1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:01,680 I'm trying to go live at Pax House. 2 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:05,280 It's just across the street. Well, what a great, great space, 3 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:07,000 great place. I'm looking forward to seeing 4 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,320 how the community develops there. 5 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:14,520 Wanda, we, we've been cruising through Galatians. 6 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:16,720 So if you've got your Bible, you can go ahead and open it to 7 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:20,400 Galatians 4. But I wonder if you've had some 8 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:24,920 occasion where someone said to you, I wish we didn't have the 9 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:30,040 Old Testament. Did you ever have somebody say 10 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:31,920 that I wish we didn't have the Old Testament? 11 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:36,680 Or maybe they they just said, I, I don't like the God of the Old 12 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,240 Testament. I like the God of the New 13 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:40,840 Testament. I don't like the God of the Old 14 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:43,000 Testament. And so they want to be able to 15 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,080 divide it up. In fact, I, I sort of have this 16 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:51,360 feeling that this is a little trend that runs through our 17 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,640 lives at different times for, for a while before you version, 18 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:58,920 it was very popular to just carry around your New Testament. 19 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,640 And I was like, you know, that's an, that's an old heresy. 20 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:06,480 We don't actually think of it that way, but it's an old heresy 21 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:10,800 to just have the New Testament. There was a guy named Marcion 22 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:16,080 who in 85 was gathering up the letters of the church and he, he 23 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:20,280 rejected the Old Testament completely and said no way. 24 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,320 But the rest of the bishops around the Mediterranean and 25 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,640 from North Africa all the way up into Rome said no way. 26 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:33,680 That's heresy, that that's not something we want, we actually 27 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:37,000 want to maintain and keep connected the Old Testament and 28 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:41,560 New Testament to have coherence about the expression of who God 29 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:43,840 is. This might not be the burning 30 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:50,520 issue in your life right now, but I imagine that as you share 31 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:54,440 your life and faith with others, you will have friends who say 32 00:01:55,200 --> 00:02:02,400 Leviticus is boring or like Joshua, why is it so violent? 33 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,760 Or why did I read all these other things where it seems like 34 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:12,840 God was just mad at people? And that's really those are fair 35 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,240 questions that really do need to be worked out. 36 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:21,120 But the apostle Paul was also having to work out this issue 37 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:26,240 not just for getting people who wanted to get rid of the Old 38 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:28,600 Testament. He was having to deal with the 39 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:33,920 other extreme, saying anyone who comes to Christ needs to come 40 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:39,440 under the Old Testament law. And so these are two sides of 41 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:44,680 the same problem in question of what do we do with the full 42 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:49,800 testimony of the Scripture? How are we going to respond? 43 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:51,960 And Paul has a really curious move. 44 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,440 You know, last week we talked about how he's been building up 45 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:58,640 in the book of Ephesians to a big ask. 46 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:03,840 He wasn't going to ask somebody to marry him, but he was going 47 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:10,280 to ask the church in Galatia to do something extraordinary, to 48 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:15,440 do something that was going to in some ways, press for a 49 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,400 resolution of the conflict they were experiencing. 50 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:24,280 Now, you know Stephen Covey, some of you know the seven 51 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:27,720 habits. He, he had a really interesting 52 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:33,360 phrase about beginning with the end in mind and he said you need 53 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:37,680 to begin with the end in mind so that you will have a clear 54 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:39,800 understanding of your destination. 55 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:47,000 And in knowing your destination, you can determine the steps, the 56 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:52,200 small steps that you take are going in the right direction. 57 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:56,960 That's good advice, isn't it? I think the Apostle Paul was 58 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:00,080 really clear, and we can, as some of you have been reading 59 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:03,160 Galatians all the way through now a couple times. 60 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:07,440 You're starting to see that the Apostle Paul seems to have some 61 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:13,720 sort of vision, some end goal. But the text we're about to 62 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:18,600 read, you're going to feel like what in the world is Paul doing? 63 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:21,279 We're going to try to geek out here in the Scripture a little 64 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:26,120 bit, but bear with me. It's it's a little tedious just 65 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:30,440 moving through this, but we're going to try to simplify it and 66 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:36,240 get to 3 really keen observations for application in 67 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:38,440 our own life. So if you would let's follow as 68 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:48,560 we read in Galatians chapter 4. Tell me you who want to be under 69 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:51,400 the law. Are you not aware of what the 70 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,640 law says? So he's pushing back their 71 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:58,080 question to say, hey, watch this. 72 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:03,680 You want to be under the law? Watch this, for it is written 73 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:09,800 that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other 74 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:13,600 by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was 75 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:18,680 born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was 76 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:21,400 born as the result of a divine promise. 77 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:25,360 These things are being taken figuratively. 78 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:30,120 The word figuratively is, is the Greek word allegorical. 79 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:35,280 So he's creating an allegory here, a little different from 80 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:40,640 the Greek tradition about allegory, but nonetheless he's 81 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:45,880 creating an allegory here not with a moral picture, but a 82 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:50,280 picture of the community that God intends to create. 83 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:53,320 And so let's follow his argument. 84 00:05:53,880 --> 00:06:00,000 He says the woman, the women represent 2 covenants. 85 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:05,760 One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be 86 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:08,040 slaves. This is Hagar. 87 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:13,800 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the 88 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:20,000 present city of Jerusalem because she is in slavery with 89 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:24,240 her children. But the Jerusalem that is above 90 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:32,040 is free, and she is our mother. For, it is written, Be glad, 91 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:35,000 barren woman. You who never bore a child, 92 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:41,800 shout for joy and cry aloud, you who were never in labor, because 93 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:46,040 more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who 94 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:50,640 has a husband. Now you, brothers and sisters, 95 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,400 like Isaac, are children of promise. 96 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,760 At that time the son born according to the flesh 97 00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:59,840 persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. 98 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:04,320 It is the same now. But what does Scripture say? 99 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:10,640 Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's 100 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:14,480 son will never share in the inheritance with the free 101 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:18,200 woman's son. Therefore, brothers and sisters, 102 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:23,400 we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. 103 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:28,600 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. 104 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:34,680 Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by 105 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:40,360 a yoke of slavery. Now for most of you hearing and 106 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:46,960 reading this text, no fireworks went off, but I guarantee you 107 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:52,040 that for the Galatian Church churches when they heard this 108 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:55,640 part of the letter read, some would would have probably gone 109 00:07:56,400 --> 00:08:01,240 what and there would have been a rumble and Mumbles through the 110 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:05,440 congregation because this is the climax of the letter. 111 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:12,800 This is the big ask where he lets Sarah, Abraham's wife 112 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:19,600 preach to them and they would have been shocked it it went 113 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:23,320 like water off a duck's back for us. 114 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:28,560 You didn't feel the emotional impact of it at all. 115 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:31,920 Let me just remind you what Paul's envisioning. 116 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:36,200 Paul's envisioning that the church in Galatia would know God 117 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:39,280 in fullness. Last week we saw that he shows 118 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:44,120 this as the highest form of spirituality, knowing God and 119 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:47,720 being known by God. Knowing God in the fullness of 120 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:51,600 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, experiencing deliverance from 121 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,640 sin and from the powers of darkness. 122 00:08:56,680 --> 00:08:58,680 Paul's starting with the end in mind. 123 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:03,280 He's remembering and always reminding them that they were 124 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:07,680 meant to really know God. And in knowing God, they're free 125 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:10,920 because they're forgiven of sin and they're freed from the 126 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:14,840 powers of darkness. Second thing is that he's 127 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:19,360 reminding them that they're to be one family, that the church 128 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:24,600 is meant to be one family together, an extraordinary new 129 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:28,720 family where it doesn't matter if you're Jewish or Gentile, 130 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:33,840 whether you're a slave or free, whether you're male or female. 131 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:38,000 What matters is that you're all following Jesus, the crucified 132 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,000 Messiah. That's his vision of the church 133 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:45,400 is that we are all following Jesus, the crucified Messiah. 134 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:50,480 And so the way we relate to each other isn't on these ideas of 135 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:55,960 status, legacy, heritage, race. Instead, we relate to one 136 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:59,600 another because of the power of the Spirit in our lives. 137 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:05,920 And then third, he's imagining and keeping in mind that his 138 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:10,440 vision of the church is that the church will reveal Jesus and the 139 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:14,960 freeing, delivering power of his gospel by transforming 140 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:19,720 relationships everywhere through the power of God's love. 141 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,200 He gets to this a little bit later in Galatians. 142 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:25,440 Some of you have been reading it. 143 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:29,320 And so you're like, Oh yeah, he starts to talk about love a lot. 144 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:35,640 Now let's let's look a little closer at what Paul is doing. 145 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:40,240 Paul is trying to organize how they read the Old Testament. 146 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:44,600 He believed that if you started following Jesus, everything in 147 00:10:44,600 --> 00:10:48,920 your life would be organized around Jesus the Messiah because 148 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:52,840 he's the One, and that all of your life, even the way you read 149 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:56,360 scripture, would be organized around Jesus the Messiah. 150 00:10:56,760 --> 00:10:59,800 Now he's trying to move them from having the center of 151 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:03,280 gravity in the way they read Scripture, being all about the 152 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:09,600 law, and instead he wants them to anchor it in the promise that 153 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:13,120 God made to Abraham. What was the promise God made to 154 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:23,660 Abraham? Many children, many nations. 155 00:11:23,900 --> 00:11:26,140 You're going to have a family. Abraham. 156 00:11:26,500 --> 00:11:29,660 And God kept telling him this. And Abraham, I'm sure, was 157 00:11:29,660 --> 00:11:31,380 wondering because he was getting older. 158 00:11:32,180 --> 00:11:35,720 He was 99. Where's my children? 159 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:38,200 Sarah's getting older. Where's my children? 160 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:43,400 But Paul's wanting the church to reorganize the way they read the 161 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,800 Scripture, that they read Scripture through the lens of 162 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:50,640 Jesus crucified. So they look back and he says, 163 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:55,960 look back to Abraham, what God promised him to make a family of 164 00:11:55,960 --> 00:12:01,800 all nations, and then look forward into the future through 165 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:06,640 the cross of Jesus, seeing that family involved in the new 166 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:08,520 creation. We'll get to that. 167 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:15,360 But he's saying look through the cross of Jesus and look back to 168 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:17,960 Abraham, what God promised. Notice what he says. 169 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:24,320 He's creating an allegory. He says, I'm going to create 170 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:28,480 this story, this little narrative so that you begin to 171 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:30,640 see. He reminds them again of 172 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:36,520 Abraham, who had two sons. His first son actually came 173 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:41,120 about because Sarah said, look it, I'm getting older. 174 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:45,600 I'm not having a baby. God's made you a promise. 175 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:50,720 Let's get on with it. You take Hagar, my handmaiden, 176 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:54,960 my servant, and you make a baby with her. 177 00:12:56,280 --> 00:13:00,680 And it says Abraham did, and Ishmael was born. 178 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:08,360 Talk about complicating family life right away in our reading 179 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,440 and narrative about this, we're like, wow, you didn't just can't 180 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:16,000 complicate family life. You complicated the life of 181 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:22,760 nations in this hostility that was generated between Ishmael 182 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:28,560 and Isaac, who was born later. For God told Abraham, no, look, 183 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:35,640 you will have a son with Sarah, and this child will be the child 184 00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:40,200 of promise. And so Paul says I'm going to 185 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:45,120 create an allegory with two women, two families, 2 covenants 186 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:51,920 and two mountains. He lays it out. 187 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:57,040 Here's Hagler, here's Sarah. One's a slave and the other is 188 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:04,640 free. 1 is going to have a child according to the flesh, but one 189 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:08,440 is going to have a child according to the promise. 190 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:15,480 And he's saying now these two families have their roots in 191 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:21,480 this story. What's surprising is which 192 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:23,440 family he believes you're a part of. 193 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:30,600 He, Paul, believes you're a part of the family of Sarah. 194 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:35,880 Now, his opponents might have already said, you Gentiles, 195 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:39,360 you're actually part of the family of Ishmael. 196 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:46,920 But Paul's insisting, no, you Gentiles are actually part of 197 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:52,520 the family of Sarah and Isaac. And here's how he did it. 198 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:57,560 He says, look, Hagar and her people are from Arabia. 199 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:03,560 That's where Mount Sinai is. We would say, oh, they're Arabs, 200 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,440 but he says, look, Mount Sinai is there in Arabia. 201 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:14,000 Why is Mount Sinai important? It's because that's where God 202 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:19,160 showed up with Moses and gave the law and he's, look, the law 203 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:22,480 is actually in the land of slavery. 204 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:25,160 Wow, Paul's really messing with them. 205 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:34,560 And he said then these this line of the law is now in Jerusalem, 206 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:39,800 in the present day Jerusalem and from Jerusalem. 207 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,520 Are people worried about the flesh? 208 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:49,080 Are you circumcised or not? Are you Jewish enough or not? 209 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:53,600 Are you under the law so you can be completely accepted by God? 210 00:15:54,160 --> 00:16:00,880 And they've shown up in Galatia to persecute you because of your 211 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:04,800 freedom in Christ. And so they are the persecutors 212 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,880 like Ishmael. So in the story of Abraham and 213 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:16,040 Sarah, Ishmael tormented Isaac and one day Sarah saw this 214 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:21,360 happening, that Ishmael was making Isaac's life difficult 215 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:33,240 and she came to Abraham and she said send them away, they will 216 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:37,280 have no inheritance. Isaac is the child of the 217 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:39,120 promise. Now for us, we were like, this 218 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:42,080 sounds really harsh. This is terrible. 219 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:46,240 And in a whole nother line of preaching and work, I would 220 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:51,240 preach that what's the deal with Abraham and Sarah knowing God? 221 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:55,000 And they're so harsh with Hagar and Ishmael, but that's a whole 222 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:56,840 different sermon. It's not Paul's sermon. 223 00:16:57,720 --> 00:17:01,760 Paul is creating an allegory to arrive at a very startling 224 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:06,800 conclusion where he let Sarah preach at them and say get rid 225 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:10,920 of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will 226 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:15,599 never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son. 227 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:22,599 Now Paul's flipped it around. He's saying, I need you as the 228 00:17:22,599 --> 00:17:29,440 church to align your theology and your actions so that you 229 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:33,880 know you don't have to be in slavery again. 230 00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:40,560 You all are actually the children of the promise. 231 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:44,720 And there you go of Isaac. But I'm not Jewish. 232 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:50,960 He's like, no, anyone who is in Christ is now the children of 233 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:53,360 the promise. Would you turn to your neighbor 234 00:17:53,360 --> 00:17:55,840 and say, are you a child of the promise? 235 00:18:02,140 --> 00:18:06,340 See, he's training them to rethink not just the reading of 236 00:18:06,340 --> 00:18:09,580 the Scripture, but the reading of themselves. 237 00:18:10,100 --> 00:18:16,780 He's trying to get them to now identify themselves as, wow, we 238 00:18:16,780 --> 00:18:22,400 are humbly included in the family of God. 239 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:27,560 This is amazing. Now, for those who also didn't 240 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:32,320 really want to accept this, that maybe Paul is just doing some 241 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:37,920 strange juju with the scripture, right? 242 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:41,160 He said this is a weird way of reading the scripture. 243 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:46,480 In this passage, he alludes to an extraordinary Psalm. 244 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:50,360 We read this Psalm at the beginning of our service today, 245 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:54,320 Psalm 87. And he's wanting to connect the 246 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:58,560 promise, the Messiah and the nations all together. 247 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:01,880 And so he alludes to this Psalm 87. 248 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:05,240 Let's read it together again. Next slide. 249 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:09,480 Well, I'll show you the illusion. 250 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:10,640 Here it is. Now you don't have to go 251 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:11,600 anywhere. It's in the slide. 252 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:15,200 So here's this illusion, he says, but the Jerusalem that is 253 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,560 above, where is the Jerusalem above? 254 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:22,600 They only knew the Jerusalem that was down here. 255 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:28,400 He says there's a Jerusalem above, It's free, and she is our 256 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,400 mother. Oh my goodness, Paul, what are 257 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,800 you doing? He's saying there's a heavenly 258 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:43,840 city, a heavenly Jerusalem, and it's free and she is our mother. 259 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:49,200 When in the Scripture is Jerusalem the mother? 260 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:53,640 That's in Psalm 87. Here we go. 261 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:56,320 That's next slide. Next slide. 262 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:02,760 Don't worry. It's by the sons of Korra. 263 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:05,800 It's a Psalm, a song, and it says this. 264 00:20:06,120 --> 00:20:09,720 He has founded his city on the holy mountain. 265 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:14,440 The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other 266 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:18,480 dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are said of you, 267 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:24,800 city of God. I will record Rahab and Babylon 268 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:30,360 among those who acknowledge me. Now Rahab is reference to Egypt. 269 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:37,200 He's saying I will record Egypt and I will record Babylon as 270 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:41,120 those who acknowledge me. Philistia. 271 00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:43,640 Wow, the home of the Philistines. 272 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:50,080 And Tyre, along with Cush, they will say, say it with me. 273 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:58,480 This one was born in Zion, indeed of Zion it will be said, 274 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:04,000 this one and that one were born in her, and the Most High 275 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:08,600 himself will establish her. The Lord will write in the 276 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:14,360 register of the peoples. This one was born in Zion. 277 00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:20,360 And they will make music, They will sing. 278 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:27,040 All my fountains are in you all my life, you know, if you've 279 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,280 ever been in the desert and thirsty, you know, this is your 280 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:32,000 life. You got to have water. 281 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:38,000 And they're saying all my life giving source is there in that 282 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:42,680 city that Jerusalem. Why would people from Egypt and 283 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:48,240 Babylon and Cush and Philistia and Tyre all say I was born in 284 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:51,040 Zion? That's unheard of. 285 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:02,920 Lauryn Hill sang it. This one was born in Zion. 286 00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:10,440 Lauryn Hill was teaching how to read the scripture, she says, 287 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,360 you know, in this, you all don't know this, do you? 288 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:15,840 Does anybody know who Lauryn Hill is? 289 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:19,200 All right, there's a few of you are really cultured. 290 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:28,840 She's a artist and and she has this great CD called The MIS 291 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:34,680 Education of Lauryn Hill. I recommend it to you, a whole 292 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:38,920 new generation. But in it, she's recognizing 293 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:43,440 something about this phrase, this one was born in Zion, about 294 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:48,120 her own child and their own, her own history and how she wanted 295 00:22:48,120 --> 00:22:51,160 to be able to say you were not a mistake. 296 00:22:52,360 --> 00:22:57,000 You were born in Zion in the very heart, and I have God, you 297 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,320 matter. This one was born in Zion. 298 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:04,800 And so Paul is trying to say, hey, look, there's some people 299 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,880 who've shown up there in Galatia and they're trying to miss 300 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:12,040 educate you. They're trying to miss educate 301 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:17,160 you and I'm trying to help you see that it's always been in the 302 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:20,840 heart of God that the nations would be joined together and 303 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,920 organized around the Messiah and that they would say of Jesus, 304 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:32,480 He's changed my life, He's changed my birthplace. 305 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:37,600 I've been born in Zion. I've been born in the very heart 306 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,880 and city of God. I have citizenship in the very 307 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:46,360 heart and city of God. Now, what a powerful, powerful, 308 00:23:46,360 --> 00:23:51,840 powerful gift Paul is giving to this church. 309 00:23:57,060 --> 00:24:00,260 And so the question becomes, were you born in Zion? 310 00:24:00,780 --> 00:24:03,060 Turn to your neighbor and ask them, were you born in Zion? 311 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:09,400 Were you born in the very city and heart of God? 312 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:13,160 Is your name written in the Registry of the Peoples? 313 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:17,320 In fact, this is what Jesus said when the disciples came back and 314 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:20,560 said, Oh Jesus, we've got so much power, the demons even 315 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:22,840 submit to us. He says, oh, don't rejoice in 316 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:24,920 that. Rejoice that your name is 317 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:29,840 written in the Lamb's Book of Life in the Registry of the 318 00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:33,640 Peoples, that you have a new inheritance. 319 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:40,320 This one was born in Zion. See, Paul views the church as 320 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:45,400 God's great rehearsal reversal of Sarah's barrenness. 321 00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:52,920 Sarah was barren. Sarah is a stand in for Israel. 322 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:59,000 Paul is seeing the church as the great reversal of Israel's 323 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:05,080 barrenness, that now they're truly producing what the Messiah 324 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:08,440 intends, that the nations would be blessed. 325 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:16,200 Barrenness is a scary thing for some who find that, oh, I'm not 326 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:20,880 having children, but how can God give children to those who don't 327 00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:25,160 even have a husband? But notice what Paul connects it 328 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:26,280 to. Keep going here. 329 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:32,440 He he quotes from Isaiah 54 and he says, for it is written, be 330 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:37,200 glad barren woman, you who never bore a child, shout for joy and 331 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:41,360 cry aloud, you who were never in labor, because more are the 332 00:25:41,360 --> 00:25:45,760 children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband. 333 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:49,880 Now for those who knew, he was quoting Isaiah 54. 334 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:53,320 So now he's he's really trying to also speak to not just the 335 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:57,200 Gentiles, but the Jewish believers, even those whose were 336 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,040 persecuting the church in Galatia. 337 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:04,680 He's trying to speak to them and remind them of this incredible 338 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:09,080 moment where Israel is declared to have lots of children. 339 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:13,600 And how is it possible? It was possible because of 340 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:17,200 Isaiah 53, the suffering servant. 341 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:18,840 So I encourage you go and read it. 342 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:24,400 The suffering servant is the Messiah who actually makes it 343 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:32,040 possible for what was barren to be fruitful, to actually become 344 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:36,760 a blessing to the nations. All right, did anybody get 345 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:39,360 excited? You're born in Zion. 346 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:45,120 How is that possible? Here's three things I think are 347 00:26:45,120 --> 00:26:47,120 really important for us as application today. 348 00:26:47,120 --> 00:26:48,800 We're going to move through them really quickly. 349 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:53,240 The 1st is that where we see and fear barrenness, God sees an 350 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:59,400 opportunity to create new life. Where you think, hey, this is 351 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:04,280 the most unfruitful, desolate, dark period of my life. 352 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:10,320 God is able to reach in and do something that brings new life. 353 00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:18,960 It requires waiting, It requires patience, It requires trusting 354 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:22,000 in the dark. Sarah and Abraham had their 355 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:27,080 moments where they didn't, but God was still faithful. 356 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:35,400 The second thing is this, the church must protect itself from 357 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:39,040 all kinds of destructive ideologies by pursuing and 358 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:42,160 celebrating the multi ethnic familiness of Jesus's new 359 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:47,960 family. Here's a Babylonian in Jerusalem 360 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,640 saying all my fountains are in you. 361 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:01,160 See, when the church starts to get away from celebrating the 362 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:05,920 multi ethnic nature of God's family, we can start being drawn 363 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:11,000 into all kinds of isms that are destructive. 364 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:17,080 Nationalism actually has almost no room in the life of a Kingdom 365 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:25,680 follower of Jesus. Besides the the closeness of 366 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,440 loving your neighbor and you're saying, well, I'm in Ghana and 367 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,520 all my neighbors are Ghanaians. OK, So I guess I better love my 368 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:36,520 Ghanaian neighbors, you know, But after that, your nationalism 369 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:43,240 has to bow to Christ whether you're in Canada or you're in 370 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:50,320 the USA, kind of ethnic nationalism actually has to be 371 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:53,120 set aside. Paul is begging them and says 372 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:58,200 become like me, he said in the passage last week. 373 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:04,240 Because he had submitted his nationalism to Jesus at the foot 374 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:07,800 of the cross and was willing to embrace the nations. 375 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:14,080 anti-Semitism has no place in the life of the church and where 376 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:18,680 the church has actually not celebrated the multi ethnic 377 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:26,600 dimensions of the gospel had not celebrated their connection to 378 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:33,000 Abraham in his family. They actually fell prey to the 379 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:42,640 work of Hitler and Nazism. But this move that Paul's making 380 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:48,040 here in this passage is actually a corrective where we who are 381 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:53,640 new to the family and adopted in have no place for arrogance 382 00:29:55,080 --> 00:30:00,600 against Jewish people. 3rd observation. 383 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:06,320 We must carefully read and reread the Scripture through the 384 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:10,720 lens of the cross of Jesus so we can maintain and enjoy our 385 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,760 freedom in Him no matter the trends of our times. 386 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:23,280 Do you know what book only 1% of university graduates have read? 387 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:32,040 It's a top 10 bestseller all the time globally. 388 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:41,600 It's the Bible. Only 1% of university graduates 389 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:44,880 have actually read one of the most influential books in the 390 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:49,520 world from cover to cover and gotten to know it. 391 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:57,080 I hope you're in the 1%. Do you know I, I'm, I'm actually 392 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:02,200 want to press in a little bit here to say that though You have 393 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:07,640 the Bible on your phone, there is no substitute for holding the 394 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:13,560 Bible in your hand. The studies are coming, folks, 395 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:18,080 That you actually read better when you read off the page. 396 00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:22,240 That you've not trained your minds to read deeply and make 397 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:24,440 connections when you read on a screen. 398 00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:31,880 And so you read Psalm, you read Isaiah 54 with no connection to 399 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:36,960 whatever came ahead of it, Isaiah 53, unless you're 400 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:41,280 actually holding it in your hand and marking it. 401 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:45,280 And so I, I just want to encourage you, do you all own a 402 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:51,760 physical copy of the Bible? Great, 10 points. 403 00:31:53,800 --> 00:32:01,400 Are you reading it or is it collecting dust? 404 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:07,880 I really want to press in here to say that reading as a skill 405 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:14,920 is disappearing. Reading deeply and making 406 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:18,960 connections is disappearing. It is the trend of our times. 407 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:23,920 And in order to actually maintain your liberty, your 408 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:28,640 freedom in Christ, you are going to have to read the scripture. 409 00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:32,720 And this is going to be a big challenge in the next 20 years 410 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:39,920 that you will hold the Bible. You will know the God of the 411 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:47,600 Bible and that you'll develop the habits and the skills of 412 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:53,600 that kind of reading so that you know God and you're known by 413 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:58,520 him. Paul goes on to say, look, it is 414 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:01,280 for freedom that Christ has set us free. 415 00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:05,640 Stand firm. Then he's like, put your feet 416 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:12,160 down and brace yourself. Stand firm then and do not let 417 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:16,480 yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 418 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,720 For the Galatian church, the yoke with slavery was coming 419 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,520 because someone's like you got to get circumcised in order to 420 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:29,320 really know God. And there's going to be all 421 00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:33,040 kinds of trends that come at you in life that says in order to be 422 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:36,720 completely blessed, in order to be a completely successful 423 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:39,440 person, you have to have this in your life. 424 00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:45,560 I think the greatest thing is that you know God and are known 425 00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:48,080 by him. Let's pray together. 426 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:55,360 Heavenly Father, as we come to your table today, we pray that 427 00:33:55,360 --> 00:34:08,830 you would speak to our hearts now, for we see in Jesus the 428 00:34:08,830 --> 00:34:14,909 suffering servant who who came to the altar of the cross and 429 00:34:14,909 --> 00:34:26,850 gave himself freely. You were despised and rejected 430 00:34:26,850 --> 00:34:30,170 by mankind. O Lord, You are a man of 431 00:34:30,170 --> 00:34:32,130 suffering and familiar with pain. 432 00:34:33,650 --> 00:34:39,800 People hid their faces from you. You are despised and we held you 433 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:45,000 in low esteem, but surely you took up our pain and you bore 434 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:48,600 our suffering. You were pierced for our 435 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:52,840 transgressions, you were crushed for our iniquities, and the 436 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:55,159 punishment that brought us peace was on you. 437 00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:58,640 And so by your wounds we are healed. 438 00:35:00,240 --> 00:35:03,320 Lord, we all, like sheep, have gone astray, and each of us has 439 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:09,680 turned to our own way. But Yahweh laid on you the 440 00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:16,440 iniquity of us all. You were assigned a grave with 441 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:21,080 the wicked, though you had done no violence and there was no 442 00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:28,120 deceit in your mouth. You bore the sin of many and 443 00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:32,520 made transgression or intercession for all of our 444 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:36,680 transgressions. And it's because of you, Lord 445 00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:41,040 Jesus, that we can sing. We can sing because our life in 446 00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:44,760 sin was fruitless and destructive. 447 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:53,480 But now our life in your grace is one of freedom and of joy and 448 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:58,960 of love and life transformation. We're so grateful. 449 00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:03,640 And so we come and celebrate you today.