Today we continue our series entitled, “Grace and Truth” by continuing to look at The Law given under Moses vs. the Grace provided by Jesus. Our main scriptures are John 1:14 & 17. Let’s look at them again.
(John 1:14 NIV)
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:17 NIV)
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
So far we have looked at half of Galatians 3 and most of chapter 4. In yesterday’s message Paul gave us a great analogy, using the two mothers of Abraham’s children to illustrate the Old and New Covenants. The point of the analogy is that Abraham and Sarah got frustrated after waiting for 13 years for God’s promise. So they basically gave up and come up with a PLAN B. Hagar was their PLAN B. They said to themselves, “Well, this is taking too long. It’s been 13 years. Let’s try something else. Sarah said, “If you sleep with my servant Hagar, maybe you can have the baby that way, and maybe this will be God’s will.”” But it was NOT God’s will. It was a human attempt to MAKE something happen. So while Abraham and Hagar had a baby, it was NOT the promise. Ishmael was NOT born of faith. He was born of human effort.
12 years later, after waiting for 25 years for the promise of God, Abraham and Sarah finally had the faith to believe God and they had the baby in a supernatural way. This is why Paul compares Hagar to human effort and the Old Covenant, and Sarah to God’s grace and the New Covenant. Paul continues his analogy into Galatians 4:28-31. Let’s see what he says.
Paul said, “You, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac.” Paul clearly connects us, as New Covenant believers, to Isaac, the promised child of God, born of a free woman, by God’s Grace. Paul continues, “But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit.” Wow. Paul compares the animosity and persecution Isaac faced from Ishmael — a strife which remains today in the rift between the descendants of Ishmael (Muslims) and the descendants of Abraham (Jews) — to the animosity and persecution Grace-centered believers were facing from Law-centered believers. I don’t know why, but Law-centered believers have a dogged determination to force people to live under The Law. When the message of Grace is preached, in its purest form, they fight it because they seemingly can’t stand the freedom it offers. Just the other day my wife received strong pushback from religious people she knows, who reject the grace of God, because they are so fixated on keeping The Law. Religious people may not like it, but we don’t get to come up with what the Bible says. The Bible is clear (at least to me anyway) that salvation comes by Grace, through faith, and not by human effort.
Paul goes on to say, “But what do the Scriptures say about that?” Paul was referring to Ishmael here. Paul gives the answer and says, “Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” The rift between Hagar and Sarah was so bad that there was no peace in Abraham’s home. In the end, Abraham got rid of Ishmael and his mother. This is a natural story of something that really happened and that we can all understand. And this is the analogy Paul chooses to illustrate the fate of the Old Testament. Paul continued and said, “So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.”
So what does this mean to you today? Let’s seek to glean a few golden nuggets:
1. Paul likens the Old Covenant to Hagar and Ishmael. A slave woman and her son born of human effort.
2. Paul likens the New Covenant to Sarah and Isaac. Abraham’s freeborn wife and her son born by God’s Grace and supernatural power.
3. Ishmael’s mother had problems with Isaac’s mother and those problems still remain today in the rift between Muslims and Israelites. Likewise, Law-minded believers had problems with Grace-minded believers in Paul’s day and the issues still remain today as Law-minded believers attempt to get Grace-minded believers to live under the Law of Moses.
4. Sarah and Isaac represent God’s free gift of Grace. Hagar and Ishmael represent the bondage of the Law. You get to choose which one you want to associate with. Paul calls Ishmael “the child born by human effort,” and Isaac “the child born by the power of the Spirit.” I don’t know about you, but I choose Isaac.
5. There came a point when Hagar and Ishmael were asked to leave. Likewise, the Bible says, “By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear” (Hebrews 8:13). Do you want to live by the Covenant that is obsolete and outdated (The Old Covenant of the Law) or by the Covenant that came through Jesus the Christ (Grace)? The choice is yours. As for me and my household, we shall accept God’s amazing Grace and seek to pursue it by faith.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, the more I read Your Word concerning Your New Covenant of Grace, the more convinced I am of it. I no longer live by human effort. Human effort is limited and flawed. I live by Your Supernatural power. You use me Supernaturally because You want to, not because I earned it. You want to perform miracles, signs and wonders in the earth today. You want to extend heaven to the earth so people can get a glimpse of Your best and experience Your power. This will never happen through human effort. This only happens through people who believe. I am one of them. I believe and receive. You have already provided the grace. I now provide the faith. The impossible is possible for me, because I am a believer and not a doubter. I walk by faith and not by fear. I have no limits, because I do not rely on human effort or earthly ability. My ability comes from You! There’s nothing I can’t do, because there’s nothing You can’t do and You live in me. I enter this day ready to change the world, by Your grace, and for Your glory! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
