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The sermon presents Hagar and Sarah as figures representing the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. The law demands perfect obedience and exposes sin, but it was never given as the means by which sinners could save themselves. In the covenant of grace, Christ bears the sins of his people and secures their salvation, which is received through faith alone. Good works and holiness follow salvation through the Spirit; they do not form its foundation.
Theological center: Salvation is secured by God’s covenant of grace through Christ’s atoning work and received by faith, not earned through obedience to the law.
Applications: Trust Christ Alone · Examine Your Works-Righteousness · Distinguish Law And Grace · Consider The Law’s Demand
Primary texts: Galatians 4:24 · Romans 11:6 · James 2:10
“These are the two covenants.” Galatians 4:24 THERE cannot be a greater difference in the world between two things than there is between law and grace. And yet, strange to say, while the things are diametrically opposed and essentially different from each other, the human mind is so depraved, and the intellect, even when blessed by the Spirit, has become so turned aside from right judgment, that one of the most difficult things in the world is to discriminate properly between law and grace. He who knows the difference, and always recollects it— the essential difference between law and grace—has grasped the marrow of divinity. He is not far from understanding the Gospel theme in all its ramifications, its outlets, and its branches, who can properly tell the difference between law and grace. There is always in a science, some part which is very simple and easy when we have learned it, but which, in the commencement, stands like a high threshold before the porch. Now, the first difficulty in striving to learn the Gospel is this. Between law and grace there is a difference plain enough to every Christian, and especially to every enlightened and instructed one. But still, when most enlightened and instructed, there is always a tendency in us to confound the two things. They are as opposite as light and darkness, and can no more agree than fire and water. Yet man will be perpetually striving to make a compound of them—often ignorantly, and sometimes willfully. They seek to blend the two, when God has positively put them asunder. We shall attempt this morning to teach you something of the allegories of Sarah and Hagar, that you may thereby better understand the essential difference between the covenants of law and of grace. We shall not go fully into the subject, but shall only give such illustrations of it as the text may furnish us. First, I shall want you to notice the two women, whom Paul uses as types—Hagar and Sarah. Then I shall notice the two sons—Ishmael and Isaac. In the third place, I shall notice Ishmael’s conduct to Isaac. And I shall conclude by noticing the different fates of the two. I. First, we invite you to notice THE TWO WOMEN—Hagar and Sarah. It is said that they are the types of the two covenants. And before we start, we must not forget to tell you what the covenants are. The first covenant for which Hagar stands is the covenant of works, which is this, “There is My law, O man. If you on your side will engage to keep it, I, on My side will engage that you shall live by keeping it. If you will promise to obey My commands perfectly, wholly,…