In his sermon 'An Allegory of Two Covenants,' David Green explores the allegory of the two covenants as presented in Galatians 4. Drawing on the story of Abraham's two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, born to Hagar and Sarah respectively, the allegory illustrates the contrast between the old covenant of the law and the new covenant of grace. Hagar, the servant woman, represents the old covenant from Mount Sinai, associated with slavery and bondage, while Sarah, the free woman, symbolizes the new covenant of freedom and promise. Paul addresses the Gentile churches in Galatia, who were tempted to adhere to the Jewish law for salvation. Green emphasizes that salvation is not achieved through the law but through faith in Christ, who brings true liberty. The sermon further explains the concept of 'Jerusalem above' as representing the freedom of the new covenant and encourages believers to rely on the Bible for guidance in all aspects of life. Green concludes by affirming that believers are children of the free woman, living under the new covenant written on the heart, not on stone tablets, and thus are free from the law's bondage.

Galatians chapter 4 and this evening we'll begin reading at verse 21. And we'll try not to get blown away today. Galatians chapter 4, beginning of verse 21. Tell me, you who want to be under law, Do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the servant woman and one by the free woman.

But the son by the servant woman had been born according to the flesh, while the Son by the free woman through the promise. This is spoken with allegory. For these women are two covenants, One from Mount Sinai bearing children into slavery, she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, she is our mother.

For it is written, Rejoice, barren woman, who does not give birth, break forth and shout, you who are not in labor. For more numerous are the children of the desolate one than of the one who has a husband. And you, brothers, in accordance with Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh was persecuting him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. But what does the scripture say?

Cast out the servant woman and her son, for the son of the servant woman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant woman, but of the free woman." the free woman. This evening I want to bring a message on an allegory of the two Covenants. An allegory of two covenants. This is an allegory that Paul has brought forth from the Old Testament.

An allegory involving two women from the law. So let's, this evening for the next few minutes, let's unpack this text before us. In verse 21 he says, tell me you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? As Paul wrote to these churches, these Galatian churches, they were Gentile churches. These were people who had not grown up around the law.

They were men and women who had nothing to do with the law. They weren't raised like the Jews. They didn't have access to the Old Testament. What he's talking about when he speaks of the law is he means the first five books of the Bible. And so Even though they had not grown up with the law, even though this was something foreign to their raising, Paul is going to take them back there to illustrate his argument.

Remember, these churches, they had fallen for this idea that in order to be saved, in order to be justified, in order to be sanctified, that they needed the law. So Paul is correcting this issue as he works with them. When we look at how Paul deals with people, this is a good example of how to deal with folks. Even though they weren't familiar with the Old Testament, even though they had not been brought up with the reading and the studying of the law, the studying of the law, they had no background with the law. Even though all of those things are true, He still brought them there.

And so it is with you and me. We sometimes will come into contact with people who will have no background with the Bible. They'll have no history with the Bible. They'll have no...maybe they weren't raised in church. Maybe they'll have no idea of how things are with the Bible.

That doesn't matter. I wish they knew more about the Bible, but what matters is how much we know the Bible. And so in our arguments, whether we're in the school room or whether we're in just around the different people in the world, our professors, our bosses at work or whatever. If we have that opportunity to witness to them, we need to make sure that we take them to the Bible. Even if they don't want to hear it or if they've never heard it before You'll never go wrong With the Bible Every year I read through the Bible verse by verse book by book At this point in my life.

I've read through the Bible multiple times and I've read through multiple translations of the Bible and I'm unsure of myself even though I'm in my early 40s But the longer I live and the more I handle the Word of God, the more I'm sure of the Bible. My duties as a husband, as a father, as a pastor, there's no other place to stand as a Christian But in the Word of God as we engage Skeptics on the street to engage them with the Word of God we when we talk to and try to help the backslider who has drifted away from church. The Bible is the place where we need to meet. In talking to someone who is grieving over the loss of a loved one. We turn to the Bible, someone who is depressed, someone who is looking for answers.

The Bible in all of life's issues, whatever it may be, The Bible is the place where we need to be. And so Paul as he writes to these churches, he says there in verse 22 of Galatians chapter 4 verse 22 he says for it is written that Abraham had two sons one by the servant woman one by the free woman So he begins to take them back. He begins to take them to this place. He says, it is written. He's thinking of something.

He's bringing up something. And what he's bringing up is from the book of Genesis. He's bringing up a fact. Abraham did have two sons. Abraham's two sons were Ishmael, the son of Sarah's handmaid, or Sarah's slave, Hagar.

And then Abraham also had another son, Isaac, who was the son of Sarah. We'll look at these more here in just a little bit in Genesis 16 and Genesis 21. But he says in verse 23, he says, But the son by the servant woman hath been born according to the flesh while the son by the free woman through the promise." Ishmael was born according to the flesh in the usual course of generation. There's a couple ways to look at this and one way is that yes Ishmael was born like a normal baby. Hagar, his mother, was of childbearing age.

There was nothing unusual about that birth so in that sense it was of the flesh but there is another reality a bigger reality and that is the birth of Ishmael happened because of Abraham and Sarah being in the flesh. They lacked faith and that's how Ishmael was born. Go with me if you will to Genesis chapter 16. Genesis chapter 16 in verses 1 through 5. It says, Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children.

She had an Egyptian servant woman, whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, now behold Yahweh has shut my womb from bearing children. Please go to my servant woman. Perhaps I will obtain children through her. And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

And after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram's wife Sarai took Hagar, the Egyptian, her servant woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. So he went into Hagar and she conceived. Then she saw that she had conceived, so her mistress became contemptible in her sight. And Sarah said to Abram, May the violence done to me be upon you. I gave my servant woman into your embrace, but she saw that she had conceived, so I became contemptible in her sight.

May Yahweh judge between you and me." Excuse me. God Yahweh had promised to Abram that he would have a child and he would have descendants, and all these blessings would come upon him but instead of waiting on the blessings of God instead of waiting for the Lord they got in the flesh they got concerned because they were getting old and so as a result Ishmael was born to Hagar, Sarah's servant woman. So in that sense, this birth was according to the flesh, as Paul puts it. But on the other hand, and this is the beauty of it, in spite of Abram and Sarai getting in the flesh, and in spite of this happening where they had a child through, Abram had this child through Hagar, God did not forget his promise to Abraham and Sarah. And indeed, there was the birth of Isaac by the free woman through the promise in Genesis chapter 21 in Genesis chapter 21 Verses 1 through 7 it says Now Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said And Yahweh did for Sarah as he had promised.

Isn't that wonderful? So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old as God had commanded him. Now Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him, and Sarah said, God has made laughter for me. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.

And she said, who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children, yet I have born him a son in his old age." And so Isaac was born according to the promise, born by the free woman, just as Yahweh had promised. And so, Paul is bringing all this out to the Galatian churches. And in verse 24 of Galatians chapter 4, verse 24 it says, this is spoken with allegory. For these women are two covenants, one from Mount Sinai bearing children is slavery. She is Hagar Excuse me An allegory is a figurative discourse or a narrative, According to James Haldane in his commentary, in which more is intended than is contained in the words taken literally, it is Much the same as a parable, he says.

The interpretation of the parable is the mystery or hidden meaning which it contains. Of this description is the account of Abraham's family given by Moses. It is a real narrative, but the circumstances were prophetic of what afterwards took place. Indeed, the whole of Abraham's history was a pattern or exhibition of the life of faith." of faith." So Paul is dealing with real people in the Old Testament from Genesis to illustrate a spiritual truth. He uses these two mothers, their two sons, and the two locations as a further illustration of two covenants.

Hagar, Ishmael and Mount Sinai, Earthly Jerusalem represent the covenant of the law Sarah Isaac and heavenly Jerusalem the covenant of promise John MacArthur observes and says it might be important to pause here, or rather, He says Paul's point is that those like the Judaizers who attempt to earn righteousness by keeping the law receive only bondage and condemnation, while those who partake of salvation by grace, the only way of salvation since Adam's sin are free from the laws bondage and condemnation. In other words, Paul is not saying here that there are two ways of salvation. There's nowhere in the Bible that this is taught. There's nowhere in the Bible that says, well, under the old covenant, they were saved by keeping the law, and under the new covenant, by grace. That's not what's being taught here.

It's not what's being taught in the Bible. But Mount Sinai is an appropriate symbol for the Old Covenant, since that's where Moses got the law. That's where he received the law from God. Hagar was Sarah's slave, meaning that she's a good illustration of those who are under bondage to the law. She is forever associated with Sinai because the descendants of Ishmael actually settled in that region.

Verse 25 says, Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem for she is in slavery with her children. The law was given at Sinai but it received its highest expression in the temple worshiped at Jerusalem. And at the time that Paul was writing this, the Jews, especially the Judaizers, they were still in bondage to the law. And so in verse 26, Paul says, "'But Jerusalem, but the Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother.

The Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother. On the meaning of this there's a couple of different ways to look at it. James Haldane says, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of God, of which all the children of the new covenant are citizens, is the allegory represented by Sarah the free woman, the mother of Isaac and of all believers, who like him are born from above. The birth of Isaac was supernatural, and such also is the birth of all the children of the new covenant." That's Haldane's view.

John Gill took another view One that was adopted by many good brethren That I know And this is what Gil says he says this Sarah was a type and figure of she answered to and agreed with this Which is to be understood not of the church triumphant in heaven But of the gospel church under the administration of the new covenant. That not as in the latter-day glory when the new Jerusalem shall descend from God out of heaven as it then was in the Apostles time and has been since. Particular respect may be had to the first gospel church at Jerusalem, which consisted of persons born from above, was blessed with the gospel spirit, which is a spirit of liberty, out of which the gospel went into all the world, and from among whom the apostles and the first preachers of the word went forth everywhere were the means of the conversions of multitudes, both Jews and Gentiles. And so they might truly be said to be the mother of us all." And so this was Gill's view. And a lot of times preachers will say something to this effect, that we have descended as a church from Jerusalem.

And they'll use this verse here in Galatians 4 and verse 26. As I thought about this and as I studied it in its context, There is some truth in both these interpretations. And I see where Gil's coming from, and I see also where Haldane is coming from. I'll block the headlight. But...

I'll block the headlight. But the thing we have to keep in mind is that under the new covenant, all who are born again are free from the law. There's liberty to be found in Christ whether one is are members of a church are actually free. Freedom, and we've got to always keep this in mind. Freedom, liberty, true liberty, the kind of freedom and liberty that Paul is preaching in this passage under the new covenant is through Christ, not through church membership.

A person is not in bondage until they are baptized and join a church. A Person is in bondage Until they're saved you see that's the message of the New Testament. Let us never Never forget that Verse 27 is a quote from Isaiah 54 verse 1 which Paul applies to the Jerusalem above and so we'll take a look at that Provided I can actually read it. We pull it up off of my iPad here because we're running out of daylight real quick. For it is written rejoice barren woman who does not give birth break forth and shout you who are not in labor for more numerous are the children of the desolate one than of the one who has a husband." So He's pulling again from the Old Testament Applying that to the Jerusalem above verse 28 and your brothers in accordance with Isaac our children of promise You brothers in accordance with Isaac our children of promise I believe that this is inclusive of all believers, men as well as women, children of the new covenant represented by Isaac, the son of the free woman.

Verse 29, but as at that time he who was born according to the flesh was Persecuting him who was born according to the spirit. So it is now also and so the turmoil that That that that was happening the turmoil that was going on the turmoil that we see now between Arabs and Jews, between unbelievers and believers all of that started in in a sense way back there in Genesis and started there and it continues today Persecutions will come to the life of the believer and you can read about that in In Matthew chapter 5 verse 11 and Oops, I just closed down on my Close down on my sermon here. Matthew chapter 5 verse 11 says, blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 12 says indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So this is a pattern, a pattern that has continued and it will continue until that time comes when God's people are taken up out of this world.

But Galatians 4.30, but what does the scripture say? Cast out the servant woman and her son, for the son of the servant woman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman." What does the scripture say? Cast out the servant woman and her son, for the son of the servant woman shall not be in error with the son of the free woman. If you go back to Genesis you can read about this, but Sarah required that Ishmael should be sent away declaring that the son of the bond woman should not share the inheritance with her son Isaac. And she spoke well.

She was not wrong there. For God commanded Abraham to hearken to her voice, adding, in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are that is they which are in Romans chapter 9 and verse 8 the children of the flesh are Not the children of God the children of the promise are considered as seen and so This Galatians 4 verse 30 This Galatians 4 and verse 30 is taken from Genesis 21. It's a harsh illustration that those who will attempt to be justified on the basis of keeping the law will be cast out of God's presence forever. Indeed in John chapter 8 verses 31 through 36 it says so Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him if you abide in my word then are you truly my disciples You will know the truth and the truth shall make you free They answered him.

We are Abraham seed Now I've never yet been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? Jesus answered them, Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son does remain forever. So if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

There's only one way to be saved it's not through the law The law never saved anybody Only one way to be justified Not through the law You see And this is the point that Paul is making here. So in that final verse of Galatians chapter 4, he says in verse 31, So then brothers, we are not children of a servant woman, but of the free woman. This is the conclusion of the chapter. If you're in Christ today, you are child of the free woman. The old covenant made with Israel, with the tables of stones and its demands to observe, All that's been done away with.

We're not under bondage. We're under the new covenant. Not written on tables of stone, but written on the heart. We're not in bondage. But we are free.

So that is the allegory, that is the message. I thank you for your attention and we will go ahead and dismiss in prayer.