CHILDREN OF PROMISE AND CHILDREN OF FLESH (29 OF 48)
Scripture: Genesis 21:1-34
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Children of Promise and Children of Flesh (29 of 48)
Series: Kingdom Foundations - Genesis
Patrick Edwards
Genesis 21:1-34
Introduction
The church in Galatia during the first century found itself locked in a dispute over whether faith in Jesus is sufficient for salvation. You see as we've discussed before, there were some from the Jewish religion who argued faith was necessary, but by itself could not save a person. Works of the Law, namely obedience to the Law of Moses, were required in order to be accepted by God. For anyone whose read the book of Galatians, you know, then, that Paul's major weapon for response was the Jewish Scripture, the Old Testament. He shows how faith has always been sufficient for salvation, and one of the many Old Testaments texts that he appeals to in order to demonstrate how it is through faith alone that we are made sons and daughters of God is Genesis 21. We read it earlier this morning in Galatians 4. Paul pits Sarah and Hagar against one another as illustrations of two different kinds of ways that God deals with human beings. In other words, Paul is not contrasting Judaism and Christianity, but something much more ancient, and at the same time modern, than that. He's contrasting the two ways of life of all human beings.
Paul says that Ishmael's birth by Hagar represents a way of life according to the flesh whereas Isaac's birth by Sarah represents a way of life according to the promise of God. In other words, true sons and daughters of God are those who receive God's gracious promise, whereas sons and daughters of this world are those who do not receive God's promise. What is God's promise? It is to eternally bless, redeem, and glorify those who respond to Him in worship and obedience. Paul says if we rely on anything else other than God's free and abundant grace, we will remain in slavery to sin and evil and die in condemnation under God's wrath. And as I just mentioned before, it is Genesis 21, which provides for Pau ...
Series: Kingdom Foundations - Genesis
Patrick Edwards
Genesis 21:1-34
Introduction
The church in Galatia during the first century found itself locked in a dispute over whether faith in Jesus is sufficient for salvation. You see as we've discussed before, there were some from the Jewish religion who argued faith was necessary, but by itself could not save a person. Works of the Law, namely obedience to the Law of Moses, were required in order to be accepted by God. For anyone whose read the book of Galatians, you know, then, that Paul's major weapon for response was the Jewish Scripture, the Old Testament. He shows how faith has always been sufficient for salvation, and one of the many Old Testaments texts that he appeals to in order to demonstrate how it is through faith alone that we are made sons and daughters of God is Genesis 21. We read it earlier this morning in Galatians 4. Paul pits Sarah and Hagar against one another as illustrations of two different kinds of ways that God deals with human beings. In other words, Paul is not contrasting Judaism and Christianity, but something much more ancient, and at the same time modern, than that. He's contrasting the two ways of life of all human beings.
Paul says that Ishmael's birth by Hagar represents a way of life according to the flesh whereas Isaac's birth by Sarah represents a way of life according to the promise of God. In other words, true sons and daughters of God are those who receive God's gracious promise, whereas sons and daughters of this world are those who do not receive God's promise. What is God's promise? It is to eternally bless, redeem, and glorify those who respond to Him in worship and obedience. Paul says if we rely on anything else other than God's free and abundant grace, we will remain in slavery to sin and evil and die in condemnation under God's wrath. And as I just mentioned before, it is Genesis 21, which provides for Pau ...
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