The Story of Two Sons

6 · Full reading of Galatians 4:21-5:1, the primary text for the sermon, establishing the allegory of Hagar and Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac, and the contrast between slavery to the law and freedom in Christ

So, with that context of Paul's almost weeping and parent-like affection and pastoral anguish in front of our eyes, let's consider the word together. Galatians 4:21 and following. My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor; for the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband." Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So brothers, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman. And then a transitional verse: For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

7 · Oswald names the controlling thesis of the passage: believers, as children of the free woman Sarah, must resist the slavery of the law and remain in their freedom in Christ

Now, it's not real politically correct to compare women to covenants and mountains. Evidently Paul, he's a single guy, maybe he wasn't real well-read on the things you should and shouldn't say about ladies. But he's making some real big theological points in this text this morning. And his main point that kind of arches over this entire text is that as children of the free woman, so children of Sarah, Believers must resist the slavery of the law and remain steadfast in their freedom of Christ, freedom in Christ. So as children of Sarah, as descendants of the free woman, Christians, believers should resist turning back to slavery, turning back to Mount Sinai, turning back to the Mosaic Covenant, turning back to Hagar. It's a rough name. They should remain steadfast in their freedom. In Christ.

8 · Oswald positions 4:21-5:1 as Paul's summary of chapters 1-4 and the hinge into the imperatives of chapters 5-6, articulating the indicative-imperative structure of biblical theology

Now, if that sounds a little bit familiar from what we've been covering the last several weeks and the last chapter and a half, it should. This passage really marks the summary statement of Paul for what he said in the first 4 chapters, and now a turn to the practical pieces that will finish out the book. He's walking us through the connection. You see again and again and again in Scripture that the indicative always grounds the imperative, which is another way of saying What God has done for us is the foundation for anything He would ever command us to do. He doesn't just give commands. Commands are always grounded in what He's already done for us. And so Paul in this text is rehashing the main point of Galatians. And now he's going to use it in 5:1 as a springboard for the finish of the letter. And we're going to start entering into imperatives and commands and implications of the Gospel.

9 · Oswald signals the first major movement of the sermon: unpacking the Genesis backstory of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac

So that's what's at stake this morning. Now, first, the family drama. That's our first point.

10 · Oswald establishes that to understand Paul's allegory, the congregation must return to the Genesis narrative, noting that Abraham's significance extends to all believers, Jew and Gentile alike

To understand this text, and this text has some complexity to it, we've got to go back in our Bibles. And we've got to look back in Genesis. That character of Abraham. Paul has shown us Abraham at several points in this letter so far. The significance of Abraham for Jews was obviously huge, but Paul has also shown us the significance of Abraham for everyone who would believe in Christ. So for Gentiles, no matter where you're from, if you're a Christian in Rome, eventually a Christian in Gaul, a Christian in what will become the United Kingdom, a Christian in the Americas, in Africa, in Asia, wherever you might be, one of those Gentile believers, Abraham is significant for you.

11 · Oswald reframes the Genesis narrative as a soap opera to disarm any tendency to idealize the patriarchs, preparing the congregation to see the messy human reality behind Paul's theological argument

So he goes back and he says, let's consider. And he starts to tell us again about Abraham. And really, Abraham's story, if you think about it, and you take off the really— you know those glasses we sometimes wear when we read the Old Testament, you want to see everybody as a really impressive, perfect character to emulate? If you take those glasses off for a second, you kind of see Abraham and Sarah and Hagar, and really Abraham's subsequent generations, it's really sort of the first soap opera. I mean, there's some crazy stuff going on in this guy's family. It is just filled with drama.

12 · Oswald explains the semantic range of the word 'law' in Galatians 4:21, showing how Paul uses it first to refer to the Mosaic Law specifically and second to refer broadly to all of Scripture

But you gotta love how Paul starts. In verse 21 he says, "Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?" Now, some of the reason it gets confusing reading our Bibles is that we hear the word "law" and we want to interpret it literally and woodenly, and we don't realize that the way Paul uses the word "law" and the way different biblical authors will use that word varies and changes depending on context. And so here in one verse, Paul uses the word "law" in the first half differently than he's using it in the second half. In the first half, Paul is saying, "Tell me, you who want to be under the law." In other words, under the Mosaic law, under Mount Sinai, under Moses and the Pentateuch, those first 5 books of the Old Testament. Don't you also want to listen to the law? Using it broadly in the same way like Psalm 119 would where the law refers to all of God's Word. So that's Paul's point. It's part of the reason why it can be so tricky to navigate the Bible. If we see those little semantic differences in the way the word "law" is used, clarity comes.

13 · Oswald notes Paul's deliberate choice to identify Hagar and Sarah by social status rather than name, signaling that their status as slave and free is theologically determinative for the allegory

If these tempted legalists in Galatia actually listen to the Scriptures, Paul says, they'll be liberated. And the Scriptures show us this crazy drama of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and their sons. It's a whole lot wrapped up in these individuals and redemptive history. The weird thing is initially Paul doesn't even refer to the women by name. Initially he just refers to their social status, and that should tip us off. Normally you introduce a character and you say their name, right? That's pretty common practice, even common in the New Testament in the Bible. So when Paul starts and introduces two sons born to two women and says not Sarah and Hagar, but says, "No, no, one was born to the slave woman and one was born to the free woman," he's telling us there's massive significance hanging upon their social status. There's spiritual significance in the status these two mothers hold.

14 · Oswald recounts God's call of Abraham from paganism, emphasizing the radical nature of the promise and the vulnerability of Abraham's obedience

So back to the soap opera. Remember, here's Abraham As lost as anybody else, worshiping the moon. And God comes along and tells us in Genesis, He comes to Abraham and says, "I want to make you my man. I promise if you'll follow me, if you'll respond in faith to me, if you will leave your home and your people." And in that day and age, that's everything. I mean, if you leave your home and your family and your people, you're basically walking off on a limb. It's like you're walking out of your house on Cuivara and you're just leaving your car, you're leaving your home, you're leaving your wallet, you don't have an ID, no Social Security card, and you're just going to walk. You're just going to head to South America and start over. You got nothing to fall back on. And Paul says, or God says to Abraham, "Follow me. Come with me. And I promise, leaving all this behind, I will give you a land." And I will give you a people, and I will make nations out of you. Kings will come from you. Follow me, Abraham. And so Abraham leaves it all behind and he sets off.

15 · Oswald details the impossibility of Sarah's situation: lifelong infertility compounded by advanced age, setting up the crisis that drives the narrative toward Hagar

And so Genesis starts to unpack that soap opera. Well, part of the story that we know so well is there's a little twist in the promise. Abraham is an old, old dude. He's not young anymore. In fact, initially, when the promises are first made, he's really well past the time when you would really expect to have children. And in Genesis 16, when the drama really starts to unfold with Hagar that Paul's referring back to, his wife Sarah is probably already 80 years old. She's, she's way past menopause. She doesn't have the ability to bear children anymore. And humanly speaking, Abraham and Sarah are well aware this might pose a problem if we're supposed to have all these descendants. You know, there's a little issue. Sarah can't have kids anymore. She's barren. She's never been able to have kids. So think about that. Not only is this a really old lady, who can't have children anymore, even when she was young, and when she was 20 or 30, or whenever you want to think, and was like in the prime child-rearing age, she was totally unable to do it. So what, now that I've been struggling with infertility my whole life, God, you're telling me now that I'm old, I'm going to have kids?

16 · Oswald narrates Sarah's scheme to secure an heir through Hagar, presenting it as a fleshly attempt to help God fulfill His promise

Well, Sarah decides maybe she can get the ball rolling. On her own. That's how the soap opera starts. This old, wrinkly woman who's not getting any younger looks over and sees her maidservant, her slave, Hagar. Here's this young, beautiful, fruitful woman, and Sarah starts scheming and convinces Abraham, her husband, that he should sleep with Hagar so they can finally get themselves an heir. "Go be with Hagar." It's going to work. Look, she's young, she's beautiful, she can have kids. You go be with her. I'm cool with it. This is okay. I want to see us get all the promises that God is saying we should have. So Abraham goes and he does just that, and voilà, Hagar, this young, beautiful, fruitful woman, conceives and gives birth to a son, Ishmael.

17 · Oswald recounts God's rejection of Ishmael as the heir and the miraculous birth of Isaac to 90-year-old Sarah, emphasizing the supernatural fulfillment of the promise

And then along comes God to do the impossible. Abraham says, "No, no, God, don't worry. If you look over here, Ishmael, we've already got it covered. You know, we figured you're God, you're sovereign over the whole world, you've got a lot of stuff going on, maybe you were busy and you forgot about us for a little bit, so we took care of it. We went out and made sure that there'd be a son, so Hagar had a son, there's Ishmael, he's going to be my heir. I've got a child. We're good, Lord. You can just—" "Skip that part of your promises." And the Lord says, "No, the blessing will come through Sarah." So at 90 years old, she gets pregnant. At 90 years old, a woman who at 20 was unable to have children, at 90 years old, a woman who's 40, 45 years past menopause, gets pregnant.

18 · Oswald bridges the Genesis narrative to the present, asserting that the family drama between Hagar and Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac, continues in the church's struggle with legalism

And that drama, Paul says, the drama that ensues in that family, because now you can imagine the sibling rivalry and these two women and the rivalry they have with each other, that drama is still being played out today. That's the family drama, that's the backdrop.

19 · Transition into the first major theological movement: the sons of Hagar, descendants of the slave woman, still rely on the flesh for salvation

And now Paul shows us sons of Hagar still look to the flesh.

20 · Oswald identifies the Hagar-Ishmael line with reliance on the flesh, explaining that Abraham and Sarah's scheme grew from doubt after decades of waiting, and that their attempt to help God amounted to unbelief

The descendants of Hagar, the descendants of the slave woman, are still looking to the flesh to accomplish and get right with God. Abraham and Sarah, in their desperation, literally take matters into their own hands. The longer God took, the more they began to doubt. Now, it can be easy here to sort of give Abraham and Sarah a raw deal. You read it and you just think, "Man, what were you thinking? I mean, God came and talked to you personally. Isn't that enough to hang your hat on and to walk out in faith, right? Man, if God was coming to me, appearing in visions and cutting lambs and passing between them and cutting covenants with me, I'd believe. I would totally have no wavering faith." Except God tarries. And he doesn't just wait for a day or a month or a year. God promises and then doesn't act for decades. Think you could bear up under decades? I struggle with weeks. For decades he has Abraham and Abraham and Sarah wait, sojourn in a land that's not their own, and wait. They decided, "We'll just give God a boost." You know how your kids will say, "Daddy, I need a boost!" Abraham and Sarah look at God and say, "Well, we'll just give God a boost. We'll help the plan along a little bit. We'll turn to human wisdom and strength to ensure that we get an heir through Hagar."

21 · Oswald connects the Hagar episode to the Galatian problem: relying on the law for salvation is equivalent to taking matters into your own hands according to the flesh, which results in loss of inheritance and grows from unbelief

Paul's point is simple. When you rely on the law for salvation, it always involves leaning on the flesh. And when you lean on the flesh, when you take things in your own hands, when you take things relying on human wisdom and scheming and plotting how you're going to help God out in those ways, it results in a loss of inheritance. The son of the slave woman was born by natural means. Ishmael is born because a man and a woman, and a woman who is in her childbearing years gets pregnant. According to the flesh. Paul's not just referring to physical flesh, he's talking about sinful, fleshly decisions. That phrase, katasarx, according to the flesh, it's all over the New Testament. It's not just saying your physical body. It's saying your fallen nature. And that's how Abraham and Sarah with Hagar do things. And in them, Abraham and Sarah, what they did with Hagar is what recovering Pharisees in every city on earth, in every church on earth, are still trying to do. There's lots of recovering Pharisees. We've all got a little recovering Pharisee inside us, right? And he says, when we rely on the law, When we turn to works, we're taking God's job into our own hands. You take it into the flesh, into the first Adam. What you're doing is acting according to unbelief. Sarah's scheming and Abraham's willingness to go along, they all grew out of a lack of faith. God clearly can't fulfill the promise on His own. He needs a little help. The doubt goes so deep Remember, Sarah laughs when God comes back and promises, "No, you will have a child." She laughs.

22 · Oswald recounts the Galatian context: Paul's Gentile converts are being disturbed by Judaizers who insist on circumcision and descent from Abraham and Sarah as necessary for salvation

But Paul flips the script on the readers. There's little doubt Paul's opponents, these Judaizers that are in Galatia— remember the context? Paul goes into Galatia, it's like southern Turkey today, and he goes and starts planting churches and he's sowing the Gospel among these churches and he's seeing churches sprout up. People that are totally lost in paganism. They're Gentiles. They've maybe never even heard of the God of Israel, the true and living God. And now they're not only hearing of Him, they're hearing of Jesus Christ and the Spirit is coming and salvation is happening. And these churches are sprouting up and expanding and the Gospel is going forward. And Paul leaves to go do other ministry and then he hears of these Judaizers. These Jewish "Christians" who come in and start sowing doubt among the Galatian believers. Sowing doubt among these Gentiles. Well, it's good that you believe in Jesus. You know, Paul has that part of the message right, but you're not circumcised, and if you really want to be saved, you've got to believe in Jesus and go through this circumcision. Well, these Judaizers are making a big deal out of circumcision, making a big deal out of the Mosaic Law, so there's no doubt they're making a big deal out of the fact that, hey, we know. We're the descendants of Abraham and Sarah. That's who we are.

23 · Oswald explains Paul's subversive rhetorical move: despite the Judaizers' ethnic descent from Sarah, Paul aligns them spiritually with Hagar and Ishmael because of their reliance on the law

Well, Paul comes along and says, even though the free woman is technically the ancestor of these Judaizers, Paul, he just can't resist pushing their buttons a little bit. And he implies in this text that it's the Gentiles who are really the descendants of Sarah. The circumcised fellows are in line with the slave woman. You might have the covenant, you might have the mark of the covenant, But you're actually like the non-Jewish child, Ishmael. That's offensive stuff. What Paul is saying in this text is not kind stuff to say to somebody who takes massive amounts of pride in the fact that I am of Abraham. I'm not just of Abraham, I'm of the right side of Abraham. You know that whole soap opera? Well, I was on the true side. I wasn't on the scheming side of Hagar. I wasn't Ishmael and those crazy Ishmaelites that are all over the world now. No, no, no. I was from Sarah. I'm a Jew. I have circumcision. I have the law. I have the Mosaic Covenant. I'm of David. All of these things. Paul says, "No, you're not. You're actually the one who's from Ishmael."

24 · Oswald illustrates the offensiveness of Paul's claim by offering contemporary cultural parallels, showing how rhetorically inflammatory it would be to tell someone they are the opposite of what they claim to be

It's like telling a supporter of Ron Paul, "You know, you're actually really sort of a liberal in the way you interpret the Constitution." "Whoa! What did you just say to me?" Yeah, Ron Paul, he's really loosey-goosey in the way he interprets the Constitution. You don't say that to a supporter of Ron Paul. You don't come along to Obama or to an Obama supporter and say, man, you have one of the most conservative policies I have ever seen. It's remarkable how staunchly conservative and traditional you are. That's offensive to those people. You don't go to a fundamentalist Christian and say, "You know what, man? You're like a Muslim. You remind me a lot of a Muslim. I think maybe you are a Muslim." That's not a cool thing to say at Bob Jones University. It really isn't. They don't take kindly to that. That's what Paul's doing here. And those are fighting words.

25 · Oswald drives home the typological application: those who rely on works to secure salvation are laughing at God like Sarah did, and the result is bondage to sin and loss of inheritance

He can read the story this way because he sees this small narrative, this little piece of Genesis, through the lens of the broader storyline of Scripture. And here Paul correctly concludes it's those under the Mosaic Law who are in bondage to sin, and freedom, being a descendant of the free woman Sarah, is reserved for those who respond to the gospel in faith. The same is true for us. Everyone who relies on human effort, who relies on works, who relies on their own version of the law to get right with God, when you're doing that, you are laughing in God's face the same way Sarah did. That's what you're doing. God comes along and says, "Here's my way of saving." "and it's all me, baby. I'm doing it." And you come along and say, "Yeah, I got a couple really good things I've done I'd like to throw into the hopper there." You're laughing at God the same way Sarah did. You're scheming to have your husband lie with another woman the same way Sarah did. That's the implications of what's at stake. But the joke's on you. You might be figuratively laughing at God, but to try and add a little obedience to ensure salvation will mean that you end up an heir of the slave woman's son. You'll end up in bondage to sin. You'll end up in bondage to the works you're trying to add.

26 · Oswald explains Paul's allegory: Hagar corresponds to Mount Sinai and the Mosaic Law, which enslaves rather than liberates, and the present Jerusalem represents those Jews who have rejected Christ and remain in bondage

The law doesn't free. Remember, Paul's made that point again and again. He's summarizing it for us one more time here in this part of the letter. The law doesn't free. It doesn't empower obedience. It just shows you what you should do, and then under the law paralyzes you from actually doing it. It can't liberate you from your depravity. The law kills, Paul says in the letter to Corinth. It doesn't give life, it kills you. So when Paul compares Hagar to Mount Sinai, he says she represents the Mosaic Law. Hagar the slave represents all those who want to operate under Sinai. And if you want to operate that way, you want to live like a slave. He compares them with the present Jerusalem in the same way. The Jews of Paul's day are in slavery in Jerusalem. They live in bondage to the law that doesn't liberate. They've been presented with Christ and they've chosen to remain in bondage.

27 · Oswald illustrates the enslaving nature of the law with the analogy of a smoker who begins in apparent freedom but becomes addicted, showing that the law operates similarly by progressively enslaving those who rely on it

Now, here's a helpful illustration. To give you an idea. Most people understand freedom, I should say most people misunderstand freedom. And they sort of think of freedom as if freedom is just about doing what you want. That's what freedom is. If I'm free, I get to do whatever it is that I desire to do. But freedom is really more complex than that. Think of the illustration of a smoker. Okay? A smoker is like anyone who's under the law. The smoker starts out and they think, "You know what? I'm free to start smoking. I'm a little 16-year-old punk and I think it's gonna be really cool to go get some cigarettes and start smoking because that's cool." And they start smoking. "I'm free to make that decision." Maybe you're 23 and you're in the army and that's when you start. I don't know. The smoker thinks, "I'm free to make this choice. I want to smoke. And you know what? I started smoking, and now I smoke because I enjoy it. I really enjoy having a cigarette in my hand. I'm a twiddler. It gives me something to do with my fingers. I enjoy the nicotine. I enjoy the tobacco. I continue doing it because I want to. Well, initially the smoker lights up because he desires to, because he thinks he's free. But then he becomes enslaved. He gets addicted to the habit. What begins as a choice becomes bondage. The law operates in the same way because of our sinful hearts. The law doesn't free, it enslaves. You might start out thinking, "No, I'm choosing to try and live this way. I'm choosing to try and do this thing. I'm choosing to try and follow this." this moral set of rules. What you don't realize is you might choose to start it, but then you will be enslaved to it. And like the addicted smoker, you in and of yourself won't have the power to do what you need to do to truly be free any longer. That's the nature of what's happening here, and that enslavement is fatal.

28 · Oswald transitions to the sons of Sarah, who look to the promise rather than the flesh, and begins unpacking Paul's quotation from Isaiah 54, which speaks to exiled Israel as a barren woman

Liberation from sin never comes from the law. Liberation from sin never comes from the proliferation of moral principles. You don't get away from sin by constructing more rules. Rules don't cure the desires of your hearts. The only true cure for sin is the death of the flesh, is the death of the old Adam, by being reborn in Christ. Which is exactly what Paul shows us the sons of Sarah do. If the sons of Hagar look to the flesh, the sons of Sarah, the true sons, those according to Isaac, will do the opposite. The sons of Sarah will look to the promise. Look in verse 26: But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. For it is written, quoting from Isaiah 54, Rejoice, O 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. And you, brethren, like Isaac, are children of the promise. Now Paul quotes from Isaiah 54, and it's fascinating the way he uses Scripture here, because that— what's being written there in Isaiah 54 is being written about Israel while Israel is in exile. So he's comparing the nation of Israel in exile. Remember, they come and they get conquered. They've been disobedient. God raises up one from the east who comes, conquers the people. They get taken off into exile. There's this little remnant and they're just groaning and wondering, what about the promises? And here Isaiah comes and says, you know what you're like, Israel? You're like a barren woman. You're like an infertile woman.

29 · Oswald unpacks the scandal of Isaiah 54's command to a barren woman to rejoice, showing that barrenness in the ancient world meant curse, disgrace, and vulnerability, making the promise seem impossible

Here's the strange thing: "And like a barren woman, you should rejoice and shout for joy." What? That's not how barren women think. If you know someone who's ever struggled with infertility, if you've struggled with infertility, it's not a cause for celebration. You don't get up in the morning shouting for joy because you're not in labor. You weep because you wish you could be in labor. The imagery is powerful because in the Old Testament there are few things more devastating than a woman who is barren. Where Hagar is young and beautiful and blessed by her fruitfulness, Sarah is old and her infertility means that she brought disgrace to her family. It means that as a society, when they viewed Sarah, they thought, "This woman's cursed. She's done some great sin to deserve the fact that she can't bear children." If you're in the ancient world, if you don't have children, it's a dreadful thing. There's no state that's going to protect you in the ancient world. There's no Social Security. Not that Social Security is maybe a really great net right now either. But there's no Social Security system. There's no Medicare in place. That's not how the ancient world works. You know how you make sure you're going to be taken care of in old age? You have children so that those children can protect you. Because even though Abraham might be this really wealthy guy with lots of cows, when Abraham gets really old, what's to stop somebody younger and stronger from coming in and stealing all his cows, right? Right? You've got no protection. You've got no assurances that when you're too old to work and care for yourself, someone will be there to care for you. And so to Sarah, a cursed woman, the promise may almost have seemed like a cruel joke as the decades ticked by.

30 · Oswald articulates the theological claim: where the law failed, the promise through the Spirit does the impossible, raising up offspring from barren Sarah, and the fulfillment of Isaiah 54 is the ingrafting of Gentiles into God's people in Christ

And although she falters with Hagar, Her faith is restored, and God proves faithful. So where the law failed to produce a genuine heir for Abraham and Sarah, the promise, through the work of the Spirit, does the impossible. It raises up offspring. It makes a barren woman rejoice. The point is simple. We are as helpless to save ourselves as barren Sarah was to actually get pregnant herself. Paul uses the mother of Judaism to speak of Gentiles receiving the promise. The blessing of Sarah's fruit is that the Gentiles, those who aren't the descendants of Isaac, will become a part of God's people. The promise for Israel in exile The promise to Israel that although you're in exile and like a barren woman is also a promise to the Gentiles. You'll become a part of Israel. You'll be rolled into one. So what is impossible in the flesh is accomplished supernaturally by the Spirit. And here's the thing, the promised return from exile, Paul is saying, has arrived in Jesus Christ.

31 · Oswald highlights the irony of the Isaiah quote and the miracle of the gospel: Sarah's impossible birth is replicated every time a Gentile comes to faith and is grafted into God's people through the Spirit

The irony of the Isaiah quote is remarkable. Barren women mourn, they don't rejoice. They don't shout for joy, they rend their garments. But in Jesus Christ, the Lord has poured out grace upon his people. Sarah's miraculous story is replicated every time a Gentile comes to faith. Those with those with no hope, those with no chance of being a part of God's people, are grafted in. Where exiled Israel appeared barren, God raised up unlikely heirs through the Spirit and fulfilled His promise. It's those who trust in God's promises rather than the law who have great hope.

32 · Oswald quotes Larry Hine's prayer to illustrate the human tendency to gag at grace and scheme like Sarah, contrasting it with the sons of Sarah who embrace their powerlessness and sing and dance in God's provision

I love how Larry Hine puts this: We tend to be like Sarah. We might not be waiting for decades, but as we wait, we tend to start to wonder, do I need a little bit more than grace? He writes this, a prayer for the part of us that still gags at grace: May all your expectations be frustrated. May all your plans be thwarted. May all your desires be withered into nothingness, that you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child and sing and dance in the love of God who is Father, Son, and Spirit. You gag on grace because you still want to be a part of it. You still want to take it into your hands. But sons of Sarah, embrace their powerlessness, embrace their poverty, and will sing and dance according to the provision of the Lord.

33 · Oswald recounts the Genesis backstory of Hagar's persecution of Sarah and Ishmael's of Isaac, showing that God prophesied this persecution would continue, and Paul asserts it continues in his day

That's not the only similarity in the story that continues. It's not just that there's ongoing descendants of Sarah according to those who have faith. In the same way, Hagar's persecution of Sarah and Ishmael's of Isaac continues today. Remember how the story goes in Genesis? It's not just that they have these babies. Before Sarah has the child, Hagar's really starting to taunt her, right? "I'm the one who has the son. You don't. I'm becoming elevated to a big status because it's my son who's going to be the heir." And then when Isaac's born, there's persecution born against Isaac from Ishmael to the point where Sarah, seeing the strife and just the dire straits of what this soap opera is going to become, asks that Hagar and Ishmael be sent out. And God promises to bless Ishmael as he goes out, but also says Ishmael will continue to persecute the descendants of Isaac. Well, that persecution, Paul says, continues to this day.

34 · Oswald explains Paul's reference to Ishmael's persecution of Isaac as a picture of ongoing legalism, which not only adds works to salvation but also rigidly imposes interpretations on others where Scripture allows freedom

In verse 29, "But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh," Ishmael, "persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit," So it is now also. Legalism is what he's talking about. Legalism isn't just adding works to Jesus to get right with God. He's talked about that in this letter. It's also a mindset that rigidly interprets Scripture and imposes those interpretations on others where Scripture makes room for freedom. That makes sense. Legalism isn't just saying you've got to do this to get right with God to be saved. Legalism is also saying I'm going to take this interpretation of Scripture and I'm going to impose my interpretation and my reading of this Scripture on everybody else around me even though that Scripture actually makes room for freedom. Legalism would have you believe you have to follow certain practices, rules, and regulations that are outside the instructions of Scripture if you would be mature in Christ. It may even go so far as to make extra-biblical practices necessary for salvation.

35 · Oswald asserts that legalism is a cancer to the body of Christ, killing not only the legalist but also persecuting and enslaving others by imposing extra-biblical standards and smothering the grace of the gospel

But if that's not enough, these unbiblical standards, these extra-biblical standards, they start to fill the church with sinful judgments and with prideful people. In this sense, legalism becomes a cancer to the body of Christ. It doesn't just kill the legalist, and Paul has been pretty clear, it kills the legalist in Galatians, right? It enslaves you. It is fatal. It will lead you to death. But here he says as it's killing the legalist, the legalist will persecute those around them. It potentially burdens and enslaves all those who are forced to interact with the legalist. It smothers the grace of the gospel by convincing God's people they must do and act and work to secure and keep God's favor. The legalist persecutes the Bible body by taking their own personal convictions and then bludgeoning others into similar beliefs. Legalism burdens and persecutes people. It leaves the legalist with a perverted gospel and this false sense of assurance. I'm good because my little legalist bent on this text is how I'm trying to live it out is making me better than that person over there. That's a false sense of assurance. It's a perverted gospel. Pollutes individual godly convictions into enslaving standards for everyone who interacts with them.

36 · Oswald quotes a pastor's wife's testimony about her recovering perfectionism to illustrate how legalism enslaves both the legalist and those around them by confusing holiness with performance

I read this actually just this week, it was one of those kind providences of God in my study. On the Desiring God blog, one of the pastors' wives at Bethlehem Baptist Church in the Twin Cities wrote this. It's actually a first snippet of a longer article, it's really good. She said this, kind of referring to the recovering Pharisee in all of us. As a recovering perfectionist, I sometimes confuse holiness and perfection. Rather than try to rely on God's grace or allow its natural compelling work in my life, holiness, I try really hard to do godly things. I try really hard to produce spiritual fruit and live a neatly tied-up life. Perfection. Sometimes I do this because I believe God can't love me without my efforts, but most of the time I do this because I'm trying to fulfill some arbitrary Christian standard that I think others expect of me or that I expect of myself. I feel like a walk-in freezer, forever attempting to keep myself at a constant, controlled temperature. Either way, the legalism of others enslaves her and the way her own legalism enslaves herself.

37 · Oswald generalizes the principle: legalism can take any morally neutral or even principled practice and turn it into a requirement for favor, and he poses the application question for the congregation: what might this be at Providence?

Legalism, perfectionism, performance can take a morally neutral subject, even a principled one, and turn it into a requirement for making the grade, for finding favor in the eyes of God or of men. Circumcision in Galatia. What might it be at Providence? It's an important question. Our creativity when it comes to legalism knows no boundaries.

38 · Oswald contrasts the present Jerusalem (slavery to worldly values) with the heavenly Jerusalem (freedom in Christ), showing that legalism makes people slaves to reputation, status, and comfort

To live under grace, though, is to recognize the freedom of our citizenship in the heavenly Jerusalem. That's Paul's point that he's making there. He talks about these two Jerusalems, the earthly Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem. Paul argues that legalistic people live in the present Jerusalem. If you are according to Hagar, if you're sold into slavery as she was, if you're according to her heir Ishmael, one who is the son of a slave woman, you will be enslaved and you will live as though you are in this present Jerusalem, which is to say you're going to live like you're at home in this world. And so reputation and jobs and influence and wealth and health and ease and comfort and status and countless other things are the currency of both your idolatry your legalism, and it will enslave you just like enslaved the inhabitants of that present Jerusalem. Paul's referring to the Jews back in Jerusalem who, having heard Christ proclaimed among them, decide to stay and make their home there.

39 · Oswald explains that believers are already citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem by faith, and Paul's pastoral goal is to urge them to live for their true home as true sons of the free woman

He contrasts that imagery with the freedom in the second half of our passage. But the Jerusalem above, the heavenly Jerusalem, is free. She's our mother. And you, brethren, like Isaac, are children of the promise. In Christ, we're citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. We belong to that city now by faith. Paul's pastoral concern that precedes this section comes to a crescendo here. He wants to put a dozen exclamation points behind the last half of our passage in 5:1. As Christians, we are already We are already free. And Paul reminds us of this by pointing our attention to the eschatological hope of heaven. He points us to what's going to be ours in heaven, in the New Jerusalem. And then he says, "Live for your true home like true sons of the free woman that you are."

40 · Oswald signals a major transition into application: he will conclude by contrasting two lists—Hagar's children vs

Now, this is a significant passage. Paul is summarizing through this allegorical, typological argument, what he's said in the first 4 chapters of Galatians. And he's preparing us to spring into the imperatives that he now says flow out of the Gospel that he's just described. And so I want to conclude by going through a list of things. It's not exhaustive. Hopefully it's accurate. A list of 2 different things. One describes Hagar's children. One would describe what it's like when you give in to the temptation to go back to slavery. The second list describes Sarah's children. This is what marks you if you live as one who's a descendant from Isaac.

41 · Oswald lists the characteristics of Hagar's children—those who live according to the flesh, enslaved by legalism, driven by guilt, striving to manipulate God, and persecuting others

Hagar's children live according to the flesh. Hagar's children construct rules to find life and end up more enslaved than they started. Hagar's children reduce general biblical principles to one practice and then oppress others with their private convictions. Hagar's children are quick to establish rules and then remind others of their failure to follow those rules. Hagar's children protect reputation and status at all costs, but are also crushed when critics note their shortcomings. Hagar's children obey God because they want to be loved. Hagar's children trust God conditionally, as long as the circumstances indicate that God is acting for their good. They strive and toil and perform because they suspect God's favor is achieved through duty. Hagar's children see outward activity as the source of inward spiritual change. Hagar's children threaten and coerce people towards obedience. Guilt is their tool. Hagar's children feel confident they possess the power to fix and transform others. Often by manipulation and stipulation and rules. Hagar's children attend church, read their Bibles, memorize scripture, love their spouses, disciple their children, witness to their neighbors, worship with enthusiasm, pursue biblical fellowship, give a tithe and beyond, pray consistently, and work hard. Because they believe these are the means of manipulating God to act favorably towards them. Hagar's children fail and respond by hiding their failure, resorting to greater effort in the flesh for future success. Hagar's children persecute. Hagar's children aggressively work to kill their own sin because they want to be good. They are quick to acknowledge and highlight the sin of others because they think it obscures the stench of their own. That's Hagar's heirs.

42 · Oswald lists the characteristics of Sarah's children—those who live according to the Spirit, free in Christ, driven by love, trusting God unconditionally, and liberating others through grace

Now Sarah's children. Sarah's children live according to the Spirit. Sarah's children have found life in Christ, and by his liberating grace, sin's grip is is gradually weakened. Sarah's children carry their own personal convictions seriously but are careful not to subjugate the conscience of a brother with alien views. Sarah's children are quick to extend forgiveness and quick to remind others of grace. Sarah's children aren't concerned with reputation, but like a friend said of Jonathan Edwards, their joy is out of the reach of their critics. Sarah's children obey God because they love him and because they know they are already loved by him in Christ. Sarah's children trust God unconditionally, without regard to circumstances, believing that Jesus has purchased an unshakable inheritance and God's eternal approval. Sarah's children endeavor to love Christ and reflect that love, secure in the knowledge of who they already are in union with Christ. Sarah's children are compelled to obey because they're convinced of God's infinite love for them in Christ. And sure of this love, they pursue holiness because they're convinced that God means good for them. And commands only that which blesses and commands only that which leads to more of Jesus. Sarah's children see inward spiritual restoration as the source of outward change. They regard Jesus as so precious and life-giving, they are confident that beholding him and knowing him is more than sufficient to impel our affections towards the obedience born from faith. Sarah's children feel confident that only the gospel possesses the power to fix the broken, redeem the enslaved, and transform the ungodly. Sarah's children attend church, read their Bibles, memorize Scripture, love their spouses, disciple their children, witness to their neighbors, worship with enthusiasm, pursue biblical fellowship, give a tithe and beyond, and pray consistently because they eagerly anticipate all the good God has in store for them through these streams of grace because of Jesus. Sarah's children fail and respond by confessing their sin. And acknowledging their weakness, returning joyfully to the cross of grace as their only hope for future progress. Sarah's children liberate. Sarah's children aggressively work to kill their own sin because the Spirit of Christ is at odds with the flesh and wants to destroy everything within them that is not of Jesus. Or increasing their affections for Jesus. They are quick to forgive and cover the sins of others because their gaze is fixed on the cross where their own sins were forgiven and covered.

43 · Oswald concludes by reading Galatians 4:31-5:1 as the final charge: believers are children of the free woman, set free by Christ, and must stand firm and not return to slavery

So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.

44 · Closing prayer confessing the temptation to legalism, affirming the truth that freedom is in Christ alone, and asking for the Spirit's strength to live in the freedom Christ has secured

Would you bow your heads? Lord, there is the temptation to take into our own hands the process of salvation, to take into our own hands the process of gaining your approval, to take into our own hands attempts to please men, as Sarah and Abraham did with Hagar, as the Judaizers did in Galatia. Lord, we know and recognize and confess that there is a recovering Pharisee that dwells in all of our hearts. And Lord, we know experientially the truth of your word this morning, that those under the law are in bondage, that those who seek to please you for the sake of salvation, that those who attempt to add to the work of Jesus Christ that they might find your approval and favor are in bondage that they are enslaved and that their enslavement is fatal. Lord, we want to do exactly what Paul calls us to this morning. We want to live as though we are free. We want to recognize and rejoice in the power of the Spirit that is for freedom, that Christ has set us free. We want to accept and rejoice in all that we have in Christ Lord, we want to consider those things and in the power of your Spirit we want to stand firm. We don't want to go back to slavery again. And Lord, we rejoice in all that Paul has shown us in the first 4 chapters of Galatians. That we have hope for all of this. We have hope for the putting to death of sin and the putting on of righteousness. We have hope that we will see you face to face. We have hope that we will stand among your people and worship you for all eternity. Not because of our own strength, our own doing, our own morality, but exclusively because you made the voice of freedom, your Son Jesus, to be enslaved for us. That you took the bondage we deserved and you put it on his back. And that in him we have an imperishable eternal hope. So grant us strength by your word and your spirit to live in the freedom he purchased for us. In your name, Jesus. Amen.

45 · Oswald closes by reading Romans 5:1-2 and 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 as benediction, affirming justification by faith, peace with God, and God's faithfulness to sanctify and keep believers blameless

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely because of all that is yours in Christ Jesus, and may your whole spirit and soul and body your body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. Grace and peace be with y'all.