Listening to the Law

Well, let me have you guys turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter. Galatians chapter 4, we're going to pick up in our study of the book of Galatians, you guys are going to need to put your thinking caps on and gird up the loins of your mind because there's allegory in this passage, and Paul is going to quote extensively from the Old Testament. And, but if you will hang with the message, and give yourself to it, gird up the loins of your mind, you will be affirmed today. You will be encouraged by what God says to you through his word.

And the title of the message this morning is listening to the law. Listening to the law, or as Ray Comfort would say, listening to the law. Do you notice that last week? but listening to, the law, we're gonna look at verses 21 through, chapter 5, verse 1, this morning.

So we got a lot of ground to cover. But let me begin, with just a little tiny story from my youth. when I was, I don't even remember the years, but when I was younger, growing up, there was a, a period of time where we lived. and on a military base in Laurel Bay, South Carolina, and there was a bay that basically came right up against the edge of the the complex where we lived, just a little inlet from the ocean, and we would go out there at times during certain times of the year and we would go shrimping there in the bay and Shrimping is where you try to catch shrimp, and we would, we would go out and we'd wait about waist deep and we had shrimp nets and we would cast those and my dad was out there and he's the one that would take us and sometimes we would catch quite a bit of shrimp, but I remember one occasion where we were going from one place to another.

Along the shoreline and it wasn't like a beach type of shore where it's beautiful sand. It was really a mucky marshy area, the where as you walk in the muck you lose sight of your shoe as it sinks into that that muck. And as we had begun our journey over to another area, this, this whole marshy, mucky area was filled with what looked like puddles, water puddles. Some of them were small, some of them were larger, and no sooner had we begun to traverse that mucky terrain that my dad said to me, He said, Whatever you do, don't step where the water puddles are, because some of those puddles are deep.

well, being an idiot child, I As soon as I came across, this was literally 10 seconds after my dad had said that, that there was a puddle directly in my path, and I stepped right into that puddle. It was about this wide. I stepped right into the puddle. The next thing that I knew, it was weird.

The next thing that I knew, I was completely submerged in water. And I, I never even touched the bottom of that puddle. And, and, and also, so the next thing I remember is I was completely submerged. And before I could even think to be afraid, my dad's arm, my dad had to have known I was going to do that.

He was right there. And he scooped me right out. I was only under the water for like a split second before his strong arm just pulled me out. But when he pulled me out and I regained my footing, my dad looked at me and I remember looking at him and he had this look on his face, and I saw this look often growing up.

And, and it was a look that said, you foolish child. What was unclear about the instruction. That I gave you, it was a look of utter amazement, that I would turn around that quickly and completely disregard and show that I had not listened to what he had said to me. I thought of that Looking at this passage today.

Because the Galatian church was really messed up at this point, moving away from the gospel, moving under the law, becoming more and more legalistic, and as you guys know, the further away from the gospel you get, the more cranky you get, and so in their relationships Each other, they're biting and devouring one another. We're going to observe in Galatians 5, and so they were a mess. But if you came to Paul and said, Paul, what would you say is the core fundamental bottom line problem with the Galatian Christians?

How did they get into this mess?

Paul would say it's very simple. They did not listen. To me. They did not listen.

To me. in fact, we have indication of this in Galatians, and chapter 1, verse 9, and listen to his tone. Just imagine his tone as he says this, as we have said before, so I say, again, now. I'm about to say something.

I've said this to you before. I said it when I was with you. It's a warning. And anathema basically.

I've already spoken this to you by way of warning, but I will say it again now. In chapter 5, verse 3, Paul wants to say something to them, but he introduces it by saying, I testify again. In other words, what I'm about to say I have said to you, but I am having to say it again now because you have not listened to me. And I know guys, if, if, if I know if I could go back and relive my life all over again and do one thing differently, it would be this I would listen.

I would listen to God. I would listen to my parents. I would listen to the warnings and the cautions and the counsel of those in spiritual authority over me and who themselves have learned from experience. All the problems we get into in our lives are ultimately because we fail to truly listen.

To what God has to say to us, and the Galatians did not listen to Paul. And it's rather sudden, even. Paul basically said, Don't step in that puddle. And it's as if 10 seconds later they step right into that puddle and they're in over their heads.

That's why in Galatians chapter 1 verse 6, he's saying, I am amazed that you are so soon deserting him. God, for a different gospel. You guys so quickly after all of my warnings and giving you the gospel and cautioning you and telling you what you can expect, you guys so quickly desert what it is that I have given to you because you haven't listened. So the Galatians had a listening problem, but Paul would say, listen, He said, let me add one nuance to their listening problem.

They're in the mess they're in, not simply because they have not listened to me, but they're trying to get under the law, and they're therefore in the mess that they're in also because they are not listening to the law itself. They're not even listening to the law that they want so badly to get under. If they were really listening to the law, they would not want to become enslaved to it again. Look at what he says.

In verse 21, he says, Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen? To the law? Literally, are you not listening? In other words, this law that you're trying to get underneath is actually speaking to you and conveying messages to you, but you're disregarding those messages in your rush in your haste to get underneath it and become enslaved to it.

And so Paul would say to the Galatians, Listen, I want you to listen to me. I'll say everything again. Listen to me in this letter so you can get out of the jam you're in and be walking with Christ in victory. But it's almost like he's saying, and if you won't listen to me, fair enough, at least listen to the law.

Listen to the law, but listen carefully to what it has to say to you and listen. To it. And in asking this question in verse 21, Paul, in essence is alluding back to everything he has already said in Galatians that the law says and communicates, and it's also an introduction to some other messages from the law that Paul believes that the Galatians needed to hear and yet they were. Not hearing some other messages that the law was speaking to them but they were not hearing.

And so what I want to do this morning is I want to give you guys 9 messages, 9 messages that the law in the book of Galatians is speaking to the Galatians and to all of us, and the Galatians, if they would only listen to the law, they would not be. messed up the way that they are, they would not be trying to come underneath and enslaved to the law again. Now the 1st 4 messages are by way of review. Paul is alluding in this question to what the law says, and that includes everything he's already told them that the law says.

So let's try very quickly to just review. 4 messages that he's already taught them that they would pick up from the law if they truly were listening to the law. Message number 1, guys, if we're really listening to the law, here's the first message we would get as recorded in Galatians, and that is that we We must obey all the law all the time in order to be righteous before God. We can't pick and choose and say, Well, I want to obey this but not that.

No, the law speaks to us and says you must obey all of me, all of the time, every provision in order to be righteous before God. In Galatians 3:10, Paul is quoting from Deuteronomy, which basically instructs God's people to abide continuously by all the things written in the book of the law. To perform them. Now Paul is teaching them this because essentially the Galatians were being picky about what they wanted to do.

The Judaizers were coming to them saying, hey, if you just get circumcised, which the law teaches, then you can be justified before God. And Paul's like, No, no, listen, the law actually teaches you got to do everything. If you're going to add one thing to faith in Christ and say, well, I got to do this one thing the law says you have to do all of the law, all of the time in order to be righteous before God. In fact, he's going to say this in chapter 5, verse 3, I testify again.

In other words, I explained all this when I was with you to every man. Who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. If you're going to say, I want to be circumcised in order to be justified before God, then you have to do the whole thing, every provision in the law. And so if you really listen to the law, Paul says, here's the first message you'll pick up the law.

Says that you must obey every provision, all of the law, all of the time in order to be righteous before God. Message number 2 that we would hear from the law if we listened to it is that we are cursed because we have failed to obey all of the law all of the time. in chapter 3 verse 10, Paul again quotes from Deuteronomy which says, cursed is everyone who does not continuously abide by all the things written in the book of the law to perform them. That's an amazing statement.

Cursed is everyone who does not continuously abide in obedience by all the things written in the book of the law to perform them. And James affirms this in James 2:10. Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of the entire law. That is what the law says to us.

So in other words, if a person were theoretically to live their life in total perfection and then at the age of 60 they tell a lie, they are guilty of the entire weight of the law. They are cursed and condemned because they did not always abide by everything that was written in the law of God. Now it'd be great if that were our testimony, right? If looking back on our life, we said, well, I got to tell you, kids, as I look back over my life, I regret that there was one day where I committed a sin.

I told a lie. And I regret that one sin that I committed. It'd be nice if that were a testimony. Our testimony, if your testimony is anything like me, we have broken the law millions of times a year, all right?

It is a mountainous amount of failures, and those failures are extremely significant. And if we listen to the law, the law says you're cursed, you're condemned because you have not always abided by everything perfectly in the law of God. The third message we would pick up from the law if we were listening to it. And that the Galatians would hear if they were listening to the law and its true intent is this that it is impossible for us to be justified by doing the works of the law because we have already failed to obey the law perfectly.

We will never be able to justify ourselves. By obedience to the law. If for example you realize today, man, I have failed so many times. I've sinned so many times, I've broken the law so many times, today I'm going to clean up my act, and I'm going to begin obeying the law.

And let's say theoretically that starting this morning to the end of your life you absolutely perfectly obeyed the law. God says you still wouldn't be justified, because forever, it can never be said of you that throughout the entirety of your life, that you continuously abided by all the things written. In the book of the law to perform them, it is on your record those failures, and so you're cursed, and there's nothing you can do to rectify that. By the works of the law, no flesh will be justified.

Galatians 3:22, the scripture, speaking of the law has shut up everyone under sin. We were kept in custody under the law, being shut up or lied. Locked up or trapped, and so there is nothing we can do to escape by our own virtue, by our own merit, by our own behavior from this condemnation or curse of the law of God upon us. But there is 1/4 message that we would hear from the law if we were to listen to it, and that is that Christ is our only hope for righteousness and salvation.

See, think about it. The law would tell us you must obey all of me all the time to be righteous before God. It then tells us you have failed to obey all of me all the time. Therefore you are cursed and condemned.

The law then tells us there's nothing you can do to get out from underneath that curse, but the law would then Tell you, let me point you to somebody who has perfectly obeyed me in every provision all of the time, and that is Jesus. So he is the only one who has been perfectly righteous, and this Jesus actually became a curse for you. So that you might be redeemed. And so as we see our guilt and see our helplessness, the law then points us to Jesus.

It introduces us to Jesus. And that's why Paul says in Galatians 3:24 that the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we might be justified by faith in Him. So these are the messages that Paul has already revealed that the law communicates to people both saved and unsaved, and if we're really listening to the law, we would hear the law communicating and speaking these messages to us. Well, having reviewed these messages, Paul now beginning in this section of Galatians, wants to deliver 5 additional messages that the Galatians should have been hearing from the law.

And he does this by way of what we would call allegory. Look at what he says in verse 21. This is where you got to put on your thinking caps. Verse 21, tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?

Are you not listening to the law? So the law's speaking and there's something for you to hear. And now Paul begins to dig back into the law and share with them what the law is saying. He begins with the story of Abraham.

He says, For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. He's going back into the Book of Genesis, which was a part of the Pentateuch, the 1st 5 books of the Old Testament that was commonly referred to as the law. All right. And you guys know the story of Abraham.

Abraham was a guy that lived 4000 years ago, and when Abraham was 75 years of age, by the way, he was married to a barren woman, a woman unable to produce children, when he was 75 years of age, God essentially appeared to Abraham and said, Abraham, I've got great news for you. out of your loins basically is going to come a mighty nation that is going to be more numerous than what you are able to count. So imagine being 75 and married to a barren woman, and God comes and gives you this incredible promise.

Well, Abraham actually believed God.

He trusted in the promise. Of God, amazingly, however, his faith was not perfect because no doubt what happened after Abraham got that promise at the age of 75. And his wife was about 10 years younger than him. Abraham no doubt went to Sarah and said, Sir, I've got incredible news for you.

Here's what God said to me, and we're going to have a son, and from that son is going to come a mighty nation. And so we better get busy and let's come together physically, and God is going to do this miracle. And so no doubt they came together physically, and guess what? Nothing happened.

She didn't conceive. And weeks went by and there was no conception. Months went by, no conception. A year went by, she never conceived.

10 years went by. And Sarah never conceived. After 10 years, Sarah gets to thinking this ain't going to happen. So she then took her slave, one of them whose name was Hagar, an Egyptian.

And she brings Hagar to Abraham and she says, Abraham, God promised this. It's not happening. God may need some help, and so I will give Hagar to be your second wife. You can have relations with her and through her you can produce.

a biological child, the promise of God can then be fulfilled. Abraham says that sounds like a good idea. And so they come together and Abraham produces a child through that slave woman whose name was Hagar and the child's name was. Ishmael.

All right, so looking back at this narrative here in Galatians 3, it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman, that's Hagar. She was a slave, and that was Ishmael, and then one by the free woman, that was Sarah. So he has Ishmael, and then Abraham around the age of 99, we know from Scripture, began to wax bold in his faith, and I just This is amazing to me. At some point around the age of 99, Abraham came to Sarah and said, Sarah, I just, I believe this is going to happen.

And you're going to conceive, and I, I want us to come together tonight. We're going to believe and trust God. And Sarah said, you are a crazy old man, but what? I'm going to believe you.

And they came together and amazingly, this 90 year old woman conceived. And just as amazingly she carried the baby to full term. And she gave birth to the baby. This was a miraculous.

Conception, a miraculous pregnancy, a miraculous birth, born of faith. It was the miraculous work of God, and it was the child of promise. So that's the narrative. Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman, and then about 15 years later, one by the free woman.

But verse 23, the son of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, in other words, by human conniving, human thinking, human planning, and by solely human effort. There was nothing miraculous about it, and the son was born. By the free woman. So the first son was born by the bond woman, nothing miraculous about it.

and the second son, though, was born by the free woman and born through the promise. It was a miraculous conception, pregnancy and birth. So here's the two sons, one according to the flesh by human effort planning, nothing miraculous about his birth, and then the second, was by the plan of God and the timing of God, and it was utterly stunningly miraculous in every way. Now, having told us those historical facts, Paul then says in verse 24, this is allegorically speaking, all right.

and the Greek word that is translated allegorically speaking is alleggoreto, from which we get the word. Allegory, very good. And what what Paul is saying is these facts that I am basing this on actually did happen in time, space, human history. There was an Abraham, and he did have two sons, one according to the flesh and one according to the promise.

These things really happened, and yet I want to communicate to you that these historical facts represent, they contain, they bespeak. Spiritual truth that you can hear if you're listening carefully. God is saying something through these historical events that took place in the life of Abraham. He says this is allegorically speaking for these women, Hagar and Sarah, are two covenants, speaking of the covenant of the law, the old covenant.

And then the other, the new covenant, he says one proceeding from Mount Sinai. What happened at Mount Sinai? The law was given at Mount Sinai. bearing children who are to be slaves.

She is Hagar. By the way, what in Bible times the Arabians called Mount Sinai. Agar. Agar.

And Paul is saying she is Hagar, a play on words that no doubt some of the Galatians would have been mindful of. And so Paul is equating essentially Hagar. with, the Old Covenant, the covenant of the law, the location of Mount Sinai where the law was given, and it essentially produced slaves because people were looking to the law for their salvation. It's like, OK, if we can obey this and do all of the provisions, then we can be justified before God, and they were therefore living a life of slavery.

Paul now brings it even closer to home. Look at verse 25. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and it corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. He says, let's go from Sinai, draw a line from there to present day.

Jerusalem, Paul is saying, which is in slavery with her children. Jerusalem as the capital city of Judaism, is in slavery in bondage to the law. They're all staring at the law and looking to the law for their salvation, and they're also looking at themselves that if I can obey, good enough, then I can be justified. I can be righteous before God.

And it is always up to them. Even if they fail, and they acknowledge that they fail, well, then there's steps that they have to take that they go through in order to get themselves back being viewed as righteous before God. But all of that is according to the flesh. It's according to their own human effort.

There's nothing miraculous about that. Verse 26, but the Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother. And Paul doesn't make all the connections that he would expect the reader to make, but the equivalent of, or the opposite of Hagar is Sarah.

You've got the covenant of Mount Sinai, which is the law, then you have the covenant of promise, the promise to Abraham. Of the blessing of salvation coming to all of the nations. Hagar produced slaves. Sarah produces free people.

Hagar corresponds to the present Jerusalem, and Sarah corresponds to the heavenly Jerusalem. She is free. And she is our mother, and because we are born of the free woman, therefore we are free. Now based on this, Paul moves from here.

Look at what he says as he quotes from Isaiah 54:1, for it is 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, apply this as Paul wants us to apply it to Sarah's situation. Hagar has Ishmael probably right away after, she conceives right after Abraham and her come together physically, and 15 years go by before Sarah conceives.

And imagine what a pain this was to Sarah to have to live in a household with a woman. Who was able to give her husband a child when Sarah was not able to do that. We know from the narrative of Genesis that after Hagar conceived and gave birth, it says she despised Sarah. She began to think little of her, and no doubt that came out, like what's wrong with you, Sarah, and I'm blessed of God and you're not.

And imagine what those 15 years must have been like for Sarah, to not be able to give her husband a child when Hagar seems able to write. away. It would have been a pain, but God would speak to someone like Sarah and say, rejoice, barren woman who does not bear, break forth and shout, even now while you are barren. for are you who are not in labor, for more numerous essentially will be your children than the children of Hagar.

That's the message. And ultimately from Sarah came Isaac. From Isaac, came the lineage of the Jews, and they are more in number and blessed of God, more so than the children of Ishmael. Now based on that, beginning in verse 28, Paul wants the Galatians to lean forward and listen to what the law says to them.

They're wanting to get under the law, and he's saying just listen carefully to the law and hear what it says to you now that you've believed in Jesus. Message number 5, this is the 5th message of the law that Paul conveys to the Galatians in this book. And that is believing in Christ makes us the freeborn children of promise. If, if we listen to the law carefully and we listen to this narrative that Paul is giving to us, we would hear it speaking to us.

We would hear God speaking through these passages telling us that because we have believed in Jesus, that makes us the freeborn children of promise. Just like Isaac, we are the promised children, not children of the flesh. In verse 26, Paul says that Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother.

And in Bible times, by the way guys, if you're born to a slave, the slave mother gives birth to you, you're automatically a slave unless legal proceedings make you free. If you're born of a mother that is free, you're automatically de facto. Free by virtue of that. So our mother is free.

Therefore, we are the free born children of promise. Look at what he says in verse 28, and you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. Your birth is a miraculous birth. It is the doing of God, not Your own doing, not the result of human planning, human effort.

It is the work of God. Verse 31, he says, So then brethren, we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman, and hence that makes us free. And so Paul would say, just looking at this story, if you listen carefully, you would hear it conveying to you that believing in Christ makes you the freeborn children of promise. Now, the Galatians were being told by the Judaizers, you're not the children of promise.

You're the descendants of Hagar, if anything, and you must be circumcised and you must get yourself underneath the law and become a Jew in order to become a child of promise, become a genuine child of God, and to be saved. Paul is saying no, by virtue of believing in Jesus, you are automatically a child of the promise. You are children of promise. You are Abraham's descendants of the lineage of Isaac.

Your birth is a miraculous one, and don't let anyone tell you that there's something additional that you have to do in order to become a child of promise. There's a 6th message that Paul wants the Galatians to hear from the law. And that is that as children of promise, being children of promise, we should expect to be persecuted by the children of the flesh. And no doubt the Galatians were thinking, OK, man, I'd really love to believe that, that there's nothing additional that I need to do, and I'm already a child of promise by faith.

Being born again by the work of God. But why do the Jews persecute us? That doesn't make sense. Why do these people under the law, persecute us the way that they do?

And Paul says, hey, if you listen to the law, the law actually warned you that this would happen. This is amazing. Look at verse 29. But as at that time, in Abraham's day, he who was born according to the flesh, that's Ishmael, persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, that's Isaac, so it is now also.

Very interesting. You say, well, where is it recorded that Ishmael ever persecuted Isaac? Well, in Genesis 21:9, Ishmael would have been anywhere from 15. 1617 years of age at this point.

And Isaac had been born and around the time that Isaac was being weaned from his mother, Abraham threw a party to celebrate the weaning of Isaac. And most of us today don't throw parties for that, but Abraham did, and I'm sure because Isaac was the son of Promise, every little thing in Isaac's life was cause for great celebration. And great focus. And so they have this festival, this feast celebrating the weaning of little Isaac.

And during the festivities, Genesis 21:9 says, Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. That's what the Hebrew word means. In other words, making fun. And one commentator says this by way of explaining the word mocking.

It says Sarah saw Ishmael mocking, making ridicule of the occasion. Isaac, the object of holy laughter, was made the butt of unholy wit or profane sport. Unbelief, envy, pride of carnal superiority were the causes of Ishmael's conduct. Can we not at least sympathize with Ishmael and understand in our humanness why he might do that?

Ishmael would be thinking to himself, I'm the first born son. And I was born first, way before this little rat was born, and look at this. They're throwing a party over the fact that he's being weaned by his mother, and they're making a big deal out of it. And no doubt on this occasion he's like mocking and ridiculing, and I am sure that's not the only occasion in which this attitude was seen in Ishmael, but Ishmael would be ticked.

It's like, what, I should be the one celebrated. I'm the firstborn. I'm the one who should be the child of promise, who should get the blessing and and to be an heir of my father's estate more so than this kid, Isaac. And so it all comes out at this Feast.

This party and Sarah sees it. And for Paul, an inspired writer of scripture, to use the word persecuted, indicates that there was even more than just him mocking. He was mistreating. The boy, not only on this occasion but no doubt other occasions.

Well, we know from the narrative of Genesis that after Sarah saw This happening, she went to Abraham and said, Get rid of this kid and his mother. Get rid of them. And we're going to see what happens in just a moment, but I want us to at least understand at this point that Paul is speaking to the Galatians, and he's saying to the Galatians, if you go back to the law, you find already in seed form. God, through the law telling you that this is going to happen.

The Jews enslaved to the law. are children of the flesh, descendants of Hagar, and that's exactly why they persecute you. Because they're ticked, they're angry. They do all of this work to attain what they think is their righteousness before God.

And you just come walking in way after them, and you get it just like this without any work. It's their own envy and their feeling of superiority in themselves that causes them to unleash such rage against you, and we know that there must have been persecution going on in the midst of what's happening in the Galatian church because Paul in chapter 6 says those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.

Some of the the impetus of the Galatians to go ahead and get circumcised and come under the law was to avoid persecution. And Paul's saying, no, no, listen, persecution is your destiny.

Persecution is the destiny of children of promise. You will be persecuted by children of the flesh, and the law already told you that if you were really listening. Well, there's a 7th message that the law conveys. That Paul wants the Galatians to hear and he wants us to hear.

If we listen carefully to the law, we would hear the law telling us what to do with these children of the flesh who are in our midst and trying to influence us to become like them, and that is that we should cast out legalism and her children from our midst. We should cast out legalism and her children from our midst. Look at what it says in verse 30. And by the way, like I said, Sarah goes to Abraham when she sees Ishmael doing this and says, You've got to get rid of her, get rid of her son.

This can't happen. And so Abraham's all just, upset over this, doesn't know what to do. God ends up speaking to, Abraham in Genesis 21, and he gives Abraham a good piece of advice that every husband would do well to listen to and give heed to. He says to Abraham, Listen to your wife, Listen to your wife.

And then he says, cast out the bondwoman and her son, cast out the bondwoman and her son Abraham. this woman and her son and their descendants, they're not going to be able to be a part of your household. You need to expel them. Let them go.

Listen to what your wife is saying to you. And again, why is Paul quoting this? Just so they know a little bit of history? No, because in this, in this word of God to Abraham, Is all the direction that the Galatians need from God as to how to deal with their situation with the people in their congregations that have embraced this gospel of works and they are in positions of leadership and influence in the Galatian congregations and the Galatians should hear this and say, OK, what this is telling us is we need to get rid of these people.

We need to get rid of legalism from our midst and all of the proponents. of legalism from our midst. By the way, what is legalism? one of the ways of defining this from this standpoint is legalism is the teaching that you must obey even one work of the law in order to be counted as righteous before God.

It's a teaching that you've got to do extra things. You've got to obey the law in order to be counted as righteous. And if someone just says, well, I'm not saying the whole law. I'm just saying one thing, just circumcision.

Yeah, you have to be circumcised in addition to believing in Jesus. That's the only thing I'm extracting from the law. I'm putting on people, Paul would say you're a legalist. All right, that makes you a legalist.

If just one thing you add by way of the works of the law to salvation as being required for someone to be counted as righteous, you are a legalist. And Paul is saying cast out the bondwoman. And the bond woman represents slavery, slavery to the law, and her son, in other words, her offspring, her children, those who are living in slavery and seeking to influence you guys in this direction, cast them out of your midst. See, part of the problem with the Galatians is that they allowed people in their midst who believed in a different gospel, and little by little, they were affected and duped and seduced by that different gospel rather than casting them out.

look at chapter 5, verse 7. You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? I want to know who did this.

Paul says, This persuasion you guys are arriving at to be under the law, it didn't come from him who calls you. Hm, I wonder where it came from. Verse 9, a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough, doesn't it? You guys have allowed 11.

In your midst. And it's leavening the rest of you. and corrupting the church. And if you listen to the law, the law says Get rid of legalism.

and her children from your midst. Now, be careful with this. This does not mean that when people come to our services that we have ushers who ask them, are you a child of the flesh or a child of the spirit? Are you a born again believer in Christ?

Oh, you're not. OK, you are not allowed to come in here. We cast you out. That's not what this is saying.

What it's saying is if somebody I wanted to become a member of Cornerstone. And to have a position of influence and teaching, and yet they embrace a different gospel, a gospel of slavery to the law, a gospel of works. We are to not allow that to happen. And if someone from our own midst, we have never had to do this, guys, but If someone from our own midst who is a member of our church rises up, they embrace a different gospel, and maybe they're teaching a Sunday school class and they're having a little Bible studies with other people in our church and they're seeking to influence people with this gospel of works, what, what the Bible tells us to do.

Cast them out, get rid of them, to get rid of legalism from our own heart, but also to cast out such people to not allow them a place in the family of God as long as they are believing these things and seeking to influence God's people to embrace a false, gospel. There is an 8th message that is actually found in verse 30, an 8th message that is conveyed by the law to us as believers. If we listen, we can hear it, and what we would hear is this that those who are enslaved to the law will not be heirs of salvation with us.

In verse 30, God says to Abraham, 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.

God is very exclusive here. God's not like, well, you guys are fighting. I'll tell you what, I'll just, I'll give all of the blessings that I promised through Isaiah. I'll give it to everybody.

God is very exclusive. I have chosen to do this through Isaac and through Hagar and Ishmael. It's not going to happen. They're not going to be an heir to this promise that I have made to Abraham through Isaac and so cast them out.

And by way of application, what the law is saying to the Galatians is these Judaizers who are looking to the law for salvation, they're not an error. of saving grace. They're not in error. Paul doesn't want the Galatians to think, well, all roads lead to God, and in the end God accepts everybody and everyone gets blessed.

No. Cast out the bondwoman and her son. The son of the bondwoman will not be an heir. will not be an heir with the son of the free woman.

And so we should not treat such people as, well, you're a brother, you're a sister, and everything's OK, and we'll ultimately get to God. No, God is exclusive, and if we have any interactions with such a person, we seek to influence them to the true gospel of grace. We give them no position of influence in our life. And the last and final message that we would hear from the law if we were listening to it.

And this is where we're going to pick up next week. Message number 9 is Christ has freed us. We should stand firm in that freedom. what the law, it's interesting.

It shows us our bankruptcy. It points us to Christ. It introduces us to Him. We then embrace Him and we are saved.

And then the law still speaks to us and it says, Hey, because you believed in Him, you're a child of promise. You're a child of promise. The law now speaks very positively and affirming to us. You're a child of promise.

And you can expect now you're going to get persecuted by those who are not children of promise, those who are the children of the flesh, and if there's anyone that is in your church that has a position of influence or whatever and they're embracing a gospel of law, you need to cast them out and don't allow the spirit of that to even be in your own heart. They're not going to be an heir of the same salvation that you have received through Christ. But then the law would also point to Jesus and say, He's freed you.

I pointed you to him for a reason.

Now that you believed in him, he's freed you. Chapter 5, verse 1. Well, look at verse 31. So then, brethren, we are not children of the slave, but of the free.

It was for freedom. That Christ set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. The law says Christ has freed you.

Why did it free you? Why did he free you? He freed you for freedom. A freedom that he wants you to enjoy.

He did not die for you and save you so that you can then move from where you are now and go back under the law and look to the law for salvation. Walk in that freedom, stand firm in that freedom, and don't ever allow Yourself to be subject again to any yoke of slavery, whether that's slavery to the law again or whether that's slavery to sin. Christ died so that you would be free walk in that freedom, stand firm in that freedom. what, I would imagine that most of us in this room are not really battling with, man, I wonder if I should be circumcised to be saved and justified.

I wonder if I need to start obeying, all the feast days and festivals in the Old Testament law, to be justified before God. I don't think there's anyone in our congregation, at least that I know of, that's really battling with those issues and their conscience. But do you realize that every single day The devil is seeking to seduce us back into slavery. I, I know that's happened to me this week.

Just the old slavery, just come on back, just come on back and look how pleasant and how fun and pleasurable this will be. But in those moments, we need to hear God's words say, hey, Christ died so that you would be free. And stand firm in that freedom and don't ever step out of that circle of freedom and subject yourself to any form of slavery again. And I don't know where you're at right now in your life, guys, but wherever you're at spiritually, can you draw a circle around that spot and say, Yeah, Christ died so that I would be right here.

Can you say that? If you can't, Then get out of that spot and get in that spot of freedom. Where Christ did die, so that you might be. Let me ask you to bow your heads this morning.

This passage that we've looked at today, there's just a lot of stuff here we can't even look at everything in detail. Requires a lot of thinking, but ultimately, guys, God through His word is seeking to affirm you. As a child of God. To bless you That this isn't just the apostle talking.

Even the law that at one point terrorized you now speaks to you and says you are a child of promise. You're under grace. You are forgiven. You are free.

Walk in that freedom. And if we ever try to get back under the law, the law would, would seek to stiff arm us if it could and say, No, don't come back under me. This is not why Jesus died. Walk in freedom.

As a child, a promise. And Lord, may we receive this affirmation, not just from the New Testament, but this affirmation from the Old. May we become better, more careful students of the scripture that I'm sure as the Galatians heard Paul opening up the scriptures, they were thinking, I never heard that. I've read that, but I never heard that.

And how many times, Lord, must we read your word and not hear what you're trying to say to us in both the old and the new. This is why often in the book of Revelation, you say, let him who has ears to hear. Hear what the spirit is saying to the churches. Lord, you speak so much to us of your love and of your grace.

And often we don't listen. We don't hear, we read your word and we don't see. Open our eyes like you did the apostle Paul's. That when we hear we really hear, and when we see we really see.

The affirmation and the love that comes to us from both the New Testament. And even the old. We receive this affirmation today. That is ours solely because of Jesus who paid it all.

For us.