Well, good morning everyone, it's so good to see you today.
Thank you so much for being here.
Today is part eight in our series, Free, a Study in Galatians.
Today's text is found in Galatians chapter four, verses 19 through 31.
Paul has been making the case that we become a Christian by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
That Jesus died on the cross and that Jesus shed his blood for our sin.
That there is nothing else that we need to do.
His finished work on the cross was all that needed to be done.
That by his grace, we can be free.
It's a beautiful thing.
Galatians chapter four and verse 19.
My dear children, my dear children, that means he's talking to us, he's talking to the church.
For whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish
I could be with you now and change my tone because I am perplexed about you.
Tell me, you who want to be under the law or are you not aware of what the law says?
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the
free woman.
His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh.
But his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.
These things are being taken figuratively.
The women represent two covenants.
One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves.
This is Hagar.
Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem
because she is in slavery with her children.
But the Jerusalem that is above is free and she is our mother.
For it is written, Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore child, shout for joy and
cry aloud, you who were never in labor because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband.
Now you, brothers and sisters like Isaac, are children of promise.
At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power
of the spirit.
It is the same now.
But what does scripture say?
Get rid of the slave woman and her son for the slave woman's son will never share in
the inheritance with the free woman's son.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman but of the free
woman.
Verse 19, my dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ
is formed in you.
A pastor and his people have a relationship that is like a shepherd and his flock that
is like a father and his children.
Paul is speaking here to his church in Galatia as his children and he is in pain over them
as he desires for them to grow to be more like Jesus.
He says his pain is like the pain of childbirth.
Now according to my favorite comedian, the number 10 of all pain is childbirth.
It's right above pain number 9 having your femur bone cracked.
So Paul is actually saying that his pain is a 10.
Paul is agonizing over his desire that Christ would be formed in them, that they would have
the attitude of Jesus.
Paul wants to lead them into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and he wants it for them
so badly that it is causing him to experience great pain in his spirit.
That's how much he loves them.
That's how much he wants them to be free and the image of childbirth is a perfect illustration.
Paul is like a mother experiencing the birth pains of labor.
A mother wants her child to get out and to begin to live on their own but it requires
suffering on the part of the mother but the end result is worth everything.
She wants her child to grow and to develop and to be healthy and God wants the same for
us that we would be spiritually born again, that we would become a Christian by grace
through faith in Jesus Christ and then that we would grow in intimacy with God and then
that we would develop authentic community with each other and with fellow Christians
and that we would have a servant's heart for our world.
Verse 20, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone because I am perplexed
about you.
Paul is not just telling them what they want to hear.
That's what the false teachers are doing.
Instead, Paul is telling them the truth and sometimes hearing the truth hurts.
He would love to be able to change his tone and speak gently to them and encourage them
but he has to be true to the gospel message and to give it to them straight and sometimes
the truth requires tough talk.
But thank God for grace and truth.
The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, listen
to this, full of grace and truth.
Did you know that grace and truth are inseparable?
John chapter 1, verse 17, for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came
through Jesus Christ.
Truth is on the same side as God's grace and both grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
I've heard people say that it's a good thing to preach grace but you have to be sure and
tell them the truth too.
But it's impossible to separate truth and grace and grace from truth because they are
both the person of Jesus Christ.
Grace and truth came together in the person of Jesus.
Grace and truth are not things.
Grace and truth are a person.
Grace and truth came to set us free.
And when grace and truth are spoken in love, there is a great opportunity for those words
to change a heart from the inside out.
That's the power of grace and truth.
Verse 21, tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law
says?
In other words, since you insist on living under the law and ignoring grace, are you
willing to do what the law actually says?
Paul is saying, you just might as well give it up.
No one can meet the demands of the law.
So what makes you think that you're going to be the one exception?
You won't be.
No one has.
No one ever will accept Jesus.
So give it up.
And then Paul begins to use a familiar story that's found in Genesis to teach about the
Christian's relationship with the law of Moses.
It's the story of Abraham's sons, Ishmael and Isaac in verse 22.
It is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free
woman.
Paul reminded them that Abraham had two sons who were different in several ways, and one
of the ways that they were different is that they each had a different mother.
Ishmael was the firstborn son.
His mother was Hagar, the slave.
She was the Egyptian slave of Sarah.
Sarah was Abraham's wife.
The second son was Isaac.
His mother was Sarah, the free woman.
All through this story, Paul makes the distinction between the two sons based on the fact that
they had different mothers.
Verse 23, his son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the
free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.
Many years after God had promised a son to Abraham, Sarah had still not conceived.
Abraham cried out to God when he was 86 years old, and Sarah was 76 years old, and God again
confirmed his promise to them that they would have a child.
But after several more years of waiting, Sarah lost her patience and convinced Abraham to
have a child with her female slave, Hagar.
The birth of Ishmael was called the son of the slave woman born according to the flesh
because it was completely selfish and not of God's will.
But when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old, Isaac was born and was called
the son of the free woman born as a result of the divine promise.
This conception was supernatural of the Holy Spirit and allowed them to give birth in their
old age.
It was a miracle of God.
The birth of Ishmael is symbolic of man's way of doing things, the way of the flesh,
the way of the religious and the self-righteous, those who try to earn their own salvation,
the way of legalism.
The birth of Isaac is symbolic of God's way of doing things.
The way of the promise, the way of faith and trust in God, those who come to God by faith
in Jesus Christ, the way of grace.
Verse 24, these things are being taken figuratively.
The women represent two covenants.
One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves.
This is Hagar.
Paul tells us that the two women are pictures of two different covenants.
Hagar and Ishmael represent the covenant of law and of works.
Sarah and Isaac represent the covenant of grace and faith.
Verse 25, now Hagar stands from Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present
day city of Jerusalem because she is in slavery with her children.
Hagar represents the covenant from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves.
Hagar stands from Mount Sinai in Arabia and the present city of Jerusalem.
Paul is saying that Hagar and her son Ishmael represent the law and the earthly city of
Jerusalem, which are people who have not accepted Jesus Christ.
These are people in slavery because they are under the law.
They are not free.
When Abraham chose not to trust God, not to believe his promise, and to have a child
with Hagar, Abraham was choosing to rely on his own strength.
He was acting in faith in himself instead of having faith in God.
He became his own savior and as it always does when we do things our own way instead
of doing things God's way, it was made into a big mess of everything.
Sarah became very jealous of Hagar and the family was torn apart.
Who knew that this was just the beginning of thousands of years of trouble?
The descendants of Hagar moved to the desert around the Promised Land.
They became known as Arabs. The bad blood between the sons of Hagar and
Sarah began 4,000 years ago and continues today as the Arab-Israeli conflict, all because
Abraham and Sarah refused to wait on God and trust in his promise.
Our choices have consequences and not only for ourselves, but sometimes for a lot of
other people too.
Religious church people proudly consider themselves related to Abraham and Sarah.
But Paul says that their heart is more like Abraham and Hagar and the result of their
life is like Ishmael because they're in bondage and slavery, because they rely on the religious
stuff they do instead of the supernatural grace of God.
Sometimes the most religious people in the world are farthest away from true freedom.
Verse 26, But the Jerusalem that is above is free and she is our mother.
But the spiritual family of Sarah through Isaac live in the Jerusalem above and they
are free because she is our mother.
Those who come by grace through faith in Jesus and believe in God's promise of grace live
in the Jerusalem above.
Those who live in the heavenly Jerusalem are free from the law and are free from the bondage
of trying to be good enough on their own.
John 8 and verse 36, So if the sun sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Verse 27, For it is written, Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore child, shout for
joy and cry aloud, you who were never in labor, because more are the children of the desolate
woman than of her who has a husband.
Here Paul is quoting from the Old Testament book of Isaiah, the prophecy of Isaiah looks
back at Genesis chapter 16 and God looks down on two women, one who is fertile and beautiful
and another who is barren and old.
And which one do you think God chooses to use?
You know God usually does things the exact opposite of what we would normally do.
God chooses to save the world through the barren woman and through Sarah's family.
Hundreds of years later would come another unlikely son born to another woman who could
not expect to be pregnant, not because she was barren, but because she was a virgin.
A virgin had never been pregnant before when Mary gave birth to Jesus, the son of God.
And through that son, all of the nations of the world would be blessed just like God had
promised to Abraham and Sarah.
Do you know what that is?
That's God's amazing grace.
Verse 28, Now you, brothers and sisters, that's the church, like Isaac, are children of promise.
Yes, you, the church, like Isaac, like Sarah, God can use you in great ways.
Our culture exalts the young, the beautiful, the strong, the talented, the haggars.
But God chooses the old, the barren, the failures, the unfaithful, the Sarah's.
So you're not perfect.
It doesn't matter.
Our God is a God of grace.
And if Sarah can have a future, then so can you.
In ancient times, a woman's worth was measured by her ability to have children.
That is not taught by the Bible.
It's a tragic mistake that many cultures make.
In our culture today, many times makes this mistake.
And single ladies and ladies who cannot have children can feel stigmatized by our culture.
And it's unfair and it's wrong.
But the Bible shows us here that we should not get our worth from our children any more
than we should get our worth from our career or money or power or approval of others.
Those who love God with everything that they have and love others as they love themselves
will experience life to its fullest.
Verse 29.
At that time, the sun born according to the flesh persecuted the sun born by the power
of the spirit.
It is the same now.
You know, some things never change.
Religious people can be very insecure because deep inside, they know that their best religious
stuff still is not good enough.
But those who are free, they live by grace and they're secure in Christ because their
trust is not in themselves.
You can always tell who puts their trust in their religious stuff because they persecute.
They criticize, they hate, they lash out on social media.
It's the same now as it was then.
Verse 30.
But what does Scripture say?
Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in
inheritance with the free woman's son.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free
woman.
Paul is saying, quit going back and forth between bondage and freedom.
Jesus has set you free.
So live in that freedom.
Jesus said, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
