Why Grace and Law Cannot Mix — Galatians 4 Allegory

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say, time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, let's be just turning right back to where we left off, and in that last program, even though we started in Galatians 4, we were back in Genesis. And so, for those of you here in the audience, and those of you watching on television, jump in with me again in Genesis chapter 21. But again, for the sake of new listeners, we're just an informal Bible study, and all we hope to do is get folks to get back into the Word, and see what it says, and what it doesn't say, which is just as important. And then of course, we'd like to remind folks that if you're interested in any of the past programs, they are all available on video and audio, as well as the printed page. We've got a lot of volunteers. Jerry Poole back there does all the transcribing, and he's been such a blessing. And then of course, we have Keith Decker up here in Tulsa that gets it ready for the printer. And I think for those of you out in television that have found our web page on the internet, I can't take any of the credit for that. Matt McGee here in Tulsa has just, from what I have heard, I've never seen it, Matt has just done a fabulous job in putting our stuff up on the internet. And we always like to give credit where credit is due, because I can't take any credit for that whatsoever. So if you've never found our page on the internet, it's just, I think it's up here, isn't it? Yeah, just the www.lesfeldick.org. And again, I want to just give Matt the credit for it. And I'm sure he even has a couple others that have helped him. I think the Harvey's son has helped Matt quite a bit. So everybody's working together, and we just trust the Lord is being glorified by it. All right, now then let's go back where we left off with the two sons of Abraham. Remember that Paul is going to use as an allegory. In fact, I guess maybe we should go back and look at Galatians 4 just for a second as a kickoff point, because after all that's the verse we've got on the board now. Galatians chapter 4, and he says in verse 24, well verse 22 and 23. Galatians 4, verse 22. It is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. He who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh. And I have that child by Hagar, but it was all in the energy of the flesh. And then the other one, Isaac, was as a result of all the promises for those almost 40 years. All right, then verse 24. All of this, the whole concept of the birth of Ishmael, and the birth of Isaac was for an allegory that Paul is going to use now in the age of grace. So keep all this in mind as we go back now then to Genesis and pick up the account that first we have the conception of the boy Ishmael by the slave girl Hagar, his birth, and then of course she just taunts Sarai that she was now with a child, and she wasn't until finally Sarai just literally kicked her out and sent her out into the desert whereupon the Lord sent her back. And remember I told you to keep that uppermost in your mind. Why? Why does God send her back? Because 18 years later she's going to go back out in that same desert, but you see God's got always the big picture in His mind. God doesn't look at the here and now necessarily. God can leap thousands of years as though it's a day, and that's exactly what He did here. I think this whole scenario, I think every jot and titillus was programmed by God so that Paul could use it as a tremendous lesson for you and I today. Now that's the way I look at Scripture, none of this comes by accident. So now then as we carry on that Isaac is now 5 years old and he's weaned, and Ishmael is now about 18, and again that same attitude of rebellion and taunt comes in. And now we find in verse 9 of chapter 21, that Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, Ishmael, which he had born unto Abraham, mocking. In other words he was just simply teasing that little 5 year old to death, and you know how teenagers can do with the little tail enders as we call them. He was just making life miserable for little 5 year old Isaac, and of course mama Sarah, 90 years old, just couldn't take it. And so again she says, get him out of here. Now look at what the Scripture says in verse 10. Wherefore because of Ishmael's taunting the son of promise Isaac, wherefore she said unto Abraham, cast out this bond woman and her son, for this son of the bond woman shall not be heir with my son even with Isaac. Now I always make the point, does she say move them next door? Does she say send them down the trail a half a mile? No sir, out of sight, out of mind. Now of course we know in reality Isaac and Ishmael did come back together for the funeral of their parents, but spiritually speaking there was no union between Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac of course continues on in the spiritual line, and gets a wife from up in Syria where the relatives were. Ishmael on the other hand marries an Egyptian, just a total divergent of the genealogies of these two young men. But the part I want you to see back here in chapter 21, is what the Scripture says. Now remember this is more than just the thought of a mother, or of a woman. This is now the Word of God. Now I think we're ready to go back to Galatians chapter 4, and put the whole allegory into what we would say common sense interpretation. Why did all this happen? Well of course there are more than one reason, but one of which was so that Paul could use this very typical setting in that Middle Eastern desert economy of these families, and now he can bring it to such a lesson for us today. Let's come back in again at verse 24. Galatians 4. These two boys, one born after the flesh, the other born as a result of promise, these things are an allegory. For these two young men, these are the two covenants, or agreements, the one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, and that's Hagar. Now what is in reality spoken of here as bondage? It's the Law. In fact, just come on up to chapter 5, and what is the Law called? Be not entangled again with that yoke of bondage, and it's a reference to the Law. Alright, let's come back and see even what the Apostle Peter said about it. Come back to Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15 at that great Jerusalem council, when the Judaizers and the Jewish leaders, including of course Peter and the eleven, were coming down hard on the Apostle Paul for teaching his message of grace to these Gentiles, and they're trying to convince him, as we learned earlier in Galatians, that he had to practice circumcision and keeping the Law for these Gentile believers. And Paul adamantly refused. Finally here in chapter 15, Peter wakes up, and I think the Holy Spirit gave him a big push, and he realizes that years ago up there in Caesarea, God used him to take the Word to a Gentile, Cornelius, and Peter witnessed the salvation of that Gentile. And again God had the long term in view, not the near, and so realizing of this event, God had Peter all primed and ready. Now wait a minute, 12 years ago, it doesn't say 12 years here, but chronologically that's what it was. But Peter says a long time ago, or a good while ago, God by my mouth opened the Word to these Gentiles. Now look what he says in verse 10 of chapter 15. Now therefore why test God and put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples? Now the word disciples here does not mean the 12, it means the believers up there in Antioch. These who had become believers of Paul's Gospel, and not under Law or Legalism, but which the Judaizers were trying to put there. So now Peter says, why test God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear. Now goodness sakes, what was the yoke? The Law. The Law was a yoke of bondage, and I've always made the point that living under the Law was severe. I mean when they were really under the full practitioning of the Law, there was no monkey business. If they picked up sticks on the Sabbath, what was the punishment? Death by stoning, a horrible death. Any kind of an immorality, it was death. And so the Law was severe. If the poor old high priest goofed in just one little detail, what happened? He was dead. Now I don�t know how much truth there is into it, whether it�s all legend or what it was, but you�ve all heard the account that the high priest actually had a rope around his ankle when he went in behind the veil. Now like I say I�m not sure, but if that be true I can see why. Because if he had goofed with one little idea of that ritual on the Day of Atonement, he was a dead man. And of course the Jews realized that that was always a possibility, so they had a rope on his feet because they certainly couldn�t go back and carry him out. But the point I�m making is that the Law was severe. It was like a yoke on the neck of an oxen, and a yoke is never an easy burden to bear, and that�s what the Law was. Now if you�ll come back with me to Galatians 4 once again, and so now Paul is using that same analogy that the Law was the flesh, and it was like a yoke, and it only brought in bondage. Verse 25 of Galatians 4. Galatians 4. Hagar is typically of Mount Sinai in Arabia. Now until you heard me teach that I felt that the Apostle Paul spent 3 years at Sinai, what one great event do you always associate with Sinai in Arabia? It�s the Ten Commandments. Now that�s what Paul says. Hagar is a picture of the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. Now again here�s where you have to know chronology. You�ve got to know history. What is the date approximately of the writing of Galatians? About 60 A.D. When was the Temple destroyed? 70 A.D. So 10 years before the Temple is destroyed, what�s going on in Jerusalem? Temple worship, sacrifices every day, hundreds and hundreds of them. The Temple was the very center of all Jewish activity at the time that Paul is writing Galatians. Have I made myself clear? So that�s why Paul can say that Hagar speaks of the Law as it was given at Sinai, which was still indicative of Temple worship at the time that Paul was writing his letter to the Galatians. Then it all makes sense if you understand the timing. And it answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. Again, what�s he referring to? They were still under the heavy hand of the Law. They were still under the demand to bring sacrifices to circumcise their children. The Law was in full speed ahead in Jerusalem. Now verse 26. What�s the first word? But like one lady wrote and said, that�s your favorite word. Well I guess maybe it is, because it constantly shows that flip side. Whereas on the one hand Jerusalem was under the heavy hand of the Law, and sacrificial worship, and the Temple, and all that. Oh, the flip side. What has now begun since Acts chapter 9? The grace of God without the Law. Now you see they�re running in consort, and that�s why I tell people constantly, call with faith. Now look, don�t for goodness sakes use the Book of Acts as a doctrinal base. The Book of Acts is not a doctrinal book, it�s a transitional from a historical point of God dealing with Israel, to His turning to the Gentiles. That�s the Book of Acts. And just as soon as you try to go in there and dig out doctrine, you�re going to have problems. So you take your doctrines, for us today Romans through Hebrews, or Romans through Philemon, if you want to leave Hebrews out. But you go to Paul�s letters for our basic doctrines. Acts is merely a Book of Transition, and oh if I could just get people to see that. That answers so much of the confusion, because the two economies are going to be running side by side for a period of time, until the one drops away and the other takes over. You�ve heard me on the program, I don�t know how many times, but it�s just almost compared to a transition from one presidential administration to another. I always like to use, because there are differences of ideology, Jimmy Carter�s administration and Ronald Reagan�s. Two totally different ideas, and yet under the same Constitution. So as soon as Ronald Reagan had won the election in November, up until the inauguration day, what�s going on in Washington? Are they passing a bunch of laws? Is there a lot being accomplished? No, nothing. Everything just sort of comes to a stand still, until we can make a transition from this administration to this one. Now that�s the same thing that happened in the Book of Acts. You�re moving from that Jewish program, temple worship, the Law, that Jesus was the Christ, the King, the Redeemer of Israel, and we�re moving over to Paul�s Gospel of grace through faith plus nothing. What a difference! Contradiction? No. Change of program. Now the same way coming back to my two political administrations. Did they have to change the Constitution? No. Carter operated under the same Constitution that Reagan did, and as we�ve been coming on up even since then. So always take this into account that you don�t use the Book of Acts for a doctrinal Book, because you�re going to get thrown a curve almost every time. But you come into Paul�s letters, and now that�s what follows the word B-U-T in verse 26. But Jerusalem which is above, not the earthly Jerusalem where the temple is still cranking out her sacrifices, but now we have a spiritual setting in the heavenlies, and it is free. Now let me show you what I mean. Come back with me to Colossians. Colossians chapter 1. I�ve got it, and then I�m going to have the next one in Philippians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 1, dropping down to verse 12 and 13. Colossians 1 where Paul writes some giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet, or has prepared us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Now where is the kingdom of the Son? Well it�s in heaven. So we have now a heavenly base of operations. The head of the body is in heaven, and we are citizens. Now come back to Philippians chapter 3. I hope you can tie all this together. The temple at the time the Galatians is written is full speed ahead. I mean the sacrifices are being offered, the temple ritual is being followed, the priests are fulfilling all of their ritual every day, but at the same time now since Paul has had his revelations, we have this total freedom of grace. Now let�s look at what Philippians chapter 3, verse 20. Now the King James uses the word, �conversation ,� but it�s our citizenship, and where is it? In heaven. How did it get there? When we were translated into the kingdom of His dear Son, we became a citizen of it. So where is our citizenship? In heaven. See the difference? And so it�s the Jerusalem which is above. Now come back to Galatians chapter 4, verse 26. So for us, Grace Age believers, we�re not tied to the temple worship in earthly Jerusalem, we�re tied to the heavenly Jerusalem which is above, and it�s free with total liberty. And it is the mother, or the beginning, of us all. Now verse 27, here we come back to Ishmael and Isaac. After all, that�s where the allegory rested. Now my idea here is that this is speaking of Saraiah, because she was the one who had never had childbirth. She was the one who had been barren, and so she said, �Break forth and cry, thou that travailest not.� Then the last half of the verse I have to feel is speaking of Ishmael as being spiritually desolate, for the desolate hath many more children than she who hath a husband. Well that has to be a reference to Hagar, and then again look at the real world. Who ended up with far more progeny, the offspring of Ishmael or the offspring of Isaac? Well Ishmael. The Arab world outnumbers the Jews today 50 to 1, and so it�s perfect. She that had a husband, which would have to refer to Saraiah and Isaac, had far fewer in number than she who didn�t. Now verse 28. Now brethren, we as Isaac was, are the children of what? Promise. What kind of a promise? I�ll tell you. What did God promise him? That everyone who would put their trust in what He had just accomplished would be His for all eternity. And God made the promise that every believer would be His for all eternity. He didn�t die in vain. Oh He�s not going to get near as many as we think He should, but the multitude that have become believers are His, and no one can ever take them from Him. Now let�s move on quickly, or I won�t even finish it in this half hour. So then, he that was born after the flesh, Ishmael, persecuted him who was born after the Spirit, Isaac, and that�s why they had that being booted out. Has anything changed? No. It�s still the same. The unbelieving world outnumbers us, I�m not going to put a percentage on it, but by a tremendous amount. And what do they do? They�re constantly trying to put us down. My, we�ve seen that in just the last few months. How that when a group will adhere to the Scripture, what does the world do? They just scream and holler. Well it�s always been that way, and it�s not going to change. Now then verse 30. "...Nevertheless, in spite of everything, what saith the Scripture? 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. So then brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. But the part I want you to remember as you go to bed tonight, cast out the bondwoman and her son, because what are they a picture of? Legalism! If I�m not known for anything else by now, it�s that. I hate, I detest legalism, because God does. And so the whole admonition of Scripture now is that once you understand this Gospel of Grace, what do you do with legalism? You cast it out, just exactly like Abraham and Sarah sent Hagar and Ishmael into the desert. It was a beautiful picture. He didn�t build them a tent next door. He didn�t say, well let�s have consort, even though we may not be in the same building. No sir, there had to be a total break between grace and legalism. 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. So then Paul puts the cap on it. So then brethren we are not children of the bondwoman, but we�re children of the free woman. Now remember when Paul wrote his letters, he didn�t put in there chapter 5. Paul just kept right on writing. But he didn�t put in a chapter 5, he just kept right on writing. So after he makes his point with the allegory, what does he say next? He says, Stand fast therefore, because of what he has just shown us. What�s the next word? Liberty. Oh we Americans understand that more than any other people on earth, don�t we? Now liberty isn�t license. It�s turning into that, sad to say, but it was never intended for liberty to be license. But nevertheless we stand now as free men and women under grace, and never, never give in to the horrors of legalism. And be sure to tune in next time, for Through the Bible, with Les Feltick.