 In chapter four, I'll read to you beginning at verse 21, but I'm actually going to double back and go back to verse 17 for a moment when we develop our introduction. But I'll begin reading at verse 21, reading to verse 31. We'll get into our study. We're looking at the study of law and grace. So beginning at verse 21, Paul writes, tell me you who desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond woman, the other by a free woman. But he was of the bond woman, was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise. Which things are symbolic? For these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar, for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it's written, rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear, break forth and shout, you who do not travail. For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. Now, we brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But as he who was born according to the flesh, then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what does the scripture say? Cast out the bond woman and her son. For the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but a free of law and grace. That's what we're looking at. Now, he's writing concerning false Christians. As you know, we've been going through Galatians. We've seen this from the very first chapter. Paul's writing concerning false Christians. These false Christians have been pursuing the Galatians. And he's been speaking concerning this intense pursuit of the believers. Notice in verse 17, as I mentioned, I'm gonna go back for just a moment. Notice how it says concerning these false teachers, they zealously court you, but for no good. Yes, they want to exclude you that you may be zealous for them. So he's been speaking of these false Christians pursuing the Galatians, and there's an intensity of their pursuit of these believers. They're zealously courting you. That word zealous speaks to desire something earnestly. They're striving after. They're striving after. They're pursuing you earnestly. Even today, we can see that to be true because most cults seem to truly care about you. And they will constantly pursue after you. If they knock on your door and you show an interest, and some of you can speak of this firsthand, if you show an interest to them, they will ask if they can see you again. Can we come again? Can we come and see you and visit with you and speak some more? And the more interest that you show in them, the more they invite themselves over. A lot of times on college campuses, there are cults that prey on the lonely college students. And they will invite them to potlucks and they'll invite them to events and all that they have at their church. But in reality, these are cults and these are people who are zealously courting after these students. So they do so on college campuses. They can do so by knocking on your door. And what they do is they ask, how are you doing? They seem to really care about you. They'll invite themselves over to your house. They invite you to everything they're doing. And this is an earnest pursuit. And this earnest pursuit has a way of causing you to think they really care about me. And that's what Paul is speaking about with these false teachers who infiltrated the churches of Galatia. He's saying they're zealously pursuing you. They seem to show an interest in you. But he says in verse 17, yes, but not for good. He says, in reality, they wanna exclude you. You see, in other words, once they have you, this sincere concern that they at first seem to have for you, well, it fades away. Once you begin to enter into these cults, they begin to control you. They begin to exercise dominion over your life. Some will tell you you can't read any material other than the material that we give to you. Sometimes they'll say, we don't really like you speaking to those Christians. And if you do so, make sure that we are present with you because these Christians are gonna try and pull you away from the truth. I can tell you through experience that there have been many times, especially in my earlier walk with the Lord, that I would speak to a cult member, they'd come to the house. And because I was learning things about the Lord, I wanted to share it with them. And they would come to the house and they'd wanna talk to me. And I found out very early that when, like for example, Jehovah's Witnesses would come over, there was always the trainer and there was always the trainee. You've discovered that, haven't you? If they're always coming in two, at least two, sometimes they're three, but they come at least with two. And I found that out, I discovered that. And so what I would do is I'd invite them in and they'd sit and I would begin to speak and then I would find out who the trainer was and the way I found out who the trainer was is I'd ask a question. And the one who began to answer the question, that would be the trainer. I can remember one conversation I had at the house and how that, I asked a question and this trainer stepped in and I said, if you don't mind, I'm not asking you the question. I'm asking that person the question. Now this was many years ago, this was over 30 years ago, I have to hasten to add that. It was a long time ago, as I'm recalling, this particular incident. And the trainer said, no, I'm gonna answer that question. And I've learned since then, but this is what I did. I said, if you haven't noticed, this is my house. Which really means that if I ask somebody a question in my house, I really think they should be given the freedom to answer it, don't you? I mean, seeing that this is my home, I have the opportunity to say who I wanna speak to here. And they said, well, you know, they're not ready to answer that question. And so I looked at the trainee and I said, no, isn't this interesting? You're in a religious institution that doesn't allow you to think for yourself. And everywhere you go, you're gonna have to take your trainer with you so they can answer all the questions that people ask you. Now, does that seem right? Is that something that you really wanna be part of? Because that's exactly what happens. They will sit in your house and then the person who's doing the training will allow the trainee to speak for a few moments, but when they get caught in a question or they don't know how to answer it, immediately the trainer gets involved and before you know it, they're saying, well, we don't have to listen to you. And that's what they do. They get up and they storm out of the house and they do mark your house by the way so that the other people will come walking by and see the mark that they put there and then they'll just pass by your house because you're in trouble, because you're born again. And they don't wanna argue with you. And so I've seen that firsthand. I've been there firsthand where they do this kind of thing. They want you to read their material. I remember this, Joe, of his witness who came to my mom's house. It just so happened I had, I was there and she said she wanted to teach my mom the Bible. I said, really, that's not something you're going to do, but I'm more than willing to sit down with you and look at the Bible with you. And they said, well, I really don't wanna teach through the Bible. I said, look, this is what we can do. I said, I will be here every Tuesday and if you come over, I will give you an hour. You wanna talk about God? I said, I'll sit down and talk to you for an hour, but we're not gonna go through your materials. What we're gonna go through is the Bible. I said, we'll pick up the Gospel of John and we'll go through the Gospel of John together chapter by chapter until we go through the entire book and let's see what God says about Jesus Christ's son. And the lady says, I can't do that. And I said, why can't you do that? She says, because we're not supposed to go through the Bible. We're supposed to go through our materials. And so Charles Taze Russell, who was the founder of the Jehovah's Witness Organization made a statement that if people are reading his material and the Bible in the course of a year, they stay walking in the light. But if a person will read only the Bible and not his materials within the course of a year, they return to darkness. So what he was basically saying is his organization and his material have taken the place of the Holy Spirit. And what happens is if you're not using his material, you're not getting taught the truth of God. If you only trust the Bible, you're gonna go into darkness, which is the exact opposite of what the word of God says. The word of God says that the entrance of thy word brings light. And when you open up the word of God and you study the word of God, God enlightens you through his word and by his spirit. And so when false teachers enter in, what they attempt to do is to bring you into bondage. They want you to read their materials. They want you to believe the things that they're telling you to believe. And they don't like you speaking to Christians without them present because they wanna answer for you. And then they begin to warn you against believers and tell you that you have to stay away from believers. That's what happens. And so this is what Paul is really dealing with because the members of this belief system that is mixing the law of God with the grace of Jesus Christ have infiltrated and are bringing people into bondage. Now, they are pursuing converts. And what they're trying to do, and I use this phrase, is they're really looking to gain spiritual scalps. They wanna increase membership in the organization or perhaps they want to make some money. Titus chapter one, verses 10 and 11 says it like this. There are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced because they're ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach. And that he says for the sake of dishonest gain. So the result, what is the result of following after people like that? Well, he says it, the result of following them is they want to exclude you. They will exclude you from the grace of God. They're gonna shut out or turn out of doors the grace of God in your life. If you pursue legalism, you are quenching the spirit and you're closing the door to the grace of God. And Paul has been making it very clear from the beginning of Galatians that it's all about the grace of the Lord. It's all about the goodness of God. It's all about the freedom you have in Jesus Christ. And these people are coming in order that they might bring you into bondage and that's why he's writing and that's why he's so greatly concerned about all of this. Again, in verse 18, he says it is good to be zealous and a good thing always and not only when I'm present with you. Now, it's good to zealously seek to honor God. Yes, that's a good thing. And that is how we sought them out and this is how they ought to view his example. It's be zealous for the good thing because he says in verse 19, my little children for whom I labor and birth again until Christ is formed in you. You're my precious children. I love you dearly and I'm agonizing not for your money. I'm agonizing not for your attention. I'm agonizing not to be popular in front of you to be looked at as somebody that's great. I'm agonizing because I want you to be mature in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to grow in the things of God. I want you not to be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by the slight cunning of men who lie in wait with craftiness wanting to deceive you. I'm caring about you as a shepherd cares for the sheep and you can see the heart of the apostle Paul. You know today people would think that he's perhaps intruding on their personal life and their ability to make decisions for themselves. But in reality what Paul is simply saying is like a mother loves her child, like a father cares for his kids, even so I care for you. And I don't want you to be messed up. I don't want you to be taken advantage of. I don't want your joy to be turned into sorrow. I don't want your freedom to be exchanged for bondage. I want you to know the grace of God and the love of God and the joy that comes through a relationship with Jesus Christ. And I'm agonizing for you. When he says in verse 20, I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone I have doubts about you. He's simply saying I wish I could be there with you that I might see how you truly are because I am extremely concerned for you. Again, that is the shepherd's heart for sheep. I need to see firsthand what has happened among you. Like a doctor making a diagnosis, I need to check the progress of error and conviction among you which I cannot fully know without being among you. I wish I were there to see what's really going on because all I have right now are concerns. And so I wish I was amongst you so I could at least see. Not only I could at least see, I could also answer those who have come in who are attempting to undermine your faith. You know, one occasion my wife Marie who was still fairly young in the Lord answered the door and there were two representatives of the Jehovah's Witness organization at the door. And so Marie said, you know, kind of like what you guys are. There's Jehovah's Witnesses at the door. Should I answer the door? I said, well, do you want to? She says, well, don't you think we should? And I said, do you think so? She goes, yes, I said, okay, go answer it. Okay, so she answers the door and starts talking. She turns around and I left her. I left her there. I actually walked out of the room and I went into the hallway and stood in the hallway. And she's going, my husband was here a minute ago. I was raptured, you know. And so she invites them in and sits down with them and there are two ladies and they begin to speak to my wife and Marie was still, you know, she was still a young believer at that time, just a few years old in the Lord. And she really hadn't much experience speaking to people from the Jehovah's Witness organization. And so I thought this should be her baptism in fire. I'll give her an opportunity to do it. And so I went into the other room. I really did, I stood around the corner. We had a real small house. I mean, I was only about six feet from her. There was just, I was in the hallway and she's right there, she just couldn't see me. And they began to speak to her and she said something and one of the ladies began to talk down to her. Well my dear, this is what it actually, and started demeaning my wife. Just started speaking down to her like my wife was some ignorant woman and you know, and I came around the corner. You know, and I said, you know what? And I said, honey, let me take over. Let me have a visit with these ladies. And I know what Paul's talking about. I have that feeling myself. I would like to be there so I could deal with what's going on. And I came in and had a wonderful argument with these two ladies from there. Well Paul's simply saying, listen, these people are coming in, they're entangling you. They're trying to undermine you, they're bringing you into bondage. And he's saying, I wish I were there so I could see what was taking place so that I could deal with those who are intruding and I could encourage you in your faith because that's what shepherds do. Now as all of this is taking place, he now gets more direct. Verse 21, tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? So he's contrasting the grace of God with the law of Moses and at this point he begins to remind them. He begins to remind them of an Old Testament story, the story of Abraham, the story of Sarah and the story of Hagar. He says in verse 22, it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond woman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bond woman was born according to the flesh. And he of the free woman through promise which things are symbolic for these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage which is Hagar, for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free which is the mother of us all. It's written rejoice o' barren, you who do not bear break forth and shout, you who do not travail for the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. So he begins to speak concerning this Abraham and Sarah and Hagar. He wants to demonstrate to them that God's plan of redemption has always been a plan of grace. Notice in verse 22 how he speaks concerning the fact that Abraham had two sons, one by a bond woman, the other by a free woman. Now just an aside here, normally when you think of Abraham, you may normally think that he had but the two sons because you see these two sons Ishmael and Isaac in scripture and you may be thinking of him as simply having the two sons but the fact of the matter is he actually had more than two, this is just an aside but it's interesting to me, interesting enough to present it to you for a moment. You see, there are other sons born to Abraham who were born after Sarah died. Genesis 23 verse one tells us that Sarah died at the age of 127. Now that's pretty old but Abraham was 10 years older. He was 137 but in Genesis 25 verses one and two, this always has blown my mind, that's why I'm sharing it with you. He's about 137 to 140 years old. He's been with Sarah for who knows how long and the old lady died. Literally 127 years old, that's pretty old but it says in Genesis 25, one into Abraham again took a wife, her name was Katera. She bore him, Zimran, Jochen, Medan, Median, Ishwak, and Shuah. That old man was still having babies at 140. Think about that for a minute, okay stop, amazing. But in the biblical record, only two are recorded prominently, Isaac and Ishmael. Now, as we know, these two sons had different mothers. I wanna show you something so please turn with me, keep your place here in Galatians turn with me to Genesis chapter 16. I wanna show you something, Genesis chapter 16. I'm gonna develop this. Genesis chapter 16 and I'll read to you verses one into the verse four, the first portion of verse four. Genesis chapter 16, beginning at verse one, reading to the first portion of verse four, Sarah, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyptian maid servant whose name was Hagar. So, Sarai said to Abram, see now the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please go into my maid, perhaps I shall obtain children by her. Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife after Abram had dwelt 10 years in the land of Canaan. So, he went in to Hagar and she conceived. Now notice verse 15 and 16 in the same chapter. Hagar bore Abram a son and Abram named his son whom Hagar bore Ishmael. Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. And so we have Ishmael, the son of Sarai's maid servant Hagar, an Egyptian slave that was owned by Sarai. But in chapter 17, now note first Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael. Chapter 17 verse one, when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am almighty God, walk before me and be blameless and I will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly. Then Abram fell on his face and God talked with him saying, as for me behold my covenant is with you and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram but your name shall be Abraham. For I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you and kings shall come from you and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession. Now notice verse 15 in the same chapter. God said to Abram as for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai but Sarah shall be her name and I will bless her and also give you a son by her. I will bless her. She shall be a mother of nations. Kings of people shall be from her. Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart shall a child be born to a man who's a hundred years old and shall Sarah who's 90 years old bear a child. Abram said to God, oh that Ishmael might live before you. God said, no, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him. That's for Ishmael, I've heard you. Behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful. We'll multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget 12 princes. I will make him a great nation, but my covenant I will establish with Isaac whom Sarah shall bear to you this time, this set time next year. He finished talking with him and God went up from Abraham. And so what we have here is we have Ishmael. The name Ishmael literally means God will hear and you have Isaac. The name Isaac literally means laughter. You have Abram, which one translation is high, H-I-G-H, high father, who is now becoming Abraham, father of many nations. And you have Sarai, which means dominative, being changed to Sarah, which means princess. So God is doing a work here, a work that is previewing his grace. And that's what Paul is gonna be dealing with as we look at that back in Galatians. You're gonna be seeing how Paul is gonna be contrasting this. Because back in Galatians in chapter four, at verse 23, it says he who was of the bond woman was born according to the flesh, he of the free woman through promise. And so that's what he's doing. Paul is contrasting the way the children were conceived. Ishmael's conception was a product of the flesh. You see, Abraham was afraid that he would leave his belongings, not to a son. He was afraid that he was gonna leave his inheritance to his chief servant. You see that in chapter 15 of Genesis, where it says the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Do not be afraid, Abram, I'm your shield. You're a very great reward. But Abram said, oh sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Aliezer of Damascus. Abram said, you have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir. Then the word of the Lord came to him, this man will not be your heir. A son coming from your own body will be your heir. So when Sarah says to him, go into my handmaiden, go into my maid, Hagar, and bear a child through her, which was at that time culturally able and a legal thing to do, any child born to her handmaiden would automatically be hers because the handmaiden would give birth to it and hand that child to Sarah. Sarah would be the mother to that child, even if she didn't bear that child herself. She said, this is certainly how God is gonna fulfill his promise. We will just through our own efforts have a child in a natural sense. And so Paul, when he's making comment on that, is making it very clear that was an act of the flesh. You, he's saying, as you remember your history, remember with me that Abram tried to fulfill the promises of God through an action of his own carnality. God had said, you will have a child. Sarah said, of course you will through some natural means, but God had a supernatural work that he wanted to do for a man who's a hundred years old and a woman who's 90. God had this unbelievable plan in his mind for them that was gonna demonstrate that God is sovereign. You see, Abram had a child with Hagar. That was, again, a fleshly attempt to fulfill God's promise. It was motivated by fleshly desire and it was accomplished by fleshly means. The Bible tells us in Romans chapter eight verse eight, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But on the other hand, you have Isaac. Isaac is called the child of promise because Isaac was the one that God had promised to him. And the Holy Spirit miraculously enables Sarah to conceive Abraham's child. As we see, Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Beautiful commentary about this is found in Hebrews 11 in verses 11 and 12. There it says, through faith also, Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age. Ladies, how would you like to be 90 years old with mourning sickness? Think about that one for a minute. Because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead, we're born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, in new rumble as a sand, which is by the seashore. A 90-year-old woman isn't supposed to be nursing a baby, let alone conceiving one, raising one. Hundred-year-old man probably isn't in the position to raise a child, but God said, I'm gonna do something that's truly unbelievable. We know the story of how that, when God was speaking to Abraham and was speaking in the tent and Sarah, who was speaking outside the tent and Sarah was in the tent, how that the Lord said, this is gonna take place and then you could hear Sarah in the tent as she laughed, you know that story. She began to laugh. Now, we had just read a moment ago that Abraham laughed, but his laughter was not one of unbelief. His laughter was one of, like, this is too good to be true. This is amazing, is that kind of laugh? But hers, on the other hand, when she was in that tent and she heard God say that she's gonna have a baby, she just laughs within herself, okay, right. And God says, Abram, now why do you pick on Abram, by the way, Lord? Because he says, Abram, why did Sarah laugh? Now, when I read that, it causes me to realize that God holds me as a husband, pretty responsible for my wife. Because he didn't speak to Sarah directly, spoke first to the husband, why is your wife laughing? Haven't you been teaching her about what faith is all about? Haven't you been modeling that? Why is she laughing? And she says, from the tent, I didn't laugh. Yes, you did laugh. I heard you laugh. Her laugh was a laugh of unbelief. And he says, but just to demonstrate indeed that my promises are true, you're gonna have a child and you're gonna name him Isaac, laughter. Because whenever you call him, there'll be a subtle reminder of how I am beyond your doubts, how I am true to my word. And every time you call laughter, it'll be a reminder of the doubt that you had and then an obvious picture of my ability to fulfill my promises. And so you have Ishmael and you have Isaac. Ishmael representing religious self effort. Now, he says to us in verses 24 and 25 that these things are symbolic because it represents two covenants. One, you have Hagar, who represents Mount Sinai. That's where Moses got the law. That's where the law actually is received and the law is what resulted in people's bondage. Remember in chapter three in verses 10 through 12, how Paul had already said, as many as under the works of the law are under the curse. It's written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident for the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not a faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. You're held to them. If you're gonna say you're gonna be made righteous through your obedience to the law, then you're under its curse because no man can actually keep the law. And so one represents that salvation through really through the law. It actually, Ishmael actually represents the way of the flesh, man's way of salvation which is built on work. But Isaac, well Isaac represents the way of God, the way of promise because Isaac represents the grace of God which makes the way for us to be pleasing to God. God's grace. You know I can camp out on that because that is something that I, I just, I just, I love the grace of God. I'm so grateful for the grace of God. We all know the story of Nicodemus. He came to Jesus by night. Master, we know that you were a teacher. Come from God for no man can do the works, miracles, signs, the things that you're doing. Unless God is with him. And the Lord Jesus begins to speak to him and says to him, man needs to be born again to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And Nicodemus answers and says, it's found in John three verses four through seven. Nicodemus says to the Lord Jesus Christ, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time in his mother's womb and be born? Now when you read that, you think, you know, this is a man who's brilliant. Is that a real question? And yet I've shared this with you before. When I was in the military, I have a friend of mine in the army with me. His name was Rich Torres. He was from Delano. He and I were very close friends and we were roommates. He and I shared a room together. And Rich at that time didn't have a relationship with the Lord. And I was a new Christian and very zealous to try and speak to people about my faith. It just so happened, Richard and I very close were roommates and I would share with him quite often. I used to read to him out of the Bible I'd read and I read King James and so I would read to him and I'd say, Rich listen to this and I'd read a passage and always relate it to how to get saved. I always did, you know, listen to this and I'd read it and I'd say, isn't that great? You know, here what God is saying, man, he wants you to be saved. I would do that with Rich. After a while, I still remember Rich's response. He said, David, he said, I got something for you. I said, what is that? He said, shutteth thy moutheth. He said, book of Big Rich, chapter four, verse three. Because I was always quoting in the scriptures to him, shutteth thy moutheth. But he really got, and one day I would speak to him and I said, you know, Rich, I said, you gotta be born again. You have to be born again to enter into the kingdom of God. And he looks at me and he says, what? Am I supposed to climb back in my mother's womb and be born a second time? He said exactly that. And I said, you know, that's a real interesting thing that you just said because in the Gospel of John, in chapter three, and I gave him this story. It's exactly what Nicodemus said. How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time in his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, most assuredly I say unto you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, can I enter the kingdom of God? That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Do not marvel that I said unto you, you must be born again. You're born of water, which represents natural birth in that you break the water as you come forth. You have a natural birth. There's one who was born of water. He's not referring to being born again through water baptism. He's speaking of the natural birth. He said, unless you are naturally born, unless you're born of water, unless you break that water, unless you come forth. I can still remember when Marie gave birth to our four children, she would say, my water broke and all the wives in here and perhaps us husbands understand that that means. Wives through experience and men through panic. We understand what that means. The water broke. And that simply means the baby's coming. The baby's going to be born. It's born of water, the natural water. That water has broken. Jesus said, unless a man is born of water. He's not saying unless a man is water baptized, he's saying unless you have a natural birth, you need to be born of water and a natural way. But he said, you have to be born of the spirit to enter into the kingdom of heaven. So natural birth is not enough, is what Jesus said to Nicodemus. How are these things so Nicodemus asked the Lord? Are you a master of Israel? You don't know these things? If I talk to you about the basic things that are natural and you don't understand, how am I going to be able to explain to you the spiritual things? If you don't understand that a man needs to be physically born before he can be regenerated, Nicodemus, and why didn't Nicodemus understand? Because he was a man under the law. He was a man who didn't know that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ and it took Jesus to explain that to him. That's why Jesus in the same chapter says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God didn't send his son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved. It's in that conversation that Jesus speaks concerning the fact that God loves the world and gave his son so that we might trust and believe in him. Ishmael, and this is the argument Paul's having. Listen, you want to be under the law? That means you want to be under Ishmael because Ishmael is a picture of the law of Moses. Ishmael was born according to fleshly effort and answers to bondage. Isaac was the miraculous child who was born of promise through an act of faith. Abraham believed God, it was counted unto him as righteousness. So either you can have the miraculous promises of God that are expressed through the grace of God or you can attempt to win your own salvation through your own works. And so what he's doing is he's contrasting in order to exalt the grace of God and salvation. Legalists draw people into a system that they can rely on for salvation. If you eat certain foods or resist certain foods, if you go to church on certain days, you wear certain kinds of clothes, if you knock on doors, if you do a variety of things that they say you should be doing, then you begin to rely on those things and not on the grace of God. But Paul is saying it's the grace of God that makes it possible to be saved. It's not the result of your serious and concerted efforts because all your attempts, all they do is tire you out, trying to be good. Have you ever gotten tired of trying to be good? I did, I did. You know, when I was a little boy, my mom was sick. My mom began to have a series of illnesses when I was four years old. And I was four years old. My brother, Frank, who was a couple of years old and we were playing in the front room at my parents' house. My mom was in the kitchen and had closed our pocket door there and was bathing my sister Madeline, who was less than a year old. And I heard the sound of a crash in the kitchen and the pocket door began to shake. It was making a noise, it was shaking. And at the age of four, I went and I put my hand into the door and slid it open. And when I slid the door open, my mother's body fell into the front room at my feet and my mom was having an epileptic seizure. And she was, her body was between me and my sister who was sitting precariously on the sink there because my mom had just pulled her out of the sink because mama was bathing her in the sink like a lot of mamas at that time used to do because she could turn on the stove and warm up that room and that's where she bathed the baby. And my little sister was sitting on the sink there precariously just dripping wet. But I couldn't get to her because my mom was separating us and my mom was in a full epileptic seizure. And my brother, Frank, who was only six years old, ran out the door and said, watch mommy. And he ran across a very busy street to go get our neighbor, Isabelle, who lived across the street and said, watch Madeline. Now you gotta put this into context. She's six, I'm four. She's around one, less than one. That's the first prayer that I remember ever praying as I pressed my back against the wall there and my mom's head is at my feet as she's having a seizure. And I prayed my first prayer that I still remember. God don't let my mother die because I thought she was dying. And the neighbor comes running across the street with my brother a couple minutes later, three minutes later, climbs over my mom, gets Madeline. We take care of my sister Madeline while she cares for my mom. And at that point in my life, I got this idea that if I become a good boy, my mom will get well. See, my mom went to the hospital on frequent occasions as I was growing up. One day my dad was talking to me. I was about six, maybe seven. And I was crying because mom was gone again. She was hospitalized. And my dad walked into the room and says to me, why are you crying? And I said, I miss mom. And my dad, God bless me, didn't mean anything. But he said, if you're a good boy, she'll get well. And so I, man, I have to tell you, I became the best boy I could be. I worked so hard to be a good boy. I became a model boy. God, good grades didn't cause any problems. And I did that for years, for years, not just a week, not just for a month. I did it for years until I was 15. But my mom didn't get well. My mom got worse. And at the age of 15, that's when I got a job. And at the age of 15, that's when I gave up. That's when I got into drinking. That's when I got into the dope. That's when I got into the party. Because I had come to believe that no matter how good you are, no matter how hard you try, it doesn't matter. They stay sick. I had somewhere gotten this idea that if I tried real hard to make myself good, that God would somehow honor all of my efforts. Now, I didn't have any Christian friends who could talk to me about the grace of God. So I was caught up in legalism. I was caught up in my religious system. I went and got my first communion. I went and got my confirmation. I went through the system. I wanted to have points with God. I wanted my mom to be well. But by the time I was 15 years old and she was getting no better, but only getting worse, I said, I've had it no more. And that's why I went into the party scene. That's why I went into that. I said, it just doesn't matter. I'm telling you, when you try to make yourself good, you can work as hard as you can and you can do it with the most noble reasons that there are for the sake of somebody you love very much. But when you get into your flesh, your flesh is never satisfied. And it never, never results in joy. And it doesn't result in freedom. It doesn't result in love. It doesn't result in anything other than stress. And that is why Paul is so angry. He's saying, listen, the legalists are coming in and they're gonna steal the joy of salvation. From you, you're gonna try and become good by following after rules and regulations. In Romans chapter four, verses four and five, it says, to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. So it's not the work, because God doesn't owe me anything. It's just the faith in Christ and the grace of God. And that's what he wants to amplify. Verse 26 says, the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. Jerusalem represents heaven. The Jerusalem above is free. Jerusalem above represents heaven, which is our home, which we enter in by faith through the grace of God. Philippians 3.20 says, our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 27, it is written, rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear, break forth and shout. Now that's found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. And it originally, in chapter 54, verse one, it originally applied to Jewish exiles in Babylon, but Paul is applying it to Sarah. He's saying rejoice because God has made good on his promise. And the point he's making is he always does. He always keeps his word. And so in verse 28, he says, we, brethren, as Isaac was, our children of promise. In other words, we've been supernaturally conceived and we receive God's promise to Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ. In 1 Peter 1.23, it says, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible through the word of God, which lives and abides forever. We owe our spiritual rebirth to God's grace. We are saved, not by our efforts, we're saved by the work he did on our behalf. Acts 3.25, you are the children of the prophets and the covenant which God made with our Father, saying to Abraham, in your siege, all the kinders of the earth be blessed. And so God has worked that work in us guys because we, like Isaac, are children of promise. You see, you heard the gospel. I heard the gospel. It doesn't matter where you heard it, you heard it. You could have been raised in church, you could have been raised in a Christian home, you could have gotten saved by going to a crusade. You might have been listening to the radio. But you heard the message of the gospel. You heard it and God saved you. I've told you this story before when I was in Chicago doing a radio rally years ago and how this individual, a woman and her husband, were the very last people to come and speak to me. And then she said, I want my husband to speak to you and tell you his story. And I said, okay. And I spoke to him and he had said to me that he was gonna kill himself and that he had climbed into the bathtub, was taken a bath, preparing to kill himself once he got out of the tub and how that his brother had given to him a tape that he had gotten off of the radio and had asked him to listen to it. And so he said, I didn't wanna die without at least doing that one last thing for my brother. And so I got out of the tub, I got my cassette player, I got the cassette, I put the cassette in, played it. He said and listened to it on his behalf because I told him I would. He said and it was the teaching you gave out of the book of Revelation. And in that teaching, he said, you gave me an opportunity to give my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says and there in that bathtub, as I was preparing to kill myself, I found life in Jesus Christ. And he said and I am literally standing in front of you here today, alive because of the word of God because I was gonna kill myself. And I listened to that tape. He said and it brought me life. That wasn't a work, that was grace. That was the grace of God that reached into this broken man's life. And not only spiritually, but actually physically saved him from killing himself, God's grace. And that's what he is speaking about. He says in verse 29, he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, even notice even so it is now. Now, Ishmael persecuted Isaac. Genesis 21 verses eight through 10 says the child grew and was weaned. And on the day Isaac was weaned, Abraham held a great feast. But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar, the Egyptian had born to Abraham was mocking. She said, Abraham get rid of that slave woman and her son for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance of my son Isaac. He was mocking. And he's making it very clear that that's continuing. And I want you to read that. As he was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit even so it is now. That persecution continues to this day. That resistance continues to this day. We see it in different forms, but Ishmael has been regarded as a father of the Arab nations. And I was just reading this, just this day, on the afternoon of the 15th of January, just recently, a group of unidentified criminals entered a hospital, a private clinic in the Sakhar district in Mosul, Iraq and shot a Christian doctor who worked there at point blank range. The gun had a silencer and the doctor was fortunately only seriously wounded. They went in intentionally to kill a Christian. That happens all the time. Today news came out that a Muslim conservative lawyer received death threats for taking up the case of a Christian woman, mother of five sentenced to death in Pakistan for blasphemy. She'd been working as a farmhand in fields with other women when she was asked to get some drinking water. Some of the other women, all Muslims refused to drink the water because it had been brought by a Christian and was therefore unclean. It sparked an argument and a false charge of blasphemy against Muhammad. And this guy who is a Muslim is going to defend her but he's getting death threats because they want her to die. That still happens to this day. I could multiply this many times over. Those are just two things that just came up today. I thought I'll just share this with you because it's still happening. He was born according to the flesh, persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, even so he says that it is now and it continues. Nevertheless, what does the scripture say? Cast out the bond woman and her son for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then brethren, we are not children of the bond woman but of the free. And so we are spiritual descendants, not of Ishmael. And we are not under the law in terms of bondage to it and its curse but we are spiritual descendants of Abraham through Isaac, Romans 2, 28 and 29. A man is not a Jew if he's won outwardly nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. A man is a Jew if he's won inwardly and circumcision is circumcision of the heart by the spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men but from God. You are spiritually united to God because you have received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior. It has nothing to do with being made right before God by law. You can have law after law after law passed but it doesn't make me change my behavior, not in the heart. I might abide by it because I don't wanna be arrested but if I've got a hatred in my heart because of something that you are that I don't like no law that's passed is gonna make me love you I may tolerate you and I may resist saying things to you. No law that's on the books is gonna make me love you. No law is gonna make me care about you. No law can do that. It just restricts my behavior and if I fear the law because I fear the penalty of it then I'm not gonna violate it but that doesn't mean that when my friends and I are together I'm not gonna say things about you. It doesn't mean that when I see you walking down the street and I have such a hatred in my heart because you're something I don't like it doesn't mean that I won't turn to my wife or my kids and say you know what and say something about you it doesn't change my heart at all. What changes my heart is the grace of God and the love of God. That transforms you from the inside and you discover something that you actually begin to care about people that at one time you couldn't stand that you wanted nothing to do with that you might have even been repulsed by and then you find yourself actually caring for them and that came not because of a law that came because of grace because you experienced the grace of God. Grace always triumphs over the law always love always triumphs and that's what God has called us to and we have that through Jesus Christ.