Title: Hagar and Sarah: Law and Grace
Scripture: Gal. 4: 21-30; 5:1
Date: March 28, 2010
Place: SGBC; NJ
Paul’s purpose in Galatians is to show us that all who trust Christ are free from the law.
Galatians 4: 21: Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 22: For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23: But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
A. Abraham was married to Sara. God promised Abraham a son.
Genesis 13: 15: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
Genesis 15: 2: And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3: And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4: And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. [a legitmate, legal, heir-means of his wife] 5: And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6: And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
B. Ten years passed—Abraham takes a second wife, Hagar.
Genesis 16: 1: Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: [Sara is the free woman] and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. (spelled “Agar” in Galatians, she is the bondwoman]) 2: And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: [God promised to give Abraham a son. But 10 years have gone by, so Sara says to Abraham] I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. 3: And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. 4: And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived:…15: And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. 16: And Abram was fourscore and six years old, [86] when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.
C.Thirteen more years passed--the Lord says the promised seed is coming through Sara.
Genesis 17: 16:…[And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram,…And God said unto Abraham,]…16: And I will bless [Sarah], and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. 17: Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 18: And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! 19: And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 20: And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21: But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year…Genesis 18: 10: And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 11: Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12: Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 13: And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? 14: Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son…
D. One more year passed—Sara and the son of promise, Isaac.
Genesis 21: 1: And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2: For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3: And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4: And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5: And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 6: And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7: And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. 8: And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. 9: And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. 10: Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. 11: And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son. 12: And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 13: And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. 14: And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
Galtians 4: 24: Which things are an allegory:
An allegory is a story in which the characters are used to picture, to typify, to symbolize other things. Abraham had two wives: the first was Sara, a freewoman. The other was Hagar a bondmaid--a servant to Sara. Abraham had two sons by these two women: Hagar had a son named, Ishmael. Sara had a son named, Isaac.
Galtians 4: 24: Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
I. FIRST, ABRAHAM'S TWO WIVES REPRESENT TWO COVENANTS.
What is a covenant? A covenant is a contract made between two or more parties in which certain promises are made based on specified conditions having been fulfilled. God only deals with sinners upon the basis of covenant. The only two covenants in scripture is the everlasting covenant and the covenant of works--these are the two covenants which these two women represent. We will begin where God began.
A. Before he made the world God made an everlasting covenant of grace.
1. The covenant of grace is not dependent upon man. It was made before the world began between the triune God. The redemptive work was put into the hands of Christ, the Son (the Seed) of God, to accomplish. The covenant of grace said, “Do this, O Christ, and thy people shall live forever!”
B. Sara represents the everlasting covenant of grace made before the world began.
1. She was Abraham's first wife, his true wife--the everlasting covenant was the first covenant, the true, everlasting covenant.
2. Sara is the freewoman--the everlasting covenant is a covenant of free grace, not based on the merits of men, but God who shows mercy to whom he will.
3. God promised a Seed through Sara--God promised his Son through the everlasting covenant.
Galatians 3: 16: Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to they seed, which is Christ.
C. Sara represents the everlasting covenant through whom Christ the promised Seed came.
Hebrews 7:22: By so much was Jesus made a Surety of a better testament.
1. As Surety for the children which were given to him of God the Father, in the everlasting covenant--that better testament--Christ became the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. God, as it were, wrote the names of all his elect in the book of life…
Revelations 13:8…the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
2. Before God's children became sinners, Christ stood as our Surety. All the children of promise--God's elect--were complete in Christ before we fell in Adam.
2 Thessalonians 2:13: But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
Paul says of those born of the Spirit of God:
Galatians 4: 28: Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
D. The other covenant is that covenant which God gave on Mt. Sinai. Hagar represents the covenant God gave at Sinai.
Galatians 4: 24: Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
1. V23: But he [Ishmael] who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh--the law at Sinai was an earthly, fleshly covenant--it said, "This do and live."
2. V24: the covenant from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage…It was given to show God's true children the magnitude of Adam’s one transgression in the garden, the magnitude of their own sins.
Romans 5: 20: Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound.
It required perfect obedience but gave no strength to perform it. It accused of sin, pronounced guilty, threatened death but the blood of bulls and goats could never put away sin or purge the conscious. It kept sinners in bondage.
3. But just as Sara remained Abraham’s first wife even though Hagar entered in, even so the everlasting, eternal covenant stood ordered and sure even when the covenant of works entered in.
Galatians 3: 15: Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. 16: Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 17: And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. 18: For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
4. Hagar was a bondmaid--she served Sara the first wife--the picture is: the law at Sinai which came second like as Hagar did, served the everlasting covenant, the first, the true covenant, like Sara pictures. Even so the covenant of works which Hagar represents was a handmaid to bring God’s true children to see their sin and their need of grace. But God never purposed for Hagar to be Abraham’s wife or for Ishmael to be the promised seed of grace. (Read Gal 3: 21-29.)
Genesis 18: 14: At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son…(Isaac was the son of promise as Christ is: Read Gal. 4: 4-5; Gal 3: 13, 14.)
II. SECONDLY, THESE TWO WOMEN REPRESENT TWO KINDS OF RELIGION.
Galatians 4: 25: For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
A. Hagar represents works religion.
Sinners are not justified, sanctified, preserved, or entitled to heaven on the basis of works.
1. Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia—outside the land of promise!
2. Her children are yet serving earthly Jerusalem, earthly priests, earthly altars, earthly dead letter religion.
3. She is in bondage: to sin, satan, law and death.
Paul says right now, those who are yet attempting to come to God by the works of the law are like the bondwoman--which is picture of those yet serving in bondage at Jerusalem and is in bondage with her children (Gal 4: 6-11.)
B. Sara represents the true church of God (v26, 27.)
Galatians 4: 26: But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. husband.
1. From above--the heavenly Jerusalem
2. Free--those saved by free grace
3. The mother of all who believe--
4. Full of rejoicing in her Redeemer and shall never be forsaken. (Is 54: 1)
Galatians 4: 27: For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an
Genesis 21: 6: And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7: And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.
Isaiah 54: 1: Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. 2: Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; 3: For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. 4: Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. 5: For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
III. THIRDLY, THESE TWO SONS REPRESENT THE TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE IN RELIGION.
Galatians 4: 22: For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23: But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
A. Ishmael was born by a bondmaid, after the flesh—
1. The way all sinners are born into this world the first time of the flesh, a child born of unbelief and he was in bondage.
B. Isaac was born of the freewoman, by promise.
1. The way God’s sons of promise are born a second time, of the Spirit, into freedom.
Galatians 4: 28: Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4: 6-7
C. Ishmael mocked and persecuted Isaac.
Galatians 4: 29: But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
1. So legalists in our day mock and persecute the children of God (Gal 4: 16, 17; 6: 12-14.)
D. Ishmael was cast out. Isaac was blessed!
Galatians 4: 30: Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
1. Hagar was cast out, as well as her son.
Romans 10: 4: For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
2. Christ can not receive all the glory if there is yet room for you to boast in your works.
3. Those who think they are justified by the law, sanctified by the law, constrained by the law or think they will be glorified because of the law are yet under the curse.
4. Believers are not motivated by law but by the grace of God, the love of Christ for vile sinners like us is what motivates us.
Php 3:3: For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Galatians 5: 1: Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
(Gal 6: 16-18.)
AMEN!