Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us that we might understand your word.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So this week I was in a coffee shop and one of my friends is an Orthodox Jewish man.
And he came in and he said,
George, I'm really glad I found you here because I have a question that I want to ask you.
And I said, okay, well, it's actually sort of funny.
I'm just going to be really honest about this.
I was working on my sermon.
And, you know, in the sermon, I'm going to share the gospel with you.
And inwardly when he came and said, I'd like to ask you a question,
and he pulls a chair over to sit down.
I think to myself, I'm busy preparing a sermon to witness to Jesus.
I don't have time to witness to Jesus to this guy.
Like, I wish you weren't here.
That's what's going on in my mind, just to be completely honest and transparent with you.
And then I got the check in my spirit and I thought, okay, I'll close my Bible,
like close the book and just, I'm going to listen.
God's brought him here.
Anyway, so he says,
George, I don't know if you, you know, they're going to be legalizing marijuana, cannabis.
And I've been doing, I invest and I've been, the growth potential and financial returns potential from investing in the cannabis industry is huge.
And so what do you think?
Do you think I should invest in the cannabis industry?
He said, I'm going to be asking my rabbi about this tomorrow.
And he said, one of the, and then, you know, so we get talking a little bit.
I mean, we actually talked for about 25 minutes over a range of things.
But one of the things he said is because most of their products have been determined to be kosher.
So, but he, he's a great guy, by the way.
And I've had lots of conversations with him.
So I said, this is actually part of what I said to him right off the bat.
I said, you know, here's where we really need to learn from Jesus and the question that he asks.
And I said, the question that Jesus asks all the time is what does the Bible actually say?
I said, the problem for us human beings is that we try to follow God and then we develop traditions.
And before you know it, you develop a tradition based on the tradition.
And then you have a tradition based on the tradition based on the tradition.
And then you have, you know, whatever it is.
Like you just keep piling on traditions and you forget what the Bible says.
And he said, that's a very interesting thought.
And I said, so what is it?
Like I said, all of the dietary laws, like if you go back in the dietary laws, like, you know,
especially the book of Leviticus, right, the Pentateuch, the Torah.
And I said, what's the constant theme in the book of Leviticus?
And he said, and I said, he starts to think.
And I said, what it is, is be holy for I am holy.
And the purpose of the law is to prepare you to live a holy life so you can meet with a holy God.
And so I said, that has to be the concern behind everything you do.
So I had a bit more of a talk about it.
And I said, well, you know, it would be kosher and all.
I said, well, ask your rabbi, would it be all right for the men to all smoke a joint before they came in for the synagogue service?
And if it isn't, then, like, what are you investing in?
We talked about some other things, but you get the point.
And we had a very, very interesting conversation.
In fact, he said, depending on what his rabbi said, he'd like to try to have me and the rabbi get together and talk.
So you can pray about that, actually.
I don't know what the rabbi is going to say, but you can pray that maybe something will come out of that.
But that story, it's actually one of the things, because it actually is a perfect introduction for this very confusing text that Anne read.
So if you get your Bibles and look at Galatians 5, Galatians, sorry, Galatians chapter 4, verse 21.
And some of you, if you are trying to follow it, it's a very, very complicated text of Scripture.
And let me tell you partly why it's very complicated, and it's not very flattering to you and me.
We're used to the quick soundbite.
For many people, the news in the metro newspaper is too many words, you know, where we get all of the news we need from listening to a few 15-second soundbites on radio.
And what you need to do when you read this text, and so actually, you know what, it's like, if you, later on during the coffee hour, with the parents' permission, try to find a two- or three-year-old, a little tyke who's just learning how to talk, and try having a conversation with them.
And one of the things which is so neat about talking to a little kid who's just learning language is I might ask a question of one of them or make a comment, and the little kid will look at, like, nobody can look with the intensity as a little kid can look at you.
Like, they can just look at you.
And you know that the little gerbils are working behind the eyes trying to figure it out.
And then I move on to another topic, and I move on to another topic, and then the child finally speaks.
But they haven't followed you with the new topic because they've been still thinking about the first thing that you said.
And they'll make a comment.
And what's the problem with this text that we're going to read is it's like a piece of poetry from John Donne or George Herbert,
where every two or three or four words, the image shifts, and the idea shifts.
And it happens very, very rapidly.
And we're used to just reading, and we sort of get caught up on the first idea,
and we haven't quite followed that the writer is moving from idea to idea,
from image to image, and linking them every couple of words.
And that's the problem with this text.
So that's why we find it hard, one of the reasons why we find it hard to read it.
But if you look at the very first verse in 21, it says, chapter 4, verse 21,
tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?
Like, that's exactly what I said to my friend.
Like, what does the Bible say?
Like, you want to be under the law?
Like, what does the Bible say as a whole?
Like, don't just think about your traditions.
Like, what does the Bible say?
So it's the same question.
And Paul, of course, it's the same question that Jesus asked the Pharisees
and the Sadducees all of the time.
Like, what does the Bible say?
Like, do you actually read it?
Like, go back to that.
Forget about your traditions for a second, but go back to that.
Just as a bit of an aside, and this is more of an Anglican confession moment.
And those of you who, the only Anglican church you've ever attended is this one.
You might not know it.
This, by the way, the problem of traditions isn't just something for it.
The problem of legalism is everywhere.
Do you know that in most Anglican churches in this city,
we're not part of the Anglican Church of Canada,
we're part of the Anglican Network in Canada,
but in most churches in this city,
you're not allowed to say hallelujah during Advent and Lent.
Like, what a stupid rule.
Like, isn't that just stupid?
Let me tell you, if I said that in synod,
like, everybody would be shocked.
Oh!
Well, moment, like, really, you know,
maybe the rule in Lent should be every hour we say hallelujah.
Like, I don't know.
Like, it should be the opposite.
But somehow or another, you get traditions on traditions on traditions,
and before you know it, like, you've forgotten what the Bible says.
Anyway, so I'm just going to read the text through making a couple of comments,
and I'm going to sort of get what's the big ideas that are going on behind it, okay?
So it's chapter 4, verse 21, and it begins like this.
It says,
Just pause here for a second.
Now, it's not saying that it is an allegory.
If you want to know what a good example of an allegory is,
if those of us who read all books,
if you've ever read Pilgrim's Progress, it's an allegory.
Every character, in fact, it's so obvious, you know,
they all have the names, so you can figure it out, right?
So Paul isn't saying that the story of Abraham and Isaac and Ishmael and Sarah and Hagar,
which you find in Genesis 16, 17, and 21, that it's an allegory.
He's not saying that it's an allegory.
He's saying, I want to think about this as if it's an allegory,
because there's, in fact, some symbolic and figurative meanings in this text,
which I want you to think about.
There's larger lessons from this text than a mere recounting of who slept with whom
and which baby came with which mom.
And so that's what he's saying.
So go back to verse 24.
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.
We would call it now Saudi Arabia.
That's where it is.
She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
And by the way, for the Jewish people who are listening to this text,
or if there were Jewish people in this room today listening to the text,
this would completely and utterly shock them and offend them.
Because Paul is saying that what we now call Saudi Arabia is where present Jerusalem is.
And they would see Jerusalem and the Jewish people as descending from Sarah, not Hagar.
Paul is making this very, very, very big claim that the present Jerusalem is really,
in a sense, outside of the promised land, outside of what God is doing in terms of new covenants.
It would have just shocked them.
And I'm going to explain it in a moment.
But it would have been a shocking thing to them.
Like, this would have been, like, an unimaginable type of comparison.
And note as well, just one thing.
He's not saying that it corresponds to Jerusalem in the Old Testament.
He's not rejecting the Old Testament.
Okay?
Paul never rejects the Old Testament.
In fact, he values the Old Testament.
He's opening it up to them.
And he's not putting down Moses.
He's not putting down the law.
He's talking about the present Jerusalem.
In other words, those who, even though they are raised Jewish,
and even though they have the Old, what we call the Old Testament,
they would call the Tanakh,
they have not recognized the Messiah
that all of the Old Testament is pointing to.
That's why he's saying present Jerusalem.
Verse 25 again.
Now, Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia.
She corresponds to the present Jerusalem,
for she is in slavery with her children.
Verse 26.
But the Jerusalem above is free,
and she is our mother.
He's now trying...
Remember, this is all a bit of an analogy between Sarah and Hagar.
And just pause here.
If you're wondering how on earth this idea comes about,
and this...
Part of the reason sometimes the Old Testament is hard to read
is that there's ideas in the Old Testament
that we're not that familiar with.
But there's a very important part in the book of Ezekiel.
I think it's chapters 40 through 48,
where Ezekiel has a long vision of heavenly Jerusalem.
And Ezekiel is a prophet during Jerusalem's exile.
Ezekiel is in exile in Babylon,
away from earthly Jerusalem,
and God gives him this vision of a heavenly Jerusalem.
And that was a very important piece of thought for Jews ever since.
And there's another piece of the Old Testament,
which is all the way through the Old Testament,
is that sometimes when the word...
When it talks about Zion,
and I know that's not just something from the Matrix movie series,
it's actually based in the Old Testament.
And sometimes when Paul talks...
When the Bible talks...
When the Old Testament talks about Zion,
it's referring to, in a sense, the fortress of King David.
But other times, it's obviously something more.
It's the place of true praise
in the presence of the true king.
It's something which is obvious from the context
that it's not talking about the current city,
that Zion is often an image for this heavenly place
where things are done the proper way,
which touches earth.
So Paul here is actually then...
He's moving around from this image to image to image.
And if you were Jewish,
this heavenly Jerusalem, you'd think,
Oh, Ezekiel.
Oh, you'd think of Zion.
Okay, but for us, we don't get it.
That's why I'm just telling you.
So go back.
We'll read verse 26 again.
I hope I haven't put you all to sleep,
but I'll unpack it more in a moment.
Verse 26.
But Jerusalem above is free.
And she is our mother.
In other words, Christians' true home is heaven.
And where heaven is, there is freedom.
And our home is there, in a sense,
our birth comes from heaven.
You can think of John 3.16,
For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son to the end
that all who believe in him will not perish,
but have everlasting life.
Just pause here in this text.
This is another thing that happened on Friday morning
in the same Starbucks.
So I'm reading my Bible,
and an older guy,
a very nice older guy,
quiet older guy,
he comes up and he sort of taps me on the shoulders,
and he says,
Is my name in there?
The book I'm reading,
the Bible.
And I probably had a deer in the headlight moment
for a second,
and then I said,
Well, actually,
I almost said his name.
I'll call him Bob.
Actually, Bob it is.
He said,
Really?
I said,
Yeah.
I said,
Jesus says,
For God so loved the world
that whoever believes in his only begotten son
will not perish,
but have everlasting life.
And when it says whoever and all,
Jesus was thinking of you.
You are in the book.
And he just smiled a quiet smile
and said,
Well, that's really interesting.
And then he left the Starbucks.
So I pray for him.
You can pray for him too.
You can just call him Bob,
but God will figure out
where the prayer should go.
So verse 26 again,
But the Jerusalem above is free,
and she is our mother.
Verse 27.
And now he's going to quote
from the book of Isaiah,
chapter 54, verse 1.
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.
So Paul is once again saying
there's this other prophecy from Isaiah,
which is going to talk.
It's talking about the same type of image
of Sarah and Hagar and Isaac and Ishmael,
and it's talking about a particular type of birth
and how God works.
Verse 28.
Now you brothers and sisters,
and this is one of the key parts
of the whole part, okay?
I'm going to explain it in a moment.
But verse 28.
Now you brothers and sisters like Isaac
are children of promise.
That's each one of us who hear
who are a follower of Jesus.
We're like Isaac.
We are children of promise.
Verse 29.
But just as at the time
he who was born according to the flesh,
that's Ishmael,
persecuted him who was born
according to the spirit,
so also it is now.
Paul is being persecuted
by legalists.
Just pause here for a second.
He's not being persecuted by pagans.
He's being persecuted
from people within the church
who are legalists.
This is very, very, very...
I mean, other places he talks about
being persecuted by the state.
This is not a text about persecution
by atheists or the state.
This is by how the gospel
will often end.
People who believe the gospel
and try to be shaped by the gospel
will often be persecuted
by legalists.
Verse 30.
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 and sisters,
we are not children of the slave,
but of the free woman.
We're not children of the slave,
but of the free woman.
So, Andrew,
if you could put up the first point,
that would be great.
And we have to try
to figure this all out.
So those of you,
maybe,
who have been here
for several weeks
and I haven't put to sleep
and you remember
what I said,
what...
Here's the first thing.
The infinite God
made a promise
to bless
finite and fallen human beings.
The infinite God
made a promise
to bless
finite and fallen human beings.
That's really
how the story of Abraham
begins in Genesis chapter 12,
verses 1 to 3.
Abraham at the time
is 75 years old
and his wife Sarah
is 65 years old.
This is very important
to the story.
Abraham is 75,
Sarah is 65.
Now, just because
Abraham lived
4,000 years ago
doesn't mean he's stupid.
He knows
when women
can stop having babies.
He doesn't have a PhD,
doesn't use a flush toilet,
doesn't use an iPhone,
but he's not stupid.
He understands
how natural cycles work,
in fact,
far better than us
people who think
that meat just comes
automatically in a grocery store
wrapped in plastic.
He knew how meat came.
He knew how to get it.
He knew the cycles.
His whole life
depended upon
reading the cycles.
So here he is
at 75 years of age.
His wife is 65.
They have no children.
They've been married
a long time.
They've never been able
to have a child.
And God says,
through you
and through your seed
as the story develops,
I'm going to bless
all the nations
of the world.
And one of the reasons
that Abraham's considered
to be a man of faith
is he believes God.
He's 75 years old
with a 65-year-old wife
and he's not polygamous.
He just has one wife
and he believes God.
Isn't that?
That's stunning.
And so one of the arguments
that Paul has been developing
is he's saying,
in a sense,
let's just think about this
for a second,
this promise that God makes
that he's going to bless.
He is going to bless
through Abraham
and through Abraham's seed
all of the nations.
Now just pause here
for a second.
This is a very important pause,
even if it puts me
a few minutes over
on my sermon.
For some people,
even me talking about this
is very painful
in another way
because there's probably
people in the church,
maybe women in the church
who long to marry
and have children
but were never able to marry.
And there are very likely
women in the church
who are married
or were married
and long to be able
to have a child
or many children
and weren't able
to have children.
And so to even read this text
can be painful
for some people.
And it's a very important aside,
but one of the wonderful things
about the Bible,
in fact,
part of the whole drama
of the text
is that in Abraham's day,
a woman who could not
produce children
was basically
of no value whatsoever.
And one of the wonderful things
about the Bible
is that that message
is never communicated
in the text.
In fact,
the opposite is communicated.
That a man's worth
and a woman's worth
and their value to God
does not depend upon
them being married.
That is an unbelievably
counter-cultural idea
throughout the entire time
the Old Testament
and the New Testament
was written,
and it's a counter-cultural
idea today.
And that not only
does a man and woman's value
not depend upon
them being able
to be married,
it also,
for a woman,
does not depend
for a moment
upon her ability
to have children.
She has a value
and a dignity
and a worth
before Almighty God
that is not connected
to her ability
to have procreation,
to have babies.
And so part of the drama
and the tragedy
of the story in Genesis
is around Sarah
and Abraham's inability
to have children,
but the text itself
is going to point
of how God loves Sarah
and loves Abraham
and he loves all
who are single,
all who are married,
all who are married
and have not been able
to have children,
that your worth
and your value
and your ability
to be used by God
to God's glory
is separate
from these things
that the culture says
are very important.
So let's go back
to this particular story.
So what happens
in this story?
So God has made
this promise,
the infinite God
made a promise
to bless finite
and fallen human beings.
Abraham at 75
with a 65-year-old wife
believes this
and begins to act on it.
Time goes by.
21 years later,
nothing's happened.
You add 21,
going to do the math
really quickly,
21 and 75 is 96,
21 and 65 is 86.
Nothing's happened.
Abraham and Sarah
aren't dummies.
Not many 86-year-old women
have babies.
In fact,
none of them do.
So what they decide to do
is that they're going
to take matters
into their own hand.
It sounds very,
very devout,
doesn't it?
God has said
that he's going to do this.
I'm going to be
very, very, very devout.
And because I'm going
to be very, very devout,
here's what we're going
to do.
In those days,
not only was it,
could people hold slaves,
but in those days,
men could also
have a concubine.
So in modern terms,
it would be that
I'm married to Louise,
that's untouchable,
and my heirs
come through Louise,
they're my legitimate children,
but I could also decide
to have, in a sense,
a legally accepted
sex object on the side.
Another woman,
a concubine,
that I can have sex with
as often as I want.
And that was legally
and culturally acceptable.
That's just the way
the world works.
Like, why wouldn't a man
be able to have
that ability?
And, you know,
in those days,
lots of, you know,
men still die younger
than women,
and lots of men
die in battle
and stuff like that,
and there might be
more women around,
or a man's just very rich
or very powerful
or very virile,
so he has his
legitimate wife,
and then he has
one or more concubines
on the side
so he can have sex
with them.
And Abraham and Sarah
go along with the culture.
And another thing
in the culture of that time
is that in that culture
of the time,
in a case like Abraham
and Sarah,
they can,
Sarah can say,
I am going to,
it's almost like
a legal contract,
I'm going to allow you
to have sex
with this woman
and whatever children
you produce
through having sex
with this woman,
we're going to count it
as if I had had the baby
and it will be the heir.
Legal,
culturally acceptable
way to do it.
And so Abraham
and Sarah,
knowing of God's promise,
they're 96
and they're 86,
and so Abraham
starts sleeping
with Hagar
and he produces
a son,
Ishmael.
96 years old,
he has a son.
So here's the,
if you could put up
the next point,
Andrew,
this is,
this is really
an important point
in,
in Paul's argument
here in Galatians 4.
Religion,
because you see,
basically what Paul
is saying here
is the Bible
is saying here
is that the Bible
condemns legalism
and religion.
human beings
have to be saved
from religion.
And one of the things
I said to my,
my Jewish friend,
I,
I shared with my
Jewish friend
was that,
you know,
part of the problem
of,
of any community
is that we,
we start to lose
our way
with traditions
and rules.
and it's not just,
there can be other
types of legalism.
I,
I've given an example
of legalism
from Anglicanism,
but you know,
when I was very,
very active
in charismatic churches,
there's a different
type of legalism
in many charismatic churches.
You've got to get
the emotion going.
Holiness
is a particular emotion.
And if you don't
get that emotion,
the spirit wasn't there.
there's a famous story
of a person
who came up
to the praise musician
and said,
boy,
I really felt
the Holy Spirit fall
at this point in time
in your song.
And this guy said,
no,
that's when the bass
kicked in.
You were just having
an aesthetic experience.
That's all it was.
And it's a very subtle way
to take us away
from,
from the Bible
and dependence upon
the gospel
and dependence upon God
that we have to have
an aesthetic experience
or an emotional experience.
or some other type of thing.
There's very subtle ways
by which our focus
goes away from Jesus
and his word
and goes in other directions.
And so,
this text is a profound,
even though it's hard
for us to understand,
if we start to understand
how he's using the images,
he's showing here
how,
what does Abraham
and Sarah do?
It appears as if
they're devout.
God's made this promise.
Let's make this promise happen.
And how we're going
to make it happen?
Well,
let's look around
in our world,
in our culture,
the best of our culture.
And we're going to look
at the best of our culture.
We're going to look
at the best of our laws.
And we're going to,
we're going to do
the best thing
in our culture.
And so,
what's the best thing
in our culture?
I'm going to sleep
with Hagar
and I'm going to have
a baby.
So here's one of the problems
when we read the Bible.
You see,
one of the things,
if you start to read
the Old Testament,
never think that because
you read the Old Testament,
every time you read something,
God is giving it
two thumbs up.
Way to go.
No.
Abraham sins in this.
Why?
It's clear even before
Genesis 12
that you're not supposed to,
for a married man,
you don't sleep
with somebody
other than your wife.
Doesn't matter if it's legal.
Doesn't matter if it's cultural.
Doesn't matter if that's
what all the smart people say.
In the Bible,
it's wrong.
So what Paul has done,
I mean,
what Abraham and Sarah
have done
is they've been religious.
They've taken
the best of the culture,
the best of the law,
and they've done something
by their own imagination
and power
to accomplish something.
At the same time,
they've done something
which actually literally
goes against
what God has said to do.
And that's what religion
and spirituality do.
And so that's why
I put it here,
religion chooses presumption
and natural,
in quotation marks,
powers over a sovereign God
who promises
and works a miracle.
And in this particular case,
I said a miracle
because the miracle
is going to come
in the story of Isaac
and as we're going to see,
it's a miracle
that's replicated
in your life and mine
when we give our lives
to Jesus.
But religion
chooses presumption
and natural powers
over a sovereign God
who promises
and works a miracle.
So,
what happens?
So, Isaac,
sorry,
Abraham and Sarah,
they have a baby
through Hagar
and his name is Ishmael
and there begins to be,
you know,
one of the ways
that even the Old Testament
shows how God
does not bless polygamy
is that instantly
there's conflict.
There's conflict
now that Hagar
starts to look down
her nose at Sarah.
Sarah now resents Hagar.
There's conflict.
There ends up being
conflict as well
when Ishmael
and eventually
the child of promise
is born,
which ultimately leads
that Hagar
has to be sent away
to what we now call
Saudi Arabia.
Muslims,
by the way,
in the Quran,
rewrite this entire story
to make Ishmael
the hero,
just so you know.
If you ever try
doing this as a Bible study
with Muslims,
they'll say,
no, no, no,
the Bible's wrong.
It's corrupt.
No, the Bible's not wrong.
It's right.
But that's a separate story.
So what happens
is four years after
Abraham and Isaac,
Abraham and Sarah
have done this with Hagar.
God shows up again
and speaks to Abraham
and says,
I'm going to give you a child.
Abraham doesn't have
a flush toilet,
but he's not stupid.
100 years old,
Sarah's 90.
And Abraham's reaction
is to laugh at God.
See, one of the wonderful things
about the Bible,
you see,
if our relationship with God
was just magic,
you laugh at God,
it doesn't work.
You know,
because in magic,
you have to have
the right attitudes,
you have the right moves,
you have to be in the right groove,
you know.
But in the way God works,
in his economy,
it doesn't have anything
to do with us.
Like,
there's a really wonderful story
in,
I think it's John 5,
where,
and it's not often caught
by people who preach
and teach the Bible,
but basically,
there's a man
who's never been healed
and he's by the pool
in Bethesda,
and basically,
he's a grumpy,
disbelieving guy,
and Jesus heals him anyway.
Because it's not as if
faith is a type,
you know,
God,
faith is a type of way
of adding up merit
and if we get enough
good things about us
then God will do a miracle.
It's all about God
being sovereignly powerful.
He does the miracle.
Abraham,
so anyway,
Abraham's 100 years old,
Sarah's 90,
God says,
I'm now going to give you
a child,
and Abraham laughed,
Sarah earlier laughed
at God,
and Isaac's born.
Recognized as a miracle
back then,
has to be recognized
as a miracle now.
90-year-old woman
from a 100-year-old man,
they have a baby.
His name's Isaac.
Could you put up
the next point, please?
We'll have to see.
God keeps his promise
by performing a miracle.
See, religion has presumption
and natural powers.
But God performs a miracle.
And a miracle
is a supernatural act of God
that the natural order
cannot produce on its own.
I think even today,
medical science
could not have
a 90-year-old woman
have a baby.
It's a miracle.
So here's then
what is going on
in the story.
God has made a promise
to bless Abraham
and through Abraham
to be a blessing
that will touch
every people group
on the planet.
And religion
tries to fulfill that
by its own powers
and with its own presumptions.
It's a bit of an image
or a symbol
for how religion
and legalism
within Christianity
always works.
Using its own powers
and its own presumption.
And instead,
against this,
God performs
a miracle
in the birth
of Isaac.
It's completely
and utterly
shocking.
And look again now
at verse 28
in chapter 4.
We haven't looked
at the Bible as much.
We've been talking
about the Bible
without reading.
But look again
at verse 28
of chapter 4.
Now you,
brothers and sisters,
like Isaac,
are children
of promise.
This is a completely
stunning text.
I do not make myself
a Christian.
Next point.
I do not make myself
only a miracle
by God
can make a human being
into a child of God.
Every single person here,
whether we have
very, very, very weak faith,
intermittent faith,
not even sure
if we have any faith anymore
because life
has just seemed
to beat us up
so much
where we are struggling
so deeply
with shame.
What matters
isn't the strength
of our faith,
the strength
of the emotions
that go along
with faith.
What matters
is that we have
put our faith
and trust in God
and when we do that,
God creates
a miracle.
Every person here
who has given
their life to Jesus,
God did a miracle.
And if you are here
and have not yet
given your life
to Jesus,
there is nothing
that you have done
or nothing
that you have to do.
There's nothing
in you
that's so bad
or so broken
or so shameful
that God
will not do
a miracle
in your life
when you call out
to Jesus
and ask him
to be your Savior
and Lord.
He turns
no one away.
Could you put up
the next point?
We're going to go
through these
a little bit quicker.
We receive the miracle
by having faith
that God
will keep
his promise.
It's just really
in many ways
as simple as this.
If we had some kids here
and I was doing
a kids talk
and I would say
the first two people,
first two kids
who come up here,
I'll give you
a toonie.
And let's say
the kids believe me
and they came up.
All they have to do,
they have to believe
that if they come to me,
I'll give them
a toonie.
And how do they,
what happens?
They put out their hand.
That's all they do.
And I put out my hand
and I drop the toonie
into their hand.
I have two toonies
in my pocket.
That's why he said two.
And that's all
that the Christian life is.
God makes this
astounding promise
that he will do
a miracle
and in that miracle
he will take you
who are dead
and make you alive.
He will take you
who are filled with shame
and make you blameless.
He will take you
who has not been perfect
at following the law
and he will clothe you
with the righteousness
of Jesus.
He will take you
against whom
countless accusations
and sins have been made
and he will pay for them
in the person of his son.
He will take you
who are not even able
to touch the sandal
of Jesus
and he will make you
one to whom
Jesus will put
his arms around
and call you
his brother and sister
in Christ.
He does all of that
as a miracle.
And faith
is just putting out
our hand
because we believe
what God has said
and God is the one
who does the act.
Next point.
God accomplished
something once
for all
in history.
In Jesus
being conceived
in the womb of Mary
being born
his sinless life
his miracles
his teaching
but all leading
to his death
upon the cross
John's gospel
is Jesus
is introduced
humanly speaking
by John the Baptist
saying to his disciples
as Jesus walks by
behold the Lamb
of God
who takes away
the sin of the world.
That God
in history
accomplishes something.
See one of the things
that all religion does
all legalism does
is that in legalism
Jesus becomes
an example
in legalism
he becomes
a teacher
in legalism
he might become
your guru
but he is never
the savior
he is never
God
doing something
definitively
in history
that only
he can do
and accomplish
that we receive
by faith.
God
in Jesus
accomplished
something once
for all
in history.
Next point.
In salvation
I accomplish
nothing
I can only
receive
what he
accomplished
for me.
In salvation
I accomplish
nothing
I can only
receive
what he
accomplished
for me.
You know
that's why
Spurgeon said
the Christian faith
is one beggar
telling another beggar
where to find bread.
It's the same
analogy as me
with the coin.
It's like
street people
saying to another
street people
that that guy
over there
in that corner
has promised
to give you
bread if you're
hungry
and if you
believe
I'm just
telling that
other person
and I say
yeah if you
come here
I'll give you
bread
and you just
go over
and you put
your hand
out
and
God gives
you the
bread of life.
Next point.
I receive
and then I
live
and I live
out of
receiving.
See the way
the book of
Galatians is
structured
is the first
two chapters
are basically
biography
autobiography.
Paul tells
important things
about himself
so they'll
understand
why he is
what he's
saying is
authoritative
that ultimately
the autobiography
is to get
across the point
that ultimately
it's all
Paul is doing
is just telling
people what
Jesus said
and about who
he is and
what he did.
That's all he's
doing.
He got it right
from the horse's
mouth so to speak
and then chapters
three and four
are theology.
It's trying to
communicate to us
who it is that
Jesus is and
what it is that
he accomplished
on the cross.
And chapters
five and six
which we'll start
looking at next
week is how
do we live
after we've
received this
miracle.
That God
he does a
miracle when
Jesus everything
about Jesus is a
miracle.
His conception
his birth
his life
his miracles
his teaching
his death
his resurrection
his ascension
it's all one
miracle and
God accomplishes
a miracle in
us when we
put our hands
in faith and
he gives us
Jesus.
Jesus and what
he accomplished
on the cross.
God gives you
Jesus.
He gives me
Jesus.
And the
Christian life
begins when we
receive and is
lived out of
receiving.
God bless you
and what
God bless you
can you put up
the last point?
I think it's the
last point.
The important
thing about faith
is its object
not its own
strength.
Just want to
sort of very
closely
you don't have to
know a precise
moment that you
gave your life
to Jesus.
You don't have to
know the moment.
Like I don't
know.
Like if you asked
a little kid
when was the
moment you began
loving your mom?
Like what kid
would know the
answer to that
question?
They might know
they might be able
to say by the
way between the
ages of 12 and
17 I hated my
mom but then
something happened
and I started to
like her.
But you know
you ask a six
year old when
did you start
loving your mom?
It would be like
I don't know
like I've just
always loved her.
And so there
are many people
here who have
become Christians
that the receiving
of what Jesus
done is not a
moment that you
can remember
because you
can't remember
a moment when
you didn't
trust.
But you know
what?
Faith isn't
about knowing
the mechanisms
or the emotions
it's about the
object.
And some of
you might know
that I began
the year not
a Christian
and the end
of the year
I did become
a Christian
I don't
really know
when it
happened.
That's fine
you don't
have to know
the moment
because what
matters is the
object not
your faith
or how
emotionally
strong it
was or how
strong your
willpower is.
and once
Jesus does
this God
does this
miracle in
you to make
you his
you're his
forever.
He doesn't
undo the
miracle.
And you're
invited to
live in
really a
whole new
way to
understand that
God has
done a
miracle in
me and
in you.
And that
there's a
type now of
a security
and a hope
and a promise
that cannot
be taken
away.
And we're
invited to
live with
a type of
quiet confidence
and courage
that comes
out of
reception.
And the
same God
who performed
a miracle
can do a
miracle in
your friends
and he'll
do other
miracles in
your life
as well.
Please
stand.
I want to
just emphasize
again if
you are here
and you've
never put
out your
hand to
Jesus
I don't
know maybe
if you're
a very
visual person
just even
now just
put your
hands out
or at least
you can do
it out loud
or just in
your own
heart and
mind and
say Jesus
Father you've
promised that
if I put
my hand out
you will
give me
Jesus and
I put my
hand out
to you now
and give
me Jesus.
I want you
to do that
miracle in
my life to
make me your
child and
never let you
go and do
it in your
own words and
God will hear
that prayer and
answer it.
Let's bow
our heads.
Father many of
us struggle
people because
we hear
texts like
this but we
quickly forget
and we think
that salvation
is a result
of how
emotional we
are or how
good our
moral life
is or how
good our
devotional life
is or how
much things
we're accomplishing
for you or
Father we start
thinking it's all
about us and
what we
accomplished as
if you're
looking at all
of our
excellencies and
Father thank you
so much that
it's a miracle
Father that you
did a miracle in
Jesus and having
him born and
live and die on
the cross and
rise from the
dead and that
you invite us
to come and
receive what
he's accomplished
and you do a
miracle when we
put our hands
out to you
Father we
thank you
Father for
this help us
Father to live
our lives day
by day gripped
and remembering
what you have
done for us and
help us to live
our lives confident
in that miracle
that you will
never undo and
grateful for what
you have done
Father may our
lives be marked
by confidence and
gratitude in who
you are in the
power of Jesus
and your promise
to make us your
own forever all
this we ask in
Jesus's name
amen
discovery went
I want to
be