Laurelville- Session #3

Laurelville Family Conference
Mark Webb
Grace Bible Church, Olive Branch Mississippi
Session #3: Mark Webb
“Paul the Theologian”, Galatians 4:21-31

Mark opened his sermon by reading his text. The expression “beating a dead horse” is often common in our culture. And the Apostle Paul proves to the Galatians that nobody will ever be justified by the works of the law over and over again. This is the Apostolic testimony of the true Gospel.

In Romans 4 Paul gives history of Abraham- he was justified before he was circumcised. In Galatians 3:10 Paul quotes Deuteronomy to express the impossibility of keeping the law. Then, he explained that in 4:21-31 Paul is giving and allegory. An allegory is usually a fictional story that has real meaning. But here Paul uses real history for this allegory. God sovereignly uses real people in history to reveal spiritual meaning for us today.

The allegory can only make sense unless we understand the history of Abraham (Genesis 11-21). Abraham was seventy-five years old when God began to deal with Abraham giving him a promise of a nation, a land, and to make him a blessing to all of the families of the earth. His name was Abram, which meant “high father” or the Mississippi version “big daddy”. Abraham was a nomad as he trusted in God’s promise and met different types of people in his journey across a foreign land. Abraham would have been asked, “What does your name mean?” “How many kids do you have?” Abraham would answer, “None”. This brought about Sara to influence Abraham to sleep with Hagar to bear a child. Sara did this because she was barren. Ishmael was born to Hagar. Usually, a child of a slave was a slave. But now “big daddy” has one son. At age ninety-nine God appears to him in Genesis 17 and 18 and promises him a son. God told him that Ishmael was not the promised son, but that he would bear a son from Sara’s womb. Abraham was impotent and Sara was barren. God said the child’s name would be Isaac. God then commanded Abraham and all the males in his household to be circumcised. This sign means you have no confidence in the flesh- that you have given up on fleshly means; God must bring about the promise. At this point, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham meaning “father of multitudes”. He was no longer “big daddy”, but “mega daddy”!

Sara sees Ishmael “picking on” Isaac, and she told Abraham to get rid of Hagar and Ishmael. God told Abraham to listen to Sara. So Abraham obeyed after giving money to Hagar. Sara did not want the “slave boy” (Ishmael) to split the inheritance with the “true heir” (Isaac).

This is the history, then, of the allegory Paul gives in Galatians 4:21-31. Paul says these two women represent two covenants- Mt. Sinai (Mosaic covenant of law) is represented by Hagar. The children of this covenant are “slaves”. On the other hand, Sara represents the covenant of promise- Jerusalem from above. Mosaic covenant was bilateral. The covenant of promise was unilateral. In other words, God’s covenant with Abraham is unilateral. The covenant of promise is realized in the new covenant.

There are two covenants, two mountains, and two different types of cities (both called Jerusalem). And each represents two methods of child bearing. Sara represents a supernatural child birth, and Hagar represents a fleshly, natural child. Ishmael is produced by the will of the flesh. Sara is produced by God.
Paul is giving this allegory to show us that Abraham’s family tree splits at the beginning with two lines of children coming from Abraham. Abraham is a father to two kinds of descendants. In essence, Paul is calling his fellow Jews “a bunch of Ishmaelite”. In verse 26 Paul says that the Galatians are from the Jerusalem of above. Those in Christ are in the line of Isaac. Paul is warning the ethnic Jews that Ishmael was kicked out not to be an heir.

Practical application: we are sons by God’s doing only! “There is nothing normal about salvation- it is nothing less than a miracle.”
End……………………………………………………………………………………………………

I did not take notes for the last 15-20 minutes. It was too good to try and type through. Sorry. Also, Mark’s lapel mica turned off at this point. I am not sure that the last 15-20 was recorded. There was nothing for me to do. Maybe it picked up a “little”. We shall see….sorry. (I hate the demons of microphones!)