Two Women, Two Covenants (Galatians 4:21-31)

Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Galatians, chapter 4.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

Galatians chapter 4, verses 21 through 31.

Galatians 4:21–31

And today is uh this interesting moment of an Old Testament illustration of all that Paul has said thus far.

It's easy when we read the scriptures to compartmentalize certain texts and to not realize that they're all part of one functioning movement.

But in the same way that you wouldn't take the second scene of Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare and say, ah, this is a standalone thing that makes sense completely on its own.

If we don't regularly renew our mind, even in a verse-by-verse exposition of the entire story, and that this is connected to what was before and to what's ahead, we will actually miss the point.

Today, Paul is going to quote the Old Testament three times, and in doing so, he's going to completely remove any standing that the Judaizers thought they had in trying to add more requirements, more expectation in order to belong.

When I was a little kid, there was this really cool place called IKEA.

And I thought it was the awesomest place in the world because in the late 90s, early 2000s, you could go and look at furniture, and if you wanted it, they'd give you a box and you could take it home and put it together yourself.

And like any other kid, I uh had a bag of Legos, but it wasn't the pretty kind.

It was in one of those uh very old school multicolored kids' luggage bags.

You know, the one side's blue, the outside's yellow, the back is red.

And uh we got that from a thrift store for a dollar.

That was killer deal.

And so I loved Legos my entire life.

I would just carry that suitcase around, and IKEA was like adult Legos, it was the coolest thing ever.

I'm like, you can build your own bookshelf.

Lo and behold, my sophomore year of college, three researchers did an experiment, and the experiment came out with this concept called the IKEA effect.

So you can imagine the nostalgia was brewing inside of me as I'm studying psychology and business, and there's the IKEA effect.

This is awesome.

Three different researchers tested the same premise.

It was a really cool concept.

They did it with actual furniture, where they built like a little black box thing for storage.

They even did it with origami.

And here's what they found.

Of all the same participants, they gave two different options.

The one group was given the box with all the parts and said, build this black storage box.

And the other one was just given the already put together black storage box.

And what they then asked was a blind question of how much would you pay for this box?

Lo and behold, the ones who built their own box were willing to spend almost double what those who were just given the already put-together furniture were willing to pay.

It got even more hilarious with the origami, as people that didn't know how to do origami made little frogs and butterflies for the first time ever.

And they were asked, what would you value this as?

Do you think this is a great level of expertise on this?

And those that folded their own origami versus those that were given professional origami, the ones that made their own thought it was probably just about as good as the professional origami.

These correlate, they are connected.

And it's the idea that when you and I build something, it is worth so much more to us.

And your salvation and your security are no different.

The IKEA effect has always been in the heart and mind of mankind because you and I enjoy being in control.

We enjoy ownership.

And so, when someone says the free gift of the gospel cannot be earned, you and I push back and say, okay, fine, that might be a good starting point.

But then after that, we could add some expectations like how you dress on a Sunday morning, or how many minutes of quiet time are we talking about on a daily basis?

The list goes on and on, and it is unending because you and I keep writing it.

The expectations outside of the gospel can be immense, and today Paul will ground us historically in the fact that in the church there's always only ever been two kinds of people.

There have been children of the slave, and there have been children of promise.

And what I want you to hold on to, and we will come back to at the end, is that children of promise are not that because they worked really hard to believe in the promise, but rather are merely the outcome of God's already said promise.

No one works for God's promise.

God has already done it.

Please read with me God's holy word.

Paul says, Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman, and one by a free woman.

But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.

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.

She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

For it is written, 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.

Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.

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, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman.

Our text will break down into the following outline.

Verses twenty-one through twenty-three will be two mothers.

Verses twenty-four through twenty-seven will be two covenants, and verses twenty-eight through thirty-one will be two children.

And if you walk away understanding all the words that are said today, a miracle did happen.

The word under the law there is speaking specifically of that covenantal regime, the idea that you had to do or die.

That in the Old Testament covenant under Moses at Mount Sinai, the Ten Commandments were given, all of God's law was given, and God said, Do this and live.

But look at the word there.

He says, Tell me you who desire.

There is this strange compulsion within each of us that wants to go back under the rule keeping.

What's crazy is that you and I are so good at being under the rule keeping that we can escape a legalistic church and create a grace-based church where there's no legalism at all.

And yet, people can feel guilty for having a conviction.

Or they can feel anxious about bringing a correction to somebody.

And what have we created then?

Why, by golly, we've created legalism, but it's dressed up in the clothes of grace.

You and I are great at desiring to be under the law.

Paul says, Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?

And now he's transitioning away from this law as this covenant that is over, to now the law, which is the first five books of the Bible.

And is saying, Have you not read these and listened to them?

Because if you did, you wouldn't come to this conclusion.

And that tends to be the problem with much of the theology that's wrong in churches nowadays, with churches that go adrift, is they find little pieces of the puzzle that they love.

And they become the church of the second movement of Romeo and Juliet and miss the rest of the boat.

He says, Do you not listen to the law?

And here's the greatest moment Paul asks this question, Do you not listen to the law?

And then what he does is he summarizes by quoting very specific parts of Scripture for them three separate times, the law.

And he says, Let me explain to you the story of Abraham and Isaac.

Verse 22.

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.

But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.

This is where we have to give a small history lesson.

Abraham is a man God called out of a pagan society and said, You will be the father of Christianity.

It's a cool moment.

And the word Abraham means father of many.

And so you're like, this all fits, it makes sense, this is good.

The problem was that Abraham married a woman named Sarah, and Sarah was barren.

She was unable to have children.

And so it's a unique moment of faith when God looks at the man who has a barren wife and says, You will be the father of many.

Go look at the stars.

Your children will be more numerous than the stars.

And you look over and you're like, That's like telling me I'm gonna live in a mansion when I'm looking at my wet cardboard box I live in.

Like, I don't, I don't get how we're getting from point A to point B.

And yet, Abraham believes.

You and I tend to read scripture and believe the worst of the Old Testament folk, and not realize that you and I are probably weaker than they are.

I will enable her to have a baby with you.

And then the next verse we see that Sarah and Abraham are on a different journey trying to problem solve for God, because obviously it's not working.

What you and I can be so short and excited about is that there are 10 years of patience between the promise and them picking a different solution.

I don't know the last time you were patient for 10 years on something, but it probably was forced, not chosen.

You and I are the hilarious human beings who, north of Biggsville, there are now two traffic lights.

And sometimes you have to wait two minutes for it to change.

And by golly, if you're not ready to jump out of that car and shoot that light, you might be a saint.

We are the impatient generation of the world.

And Abraham waited 10 years to have a baby with his barren wife that he couldn't see was going to happen.

And you and I are like, oh, little faith, how could you go a different direction?

I have a hard time maintaining my faith throughout the week sometimes, if I have a hard week.

Abraham believed God for 10 years.

And then his wife comes to him, and this is where we get to explain the two sons, and says, Okay, look, this isn't happening in a timely fashion.

What if we go a perfectly culturally appropriate route and you have children through my slave?

Today we're aghast.

That's preposterous and ridiculous, and what are you doing?

But back in this time, this was completely appropriate and was actually a normal function that if the matriarch of the family was unable to have children, they would find other ways to continue the lineage.

So they say yes to this, and Hagar is that slave.

That's where that name comes from.

And Hagar bears a son, and his name is Ishmael.

And Abraham loved Ishmael.

You and I can miss that in the text.

What's crazy is Ishmael's around for 13 years.

God made a promise.

Ten years goes by, they go a different direction.

13 years later, what happens?

Preincarnate Jesus comes walking up and says, Abraham, great news.

Next year you're gonna have a baby.

You can imagine the moment where you look back at the tent and see your teenager and say, no, God, we already done did done that.

Like it, he's here.

We problem solved for you.

Don't worry, we got this.

And the next year, by golly, Isaac came into being, and the miracle child of promise was born.

Paul says, verse 22, it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one Ishmael and the other Isaac, one by the slave woman and one by a free woman.

Speaking of Hagar and Sarah.

But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, which does not mean by sin, but rather means by human effort.

While the son of the free woman was born through a promise.

One of the warnings that's within this passage for you and I today is that the flesh can produce religious results.

You in your own human effort can manufacture the willpower to do the right thing at the right time, in the right way, so that others perceive it that way, while the inside of the heart is completely unchanged.

Here is the problem.

Ishmael required no miracle.

Isaac required nothing else but a miracle.

And it's the same for all the promises of God.

You and I can look at the promises of God, where he says he will be with us, that he will care for us, that he will guide us and lead us and love us, that he will complete our salvation, that he will bring us home one day, that he will make us new, that he will give us new desires, he will give us a new life, and we can say, totally believe that.

Now what do I need to do?

How can I work harder for this?

Ishmael required no miracle, and you and I tend to look at our Christian life in very similar ways.

No miracle is required today.

Just discipline, self-control, organization, management.

But you see, Abraham and Sarah got exactly what they engineered.

They got a real son, he was healthy, he was theirs.

The flesh delivered.

And Abraham loved that boy, and he even argues to God's face for Ishmael.

And when God says something positive about Isaac, Abraham says, May Ishmael be in front of you.

May you bless him.

And yet, at the end of the day, down the road, Ishmael still had to be let go.

And the son that Abraham had created outside of God's will, that he loved, that he wanted to protect, he ended up having to send away.

So where are you currently trying to secure by effort something that God has said he will give you?

When your week goes badly, as mine does from time to time.

Does your confidence before God go with it?

You cannot manufacture God's promise, God's heir, or God's will.

So stop using God's word as a ladder to climb into his perceived blessing.

And start instead listening to it.

Because the law itself tells you how Isaac got here.

And Isaac didn't come to being by climbing or by working harder.

He simply came because God said.

That moves us to our second heading, two covenants, verses 24 through 27.

Paul says, now this may be interpreted allegorically.

That means the idea of a word picture or a story that represents deep spiritual truth.

So the most common allegory you're probably familiar with would be the Chronicles of Narnia.

And there's this idea of a Picture of the line in the witch in the wardrobe where they represent truths that are within the Bible.

Paul says this may be interpreted allegorically.

These women are two covenants, they are representing these two ways to relate to God.

The one is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery, and she is Hagar.

This is this side.

And then he continues.

Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia.

She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

The most important word in that entire category there, because you can get lost in the sauce very easily, is the word correspondence.

Is the idea to be in line with.

It's what they would use when they were making tables, and they would have columns, and they would have two different things and two different columns, and all of the same thing were in one side.

That's the word correspondence here.

And so what he's saying is that Mount Sinai, which is where the law was given, Hagar, the slave woman, and present Jerusalem, which, if you've read Jesus' story at all in the Gospels, you know at this time, was bound by the Pharisees and by legalism all around.

He's saying they're all in the same category, and that last part of the sentence clarifies it for you.

It says, For she is in slavery with her children.

He's putting them all in one bucket and saying, They are under the law.

They are in slavery and unable to free themselves.

And then he contrasts that with the other side of the table.

But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

This is responding, this is uh correlating to heaven, that there is a perfect Jerusalem to come one day, and that Sarah on the other side is the mother of promise.

And that you and I, he says, You and I are in this camp.

And then verse 27, he says, For it is written, 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.

This is coming from Isaiah chapter 54, and is this beautiful moment where God is pointing to the spiritual children that would be, and that they would come from what looks to be barren, that they would not be the greatest among us, but would rather be the greatest surprise among us.

Isaiah 54 · chapter mention

He says, Rejoice, O barren one.

This is all pulling back to that Sarah picture.

Why?

Because God looked at Abraham one day and said, Your children will be more numerous than the stars, and he wasn't talking about having billions of children in that moment, but rather of the millions and millions of children that he had chosen before the foundation of the world.

Paul reassigns the genealogy.

And this is important because the Judaizers came into town, and as you've realized throughout this whole vlade, the big thing they're saying is, who's your father?

Is your father Abraham?

If he is, you need to start acting like him.

You need to be circumcised, you need to start keeping a calendar, you need to do these things.

And Paul says, okay, that doesn't work because Ishmael's not a promised kid.

He's not the saved one.

Isaac is.

So the question is not who is your father, the question is who is your mother.

And in doing that, Paul takes what the Jews would have seen as this illustrious family tree that they can be proud of.

And he flips it on his head and says it's the exact opposite of what you would say.

You cannot take pride in Father Abraham.

Rather, you must come from the barren woman Sarah.

The men proudest of descent from Sarah are looked at by Paul and told that they are Hagar's children, and that the uncircumcised Gentiles that they're looking at are Isaac.

You can imagine the role reversal in that moment, because this letter was read aloud before all of them.

Right?

Someone's reading.

And there's probably a gasp at this moment that you and I can't even like quantify.

Because all this, we're just trying to put the puzzles together in the moment.

We're like, okay, I think I'm following this exactly.

Yes.

In their eyes, this was so relevant and so in your face that the power dynamic in the room would have literally switched in a moment.

Paul says, the ones who are proud and saying they have the lineage and they have the way are actually the ones who are not even saved.

Every Jew in that room knew where he stood on the family tree.

Paul took that tree and turned it correctly upside down.

And to the first century ear, this was not a clever argument.

Because what it sounds like today.

It's like, oh yeah, that's logical.

I see, that's pretty good.

It would have been literally preposterous to them.

Scandalous.

How could you take this family lineage that goes through the patriarchs, that goes through the fathers, and say, actually, the father doesn't matter?

It's the mother that matters.

And this points in our lives to our story about the church.

When you tell someone the story of the church that you came from, the one that you aren't a fan of, the one that maybe treated you poorly, are you telling it as a testimony of what God has done?

Or as evidence that you ended up on the right side?

We so easily can receive God's grace and turn it around as a weapon to be pointed at others.

You and I are great at learning vocabulary like sanctification and sovereign grace.

And then when we get around others a year later or two years later that don't know these words, we pity them.

It's so easy to look down on others.

It's so easy to be polarized against people that you should be sympathetic with and empathetic with.

And yet, how often are we provoked to sin by the sin of others, as opposed to being like Christ and being provoked to compassion?

If this church never becomes impressive from a visual standpoint, right?

Like the the nursery flops, we never get a nicer building, we never get a bigger building, the music gets worse, the preaching gets worse.

Are you okay with that?

Or are you just here for the show?

Now don't get me wrong, it's not a great show currently.

But you and I are also really good at creating a narrative for ourselves and saying, oh no, we're just here for right now.

Greener grass is on the horizon.

We'll eventually get this part of the church fixed that I really want different.

This will eventually be better.

Is this Christ's church or is it my church?

Abraham stands at the head of both lines.

So your pedigree settles nothing.

You could have been raised in church, you could have been not raised in church.

You could have done great at Iwana, and you could have been terrible at Iwana.

You could be someone that never cursed a single day in their life, and you could be someone today who feels like you can't control what's coming out of your mouth, and at the end of the day, that settles nothing.

The only question is which mother is yours?

And that was decided by a promise, not by your record or by your actions, or by your willpower, but by the God who said, I will.

There's a beautiful promise in Ezekiel chapter 36, where God, pointing to the new covenant, says, I will give them a new heart.

Ezekiel 36 · chapter mention

I will remove their stony heart, and I will give them a heart of flesh, and I will make sure that they do what they need to do.

I'm here to tell you, my friends, I didn't act like that this last week.

I often find myself worrying, anxious, depressed.

And none of it is because God stopped being God.

All of it is because I've put my hope in doing enough.

Or in being enough, or in others being enough, or doing enough.

God is, and this is important for you and I today with the two covenants because you and I we tend to very much glorify the messenger and miss the fact that the power is in the message.

God's word will go forth, and he has promised it will not return empty, it will not fail.

But you and I act like it will.

And that leads us into the third heading, which is two children, verses 28 through 31.

Paul says, Now you brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

I want you to notice that he said an absolute statement there.

He didn't say you're probably.

You might be.

If you keep working really hard, if you serve extra at the church, if you give more money, if you make sure you're there every Sunday, if you you make sure you read your Bible most days this week, at least, then you can be assured.

You're a child of promise.

Our assurance of our salvation has never rested on what we do.

And that's hard for the human mind to comprehend because the Bible puts two truths before us and says they're parallel and equal.

Or equally true, rather.

And the one is this that God is perfectly sovereign in salvation, He is absolutely in control, no one can change anything.

Whoever thinks that they can even fall out of his hand, he says, No one can even snatch you out of my hand.

And yet, at the same time, you and I are responsible to live this Christian life and to do the best we can to be stewards of the moments that God gives us.

What we miss is that God's sovereignty does not discount our responsibility.

Rather, his sovereignty is what fuels us to be able to be responsible.

Because if you don't believe that God is absolutely in control, you will give up as a parent.

Because you can't save your child.

You will give up on your marriage, you will give up on your work, on your ministry, on the church, because guess what?

It's full of broken people just like you that are stumbling forward in life, that will disappoint you, that will fall short.

And if your hope is in anything other than the promise, you'll fail.

You will stumble.

And you will give up.

But, dear friends, there is a better way.

Paul today is calling to you and says, stop working for your identity, but rather begin to work from it.

That you can't work hard enough to be a child of promise, but if you will renew your mind in the truth that you are a child of promise, that will be the means through which the Holy Spirit will change you degree by degree into his likeness.

Verse 29, Paul says, But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.

And what we can miss is actually the connotation or the meaning underneath that word is one of a negative viewpoint.

It's not the idea of laughing and being joyful with the toddler as a teenager.

And then there must be more underneath that because the Bible is clear that there was persecution.

Here's where you and I need to really take a moment to sit back and realize that the legalism we're talking about today, if the main thing you've thought about is people and places that are outside of this building, we've failed.

The issue of persecution didn't come from outside of Abraham's family, it came from within Abraham's family.

And it's the same today.

Where the greatest persecution the church ever experiences is for the most part from within the church itself.

Because church buildings are not full of only Christians, they're full of others, and sometimes they're even full of well-intentioned dragons who think they're helping, while they burn everything to the ground.

Those who are born according to the flesh will always persecute those according to the spirit.

Why?

I remember having a conversation with a man once where I was being accused of multiple things.

And I said, the good news of the day is that I may be an idiot, but I'm always me.

And so whatever your accusations and stuff are, just line them up here, and we'll be good to go.

And as I went before people with that same premise, I noticed a visceral reaction amongst them.

There's a moment where you might be at work and there's pressure to do the wrong thing.

To cover something up, to not react to that.

And when you do the right thing, it stands out like a sore thumb.

And what happens?

Does everyone just kind of, oh well, what are you gonna do?

Or are you about to get everything and the kitchen sink from the people that you work with?

It's the same concept in the church.

The church is not empty of all persecution, if in fact it's full of it.

It just looks different than what we think.

Have you ever done the right thing in church or tried to do a good thing, and someone calls you a goody two shoes?

Or like you're trying too hard, or like you're acting like you're holier than though.

It's very easy to go from this legalism on this side to being deprecating on the other side and tearing people down because they make you feel uncomfortable because they're living an authentic Christian life, and yours is compartmentalized.

It's very easy to fall into that.

He says, We are children of promise.

Do not be surprised with the fact that from beginning to end, the story has always been the same.

Those in the church that are not saved will always persecute those who are.

What is perhaps scary or terrifying was the moment that I first realized that someone can serve on three committees, have attended every Sunday service for 20 years, and still not be saved.

That was that was a moment for me.

Because you and I are great at identifying people with their performance, right?

It's the other way around.

We're like, that person does everything.

They must be like a super Christian.

I've never even heard of a committee.

Like Dan said something about the nursery, and the first thing I thought was not me.

Like, like you and I are great at elevating other people based off their performance and how we perceive them.

So also it is now.

Verse 30, this is where we have to unpack a little bit.

He says, but what does the scripture say?

Quote, 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.

Okay, let us clarify a couple of things.

Number one, God loved Hagar.

Hagar actually names God as the God who sees me.

So any narrative in your mind that says, see, look, they're hating the slave people, or they're hating this woman because they did the wrong thing is wrong.

Hagar, in the midst of all of it, looks at God and says, You are the God who sees me.

That's not what someone says when they're being betrayed or wronged by God.

But the scripture says, Cast out the slave woman and her son, and it gives you the reason why.

For the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.

The entire issue is inheritance.

And all of this from the Old Testament on is pointing to salvation.

The word inheritance has been used for our salvation throughout this.

So what we see is this Abraham and Sarah made a very logical, problem-solving decision to answer a very spiritual promise that was made by God.

And God makes this promise, they problem solve, they figure it out on their own and say, God, don't worry about it, we got this.

And what they ended up creating was a mess.

Have you ever done that in your life?

You know, God has like an explanation, like his will for you, right?

God's will is that you would be sanctified and you would be Christ-like, and you're like, totally get it, but hear me out.

If I show up on this time and then do these things, I can then have my cake and eat it too.

Where in your life are you tempted to create an Ishmael instead of trusting the promise of Isaac?

It might be with a life circumstance, it might be with a sin that you're struggling with.

Again, as I've said before, but works very well in this text.

Fear and shame are great motivators that can make something look like it's actually good when it's not.

Are you striving to become more Christ-like?

To engage in the ordinary means of grace because you love God and you're thankful for what He's done for you?

Or is it out of some sort of fear or obligation, pride, the expectation of others?

Am I just here to check a box?

Cast out the slave woman and her son.

Why?

Because the slave woman and her son don't inherit the kingdom of God.

Let us clarify one last time.

God loved Ishmael and made a whole nation out of him.

God blessed Hagar and Ishmael and took care of them.

What this is pointing to is very specifically God's will and testament of his salvation.

Isaac was not the one who believed the promise and then became saved.

Isaac was what was promised.

To be a child of promise is to be the thing God said he would do and then did.

Not something for you to pick up and carry and try and earn.

Nobody talks their way into having a new heart and having the stone heart removed.

In the same way, I am here to tell you, Sarah did not talk her way into a womb that all of a sudden could work at the age of 90.

God took out the stone.

You did not produce the result.

You are the result.

And that is really hard to rest in because you know what that requires of you?

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Verse 31.

Paul says, So, brothers, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman.

Do you come to God like an employee that's not sure your job is safe with him?

You're like, okay, God, here's my time card.

I put in uh this thing and this thing and did these, so we good.

And you get you and I are funny too.

I'll ask people like, do you feel secure before God?

They're like, Yeah, totally.

Like, okay, sweet.

So when you yelled at your kids, did you feel like God loves me in that moment?

Oh no, definitely not.

No.

It's like, there we go.

That that's that's it.

That's the whole thing.

It's like, no, that's not that's not that.

It's something else.

We are like a slippery fish when it comes to pinning this down.

Why?

Because we love making categories that don't include us.

I can tell you someone who's legalistic, okay?

I know people.

Me, no, I'm good.

I don't struggle with that.

Is there a form of slavery that you may have quietly made peace with?

Because casting it out would cost you something.

I'll give you an easy one for me.

I have a process with my sermon prep.

Takes X amount of hours, and like good hours, not like the bad ones.

And uh if I have a crazy week, like I did this last week, where we did something literally every evening and had something happen all throughout the week, and I was behind on sleep most of the week, the number of good hours I had was paquito.

It was small.

And I can be tempted towards two things.

One of them is actually okay, and the other one is sin.

And the one is a desire that I wish I could have spent more time doing this.

I wish I would have been more disciplined with this, or said no to this engagement and done something else instead.

That's fine.

There's the other side, though, where I can feel unworthy to stand before you and present God's word.

Because I haven't hit my standard yet.

Faithful men have preached far less than me, and God has done much more with their work than he's done mine.

Because the power has never been in the messenger but in the message.

And every week I am tested with how much do I actually believe that.

Is there a form of slavery that you've quietly made peace with?

Right?

Like sermon prep.

You've sanctified it.

But then as soon as it doesn't happen the way that you want or think it should, all of a sudden you are insecure.

You are not the slave woman's son working toward a place.

You are the free woman's son.

So stop living in a house that you were never meant to live in, and that you were never born into.

I heard a story once of a man who smoked three packs of cigarettes a day for most of his life.

He wanted to quit.

He enrolled in a program built to break the habit, and surprise, surprise, it did not work.

At the end of his life, he was carrying an oxygen tank, and he still smoked.

He was free when he started.

Nobody made him light the first cigarette.

He was doing exactly what he wanted, which is what most of us mean by freedom.

And the doing of what he wanted is what took the wanting away from him.

That is the Galatians today.

Nobody is dragging them to the calendar or to circumcision against their will.

They are walking toward it freely, and they're calling it maturity.

And Paul is telling them that it will have made of them in ten years a son of the slave.

They were free, just like Abraham and Sarah were free, but they walked into that tent, anyways.

You, my friend, were not produced.

No matter how much how much you might look at a holy man or woman that shared the gospel with you, someone who's sacrificially poured their life into you, you have never been produced.

You were always and only ever promised.

And that is security.

God said he would take out your heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh.

And guess what?

He did it.

On a person who could have not, who could not have produced the results on their own.

That is what makes you Isaac and not Ishmael.

It's not your performance, but rather God's word performed by himself.

You did not talk your way into this family, and by God's grace, you cannot be talked out of it.

So when the voice has come, and it will, telling you that you would belong more fully if you added one more thing.

Remember what you are.

You are not the son of the slave woman working toward a place.

You are the son of the free woman, and the estate was settled before you were even born.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we come before you and we ask that your name would be high and lifted up in this place.

Lord, that as we're tempted to seek our security in people, in places, and in things, Lord, that we would be reminded of the emptiness of this life without you.

And that our security has never been in us being enough or doing enough or trusting enough, but has always been in the perfect God who promises and delivers every time.

Help us to live as children of the free woman.

Help us to believe the good news.

That even though we were born under the law, that you and I, Lord, we were we were unable to save ourselves.

That you laid down your life in our place.

That you took the punishment meant for us.

Lord, please help us to believe.

Help us to trust.

Thank you for your grace and for your mercy, which is new each day.

And we are always in desperate need of.

And Lord, we ask that ultimately your will would be done in this church and in this county and the surrounding area.

That we would be people who love you and love each other more and more each day.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.