[0:00] Good morning, everyone. Today's scripture reading will be in Galatians chapter 4.
[0:14] Galatians chapter 4, verses 21 to 31. Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?
[0:33] For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise.
[0:46] This is allegorically speaking, for these women were two covenants, one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children, who are to be slaves. She is Hagar.
[0:57] 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.
[1:09] She is our mother. For it is written, Rejoice, buried women, who do not bear. Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor. For more numerous are the children of the desolate than of the one who has a husband.
[1:23] And you, brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit.
[1:35] So it is now also. But what does the scripture say? 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.
[1:47] So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman. With that, I'll call up Pastor Henry. Thank you. Well, good morning, everyone.
[2:14] Isn't it a blessing to have nice warm homes and a warm church building to gather in this morning as well? But even a greater blessing that the cold stone heart that we were born with has been changed out for a warm heart of flesh.
[2:34] Thank God for that. Thank God for that. This morning as we wrap up chapter 4 in Galatians, of the final doctrinal words of Paul in this letter to the Galatians.
[3:01] And so Paul has learned what's been going on in Galatia, and he's addressed the issue already in the letter that there is no such thing as going back to the law.
[3:15] We are justified by faith. And he's then also focused on the law and what the law does, and he brought that out in chapter 3, verse 10, that it brings a curse.
[3:31] What the purpose of the law was in verse 19 of chapter 3, that it was added because of transgressions. And that it is by faith in Jesus Christ that we are sons of God, Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
[3:52] And so as we've more recently gone through chapter 4, the chapter has been mostly an appeal to hold on to the freedom that the Galatians have in Christ.
[4:09] And so in the last message that I did, Paul talked about these false teachers being zealous.
[4:21] And Paul went on to say that it is a good thing. To be zealous can be good, and he encouraged it, but to be zealous in a good thing, where the motives of the false teachers was wrong, and their teaching was wrong.
[4:42] They desired to turn the Galatians away from their freedom in Christ and to turn them back to the law. And so in the final verses in this chapter, Paul, as he's closing this appeal to their freedom, he turns to the Old Testament as well to bring home his point.
[5:08] And he brings up the subject of Abraham, the subject that the Judaizers, the false teachers that they cling to.
[5:21] And he uses Abraham's family to discredit the teaching that these Judaizers are bringing. And so this morning, as we break this passage down, we'll first look at the facts of the story that Paul brings out, the symbolism within it, and then lastly, making application of that symbolism.
[5:52] And so I titled the message this morning, Who is Your Mother? It's a bit of an unspoken question that Paul directs at those who are tempted to forsake their freedom in Christ for the bondage of the law.
[6:13] So thank you, Kevin, for reading the passage for us this morning. First of all, let's look at verses 21 through 23.
[6:27] Paul brings out the facts of this story. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
[6:40] For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise.
[6:53] So obviously, to the false teachers or the Judaizers or the legalizers, whatever you wish to call them, Abraham was a big deal.
[7:09] But this was in a physical sense. Abraham was a key figure in their teachings, and they clung to his lineage.
[7:24] And so for those outside of Abraham's bloodlines, like the Galatians, which were mostly Gentiles, in order to become part of that lineage, in a sense it meant to conform to Jewish customs and laws.
[7:44] And so to essentially become Jews in everything but physical bloodlines. And so thereby gain the entrance into the family of the Jews and by extension to be a descendant of Abraham.
[8:04] And so Paul is very much aware of this. This was him before he came to Christ, before he met the Lord on the road to Damascus.
[8:20] He had been as zealous for the law himself. And yet Paul has come out from under that system. And for him, there is no thought to go back.
[8:34] He has that clear. And he rejoices in the freedom that he has in Christ. And so the Galatians as well have tasted this freedom.
[8:50] They responded to the gospel when it was brought to them. And Christ is their Lord and Savior. But an issue is arising.
[9:03] Because the Galatians were mostly Gentiles, they haven't previously been under Jewish law. And so these false teachers come along and they're bringing their teaching, you know, and being zealous.
[9:22] They first got to know the Galatians, to befriend them and to be among them and just to establish that relationship. And from there they bring in their teaching.
[9:34] And because they've come to get to know these false teachers and it seems that they're good, genuine people, that they don't realize the error when this teaching is brought in.
[9:52] And these false teachers, they dangle this bone of Jewish customs in front of them. And they struggle to resist. It sounds good.
[10:03] It sounds like this is something, you know, it comes from God's Word, from the Old Testament, right? The law. And so it would make sense to then turn to the law, to keep the law, right?
[10:18] And so in some ways, I think the Galatians or the Gentile believers may be an easy target for these Judaizers because they haven't previously been under the law.
[10:33] And so they can come at them with this and with them not understanding it, they can make it appealing to them. And so most likely, the name of Abraham Abraham has come up quite regularly in their teachings.
[10:54] And so what does Paul do? He figures, I can play this game as well. And so he continues focusing on those who are tempted to follow the Judaizers' teachings.
[11:11] He brings out the question in verse 21, tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? And so he's telling them, let me tell you about Abraham.
[11:25] And so I get the sense that these false teachers, they're not sharing the whole story. And so Paul proceeds to give them some more information in verses 22 and 23.
[11:40] So he tells them, Abraham had two sons.
[12:02] He did have more later on, but the teaching and the story, it focuses on these first two. It's talking about Ishmael and Isaac. And what he's telling them, it corresponds with the accounts in Genesis 16 and 21.
[12:21] And so there's two main differences between these two sons of Abraham. Abraham. And Paul just clarifies that. He brings them out.
[12:33] First, there's Ishmael. He is born of a bondwoman who is Hagar. Isaac, the other hand, is born of a free woman, which is Sarah.
[12:49] The one was the son of a slave, the other of a free woman. In verse 23, he brings it out, the second difference.
[13:03] Ishmael was born according to the flesh, where Isaac was born through promise. So again, one conceived by natural means, in the natural sense, the other conceived when there was no possibility of natural conception.
[13:24] So he brings out, brings out the facts of the story here in these verses. And then he proceeds to, to go deeper and to say there's, there's more to it.
[13:39] Continuing on in verse 24. Which things are symbolic? For these are the two covenants. The one from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar.
[13:53] For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
[14:08] For it is written, Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear. Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor. For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.
[14:26] So yeah, Paul says, there's more to these women and to their sons. There's actually some symbolism in this account.
[14:38] And he proceeds to contrast the two women and their sons. On the one hand, we have Hagar, a bondwoman. There is Sarah, who is a free woman.
[14:50] And then, backing up into the preceding verses, we have Ishmael, who is of natural birth, as well as Isaac, who is of a supernatural birth.
[15:02] And they represent two covenants. On the one hand, we have the old covenant, and the other, the new covenant. One corresponds with the earthly Jerusalem, the other with the heavenly Jerusalem.
[15:19] And so, to bring it first full circle to what the Galatian churches are dealing with now, one has connections to Judaism, the other is Christianity.
[15:33] So, each mother and son unit represents a covenant, Paul says. And, as Paul breaks it down, Hagar and Ishmael represent the old covenant.
[15:55] He says, the covenant, the one from Mount Sinai, which was the giving of the law. We find that in Exodus, chapter 19, and onward, the next chapters.
[16:10] And he says, which gives birth to bondage. And so, we think of bondage, we think of imprisonment. And so, if we think of a prison, you know, in bondage, there's cells that are limited to how far we can go.
[16:29] We are not free. And the law did that as well. It set boundaries. This is as far as you can go.
[16:44] And so, the example then is Hagar. For she was a bondwoman. She was a slave of Abraham and Sarah.
[16:56] And so, Paul makes the connection here that makes the connection from Hagar to Mount Sinai where the law was given and as well to the earthly Jerusalem which now is.
[17:14] So, to the Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children. Speaking of the state that Jerusalem and the Jews were in at that time that they were in bondage.
[17:32] On the other hand, Sarah and Isaac represented in verses 26 and 27, they represented the new covenant.
[17:44] Jerusalem is free. Paul says the new Jerusalem, the Jerusalem above is free. There is no bondage there, speaking of the heavenly Jerusalem.
[18:01] And the example then is Sarah for she was a free woman. She was a Jewish woman, not a slave. Sarah is the mother of all Christians is what Paul brings out here.
[18:19] He says which is the mother of us all. Speaking to the Galatian believers that she is the mother of us all symbolically.
[18:32] And so verse 27 is a quote from Isaiah chapter 54 verse 1 and I'll just reread it here in our text. Rejoice O barren, you who do not bear, break forth and shout, you who are not in labor.
[18:49] For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. So this is a prophecy from the book of Isaiah.
[19:01] It wasn't originally connected with Sarah and Hagar and their sons and yet the wording it fits well. The barren which it talks about in this prophecy would have been Sarah and so she was to rejoice for she would have more children than Hagar and so meaning that Christians would outnumber those who followed Judaism.
[19:46] And so just quickly having gone through those verses we have the facts of the story of Abraham and his sons and it's interesting that in those verses Paul only mentions Abraham once and so and then from there he also explained that each woman and her son represent or symbolize a covenant and so the question then how does this apply verse 28 now we brethren as Isaac was our children of promise but as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit even so it is now nevertheless what does the scripture say cast out the bond woman and her son for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman so then brethren we are not children of the bond woman but of the free so looking back to to verse 26
[21:11] Paul has already stated that the free woman is the mother of us all she is the mother symbolically of all Christians and so that's what he repeats here in verse 28 just in different wording now we brethren as Isaac was are children of promise so as Isaac was a son of promise all believers likewise are children of promise so he brings in Isaac here and so if we think back to the conception of Isaac how impossible it was for Abraham and Sarah at that time to have a child Abraham was 100 years old when
[22:13] Isaac was born Sarah was 10 years younger at 90 and so way past childbearing age and so for them to have this son it's very evident God's hand in it it was a supernatural conception and birth only God could bring something like this to pass and so it is the same with us as Christians the only way that we are here this morning worshipping and serving our Lord is by God's supernatural intervention not one of us can claim that we of ourselves sought
[23:23] God and found him and here we are the truth of the matter can be found in Romans chapter 3 let's turn there Romans chapter 3 verses 10 and 11 as it is written there is none righteous no not one there is none who understands there is none who seeks after God he brings it out none seek after God John chapter 6 verse 44 turn there John chapter 6 verse 44 no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day saying that no one can come to
[24:42] Christ unless the father draws him see God always makes the first move he made the first move in sending his son to be born of a virgin to be that ultimate sacrificial lamb offering him once for all his blood shed for the sin of all mankind and then God went and made makes the next move as well in each one of us individually no one finds Christ unless God by the way of the Holy Spirit draws them it's only when this is happening when God is knocking on our hearts door he's drawing us that we respond and we can respond one of two ways we accept or we reject and when we have responded and if we have responded by accepting
[25:59] Christ as our Lord and Savior then with the Holy Spirit indwelling us we become the sons and heirs that we've read about in Galatians chapter 3 if we just quickly look back to that as well Galatians 3 verses 26 through 29 I do have water here yes thanks Ben so we become sons and heirs Galatians 3 26 through 29 just a recap there for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither slave nor free there is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus and if you are Christ then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise so it is
[27:08] God's doing it is his working in us that gives us the privilege of being children of promise sons and daughters of Abraham and maybe more importantly children of the free woman but most importantly the child of God back to our text in verse 29 but as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit even so it is now this is a reference to the persecution of Isaac by Ishmael and we can find the account of that in Genesis chapter 21 verses 8 and 9 and I think we'll take the time to go back and read that in
[28:12] Genesis chapter 21 verses 8 and 9 so the child grew and was weaned this is talking of Isaac and Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned and Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian whom she had borne to Abraham scoffing so Isaac is weaned and Abraham prepares a feast and it says that Ishmael scoffs or in other words he laughs at what is taking place and so he was mocking Isaac he's making light of Isaac and what he represents as the child of promise back in
[29:19] Galatians Paul says that the persecution that Isaac faced from Ishmael it still goes on today those of the flesh those of the unbelievers persecute those born of the spirit Christians so Paul is making the connection that those born according to the flesh he's making the connection those born according to the flesh connects them with the false teachers who are troubling the Galatian churches they were pushing the law on the Galatians desiring to have them return to bondage which is what the law does so
[30:22] Paul considers false teaching as a form of persecution this leading astray is a form of persecution as Ishmael persecuted Isaac so it is now Paul is saying that by teaching anything besides the truth that we find in God's word one is actually persecuting misleading the church and so from there what does scripture say to do about that verse 30 in our text nonetheless what does the scripture say cast out the bond woman and her son for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman cast cast out the bond out the bond woman as well we read verses 8 and 9 if we took a peek at verse 10 that is what
[31:37] Paul is quoting here he says cast out the bond woman bond bond woman we had Hagar as the representative of the old covenant of the law which was given at Mount Sinai and so he says to cast out the bond woman cast out any teaching regarding going back to the law back to bondage or to cast it out we are to remove such teaching from among ourselves and not only to remove such teachings but to cast out the bond woman's son as well those teaching these falsehoods we are to remove from among ourselves as well as long as we allow someone who teaches falsely to remain in our midst there is danger of going after their teaching if the teaching and the teacher are not removed the danger remains for they are wolves among the sheep and they must be driven away so that the sheep are not harmed the quote continues for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman there is no opportunity for the bondwoman son to be heir with the son of the free woman only the sons of the free woman as
[33:46] Isaac was are children of promise they will receive the promises that Abraham received Paul goes on to close the argument or to close the example from Old Testament scripture he says in verse 31 so then brethren we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free puts it very plainly and so the question today is not so much are you a son of Abraham but rather who is your mother is your mother the bondwoman or the free woman my prayer today is that all of us can say we are of the free woman that we are children of promise a shorter message this morning as we are following it up here with a short communion service and so we will close the main portion of the service with that let's just close in a word of prayer let's bow heavenly father we bow before you again this morning lord we thank you for this day lord we thank you for your servant paul who wrote so much of the new testament as he dealt with so many different situations lord situations that still have application for us today and lord that as the igalatian churches were struggling with false teachers that were persecuting them trying to deceive them to draw them away from their freedom in christ and to draw them into following the law into bondage lord as was brought out in the scripture this morning so clearly that there were two sons of abraham and there were two mothers one clearly a bond woman a woman in bondage that points to what the law did it brought bondage the other a free woman a woman not in bondage but free in christ and lord this day as well lord we have that choice we have the choice to stay in our natural state to remain the old man a son of the bond woman or we can choose as you draw us to respond to the gospel message and to be born again born anew of the free woman we can experience a supernatural birth a birth that gives freedom that gives life and so
[37:46] this morning lord i just pray that each one here this morning can rejoice in the fact that they are a son or a daughter of the free woman that they have been born supernaturally they have experienced that second birth and that they are sons and daughters of promise and lord if there is anyone here who cannot claim this lord today is the day lord we know you are drawing and we pray that you continue to draw continue to knock on any door that has not opened to you yet lord we just pray that today would be the day where that door would swing open and they would invite you in lord we just thank you for this day and we just ask your blessing and your hand with us as we go from here in jesus name amen all right so with that in closing we will just give a moment here to to dismiss anyone who would want to maybe dismiss their children or but if you are a son or a daughter of the free woman you have been baptized we are willing to have you to stay back and to commune together together we are together we are
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