All right, Galatians chapter 4. Let's just do a real brief recap here of chapters 1, 2, and 3, just to try to keep the context, because, I mean, it's a short book. There's only six chapters, and it's all about the same thing. I mean, it's pretty much, you just want to make sure that we keep everything in the right light, in the right context. There's a lot of great doctrine to get into, but being mindful of the overall context is very important. Galatians chapter one, that letter opened up. There was a serious problem going on at the church and people were teaching damnable heresy. They're adding works of salvation. And the apostle Paul said, let them be accursed, right? And he kind of establishes himself as an authority with the churches of Galatia. And in chapter two, he talks about, you know, how there's no difference between the Jew and the Gentile, and he confronted Peter to the face, and that salvation is real salvific chapter, chapter two, about how it's not of the works of the law, and it's only by grace, and very, very clear on that. And then, of course, in chapter three, he gets more into being like a child of God, and a child of Abraham, and goes into the Abrahamic covenant here because the specific thing that was being added as works was circumcision. We learned that from chapter two and next week we'll be getting more into circumcision specifically. So we're digging into chapter four where the first verse reads, now I say that the heir As long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all. And we're gonna get into these verses here, these first few verses talking about, you know, being an heir and that goes along with being a child, having an inheritance within the home, within the family, comes just by virtue of being born into that family, right? The children receive the inheritance of the father. And what he's explaining here though now is that, The heir, so it's the person who's going to be receiving. And he's talking about a great household here, a household that has servants, workers, other people in the household. And then you've also got family members within this household. And he's saying as long as the heir is a child, like they're still growing, they're still learning, they're still completely under subjection, they're not some adult child. This is talking about a youth child. As long as the heir is a child, he's no different from a servant. And that makes sense, right? Your parents are going to be putting their kids to work. Like you're in the household, hey, you're going to be working just like our servants are working. We don't have this, but if we had maids, if we had other servants to come in and do work at my house, well, guess what? My kids would still have work to do. They would still be getting, and they'd be under authority and everything else. And they're not just gonna be bossing around everyone else. No, you're just like the servant, right? The servant listens to the commands of the head of the house. Well, so are the children gonna do the same thing. So even though the children one day will be inheriting all of that, and they're gonna be theirs, and they will be the ones, and they are in line to have that authority, and to have that place, and have that property, It's not, you know, as long as they're a child, they're no different from a servant. And that's what he's expressing here. He says in verse 2, that it's under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. So until dad says it's time, okay, now you're gonna... no longer be like a servant, you're no longer a child, you're going to have standing and have place in this inheritance. Until then, you're under tutors, you're over governors, you have to listen to people that have authority over you. Verse three, but he's gonna relate this now spiritually. Even so, we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And that's a spiritual application as he's saying, well, look, We also were in bondage. And as he mentioned before, that the child, as long as he's a child, even though he's an heir, he's under tutors and governors, is similar to us when we're unsaved. We're under a law. We're under bondage here. Verse 24 of chapter 3, because again, it's the context. matters a lot. Near the end of chapter 3 in verse 24, the Bible reads, wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith has come, we're no longer under schoolmaster, for you're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. So a lot of the same language there, using the same application in the direct context of hey as a son you're just like a servant because you're under tutors you're under governors well similarly spiritually we're under a school master we're under the law and that's but that law is supposed to point us to Christ and ultimately to be justified by our faith and Similarly, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son there in verse number four of chapter four, made of woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. Verse six, and because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. And now he's likening this, you know, getting saved and becoming the son to like the son that grows up and is no longer the servant in the household, but then also becomes that full rightful heir. Well, when we're born again, we become sons. And what a great, I mean, what great, What an honor it is that we could even be called the sons of God. It's just kind of amazing that God opens up that relationship for us to be brought into his family as we're spiritually born again and we become his adopted children, especially a holy God, a perfect God, a righteous God, and we're his creation, and we're poor and wretched and miserable and sinners, and we are so far from being holy, so far removed. Yet God wants to have that relationship with us and did everything for us. And we doesn't even require us to do anything to be in his family other than receiving the free gift, other than putting our trust in Jesus Christ. So it's not our own works. It's nothing that we can do or earn or achieve. There's no high standard that God's putting on us and saying, OK, if you can get to this point, then you can become my son. Right. Then I'll treat you as a son. He's saying, no, you just got to receive this gift, you just got to put your trust in Jesus. And now you are born into this new spiritual family. And not because you're born because you're a child of God, you have an inheritance. And this is another reason why eternal security is true. Right, because once you're born into the family, you can't be unborn. You don't ever leave the family. God doesn't kick you out of the family. You are a child. You're a child forever. You're an heir. You have an inheritance. You have that already there for you. You're an heir of God through Christ. And in chapter three, again, just for the context, verse 18, the Bible says, for if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more a promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. The inheritance is a promise. The inheritance is not based on anything that you do by doing good, by keeping the law, by doing all these good things. It's completely separate. The inheritance, by definition in Galatians three, is totally separate from the law. It has only to do with being a child. It has nothing to do with being good. And the biblical distinction here is important because, humanly speaking, you may have families where Different things are appointed in an inheritance based off of what you do, right? But this inheritance in this house that you go to be a part of, the house of God, right, the kingdom of God, is not based on your work. That entrance in and that inheritance that you receive is only based by being a son and it's of promise. Now, of course, God gives rewards for the good work that you do. Absolutely. You get eternal rewards that will be with you forever. But your entrance in, the fact that you have a place, that there's a place reserved for you, is solely through inheritance, and that inheritance is only by promise. It's not any works of the law. It's not anything like that. It's totally separate from that. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 15, and for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Hebrews references what's already stated here in Galatians chapter three and four, that not only is it a promise, but it's a promise of eternal inheritance. It's not temporary inheritance. It's not, you know, it's not, well, you also have to be good. No, it's a promise and it's eternal inheritance. It's something that lasts forever. It's something that you can never be disinherited from. It's eternal. And it's a promise, so God doesn't go back on His promises. 1 Peter chapter 1 also refers to this inheritance. In verse number 3, the Bible reads, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith and the salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. That inheritance is incorruptible. It can't be changed. It can't be corrupted. It's there and cannot decay. It cannot rot. It cannot be taken away. It's undefiled. And the Bible says, it fadeth not away, and it's reserved in heaven for you. You have a reservation in heaven. The moment you get saved, that reservation stands. That reservation is there. That reservation is held. And it's kept by the power of God. So can anyone break the power of God? Is anyone stronger than God? No. Are we stronger than God? No. God made a promise. God can't lie. I mean, over and over and over again, we see this, you know, it's a little, it's sad, so mind-boggling that so many people fight against the doctrine of once saved, always saved, that fight against the doctrine of this eternal security of the believer, yet it's so clear, and it's stated in so many different ways, and it's consistent throughout all these different books of the Bible. I mean, we're looking at inheritance, we can read about it in Galatians, we can read about it in Hebrew, We can read about it in 1 Peter, besides all of the other places that reference our eternal security in many other ways, right? But just the fact that you're a child, the fact that you're an heir, the fact that you have an inheritance, it's undefiled, it doesn't fade away, it's incorruptible, it is eternal, it is reserved. I mean, show me the verse that says all of a sudden, well, you lost your inheritance now. You lost your eternal inheritance because you sinned. Show me the verses that talk about any of the things that would be removing the spiritual, eternal life, gift, and the entrance into heaven. You can't find it. You can't find it. The best you can really find is the physical inheritance of the children of Israel being taken out of the land. But again, why did that happen? Through their unbelief, because they were going after false gods. Not because they lost their salvation, but because they didn't have their trust in the Lord, which is a picture of, hey, in order to be into God's promised land, in order to receive that inheritance, you have to have faith. You have to believe. That's all that's showing. And when they don't believe, and when their faith isn't there, physically, the people are out of the land. And when they do believe, God brought them back in. And that's the history we saw to reinforce that truth of you have to have the faith in the Lord in order to be in his land. And think about it. They've committed a lot of sins and were wrong in a lot of different areas over time. But it's not until they start going after other gods when God gets angry enough to cast them out of the land and just have them taken captive. That's always the point that is the breaking point for the Lord. Turn through to Acts chapter 26. Keep your place here in Galatians and turn to Acts chapter 26. This is also just kind of interesting because throughout the book of Galatians, it's written to the churches at Galatia, which are Gentile churches, right? And there's a lot of teaching in the book of Galatians and clarification on the difference between Jews and Gentiles, that in Christ, there is no difference. And that outside of Christ, they're absolutely, it doesn't matter if they're a Jew. And in fact, we're gonna see here too, that a lot of the persecution comes from the physical seed, from the non-believing Jews against the believers. But I don't wanna get too far ahead of myself. But the fact that these Gentiles are receiving an inheritance by virtue of just being a child of God, right? And in chapter three, it says that, I don't want to misquote it, and if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. That's how chapter three ended, right? So, If you're Christ's, you're already a seed, you're a child of Abraham. And you can partake of the inheritance, you partake of the blessings, you are just as if you are that child of Abraham, and you're there for all the blessings and the promises to reap of, even though you're in Galatia, even though you're a Gentile, that doesn't matter, because you're in Christ, which makes you a child of God. And this is what the Apostle Paul is called to do. Acts 26, verse number 15, this is the Apostle Paul recounting his interaction with Christ on the road to Damascus. Verse number 15, the Bible says, and I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness, both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee. So who's he being sent to? The Gentiles. to do what? Verse 18, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. The Apostle Paul's job was to go to the Gentiles and to preach that they have an inheritance in Christ. And that's the inheritance that was promised to Abraham. Why is that important? Because it totally debunks all the claims of physical Israel, the physical Jews that are claiming to have all, we're the children of Abraham and we're the children, like no, you're not. You know what, the people in Galatia were though, and all the other Gentiles that are in Christ, they're the seed, they receive the inheritance, they have an inheritance coming to them, but you don't if you're not in Christ. Because that's where it matters, and that's what God's been trying to hammer home from the beginning, from when he even issued that covenant to Abraham. Like that's what it's been all about this whole time. It's about that being a child of promise, being a spiritual seed, being a child of God through faith. It's always been the important part. Again, there is a difference in the Old Testament, there was separation, there was a physical nation of Israel, there were all these different things, but the spiritual truth and the underlying spiritual truth has always been there. And the salvation is still always been by grace through faith. It has never been by physical genealogy. Never. Let's go back to Galatians chapter four, verse number eight. How be it then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that you have known God, or rather, are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" So he's bringing up now, he says, look, before you knew God, you did service unto them, which by nature are no gods. It's just you had other gods, you had other religion, you were doing service to these other gods, But they didn't know. He's saying, before you knew that, of course, that's how you lived. You just had these other gods, which by nature, they're not even gods. They're fake. They're phonies. But he says, but now, after that you've known God. And then this is very specific. Obviously, he could have said, but now, after that you're known of God, But this is included in here for a reason, to draw this special attention to this after that you've known God. But what's more important? It's not even as important that you know God, but that you're known of God. That's what matters the most. Because knowing God is something we're continually trying to do. There are people who could know God in a sense. They could know what even what salvation is. They can know what the gospel is. They can repeat the gospel to you, but they might not be saved. There are people who reject the gospel, but they could know the gospel and still reject it, right? That is not as important as God knowing you. Because remember, what does God say to those that don't enter in? Like in Matthew chapter seven, he says, depart from me. I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. And in fact, let's just turn there real quick because the type of people he's talking to are exactly the people who would say, I know God. I mean, no kidding. This is the group of people. This is not, in Matthew 7, this is not a group of people like is being referenced, first of all, with the Galatians that are just worshipping Baal or worshipping some other god. Maybe they have some Nordic gods, maybe they're worshipping some other Celtic gods, whatever other gods there are. Roman gods, Greek gods, all these other, Zeus and Apollos, all these other people. Other fake, phony gods. That was the state of the Galatians before they heard about Christ and got saved. But there's a people who will claim to know God, but they're not even saved. And in verse number 21 of chapter seven of Matthew, the Bible says, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord. shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. So he's saying, not everyone that saith unto me. So who are they talking to? The Lord. They're not talking to an idol. They're not talking to some other false god. It's the Lord. But he's saying, look, not all of them are gonna enter in the kingdom. Verse 22 says, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? Now, if someone's preaching and prophesying in the name of the Lord, wouldn't you think that person would say, yeah, I know God, I know the Lord? Of course they would. They would say, I know God, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name have done many wonderful works. But see, when he says in that day, it's the day that they would It's the day of their death. It's the day they would enter into heaven. And they're not being let in. But this is their answer. This is their reasoning. They're saying, but look, God, didn't I preach? Didn't I cast out devils? Didn't I do all these great works for you? What do you mean you're not going to let me in? Look at everything I did. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. And why did he never know them? because they were never born into his family, because they never became his children, because they never put their faith in Jesus Christ, because they were trusting in their works, as is evidenced by their response to, you're not coming in. Now, if God were to say to me, if I killed over dead, and I was confronted by God, and God said, I'm not letting you into heaven, You know what I wouldn't say? I wouldn't say, but God, I passed through your church for so long. God, I tithed there on all my paychecks. God, I did this. God, I did that. I would say, God, but I trusted Jesus. That would be the first thing out of my mouth. God, I trusted Jesus. He paid for me. What do you mean you're not letting me in? Which is why he's not gonna say you're not welcome in because I did accept Christ. But this is why these people are rejected and it's also why he said I never knew you. Because they're trusting in their works, they never got saved. They thought all their good deeds. And it was for the Lord. It was for God. They would have said, hey, I know God. But no, you know what's more important? That God knows you. Because if God knows you, you're getting in. But like this, hey, I never knew you. You're gone. You're a bastard and not a son. great distinction here in verse number nine in Galatians. But now after they have known God, or rather are known of God, but now he's asking this, like, look, you're known of God, you're saved. How turn you again to the weak and beggarly elements where unto you desire again to be in bondage? Like, why are you going back to this stuff? There's this stuff that you should know better because you got saved. You know, you, you, you, had done service unto them which by nature are no gods in the past, but now it's like you're going backwards. Why? Verse 10 says you observe days and months and times and years. And you know, there's two different ways that you can look at that, that verse 10. Because there are the observers of times, which is tied in with witchcraft and stuff like that. And that very well is probably what he's referring to here, that they're just kind of getting back into this other stuff. Like, why are you getting into this bondage and this nonsense of being observers of times? But you could also, though, and this might be applicable as well, observing the days and the months and the times and the years with a lot of the feasts and the other things in the Old Testament that You're observing the new moons, observing the feast days, observing all of that stuff that has been done away in Christ. So there's that aspect too. And that's also a strong possibility of being what he's talking about because they seem to be being Judaized. with the bringing in of the circumcision and this other stuff, that it's more likely, in my opinion, that this is talking about all the observation of all these other feasts. And here's one of the reasons why you don't observe the feasts, because all the feasts required sacrifices. And it's heretical. to be offering up a sacrifice after Christ now has already been offered as the sacrifice. Because he's the sacrifice of all sacrifices. He's the one to end all of them. All the sacrifices, in one way or another, represented and pictured the coming Christ that was going to be the sacrifice made once for all. Right? And once that's happened, we no longer need any of those other sacrifices. And of course, there was a change of the law because of the change of the priesthood. And all of that is explained in the book of Hebrews. But here he's going, okay, well, you know, why are you going back to this stuff? Verse 11, I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am, for I am as ye are. You have not injured me at all. And he says, I'm afraid of you because he's starting to doubt even their salvation. And it's not because they're involved in just sin. It's not because there's drunkenness. It's not because of anything like that. It's literally because of the faith, because of what they're stating and what they're following as far as even in regards with salvation. You're talking about circumcision and stuff. It's like, oh, wait a minute. I thought you guys were saved. Now I'm starting to doubt. If you're saying you've got to be circumcised in order to be saved, were you even saved to begin with? If you're going back now and looking, you want to observe days and times and months and years? You saw the truth about this before, so why are you going back to this? Did you even really get it? Did you even really see the truth about this if you're going back to these things now? It would be like, I mean, think about someone getting saved that was a Catholic. Right? They get saved, they're going to church, and then all of a sudden they're just like, yeah, you know what, I think I'm going to go back to Catholicism or something. I think that's right. I'm going to start bringing in or say, you know, they have a lot of good things and we're going to start, I want to start instituting that stuff here. You kind of be like, dude, did you even get saved? You see, because there's such a dramatic difference between that. You used to be going like, well, so you're like, no, I think I need to, but yeah, I need to be confessing my sins to people. It's like, hold on a second, though. You already know that Jesus is the mediator. You've already learned that. So you can see, I'd be standing in doubt of people like that, too, just going like, wait, I don't know that you got this. I don't think you understood this. And now he brings up, even just at the beginning when he first approached them with the gospel, in verse 13 he says, Preach the gospel unto you at the first and he's talking about his own infirmity like he was not doing well He physically was impaired and had a problem yet. He still went and preached the gospel, by the way He still did the work of the Lord even though he's got an infirmity even though he has a problem even though he has some physical ailment He says, in my temptation, which was in my flesh, ye despised not. So even though he clearly has a problem. And as I'm going to show you just in a minute, I think the problem was in his eyes, had something to do with his sight. I mean, I don't know exactly what it was, if it was maybe he had some disease, but it was something that seemed to be outwardly visible. because they didn't despise it, or it required maybe just a lot of help or something, because why would they despise something unless it was pretty obvious that he had an issue? You know what I mean? Like, why would he even bring up that you didn't despise me for it? unless it had some kind of major impact or a major part of him being there, his presence, right? So whether it's just an outward thing, an outward manifestation, just like, oh man, that's gross, or like just requiring a lot of extra help or something to that effect, he's saying, hey, the temptation which was in my flesh, ye despise not, nor reject it. So you didn't reject me, you didn't reject anything I had to say because of my ailment, because of my problem. He says, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Like when I came and preached the gospel to you, even though I had this problem, you welcomed me with open arms. You received the message, you received me just as if I were Christ, is what he's saying. Verse 15, where is then the blessedness you spake of? For I bear you record, and he's lifting him up, and he's giving him credit here, saying, I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me. And this is one of the reasons why I think he had a problem with his eyes, because why else would they pluck out their eyes unless he was having some problem. with his own eyes. And he's saying, look, you guys were so receptive and so hospitable and so welcoming to the message, to me. Hey, if it were possible, you would have given me your eyes. And he brings up, don't you remember this? Do you remember when I preached the gospel to you at the first? Do you remember when I came here? Remember how you received me? Do you remember all this stuff? What are you doing now? How have you fallen so far? And even at the end of Galatians, in chapter 6, verse 11, he says, So a lot of his epistles were written, penned down by other people. And then he would sign off on those epistles at the end with his signature, with his phrase, kind of showing that it was authorized. The Apostle Paul was the one dictating these words. It's still the word of God and being given to these other churches. But this letter to the Galatians, he wrote this one with his own hand. And he's saying, you've seen how much I've written to you. This is a lengthy letter that I've written to you, and I've written to you with my own hand. I think this also speaks to the fact that he probably had that problem in his flesh, because still with his eyes, it'd be harder for him to write. But this was so important. This speaks to the Apostle Paul and his heart and his desire to get through to people. They say, you know what? No, I'm going to write this. It's going to mean more coming from me, from my hand, written to you here, like pouring out himself to this letter to the Galatians. Why? Because he cares about him so much. One more reference to his, you don't have to turn there, you can stay in Galatians 4. Of course, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, he references being buffeted by Satan. And I believe these two are probably tied together. It's probably all the same type of thing. I don't think, because some people who might agree with me, that it seems to be a problem with his eyes. I've heard some people conjecture that, well, maybe it's because when he was on the road to Damascus, when he saw that great light of Jesus, that that caused some problems in his vision because of the light and the blinding light, and he was blind for a few days. That doesn't make sense to me because it would go against every representation, every symbolic use of going to the light and going to Jesus and Jesus is the light. I mean, to receive damage from looking to Christ, doesn't fit at all in any parable, in any symbolic reference. So I don't think that holds water. But what makes more sense is what we see in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7, where it says, unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations, there is given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my affirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." So it makes a lot more sense that Satan is the one that hurt him. Satan is the one that's injuring him. And of course, it was He's viewing this as a good thing in the sense that, OK, I'm not being too lifted up with pride. I'm not getting too full of myself. This happened. But it wasn't God who made this problem in his eyes. It was Satan who buffeted him, just like Job was not hurt of God. He was hurt of Satan. Satan was the one attacking him, not God. Anyways, this all seems to tie together well. Galatians chapter four, let's keep reading verse number 16. And we can see the love, we can see the outpouring and sincerity in this letter. Verse 16, now it says, am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth. And let this verse sink in just in general. Don't become enemies with anyone who's trying to tell you the truth. This is an important lesson because sometimes the truth can hurt and can cut real deep. And we all are vulnerable to this or have the potential for being hurt too bad by what we hear. And the more true something is, the more likely it is to hurt, especially if it's something that you're wrong about. If you have a problem in your life, and you're in the wrong, and someone points that out or calls that out to you, that's going to feel like it hurts real bad. But don't treat that person as your enemy. Whether it be a preacher preaching the Word of God, or a friend, or a loved one, or whoever it may be, the Apostle Paul is like, look, am I therefore becoming your enemy because I tell you the truth? And the things that he's saying, I mean, they're kind of harsh, right? I mean, he's being blunt. He's being honest with them, going like, what is going on with you guys? You know, did you receive the blessing of God through the works of the law or by faith, by the hearing of faith? Or you didn't receive the gifts of God through the works of the law, you received them by faith. And, you know, you received salvation, you understood salvation through Christ and by faith, and now you're trying to add these other works? He's like, I'm standing in doubt of you. What, am I your enemy now because I tell you the truth? And what it seems like was happening, again, even with chapter one and the opening where he's establishing his own credibility and establishing his apostleship to the church, verse 17, look down at verse 17, he says, they zealously affect you, but not well. So these people who've been bringing in this heresy about the circumcision, about following the law, all this other stuff, they were zealous, and they were zealously affecting them, like, oh yeah, man, no, we're gonna serve God with, you know, and being real zealous about it. He says, they zealously affect you, but not well. But they were probably then also, I mean, they definitely were pitting him against the doctrine of the Apostle Paul, because Apostle Paul wasn't teaching this stuff. which in turn is gonna maybe cause them to despise him a little bit when he's saying, hey, at the first, you didn't despise me at all. Even when I had this problem, even when I had this physical ailment, you welcomed me, you were happy, you were glad, you received me well. But now you got them. Now you got these guys. He says they, they zealously affect you, but not well. He says, yay, they would exclude you that ye might affect them. They don't care about you, ultimately. Verse 18, but it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing. It's good to have zeal, it's good to be zealously affected in things that are good. It's good to be worked up to do some great works and things like that in a good thing. And he says, and not only when I am present with you. Verse 19, my little children of whom I travel and birth again until Christ be formed in you. I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice for I stand in doubt of you. And again, there's these references. I'm traveling in birth again until Christ be formed in you. He's already now starting to talk to him. I don't even think you guys are saved. I'm standing in doubt of you. How could he possibly do this? I must have to bring forth that birth again. So he's traveling and working again and just going in depth about salvation and about the gospel and about the free gift, as he did for the first three chapters. He's just bringing all this stuff up again. I'm traveling again. I want Christ to be formed in you because apparently you didn't really get it. And he's saying this, you know, to make a point. Although I think he honestly does believe that they're actually saved. But he's using this language to just drive home how serious this is. And that it is a possibility that they might actually not be saved, too. That he's going to work real hard to make sure, hey, if I've got to travel in birth again, just to make sure. But he's not saying I'm traveling in birth again because they lost their salvation and they were born again. But now they're not going to be born again again. That's not what is going on here. He's just talking about he put forth all this work before and all this travail to what he thought was bringing forth that new life and getting him saved, right? And now he's doing it again. So obviously, there's still only one new birth. So if they didn't get saved before and they get saved now, there's a one birth. And if they did get saved before, even though he's talking about traveling and birth again, they're already saved. They're not going to be born again again. The context makes sense. You have to real read and have a little bit of understanding and not just, not pick apart these verses too much either. You know, just read it in the context and get what the sense is from that. Verse 21, tell me ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? And this is where I'm gonna spend obviously like the kind of remainder of the sermon on this point here. because he's specifically calling out now their desire to add the law to their salvation, to introduce now these works of the law. He's like, don't you even hear the law? Because what does the law bring? The law is what makes you a sinner. At the end of the day, the law is what's showing you, you need a savior. That's what the law is doing. So now why are you trying to bring that back in? You've already been freed from that through Christ. Why are you trying to bring that back in? as if you need that as part of your salvation, because you can never do that. Verse 22, for it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. The bond woman was Hagar. That was the bond servant. That was Sarah's servant. That's who, when Sarah came up with this plan to have a child, because she was already old, God had already promised a child, but they were getting a little anxious to have a child. Sarah's getting anxious, so she pitches it to Abraham and says, hey, how about you take Hagar, and I'll have a child through her, like a surrogate. So Abraham agrees to this, and they have that child. And that child was Ishmael. But then, God's like, no, that's not the child of promise, that's not who I was promising you, that's not the inheritor, that's not who the heir is, that's not what I was telling you, I told you you have a child, that's not Ishmael. You are gonna have a child, and Sarah had a child, of course, in her old age, and Abraham was old age, and that's Isaac, and that's who was born by promise. Sarah was the free woman. These are the two people, and I preached just recently on Ishmael, too, so I kinda covered a lot of this then, but we're gonna go over it again since we're in this chapter. Verse 24 says, which things are an allegory. Now, look, these events really happened, but there is a much greater teaching about this It's an allegory for these are the two covenants. And look, those two covenants, what's another word for covenant is a testament. So there's two testaments. There's an old testament and a new testament, right? There's an old covenant and a new covenant. And he's saying that These two events, these two children, these two women are representative of the two covenants. And he spells out the two covenants. The one from the Mount Sinai. And what covenant came from Mount Sinai? The Ten Commandments, right? The law. Moses received the law from God literally at Mount Sinai. The one from Mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage And which woman is representative of that? Agar. Who is that? The bondwoman. Who is that born after the flesh? And this is so clear. But I've literally heard this because of verse 25. For this, Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. Oh, so that's the Saudi Arabians. That's the Arabians. That's who the Ishmaelites are. And that's who these other, you know. They're wild, they hate God, that's who all these brown people are over there. No. Who is this gonna be representative of if it's talking about the old covenant, the old law, it was from Mount Sinai? It's the Jews. It's the physical seed. It's of the flesh. When I say the Jews, again, that could be real ambiguous. There's a lot of different ways you could understand that when I say the word Jews. You could be talking about, which I was, talking about the physical Jews, the physical, the fleshly seed. But obviously within all of the Jews, especially in the Old Testament, you had believers and unbelievers. You had both. You had a mix. So you had spiritual Jews and physical Jews and just physical Jews that weren't spiritual Jews, right? You had a mixture of both. So you really got to be careful. I think in preachers, I ought to be careful about that, too. And the way that you're going to know has to be by the context here. So it's already said that the son of the bondwoman was born after the flesh. The physical seed, the physical nation, the physical Jews all pertain to the law. And that was evident even up to Jesus' day in the New Testament. We see the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And what were they all talking about? Well, we're a child of Moses and we follow Moses and we follow the law and all this other stuff. And they weren't trusting in the Lord. They didn't receive Christ because they didn't believe God. They didn't believe the Lord. They didn't believe in his word. They clung to the law, but they were really just in bondage. They rejected Christ, they rejected salvation by grace through faith, and they thought those all by the law, which makes them children of the bondwoman, which makes them children of Hagar. In this allegory, that's who they are. Which is why he says, this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, which is funny because then people teaching this must not continue to read, and answer to Jerusalem, which now is. and is in bondage with her children. Jerusalem, which now is, are the unbelieving Jews, is who he's talking about in that day. That's where the power was, that's where, you know, obviously, were there believers in Jerusalem? Of course there were, right? There was a church in Jerusalem, there was believers in Jerusalem, but by and large, though, still, that wasn't the majority of the Jews. It was a minority that were believers in Christ, right? There was the vast majority, which is why when Biola said that Jesus came on his own, his own received him not, because it's talking about the majority. It's talking about the vast majority of the people. Sure, there were thousands that believed, sure. But thousands out of how many, right? I mean, thousands out of millions, and I don't know what the exact number is, but I'm just saying, like, that's not a lot of people. You think, oh, thousands is a lot. Well, in what context, right? Thousands isn't even a lot in Atlanta. Believer verse 26, but Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. And who's the us there? Believers. It's the mother of us all, because why? We're looking for the promise. the heavenly Jerusalem, that real inheritance, the inheritance that matters, the heavenly Jerusalem, not the physical piece of land, not any of the stuff on this earth, which is all gonna pass away. Verse 27, for it is written, rejoice thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry thou that tribarest not, for the desolate have many more children. than she which hath in husband." Again, the contrast between the physical and the spiritual, the flesh and the promise. You could have no fleshly seed, no fleshly children on this earth, but you could have many spiritual children when you lead many people to Christ and then send that huge blessing and bring more people with you to heaven. than even worrying about being barren here in this earth, and worrying about that flesh. Verse 48, now we brethren, and again, just pointing that out, he's talking to Galatians, and he's a Jew physically, and they're Gentiles, and he's calling them brethren. because they're all born again. Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. And what do you hear Christians and non-Christians when they talk about you, like, oh, God promised us this land and God promised it. No, you're not the children of promise. You're the children of the bondmaid. But that's the Arabs. No, that's you. It's you. Because they're following Muhammad. They're just going after other gods. Again, by and large, right? But who is Hagar? Hagar is this Mount Sinai in Arabia, an answer to Jerusalem. Verse 29, but as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. And this is talking about the Jewish persecution of believers. And you read through the, and he's talking about even so it is now. He says it was then, there was a lot of persecution going on then, and now it also is going on. Read the book of Acts, and you tell me, Is it the Gentiles that are coming down on the Christians? Is it the Romans that are coming down on the Christians? Is it any other group of people that you read about in the Book of Acts that are persecuting the Christians? Or is it the Pharisees and the Jews that came from here and they're following them all over the place and trying to shut them down? Look, that's who it is. Just as before the Apostle Paul got saved, he was doing it. Right, he was chasing them down and going to all these different cities and trying to shut them down and stamp them out. He was persecuting the church of God. And that's the way it goes. And even in a broader sense, you know, the persecution's gonna come from those that are not of the spirit. Those that are of the world are not of God. And the things that are of the world that, you know, Satan is the father of this world in a sense. He's the, you know, manipulator of this world, whereas God is the father of heaven and earth and of all things, but his seed and the spiritual seed, the two clash, the things of the world and the things of the father. Verse number 30, we're almost done. Nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son. The son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. The physical seed, the seed of the flesh, they don't have an inheritance. They're not heir. So it's like Sarah literally cast out Hagar and Ishmael. And she was like, I don't want them anywhere near my son. They have nothing to do. Isaac is getting everything. Isaac's getting inheritance. And when she wanted to cast him out, Abram was a little conflicted because he loved Ishmael. He was his son. And Abram was a good father. He was a good man. And he cared about Ishmael. And it wasn't wrong for him to care about him. But God said, no, Sarah's right, though. You cast him out. Because they don't have an inheritance. He blessed them. He gave them stuff and sent them on their way. He took care of them. But Isaac was getting everything. He was getting the inheritance. He was a child of promise. And it was super important, because obviously, there's this great teaching in scripture on all these events. And it had to be that way. It had to be this way, because God is proving a point. He's showing a spiritual truth that we could all learn from through this example. And this is coming to light here in Galatians, especially. It's just being spelled out so clearly. So yeah, cast out the Bible and understand. So this clearly is saying there is no special pass. There is no special ticket. There is no, oh, well, they're Jews. So this is, you know, like there's none of that. There's none of that. And no one should treat them that way. But you know what we do? Just because they were cast out here in the sense that they're not getting an inheritance by virtue of being a physical seed, we still go after to try to persuade them to believe and become children of God because they could be grafted back into that olive tree and they could become children of God just like anyone else can through faith in Christ. So when we say cast them out, we're not just like, well, just not have anything to do with them ever. But the fact here is talking about they're not, they don't have an inheritance. They're not heirs. The only way they could be an heir is by becoming a child of God because they're not children of God until they put their trust in Jesus Christ. So then brethren, again, brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the free. Believers are children of the free woman, we're children of Sarah, we're children of Isaac, right? And receive all the blessings that fall upon the children.