Marks of a Disciple – Freedom in Christ Galatians 4:21-31

Abraham, remember, had two sons: one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. The son of the slave woman was born by human connivance; the son of the free woman was born by God's promise. This illustrates the very thing we are dealing with now.

The two births represent two ways of being in relationship with God. One is from Mount Sinai in Arabia. It corresponds with what is now going on in Jerusalem--a slave life, producing slaves as offspring. This is the way of Hagar. In contrast to that, there is an invisible Jerusalem, a free Jerusalem, and she is our mother--this is the way of Sarah

Remember what Isaiah wrote: Rejoice, barren woman who bears no children, shout and cry out, woman who has no birth pangs, Because the children of the barren woman now surpass the children of the chosen woman. Isn't it clear, friends, that you, like Isaac, are children of promise? In the days of Hagar and Sarah, the child who came from faithless connivance (Ishmael) harassed the child who came-- empowered by the Spirit--from the faithful promise (Isaac).

Isn't it clear that the harassment you are now experiencing from the Jerusalem heretics follows that old pattern? There is a Scripture that tells us what to do: "Expel the slave mother with her son, for the slave son will not inherit with the free son." Isn't that conclusive? We are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

1. Freedom comes through FAITH alone "This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your heir." Genesis 12:4 "Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore to him Ishmael." Genesis 16:15

"Immediately, Abraham bowed with his face touching the ground. He laughed as he thought to himself, "Can a son be born to a hundred-year- old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, have a child?" Then Abraham said to God, "Why not let Ishmael be my heir?" God replied, "No! Your wife Sarah will give you a son, and you will name him Isaac [He Laughs]. I will make an everlasting promise to him and his descendants.” Genesis 17:17-19

"The LORD came to help Sarah and did for her what he had promised. So she became pregnant, and at the exact time God had promised, she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. Abraham named his newborn son Isaac.” Genesis 21:1-3

2. An Allegory about FREEDOM and SLAVERY DEFINITION of Allegory: “A figurative sentence or discourse, in which the main subject is described by another subject resembling it in its properties and circumstances.” Psalm 80:8-19; Ecclesiastes 12:3-7; Ephesians 6:11-17; Jn 10:1-16

a. HAGAR and ISHMAEL "All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do" Exodus 24:3 Deuteronomy 5:27 Hebrews 4:2 Deuteronomy 5:29 "weakened by the flesh." Romans 8:3 b. SARAH and ISAAC "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have died and your life is hid with Christ in God." Colossians 3:1-3