Post by Les Brewer on Apr 24, 2012 12:30:05 GMT
John Wolf
Calvary's Cross Ministries
Preaching Christ Crucified...I Cor.1:18-25
From the Pastor's desk...
Good day to all in the wonderful and blessed name of Jesus Christ,may His richest blessings be yours today and always!
Galatians 4:28-31 says,"Now we,brethren,as Isaac was,are children of promise.29.)But as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit,even so it is now.30.)Nevertheless,what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son,for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." 31.)So then,brethren,we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free." (NKJV)
I'm sure that when it became necessary for Abraham to cast out Hagar and Ishmael,it was a difficult thing to do.For Abraham loved his son by the handmaid of Sarah his wife.Yet he was more concerned with obedience to God than he was about his own feelings for his flesh and blood.The command of God came to cast them out,get rid of them.I'm also very sure that Abraham struggled with the thought of whether to obey the command or to reject it.
I'm so thankful that he decided to obey God and do as he was instructed.The thing we must try to understand is this:
The union of Abraham and Hagar was of human origin and not what the Lord had instructed.It was of the flesh,the sin nature.Of course,we all know that Ishmael was the result of this union.It is evident in the way that they went about doing this,with Sarah's blessing,that it was an attempt to bring about the promised son that God said would be born.God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son in their old age.What they didn't understand though was God had meant it literally,that they would be able to conceive a child when they were well past the child bearing time of life.Abraham was 100 yrs.old and Sarah was 90 yrs.old.I think we could safely say,at least in our thinking,that is well past the time to have children.
The first thing that we must take from this lesson is,is that nothing is impossible for God.If God said it,it WILL come to pass.The second thing we must take from this lesson is that,if God promises something,He will accomplish what He promises without our help.Abraham and Sarah conjured up the idea that they were going to help God with His promise for a son.They did not understand that God could fulfill His promise to them without their help.God's promise of them having a son,was a type or foreshadow of His promise to bring forth His only begotten Son,Jesus Christ.
Abraham and Sarah's plan is also an object lesson in how well man can mess things up.Their plan was a plan devised from the sin nature and the flesh.Nothing that we can devise on our own is anything that God can use.This is said and that's the reason that God commanded Abraham to cast out the bondwoman.We can not please God or devise any plan of our own that will ever bring about victory over the world,the flesh and the devil.
The modern church is flooded with all types of self-help books and feel good messages,humanistic psychology dressed up with Christian terms,to make it sound like something good.These are the Ishmael's in the Church.They will not help anyone.12 step methods to quit sin abound today.People with drug addictions and smoking addictions and alcohol addictions and porno addictions,etc.etc. are told that these things are diseases rather than the truth,it is SIN.And sin can only be dealt with in one way.By the blood of Jesus Christ.Fallen apostate,sinful man,is always trying to conjure up ways to circumvent the way of the cross.They create Ishmael's through the bond of demonic influence and their own desire to reject God's way rather than to follow the promise God has given.
We must learn to cast out the Hagar's and Ishmael's in our lives.God can not use anything that we can imagine from our own hearts to facilitate sanctification in our lives.Trying to work for our sanctification as Christians with man's ways is comparable to trying to work for salvation.It will not happen,it can not be achieved through self-effort,self-help or self-anything.Beloved friends,self is the problem,and the cross is the solution.The cross is where you die to self and take up the life of our resurrected Lord and Savior,Jesus Christ.This is the promise of God for deliverance from all that keeps us bound by sin.He doesn't need our help with anything we do to free ourselves from the bondages of sin.Christ did it all at Calvary,nothing can be added to it.It is a complete and finished work,done by God Himself in and through the Son.The only part we can play in it is to receive it by faith and keep our faith firmly in Christ and the cross,who He is and what he did on the cross.
May the Lord bless you and keep you,is my prayer....Love in Christ.......J.W.
Calvary's Cross Ministries
Preaching Christ Crucified...I Cor.1:18-25
From the Pastor's desk...
Good day to all in the wonderful and blessed name of Jesus Christ,may His richest blessings be yours today and always!
Galatians 4:28-31 says,"Now we,brethren,as Isaac was,are children of promise.29.)But as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit,even so it is now.30.)Nevertheless,what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son,for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." 31.)So then,brethren,we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free." (NKJV)
I'm sure that when it became necessary for Abraham to cast out Hagar and Ishmael,it was a difficult thing to do.For Abraham loved his son by the handmaid of Sarah his wife.Yet he was more concerned with obedience to God than he was about his own feelings for his flesh and blood.The command of God came to cast them out,get rid of them.I'm also very sure that Abraham struggled with the thought of whether to obey the command or to reject it.
I'm so thankful that he decided to obey God and do as he was instructed.The thing we must try to understand is this:
The union of Abraham and Hagar was of human origin and not what the Lord had instructed.It was of the flesh,the sin nature.Of course,we all know that Ishmael was the result of this union.It is evident in the way that they went about doing this,with Sarah's blessing,that it was an attempt to bring about the promised son that God said would be born.God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son in their old age.What they didn't understand though was God had meant it literally,that they would be able to conceive a child when they were well past the child bearing time of life.Abraham was 100 yrs.old and Sarah was 90 yrs.old.I think we could safely say,at least in our thinking,that is well past the time to have children.
The first thing that we must take from this lesson is,is that nothing is impossible for God.If God said it,it WILL come to pass.The second thing we must take from this lesson is that,if God promises something,He will accomplish what He promises without our help.Abraham and Sarah conjured up the idea that they were going to help God with His promise for a son.They did not understand that God could fulfill His promise to them without their help.God's promise of them having a son,was a type or foreshadow of His promise to bring forth His only begotten Son,Jesus Christ.
Abraham and Sarah's plan is also an object lesson in how well man can mess things up.Their plan was a plan devised from the sin nature and the flesh.Nothing that we can devise on our own is anything that God can use.This is said and that's the reason that God commanded Abraham to cast out the bondwoman.We can not please God or devise any plan of our own that will ever bring about victory over the world,the flesh and the devil.
The modern church is flooded with all types of self-help books and feel good messages,humanistic psychology dressed up with Christian terms,to make it sound like something good.These are the Ishmael's in the Church.They will not help anyone.12 step methods to quit sin abound today.People with drug addictions and smoking addictions and alcohol addictions and porno addictions,etc.etc. are told that these things are diseases rather than the truth,it is SIN.And sin can only be dealt with in one way.By the blood of Jesus Christ.Fallen apostate,sinful man,is always trying to conjure up ways to circumvent the way of the cross.They create Ishmael's through the bond of demonic influence and their own desire to reject God's way rather than to follow the promise God has given.
We must learn to cast out the Hagar's and Ishmael's in our lives.God can not use anything that we can imagine from our own hearts to facilitate sanctification in our lives.Trying to work for our sanctification as Christians with man's ways is comparable to trying to work for salvation.It will not happen,it can not be achieved through self-effort,self-help or self-anything.Beloved friends,self is the problem,and the cross is the solution.The cross is where you die to self and take up the life of our resurrected Lord and Savior,Jesus Christ.This is the promise of God for deliverance from all that keeps us bound by sin.He doesn't need our help with anything we do to free ourselves from the bondages of sin.Christ did it all at Calvary,nothing can be added to it.It is a complete and finished work,done by God Himself in and through the Son.The only part we can play in it is to receive it by faith and keep our faith firmly in Christ and the cross,who He is and what he did on the cross.
May the Lord bless you and keep you,is my prayer....Love in Christ.......J.W.
