Children of Freedom

Aim: Trusting in the promises of God brings freedom: don’t go back into slavery by doing

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Introduction…

Who do you think you are?

Have you ever tried to put together your family tree? I have and gave up very quickly; it was too much effort!

Lots of people are trying to find out who they are, there family history. Ancestry.co.uk. DNA tests that show you where you have come from. In some cases, people are looking to find out who they are.

Paul thins morning, as he begins to bring to a close his argument so far, brings out the family tree, and takes us back to Abraham.

What Pauls wants that Galatian Christians and us, to do, is to remember our identity. He wants us to remember who we are, because we can so easily forget.

The Question…

Verse 21… You who want to take these Galatians Christians back to being under the law, do you know what it actually says? Paul’s not just thinking about the commandments, he’s thinking wider, the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the old testament. And he wants to take them right back to Abraham.

The History…

Verse 22-23… His focus is on the two wives, Hagar and Sarah, and the two sons, Ishmael and Isaac.

Paul takes us back to Genesis 12, when God spoke to Abraham/Abram, and told him to leave his home country and go a land the Lord would show Him. God calls Abraham and God gives His promise to Abraham.

- A people: great nation

- A place:

- A blessing: God would bless Abraham and through Him people would be blessed

So, Abraham at 75 left and followed God’s call. Then we get to chapter 15, and again God spoke with Abraham. This time Abraham question what God can give him since he is childless. God shows him the stars in the sky and says that shall be the number of your offspring. Abraham believed the Lord.

Abraham at 85, still childless. They become impatient and decide to take matters into their own hands. Sarai, Abrahams wife, suggests he sleeps with their slave woman, Hagar, to have a child. Abraham agrees and soon enough she is pregnant. They have a son called Ishmael. Sarah is jealous!

Then we get to chapter 17, Abraham is 99 years old and Sarah is 90. God again, restates His promise to Abraham that he will be the father of many nations. God says that Sarah will bear a child, and they are to call him Isaac. They laugh! Surely not at this age.

Yet, one year later, the son is born, and they name him Isaac.

But the arrival of Isaac cause problems in the household; Ishmael has a rival (Genesis 21). It was custom to make the weaning of the child day, a great feast day. But at the feast Sarah sees Ishmael mocking Isaac, an she wants them gone. Hagar and Ishmael are sent away.

We have two sons, from two women:

- one born ‘in the ordinary course of nature’ – Ishmael.

- one born ‘contrary to the ordinary course of nature’ - Isaac

The Illustration… verse 24-28

Paul moves on to explain the meaning that lies behind this historical event. He uses the true-life events of Abraham and his sons, to illustrate all that he has been saying so far in this letter.

Hagar and Ishmael represent the old covenant and slavery. While Sarah and Isaac represent the new covenant and the promise. As Paul takes them back and links Hagar with Mount Sinai, the place where God gave the law, with the earthly Jerusalem, concluding that Hagar’s children are slaves, would have been a shocking thing to say. The Jews would always trace their family line to Abraham through to Isaac. But Paul links them to Ishmael, because the Jewish false teachers, those who were wanting to add the law onto the work of Jesus on the cross, those who are relying on the law, Paul says they are slaves to law. They have bypassed the promises of God, by seeking salvation in the law. Yet the law could never do that.

Paul is wanting to remind the Galatians of the foolishness of turning away from the gospel they had heard and received; the good news of Jesus. When they first believed in Jesus, it was then that they became full children of Abraham, like Isaac. The false teachers wanted to add to law, saying that is the way to truly be a son of Abraham. Paul shows the foolishness of that.

And so, Paul reminds them of who they are, verse 28 and you can hear the compassion and love and care he has for them…verse 28… children of the promise. They are Isaac’s. They are children of freedom, in Christ. They are the ones who have believed in God’s promise and trusted in Jesus; the one who lived in perfect obedience, who died on the cross for the sin of the world, and who rose from the dead. The children of the promise are those who know that the only way to be made right with God is by His grace, through faith. Paul says, ‘Remember your identity’. Remember who you are!

You are children of the promise... Verse 29… born by the power of the Spirit. That is who you are as a Christian, as one who is trusting in what Christ has done and not in what you do. Remember who you are! Remember your identity! Isn’t that amazing and wonderful! We are not saved by human effort, but by the power of God.

If you are a Christian here this morning, you are a child of the promise, a child of freedom. Praise God!

If you are not a Christian here this morning, then you can become a child of the promise; turn to Jesus and trust Him with your life. If you want to know more about that come and speak to me after the service or anyone else.

Being a child of freedom is an amazing privilege, but it will be tough at times…verse 29…

Ishmael persecuted Isaac. He hated him. And so, it will be for the Christian. The Christian, the child of freedom, will face persecution. You just need to pick up the history books to see that that is true. That was true for the Galatians; they were facing persecution from those Judaizers, those false teachers, because the Galatians were living by faith and the false teachers wanted to works. (Just to say at this point, and Paul will pick this up in the coming chapters, the law shows us how to live, it gives us God’s standard. We are to live godly lives, but we are not to put of hope of salvation in how we live)

Persecution comes from the way we live, the Christian life in obedience to God, and from speaking the truth of the gospel. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, ‘…everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…’ Illustration: a couple of weeks ago I end up on the panel of a Faith Forum Q and A event. I was in the crowd and the Christian we should have been their bottled it. Anyway, there was a Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and a Jew on the panel as well as myself. Every time I said something about Jesus, about Him being the only way to God or something like that, this little old Jewish woman next to me would tut or give off a huge sigh; showing here complete disrespect for Christianity and for Jesus.

When we live the Christian life or speak the truth of the gospel, people will not like it. They will not want to hear it. People may respond like that Jewish woman. People will respond in worse ways. People may abuse you and insult you. People lose their jobs for standing on their Christian values or arrested for preaching the good news – in this country. You might miss out on a promotion at work or lose some friends.

I think there is a scale to persecution ß----------------à

You can look on websites such as ‘Open Doors’ and see persecution on another level across the world – Christians killed, or they lose their homes or possession. We should be in prayer for our brother and sisters in the world.

Jesus says in John 15:20, ‘Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you.’ We will be persecuted as Christians.

We will face persecution, on whatever level. But what is the encouragement we see this morning from Paul? Persecution shows we are child of the promise, children of freedom born of the power of the Spirit. Expect persecution. Don’t go looking for it though. It shows who we are!

What will help us to stand firm as we face persecution? The promises of God… God promised Abraham a son, and God was faithful to that promise. God has made many promises, and the one we see here is the promise of an INHERITANCE…verse 30… we saw it last week, as we become heirs.

It will be tough being a Christian in a world that is hostile towards Christ and His people. But one of the things that helps us, is remembering the promises of God. And one of those promises is the promises of an inheritance. The heavenly Jerusalem (v26), is where we are citizens; that is our home!

1 Peter 1:3-4 says, ‘It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.’ We have an inheritance as Christians.

Everything in this world, perishes, spoils and fades. Nothing lasts. I remember when I lived at home my Mum always saying, ‘Nothing ever lasts in this house.’ Everything in this world perishes, spoils or fades. The cars we buy, the food we eat, the clothes we wear; everything in this world disappears. But not our eternal inheritance.

Revelation gives us a glimpse of that inheritance… Revelation 21:3-4… ‘I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.[a] 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”’ Revelation 22:1-5… ‘Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit,[a] with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. 3 No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. 4 And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.’

John Calvin writes of our inheritance, "We do not have the full enjoyment of it at present. . . . We walk . . . in hope, and we do not see the thing as if it were present, but we see it by faith. . . . Although, then, the world gives itself liberty to trample us under foot, as they say; although our Lord keeps us tried with many temptations; although he humbles us in such a way that it may seem we are as sheep appointed to the slaughter, so that we are continually at death’s door, yet we are not destitute of a good remedy. And why Seeing that the Holy Spirit reigns in our hearts, we have something for which to give praise even in the midst of all our temptations. . . . [Therefore,] we should rejoice, mourn, grieve, give thanks, be content, wait" (from Calvin’s Ephesian sermons, delivered in Geneva, 1558—59).

This morning remember who you are in Christ; you are a child born by the power of the Spirit, a child of the promise, a child of freedom. You have been saved by grace through faith. And as we face persecution, we find comfort and hope in Christ and His promises.