Isaac or Ishmael
Book of Galatians 4 verses 21 through 31
The way to Heaven is not by any work from us nor by any law; this must be clear to us.
We are also very wrong if we think God needs our help to further the Gospel.
God does not need us at all!
In Luke 19 the Lord Jesus had these words: Luk_19:40 And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
It is we who need our Heavenly Father and He offers us opportunities after He saves us.
Our life becomes our testimony as we live to be more like our Savior.
Jhn_12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
There are two words that we see in our lesson today that we need to understand.
1) Promise.
2) Patience.
First promise: It takes God's wisdom to understand His promise.
1Co 1:20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
1Co 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
1Co 1:22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
1Co 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
1Co 1:24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, "and the wisdom of God".
We can have no wisdom without the Spirit of Wisdom which comes by the Holy Spirit and a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and in this we will have the power to work on patience and other important things.
Eph 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19 "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power",
Eph 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
There is no wisdom of God without a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ which gives us the Spirit of Wisdom which is the Holy Spirit!
Now let's look at the word patience as it pertains to God.
We already know that God is never late, but He is always on time.
Patience:
Listen to these words from the Apostle Peter:
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
2Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, "they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ".
Patience is something we will work on most of our lives because we live in this sinful and wicked world!
God has promised Heaven only to those who believe in His Son and have patience till He returns!
Now let’s look at our lesson today:
*****Gal 4:21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
All those who approach God by the Law or by works of goodness or religion are legalists or religionists.
Every one of them needs to understand what they are doing because they will never reach Heaven this way!
They need to understand the implications of what they are doing!
This is why the Apostle Paul was pouring his heart out to these churches in Galatia.
This is also an example for us to not just push away those of legalism, nor those who are religious, maybe we need to show them the "love of Christ" that is within us.
This will not be easy!
We are never better than any of them, we are just better off, and they need to understand why.
Paul's final attempt to win these souls he went back to the Scriptures.
The first five books of the Old Testament were considered the sacred law to all Jews and Paul used these same passages to show these churches the error in their way of thinking.
This is also a great example for us as we tell the lost about the truth of Jesus Christ.
We must try to tell those who are lost how to escape the bondage they do not realize they are under.
*****Gal 4:22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
If we have read the Bible, we all know this passage of the Old Testament.
Abraham, who is the father of all those who believe in the promises of God!
It is by the same faith that Abraham had that we can be saved!
We must just believe what God says and understand that God keeps His promises.
Abraham had two sons at this time though he later had others after the death of his wife Sarah.
The Jews understand that they are descendants of Sarah. This is still in effect today.
Abraham had two sons before Sarah died.
One was born of Sarah who was Issac.
This was a great miracle of God because Sarah had been barren all of her years and far past the time when she could conceive, until the birth of Isaac.
God had promised Abraham a son by his wife Sarah and Sarah just could not believe what God said, or she wanted to be sure that God's promise to Abraham was true.
The greatest lesson we can learn here is that God does not need our help to keep His promises!
It is still a sin to go against the Word of God and trying to help God is a sin!
God does not need our help; God simply wants us to believe in Him as did Abraham.
Isaac was the Son of Promise, but there was another son who came before Isaac and his name was Ishmael.
Sarah had become discouraged from being barren and she had a slave girl who was bought or given to them by a Pharaoh of Egypt.
Sarah had no patience and thought God needed her help and sent Hagar this young slave into her husband Abraham, and she conceived, and Ishmael was born to this bondwoman.
This is the basis of Paul's message to these Galatians.
Paul reminded us of all of this:
Rom 4:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Rom 4:18 Who against hope "believed in hope", that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Rom 4:19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:
Rom 4:20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
Rom 4:21 "And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform".
Rom 4:22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Rom 4:23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
Rom 4:24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
Rom 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Isaac was born after the order and the process of nature to fulfill the promise of God, just as our Lord Jesus Christ after the promised seed was planted.
Sarah had a miracle birth, and our Lord Jesus had a miracle birth both of by the "Promise of God".
Ishmael was still a precious child as much as any child until influenced by his mother and rejected by Sarah.
None of these things were the fault of Ishmael, and we know God made a promise to Hagar concerning Ishmael.
Ishmael was conceived in sin when Abraham listened to his wife and went against God's Law.
Exo_20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
This thing has broken up more marriages than anything else in this world.
Again, we cannot help God keep His promises, and this is the basis of a works doctrine.
*****Gal 4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27 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 an husband".Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
We should understand that these things the Apostle Paul is teaching are teaching in allegory and there are not many such places in the Bible where this happens.
The Lord Jesus used typology in some of His teachings but not allegory.
To allegorize is to say what is either designed or fitted to convey a meaning other than the literal one, or words adapted to another meaning.
As believers, we accept the Word of God as the literal truth so we must be very careful if we try to do an allegory with the Scriptures
It is best to leave these things to true Bible Scholars who know when to use them.
We cannot ever change the truth of God to mean something else!
The Apostle Paul was a Bible Scholar and He was speaking to mostly Jews who were once confirmed in Judaism and were trying to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and had received some false teaching from Judaizers who were trying to derail the Church.
It is far better if we use typology rather than allegories!
Paul was saying that in these two women Hagar and Sarah we can see the Two Covenants.
The Covenant of Law and the Covenant of Grace.
Some preachers might use the word dispensations.
The one from Mount Sinai, which is the Law and applies to Hagar, and the other from Mount Sion which is the Covenant from Heavenly Jerusalem, bearing the children of liberty and this is Sarah.
Mount Sinai is where Moses saw the burning bush and received his call to lead the Israelites out from the bondage of Egypt and represents the covenant of the Laws of Moses that were intended to lead all of Israel to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, but the Jews refused to take that step.
Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mount Sion is a reference to Heavenly Jerusalem.
Heb 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
It is the New Jerusalem that is our home, the home of those whose chains of bondage are broken by Jesus Christ and are now the children of God!
It is the New Jerusalem which is that Eternal Spiritual City that God promised to all who approach Him by "faith".
God's "Grace" and the promise of our Heavenly Home are both free to those who have faith in the work of Jesus Christ for our salvation.
Jerusalem on earth is a place of turmoil and laws and has never been at peace and will only see peace for a while when the Lord Jesus returns
We have no work to do to get into our Heavenly Home but only believe in the Word of God!
This is why the Covenant of Grace is such a wonderful thing that comes from our Heavenly Father through the Lord Jesus Christ!
Isaac was a child of promise and every believer in the Lord Jesus is also a child of promise!
God made a way for mankind to inherit the Promised Land, and this true Promised Land is not upon this earth.
Rom 4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
Rom 4:14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Heb 11:14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
Heb 11:15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
Heb 11:16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
*****Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
In the Book of Genesis chapter 21, we can read the story of how Ishmael had been mocking Isaac for some reason, and Sarah the mother of Isaac saw him.
Sarah told Abraham it was time to send that bondwoman away with her son.
Persecution is not specifically mentioned but any insult is considered to be persecution.
Legalism persecutes and enslaves believers.
We are mocked throughout this world because we accept the Word of God as the truth and believe God's promises.
Ishmael ridiculed, mocked, and persecuted Isaac.
When we try to approach God in the flesh, with our own energy and our own effort, we are rejecting the Grace of God as the means of righteousness.
We cannot build credit with God!
We cannot try to get recognition from God!
We cannot work to get God's approval!
We do not have it in our power to gain acceptance and praise of God beyond "faith"!
All persons in the flesh refuse to accept this fact and they will never make it to New Jerusalem.
We are in that Age of Persecution today!
2Ti 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2Ti 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
2Ti 3:14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
What did God tell Abraham?
Gen 21:12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
*****Gal 4:30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
We can see that legalism was cast out and can have no inheritance with God!
I believe that most of us in the Church know but not many Jews, that Judaism and Christianity are utterly and forever irreconcilable.
The Jews must accept Jesus Christ in faith just as any other non-believer!
The Law and the Gospel are two entirely different concepts!
God will never accept anyone who approaches Him by law or by works!
No matter how much good and how many good works we present to God on the Day of Judgment God will ask, "What about my Son Jesus" and they will be cast from God's presence.
What has God done for our salvation?
God loved us enough to send His own Son to die for us, in our place.
A simple prayer would be: Father you are my Savior and Lord. I believe with all my heart that your Christ did die for me and I surrender all I am into His keeping. I know that it is your Righteousness and your death that paid for my sins. In Jesus’ name Amen.
God's promise: Tit 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
Tit 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Tit 3:6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
Tit 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
And the results:
*****Gal 4:31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
The Lord Jesus Christ has freed every believer from the curse of the Law, which ends in death, and eternal separation from the God who made us all.
Amen
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