Amen. Now take your Bibles and
turn back with me to Galatians, Galatians chapter four. Galatians
chapter four. I'm entitled to this message,
a message of promise by an allegory. A message of promise by an allegory. Galatians chapter 4, the apostle
begins this with a question, Tell me, you that desire to be
under the law, do you not hear the law? Now, I want to preface
this by what had gone before. Remember the church of Galatia
was being infiltrated by Judaizers coming in teaching that the gospel
was good. But in order for the gospel to
be successful, in order to be justified, you must be circumcised,
you must obey the law of Moses. And so Paul in the preceding
chapters begins to clearly declare this, that justification of sinners
is by the faith of Jesus Christ and is received by faith in Jesus
Christ. Very important, those two words,
of and in. Our justification was accomplished
by the faith of Christ and received by the power of the Spirit through
faith in Christ. Vital. And this has nothing to do in
any way with the law. The law has no part whatsoever
in our salvation. In fact, The law is only one
purpose, to expose sin. That's all it can do, expose
sin. Chapter 3, I believe, chapter
3 and verse 19, Wherefore then serveth the law, it was added
because of the transgression. That's all it could do. By the
deeds of the law, we know that they only expose sin. And we
who believe on Christ, Paul is declaring this, that we've been
set free from the bondage of the law. We're set free from
the dominion of the law. Jesus said that, didn't he? If
the Son shall make you free, you shall be partially free. Is that what he said? No. Oh,
you shall be free indeed. Free from what? free from the
law, free from guilt of sin, free from the dominion of sin,
free from the justice of God, free to have access to God, free
to have eternal life and peace with God. Yet these saints who
profess to believe, they say, we profess to believe to be justified
by the faith of Christ and received it by the Spirit. But you know
what? We've got to have our part. This is natural logic. We're
going to see this in just a minute. This is just human wisdom. It's
our wisdom. It's my wisdom. It's your fleshly
wisdom that we've got to have some part in this. Paul says, O foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? He
said that in chapter 3, and in verse 3 he asks that question,
Are you so foolish? Are you so thoughtless? Listen,
having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?
Is that how that works? No. He said, are you so foolish
to think so? This old deception, friends,
is one that is very much alive today. Many of our brethren have
been seduced by the legalist, by work mongers, Those who are
zealous for good works and obedience to the law for some measure of
their salvation. They want some measure. They
say, I believe Jesus is my justification, He's my righteousness, He's my
wisdom, but you know, sanctification, I got to have my part. So it's not anything new. This
is not something that's new. It's happening now. It's happening
in churches all over this country. They're seduced by the flesh
to be entangled with the yoke of the law. And they do this,
listen, by simply superimposing the law onto the gospel. That's
how they do it. They superimpose the law. They
make it the believer's rule of life. Well, Jesus is my salvation,
but the law is my rule of life. They have mingled the doctrine
of grace and the law of Moses. They have taken the ceremonies
of the law and transposed them to the ordinances of the church.
They've taken baptism and superimposed it to be a newer form of circumcision. Why do you think they baptize
babies? Well, because circumcision was done to children. When they
were eight days old, they would take them and circumcise them.
This is the same kind of principle they used with baptism. The Sabbath
worship, they changed the Sabbath worship from the day it was on
Saturday, they superimposed it onto Sunday. Instead of giving, they call
it what? Tithing. What did they do? Took
tithing from the Old Testament and imposed it on the new. You see, they understand the
New Testament by light of the Old Testament. That's how they
understand it. Instead, it's backwards. We must
understand the Old Testament by the light of the New Testament,
not the other way around. So let us who believe then, we
should rejoice in our liberty. Our liberty. We are free from
the bondage of the law. Rejoice that we are under a covenant
of promise and not a covenant of works. We are set free from
the law and it's foolish to turn again to the weak and beggarly
elements. That's what he tells the Galatians
in chapter 4. He said, how turn you again to the weak and beggarly
elements? Those elements that could not
save you. Why are you going to turn back to them? Don't do that. Those things in the law only
served as types and pictures. And so now, looking in our text,
I want you to see, Paul leaves off his apostolic plea in verses
8 down through verse 9. 20 is his apostolic plea with
them. He is appealing to their memory
about how they were converted and why would they then want
to turn back to those things. And so now in our text he ties
back verse 21 back with the idea of sonship in verse 7. So verses
8-16 is kind of like an aside appealing to their past understanding,
what they profess to believe. But if you want to tie these
two together, verse 7 talks about our sonship and being heirs.
And then he goes right back to it in our text. He goes right
back to it. And so Paul then imposes this
question to everyone who desires to be under the law. I want you
to take this personally. This question is very personal.
If anyone Get where they are. If they desire to be under the
law, listen to what Paul says here, what he asks you. You that
want to be under the law in any measure, listen to me, do you
not hear it? If you want to be under it, then
obviously you've not heard it. You've not heard it. Tell me,
why would you want to go back under the law? Now, like these Galatians, many
who desire to be under the law, they confess they've never obeyed
the law. When you say, I could go to every
church who wants to be under the law, and I could ask them,
have you obeyed it? They know they haven't. We all know that.
They know that in themselves. And so we haven't perfectly obeyed
it, but they say this, well, I sincerely want to do my best. OK, listen to me. The law don't
want your best. The law demands perfection. It does not ask for your best
sincere efforts. Listen to it. The soul that sinneth,
it shall surely die. I mean, there's no ambiguous
statement. That's a clear fact and statement. Now listen, to obey the law appears
to be noble. It appears that way, doesn't
it? If somebody wants to obey the law, that appears noble.
When Peter did that at Antioch, when he did that there, and he
pushed away that pork sandwich because it was against the law,
I'm sure that that was a noble effort in his mind. He was really
trying to honor God. I don't doubt he was sincere.
Sincerely wrong, Paul stipulates, but sincere nonetheless. I don't
doubt their sincerity. have the appearance of obedience,
but listen. I want you to listen. In reality,
it is damning to the soul. It is damning to the soul. Do you not see that our best
efforts to obey the law of God and honor God never produce any
righteousness whatsoever? Don't care how sincere you are.
It will never produce righteousness. Trying to live a holy life does
not produce holiness. Holiness is an all or none principle.
You are either holy or you're not. There's no such thing as
holier. You understand that? There's
no such thing as holier. Matter of fact, in Scripture,
there's only one time the word holier is used. In Isaiah 61,
I believe it is, and it's talking about the self-righteous. It's
the only time holier is used. Well, you need to be holier!
There's no such thing. You are either holy or you're
not. You are either righteous or you're
not. If you do righteous, that's only
because you are righteous. You don't do righteous to be
righteous. Big difference, isn't it? And
this is what most people are doing with the law. They're trying
to be holier. They're trying to be more righteous. If you're not already holy, that
ain't gonna help you. If you're not already righteous,
that's not gonna help you. That may look good to everybody
else, and it will. People like you. You treat them well, they're
going to like you. Listen, sin is mixed with everything
we do. I don't care what it is, what
I'm doing right now. Sin is mixed with everything
I do. I can't claim it to be righteousness. So tell me, you that seek to
be righteous and accepted with God by your obedience to the
law, in any measure, do you not hear it? You who think the law is a means
by which the believer grows in grace and knowledge, do you not
hear it? Are you this morning claiming
to be justified by Jesus and sanctified by your works? Is
that what you're claiming? If it is, I'm telling you this,
you've not heard the law. You've not heard the law. The law never speaks peace or
pardon to the guilty. You know that? The law never
speaks peace or pardon to the guilty. Listen to what Paul says
in Romans 3 and verse 19. Now we know that what sort of
things the law saith that saith to them that are under law, here's
the purpose, that every mouth be stopped and the whole world
become guilty before God. Now you got the reason why the
law is there? is to shut us up. Yeah, but I didn't... No, no,
shut up. No, you haven't. But I'm really... Be quiet. Become guilty. You're guilty. That's all it tells you. There's
no peace in that. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh, no flesh be justified in the sight of
God. The law is given The just sentence of the law is one, it's
death to everyone who does not obey the law in full. You want
one part? Okay, I've heard this. Well,
I'm not saying the whole law, I'm just saying the Ten Commandments.
No, you don't get to do that. You don't get to divide it. Look
back in chapter 3 and verse 10. Look at that. For as many as
are of the works of the law are under what? What are they under? Blessing? No. Curse. For it's written. And I don't,
this is, when he says that, this is, this settles it. No room for debate here when
he writes that. It is written. I don't believe
that. I don't care. It's written. God
wrote it. Whether you like it or you don't,
it's written. And this is what it is. Curses
everyone that continueth not in. Next two words. What are
they? All things written in the book
of the law to do them. Not to honor them, not to say
you want to do them, but to do them. So if you want to attend
commandments, you better find a high priest, you better find
a good sacrifice, and you gotta go knock down the mosque over
there that's built over where the temple was, you gotta erect
a temple, and somehow you gotta convince God to go back under
that. And he ain't. There's no hope in the law. None
whatsoever. Paul calls the law one thing,
the ministration of death. Is that what you want to be under?
You that want to be under the law. Do you not hear the law?
It's the ministration of death. That's what it is. So we speak to such brethren
with, tell me, listen, this is a sincere question. Tell me.
Anybody wants to be under the law? Do you just not hear what
it said? If you hear what it said, you
would not want to be under it, if you actually heard it. Now look at your text again.
Go back. I'm going to get on my subject now. Look at this in verse 21. Tell
me, you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the
law? Now he uses the word law twice
with two different meanings. Two different meanings. You that
desire to be under the mosaic law, do you not hear the scriptures? When we say the law, automatically
our minds turn to where? They turn to Sinai. Turn to the
book of Exodus, right? When you hear that. But if you
understand The Old Testament Scriptures were divided into
three sections, the Torah, the Nethuveim, and the Kethuvim,
the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. The Law is five books,
not one. You that desire to be under the
Mosaic Law, do you not hear the first five books? That's why in our text he's going
to refer you back to Genesis. He's saying, you that want to
be under the law of Moses, do you not hear what the other scriptures
say before the law came? Do you not hear what they say?
And then he's going to use this allegory. So those who desire to cling
to the law must then see the law in its context. This is what
men are doing. They take the law out of its
context. Out of its context in holy writ. And so while professing to honor
the law, by taking it out of its place, they do not hear the
Word of God that went before. Now what came first? The covenant
of promise or the law? Which one came first? Well, if
you read before, you would understand the law in context came 400.
He said 430 years, really 600 years after Abraham was given
that first covenant. The law came 600 years after
that. So don't take the law out of
its context and put it over the law of the covenant of promise,
it didn't come first. And so as we see the meaning
of Scripture, What are we to see? When we read the Word of
God, what must we see or seek to see? The whole message is Jesus Christ. That's it. Our Lord told His
disciples that. He said, Fooled and slow of heart
to believe all the Scriptures spoken, ought not Christ to have
suffered and entered into His glory? And beginning where? At
Moses. Genesis. beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures things
concerning himself. That's what this is. It's about
Christ, friends. It's about Christ. It's all about Him. So now in
verses 22-24, Paul testifies of this truth by the law By the
law of the whole revelation of God, he testifies using Sarah
and Hagar and their two sons as the Holy Spirit intended,
as an allegory. He says, verse 22, for it is
written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid and
the other by a free woman. But he was of the bond woman,
was born after the flesh, but he that of the free woman was
by promise. Which things are what? Allegory. That's what the spirit...
Allegory is a true story, is a story that has a deeper meaning. That's what it means. It's a
story and on the surface it's just a historical event. But
underneath the surface of this, God intended to you to see it
in a spiritual sense. Spiritual sense. That's what
I want you to get from the message this morning. That these two
women and these two sons, these two women, by God, are intended
to show you two different covenants. Two different covenants, distinct.
Hagar and Sarah were two different women. They had two different statuses,
didn't they? One was a bondwoman, one was
a free woman. And so it is with these covenants. And the result
of these two women were two sons, right? These sons represent everyone
here. You are either one of these sons. You are either a son of the bondwoman,
or you are a son of the free woman. And then there's two different
results for these sons. The son of the bondwoman was
cast out. And the son of the free woman
was heir of everything. It's an allegory. It's very spiritual. And most would just assume it's
a historical event, but these were real people. Man, I love
this. God uses, I mean, these people
lived a long time. Abraham was 100, Sarah was 99.
My goodness, they were the old people. They had lived a whole
life and God used everything to bring them up to that one
point. So he can show something about his son, his covenant. I tell you this, the Apostle
Peter said, look, they probably had no idea what they were doing,
what happened. They may have had some insight,
but it was very dark. They didn't probably know much
of anything. But man, the light we have now, we can see that
their lives were intended by God to give us the gospel. To give us the gospel. And so
these people, they're living people. It says, so who desires
to be under the law? I want you to hear the scriptures,
for it is written. Again, this is the end of all
argument. I like that. I don't debate people. It's written. That's it. It was written. that Abraham had two sons, one
of the bondwomen, one of a free woman. Abraham had many sons,
but Ishmael and Isaac were purposed of God to picture two distinct
covenants and their mother, two distinct sons, people, and their
mothers were to picture two distinct covenants and each one of them
had two distinct endings. Now, Ishmael was born of Hagar. What kind of woman was Hagar?
She was a slave. She was a slave. And as such, Ishmael was born
what? A slave. He was the son of a slave and
he was born a slave. But Isaac, on the other hand,
was born of Sarah, a free woman. She was the legitimate wife of
Abraham, which made Isaac to be heir of everything." Now,
Ishmael, as a servant, inherited nothing. He was not an heir. Legally, in that day, it was
binding. He was not a legitimate heir.
The only legitimate heir should come from Sarah. The Holy Spirit,
by Paul, is showing us this is an allegory, that all who are
in bondage to the law, are like Ishmael. Read the rest of it
here. He said, Which things are an allegory, for these are two
covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage,
which is Hagar. Hagar represents what? Mount
Sinai. Ishmael represents who? All those who desire to be under
the law. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, that answereth to Jerusalem, which now is. and
is in bondage with her children. It's saying this Hagar answers
to every one of you who want to be like those Jews in Jerusalem, who want to be under the law. But the Jerusalem, the spiritual
Jerusalem which is above is free and the mother of us all. For
it is written, Rejoice thou barren that bearest not, break forth
and cry thou that travailest not. For the desolate hath many
more children than she which hath a husband. And we, brethren,
as Isaac was, are the children of promise." So Ishmael, Hagar
represents Sinai, and Ishmael represents everybody who wants
to be under the law. Sarah represents the church. She represents all
of those elect according to the foreknowledge of God, all of
those who were chosen of God, and everyone that is born of
the Spirit of God is represented by Isaac. The children of promise. All
the children of promise are born in the perfect liberty of God's
free grace. We're not like Ishmael. We're
not born under a covenant of law. We're born under the free
inheritance of promise. We are sons, not of law, but
sons according to the promise of God that is in Christ. Now,
Hagar and her son were destitute. In other words, what did they
own? They own nothing. Hagar owned nothing. She was
a slave and everything she had was a result of a gift of Sarah
and her husband. And so her son too was destitute. He owned nothing. He was heir
of nothing. But Isaac, being born of Sarah,
was entitled to all the promises, all the inheritance, Now what
made the difference between these two sons? What made the difference? Was it works? Was it their deeds? No. It was their birth. That's
simple, isn't it? It's an allegory. What made the
difference? Well, Isaac was born of Sarah and Ishmael was born
of Hagar. There's nothing different about
them physically. They were both of Abraham. But yet they were
born of different women, of different status. So nothing but their birth. One
was born a slave and one was born of a queen. One by birth was heir of nothing
and one by birth was heir of everything. So Paul's doctrine
is evident. All who seek to obtain righteousness
by obedience to the law in any measure are nothing more than slaves
and heirs of nothing. So you that desire to be under
the law, listen to me, you're a slave and you're heir of nothing.
Isn't that a simple allegory? Simple story, simple truth. You're
heir of nothing. These that seek to merit and
honor God by their works, listen, you cannot attain what you're
trying to attain. I don't care how hard you try.
I've seen people try very hard. I tell you what, some people
try so hard it makes me feel ashamed of myself that I'm not
like them. Boy, man, they're good. I mean, they give. They really
put their lives out there. But I'm telling you, what you're
trying to achieve, you'll never achieve. Go to Romans chapter
9. Romans chapter 9. Look at verse 30. Now, if you
want to read this later, you can. Romans chapter 9 is all
about this son of promise, Isaac, as a picture of the elect. Look at verse 30. He says, What
shall we say then? What are we going to say to all
this? Election, God choosing whom He
will and damning whom He will. What are we going to say to that?
We're going to say this, that the Gentiles, which followed
not after the law, followed not after righteousness by the law,
what'd they get? They attained righteousness.
That don't sound right. Is something wrong with that?
And our flesh kicks in and says, man, they attained righteousness
without even trying? Yep. What kind of righteousness? Even
the righteousness which is of faith. The righteousness of God
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. That's the righteousness
they got. They got the righteousness that was merited by another.
That's what I want. I want righteousness merited
by Jesus Christ, don't you? That's the righteousness I want.
Well good, that's the righteousness you got. If you believe in Christ,
that's the righteousness you got. What did you do to get it? Not
a thing. Just like Isaac, what did he do to get it? What did
he do to get the inheritance? Nothing. He didn't have anything
to do with his birth, neither did you. That's good. But what happened to the Ishmaelites? But Israel, which followed after
the law, man, they were zealous for the law. There was nobody
more zealous than Israel. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, what did they get? They have not attained to the
law of righteousness. Why? Wherefore? Why is that? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by works of the
law. For they stumbled at the stumbling
stone. Who's a stumbling stone? Christ. He said, For it is written, For
I lay inside a stumbling stone, a rock of offense. You know,
it's offensive to a man who wants to be under the law. This message
I'm preaching is offensive. You're fighting words. Tell me
I can't attain to righteousness. I'm a heck of a lot better than
you. Okay. But you still ain't attained
to righteousness, have you? No. Still working at it, aren't you?
Ain't never gonna get there. Why? You're Ishmael. You're Ishmael. You're a slave. And you're an heir of nothing. But we believe in Christ. What
a glorious truth. God, in a covenant of promise,
determined to save us. That's the only reason? You ain't
going to find a reason in me. Don't follow me around trying
to find a reason. You won't find one. If anybody's looking for
a reason, I look for it. There ain't one. There ain't
no reason at all. I stumbled at Christ. And whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. I like the way it says
in Isaiah. Whosoever believeth on him shall not make haste.
I don't want to go anywhere. I'm on this rock, and I won't
go anywhere else. Christ's all I want. Christ's
all my righteousness. In chapter 10, he tells them,
he said, you know, they got a zeal. Man, they got a zeal. My brother
in Israel, they got a zeal. Ishmael has a zeal, but not according
to knowledge. Why? Because they're going about
seeking their own righteousness. And churches are really busy.
Religion is a very busy business. You know why it's so busy? Because
they never achieve what they're setting out to do. It's never
done. There's no chance to sit back
and rejoice. There's really not. You talk
about rejoicing, but man, the burdens they put on you. Now look at the free woman. Look
at the free woman. He said, But Jerusalem, which
is above, is free. Free. Which is the mother of
us all. Then he quotes from Isaiah, Rejoice,
thou barren that bearest not. Break forth and cry, thou traillest
not. For the desolate shall have many
more children than she which has an husband. Sarah was what
though? When God came to Abraham and
Sarah and promised them an heir, she was what? She was buried. Her womb was dead. There was no hope of life. And
then what? God made it even more impossible
because he waited for Abraham to be 100 years old. Her womb was dead. There, yet
in a covenant, God said of her son, before he was born, in thy
seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. In thy
seed. Which was what? It's a promise
of Christ. You're gonna have a son, but I tell you what, his
son is gonna be Christ. And that seed is gonna be blessing
all the nations of the world. Yet it seemed opposed to the
promise. Everything seemed opposed to it, right? So what did Abraham
and Sarah do? They got together and they reasoned
among themselves. Very dangerous when two sinners
get together and start reasoning. Now God said, let us reason together.
You don't want to reason with me. God said, let us reason together. They reasoned together and said,
well, let's help God out a little bit. You know, your womb is dead,
so you're out. We've got to find someone else.
Sarah said, well, I've got a handmaiden over here. Let's help God out.
You go in with her, and she'll have a son, and we'll fulfill
the promise of God. We'll fulfill it. That seemed like a logical thing
to do. We kind of laugh at it, but it wasn't really laughing
matter. They were serious and they were
really trying to help God, they're being sincere. It seemed a logical thing to
do, they thought they were fulfilling the will of God, doing the will
of God. But listen to this, when you
mix human reasoning with divine promises, it always results in
the wisdom of the flesh. Such mixture is a denial of the
promise of God and unbelief. That's all they did. They didn't
help God one bit. They denied God's word and they
did it in unbelief. That's all you can say about
what they did. Even so, even as the allegory,
even so, when human effort is put with divine grace, it's doomed
to fail. It's doomed to fail. Any mixture of works and grace
can only bear a slave. It can't bear a son of promise.
Just like their mixture of human wisdom and divine promise produced
what? A slave. That's all human religion
does, produces slaves, Ishmael's. But like Isaac was conceived
according to the promise of God in a very supernatural way, wasn't
it? Her womb was dead. He was too
old. It was supernatural. And so is
the birth of every elect child of God. It is a supernatural
event. It's a supernatural event. So is every free son born of
God. Now, Had Isaac been born in a
natural way, no faith would have been required. Isn't that right? Abraham wouldn't have needed
to believe God. It was just a natural process. But Isaac's birth was
the result of God's promise. Abraham's righteousness was a
result of faith in that promise. Behold, in Isaac every believer
is pictured, we by nature are barren, have no power or goodliness
or righteousness in ourselves, yet long before our birth, God
purposed to bring us to life. Long before the world began,
God made a promise. Every time I use this promise,
please understand I'm saying covenant of promise, not just
like we make promises. This is a covenant. It's a covenant
that God made with himself, for himself, for his own glory. and for his own praise. God in
eternity chose a people for himself, Isaacs. And then in a covenant promise
gave them to Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ in a covenant
promise received them as his own. He became surety for them. He became responsible for them
in a covenant of grace, saying, Father, I will save them, and
if I don't, let me bear the blame. That's what a surety does. And
what happened? Well, lo and behold, just as
sure as Isaac was born, Christ came into the world and did exactly
what he purposed to do. Our Lord Jesus Christ merited
every bit of our righteousness. The righteousness is likened
unto a robe, isn't it? It's as though Jesus Christ,
with His own hands, stitched our robe of righteousness together.
He did it by Himself. Where were you? All I can say is, by God's grace,
I was in Him. I was one with Him because God
made Him. This is astounding. 1 Corinthians
1 and verse 30. But of God are you in Christ
Jesus. Isn't that wonderful? That's
not what religion says. Religion says you need to put
yourself in God. You need to accept Him. You need to put yourself in that. No, I was put there by a covenant
of promise long before I was born. But of God are you in Christ
Jesus? Who of God is made unto us? Wisdom. Who's your wisdom? How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? Isn't that the question of all
religion? That's the question of all religion. How can God
be just and justify the ungodly? Religion says by works. The wisdom of God says only by
Christ. He's made my wisdom. Righteousness, I told you He
sowed our righteousness, all of our righteousness. I don't
get to add one stitch to it. Sanctification. God has made
Him to be my sanctification. How clear can you be on that?
Who's your sanctification? You? Will you sanctify yourself? If you're going to sanctify yourself,
tell me how. I guarantee you'll go back to the law in some measure,
try to do it. We don't sanctify ourselves.
God makes us holy. God set me apart, God declares
me to be holy, and God makes me holy. And our redemption. Isn't there
a redemption? When Christ hung upon Calvary's tree, what did
he do? Jesus paid it all. Isn't that what it says? We sang
that just a minute ago. Paid it all. How much do you owe?
How much of that debt is left for you to pay? Then when God was satisfied,
Jesus said those words, it is finished. Was it finished? You
either believe that or you don't. You either believe that or you
don't. It's finished. And then when he put him in the
tomb, three days later, just exactly as God said, he raised
him from the dead, exalted him to the throne of God, where he
now sits, making sure that the will of God is accomplished in
every elect sinner. His word is going out right now,
and he is giving life to whosoever he will. Isn't that great? Everything's going according
to schedule. Don't feel like that, does it?
It sure don't feel like that. It feels like chaos. Every time
I look around the world, I see chaos. You know what God sees? Order. Everything's moving right
along schedule. How'd you kids see that in the
providence of God in the Old Testament? How he moves people
to certain places and it just so happens there's a person there
that ends up believing. Oh, what a coincidence. What
a stroke of luck. Purpose. Purpose. This covenant. It was an Isaac there that had
to be born of the Spirit of God. And this is the experience of
everyone chosen and redeemed by Christ. Listen, they're born
of the Spirit of God. Now what John says, as many as
received him, to them gave he the right to become the sons
of God, to become Isaacs. which were born. Remember I told
you what's the difference between the two? Birth. That's the difference
in the allegory. It's the difference in the spiritual
realm. It's birth. Many received Him and then gave
the right to become the sons of God, which were born not of
blood. Wait a second. Isaac and Ishmael
were both the same father. Is that right? Yeah. So was Jacob and Esau in
the same womb of the same mother. So blood doesn't do it. Nor of
the will of the flesh, not because you choose to. You're not a son
by choice. You say, yes, I gladly desire
to be a son. I gladly am a son. But I didn't
become a son by choice. Well, the choice wasn't mine.
It was God's. Not by the will of the flesh.
Man, that just does away with me. 99% of religion, doesn't
it? It's just, 99% of religion needs
to be flushed in the toilet just based on that one sentence. You're
not born by the will of flesh. I remember some guy telling some
religious preacher, flipping through television one time,
he said, he said, you must be born again. He said, then I'm
gonna tell you how. And he just, he couldn't. How can you tell someone how
to be born? Can't. Impossible. Not by the will of
flesh, nor by the will of man. This does away with the other
part of religion that says some priest can give you life. Not
by the will of somebody else. I love my children. I can't give
them life by my will. I can't will them into this,
but of God. See our birth? Isaac's birth
was according to promise, and so is our birth, spiritual birth. It is a fulfillment of the promise
of God. I got an illustration of that.
I'll just give it to you. You can look it up later. Remember
those dry bones? Ezekiel 37, right? Dry bones.
There they are scattered. Not even one bone next to the
other. They're all scattered out there. You know what he said
to that prophet? He said, I want you to go out
there and preach to the dead bones. That don't make no sense
at all. Preaching don't make no sense
at all. I'm preaching dead people. Just like Him, what do we do?
At Thy Word. Went out and preached to those
bones, and you know what happened? It was the wind, the Spirit of
God, put those bones together, put the flesh on them, said,
preach to them again. He said, preach to them again,
and the breath entered into them. That's what it is to be an Isaac. It's a miracle birth. It's a
miracle birth. Ishmael's birth was no miracle.
It's just natural, common. Therefore tell me, you who desire
to be under the law after you hear the allegory of scripture,
are you a son of the bondwoman or the free? Is your mother Sinai or is your
mother spiritual Jerusalem? Listen to the end of these sons. Go back to your text real fast.
Here we go. Now, in verse 28, Now we, brethren,
as Isaac was, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But
as then he was born after the flesh persecuted him that is
born after the Spirit, so it is now. Isn't this true? Religion
looks at your little congregation and says, man, there ain't nothing
going on over there. You guys obviously are missing
something, because we've got a church full of people. What
are they looking at? They're looking at outside things. They're looking at physical things.
That's what the natural church does to look at success. I don't
look at success by numbers. I don't care. Church is always full. You got
that? God's church is always full.
And when there's another one to be added, guess what? It's
going to be added. The Lord added to the church daily, such as
should be saved. So it's always full. I don't
care what it looks like. But listen, you should expect
this, that they who are sons of the law will always persecute
the sons of grace. They'll always persecute you. Nevertheless, verse 30, doesn't
matter. Doesn't matter, nevertheless,
what sayeth the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son
of the free woman. What's going to happen if you're
following after the law? What's the end result? You'd
be cast out. It's a plain allegory, isn't
it? What happens if you're Isaac? So then, verse 31, brethren,
we are not the children of the bondwoman. Isn't that your answer? I'm not under the law. I'm under
grace. So then what? I'm a child of
the free woman. What are you to do now, you children
of the free woman? Look at verse 1 of chapter 5.
Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath
made you free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. An allegory, a message. You that
desire to be under the law, don't you listen? Abram had two sons,
one by a slave woman, and that son was heir of nothing. Another
by a son of a free woman, he was heir of everything. So then
this, all who are born of the Spirit of God, by the grace of
God, according to a covenant of promise, listen, you're heir
of everything. Look around you. Everything belongs to you. I've
not yet experienced that, but that's true. I'm so thankful God doesn't give
us this world as it is. He'll burn it up and give it
to him, grow it back new and he'll give it to us then. But
it's mine, it's yours. But everyone who desires to be
under the law, listen to me very carefully, in any measure, in
any measure, in any measure, you are a slave, an heir of nothing. Listen to the Word of God. You
that want to be on it all, listen to the Word of God, what Paul's
telling you. These words are clear, plain. I desire to stand fast in liberty
wherewith Christ hath made me free. Christ hath made me free.
Christ hath made me free. I do not want to be untangled
with the yoke of bondage again. And by God's grace, we won't.
Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Father, dismiss us with your
blessing and mercy. Oh, please pour out your spirit
upon us and let Christ be magnified in our hearts. Let us find comfort
in this covenant you have made. and the promise you've given.
I pray, Father, that you'd bless
the hearts of your people. Call the elect, even as you promised
to do, and give them life. Forgive us our sins and lead
us, I pray in Christ's name. Amen.