Galatians 4b (6-4-25)

Hey everyone, this is Pastor James. Welcome back to our Midweek Bible study.

Today we're going to finish up chapter 4 and this is going to be a short study as

we only have about 11 verses to cover to finish up this chapter, but read with me

as we talk about Abraham's two children as Paul gives another really good

analogy to go along with what we talked about last week. So in verse 21, Paul says

tell me you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law

actually says? The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave

wife and one from his freeborn wife. The son of the slave wife was born in human

tempt to bring about the fulfillment of God's promise, but the son of the

freeborn wife was born as God's own fulfillment of his promise. These two

women serve as an illustration of God's two covenants. The first woman, Hagar,

represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them.

And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia because she and her

children live in slavery to the law. But the other woman, Sarah, represents the

heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman and she is our mother. As Isaiah

said, rejoice, O childless woman, you who live, you who have never given birth.

Break into a joyful shout, you who have never been in labor, for the desolate

woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband. And you,

dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise just like Isaac, but you

are now being persecuted by those who want to keep the law just as Ishmael,

the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the

power of the Spirit. But what do the Scriptures say about that? Get rid of

the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the

inheritance with the free woman's son. So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not

children of the slave woman, we are children of the free woman. Alright, so

as we finish up this chapter, this is kind of a tough passage because if we

are not careful, we can get caught up in wanting to sympathize with the slave

woman and her son rather than focusing on the important message being conveyed

here by Paul. Rather, you know, if we agree with it or not, this was the

situation at hand and this was the way things were during this time in

biblical history. And this is even the way God intended for it to be as he

commanded Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. You know, he was told to

discard his own human efforts to receive what God had promised to him. And this

is tough, but this is the truth. You know, a lot of times in life, we try to do

things underneath our own strength, underneath our own wisdom sometimes

that we think we have, and we make more problems for ourselves than what we

initially had. And then we have to deal with it. And so what Abraham did in

trying to fulfill God's plans by having Ishmael through Hagar really complicated

things and made things very difficult for Isaac and his mother as God had

finally fulfilled that promise through them just as he said he would. And so

this is a tough truth, but God had better plans and God intended for his

plans to be the ones that would be fulfilled. And sometimes we're called to

discard things, maybe that we put a lot of effort or time and has a lot of meaning

to the side so that God's plans can win out. And this is kind of what Paul's

talking about. This is the fulfillment of Jesus and his fulfillment of the law

versus the people of Israel trying to keep the old law which enslaves us. So

Paul uses this situation to describe the difference between the law and

Christ. The law requires us to make human efforts which are futile. They're

meaningless. It doesn't matter how hard we try, how long we try, we're never gonna

be able to meet up to those standards and accomplish what God has called us to.

They will always come up short. We will never be able to be enough. And this

is why Ishmael was not part of God's plan. It was in human effort. Remember,

Paul said that Ishmael was the son that was born through the power of the

Spirit, which is really important to understand. This is why the promise had to

come through Isaac's lineage because he was the result of an impossible

pregnancy. Isaac was the one who came through the power of the Spirit. And so

he's the one that the promise has to come through. And only God could have

done that. And it's a very interesting thing how Hagar is referred to as Mount

Sinai, which to the people of Israel was a very intimate place. It's a very special

place because that's where they received the law that they held in such high

esteem. At the same time, the people of Israel viewed Hagar and Ishmael as

being this basically the red-headed stepchild. You know, they were the ones

that weren't really supposed to even exist, but this is what Paul is referring

to Israel as now, which is kind of unique. So this is where Israel became slaves to

the law and would remain slaves to the law until they accept Christ. So if they

don't accept Christ, they still remain slaves to this day. So Sarah, on the

other hand, represents not the earthly Jerusalem but the heavenly Jerusalem.

This is the perfect plan of God that will bring us into eternity. It's not a matter

of being this thing to hold us over for the time being here on earth, but this

is the eternal plan that brings a fulfillment to all things. Now this is

what happens when we let God work. God is able to do things eternally. While in

the beginning, it may not seem to pay off as Isaac was the only child born to

Abraham and Sarah. They quickly multiplied into a great nation and even

today as Christians, more than one-fourth of the world claims to be

Christians and are technically adopted into the family of God. So it may have

started out very small. It may not have seemed like God was going to come

through with his purpose and his plan, but you know a couple thousand years later,

the coming of the Messiah, this thing has morphed from just being a nation of

people to over two billion people around the world professing to be

believers in Jesus Christ, which is an amazing thing. Now Paul even talks about

how Ishmael persecuted and mistreated Isaac and Christians in the same sense

are persecuted by those who want to be greater than Christians and therefore

try to tear them down by mistreating them. As a result, we must be like Abraham

and get rid of the things in our lives that take away from God's ultimate plan.

Just as Hagar and Ishmael were sent away, we also are called to remove the

things from our lives that are not a part of God's plan. This is compared to

circumcision a lot and all throughout the New Testament. We're called to cut

away the excess things in our life. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're

sinful or they are damning to hell in a sense, but it just means that they're not

beneficial. They're not eternally beneficial and God has something so much

better for us. So we cut away the excess, we remove the things that shouldn't be

there to make room for God's plan. So just as Hagar and Ishmael were sent

away, we got to remove stuff in our lives so that God's plan can went out.

Trying to be obedient to the law is the very thing that the Galatians needed

to be ridding themselves of and it's something that we need to rid ourselves

of as well as Christians. We cannot be obedient enough to earn salvation. It is

only through Jesus Christ and we can only be obedient through the power of the

Holy Spirit. So that's a short one. I hope you enjoyed it. Let's pray and

we'll let you guys go. Father, thank you for this day and for everything you've

given us. Help us to serve you and honor you. Help us to lean on Jesus and

understand He is the only way to you and the only way to eternal life.

Father, we love you today and we ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Alright guys, thanks for tuning in for another week. Thanks for being a

Father Graham Chapel family. Tune in this weekend for our video services on

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you. We're praying for you. Hope you have a great week.