All right, I think we have our equipment all in place. The internet was, as it happens sometimes, I'm kind of saying this for people online, last Sunday, the place was flooded with tourists, and we don't have the greatest internet here, so whenever things just drop off and go away, then just wait a bit, and by Sunday evening, there'll be a backup. We did that last Sunday, but this little unit down here was down there, and we didn't know it, so the backup didn't work anyway, so we don't have the greatest copy from last week, but it's there, and Verla anchored it this time. This thing's going nowhere, and it's on there, so all right. The scripture reading. And the text that we want to look at this morning is Galatians chapter 4, starting in verse 21. Galatians 4, verse 21 to the end of the chapter. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it's written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically. These women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. She is Hagar. Now, Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother. For it's written, rejoice, O barren one who does not bear. Break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor. For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband. Now you brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, so also it is now. But what does the scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So brothers, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman. That is the word of God, that's the gospel written by the Apostle Paul to these Galatians who had foolishly been wanting to go back to Mount Sinai at the urging of these false brethren who had crept in then among them. Well, let's ask the Lord's blessing on the ministry of his word here as we consider those words from God's word. Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you, Father, for writing it down so that we have it right here in our hands and we can read it whenever we want and we pray that your spirit would now work in our minds and in our hearts. Open our eyes that we would see the truth that you have for us here, and by it we would be equipped even more to stand in the freedom that Christ has given to us and never trust in our own merits. That we would realize that Christ is not half a savior. He must be completely and our only Savior by faith alone in Christ alone, apart from works of the law. And we pray this in Christ's name, amen. Well, we saw that we considered this verse and some others from 1 Corinthians last time. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 17, Paul says, For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void." And that is an extremely important statement. Now, we looked last time at this question, what does the true church look like? And one answer given by the Apostle Paul is, it's a place where the true gospel, where the true word of God is proclaimed and believed. And it's not a place where people are putting their faith, really, in a man instead of Christ. This is the danger of this business of cleverness of speech in preaching and leading and so on, or superiority or teaching the wisdom of man instead of the truth of Christ. I wanted to read to you a very excellent insight related to this that I came across this week. It comes from a book written by a pastor named David Orison. The name of the book is Narcissism in the Church. It could just as well be titled Evil than In the Church, and if you don't know, A narcissist is a person who has a profound mindset of entitlement. They are entitled to be praised and adored. Classic example in scripture is diatrophies. You can read about him in Third John. But a narcissist is a person who has this profound mindset of entitlement, of superiority. They are so self-centered, they lack empathy. They love no one. They use people to feed their need for a constant supply, constant supply of praise to promote this fictional image that they want people to see them by, when in fact they are a vacuum and empty void with seething shame and so forth. That's a narcissist. And Pastor Orison wrote this, the narcissistic leader, now get this down, most Well, most, many, many, many local churches think that they're looking, when they're looking for a pastor, for instance, or they're going to appoint someone as a leader, they oftentimes are, what they're really broadcasting and advertising for is a narcissist. Listen to what he says here. The narcissistic leader personifies what many people think they need in their lives. He can make decisions without hesitation. He can meet objections and win. For frightened parents or wearied church workers and suffering victims, the promise and evidence of success surmount many of life's normal cautions. Remaining separate from the people while controlling them fits very well in the narcissistic pattern. While Christ showed his greatness by washing feet and caring for the needy, the narcissist leader becomes great by virtue of his position. While Jesus established a close and loving relationship with the people he met, the narcissist leader distances himself from the people in order to cultivate that sense of superiority. The narcissist must remain separate from the people The closer the relationship is, the less the narcissist can cover his disdain for the people and the weakness he feels then with intimacy. This is one of the examples, typical examples, of the deceptiveness of evil and how it creeps in among us. Same pattern happened in Germany, right, with Hitler. Here's a man with the answers. We got these problems. Here's a man with the answers. And so people throw caution to the wind, hand him the keys to the place. And so often, that is what happens then, you see, into the church. So in the church, we need wisdom in this regard. Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, because it's always creeping around us. When a diatrophist comes on the scene, we are often tempted to see him or her as somebody that we think we need. That's what we need, that guy, there's the one, that's who we need here. This will be one of the primary reasons that when the Lord lifts the restrictions, and by his sovereign will, permits the Antichrist to come into the fullness of his power, the lawless one being revealed, 2 Thessalonians 2, and the Antichrist then will establish a worldwide empire. And it will be a very religious empire. He will be the object of worship, the Antichrist will. And largely what's going to happen is people are just going to ooh and ah over the majesty of the Antichrist. Here's the guy with all the problems. You see, I mean all the answers. We've got the problems. He's the one with all of the answers and everybody's looking. Who can stand against him? Who would be foolish enough then to do that, you see? So with all of this deception, how can we discern what is true and who is true? How can we discern Who truly belongs to the true church? We looked last time at what a true church looks like. Now, what does a true Christian look like? Who belongs to the true church? How can we sort out the narcissist, the diatrophies, the counterfeits, these servants of Satan who are all the time trying to creep in then, you see, among us. One of the major denominations I saw last, I mean this kind of stuff happens all the time. I saw on the news this last week, one of their top flight leaders had to resign because came to, they were getting ready to promote him some more, and they happened to be looking into his documents and his resume. found out that two or three, I think it was, of the colleges or universities that he put on his resume that he said he had attended and even gotten degrees from, it was a total fiction. Total fiction. He hadn't done it. Now, what does it take? for a person to do that in a so-called Christian organization, to just blatantly and willfully create an absolute lie. Well, here's a person who is craving power, craving power, and he's being given that power. And guess what? You can just bank on it. He'll be given another opportunity for that power someday. Already it was, you know, he came out with this big statement of how, you know, I admit this, I confess it, and so forth, and I'm stepping down, all these kinds of things. And the response from the other head honchos of the big denomination was, and the only Christian thing we can do is forgive this man, you see? And so that's how, we have to be wise in this regard and recognize these kind of individuals when they come along. Over time, I never used to hold this conclusion, but I do now and I had for some time. I don't believe that it's biblical. for local churches to gather together in an organization. I'm not going to just out and out criticize every church that's part of a denomination, and I hope that there's some good ones, but there's this caution. this and the caution is this whenever churches band together and create a hierarchy of some kind some kind of hike okay who's going to be in charge in charge of this denomination and so we're gonna have you know we'll appoint this pastor and then he'll be the the president or the director or whatever it is and there'll be uh... a head office with its this big budget and and we'll have a as soon as that kind of a a ladder is established, inevitably people like these narcissists are going to come on the scene because they want to climb that ladder. They want to be up there at the top. And if that organization or that denomination is not willing to hold one another accountable so that when Brother Smith, who's highly thought of and so forth, when he comes in and we start seeing signs of image projection and a craving for this power. They have to be called on the carpet, right on the spot. You have to stand against this evil without partiality. So these are the kinds of things. So how do we discern? How do we discern who belongs in the church and who doesn't, you see, who's a counterfeit? Listen to this last part again from Galatians 4, starting at verse 26 this time. But the Jerusalem above is free. she is our mother for it's written rejoice barren woman who does not bear break forth and shout you who are not in labor for more numerous are the children of the desolate than of the one who has a husband and you brethren like Isaac are children of promise now look at this verse 29 but as at that time He who was born according to the flesh, he's talking about Ishmael, persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, Isaac, And here's these incredibly important words. So it is now also. What does the Spirit in Scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman. So then brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman. Now the churches in Galatia had a big problem. This was a matter of salvation. Wicked people, false teachers, had crept in among them, preaching a false gospel. Now, it didn't deny Christ out and out. Their teaching, you know, they said, he's the Messiah, he's the Savior, we must put our faith in him if we're going to be saved. They also added and thereby made void the gospel and created a false gospel. They said, but you must also obey certain ceremonial laws from the old covenant. And Paul uses circumcision as an example here. They were saying then that Christ was not enough and the people fell for it. that it was Christ plus merit, plus my works, you see. And Paul says, I am blown away by how quickly you've deserted Christ and the true gospel for a false gospel. And he tells them, These guys that have come in among you, they're under God's curse. They are anathema. They are damned by God. And you Galatians are fools for running after them so gullibly. After I was among you and I preached the gospel, I described Christ so clearly to you, it was like you were standing there at the cross. and seeing him crucified. Now Paul, in the course of his argument here, you see, he's talking about Sarah and Hagar and Isaac and Ishmael. This is right out of Genesis 21. So listen to it. Genesis 21, starting at verse 8. The child, that is Isaac, grew and was weaned. Ishmael had already been born. Ishmael may have been something like 16 years older. Ishmael, according to the flesh, was the firstborn. He was born before Isaac was. So Isaac grew and was weaned and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar, Ishmael, she's an Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking, he was mocking Isaac. Therefore, she said to Abraham, drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son, Isaac. And she was kind of speaking prophetically there when she spoke those words. The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son, but God said to Abraham, do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid. Whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her. For through Isaac your descendants shall be named. And of the son of the maid, Hagar, I will make a nation also because he's your descendant for Abraham's benefit. So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder and gave her the boy and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. Now, Isaac is called here the son of promise. In contrast, Ishmael was a product of Abraham's flesh. and his and Sarah's kind of conniving. Well, we better help God along. He's promised us this seed to make us a great nation, but here we are, old and way past years of childbearing. So go into Hagar and have her bear a son for you, you see. So Ishmael is a product of the flesh, of man's doing. Isaac, in contrast to that, who's born later, when they're even older, you see, so when it's impossible that Sarah should bear a child, she does bear a child. And so Isaac is born and he's the son of promise because he is the work of God. He is the promise of God then fulfilled. And it would be through Isaac, who was God's own doing, not man's, it was through Isaac that the seed, the Messiah, would come. Not through Ishmael, but even though he was firstborn, he was not to be the heir, it was going to be Isaac, the son of promise. So Ishmael, is like those two characters that we've met in Pilgrim's Progress. Formalist and hypocrisy. Listen to Bunyan describe him again. And he was troubled thereabout and he spied two men come tumbling over the wall. There's the key. over the wall on the left hand of the narrow way. And they made up a pace to him. They caught up with him. The name of the one was Formalist and the name of the other, Hypocrisy. So they're religious, but one's a hypocrite. The other one is his religion is just outward. It's one of formality, right? So as I said, they drew up to him, to Christian, who thus entered with them into discourse, gentlemen, Where'd you come from and where are you going? Formalists and hypocrisy said, well, we were born in the land of vainglory, bells, and are going for praise. Yeah, who's praise? To Mount Zion. And Christian says, Well, why didn't you come in at the gate that stands at the beginning of the way? Don't you know that it's written that he that comes not in by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber? That's out of John 10. that, you know, to go to the gate for entrance was, you know, by all of our countrymen, counted that it's too far, too far away to go, too much trouble. And then, therefore, their usual way was to make a shortcut of it and to climb over the wall, as they had done. Christian said, but will it not be counted a trespass against the Lord of the city where we're bound? To thus violate his revealed will, you must come in at the gate through Jesus Christ. And they told Christian that, well, as for that, you need not trouble your head about it, for what they did they had custom for. It's customary to do this from where we come from, so it must be okay. And they could produce, if need, testimony that would witness it for more than a thousand years. And Bunyan's taking a dig at the Roman Catholic Church there at that point. We have our tradition, you see. We have our tradition. So Bunyan is illustrating with formalist and hypocrisy that there are many people who are in the visible church who claim to be pilgrims, that is Christians, who are, and here's the key word relating to Galatians 4, illegitimate children. They are illegitimate members. They are not children of God. They are not products of his grace. They are not products of his promised seed. They didn't enter into his church by Christ. They came in their own way. They came in by a shortcut, you see. So we're told about them repeatedly in Scripture, Romans 2, for he is not a Jew, and you can insert Christian there, he is not a Christian who's one outwardly, formalists in hypocrisy were Christians outwardly, Nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Christian who is one inwardly. And circumcision is that which is of the heart, this is the new birth, by the Spirit, not by the letter. And his praise is not from men, but from God. So how do we discern? How do you think? This is foremost hypocrisy. They're illegitimate children. John, in his first epistle, 1 John, gives us many tests. He says, for example, if a man says he loves God, but he hates his brother, he's a liar. If a person denies the deity of Christ, he's of the Antichrist, he's not one of us. The person who continues to walk in sin as the course and habit of his life, is not born of God. Those are all tests that help us to discern, and which, by the way, are not exercised very faithfully in many churches today. But Paul is pointing here in Galatians 4 to still another test. It's a very interesting one. It is evidenced by Ishmael's mocking of Isaac, the son of promise, verse 29. as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit. So it is now also." Listen to John Calvin on this. This is from his sermon on Galatians 4. We saw this morning, Calvin, he's like preached twice a day, you know. We saw this morning that many people who claim to be believers and to be associated with the name of God are nevertheless illegitimate children. For this reason, God disowns them, though they may be considered Christians in the eyes of the world. They have corrupted that good seed, which is the gospel, pure doctrine, which they need in order to be regenerated and adopted into God's family. They've added works to the gospel, as these false teachers had in Galatia. What good is it to be regarded as part of the church if we are not truly born of the good seed, which is both pure and perfect? You see, the word church, the word church, think about that. It's misused today and used carelessly. And we have to be certain that we use it correctly when we use it. Oftentimes, for example, you'll hear, and sometimes good teachers teaching this about church history. And they'll say maybe they're giving the history of the Crusades or something like that. and then the church did this, and then the church did that. Well, largely, so we must ask, what church are you talking about? And largely what they're talking about is the Roman Catholic Church then at the time. That's a careless use of the word. We need to use it correctly. The Roman Pope claims that his church is the true church when in fact it is a illegitimate counterfeit through and through. that it's a creation of man. The true church is a creation of God, and it consists of all true believers, that is, people who are born of God by the Spirit, who are new creations in Christ and joined to Christ. And we have to be careful also, for example, in the same way when we use the word Christian. Well, what are you talking about? When you say, oh, this is, and then we see this in Christendom. Well, what do you mean? And often it's just, well, whatever claims to be Christian in this world, that's what we're talking about. No, a Christian is not merely a person who claims to be a Christian. and is a product of his own flesh, you see. A Christian is a person who's one of God's elect who's been born again and made a new creation in Christ. And there aren't very many of them. That's important. How do we know this? We're called a remnant. We are the remnant then, you see. Calvin also notes, we can only enter the household of God through this one door, that is through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. So Ishmael did not become a true child of Abraham. He was not the son of promise. He was a product of the efforts of Abraham and Hagar and Sarah, a product of the flesh. Now, get this. What does Paul say about how this counterfeit revealed himself, this Ishmael? How did he reveal himself to be an illegitimate son who is not the son 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, listen, you know, man, I can look back on my life and my experience as a kid growing up in the churches and so forth. Honestly, I can say if it hadn't been for the Lord, there's no way I would have made it through sorting this thing out. The confusion, the deception, Largely what characterized the so-called church in my experience growing up, well, a couple things. First of all, my problem, I was dead in my sin and I was bored, oblivious then to God's word and so on. But also there was something else that was happening. And that is, you know, suddenly you like come to church and there's a new pastor. And so there's this turnover, maybe every three years, four years, something like that happening. And then there was also things happening like infighting and so on in the church. Didn't hear lots about it, but enough as a kid, you'd know that there's tension there or whatever. And what we need to realize is, that in a visible local church, count on it and expect it, especially where God's word is not proclaimed. clearly and without compromise. There's going to be Ishmaels mixed in with the Isaacs. There will be Ishmaels that are mixed in with the Isaacs. And what is characteristic of the Ishmaels? They persecute the sons of promise, the children of promise. They persecute them. Paul says here that there is a Jerusalem that's here on this earth. And then there's a second Jerusalem, which he says is from above. And what he means by that, he means there is a true church. which is created by God through the promise and through the promised seed, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And then there's a false church, another Jerusalem, that is a product of the flesh. And he's using Hagar and Ishmael as a symbol, as a type, a figure of this false church, this Jerusalem. That is to say, to sum it up, what Paul is saying is, look, Look, and you got to get this through your head, we all do. There is a false church, which is the product of man. And there is a true church, which is God's creation. in Christ. And sometimes, it seems, not in God's sight, but in man, in our experience, they get all mixed together, you see. The true Ishmael's and Isaac's. Listen to Calvin explain it some more here. Just as the Son of the Flesh persecuted the Son of the Promise, so it is now. It is inevitable that we, that is true Christians, will be so treated. Hypocrites and liars, illegitimate children who've defiled the truth will gloat over us. They will exalt themselves against us as if we were unworthy to even kiss their feet, you see. And I really want to encourage Young and old alike, and if you're young, early on in your life, wise up, get wise. Just because a person says they're an Isaac, just because they say that they are a Christian doesn't mean then that they are. A very telling test will be, how do they regard, how does a person regard The true children of Christ, the true church, how do they look at this, you see? In the history of this church, and many of you know, we've seen this happen over and over. It's like you come to church on Sunday and in comes so and so, and in comes so, and you can feel the tension. You can feel it. Well, what is that about? It's not love, that's for sure. It's not encouragement. It's these false brethren, you see, who would creep in. But we don't often get it because we aren't wise. Here's the Pope on his throne in all of his earthly glory and splendor. You see, he claims to be Christ on earth, essentially, the head of the true church. But he and his people are Ishmaelites. They're illegitimate children. They're false brethren. They're formalists and hypocrisy. They've come over the gate. They haven't come through the gate, they've come over the wall. How'd they come over the wall? Well, they came over the wall. Oh yeah, we believe in Jesus and all that, but here's our works. Here, look at us. God accepts me on my own merit. And all these counterfeits, inevitably, as they come, will mock the true children of God. They will persecute the real church. Calvin puts it very bluntly in his language of his day. They are bastard children. That's what an illegitimate child is. An illegitimate child is one who's born illegitimately, you see. Now that's all been thrown out it seems like nowadays, but you weren't an heir, you can't be an heir if you're not a legitimate child. So he says, Calvin says of these, of Rome and these Ishmael's, they are bastard children despite what they claim about their seniority, that is their ancient roots. The Pope and his kind are a band of Ishmaelites. They are evil, illegitimate children who fight against God and all of his true offspring. And we see this then, that's Paul's point here, in Ishmael and how he mocked, how he mocked Isaac. There can be many people even who are, you know, here's how it should be. It should be in the church that it is the gray-headed, the senior ones who are the ones that are the most godly and wise in Christ and lead the church then in godliness. But often that's not the case. Often there are many gray-headed Ishmaelites. within the visible church who have no part then in Christ. Now Ishmael not only mocked Isaac, but he was mocking the gospel. He was mocking Christ. Isaac was born miraculously. And Ishmael was there. He knew it. He knew Isaac was the son of promise. That's one of the main reasons that he hated him and he mocked him. But when he's mocking Isaac, who is the heir of God's promise to Abraham, He's mocking Christ, is what he's doing. And that's why this is such a serious sin and wickedness. Cast him out. He will not be part of the true Israel. Now consider this further. Look at verse 24 again. This is allegorically speaking for these two women are two covenants. One proceeding from Mount Sinai, bearing children who are to be slaves. She's Hagar. This Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, earthly Jerusalem, and Judaism and the whole thing then, for she is in slavery with her children, but the Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother. The law of God was given to Israel at Mount Sinai as a covenant. And here's how it works. God says, here's my revealed will, my Ten Commandments and so on. If you do them, you will live. If you don't do them in their entirety, perfectly, if you violate one of them, you violate the whole thing, then you will be cursed. Now the law that God gave was good, good and righteous and holy, Paul says. The problem was man, his sin, his character, he would never be able to obey the law of God. Pick the most godly person in history you could ever think of, the best Christian you can dig up, you see, and they will not even remotely begin to obey even one of the laws of God. And that's true then of all of us. The old covenant people, The old covenant church therefore, not because of the law, but because of their sin, was in bondage. It was in bondage, slavery to sin. The devil then reigned. The law was what he used to prosecute and accuse the brethren. And Paul is saying Hagar and Ishmael are pictures or types of that old covenant because they're slaves. And the only thing that a slave can produce is another slave. If you're the child of a slave, then you are a slave. And he's saying, that's how the old covenant was. That's how Mount Sinai was. Everybody that goes that route is in bondage and all of their children are going to be in bondage as long as they approach God through that old covenant. And that was why Ishmael was still a slave then, you see. And so the Jews, this is Paul's point, the Jews in Paul's day, centered at Jerusalem, were still slaves. And he's hammering the Galatians, he's saying, why do you want to go back to earthly Jerusalem? Those people are in bondage. They are under condemnation of God. Here you have in Jesus Christ this way by faith alone to become children then of the promise, by faith alone, apart from works of the law. And he even calls the Jerusalem from above our mother. Why? Because the church, the true church, is who God uses to give birth to his true children in liberty. How? By the preaching of the gospel, by witnessing then for Christ. So in these two Jerusalems, what Paul is telling us, there's two churches. There's two churches. One's heavenly and is the creation of God. The other one is fleshly, the product of man, and it's in bondage then to the law. And what Paul is saying is always, always, always true of the earthly Jerusalem inhabited by Ishmael, populated by Ishmaelites, is its children mock and persecute the children of the heavenly Jerusalem, the true church. I have no doubt that many, many, many victims who are Christians of domestic violence, And their persecutor, their abuser, claims to be a Christian, right? This happens all the time, all the time in churches, you see. Here they are. And I'm convinced that much of the abuse, you know, why does, for instance, this abusive husband hate his Christian wife so? Why is it? Because he's an Ishmaelite. And she isn't Isaac. That's why. That's the source of this hatred. Why did Cain kill Abel? Because he was righteous, Abel was righteous, and Cain hated him then, you see, for it. Why does this monstrous entity called the Roman Catholic Church, and also you could throw in so much of so-called Protestantism today that really embraces a false gospel too. But why is it, think about this, why is it that Rome, that claims to be a Christian church, have such murderous animosity toward real Christians? I mean, if they were a real church, and okay, we're Christians, they're Christians, they have a different view on these doctrines than we do, and so on. Okay, we have those differences, but what happens? Rome attacks with a murderous hatred. And she still would today if she could get away with it as much as in olden days. Rome is part of the earthly Jerusalem. Probably the Roman Catholic Church headed by the Pope, is probably the main manifestation of Antichrist and of the Jerusalem that is earthly now, in the world then, today. Why did Rome hate the reformers with a murderous hatred, you see, because Rome is Hagar and Ishmael. Rome is illegitimate, an illegitimate church. It is formalist and hypocrisy and hates God's word and God's true people, the children then of promise, you see. This is why people go out, you know, if they can't destroy, then they go out from us because they were not of us. So, the Christian faith, and this is very important for us to all understand, to understand, I wish I'd have understood it when I was a kid. I wish I would have understood it. I was actually taught falsely and a lot of this false teaching still goes on today. You gotta love, love, love everybody. God loves everybody. We've gotta love everybody. That's our approach. When the Bible clearly tells us that there are Ishmaelites who are illegitimate children, they persecute God's true children, and therefore, If I'm going to be a pilgrim, if I'm going to be a Christian, a follower of Christ, I am going to experience a war between two cities. The Jerusalem which is from above, the true church, and the Jerusalem which is earthly and is in bondage even until now. Isn't that the message of Pilgrim's Progress? And it is because it's the message of the Bible. It's what Bunyan's telling us. Oh, you wanna follow Christ? You say you follow Christ? Well, let me tell you what that's gonna be like. And he's writing it from a prison cell, you see. Don't be surprised when this kind of thing, when this kind of thing happens. Here's another quote from Calvin. Take note of what Paul is telling us here. For the ill-treatment of Isaac by Ishmael was not just a one-time occurrence. We see the same thing happening today. The children of God will be oppressed and trodden underfoot by those who, in theory, are the firstborn, and many simple souls will be seduced by this claim of theirs. Let us prepare ourselves for battle, says Paul, and not allow our faith to be overcome by the pride of those who are the enemies of the truth of God. Look at this now. These are domestic enemies. Not like the pagans out there in the world. No, these enemies, these Ishmaels, they are garrisoned within the visible church, even clergy or great leaders. If we have been born again through the pure seed with which God is pleased, this alone makes us rightful children and heirs of the kingdom of heaven. You know, I used to listen to Michael Savage, you know, on the radio. And he would always talk about the enemy within, the enemy within. Well, he was largely right. The enemy within, there's the real danger. And what Calvin mentions here, what Paul's showing us here is that, look it, these enemies are more dangerous than the pagans outside the church. These are domestic enemies. They've come within, they've come over the wall and their counterfeits. Jesus Christ was promised through Isaac and thus this was a promise of salvation. By mocking, Ishmael was giving a mortal wound to the children of adoption and to all believers. by disdaining and attacking their source of highest good and eternal happiness. There are many hypocrites seeking to destroy, as far as they possibly can, the doctrine of grace which is offered to them by the Lord Jesus Christ. They would rob him of his dignity and worth rather than magnifying the wonderful generosity of God, the source of our soul's well-being. So let us be ready then to fight these battles with our internal foes who claim to be the children of God. They say they are our superiors and they boast of their seniority, hoping it will make us feel crushed and beaten. And let me make a comment at that point. You got to be careful here. I mean, really careful. Because when a diatrophies or a narcissist, evil person, right? Look, seeking to exalt themselves comes along. When the spirit of the Antichrist comes along, They're going to present themselves to you as someone, as we said earlier, with all the answers. Oh, yes, I can take care of that. I can take care of this. And we think, this is what we need. And we start looking at this person. That's why Paul says, I didn't come to you in cleverness of speech. I didn't come to you presenting myself so that you put your faith, then, in me. careful. Very careful. You have to be, you know, don't be unduly exalting in your mind. Oh, look, you know, pretty soon you can be talking about, well, you know, Joe says this about that, and here's what Joe says over here. Let's ask Joe, you know, that kind of, you're falling prey to an Ishmaelite, and because they will want to make you, as Calvin says, feel crushed and beaten. They're up here, you're down here. Something's really wrong with that, with that kind of image. Notice what Paul says, says Calvin, in conclusion, that all those who boast in this way, that they belong to the church today and claim the rights of the firstborn, will be cast out as bastard children. They will be cast out by the Lord. I never knew you, depart from me. Don't be deceived by their splendor, which so often surrounds Ishmaelites. Their tyranny is maintained by force, by persecution, by gloating and the like. Consider their end, Psalm 73. Just as Ishmael persecuted the son of promise, so it remains to this day. And this is a chief way to know who truly belongs to the true church and who doesn't. Now if anybody knew these things well and personally, it was the Apostle Paul. Because the Apostle Paul was a notable member of the earthly Jerusalem. He was Saul of Tarsus. He was excelling beyond all of his brothers. He was like first in his class. I bet Paul probably had most of the Old Testament memorized. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he did. And he was zealous. Now Paul wasn't a hypocrite. He really believed he was serving God. He wasn't being a phony. He was deceived and he was absolutely wrong. He was actually an enemy of God. He was not born again and he savaged the true church and fought against Christ until that day. What did we sing in that hymn, A Hiding Place? When divine grace said, arrest that man. And that's what God did on the road to Damascus there. Here he is with warrants and everything, and he's going to go up and arrest the believers. And God says, arrest that man. And boom, Christ appeared to him. And on that day, Paul became a member of the true Jerusalem. And he found out. I mean, he couldn't even eat or drink for three days. This was like the ultimate traumatic experience. And he probably, to some degree, never got over it. Because, you know, he said, I was the chief of sinners. There was no sinner greater than me. But for all of my memorization of the Old Testament, I didn't understand any of it, you see. And the lights went on. And at some point there, he said, you know, you know, finally the law. I looked at that 10th commandment. It said, you shall not covet. And it hit me. Wait a minute. Coveting is spiritual. It's not like murder, theft, an outward thing. It's of the heart, coveting. And it produced coveting in me of every sort. But Paul was saved. He was shown mercy because he acted ignorantly in unbelief. And from that moment on, he loved the Lord Jesus Christ. He started preaching the gospel very, very quickly. And guess what? The Ishmaelites that used to be his buddies, they wanted to kill him and they kept trying to kill him and ultimately he's put to death then at Rome. Be on guard, Ishmaelites. the true church versus the earthly church, the true church versus the false church, Ishmaelites persecuting the true children of God. And so it is now. Father, thank you for these truths and these warnings that we would not be so foolish as the Galatians were that These Ishmaelites had crept in among them with a false gospel, and they fell for it. And, Father, we pray that we would have discernment that you give us by your Spirit to recognize your truth and to recognize what is false, that we might not be deceived by it. Thank you for Christ. Thank you for saving us. We pray this all in Christ's name. Amen. The closing hymn.