492 - 1 TROUBLE IN ABRAHAM’S TENTJune 24, 1979
Henry F. Kulp
Galatians 4: 21 - 24 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
It might be well at this point that we have a little review of the chapter. It is divided into three sections, in verses 1 - 7 we have the position of grace,
Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
In verses 8 - 9 we have the permanence of grace.
Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
And in verses 21 - 31 we have the allegory of grace.
For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
The most important factor under the position of grace in verses 1 - 7 is the doctrine of adoption, and under the doctrine of adoption we need to remember the Greek word, WEE-OSE which is a full grown son. In this day and age when we are saved positionally we are full grown sons. This was not true under the law. They were no better than slaves and they were under a schoolmaster than they were under tutors and governors.
1/ Then in verses 8 - 19 we have the permanence of grace and we have the help and hindrances of grace. In verses 8 - 11
Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage. Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
Here we see the greatest hindrances to grace which is religion. And we saw that religion is demonism. All religions are motivated by demons.
2/ Then we saw the helps of grace and we saw that Paul was physically handicapped—he had a sickness, but we found this sickness was not a hindrance, but a help to grace, all of this is contrary to modern day religion, called the charismatic movement which tells you that you should be healthy and well or you are out of the will of God.
3/ Grace, of course, is permanent. By grace we have eternal life. This is eternal security.
4/ Then we saw in verses 15, 16 Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
Here is the instability and fickleness of the Galatians and this is a great hindrance to grace. Those who are not stable and are fickle, never really enjoy their Christianity.
5/ Verses 20 - 21 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
Here we have a contrast of desires. The word, desire, is an interesting word here in the Greek. It is a desire from the emotional pattern, rather than from a rational pattern. Paul knew he wanted to be there emotionally, but God wanted him to be elsewhere. It wasn’t God’s will for him to be there, but he had a desire to be there because he loved the Galatians and he wanted to straighten them out, but, of course, God’s program was that he write them the book of Galatians.
6/ Then he says an amazing thing. I would like to change my voice. What does he mean by that? If he could be with them and straighten them out, he could first be tough and rough with his voice, but then he would be soft and pleasant after they were straightened out. But because he can’t be with them, he has to be rough and tough—he literally in writing pounds the table and keeps driving home one fact after another, for the word, change, in the Greek means, TO TRANSFORM. So he would transform it from rough and tough to soft and pleasant, but his letter is everything but that.
7/ We can better understand this message by looking at II Corinthians 10: 9, 10 where he says his letters terrify, but not his physical presence.
That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters. For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.
8/ Then he says, I STAND IN DOUBT OF YOU. It is present tense, he continues to stand in doubt, he literally is suspicious of them. When we look over this verse, we see Paul’s desire was to be with them and straighten them out, but Paul’s desire and God’s will are two entirely different things. Really what can we learn from this passage? This verse 20 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.
We may have a desire but God’s will is something entirely different. God’s will was that Paul would not be with them physically, so he would have to write this wonderful epistle of Galatians, so 2,000 years later we would have this wonderful book on law, legalism and grace. So we do see all things work together for good, even though we don’t understand them at the time.
9/ Again we have the contrast with Paul’s desire and the Galatian’s desire verse 21
Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
TELL ME, IMPERATIVE MOOD, IT MEANS THIS IS AN ORDER. IT IS THE STRONGEST COMMAND IN THE GREEK. HE SAID, I ORDER YOU TO TELL ME.
10/ DESIRE – that in the Greek is THEL’ O and with the Greek grammar, again, it expresses a desire that comes from ones emotional pattern. It is not rational at all, it is emotional. Again their desire and God’s will are two different things. God doesn’t want them under the law.
11/ UNDER A PREPOSITION OF AUTHORITY OR DOMINION. So they desired to be under the authority, under the dominion of the law.
12/ Then he says, do you hear the law? In the Greek there are two different words, two different verbs for hear—one just to hear, the other to hear and understand. Some of you are hearing me this morning, but you are not taking the trouble to understand, and God says, through Paul to these Galatians, these Judaizing teachers have been teaching you the law. It is not a matter they just want you to hear, but do you hear and understand? For it is one thing to hear, it is another to hear and understand.
13/ I ask you this morning as Paul asked these Galatian believers, do you understand the law? Very few do. Let us just look at what the law demands to start with before we go over to Abraham.
a/ To keep the law, you must be of the nation Israel and in the land of Israel.
b/ You must have the temple. You must bring sacrifices to the door of the temple in Jerusalem, or be cut off. Leviticus 17: 4, 5 The temple is absolutely essential to law-keeping.
And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people: To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the Lord.
c/ Must have a human, Jewish priesthood, clothed in special garments
Exodus 28: 1 - 2 And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.
d/ Must keep the Sabbath. To do any work during the Sabbath, one is put to death.
Exodus 35: 2, 3 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.
e/ Must bring two lambs for a sacrifice every Sabbath. Numbers 28: 9, 10 And on the sabbath day two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof: This is the burnt offering of every sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering.
f/ Must have animal sacrifices continually, Numbers 28: 3, 4 - 8 And thou shalt say unto them, This is the offering made by fire which ye shall offer unto the Lord; two lambs of the first year without spot day by day, for a continual burnt offering. The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer at even; And a tenth part of an ephah of flour for a meat offering, mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil. It is a continual burnt offering, which was ordained in mount Sinai for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord. And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of an hin for the one lamb: in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the Lord for a drink offering. And the other lamb shalt thou offer at even: as the meat offering of the morning, and as the drink offering thereof, thou shalt offer it, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.
14/ These are just some of the things that one had to do.
15/ THE LAW DEMANDED PERFECTION Deuteronomy 27: 26 Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.
James 2: 10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
God never ask anyone to try to keep or to strive to keep the law. Any thought you might have about one’s ability to keep the law should vanish when you read these passages and others. The law demanded perfection.
16/ The law cannot produce a Godly life. Because of the weakness of human flesh.
17/ In 70 A. D. the Romans came under Titus, and destroyed the temple not leaving one stone upon the other, as the Lord had warned in Luke 19: 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
Israel was scattered from out the land, and since the law centered in the temple, the way of keeping the law was barred. The Lord wanted the world to know that the temple with it’s Holy of Holies was no longer in operation. Not the place to meet with God. For the Holy of Holies was the only place of meeting with God. And then only the High Priest, and then only once a year
18/ But this present dispensation of grace, Jesus Christ Himself is the meeting place. This is clear in the Word of God, Ephesians 2: 18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
19/ The law thundered, STAY AWAY, only the High Priest can come near, Grace says, anyone can come by Jesus Christ, for He is the mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus.
I Timothy 2: 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
The Temple was the means of approach to God, but now Jesus Christ is absolutely the one who puts us in relationship with God. The priests were put out of a job after AD 70. Remember, there were over 613 commandments in the law, so this morning we have just scratched the surface and I ask you—do you hear what the law has to say?
20/ Verses 22, 23 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise.
Now we turn to Abraham, and here is the allegory, and in verses 22, we have the historical incident. The allegory is based upon a true fact. Abraham had two sons, and there was a vast difference between the two sons—Ishmael, and, Isaac. Through Hagar, a bond woman, a slave and a Gentile, he had Ishmael. Through Sarai, which meant contentious. She had been a very contentious woman and later became a princess, and through her, Abraham has Isaac, which means laughter. Literally, Ishmael was a slave. He was a slave who was free, but was born of a slave, and Ishmael stands for legalism, for religion, for the law. He stands for those who say, man can do it himself. Man doesn’t need any help. It is all pictured by keeping the law.
21/ Now we must understand what transpired in Ishmael’s and Issac’s life. Abraham had a covenant given to him by God, he was to have a son, and this son was to be the fulfillment here of the Abrahamic covenant, but Abraham was now quite old, Sarah was old. She was not able to bear children when she was in that period of life, and now she was in the period of life when any woman could not bear a child, and so she got an idea, how was Abraham to have a child? She had a slave, a Gentile, by the name of Hagar, and Abraham would take her as his wife, have a child and then fulfill the promise of the covenant. It was man’s solution to God’s plan.
22/ Genesis 16: 1 - 5 Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.
Here we have Sarai, the contentious one deciding she was going to solve Abraham’s problem, that He should take her slave, Hagar as his wife, and bear that Sarah might obtain a child by her, and Abraham harkened unto the voice of Sarah. Again it is the human flesh solving a problem, trying to help God, doing something for oneself.
23/ Of course, all of this caused a tremendous problem. A problem that started in Abraham’s tent and has continued to this day.
Notice, verse 5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.
The trouble between Sarah and Hagar, Sarah said, I have been despised by Hagar, and this is the problem, religion, man doing something VS faith. Religion and faith can never get along. It is absolutely impossible. Those who are true believers can never, if they are walking in the Lord, compromise with religion.
AMEN
Ref: 06/24/1979 / 492-1 TROUBLE IN ABRAHAM’S TENT / 10/17/2020
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