If you want to turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 4, we're going to continue our message there. I've entitled today's message, My Works or Christ's Work? I think that's really the main question of the book of Galatians and throughout the Gospel. Is it our works or is it Christ's work? And the way I phrase it, it's a question because that's what the truth presented in Galatians presses upon us. Is it our works or Christ's work that we trust? I hope you trust Christ's work alone. Not a mixture, but His work alone. Before we begin, I want to ask the Lord to be with us. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we pray that you would reveal to us by your grace the Lord Jesus Christ in his person and in his work and that we would be enabled by this God-given faith to hear him and cling to him and lay hold upon him for eternal life and live upon him. And you would indeed bring us to glory and with a sweeter, nobler song, then we will sing your power to save. No doubt about it, because Christ is our all. He is our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption, and it's in him that we've been glorified. And so we thank you, Lord, that the Lord Jesus is everything to us, because he's everything to you for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Galatians chapter 4. I want to first read here through this simple text of scripture in Galatians 4 verses 19 through the end of the chapter. We've gone over this material before but I felt like we hadn't addressed it by itself and so I want to do that today. And I want to also draw out some of the general themes of the gospel. One of the things that occurred to me as I was studying for this and thinking about this chapter and also other places in scripture is that as we read the Bible and as we hear the gospel and understand the gospel, the Bible actually becomes a smaller book. And I say that because in understanding the Gospel we see that the Bible really is all about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And that simplifies significantly for our understanding. But that's really significant. I mean, it's not just simplification, but that's a single theme. And it's a theme we love to hear and we live upon it. And we'll see that more clearly as we read through this. But I want to just read first here from Galatians chapter 4, verses 19-31. Paul continues his plea with the Galatians and with us. He says, My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. So he's comparing his labor in the gospel towards them as the work God gave him to do in order that they might be born and that in that birth Christ would be formed in them. And I'll expand on that in a minute. Verse 20, Paul continues, he says, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice, for I stand in doubt of you. He was doubting because the way they were behaving, they were going about listening to the Judaizers and he's going to explain why that's so deadly. Verse 21, here's the explanation, the further explanation. He had been giving this explanation throughout the book and now he draws from the Old Testament. Tell me, ye that 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 bondmaid, and the other by a free woman. The one by the bondmaid, the bondmaid was Hagar, the son born to Hagar was Ishmael. The free woman was Sarah, the son born to Sarah was Isaac. Verse 23. Paul continues, he says, But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh. But he of the free woman was by promise, which things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. In other words, Agar represents the covenant given at Mount Sinai, the law covenant. Or this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth, or corresponds to, Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children. So he's drawing a picture here, a comparison between the woman, Hagar, and the city, or really the religion, of the Jerusalem on earth. And those who are disciples of that religion, who are the followers, who are the adherents, those who hold to that religion as their hope, they're called the children of that Jerusalem. They're in bondage with their children, just like Ishmael was in bondage. He was a slave just like his mom. Verse 26, But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. Jerusalem which is above, as we know from several places in Scripture, such as Hebrews chapter 12, 22 through 24 and Revelation 21, that Jerusalem which is above is the church of the living God. Verse 27, For it is written Regarding that mother, that city, that place from which we're born, he says, 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 a husband. Outwardly, the nation of Israel appeared to be God's people. But in actuality, Christ was not married to them. He was married to the church. And so that's what this verse is talking about. Verse 28, Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. 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 free woman. So these two boys, Ishmael and Isaac, could not be allowed to stay together because one of them was the heir, the other one was the slave. And he's not going to make this slave to be around the heir. So cast him out and his mother. So then brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Now I want to just pick up a couple of verses in chapter 5 as well so you get the connection between 5 and 4 now, and we'll talk about this more in the future. But look at this, the first few verses of chapter 5. In consideration of this truth, which is being taught here by the Old Testament allegory of Hagar, Ishmael, Sarah, and Isaac, the Apostle says this, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. We know from other texts of scripture that we've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. And we've been told by the Spirit of God that we are the sons of God, therefore we've been made free as sons and not as slaves. So stand fast in that liberty. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you not a little, but nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he's a debtor to do the whole law, not just part of it, but the entire thing. You're either fully in or you're fully out. of these covenants. You're either fully in the covenant of works or you're fully out of the covenant of works. You're either fully in the covenant of grace or you're completely outside of the kingdom of God. Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace. And that's why he said to them, I stand in doubt of you. In verse 20. For we We who believe through the Spirit, not of our own strength or our own flesh, wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness, the reward of Christ's righteousness. We do this by faith. We wait for the hope of righteousness by faith, and all of that is through the Spirit of God. Our faith, our hope, looking to Christ, is all the work of the Spirit of God. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love." Now, the Judaizers had been talking to the Galatians about the necessity of also keeping the Law of Moses in order that they might be completed or perfected according to that law and receive the blessings. And of course, some people would have said that if you trust Christ alone, you're forsaking the law, and that's called anti-law or anti-Gnomeanism. But the opposite is true. If you hold to the law, you're under bondage and fear and the threat of the curse of the law, and always striving to gain a reward by your own obedience. But faith sees everything done by Christ, and therefore faith responds in love. Faith works by love. That's the result of this faith in Christ, is it produces love in us by the same spirit that gave us faith. Verse 7, you did run well. Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? Obeying the truth was believing Christ. Disobeying the truth was turning from Christ to these other things and trusting something other than Christ. This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth a whole lump. A little bit of works pollutes the entire lump of bread. Pollutes our faith. It's no longer by grace, it's by works entirely. Verse 10. I have confidence in you, through the Lord, that you will be none otherwise minded, but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. To preach that our salvation is in Christ alone offends those who try to gain salvation by their own works. And that offense of preaching the cross of Christ causes persecution to those who hold to Christ only. Just as Ishmael mocked Isaac, verse 12, I would that they were even cut off, which trouble you." That's a brutal way of referring to it, but Paul is saying cut off. They want to talk about circumcision, just cut off completely then, you that trouble these Galatians. Cut off from everything. For brethren, I have been called, I'm sorry, you have been called unto liberty. Only use not your liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but by love serve one another. You see the emphasis here? They were concerned about keeping the law, but this is the only way the law is kept, looking to Christ. And the result of that law-keeping of Christ produces in us love to God and love for one another. Verse 14, For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another. This I say, then, walk in the Spirit, or look to Christ, by God's grace, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And then he lists all these things that are the lust of the flesh. It's a long list here. Fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, and so on. Heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and all these things. That's the result of trusting a salvation that depends in some way on you and living that way. But the fruit of the Spirit, verse 22, is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. So here's the result. You either look to Christ and you bear fruit to God, or you look to yourself and you bear this vile fruit of the flesh. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another and envying one another, which was the Judaizers' way. They envied Paul. They provoked the Galatians to try to live after the flesh and to live by their own works and trust themselves. But I want you to think back now with me with what we read in Galatians chapter 4, verses 19 to 31. Here, Abraham had two sons by two different women. The first son was born to Hagar. Hagar was a slave. Her son that was born to her had no inheritance. Though he was called the son of Abraham then, later God said that he would bless Isaac, his only son, and so God never considered Ishmael Abraham's true son. Last week, The title of the message was, All Israel Shall Be Saved. The fact that in history Abraham had two sons by these two different wives is a description of the entire nation of Israel and really all men in general. Because within the nation of Israel there were those who were born only after the flesh, like Ishmael was. And there were those who were also not only born after the flesh, but born after the Spirit, as Isaac was. But even outside of Abraham's descendants, there are those who are born of the Spirit. And so all men can be divided into these two categories. Those who are enslaved and those who are free. Those who are free by the blood of Christ and by the work of the Spirit of God in our hearts showing us Christ, or those who are in bondage because they trust something of their own works. Now, God had promised Abraham that he would have a son by Sarah. And you remember that Abraham at first was confused because God had withheld Sarah from having children and yet God promised that Abraham would have a son, which was Isaac. And so Isaac was the promised son. But Abraham and Sarah together, it seems like in Genesis 16 verse 2 and following, Sarah actually suggested to Abraham that maybe the Lord wants us to have a son by my slave girl, Hagar. And so Sarah and Abraham agreed and Sarah took her slave and gave her to Abraham to be his wife. And Abraham had a son by Hagar. So if you think about it, Abraham and Sarah understood God's promise that God would bring the Lord Jesus Christ into the world and that God would bless the Gentiles, justifying them by the righteousness and the obedience of Christ unto death, by his sin-atoning death on the cross. They understood that and they believed that and they saw that promise would be fulfilled in their own son after the flesh. which was a son of promise, therefore he was born after the Spirit. But even though they believed that, they fell in unbelief when Sarah gave Abraham Hagar to be his wife. And this is the lesson being taught here. Abraham, a believer, and Sarah, a believer, actually trusted that God's promise would be fulfilled as God had promised, but that they needed to do something in order to help God, in order to do their part to make that promise come to fulfillment. And this is what the Judaizers were saying precisely. The Judaizers were saying that the Galatians needed to do something in order to make Christ's work perfect. They needed to keep the law, be circumcised, and keep the ceremonies, and the feast days, and so on. They basically needed to live under that Old Testament covenant of works which God gave to Moses at Mount Sinai. But that was false. In fact, if you look at this text of scripture here, He says in verse 24, he says, which things are an allegory. In verse 24 of Galatians 4, which things are an allegory. And what that means is, an allegory is that God, when he wrote the account in Genesis, when he gave us that account in Genesis, he had a gospel truth in mind during that whole recording of that account, that history, and he wrote it in order to teach this truth that he's telling us now, which was told to us and revealed to us by the Apostle Paul in God's time. So God arranged for and recorded in scripture the sin of Abraham and Sarah and the result of that sin which was Ishmael and the status of Hagar as a slave and the same status of her son Ishmael as a slave. And all of that to teach a very important truth, a big truth. And so Paul is guided by the Spirit of God with the wisdom God gave to him in order to unfold to us the Old Testament way of teaching the gospel in this account here. Abraham lived by faith and yet in this case he lived according to the flesh. And it was a sin, it resulted in sin. And God is teaching us, you cannot obtain the promises of God in Christ by something that you do, by trusting in your works, or by trying to help God in the process. And this is the most difficult thing for us to possibly learn. That we're absolutely and utterly dependent upon the work of God in salvation from beginning to end, and that God must do it all by His grace. Now, Isaac is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's also a picture of us. When I say a picture, I mean that God uses his life to teach us the spiritual truths of the Lord Jesus Christ and our own selves. In the case of the Lord Jesus Christ, Isaac is a picture of him because, remember, Isaac was the son of promise. He was born to Abraham when neither Abraham nor Sarah could have children. And so the Lord Jesus Christ was the son of promise, wasn't he? He says in Isaiah 9.6, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father. And many other scriptures promised the Lord Jesus Christ would come. And he would come to those who were born of Abraham. He would be born as Abraham's seed. Because he was the son of Abraham, the son of David. After the flesh, as it says in Romans chapter 1 and so many other places. And so Isaac was the son of promise because the Lord Jesus Christ was the son of promise. Isaac's birth was a miracle. He was born out of the dead womb of Sarah. Christ's birth was a miracle. He was born of a woman by the Spirit of God. And so Isaac was born of the Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ was born of the Spirit. And remember later in his life, when God had told Abraham, take your son now, your only son Isaac, in Genesis 22, and offer him up as a sacrifice on the mountain I will show you, Mount Moriah. And so when Abraham got there, in Genesis 22 verse 7, Isaac, his son, who was carrying the wood, and his father carrying the fire and the knife, Isaac asked his dad, he said to his father, he said, behold now here's the wood, and the fire for the sacrifice, but where is the lamb? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Genesis 22 verse 8. And so Isaac submitted to his father willingly when his father bound him and put him on the altar. It's as if he didn't say a word. Like a lamb was led to the slaughter, Isaac submitted himself to his father in his own offering that he would be offered up according to God's will. And so the Lord Jesus Christ offered himself willingly to God. He came into this world to do that. To be born, he was born to die. He says when he comes into the world, he says, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. And so he did that will. And as Isaac was on that altar, God commanded Abraham. He had drawn the knife to plunge it into Isaac and kill him, take the life of his son. And God withheld Abraham and he said, Abraham, Abraham. do not take your son's life and so Abraham received Isaac back as it were from the dead Hebrews chapter 11 says so that he received him back from the dead and that was a figure Hebrews 11 again look at this in Hebrews chapter 11 in verse 17 by faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises The promises of justification by faith in the righteousness of Christ, that Christ would come into the world and do that. And he saw his own salvation tied up in Christ, who would come through his Son. He knew that God was going to justify him by the work, the death, and the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he offered up his Son, he knew that God's salvation, his own salvation, was tied up in his Son's life. And so he offered him up in obedience to God. And it says, of whom, verse 18, it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called a counting, Abraham, considering or accounting that God was able to raise him up, his own son, even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Isaac represents the Lord Jesus Christ, doesn't he? The son of promise born miraculously out of the dead womb of Sarah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of promise born by the spirit of God from a woman. And then also offered up willingly, laying his life down for us, and then taking it again when he rose from the dead. But Isaac is also a picture of ourselves. Because Isaac was a son of promise. And look at this in verse 28 of Galatians chapter 4. He says, Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. So Isaac was a son of promise. And you know in Romans chapter 9, in verse 8, what it said there when the Apostle Paul asked this question, what happened in Israel? Since so few in Israel are saved, did God's word fail? And the answer was, not at all, because they're not all Israel, which are of Israel. And then in verse 8 he said, the children of the promise are counted for the seed. And he refers to Isaac. So we, brethren, are the children of the promise, as Isaac was. In other words, God, before we were born, in fact before the world began, gave us to the Lord Jesus Christ and promised then that he would save us by the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why we're called the children of promise. Our names were written in heaven, Luke chapter 10 verse 20, in the Lamb's book of life, Revelation 13 verse 8. And God ordained the Lamb to shed His blood before the foundation of the world for us. 1 Peter 1 verse 20. And so therefore, we were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ according to God's promise. A promise made in a covenant between God the Father and God the Son that He would save His people by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fulfilling all conditions of that covenant on our behalf. And so this is all taught here in these verses. But look back here in Galatians chapter 4 because I want you to see that Isaac is also a type of us or a picture of us. He teaches us how God saves us. How was Isaac saved? Well, first he was a child of promise. God promised him. God promised to Abraham he would be saved and that through him, both Abraham and Isaac, the Lord Jesus Christ would come and they would be justified by Christ's righteousness, cleansed by his redeeming blood, and therefore be considered the children of God. be given His Spirit. But how is it that we are made the children of God according to Scripture? Now I want you to think with me here because it says in Galatians 4.29 that Isaac was born of the Spirit or after the Spirit. And so we also are children not only of promise but the children of the Spirit of God and therefore children of God. Remember what happened in John chapter 3? Remember that account? A man named Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus by night. You remember? And he came to Jesus and he started out and he said to Jesus, We know you're a teacher come from God because no man can do these miracles that you do except God be with him. And then immediately the Lord Jesus Christ, revealing what was in Nicodemus' heart, said, Verily, verily, truly, truly, A man cannot see the kingdom of God unless he's born again. So Jesus told him, except a man be born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. And so what was Nicodemus' state? When Jesus spoke to him then, when he first came to Jesus that night, he was blind to the kingdom of God. He couldn't see it. He could not understand spiritual things. And Jesus went on to say, except a man be born of the water and the spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. So he was not only blind to it, but outside of the kingdom of God. And then Jesus said in verse 6 of John 3 that that which is born of the flesh is flesh. In other words, if you're born of a woman, guess what? You're just flesh. And that's exactly what Ishmael was. He was born of the flesh, and therefore he was only flesh. And so Jesus said, you have to be born of the Spirit. Nicodemus had only been born of the flesh. Nicodemus could not see the kingdom of God. He had not entered. He was outside of it. He was only flesh. He had only been born of his mother. He was one of the sons of Abraham after the flesh, but he was not yet a son of Abraham after the Spirit. And of course, Nicodemus heard all this and he didn't understand where he was coming from. He did not know what Jesus was talking about. Why? Because he was not yet born of God. He couldn't see spiritual things. He was spiritually non-existent. In nothingness, like the earth before it was created, he had no spiritual existence. He was dead in sins. He was spiritually dead. He needed life. He needed to be created a spiritual person. But he couldn't do that. Can we? Can we make ourselves? Can we birth ourselves? Did we have anything to do with our physical birth? Did we bring it about? Or did we help in the process? Were we in the process of our physical birth helping mom? No. Mom was doing all the work. And even much less do we have anything to do with our spiritual birth. We're dead in sins and we have no spirit. We're born of the flesh only. And so Jesus tells Nicodemus what's necessary and what he did not have. And doesn't that surprise us that God would tell us what's necessary and what we don't have? What can we do about it? If it's necessary that I'm born of God and I can't bring it about, why are you telling me? You see what I mean? But it's necessary that God also humble us because in our pride, our natural pride, we think the opposite. Like Abraham and Sarah, we think we've got to do something in order to make God's promise come about. And so what you'll find is that even in the book John chapter 3, When Jesus is telling Nicodemus all these things, first you're blind, you're outside, you're only flesh, you cannot produce this, it's the spirit that must do it, and he blows like the wind, you cannot direct him, you cannot initiate him, you cannot impede him, he acts sovereignly, and he left him there. Well then, Nicodemus said, how can these things be? How can I make it happen? How can I start this process? What recipe do I follow? There's nothing you can do because you're dead in sins. You must be created in Christ Jesus by the work of God. You must be raised from spiritual death to spiritual life by the resurrecting power of God. But Jesus didn't stop there. And that's what's significant. And I'm telling you these things without reading them from John chapter 3, hoping that you'll go back and you'll remember this in your own reading or in your own recollection of what it says there. But Jesus didn't stop there because then is when Jesus said to him, I've spoken to you earthly things and you believe not. In other words, he was yet an unbeliever. How can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? If you haven't understood the earthly things, and you might wonder what's that, It had to do with things like the serpent in the wilderness being lifted up. Nicodemus had no clue. Why was that? Why did Abraham have a son by this bondwoman? He didn't have any clue. He didn't understand those things. Those were the earthly things and many more. How was the world created by the Word of God? Out of nothing. Nicodemus was spiritually clueless. unbelief and not only that but Jesus told him to make it make him even more humbled by what he said he says I've told you and you didn't believe I came here the Son of God came to the earth in as a man and told you these things and you still don't believe he was in bad shape wasn't he but here's the good news Nicodemus' condition was no less worse than ours. We are just like him, spiritually without existence, spiritually dead in our sins, born of the flesh only, needing to be born of the Spirit and incapable of contributing one thing to it. But then the Lord Jesus continued and he told him the gospel. He told him that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness on the pole, remember, the children of Israel had been bitten by serpents, they were dying, there was no remedy, no medicine, there was nothing anyone can do, they were going to die. And they cried to Moses, Moses, do something! And Moses asked the Lord, and the Lord told him, take a serpent of brass, make a serpent of brass, and how do you do that? Well, you take the brass, and you heat it up, and you hammer it, and you shape it, and then you fasten it to this pole. Do that, God told Moses, and hang it on the pole, and you tell the children of Israel, whoever has been bitten and is dying, look to that serpent on the pole, lift it up, and in looking you will live. Now Moses, Like in Genesis chapter, where we're just reading here, this is an allegory. Moses was preaching the gospel and what did Moses say? He was speaking of Christ. He was speaking of Christ and him crucified. But Jesus is the one who was preaching to Nicodemus when he told him this. And so we see in Christ's work with Nicodemus that he was doing the very thing that must occur to us. The Lord Jesus Christ must preach the gospel of his own person and work and his office as our mediator, who was lifted up according to the will of God, and by that lifting up as a substitutionary sacrifice for us, paid all that God's justice required and fulfilled God's law to the very jot and tittle in his own obedience unto death. And he points sinners to that. And Nicodemus now, having no ability to do one thing to get himself out of the deadness of his spiritual non-existence. He hears those words. And Jesus said, whoever believes, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, whoever believes on the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, has everlasting life. Now, up to that point, Nicodemus had only a fleshly life, a life that was going to soon end. But when Jesus spoke that, He said, if the one looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, in that look of faith, sees Him and His crucifixion as all of their salvation, that one already has everlasting life. In other words, the new birth occurs under the hearing of Christ and Him crucified, and in hearing that, The Spirit of God opens our hearts, operates on us, and gives us that faith in hearing the gospel. And hearing and believing the gospel is the evidence that we've been born of God and therefore have the eternal inheritance of eternal life by the righteousness of Christ. That's the way Isaac was born. It was a miraculous birth by the Spirit. He was a child of promise given to Christ in the eternal covenant of God's electing love. And so we see this here. But in Galatians 4, now I've taken that diversion to John chapter 3, and we could bring out so many things. Remember what Jesus said in John 6, 63? He says, the words that I speak unto you, what are they? They are spirit, and they are life. Because when we hear the gospel, And when by God's grace he applies it to our hearts and we're convinced, yes, just like Nicodemus, I am lost and I have no power. It's necessary, I can do nothing about it. Christ did it all. And can you imagine how Nicodemus must have felt when he heard those words? Are you kidding? I've been living my life trying to produce something that would make God accept me. Something that would take away my sins. I've had this fear that none of it would work. And now I'm told the Lord Jesus tells him his condition. You're blind and outside the kingdom of God. Disobedient and unbelieving. And he hears that all is done by Christ. He had to take his place with a serpent, bitten, dying, murmuring, unbelieving Israelites and look to Christ. And in that look, something happened to Nicodemus. It's called liberty. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ and in him he saw all of God's pleasure and delight with himself because Christ stood as the mediator in his place. He took the load of our sin and bore it before God and endured the curse and satisfied God and therefore rose and ascended and was seated in glory and took that place of our Savior, the King of glory. And so Paul is trying to bring us back now, the Galatians and us, to the fact that Abraham and Sarah were tempted and actually fell in their unbelief in relying on what they could do to make God's promise work. And he says it doesn't work. You cannot mix works with grace. You cannot mix grace with works. The two are incompatible. They exclude one another. They're mutually exclusive. And so, he tells the Galatians this, and he tells them with great force, he says, Hagar, this bondwoman, corresponds to two things. The old covenant of works, the covenant God gave to Moses that says, do this, don't do that, and only if you do this and don't do that, you live. It made life dependent on our own personal obedience And Paul says, that's Hagar. That's bondage. That's fear. And that will end in no inheritance. And she had a son. Remember, Abraham tried to do his part. Just going to step over here and try to bring the promise. God's going to do this, but I just need to help a little bit. That's what we do when we think that our spiritual progress is somehow dependent on what we do in our flesh rather than brought about by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in us. Another chapter that explains the difference between the law and the gospel. Verse 1, it says, do we, Paul the apostle and other apostles, do we begin again to commend ourselves? Do we write a resume for you? Or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you? Do we need a letter of recommendation from somebody else for us? Or letters of commendation from you? Do we need you to tell how great we are? Of course, the answer to all these is no. Well, then what is your resume? What is your letter of recommendation? What is the commendation from us? Here it is. You are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men, for as much as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written, not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart, The apostle preached the gospel. God wrote the gospel on their hearts. The law is fulfilled in Christ and Him crucified. And out of their hearts what was produced? The fruit of the Spirit. They looked to Christ and they loved out of that faith. And so he says in verse 4, And such trust have we through Christ to God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. It's not something we produce, not of our flesh. It's all of God. Verse 6. What has God done? How has he made us ministers? He says this, who also made us able ministers of the new covenant, the New Testament, not of the letter, not of that outward letter that talks about outward sacrifices and laws to keep and what man must do and not do, but the spirit, not the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. And he goes on. But look at verse 18 of the same chapter. Verse 17 says, Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Liberty because why because we see God has received us for Christ's sake what could be more liberating than that? We're absolutely Justified sanctified made holy and perfected by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so what do we do? Verse 18 we all with open face not trying to hide But beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord we look into the gospel. That's the glass the mirror We are changed into the same image which is Christ crucified, the one we see in the gospel, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. How are we sanctified then? Looking to Christ. We look to Christ and Him crucified. How were we born of God? Well, God gave us and opened our heart and showed us Christ. How do we live? I live by the faith of the Son of God, you see. It's all about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And we live by faith in Him. And Paul is saying, don't do as Abraham did. He brought forth his Son of the flesh. Don't seek salvation or perfection during your life or trying to become a good Christian. in order to become holy by what you do. You look to Christ your holiness. You look to Christ your sanctification, your justification, and your glorification. He's your all in all. In Him we are complete. And He has the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him. What else do you need? God has accepted Him. He excludes all boasting and all participation in our part in the sense that we contribute nothing. We receive everything. This grace, this faith, the love we have is the fruit of the Spirit. Everything is of God. And so we can live in freedom and liberty because of this. And it's only then do we truly love God. Only then are we going to live as Isaac did, a child of promise, born of the Spirit, and made part of this new Jerusalem. So just one more comment here. He says in verse 26, but Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. Now I said that Jerusalem above, according to Revelation 21 and Hebrews chapter 12, is the church of the living God. And verse 27 of Galatians 4 says, 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 a husband. The desolate in history was Sarah. She had no children. Hagar was the one who had children. What happened? This seems all upside down. That's what happens when you follow the works of the flesh. But the promise of God is that Jerusalem, which is above, would have many more children than she which hath a husband. Because on earth, that heavenly Jerusalem is the church of the living God, they're born of the Spirit, and the Lord Jesus has given the gospel to that church, and it's through the gospel preached by our mother, the church, The apostles, the prophets, all the preachers God has sent over time, his word, he wrote it in the epistles of the New Testament, the gospel of Jesus Christ, throughout the scriptures. When he applies it to our hearts, that's the work of the Spirit, but he does it through the ministry of the word. You're born again. Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God. You must be born of water and of the spirit by the word of the gospel. And James 1.18 says, being begotten of God of his own will by his own word. It all has to do with Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ preached himself to Nicodemus. The Lord Jesus Christ gave the spirit to Nicodemus in order that he might believe and live to God. And so, through the preaching of the gospel, all of God's people are born, and there's many more born that way. Because there's, to God, because there's none born out of the physical nation of Israel, or out of any of the works of our flesh, or the following of that covenant of works. And so he tells us, cast out the bondwoman and her son. I'm not going to allow that mother and that son to have a place with my son, Sarah said. No, cast them out. That was God's will. In other words, for us, we have to cast out everything that competes with Christ in our heart. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for your mercy towards us that you would so free us from the bondage of our sin, the wrath of God that we deserve. our own blindness and bring us into your kingdom out of free grace by the power of your spirit in showing Christ to us and giving us this faith and eternal life. We know that it is all through his righteousness and we pray, Lord, that you would take glory to yourself for all you've done to save us from our sins and teach us how throughout scripture you're pointing us to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God on the throne of glory who deserves all praise. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.