Welcome back to our
study of the book of Galatians.
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Before the break Mark, we
were talking about this idea
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drawn out by the
apostle Paul in Galatians of the
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two covenants, so we spent
some time talking about the
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old and new covenants.
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We were in the book of
Hebrews 8 where we discussed
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the new covenant
that was given to Israel.
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Given to Israel, but given
to all of us because we are
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part of spiritual Israel.
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As we look at that we
recognized that the problem with
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the old covenant
was with the people.
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The people have made promises
that they weren't able to
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keep, the problem was
never with the agreement God had
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given the law, because
the law is at the heart of the
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new covenant as well.
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- that's right, it's
interesting that some people say
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the mistake was that
those people said all that the
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Lord spoken we will do, they
should have never said that.
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That was the problem!
That is not what we find.
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The problem was they said
that and stayed apart from God.
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We will look at that
more in just a moment.
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What I would like to do
briefly to bring us into our
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next section is to look
back to Deuteronomy 5 to show
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God's intent was never
what the children of Israel were
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doing in the old covenant.
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Let's go to Deuteronomy
5:28 where Moses is recounting
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this experience the
children of Israel went through.
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Beginning with the Ten Command-
ments and the old covenant.
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It says, "then the Lord
heard the voice of your words
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"when you spoke to me, and
the Lord said to me; I have
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"heard the voice of the
words of this people which they
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"have spoken to you. " And
they said all that the Lord
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has said we will do. And
this is what he says about it.
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- he says it right
before in verse 27. - right.
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Oh yes, that's right,
we didn't read that part.
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"27. You go near and
hear all that the Lord our God
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"many say, and tell us
all that the Lord our God says
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"to you, and we
will hear and do it. "
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So Lord heard all of that
and it says in the middle of
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verse 28, "they are right
in all that they have spoken. "
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Then he says in verse 29
and this is the key "oh, that
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"they had such a heart in
them that they would fear Me
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"and always keep all My
commandments, that it might be
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"well with them and with
their children for ever!"
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God wanted to bless them,
He wanted to give that to them.
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He knew that they didn't
have the heart in them to do
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what they were promising to do.
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Only if they came close to
Him and found the Spirit of God
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to enter into their experience
could they have that heart.
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That is absolutely true
so we are coming back to
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Galatians 4:22, and again
we read this before and we are
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reviewing it, "for it is
written that Abraham had two
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"sons: the one by a bondwoman,
the other by a free woman.
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"But he who was up a
bondwoman" that was Ishmael,
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"was born according to the
flesh. " Remember the devising,
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the plan of Abraham
and Hagar and Sarah?
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They work together, even
though God had promised that
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Abraham would have a
child and intended for Sarah to
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be the mother of that child.
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They thought maybe God wants
us to work it out and they made
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their own plan instead
of submitting to God's plan.
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So it was of the
flesh, it was their own plan.
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It says, that child Ishmael
"was born according to the
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"flesh, and he of the free
woman through the promise, which
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"things are symbolic. For
these are the two covenants:
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"the one from Mount Sinai
which gives birth to bondage,
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"which is Hagar - for this
Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia,
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"and corresponds to
Jerusalem which now is,
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"and is in bondage
with her children. "
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Now that is a powerful
statement right there and it is
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offensive in fact
to a lot of people.
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Paul stated in his day
the same goes today that
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the nation of Israel is not
equated to the new covenant,
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the old covenant to
bondage and not salvation
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agreement or covenant
at this point with God.
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Then it says, "26. But
the Jerusalem above is free,
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"which is the mother of
us all. For it is written:
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"rejoice, old barren, You
who do not bear! Break forth
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"and shout, You who are
not in labor! For the desolate
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"has many more children
than she who has a husband. "
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So the whole idea we are
getting here is there are these
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two covenants and he equates
them to these experiences.
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You have Hagar the slave
girl of Abraham who has a son
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Ishmael and those
correspond to the old
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covenant given at Sinai.
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You have Sarah who was
promised the child Isaac in an
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impossible situation
where they had to put faith
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in the promises of God.
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Isaac's birth equates to a
new covenant and the Jerusalem
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above which is
the mother of us all.
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That's right, and you can
see here the apostle Paul is
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simply using another illustra-
tion to draw out the same
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truths he has been doing.
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He talked about the slave
verses the son, and now he's
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talking about
these two covenants.
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They are touching on
the same issue of the flesh
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and the spirit and we
will talk more about that
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in a future episode.
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Right now we will touch
on a for a moment, this idea
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that Ishmael was
born of the flesh.
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This is symbolically
talking about the fact that we
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cannot of the flesh, without
being born again, without
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union with Christ, we
cannot produce anything good.
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Even what we do outwardly
that is good has wrong motives.
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So many people think that
they are a good person and
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that is the natural thought
some of them but the reality
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is that the
motives give us away.
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It makes me think of the
words of Jesus to Nicodemus,
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that which is born of flesh
is flesh, that which is born
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of Spirit is spirit, the
spirit can't produce the flesh,
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the flesh can't
produce the Spirit.
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In Isaiah 64:6 I think
it where it says, all our
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righteousness's
are as filthy rags.
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The best we can do, even
when we are doing our very best
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without that changed
heart of humility, love and that
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which is unselfish, the
best we can do is filthy rags.
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So this idea of the old
covenant that is described here,
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is related to this Sinai
experience where they made an
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attempt to fulfill
God's requirements without
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union with Christ,
which is totally futile.
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Jesus makes this point in
John 15 and I thought we should
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look at that briefly.
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John 15:5 Jesus was speaking
to His disciples and He said,
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"I am the vine, you are the
branches. He who abides in Me
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"and I in him, bears much
fruit for without Me you can do
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nothing. " So He is the
vine and the only way for us to
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have anything truly good
produced out of us, is to have
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an intimate union.
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You think about a vine and
branches they are connected.
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The life of one
flows into the other.
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More than that though, the
life of the branch doesn't flow
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into the vine, it's a vine
that gives life to the branch
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or the branch can't exist.
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That was his point, if
you are not connected with Me,
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you can do how much?
- nothing - absolutely.
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Absolutely nothing. So
here we have this picture of the
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old covenant where it is
a futile attempt to fulfill
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God's requirements when we
are not connected to Christ.
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There's lots of people who
go to church, they live a good
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moral life, they
don't have devotional time.
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They don't spend time in
prayer and pleading for purity
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oh their soul, they don't
spend time reading the word
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and allowing the Lord Jesus
to speak to their heart and
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point out those rough
spots drawing them into union
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with Him, it's a futile attempt.
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They may be going through
the motions, others may look
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at them as sincere Christians,
but the reality is that
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lack of vital life force
from Christ is causing them
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to only have filthy rags.
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Jim the reality is, I've
been there, you've been there,
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you used to think you are
good person and I thought I
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was a good person
before I came to Christ.
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The reality is our standard
of righteousness is very
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low and we may put on our
act, and we may think we are
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good people, but the fact
is we have issues that God
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allows to come into our
lives to test our character
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and to prove us and show
that we are not made up to what
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we would be.
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We may have something
happen we just blow up and lose
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our temper and say things
we regret and then we say,
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I don't know what happened
I'm usually a pretty patient
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person, but the fact is
and what is being revealed is
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my heart is corrupt.
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You know when you think about
it this happens often times
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from a sense of self-confidence.
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We begin to do what's right
and making good choices and we
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are close to Christ and
then we leave off spending time
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with Him and gradually,
I've had it happen in my own
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experience, those old traits
of character, that flesh starts
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to come out and I start
acting out what I use to act
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out, but I had since moved
past because I did not have
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that union with Christ.
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So that is the
vital principle that is
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being spoken of here.
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Well let's look further
in Galatians Chapter 4:28
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for a moment, it says, "now
we, brethren, as Isaac was,"
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"are children of
promise. But, as he who was born
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"according to the flesh
then persecuted him who was born
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"according to the
Spirit, even so it is now. "
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I mean if you look at the
different examples in the Bible,
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you will find, take
Jesus and the Pharisees.
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Jesus was born of the Spirit
and the Pharisees persecuted
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Him, they couldn't stand
how principled and loving
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Jesus was. - He exposed
their iniquity. - exactly!
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If they couldn't stop
Him from teaching they had to
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ultimately crucified Him,
or urge for His crucifixion.
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They had to get rid of him
so that conviction would be
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removed, the same thing happened
from a story we mentioned
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in a previous
episode of Cain and Abel.
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Abel was just doing what
was right, but just being around
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that bothered Cain and he
persecuted him because it was
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pointing out his
lack, his weakness.
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You may find that sometimes
and I know my own experience
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that sometimes you come in
the presence of someone who is
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not a Christian and
they feel a little awkward.
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You are not trying to
do anything to bring any
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condemnation but there is a
sense of awkwardness they feel
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and maybe a little bit of envy
and what have you because they
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know that they are not exactly
where the Lord wants them
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to be, that conviction is
being given to them so they
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might turn to Lord.
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They tell themselves they
are good people all the time
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until they come into contact
with somebody who is good,
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not because of their
goodness, but they have been
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transformed by
Christ and it is evident.
00:10:26.22\00:10:28.12
- Yeah, that is
right, it's exactly right.
00:10:28.16\00:10:29.99
What we want to go ahead
into verse, you asked me Jim
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about this and it really
hits me to continue on is
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in verse 30 where he says,
"nevertheless what does the
00:10:36.46\00:10:39.67
"Scripture say? Cast out
the bondwoman and her son, for
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"the son of the bondwoman
shall not be in heir with the
00:10:42.57\00:10:45.34
"son of the free woman. "
00:10:45.41\00:10:46.74
The whole idea is that just
as Hagar gave birth to a slave
00:10:46.78\00:10:48.91
child, she couldn't give
birth to anything else because
00:10:48.94\00:10:51.31
she was a slave.
00:10:51.35\00:10:52.68
So the flesh gives
birth to fleshly reasoning.
00:10:52.71\00:10:56.55
What the Bible is saying here
is the flesh can't have part
00:10:56.58\00:11:01.79
in the salvation experience,
flesh has to be removed.
00:11:01.82\00:11:04.76
So the bondwoman is like
flesh, the son has all the
00:11:04.79\00:11:07.66
devisings of the flesh, all
those human excuses we make.
00:11:07.76\00:11:11.40
For example, I think of the
types of things that people do
00:11:11.43\00:11:14.74
when for example the Scripture
calls upon them to forgive
00:11:14.77\00:11:18.34
somebody and they say, I
know I should forgive them, but
00:11:18.37\00:11:21.88
you don't know what
they have done to me.
00:11:21.91\00:11:24.28
Or somebody marrying
outside of the faith, I know
00:11:24.31\00:11:28.25
I shouldn't marry outside
the faith, I know that is what
00:11:28.28\00:11:31.05
God says, what the Bible
teaches, but the person really
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seems interested and they
might be willing to study.
00:11:33.42\00:11:36.42
We make excuses, even
though God is clear about what
00:11:36.49\00:11:40.56
His will is, we choose to
do it in our own way and yet
00:11:40.60\00:11:44.63
still profess to
be following Him.
00:11:44.67\00:11:46.23
We put our
reasoning above His reasoning.
00:11:46.27\00:11:48.97
So Lord is saying cast
out the bondwoman, cast out
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those reasoning's, those
excuses we so often give.
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I want to go back and
close with this passage here in
00:11:55.38\00:11:58.45
verse 27, or 26 and 27
because this is powerful.
00:11:58.51\00:12:01.78
The apostle Paul says, "but
the Jerusalem above is free,
00:12:01.82\00:12:05.55
"which is the mother of
us all. For it is written:
00:12:05.59\00:12:08.49
"rejoice, O barren, you
who do not bear! Break forth
00:12:08.52\00:12:11.23
"and shout, you are not
in labor! For the desolate,"
00:12:11.29\00:12:13.96
speaking of Sarah,
"has many more children than
00:12:14.00\00:12:17.57
"she who has a husband. "
00:12:17.60\00:12:19.40
- that's right and he is
quoting actually right from
00:12:19.43\00:12:21.97
Isaiah 54 where are he says,
"Sing O barren you who have
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not borne" like
Sarah she was barren,
00:12:25.47\00:12:28.38
"break forth with
singing and cry aloud
00:12:28.41\00:12:31.28
"you who have not labored
with child! For more are the
00:12:31.31\00:12:32.98
"children of the desolate
than the children of the
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"married woman, says the
Lord. Enlarge the place of
00:12:34.85\00:12:36.75
"your tent, and let them
stretch out the curtains of
00:12:36.79\00:12:38.92
"your dwellings; do not
spare: lengthen your cords, and
00:12:38.95\00:12:41.16
"strengthen your stakes. "
We are expanding the house here
00:12:41.19\00:12:43.36
"For you shall expand to
the right and to the left, and
00:12:43.39\00:12:46.56
"your descendents will inherit
the nations, and make the
00:12:46.59\00:12:49.70
"desolate cities inhabited. "
00:12:49.73\00:12:51.40
So Sarah, by giving birth
to Isaac, she was desolate but
00:12:51.43\00:12:54.90
been through God's promise
Isaac was born and through
00:12:54.94\00:12:59.21
Isaacs line Christ came
and through all these not only
00:12:59.24\00:13:03.18
Jews but Gentiles who believed
in Christ so it's in time
00:13:03.21\00:13:06.45
to enlarge the tent
because all are welcome into the
00:13:06.48\00:13:09.68
family of God.
00:13:09.72\00:13:11.05
This is a powerful truth
and we just hope that you too
00:13:11.09\00:13:13.46
will be willing to
accept Christ and enter into
00:13:13.49\00:13:16.29
the family of God.
00:13:16.32\00:13:17.73