, and Isaac, is a typical relationship pointing forward to the gospel time, and the Apostle Paul is doing this, Cox says.
Hagar was a type of Mount Sinai and the legal covenant established there. Ishmael was a type of the carnal seed of Abraham under that covenant. Sarah was a type of the New Jerusalem, the gospel church founded on the covenant of grace. Isaac was a type of the true members of that church who are born of the Spirit, being converted by the power of the Holy Spirit for the fulfilling of the promise of the Father to Jesus Christ, the Mediator. And the ejection of Hagar and Ishmael was to prefigure the abrogation of the Sinaitic Covenant.
That simply means the end of the Old Covenant. and the dissolving of the Jewish church state so that the inheritance of spiritual blessings might be clearly passed down to the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus is speaking to when he says, after the parable of the vine dresser and the vineyard, that The vineyard owner will kill those wicked men miserably who persecuted the prophets and who killed the son of the vineyard owner. And he will give the kingdom to a nation that bears the fruits of it. The inheritance of special blessings, special spiritual blessings, might be clearly passed down to the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ after the end of the Sinaitic or the Old Covenant. and the judgment thereupon those who opposed the living Christ.
So coming back to our text, this is Hagar in 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. A distinction between the old covenant and the new covenant or the covenant of grace. And so to bring this home and to close the application that's made.
The Application Made
the application that's made.
So with all of this language concerning the two women, the two mothers, the two sons, the history being interpreted by the Apostle Paul as an allegory or as symbolism with regards to these two covenants, what is the application that's made to the Galatians, yes, but also to us? Notice the language that we see here. in verses 27 and following, 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. This is one of the points that the Apostle Paul has been making. You're children of promise. Why seek to become children of the flesh and children of the curse? Why seek to become children of death under the covenant that only brought death? Pointing forward, yes, to the Lord Jesus Christ, but in virtue of a better covenant, the new covenant. Why would you seek to be a slave when you are presently sons? Why seek to be the posterity of the flesh when you are the posterity of promise.
Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. Our identity, the Galatian Christian's identity, and our identity is that we are Christians. Not heirs by nature, nation, not heirs by ceremony, not heirs by legal covenant, but heirs by Christ and received through faith.
The flesh, as we see here, persecutes the Spirit. Notice verse 29. 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. What are the Galatians enduring and what is Paul enduring? Persecutions. These have come in to spy out their liberty in Jesus Christ and to steal them away back to the observance of legal things for their justification. They are persecuting the children of promise, the children of the flesh, the children of the curse, we could say, are seeking to steal away the children of the promise to obey the Mosaic precepts for salvation and to not rest solely and alone upon the perfection of Christ, just as it was that the Son born according to the flesh persecuted those born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Paul's argument is that it has always been the case that the line of the flesh persecutes the line of the Spirit. Nevertheless, he goes on to say, speaking with regards to the duty of the Christian, 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. This probably bears two particular emphases. The Christian, those of the promise, are not to endure those of the flesh insofar as they're seeking to steal away those from gospel promises, to interject or to impose legal things for salvation. Such a brand of errorists cannot be dwelling among the children of the free woman. It just doesn't work. They persecute. They bring error. They bring heresy. They bring wickedness. They bring bondage. They cannot dwell with the heirs of the free woman. But also, conversely, the heirs, if you will, of the bondwoman can't endure the freedom that we have in Jesus Christ.
These Judaizers could not endure, they could not stomach, they could not have this justification by faith alone. The pride of the flesh, the pride of their native humanity, the pride of sin always pressed them towards human endurance and human boasting, and boasting in the flesh before God. These who boast only in Christ will have nothing of them. We will have nothing of these.
Cast out the bondwoman and her son is the duty of the Christian, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman." And praise God that we have Christ as King, who is over His church, who is in the business of casting out the heirs of the bondwoman. That the heirs of the free woman might have the peace of Gospel freedom and the peace of Gospel liberty. We are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Verse 31. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. This all comes to a head, and we'll treat this passage next time. But this is the force behind verse 1 of Galatians 5.
Because of all of this, Because of these two covenants, because of the realities that they represent, because of the bondage on the one side, but the blessed gospel liberty on the other side, stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with a yoke of bondage. The message of the Apostle Paul, if we can boil it down, is that The Spirit teaches us, in this passage, by Abraham's house, that Sinai produces bondage, the Old Covenant produces bondage, but the promise in Christ brings forth liberty. It brings forth free heirs. This is to put legal confidence to death, to magnify Christ and His new covenant, to settle believers in their liberty as the children of the free woman, or the children of promise.
Doctrinal Applications and Conclusions
So just in closing, just a couple minutes with just a few observations here. Some things to drive home doctrinally from this particular passage. We have here two covenants two births, two cities, two standings, bondage versus freedom, flesh versus promise, earthly confidence versus a heavenly mother or a heavenly Jerusalem. And this is what we ought to be testing here with regards to ourselves.
Is our confidence in flesh or is our confidence in the promise of God and in Christ? And this This cuts two ways. It asks that very simple question, where in does your confidence lie? Is it in your own flesh? Is it in your doings? Christ a little bit over here. Thanks Christ. But, mostly my doing. My striving. My energies. My covenant obedience. Or, is Christ alone your everything?
The answer to that question is so very obvious. In Christ, we have our everything. In ourselves, we bring nothing to that table of salvation except the sin that, of course, put Christ upon the cross to redeem us. And so, wherein is our standing? Is confidence in flesh or is it in the promise of God in Christ? And it also brings confidence, it should bring confidence to all of us, knowing that our standing before God rests solely and perfectly and exclusively in Jesus Christ. He is our standing before God.
On that great and final day, we're not going to be standing with the weight of our own righteousnesses, which are as filthy rags. We're not going to throw our filthy rags before God and say, accept me into everlasting bliss. We're going to boast solely and alone in not a rag, but in a robe of righteousness that Christ has clothed us with. And that robe washed in the precious blood of Jesus Christ Himself. We stand before God, and our comfort before God rests not in ourselves, but in Christ alone. Not in flesh, but in promise. Not in the law's obedience, but in one who rendered law's obedience in our place. And one of the things, of course, this speaks to, and we'll be looking more at this as we move along, As we close here, this speaks to our doctrine of baptism.
There is not one covenant with a mixed posterity to whom promises are made, but there is an Abraham that begets according to the flesh a posterity, and an Abraham that begets according to the spirit or according to faith a posterity. The true sons of Abraham, the true sons of God, are not believers and their physical seed, but believers, period, full stop.
Members of the covenant of grace, members of the new covenant, are only those who are of the promise, who have the Jerusalem above as their mother, who are faithfully and safely found in the Lord Jesus Christ and in Him alone. Paul is using the doctrine of the two covenants here as a force of weight to press these Galatian Christians to grip the reality unwaveringly that it's Jesus Christ alone for salvation. And that's the message to us ultimately as well. While this clearly informs us with regards to the proper recipients of baptism in that particular argument and in that particular arena, only those who are of the promise, that is, who have faith in Christ, are to receive. Imagine basing a sacrament or an ordinance upon an aspect of a legal covenant. That's what the paedo-baptists do, basing the new covenant observance of baptism on a fleshly covenant that only brings death and that only brings curse and does not bring life. the sign of the covenant, the sacrament or ordinance of baptism, is to be given to those who are Abraham's seed, that is, according not to the flesh, but according to the promise.
But that aside, as this argues well for that, it argues for us to close alone with Christ as our Savior. We, because We know ourselves, or we ought to, and the apostles knew their audiences. I have to remind you, brethren, is the language that the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter use.
We need to be constantly reminded that Christ is our everything, that He is our all, lest we let the intrusion of the flesh bring anything to our minds that it is of anything according to us. our doing and our obediences and our legal trappings. Praise God for Christ. Praise God for salvation by Him alone. Praise God for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us all, because it is possible only with God, let us all confess this Jesus as we leave these four doors this evening. It's possible not with men, but with God. So young and old, leave this place, resting upon Christ alone for your salvation. Let's pray.
Closing Prayer
God, we thank you for your truth. We rejoice in your goodness to us in the word of the living Christ. We thank you for what we read here concerning these two covenants and the blessed covenant of promise, the new covenant, the covenant of grace, and our champion of that covenant, Jesus Christ, who brings a multitude of sons and daughters to glory by the perfection of his work. Do help us to close with him, to rejoice in him, to see in him our all in all, to go into this week living in light of so glorious a gospel and so glorious a Savior. We pray that you would go with us into this week. Might we leave this place singing your praises. Might we raise our heads in the morning and rest them at night upon the triune God of heaven and earth and upon the perfection of the work of Jesus Christ. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen.