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Welcome to the Daily Blade. The word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Hagar And Sarah As Two Covenants

Abraham’s Promise And Our Impatience

Saved By Jesus Not Religious Effort

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All right, day four. Verse 21. Paul is going to use an example from the Old Testament. This is not meant to be a shot, but let me just remind you: as believers in the New Testament, we do not unhitch from the Old Testament, but everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus. Everything in the New Testament points back to Jesus. It's all about Jesus. And so Paul is going to use an example from the Old Testament. He says, This Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? He's like, Have you read the Bible? Verse 22, for it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now, this may be interpreted allegorically. These women are two covenants. See, here's what Paul does. Paul doesn't mean that it didn't happen. He said this thing historically happened. And I want to use this historical account that was written in the book of Genesis and show you how it is a picture of two different covenants in the New Testament. He said, one is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. She is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother, that's Sarah. For it is written, Rejoice, O bearing one who does not bear, break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor, for the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband. Now you brothers like Isaac are children of promise, but just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, so also it is now. But what does the scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So, brothers, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman. All right, let me unpack this real quick. So God chooses Abram, he changes his name to Abraham, not because Abraham's awesome, but because God is awesome. Abraham puts his faith in God and God counts that faith as righteousness. Then God gives Abraham this promise I'm gonna bless you, that you will be a blessing to the entire world. He says the reason he changes his name to Abraham from Abram to Abraham is he changes his name from father, that's what Abram is, to the father of many nations. And Abraham's like, but but God, I don't even have a kid yet. I'm 80 years old. So how am I gonna be the father to many nations? I don't even have a kid. So God takes him outside and says, Look about the stars. How many are there? Abraham's like, a bunch. He's like, Yeah, you're gonna have more kids than there are stars. Look how many, look at the sands on the seashore. How many grains of sand? A lot. You're going to have more kids than you can count grains of sand. And Abraham is like, all right, God, I trust you. For 20 years this doesn't happen. 20 years. Abraham is married to Sarah, and they don't have a kid. They don't have a kid. They don't have a kid. But God promised, not just a kid, but the father of many nations. Well, at one point, Abraham and Sarah begin to not trust the promises of God. And so what they do is they say, we've got a plan. We're going to take the matter into our own hands. And Sarah and Abraham devise a plan and they say, okay, God promises a kid, but we don't trust him anymore, so we're going to do something about it. Abraham sleeps with Hagar. She has Ishmael. It doesn't go good. What Paul is saying is anybody that tries to earn a right relationship with God, instead of trusting him by faith, you are like Hagar and Abraham when you took matters into your own hands. And what you were giving birth to is destruction. An angel shows up, talks to Abraham, and says, By this time next year, your wife will be pregnant. Sarah laughs, so they they named the kid Laughter. His name is Isaac, and he is the promised son. And what Paul is doing is saying this God so loved you that he sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. Salvation is found by faith in him, because God always keeps his promises. If you, like the Judaizers are trying to tell you, if you try to take matters into your own hands and you think that religious activity makes you right before God, then you will be damned because you cannot do this on your own. But instead, we are children of the promise. We are children of the faith of Abraham because we put our faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. You are saved by works, just not your works. You were saved by the finished work of Jesus Christ. This is not sin management. This is this is what Jesus has done for you. The only paperwork that matters when you get to heaven is not your resume or even your birth certificate, but your RSVP to Christ's invitation to put your faith in Him.

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