Stand Fast

Introduction

Good morning, Church! It's so good to see each and every one who could make it out this morning and I want to welcome everyone who may be joining us online as well!

If you have your Bibles this morning, go ahead and be turning with me to Galatians chapter 4 and we're going to pick up where we left off a few weeks ago here in verse 21.

Now let me take just a moment here and remind you where we've been.

A couple weeks ago, we looked at The Son Who Set Us Free and we watched Paul move from the courtroom of Chapter 3 to the family in Chapter 4 and show us that we weren't just forgiven but we were adopted. We were slaves, and Christ made us sons.

This morning, Paul makes his last argument in this section. And I want you to understand what kind of shape Paul is in when he writes these verses.

Think about everything he's already tried thus far in his letter to the Galatians.

He's warned them.

He's rebuked them.

He's used sarcasm and logic.

He's laid out his own testimony.

He's taken them to Mount Sinai and then to Mount Calvary.

He's called three witnesses to the stand — their own experience, the Scriptures, and the Law itself.

And he's still not sure he's gotten through!

So, what does he do? Before he finishes his scathing letter here to the Churches in Galatia, he’s gonna give it one more attempt at driving this message home!

He takes them back once again but this time to a story.

Look at verse 21.

"Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?"

Now, that question has some edge on it.

Chuck Swindoll says Paul is being pointed here — maybe even a little sarcastic. He's essentially saying, "Alright. You want to live under the Law? Fine. Then let's open up the Law and see what it actually says."

He grants their whole premise — and then he turns it right back around on them.

And here's what I love about this...Paul takes them to a story every single one of them had known since they were children. A story out of Genesis about one man, two women, and two sons...and Paul says — "That story is about you."

So let's read it together this morning. Galatians 4:21...If you have it, would you say Amen.

Galatians 4:21–31 KJV 1900

21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Galatians 5:1 KJV 1900

1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Bow with me if you will.

The title of this morning's message is simply this — Stand Fast.

And this morning I want us to see four things together...

Two Sons — The Contrast Paul Draws — (Vs. 22–23)

Two Covenants — Enslavement or Emancipation — (Vs. 24–27)

Two Natures — The Conflict in the House — (Vs. 28–31)

One Command — Stand Fast — (Ch. 5, Vs. 1)

Let's start right here with Point 1...look with me at verses 22 and 23 at the...

Two Sons and The Contrast Paul Draws — (Vs. 22–23)

Galatians 4:22–23 KJV 1900

22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.

Now, let me take just a moment and set the scene for you — because you can't understand what Paul's doing here until you understand what happened back in Genesis.

Now, I know this story is very familiar to those of us who have been studying it on Wednesday nights but for the kids and those who may not be able to make it on Wednesday nights, I’ll lay it out for you really quick.

God had made Abraham a promise. He said, "I'm going to give you a son. And through your seed all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed."

And Abraham believed God.

But then he and Sarah waited...and they waited.

And before they knew it, ten years had went by and Abraham's getting older and Sarah's getting older and that womb that was already barren is now well past the age of childbearing and every single morning that promise looks a little more impossible than it did the day before.

And that's when Sarah has an idea.

She looks at Abraham and says, "The LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her."

Sarah and Abraham decided that God needed a little help. Or that maybe He had forgotten about the promise that He had made like maybe He had dementia or amnesia or something so they decide to help God along and bring this promise to fruition.

Now, it’s easy to sit back and look at Abraham and Sarah and say… “What were you thinking”, right?

But let me dial it in a little deeper for you this morning.

In this day and time, to be barren was frowned upon. A woman’s main role and goal in the relationship was to be able to give their husbands heirs for their inheritance. Someone to leave their legacy and living to. And so if a woman wasn’t able to have children, they were looked down upon and not only that, but think of the toll that it took on the woman!

If your husband’s greatest wish was for you to be able to give him children but then you couldn’t, I’m sure this took a toll on her mentally as well. I mean even today, with all the advances in medicine it can still be hard to have children and when you simply can’t it can (not that it will) but it can take a toll on you.

So, here’s Sarah. She’s barren. She can’t have children. Abraham has told her of this promise that God has made but with every passing day, month after month, year after year, and still no child, the weight of the situation begins to take it’s toll on Sarah until she finally says…

“Abraham, I know you trust God but I just don’t think it’s going to happen. Look at me...I’m passed the age of child bearing. There’s no way I’m gonna be able to give you the heirs you want. Maybe it’s time to think outside the box. Look at it like this...God has given us these servants...I mean look at my maid Hagar...she’s beautiful, she’s young...she could give us the heir we’ve been waiting on. And listen honey, you’re not getting any younger either! What if we wait too long and it’s not just me but then it becomes you? What if you can’t have children? Then we’ll have no shot whatsoever at having an heir and what good will God’s promise be to us then? Abraham, I think it’s time!”

And Abraham listened to his wife and went in unto her handmaid and out of that interaction came a boy named Ishmael.

Now watch this — Ishmael was a real son to Abraham. Abraham loved that boy and he was so attached to him that years later when God spoke about the covenant son, Abraham cried out, "O that Ishmael might live before thee!"

But Ishmael was never the son of promise.

John Phillips says it about as plain as it can be said. He points out that Ishmael's birth involved nothing of faith and nothing of the supernatural — he was produced in the energy of the flesh according to the ordinary working of the laws of nature. And then he says this — "Anyone can produce an Ishmael. Our churches are full of them." — Exploring Galatians, John Phillips

I would love to know what exactly was going through Phillips mind when he penned those words but as I read them, I got to thinking about a few different things....

The first thought that came to mind was how people just go out have children in the power of the flesh and never even give it a second thought that they are about to bring a living, breathing, being into this world and that action has consequences.

But I think the deeper prod behind that statement was probably the fact that there are certain sects of Christianity who believe that salvation is born by faith in God & the flesh through good works instead of being solely by God’s grace.

They believe that it’s a mix of grace and the flesh...as if man has anything to add to what only God can provide!

Listen to me friend, if it’s born in the power of the flesh it’s not born of God, Amen!

I think that’s what Phillips meant when he said..."Anyone can produce an Ishmael. Our churches are full of them."

But then, thirteen more years go by. And Abraham's ninety-nine and Sarah's ninety. And now this thing isn't just difficult — it's now impossible.

And that's when God shows up and Isaac is born.

Not by human effort.

Not by scheming or human strength.

Isaac was born against nature itself — by the direct, miraculous power of Almighty God.

Do you see the contrast?

Two sons. One father. Two completely different origins.

Ishmael — born of the flesh. Isaac — born of promise.

Ishmael — the product of human effort. Isaac — the product of divine power.

Ishmael — what any man can do. Isaac — what only God can do.

And listen Church, that right there is the entire argument of the book of Galatians!

Because there have only ever been two ways any human being has tried to get right with God.

You can try it Ishmael's way — through human effort, religious performance, cleaning yourself up, trying harder, doing more, and hoping it's enough.

Or you can receive it Isaac's way — by promise. By grace. By simply believing what God has already said and letting Him do what only He can do.

One of those produces a son...the other one produces a slave.

Now, I want to stop right here for just a second because Swindoll makes an application at this point that I believe needs to be said this morning.

The Jews in Paul's day believed their physical descent from Abraham put them in good standing with God.

They had the pedigree.

They had the bloodline.

They had the family name.

And Swindoll says he sees that exact same thing in churches today.

Chuck Swindoll — "They ride on the coattails of their parents, laud the laurels of their grandparents, or point to a family legacy of faith that has stood strong for generations. They act as though the faith of their ancestors automatically transfers to them. But nothing could be further from the truth. People aren't born Christians—they become Christians." — Swindoll's Living Insights New Testament Commentary: Galatians, Chuck Swindoll

Dear friend, listen to me this morning. There's not a drop of salvation in your family tree. Just because your parents are saved, that salvation doesn’t just automatically transfer down to you because you’re their child. It doesn’t work that way! Every single person has to come to Jesus Christ for themselves!

That’s why Paul told the Philippians “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”.

It’s a personal relationship with the Savior not a familial relationship or a communal relationship. Just being a part of this body of believers here at New Home can’t save you. You must have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and at any point this morning, if the Holy Spirit convicts your heart that you are lost and need to be saved, then dear friend just come on up here to this old fashioned altar and get things right with God!

Don’t you dare put the God of all creation on hold until the end of the service, you just come and surrender to His call upon your life! You won’t hinder me I promise!

So we've seen the contrast between two sons. But then, Paul takes us from the family to two mountains...look with me at verse 24.

Two Covenants — Enslavement or Emancipation — (Vs. 24–27)

Galatians 4:24 KJV 1900

24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.

Now Paul tells us plainly what he's doing. These things are an allegory — the story carries a meaning beyond the surface. God had something deeper in mind when He wrote it.

William Barclay said this about Rabbis of this day and time and I got a huge blessing from it so I thought I’d share it with you all as well. He said...

William Barclay — WHEN we attempt to interpret a passage like this, we must remember that, for devout and scholarly Jews, and especially for the Rabbis, Scripture had more than one meaning; and the literal meaning was often regarded as the least important. For the Jewish Rabbis, a passage of Scripture had four meanings. (1) Peshat, its simple or literal meaning. (2) Remaz, its suggested meaning. (3) Derush, the meaning deduced by investigation. (4) Sod, the allegorical meaning. The first letters of these four words—P R D S—are the consonants of the word Paradise; and, when a Rabbi had succeeded in penetrating into these four different meanings, he reached the joy of paradise.

It is to be noted that the summit of all meanings was the allegorical meaning. It therefore often happened that the Rabbis would take a simple bit of historical narrative from the Old Testament and read into it inner meanings which often appear to us fantastic but which were very convincing to the people of their day. Paul was a trained Rabbi; and that is what he is doing here. He takes the story involving Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac (Genesis 16, 17, 21), which in the Old Testament is a straightforward narrative, and he turns it into an allegory to illustrate his point. — The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians

And so when Paul tries to get this message across here he uses the story as and allegory and says — these two women represent two covenants.

Now, John Phillips does something with these two covenants that I think is just beautiful. He says each one can be summed up in a single word.

The first covenant sums up in one word — enslavement.

The second covenant sums up in one word — emancipation.

Now, let's take them one at a time and break them down.

First — the covenant of bondage.

Hagar represents Mount Sinai, where the Law was given. And what does Paul say Sinai produces?

He says, "Which gendereth to bondage."

Sinai gives birth to slaves.

Now, John Butler helps us understand why.

He points out that the covenant God gave Abraham back in Genesis 15 was unconditional — God simply made a promise and sealed it Himself.

But the covenant of the Law at Sinai was conditional. Every blessing in it hung on the people's obedience.

And Church, that's exactly why it produces bondage!

Because the moment your standing depends on your performance, you are in chains.

You never know if you've done enough.

You never rest.

You never sleep easy.

And think about what actually happened at Sinai.

God came down to man and the mountain quaked and burned with fire.

There was blackness and darkness and lightnings and thunderings.

There was a trumpet so loud and terrible that the people begged Moses to speak to God on their behalf and that God not speak to them directly because they were afraid that they might die!

There was also a boundary line drawn around that mountain, and if so much as an animal touched it, that animal died.

Even Moses himself — the great lawgiver and man of God said, "I exceedingly fear and quake."

Listen Church, that's the mountain of the Law.

You don't come running up Sinai.

You stand back.

You tremble.

You keep your distance.

Because everything about that mountain says stay away — you are not holy enough to come near.

And it carries the idea of Enslavement.

But then there's a second mountain.

Look at verse 26..."But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all."

Sarah represents the Jerusalem which is above — the heavenly city, the covenant of grace, ratified by Christ on Calvary and sealed with His own blood.

And the writer of Hebrews takes those same two mountains and sets them side by side.

He says — "For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest..." — that's Sinai —

"But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels... and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling."

Do you hear the difference, Church?

At Sinai you stand back. At Zion you come in.

At Sinai there's a boundary line. At Zion there's an open door.

At Sinai there's fire and darkness, thunderings, lightnings, and quaking. But at Zion there's a Mediator of the New Covenant and blood that speaks of better things.

At Sinai God says, "Don't touch." At Zion God says, "Come home."

Listen Church, that’s Emancipation! That is freedom!

And listen Church, every single person in this room this morning is standing at the foot of one of those two mountains.

You're either at Sinai — trying to climb your way up to a Holy God on your own performance, trembling the whole way because deep down you know you'll never make it!

Or you're at Zion — where the blood's already been shed, the price has already been paid, the door's already open, and the Father's already standing there with His arms out wide and the Son is saying...

Matthew 11:28 KJV 1900

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Which mountain are you standing at this morning dear friend?

One mountain genders fear and hesitance while the other offers peace and rest but you must choose which mountain you’re going to climb for only one will render you an entrance into God’s Heavenly Kingdom this morning!

Now look at verse 27 where Paul quotes Isaiah.

Galatians 4:27 KJV 1900

27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

Now John Butler catches something here I don't want you to miss.

Sarah was the barren one.

Sarah was the one with no hope.

Sarah was the one who by every natural measure should have had nothing at all.

But God says — the barren one is going to have more children than anybody.

And Butler's point is this — grace will always produce better than the law ever could.

Because that's how grace works, Church! Grace doesn't appeal to the people who think they have it all together. Grace appeals to the empty, the barren, the hopeless, the ones that have nothing to bring — and it draws them to the One who can provide for all of their needs!

And notice one more thing about that verse. Butler points out the first word — "Rejoice."

The gospel brings joy. The law never did. The law brought fear. Go back and read Exodus 20 — when the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and heard that trumpet, the Bible says they "removed, and stood afar off."

The Law says stand afar off...but Grace says rejoice!

So we've seen two sons and two covenants. But now Paul brings this thing right into the house...look with me at verses 28 through 31.

Two Natures — The Conflict in the House — (Vs. 28–31)

Let’s start by looking at Vs. 28-29.

Galatians 4:28–29 KJV 1900

28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

Now, John Phillips walks through these final verses with four words, and I want to use them because they'll help us remember this.

He says here we have the outlook, the outrage, the outlaw, and the outcome.

First — the outlook. (Verse 28) — "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise."

Phillips asks a string of questions here that I love.

How was Isaac born? By faith!

How are we born again? By faith!

How was Isaac formed in Sarah's womb? By faith!

How is Christ formed in our hearts? By faith!

Did the Law have anything to do with Isaac's birth? Of course not!

Does the Law have anything to do with our new birth? No sir!

And Phillips says — previous self-efforts had not produced an Isaac but an Ishmael.

Dear friend, the outlook for the person trying to keep the Law is miserable. But the outlook for the child of promise is marvelous — because he's heir to everything God ever promised!

Second — the outrage. (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."

Now here's the scene. On the day Isaac was weaned, Abraham threw a great feast. And Sarah looked over and saw Ishmael mocking.

John Butler says — The flesh does not praise the Spirit. Those who would mix law and grace mocked Paul and others who preached the true Gospel message.

And then Paul says — "even so it is now."

Butler goes on to say — This practice of the flesh persecuting the Spirit is still current. Believers will be persecuted by unbelievers (flesh). The grace message will be mocked and attacked by those who would insist works are involved in salvation.

Swindoll says — Just as Ishmael ridiculed his half-brother Isaac (Gen. 21:8–9), legalists will persecute believers (Gal. 4:29). It has been this way throughout history, beginning with Jesus Himself. The religious leaders of His day opposed, mocked, condemned, and executed the true Seed of Abraham.

The Judaizers made life and ministry difficult for Paul and all those who, like him, took a stand for the freedom that comes through grace.

During the Reformation, popes and kings brutalized Protestants who took a stand on the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith.

In our own day, legalistic Christians who have never experienced the sweet liberation of grace can make the Christian life a miserable experience for true believers, overwhelming them with an endless, uncompromising list of dos and don’ts.

Now listen friend, there's also something else here in verse 29 that I want you to see.

That conflict between the flesh and the Spirit isn't just out there in the world — it's also living inside every born-again believer here in this room this morning.

If you’ve been born again, you've got a new nature — born of the Spirit, born of promise, born from above.

And you've still got that old nature — born of the flesh, and listen, it hasn't gotten one bit better since the day you got saved.

And they don't get along! Never have and never will.

That's why the Christian life sometimes feels like a war. Because it is one.

That’s what led Paul to write in Romans Chapter 7...

Romans 7:18–19 KJV 1900

18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Romans 7:24–25 KJV 1900

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Listen this morning friend, the flesh and the Spirit will never get along on this side of eternity. Until that day when we shall put off this corruptible and put on that incorruptible, we shall find ourselves in this battle which is even more a reason to trust in the only thing that can really save us...the grace of God furnished through the Lord Jesus Christ!

So, we’ve seen the outlook and the outrage. Third comes the outlaw. Look with me at Verse 30.

Third — the outlaw. (Verse 30) — “Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.”

Cast him out.

Now, that's not a suggestion. In the Greek it's a command, and it's forceful.

Drive him out.

Put him out.

He cannot stay in this house.

Warren Wiersbe asks the practical question here — what do you actually do about Ishmael living in the house?

And he lays out the options. He says...

You could try to change him.

Reform the flesh.

Improve it.

Educate it.

Discipline it into behaving.

Put it in a suit and bring it to church.

But that never worked with Ishmael and it'll never work with the flesh. Jesus said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" — and it always will be. You cannot reform what God has already condemned.

Or you could try to compromise with him.

Just let him stay.

Make a little room.

Keep grace and keep a little law on the side, just in case.

And Church, that's exactly what those Galatians were trying to do.

Warren Wiersbe — "Ishmael had been in the home for at least seventeen years, but his stay was not to be permanent... It is impossible for law and grace, the flesh and the Spirit, to compromise and stay together." — The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: New Testament, Warren Wiersbe

Seventeen years! You can live with something a long, long time and still not be able to keep it.

Swindoll calls it fence straddling — and he says God won't allow it.

Chuck Swindoll — "The free life can't survive the structured demands of rule-centered living. Conversely, law keeping can't maintain a grip on a truly liberated life." — Swindoll's Living Insights New Testament Commentary: Galatians, Chuck Swindoll

One of them has got to go.

And Church, I want you to notice something — it wasn't easy.

The Bible says when Sarah demanded Ishmael be sent away, "the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son."

This broke Abraham's heart. This was his boy. He'd loved that child for seventeen years.

But Wiersbe makes a connection right there that I want you to see — Abraham's broken heart meant Isaac's liberty. And in just the same way, God giving His own Son means our liberty in Christ.

There's always a cost to freedom — somebody's heart always breaks. And on a hill outside of Jerusalem — it was the Father's heart that was broken for us!

We’ve seen the outlook, the outrage, and the outlaw. Lastly comes the...

Fourth — the outcome. (Verse 31) — "So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free."

Paul says...That's the verdict — the settled fact of the matter.

Phillips says Paul brings them right back to their true place — they had not been saved by the Law, but by the Lord. Not by works, but by faith.

And Phillips lays the whole thing out as a choice....

Hagar or Sarah.

Sinai or Zion.

The earthly Jerusalem or the heavenly Jerusalem.

Law or grace.

Faith or works.

Carnality or Christ.

Let them decide.

So, we’ve now seen...Two Sons, Two Covenants, Two Natures and then Paul finishes it up with...

One Command — Stand Fast — (Ch. 5, Vs. 1)

Look with me at chapter 5, verse 1.

Galatians 5:1 KJV 1900

1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Church, everything in this letter has been building to this one verse.

Four chapters of argument.

Three witnesses.

Two covenants.

And it all comes down to one command.

But before we get to the command, I want you to see the word Paul uses for liberty because John Phillips opens this up in a way that I believe will bless your soul this morning.

The Greek word is (eleutheria) — and Phillips points out that it was the word used for the manumission or setting free of a slave.

Now, here's how that actually worked in the Greek world.

A slave couldn't buy his own freedom, because a slave had no legal standing.

He couldn't own property.

He couldn't make a contract.

Legally, he was nothing.

So here's what they did. The slave would save up whatever money he could. But he couldn't use it himself — so his master would take that money and pay it into the treasury of a temple on the slave's behalf.

And then, a document would be drawn up and executed, bearing these words — "for freedom."

And from that moment on, that slave was considered the property of the god of that temple.

And because he belonged to a god now — nobody could ever enslave him again.

John Phillips — "You have been purchased! You are the property of the Son of God. Nobody has any right to enslave you again." — Exploring Galatians, John Phillips

Do you hear that, Church?

We couldn't buy our own freedom.

We had no standing.

We had nothing to pay with.

So the price was paid on our behalf — not into a temple treasury but on a cross. Not with silver and gold but with the precious blood of the Son of God.

And a document was executed. And the words on it were for freedom.

And you and I belong to Him now.

And nobody has any right to put chains back on us because through the precious blood of Jesus Christ we have been set free and if Christ hath made us free, we are free indeed, Amen!!

But here's the command..."Stand fast."

Phillips says this was one of Paul's great rallying cries and it would have brought one picture to every mind in that Roman world.

When Roman soldiers faced a wild, screaming, undisciplined enemy charge, they didn't scatter and they didn't advance. Instead they locked their shields together, planted their feet and they presented that charging enemy an iron wall of steel.

Stand fast. Plant your feet. Don't yield a single point...that’s the point Paul is trying to make here!

Because that's the kind of stand we've got to take against error. Truth is truth and error is error, and the two are at war. And Phillips notes that Paul — the most conciliatory of men — would never compromise when it came to truth.

And then look at the warning from Paul — "be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."

Now that word "entangled" is the Greek word (enechō). And Phillips traces it through the New Testament.

It's the word used of Herodias, who "had a quarrel against" John the Baptist — she cherished a grudge, and she would have killed him if she could.

And it's the word used of the Scribes and Pharisees who "began to urge him vehemently" — pressing in on Jesus, provoking Him, trying to trap Him.

Church, that's what the legalists were doing in Galatia. They weren't just disagreeing. They were pressing. They were putting on the heat. They were using every ounce of pressure they could muster.

And Paul says — stand fast. Don't you give in!

And notice one more time who did the freeing. "The liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free."

We didn't free ourselves. We couldn't. This liberty was purchased at Calvary.

Charles Spurgeon — "If you mean to have anything to do with salvation by works, get you gone; you are the children of the bond-woman." — Commentary on Galatians, Charles Spurgeon

You can't have both, Church. You've got to choose a mother.

You're either a child of the bondwoman or a child of the free.

Conclusion

As we come to a close this morning, let me see if I can bring this home for us.

Abraham had two sons.

One was born of the flesh — a man and a woman trying to help God keep His own promise. And that son could never be the heir.

The other was born of promise — God doing what only God can do. And that son inherited everything.

And Church, those two sons are still standing in front of every person in this building this morning.

You can live like Ishmael — striving, working, performing, trying to earn what God is offering for free...standing at Sinai, trembling at a mountain you'll never be able to climb.

Or you can live like Isaac — resting in a promise, receiving what you could never earn, standing at Zion where the Father's arms are already open.

One of them is a slave in the house.

The other one is an heir.

And Swindoll's right — you've got to get off the fence. You can't fluctuate between rules and faith and mix them together in your approach to God. He won't allow it. Either you come to Him His way or you don't come at all.

Dear friend, if you belong to Jesus Christ this morning — you are not the child of the bondwoman. You are the child of the free! And the command is to stand fast in that freedom!

Lock your shield.

Plant your feet.

Don't yield a single inch.

Don't let anybody put that yoke back on your neck.

Don't let the enemy convince you that you're still a slave.

And don't you dare go back to trying to earn what Christ already purchased with His own blood.

Because Christ didn't set you free so you could go back into bondage.

Invitation

As we come to a close this morning and they come and get us a song of invitation, I want to speak to a few different folks.

Maybe you're here this morning and you've never been set free at all. You've been religious. You've been moral. You've been raised right and you've been in church your whole life. But you've never come to Jesus Christ and trusted Him and Him alone.

Dear friend, you weren't born a Christian. Nobody is. You've got to become one. And He's standing at the door this morning — and He's not asking you to climb. He's asking you to come.

Come to Him this morning and let Him do for you what you could never do for yourself.

Maybe you're a believer this morning, but somewhere along the way somebody put a yoke back on your neck.

Maybe it was a person. Maybe it was a church. Maybe it was your own heart. But you've been living like a slave in a house where God has already made you an heir. You've been measuring your standing with God by how well you perform.

Dear friend, that's Ishmael. And he's got to go.

Come down here this morning and lay that thing down.

Come back to grace.

Come back to Zion.

Come back to the Father who has never once loved you based on your performance.

And maybe there's an Ishmael in your life this morning — something you've been trying to change, trying to reform, trying to compromise with — and you know good and well it's got to go.

Just come on and cast that thing out this morning.

The price has been paid. The document has been executed. And the words written across it are for freedom.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.

The altar is open and whatever need you may have this morning, there's a spot reserved just for you!

Won't you come?

Let us pray.