The Law is Slavery, Christ is Freedom

Transcript

GR1162
10/14/1999
The Law Is Slavery, Christ Is Freedom
Galatians 4:21-31
Gil Rugh

The end of chapter 4 of the book of Galatians. In chapter 4 beginning in verse 21 is a good break, not because it concludes a section but verses 21-31 really will summarize what he has said up to this point in the book. His major argument regarding the Law particularly as developed in chapters 3 and 4 and it will also form the transition into what he is going to talk about in chapters 5 and 6 as he exhorts people to live in the liberty that God has provided in Christ through the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit. Now sometimes we study a book like Galatians and it concerns seem rather far removed. They are dealing with people who were having a conflict over the Mosaic Law, and there aren't too many people who come into our churches today that are having that same kind of issue. But the root issue remember has to do with how is a person saved, what is necessary for salvation and then how does God intend for His people to live the Christian live. So the basic issues being dealt with are foundational. And the issue is the matter of salvation by faith alone or salvation by faith plus works. And the false teachers that infiltrated the churches in Galatia were saying that it was necessary not only to believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world . . . Remember that. The Judaizers, the false teachers, believed in Jesus Christ they say. They were Jews who agreed that He was the Messiah but they taught that faith in Him alone was not enough. You had also to keep the Mosaic Law. So they had created a hybrid, if you will, a mixture, a mixture of Judaism in keeping the Law and of the Gospel of Christ believe in the Messiah for salvation. These false teachers attack Paul and the Gospel that he preached.

In verse 16 of chapter 4 Paul asks the question, "So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?" That's why he spends the first two chapters of this letter defending his apostleship and the message, the Gospel, that he had received from God. Because he personally was under attack and the Gospel that he preached. One of the way the Judaizers worked was to try to undermine the confidence of the Galatians in Paul and the message that he preached.

Verse 17 of chapter 4 says, "They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out, so you will seek them." In other words, these false teachers are trying to cut the Galatian believers off from the truth that Paul preached so that they would turn to the false teachers and seek instruction and guidance from them and so be further led away from the truth that God had revealed. These false teachers were being effective. Already some of the Galatians were beginning to keep parts of the Mosaic Law. Paul referred to this very early in the letter when in chapter 1 verse 6 he said, "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel." So Paul sees the process already underway and he says its an act of desertion. Look over in chapter 4 verse 10, "You observe days and months and seasons and years." And the present tense there would indicate that they were already involved in doing this, observing certain of the requirements and guidelines of the Mosaic Law regarding what they should eat, the days they should observe, they feasts they should observe and so on. This caused Paul great concern about their salvation. Were they confused because as Christians they had come under the influence of false teachers or were they confused because they never really understood the doctrines of grace? In fact Paul is going to say when he moves into chapter 5 that if you turn back to the Law you are cut off from grace, you are not saved. And we'll talk more about that as we move into chapter 5. But a person who would turn back to a system of works is evidencing the fact they never truly understood and believed the biblical Gospel of salvation by grace. These are strong statements but Paul draws the line very firmly. There's nothing so important is the issues of our salvation. Some things you can be confused on and get by. You cannot afford to be confused on the doctrine of salvation. Your eternal destiny depends upon it. So Paul is very concerned. He had said concerning the Galatian believers or those who confessed to be believers in chapter 4 verse 11, "I fear for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain." The end of verse 20 he said, "I am perplexed over you." And yet in verse 19 he said, "My children with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you." You have this tension in the letter, this concern on Paul's part, where he's convinced the Galatians were truly saved and they ought to take a stand for the truth and be firm. But at the same time he has a concern that maybe some of them did not really understand and believe the Gospel of grace. So you see something of the urgency of what he writes.

What he's going to do as he closes what we have as chapter 4 verses 21-31 is draw from an Old Testament story to give an illustration or analogy to support what he is saying, to again emphasize that the Law is a way of bondage and slavery, not salvation. That faith and grace is a way of freedom and blessing, not of slavery and bondage. In the account we'll focus in Abraham's family. And you'll find that Abraham keeps coming up. Paul dealt with him in chapter 3 in some detail. And he's going to use Abraham's family as an example. Because these Jews, and the Judaizers were Jewish teachers, prided themselves in their connection back to Abraham. And they could come into this Gentile region in Galatia and tell these who had believed in Christ that's wonderful. We are Jews and we have believed in Christ. He is the Christ, the Savior. The world must turn to Him. But you understand that's not the complete message. The God who sent His Son to die on the cross also is the God who gave His Law in power and majesty and awesome revelation on Mount Sinai. And He intends that we not only believe in His Son but that we keep His Law. And those kind of arguments were making an impact on the Galatians. And Paul wants to show there is no mixture, there can be no joining together of salvation by works plus faith and salvation by faith alone. And this Old Testament story will illustrate that point and show that a physical connection with Abraham means nothing regarding your salvation because some of Abraham's physical descendants are lost and some are saved and it's not matter of being connected to Abraham. It's a matter of believing in Christ.

So he begins in verse 21 by saying, "Tell me you who want to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?" Here's another implication that the Galatians had not gone all the way in their obedience to the Law. As I mentioned, that will become clearer in the beginning of chapter 5. They want to be under the Law. He's not addressing the Judaizers who were living under the Law. But he's talking about these Galatians who have the desire developing in their heart and mind to go to the Law even as Gentiles and submit themselves to its requirements. "Do you not listen to the Law?" And the idea of listen or hear involves not only being exposed to the words but taking it into heart and understanding it. Do you really understand what the Law says? Do you really understand the issues with the Law, is what he is saying.

Then he moves to relate an historical account. Then he's going to give an analogy with that account or an illustration and then he's going to apply it. The account is the birth of Abraham's first two sons. Verse 22, "For it is written," referring to the Old Testament scriptures. And just a note, every time any of the New Testament writers use the Old Testament scriptures is always with a recognition of their historic accuracy and correctness. They are always dealt with as the authoritative Word of God. So here he talks about Abraham.

"It is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman." First two sons of Abraham were Ishmael and Isaac. Later in his life after the death of Sarah, Abraham's wife, Abraham will marry Keturah. He had six more sons by Keturah in Genesis 25. Now they do not figure into the account here. They do not play a significant role in the developing of Abraham's seed in passages like this. We are concerned with the first two sons and the picture Paul wants to develop from what happened there. One son was born to the bondwoman, the slave woman. You remember the account in Genesis 16 and 17. When Abraham was 75 he had left his home, the Ur of the Chaldeans, gone to Haran and then into Palestine according to the command of God. God had promised to bless Him, make Him a great nation, give Him many descendants. Ten years later Abraham is 85 and he still has no children. So Abraham's wife Sarah who was barren, unable to bear children, says to Abraham go into my slave girl, Hagar, and conceive a child with her. Now this strikes us as somewhat shocking behavior but it was not in biblical times. And there's evidence of it practiced in other societies of the day. So it was not an unusual practice since it was important to have an heir to carry on. Abraham listens to Sarah, conceives a child with Hagar, the slave woman. Now you note, that's what's important here. We are going to start with Abraham in the middle and then we split off, two lines. Hagar, Sarah. Hagar a slave. Sarah, free. So these comparisons are going to be important as Paul develops it.

Verse 23 he's going to expand it. Let me say something about the son. The son took his position from his mother. So Hagar was a slave woman. Her son would be born into slavery. Sarah was a free woman, her son would be born free, not a slave. So the condition of the child was determined by the mother's status, not the father's. Now obviously the intention of Abraham would have been ultimately to adopt Ishmael and to make him his heir but in his birth he is a slave because his mother is a slave.

Verse 23, "But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, the son by the free woman according to promise." Not only were they different in their position, one a slave, one free, but there is a difference in their birth, the way they were born as well. The son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh. I take it flesh here means according to the natural, physical means. That's all that was involved. Just like any baby would be conceived and born. Abraham went in and had sexual relations with Hagar and Ishmael was born. Totally human activity. In context the son by the free woman was born through promise. God promised Abraham and Sarah he would give them a son.

Turn back to Genesis 18. I'm telling you the story for time. But turn to Genesis 18. Look at verse 10. As God visits Abraham, what we would call a theophany, a manifestation of God to Abraham. And he said in Genesis 18:10 he said, "I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son." So there is the promise. You and Sarah are going to have a child. Now God had promised Abraham descendants. Now here he specifically gives him a timeline, in a year. That's a long wait. Abraham is going to have to wait 25 years from the time he came into Palestine at 75 to the time the son of promise is born. In fact, Isaac will not be born till 14 years after Ishmael. We sometimes think well, God doesn't act fat enough. So it must mean He's not going to act. No, He always is on His schedule which is always perfectly on time. And so here the promise to Sarah and Abraham.

It's amazing. Sarah is listening at the tent door and she asked in verse 13, "Shall I bear a child when I'm so old?" But the question, "Is anything to difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, Sarah shall have a son." A woman had never born a child, had never been able to conceive a child, now in years when even a normal healthy woman would be beyond child bearing capability . . . a child of promise. So it does not mean that Isaac was not conceived in the normal physical manner and had a normal physical birth but point is there is supernatural activity in his birth. He was born according to the promise God had given. It wasn't a plan of Abraham and Sarah, it was the promise of God, divine intervention. It was the birth of Isaac. You have the fulfillment of a promise of God to Abraham and Sarah.

Come back to Galatians chapter 4. So those are the two situations. That's the historical setting. Abraham fathers a child by a slavewoman, Hagar. He also fathers a child by his wife, Sarah. The child of the slavewoman was just according to human activity. The child born to the free woman was according to the promise God had given. Now Paul wants to develop an application or an analogy out of this historical story. Verse 24 says, "This is allegorically speaking." That has caused some concern by interpreters. Paul going to interpret the scripture allegorically. And the Greek word is allegory. We get the English word "allegory" from it. "Allegoreo," allegory. Now it is not an allegory in the sense that the word is sometimes uses. And what is sometimes meant. Sometimes an allegory is a fanciful story taking meaning out of an event that has nothing to do with the event itself. And giving significance to details and the events that have no connection to reality. Paul in no way alters the historical story and account. It's clear he believes the historicity of this account, that it is factual, that it actual occurred. What he is going to do is draw an analogy or an illustration. The basic word translated "allegory" means to say something else. And that's what he is basically going to do, to give an illustration from this story, to draw a parallel. It may have been the Judaizers were trying to use the argument of Abraham to elevate their own position. Whatever, under the inspiration of the Spirit, Paul makes an analogy here to show that the Law is really slavery and faith in Christ is really freedom. And there is no mixture.

So he says in verse 24, "This is allegorically speaking: for these women are two covenants." OK. The women represent two covenants. Hagar will represent the Mosaic covenant from Mount Sinai. Sarah will represent the Abrahamic covenant given to Abraham. So he goes on first to develop Hagar representing the Mosaic covenant. "One proceeding from Mount Sinai." Because the Mosaic covenant was given to Moses on Mount Sinai, beginning in Exodus 19. "Bearing children who are slaves; she is Hagar." Now remember the child took his position from his mother. Hagar was a slave. Her son Ishmael was born a slave. Now Hagar represents in Paul's analogy the Mosaic covenant given at Mount Sinai. And all of those who are under the authority of the Mosaic covenant are slaves, in bondage to the Law. He's already developed this point in Galatians back in chapter 3 verse 10, "For as many as are of the works of the Law are under accurse." So everyone under the Law is under condemnation. Chapter 4 verse 3, "So also while we were children we were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world," referring to the Mosaic Law. Paul speaks as a Jew here. We were in bondage. We were in slavery. Down in verse 9 of chapter 4, "But now that you have come to know God or rather be known by God how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things," reference to the Mosaic Law, "to which you desire to be enslaved all over again." You see to be under the Law is to be under slavery. So if the Law is your mother so to speak, Mount Sinai is your mother, Hagar is your mother, you are a slave and you are not free. This is Hagar.

The end of verse 24 in chapter 4. Verse 25, "Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia." OK. Established identification. And Paul drives home this point because the last thing the Judaizers want to have happen is for them to be identified with Hagar and Ishmael. I mean, that's not good. And Paul's point here is deliberate. And you'll note Paul here goes out of his way to be as strong as he can to show the differences that exist. We live in a day when even the Church is looking for points of agreement. Paul is driving a wedge between those who are identified with the Mosaic Law and those who are identified with Christ and when he is done it will be an unbreachable chasm and anything might seem that we have in common between the two views is superficial and irrelevant because they cannot exist together.

So this Hagar is Mount Sinai and Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem for she is in slavery with her children. So if you were going to make a two-column list, you started with Abraham in the middle, then the lines out to Hagar and Sarah, slave, free; Ishmael, Isaac. Mount Sinai--going down now the Hagar list and the Law, slavery. Now you add to that the present Jerusalem, the now Jerusalem, the Jerusalem that was in existence in Paul's day. That physical city. So Paul puts that in the line of Hagar and Ishmael. Why? Well, Jerusalem was the center of Judaism. It was the headquarters for the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the leaders of Israel. And they lived under the Law. And so Jerusalem, she is in slavery with her children. And that picture drawn from the Old Testament where Jerusalem is pictured as a mother with children. In other words, the picture is clear all those that belong to Jerusalem. All the Jews who submit to the leadership from Jerusalem and the authority of the Mosaic Law in their lives, they are in slavery. They are in bondage. So the Judaisers that came from Jerusalem as though that elevated them. We not only preach Jesus Christ the Messiah but we come from Jerusalem, God's city, to bring you the Law that God gave to the Jews at Sinai so that you not only can believe in Christ but you can submit to the Law. You understand now you are in a line of slavery, not in a line of freedom. Jerusalem is the capital of slavery, not freedom, because it is the center of the Mosaic Law as Paul writes.

She is in slavery to her children. The Jews were in bondage to the Law. But, now we are going to swing to the other side in the contrast. The Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother. He doesn't go back and mention Sarah and Isaac and that because the picture is clear. The Jerusalem above is free. So we have a contrast now. The present Jerusalem and the above Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem. The above Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, is free. She is our mother. Well, who was the free woman, Sarah, who had a son who was free. He's the son according to promise. Now you put in that line the heavenly Jerusalem. Now you note here. This Jerusalem, this heavenly Jerusalem is not referring to a future reality, although there is a future dimension to the heavenly Jerusalem but he is referring to something that is in existence as he wrote because some had the present physical city as their mother, what she represented and the Mosaic Law but

Paul says the heavenly Jerusalem is our mother. We belong to her. We have what she gives. So it is a present reality as Paul wrote, the Jerusalem above. Not well, he's moved us to something that is eschatological, something that is in the future. No, it's something present. So there's two mothers here. The present physical city of Jerusalem is a mother to those who are in bondage and slavery to the Law. The heavenly Jerusalem is the mother of those who have been set free through grace through faith in Christ alone and so have received God's freedom, God's salvation blessings, is the picture. She is our mother. Now again you see Paul includes himself here and he identifies himself with the Galatian believers. In his heart he is convinced they truly are believers. They are just being deluded. And then he quotes from the Old Testament in support of that.

Before we look at that Old Testament passage, jump back to Hebrews chapter 12. You know, sometimes these arguments seem strange to us but they did make an impact on the Jews and they used more than once in the New Testament. See you have to break your connection to the Law and Mount Sinai and establish a connection through faith in Christ with the heavenly Jerusalem and the salvation blessings that come down from God. In Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 18 and the problem it is similar. Only in Hebrews it is Jews who are believers who are being turned aside from Christ by Judaizers. You note verse 18, "For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, to blazing fire, to darkness and gloom, whirlwind, blast of a trumpet, sound of words which sound w as such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them." Those are the events. You haven't come to Mount Sinai. And that was an awesome, fearful, frightening occasion and the people were sure they were about to be destroyed and they begged that they not even have to listen anymore. Even Moses was overwhelmed.

Verse 21, "So terrible was the sight, that Moses said, 'I am full of fear and trembling.'" Mount Sinai is not something attractive and desirable. It is frightening. And he brings condemnation. Verse 22, "But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, myriads of angels," and so on. So you see they have come to the heavenly Jerusalem. Now there is a physical dimension to this heavenly Jerusalem. When the New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband, the closing chapters of the book of Revelation. But there is a present existence of the heavenly Jerusalem. It is the place from which God dispenses His salvation blessings upon those who are in the true line of Abraham who are themselves children of promise as will be developed in a moment in Galatians 4, who have come to believe in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior. This is what Abraham looked for.

Back in Hebrews chapter 11, if you are still there, verse 10, speaking of Abraham who lived as a sojourner, "He was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God." Abraham's focus was on the heavenly Jerusalem which would be founded by God and the salvation blessings that would be provided by God through the provision of His Son Jesus Christ. That was the focus of Abraham--the heavenly Jerusalem, the freedom that would be provided by God from heaven from the city, I take it, established by His Son through His death and resurrection, as the dwelling place of the redeemed.

Come back to Galatians chapter 4. Paul supports what he has said by a quote from Isaiah chapter 54 verse 1, "'Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; for more numerous are the children of the desolate than the one who has a husband.'" Basically, what he says here is the barren woman will out-produce and experience an abundance of blessing in descendants to exceed that of the married woman or the fertile woman. And the contrast here obviously between Hagar and Sarah. And God's blessings come on the line of promise which is the line of the barren woman. And even though it seemed she had no descendants, she has outstripped the married woman who had a child, Hagar who could bear, in the plan and purpose of God.

You know this is Isaiah 54:1. I do want you to come back to Isaiah and see the flow here. Isaiah chapter 54. Right about the middle of your Old Testament. You know this follow this argument having our New Testament in written form to follow along and then we go back and look at the Old Testament. Can you imagine the Galatians had to come and sit and listen as it was read? These of Gentile background hadn't been privileged to be saturated with the Old Testament. They had to pick up on the stories. This is just being read to them. Follow the argument. They couldn't go home and say, dear, get me out the scroll. I want to review this. Cause they didn't have their own copies. We think boy I have to follow through here and pay attention to follow along and here I can even turn back. Let's go back and look at the account. Let's look at this. We can appreciate the blessing of having our own copy of the Scripture in our own hands.

Come back to Isaiah. Now you're in 54. Back up to chapter 51. Beginning with chapter 40 through chapter 66 of Isaiah we have unfolded God's plan for the redemption of His people and blessings on the millennial earth of all nations. But in chapter 51 he takes Israel back to their beginnings in Abraham and Sarah. Look at verse 2, "Look to Abraham your father, to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; when he was but one I called him." I mean he is the father of the nation but he is the only person. There was nobody else, no descendants, just one. I called him. "Then I blessed him and multiplied him," and so on. So what I want you to pick up here for time is that Isaiah by the direction of God takes Israel back to their beginnings in one man Abraham and his wife Sarah. Then you flow over to chapter 53 and you have that glorious chapter on the suffering servant where the death and resurrection of the Messiah is unfolded and through His death and resurrection, redemption would be provided. Verse 6, "Where all of us like sheep have gone astray. We have turned each one to his own way and the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him."

"The Lord crushed him," in verse 10. And yet the Lord gloriously raised Him and He is the One who has provided salvation for Israel and for the nations. Then you come in to chapter 54 and remember there were no chapter divisions as Isaiah would have unfolded this. Shout for joy who barren one. And there's a quote we have in Galatians 4. And you see those people who have their beginnings in one man and God's call of that man Abraham through the glorious redemption that God provided through His suffering servant recorded in chapter 53. You come to the nation that is barren, reference to Jerusalem and Israel, as a result of the destruction and captivity. There's no one left. They are like a barren woman, no children. The nation's been decimated. Its population carried off into captivity to other places.

So "Shout for joy O barren one. You who have born no child break forth into joyful shouting. Cry aloud. You have not travailed for the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman says the Lord." And the picture of God's blessings as a result of the work of His servant, His Son in chapter 53. To multiply the descendants of that barren woman and that's the picture Paul's picking up. And he applies it to us because we are descendants of Sarah, sons of promise.

Come back to Galatians chapter 4. So God's plan in providing His Savior in Isaiah 53 enables the barren woman to rejoice in Isaiah 54:1 because she will bear many children. So in Galatians chapter 4 verse 27 that promise that the barren woman bears children comes to verse 28, "And you brethren like Isaac are children of promise." Now we are not all physical descendants of Abraham and this does not, in spite of all the commentaries that say otherwise, this does not mean God is done with the Jews. We have already covered that in Galatians. Once a covenant is in force it cannot be nullified or changed. And Gentiles cannot replace Israel because God gave specific promises to the physical descendants of Abraham. Not to every physical descendant but to those physical descendants who would be in the line of promise. You see the distinction. These Jews were thinking just because they were a physical descendant they were in the salvation line. No, Ishmael was in the physical line but he wasn't in the line of promise. So Paul's point has real force to these Judaizers.

"You brethren like Isaac are children of promise." Back up to chapter 3 verse 29, "And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants," note the next, "heirs according to promise." Back up to chapter 3 verse 8. Look at the promise, "The Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, 'All the nations will be blessed in you.'" The Gentiles have not replaced the Jews in the Abrahamic covenant. The Abrahamic covenant included the promise of blessing to Gentiles as well as to Jews. Those in the line of promise. The physical descendants of Abraham who believe in the Messiah are in the line of promise. The other physical descendants of Abraham are in bondage and slavery to the Law. Gentiles who are not in the physical line of Abraham but who believe in the promise of God which focuses in His Son Jesus Christ are in the line of promise to Abraham in that covenant as well because God promised in you all the nations and that includes most of us who are not Jewish will be blessed. So we are sons of promise as chapter 3 verse 29 said. We are descendants of Abraham according to promise. So you see the line that Paul has developed. The line of promise is a special line of descendants and it doesn't come down through the Mosaic Law which is bondage. It comes through faith even as Abraham believed God and God credited it to Him as righteousness. The line of promise has always been the line of faith. The line of salvation has always been the line of faith. By works of the Law no flesh shall be justified in His sight. That's already been established in chapter 3. So these Judaizers were in a line that never did bring salvation but the people who thought they could be saved by works never were in the line of promise but in chapter 4 verse 28, "You brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise," connects them, the believers of Galatia, back to Isaac. Now why. You were like Isaac why would you want to go become like Ishmael. Why would the son of promise want to become a son of a slave and be in bondage? Of course no one would. You see back to the question of verse 21. "Do you not listen to the Law?" The promise is you had these teachers running around who didn't understand the Law. They were teaching the Law as a form of freedom and salvation when the Law is a form of slavery and bondage. They are trying to tell Isaac to become Ishmael. They are trying to tell those who are of promise to become those who are slaves. Do you really listen to the Law? Do you understand what the Law says?

But what is happening? Verse 29, "But at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also." That goes back to Genesis 21:9 at the weaning of Isaac. Isaac would have been about three. Ishmael would have been about 17, 14 years older than Isaac. Sarah looked out and saw Ishmael taunting, mocking, teasing Isaac. Now the word there is translated in a variety of ways. I think the New American Standard says playing with Isaac. The King James says mocking. The context and the use of the word in other places in the Old Testament indicates this was a more serious matter than just playing him. Evidently he was teasing him, ridiculing him in such a way that Sarah saw this will never work. It was more than a matter of telling this older half brother, "Grow up. Act your age. You are 17. He's only 3." No, it was more serious, and that's when the division comes. But the point that Paul makes in verse 29 before we note the result, "Just as the child born according to the flesh [the one that was only physical] persecuted the one who was of the Spirit, so it is now." In other words, those who were only physical, those who are trying to be saved by their works, that weren't in line of promise, that have no promise associated with their life, they're persecuting those who have experienced the work of the Spirit, who are of the Spirit. And you see the conflict that is there that will always be there. And sometimes we as Christians forget it and that's why people say why do people say bad things about us? Why do they look for reasons? I try to be nice. I try to be kind. Why do they insist on making up stories and lying, saying things that aren't true? Why do they try to persecute us? Why? Because those who are of the flesh persecute those who are of the Spirit. Those whose life is built around being saved by their works are always opposing and persecuting those who believe that salvation is a work of the Spirit brought about through faith alone in Christ alone. That persecution is there and Paul goes on to say there can be no compromise on it. It is that way now. It was that way 2000 years before Paul and it's that way 2000 today after Paul.

What does the Scripture say? Verse 30. Now you note the point here. The Scripture does not say work it out, resolve the conflict, learn to get along. What does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman." That is what Sarah said to Abraham in Genesis 21:10. You say that was just Sarah's idea. No, because two verses later in Genesis 21:12 God tells Abraham Sarah is right. Hagar and Ishmael have to go. Paul says there is an analogy or an illustration, a lesson, to be learned here. Salvation by works and salvation by grace are totally incompatible. Salvation by keeping the Law and salvation by faith alone in Christ cannot coexist. The Law, the Judaizers, those who believe salvation is by keeping the Law have to go. Now you understand Paul is talking about those people with whom the Church at that time would have had more in common than any other religious group on the face of the earth other than true born-again people. I mean these are Jews, the Judaizers, who believed in the Messiah, who agree, yes, Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel. You have to believe in Him. Where else could you go in any religion, any place on the face of the earth, and find someone who would agree with you on that in Paul's day. For goodness sake there's enough people and enough religious to do battle with. Let's at least appreciate we have something in agreement with the Judaizers. What's Paul say? They can't coexist. They have to go. Salvation by works and salvation by grace are totally incompatible. We can't look for ways to get along. There has to be a split. Cast out the slave woman with her son. The Law has to go and those who adhere to the Law have to go. The bondwoman and her son they have to go. That's a strong statement.

You know, if the Church listened to the book of Galatians today we wouldn't have people in dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church. We won't have people running around as talking heads with no sense pointing out what we agree on and where we can work together when the Scripture is clear they have to go. But wait Paul they believe that Jesus is the Messiah. They believe He's the Son of God. They believe in salvation by faith, just not salvation by faith alone. The whole world is against us. Here's a group that will join with us. Think of the impact we'll have in Jerusalem. Think of the impact we'll have among the Jews. They have to go. The Law has to go. Those who adhere to the Law have to go. Cast out the slave woman with her children. Who makes us think today that we can make agreement with those who believe salvation's by works? And we ought to be talking about and we don't always want to look like we're the, you know, people who are against everyone. And we don't get along with anyone. Well, that's not true. I get along with every Bible-believing Christian or should. They should get along with me.

But you know we cannot make alliances that are unbiblical. The bondwoman has to go. And that's for the health and well-being of the Church. That's for clarity on that which is of utmost importance, eternal significance, how you were saved. What kind of blurring and confusion is taking place as we merge two systems? Where would the Church be today if Paul had said look, we do have some differences to be worked out but generally we can work together because we'll concentrate on what we agree on. We'll go together and preach Jesus is the Messiah and you have to believe in Him. No, it won't work. The conflict is there. The bondwoman has to go.

"So then brethren we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free woman." Here you see Paul's confidence in their salvation. He joins himself with them. "So then brethren, we are not children of a slave woman but of the free woman." You understand it's not those who are under Law who are in the place of blessing. It's those who are under grace who are in the place of blessing. That's why this forms a transition into chapter 5. Just note verse 1 of chapter 5, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free." See how he picks up on what he has been emphasizes, the contrast between slavery and freedom." "Therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. That's the point. Understand the freedom you have in Christ. Stand firm in that freedom. Don't even consider going back to the slavery of works. We must understand that. It was true for the Jews. The issue of the Mosaic Law by application it's true. You get saved. Well, I'm going back to Roman Catholicism. I'm going back to Seventh Day Adventism. I'm going back to Lutheranism. I'm going . . . There's no going back, folks. And anybody who can go back does not understand the doctrine of grace. In fact, Paul tells these Galatians if you get circumcised, you're cut off from grace. That's an evidence you were never saved. You have no part in the promise. You're done. This is not a game that you can dally around and play with. The line is drawn. The Law, the adherence to the Law, cut off from the line of promise. And those who are in the line of promise ought to stand firm, not because they are better but because of the graciousness of God in promise. What we offer is you can become a son of promise also. How? By believing in Christ.

We close with Galatians chapter 2 verse 16, "Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus even we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law. Since by the works shall no flesh be justified." And let me tell you if you cannot be justified by keeping the Law of God as given at Sinai, you cannot be justified by keeping any works, any law. If the Law given at Sinai could not save you, let me tell you the works and best efforts of anyone else, anywhere else, anyway else can do nothing for you either. We must turn from our works to Christ and believe in Him alone. When you do you are born into God's family. You become a spiritual descendant of Abraham and Sarah. You become a son of promise. You are set free. Let's pray together.

Thank you, Lord, for Your grace. Thank you for the power of Your salvation that comes down from heaven, that was provided by Your Son, that has produced children where there was hopelessness and despair. Thank you for the freedom that we have in Christ. Lord, may this be precious to us, may it be clear to us and may we stand firm, unbending and unyielding, uncompromising on the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone and rejoice in the glorious liberty that we have as sons of promise. We praise You in Christ's name, amen.