Galatians 4 verse 21 through 31, these are God's words. 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 bondwoman, the other by a free woman. But he who is of the free 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 is written, rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear. Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor. 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 of man persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what does the scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman 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. So for the reading of God's inspired and inerrant word. As we've been of Galatians, those Judaizing Christians, or at least professing to be Christians who had come and they had troubled the Galatians were false teaching were coming and telling them that in order to do really well, in order to increase and maintain their standing with God, they needed to keep certain days and months and seasons and years. We heard earlier in this chapter they needed to keep circumcision. We're going to see in the first few verses of chapter five, and he's going to make reference to it again very graphically. in chapter 5, they needed to use the covenant given by God, by means of Moses at Sinai as a way of increasing and maintaining their standing with God. What the apostle has done is he has shown them the purpose of that covenant in the first place, to keep them by the moral law, hoping only in Christ, because none of us can keep the moral law, to keep them by the ceremonial law, seeing how desperately they needed holiness and a priest to be their mediator and a sacrifice to be their substitute, the things that we too are desperate for when we see our sin, to keep them He gave the Sinai Covenant and the regulations given by the hand of Moses, he had given them as a way of keeping them focused on hoping in the Christ who was to come. And even now we can use the moral law in a very similar way. Yes, it is for us, especially that which tells us what pleases God so that when we love him, we want to obey his commandments, we want to please him. But it does also help us remember how desperately we need Jesus's obedience to be counted for us, because we can never keep the moral law well enough to maintain our standing before God. And so Jesus is always our moral perfection before God. And we can use the ceremonial law. We can look back to it and see how it looked forward. We wouldn't do it anymore, because Christ the fulfillment has come. He is the priest. He has offered the once for all sacrifice. take away from our embracing him having come and being our priest and having offered himself if we continue to do those things. But not only were they misusing the law in that way, they were trying to add to Christ-given. Christ had given the preaching of his word. Christ had taught his disciples to pray. Christ had commanded them to baptize. Christ had commanded the supper. That's it. Christ had given word, sacraments, and prayer. The ordinary means of grace is the means by which he works in us by his spirit to give us faith, to join us to him, to give us of his life and his righteousness, his power in us. Now, these people who came and said, oh, but we've got this stuff from the Bible that you can do to add to that. He says, adding our own ideas doesn't work. Haven't you read Genesis? It's like, you like the law so much, right? That's what he says. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? He says, you love all those regulations in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Okay, well, what about Genesis? Do you remember when Abraham had a promise already and then they came up with a way, something to add to the fact of God's promise? So he says, this coming up with ideas of how to improve God's work of redemption, that's been tried before. Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. Thankfully, children, in God's good providence to us, would have been in Genesis in the morning sermons. And so we remember this very recently. Was it God who said, well, why don't you try Hagar? Whose idea was it? It was Sarai's idea. And Abraham went along with it. This is what he means when he says, but he who was of the blonde woman was born according to the flesh. Some people read this and they say, well, Ishmael wasn't converted. But we've already seen that Abraham prayed that Ishmael would walk before God, would live before God, and that God said he had heard him. that Ishmael and Isaac together bury Abraham when Abraham dies, but that when Ishmael dies, that common phrase that's used, not just of death and burial, but of being gathered to his fathers, is used of Ishmael. We have every reason to believe that Ishmael was converted. But Ishmael was not converted by the efforts of Abraham and Sarah. Okay, that's what it's talking about. It says, he who was of the bondwoman was born according to what? The flesh, it was fleshly ideas, it was man's addition. Sure, there was some of we need a covenant seed because we've got this promise, but Abraham already had a wife, and they should have known that it was wrong. So they added, he was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman, which son was of the free woman, was born of Sarah, or Sarah by then. Isaac, and was it Abraham and Sarah's idea that they were going to have Isaac? No, God had come and said, a year from now, according to the time of, according to the ordinary time, I will return and you will have a son, and you shall name him Isaac. Okay, so he's using the illustration of the method by which Abraham and Sarah had Ishmael and the method by which Abraham and Sarah had Isaac. He said, you should see that when man adds his own ideas, he actually ends up in bondage, in slavery to that which cannot succeed. And that's not how you became a Christian. You didn't become a Christian by saying, hey, this is a good idea, I'll be spiritually alive now. No, God had to give you spiritual life. It was given by the Spirit. And so he says, yes, there is the Sinai Covenant, and yes, there is a Jerusalem now with a temple now, where at the time Galatians was written, they were still having sacrifices. And yes, circumcision was still being observed by the Jews. but they were observing it as if by works, not looking forward to Christ. As the same apostle by the Spirit writes to the Romans, they pursued a law that would have led to righteousness. How does it lead to righteousness? Because it points you to Jesus, and it says trust in Jesus, and Jesus has kept it and fulfilled it on our behalf. But what does he say to the Romans? They pursued that law that would have led to righteousness, but they didn't pursue it by faith. They pursued it as if it were by works, and that's what made them stumble over the stumbling stone. So just because it has ideas about Jesus in it, and even this, it was given by God, but it was a man-made idea of how to use it. They weren't using the law, they weren't using the ceremonies in the way that God had given them to be used. therefore he says this Hagar is in his illustration represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and the Jerusalem which now is. But there's another Jerusalem verse 26, but the Jerusalem above is free which is the mother of us all. And he says, you should have understood when you read Isaiah 54 and you saw rejoice O barren you who do not bear break forth and shout you who are not in labor for the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband." Should have read Isaiah 54 as it was talking about the Savior and how he would come and how salvation would come. You'd say, aha, he's using Sarah verse Hagar language. The salvation that is to come, the Savior that is to come, it is not gonna come by the idea or efforts of man. That's the Hagar way. It's gonna come to her who cannot do anything for herself. It's gonna come entirely by grace. And so the one who is barren and who is not in labor and is desolate, forsaken, is gonna have many more children. How in the world is that possible? That's the whole point. It's not. God does, by his power, what he has promised. And that's why we attend only for That's why we do only those things that he has commanded to find spiritual meaning or to gain spiritual life, to grow in Christ. Because God is the only one who can grow us in Christ. I know some of you children probably see some of the more mature Christians in the congregation and may make the mistake of thinking that we have any ability in ourselves. I can't grow myself in Christ the smallest bit. I wish sometimes, because I'm fleshly and unbelieving and don't rest on the Lord like I should, I wish sometimes that I could grow you in Christ. That I could somehow, by the sheer sincerity of my intent and zeal of my effort and cleverness of my plan, produce some spiritual growth in you. But I can't. That's the Hagar way. That's the Ishmael way. That's of the flesh. Only Jesus, only God, by the life of Christ and the ministry of his spirit, applying Christ to you, can do anything in us. And that's why we do just what he has said to do. We don't add to it at all. Now, is that gonna make everyone like you? Well, that's right. No, it's not. Right? Verse 21. There's actually this weird, and I would go even as far as to say wicked idea out there, that if we just follow Jesus well enough, if we just love others well enough, if we were just winsome enough, everybody would like us. And he says, 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. Saying yes, those Judaizers, those false teachers who had this extra idea of how to increase spiritual power by their idea of how to use the Mosaic law. If you decide that you are going to stick only to what Christ has commanded, and that you're not going to add that, they're not going to treat you well. Don't expect to be loved by them if you reject what they say. Just as Isaac was persecuted by Ishmael and you remember at Isaac's weaning party and Ishmael, he says the story doesn't end there. There's an illustration with Ishmael being cast out of the house. Yeah, Isaac was mistreated for a little while, but Isaac does end up being in the history of the heir. And the same thing is true for us. Those who are hoping in Christ alone, who have life only through union with Christ. It's very similar to right there in the middle of Romans eight, where it says, for if you suffer together with him for a little while, you will also inherit together with him and you will be glorified together with him. He says, don't you remember, 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. In other words, that way that they are choosing is a way that leads to being cast out. The way of salvation, the way of inheritance, is trusting only in Christ and doing only what Christ has given us to do. Say then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Very important. Not so much so that you'll not incorrectly judge Ishmael. A lot of people read this passage and they say, aha, see, it's talking about Ishmael didn't get saved, but Isaac did get saved. It's very important for us to understand this passage well because of what it is using Ishmael and Isaac as illustrations for. that we not put any hope in the flesh, that we not receive any clever ideas of how to have spiritual power or life, except for those that Christ has given in his word.